Lover Boy

by Cassie-Ann L. Miller

  Leo

  Charlie pilots the car along Main Street. Reese and I are in the back. She’s tucked against my side with her head on my shoulder. After six days and a battery of tests, the doctors have given us each a clean bill of health and discharged us from the hospital. And just in time too, because I have a big surprise for my girl today. Smiling to myself, I bury my nose in her hair and hold her closer.

  My friend keeps stealing peeks at us in the rearview mirror. “What?” I ask when our stares bump into each other.

  “You know you totally broke guy code by hooking up with my sister, right?” I can’t see his entire face but his eyes are pretty stark.

  I glance down at Reese just in time to see her roll her eyes. I throw Charlie a shrug. “I guess.”

  His eyes narrow. “You know I should probably punch you in the nose right now, especially since you can’t fight back.”

  I bite down a chuckle. “I’m not sure that’s fair.” I wave my bandaged fist in the air.

  “Challenging another man to a duel over your sister?” Reese says snidely. “How Shakespearaen of you.”

  “You’re lucky your big, brave Romeo just saved you from a burning building or else we’d be sword-fighting in an alley right now.”

  “What am I? A piece of chattel?” Reese questions playfully.

  Charlie’s eyes soften and his expression goes compassionate. “No—you’re my big-headed little sister. And I love you, despite what you may think. And I don’t want to see anyone break your heart.”

  I fully understand where he’s coming from. “Reese is a very special woman and from now on, it’s my duty to guard her heart, to protect her, to love her. I won’t be the one to hurt her and if anyone even tried to threaten her, they’d have to get through me first.” I hold up my arm and flex my muscles. Reese makes an exaggerated swooning face and I burst with pride. “And I’m pretty tough if I do say so myself.” Charlie chuckles knowingly. I hold his stare in the mirror. “Your sister is safe with me.”

  A smile brightens his eyes. “I know, man. You’re the kind of guy my sister needs. I know that.”

  I nod solemnly, pulling Reese snug against me. My gaze moves out the window, watching the rows of shops as we near our destination.

  “Are we stopping for dinner or something?” Reese asks when Charlie drives past the street he’d have to turn onto to take us home.

  “Something like that,” I whisper into her hair and try to keep the amusement out of my voice.

  But by the time we’re near the park, she knows that something’s up. She pulls out of my grasp and leans forward, looking out through the windshield. “What’s with all the balloons?” she asks.

  “You’ll see,” I tell her as the car grinds to a halt on the curb.

  Her jaw hangs loose now. Her eyes bulge. “Leo…”

  People mill around, enjoying baked goods and iced tea. Nova waves at us from the makeshift cash register. The banner hangs between two huge oak trees.

  The Broken Cupcake’s presents Cupcake Sunday Bake Sale!

  I hear her gasp when she realizes what’s going on. Her head snaps to me. “What…?”

  “For you, my love…” With the help of all the people who love her—Charlie, Vivian, Nova, Sophia and of course, Brenton—I managed to organize a little fundraiser to support the reopening of the cupcake shop while I was stuck in my hospital bed.

  I know it’s going to take more than a little Sunday afternoon bake sale to get the Broken Cupcake back up and running, but this is my way of showing Reese my support.

  “You shouldn’t have done this, Leo.”

  “Why the hell not?” I challenge her. “You go out of your way for people everyday. It’s only fair that someone do something nice for you.”

  “It’s too much.”

  “It’s not enough.”

  “But…”

  “You don’t have a monopoly on kind gestures in this town,” I quip. “Maybe taking care of other people makes you feel good but did you ever stop to consider that maybe taking care of you feels good to me?”

  I see her heart melt right then and there. “Baby…” she whispers in her bedroom voice.

  Oh yeah, I’m gonna get some action tonight!

  “You two look like you need some privacy.” Charlie tosses the keys into the back seat and practically leaps out of the car.

  Reese and I laugh together. “He’ll get used to it sooner than later,” I assure her and then cup her face, bringing my lips to hers. I kiss her and all my passion runs free. I cup her face with my big, bandaged paw and my thoughts evaporate like smoke when she moans the way she does.

  But it isn’t long before there’s an eager, little tap at the window. We pull apart. “Brenton!” I throw the door open and my boy jumps inside.

  “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”

  “Hi buddy!” He wraps one arm around my neck and squeezes hard before turning to Reese.

  “Hi Reese,” he says, almost shy.

  “Hey Brent. How ya doing?”

  The child grins. “I saw you kissing my daddy.”

  She blushes, her cheeks all red. “You did?”

  He nods excitedly. “Reese?” Brenton says in a small voice. “Can you please be my daddy’s girlfriend?”

  I find myself laughing.

  “Well, if he asked me, I’d say yes.” She scrunches up her nose and lowers her voice as she cups a hand around her mouth. “But he hasn’t asked me.”

  Brenton gives me a stern look. “Daddy!”

  “Well, let’s rectify that situation immediately.” I laugh throatily. “Will you be my girlfriend, Reese?” I tickle her ribs.

  “Yes, yes I will.” She squirms and giggles in my lap. “Yes!”

  “Happy now?” I say, turning to Brent.

  He nods firmly. “Yes. I’m happy.” He leans back against my chest with his broken arm tucked against his little body. “Rectify…Rectify…” he muses to himself as if trying on the new word for size. I grin and ruffle his hair.

  I look at the both of them in my arms. They’re everything I need. Three months ago, I showed up in this town, in this rusty old Ford Escort, lost and depressed and confused. Now, I have everything. How did I get so lucky?

  I angle Reese’s face and put a kiss on her nose. “So, girlfriend—Where do we go from here?”

  She looks thoughtful. “Well, we haven’t officially been on a date yet. So maybe dinner and a movie?”

  “Or we could go dancing?” I suggest as I jerk my shoulders back and forth in perfect timing with a song only I can hear. Something techno. Because I’m cool like that.

  “You can dance?” she asks with a grin.

  I lean my forehead against hers. “Dancing is easy. I can do anything when I’m with you.”

  Chapter 51

  Reese

  I roll over in bed and Leo’s spot is cold. Panicked, I bolt upright in bed.

  Whenever he’s missing from bed at this hour, it means he’s spent the better part of the night having nightmares until they finally chased him out of bed and into the shadows of the back porch.

  My chest tightens as I pull a sweatshirt over my head. It’s been a few months since he had one of those night terrors. He’s been so much better since he and Brent moved in with me. I thought that he’d finally shrugged himself from the ugly grips of the disorder. I thought that we’d beat it. But PTSD isn’t something that ever really goes away.

  It’s managed. It’s dealt with.

  It weaves and wanes and sometimes it fades until you can barely see the stains but it’s always there.

  I hate feeling so powerless. I hate that it’s something that I can’t fix. All I can do is support him, throw my arms around him. And that’s what I’m going to do right now.

  I tiptoe past Brent’s room and down the stairs. I step into Leo’s big shoes on the mat and slide the back door open.

  There he is.

  His shoulders are as wide as ever. I can’t help but admire his powerful body as
I approach him from behind. He glances up at me over his back and grins.

  “Hey.” I lower myself to the spot beside him and run my hand across his back.

  “Hey.” He stretches his hand out to me, offering me a sip from his juice box. Long gone are the days of drinking whiskey from a red plastic cup. Apple-grape fruit punch is his drink of choice these days.

  I giggle, leaning in to suck on the plastic straw.

  Lust and adoration fill his eyes as he watches me drink. “What are you doing out here?” I ask softly as I run my hand tenderly over his knee. “Nightmares?” It’s fall now. It’s cold. I wish he wouldn’t sit out here.

  He looks up at the sky and smiles on a deep exhale. “Not nightmares. Good dreams. Happy ones.”

  Pleasantly surprised by his answer, my lips inch up, too. “About what?” I lean my head on his shoulder and his arm comes around me.

  “About us. About our family and what’s next for us.”

  “Really?”

  He nods and kisses my forehead. “Really.”

  My heart does all kinds of twists and flips in my chest. I’m so in love with Leo and Brent and the life we have together and the thought of what the future holds tickles the pit of my stomach.

  I look down at his hand and realize that he’s flipping something around between his fingers. Before I can make out what it is, Leo angles himself toward me and pushes me back softly by the shoulders. “Is it crazy that I want to marry you, Reese? I mean, I really want to marry you. Now.”

  My breath gets caught in my throat and my pulse goes erratic. We’ve talked about marriage and babies. Only in vague terms. This is the first time he’s mentioned it in a direct way. That look of determination in his eyes is nerve-wracking. My heart feels like it’ll pound right out of my chest.

  He sinks to the bottom step, stooping on one knee. The diamond on the thin band between his fingers catches the moonlight and glimmers. “I was gonna wait to ask you…Y’know, so Brent and your family could be here to witness it…But I don’t wanna wait any more. Marry me, Reese. Be my wife. Please. I don’t deserve you. But I want you. Forever.”

  “Oh my god, Leo.” Tears spill readily down my cheeks. “I want you to be my husband. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  His giddy smile is brighter than all the stars in the sky. He does a corny fist pump that makes me laugh. “Yes!” He grabs my left hand and slips the ring on. It fits like it was made just for me. It’s beautiful. Perfect.

  Orgasm Man. My very own superhero. My lover. My best friend.

  I grab his fingers and lift his hand to my mouth. I press my lips to the skin grafts on his knuckles. The burns and scars he got while he was saving my life.

  “I love you, Leo. I won’t ever stop.”

  “I love you, too, Cupcake Girl. Forever isn’t nearly enough for us.”

  Epilogue

  Two years later…

  Leo

  “Can you believe it’s been two years?” Reese smiles across the counter at me with her coffee cup clenched between her hands.

  Even after another sleepless night of breastfeeding and rocking our twins, she still looks radiant in the morning light peeking through the sheer kitchen curtains.

  “The two best years of my life.” I come around the counter and kiss her forehead.

  “Including last night when the twins were howling in unison like wild animals calling out to each other?” She sets her elbows on the counter and drops her head as a long yawn pours out of her mouth.

  I laugh then run my hands over her shoulders. “Even then.”

  Yes, the midnight diaper changes are tolerable—pleasant even—because I do them with my best friend by my side. We’re solid. I’ve never felt more steady in my life. I may look like a big, tough guy on the outside but I don’t stand on my own. Reese is my superhero, my Cupcake Girl. Her love saves my life every day.

  It’s funny—when my marriage to Mara ended, I though the world was crashing down but now, I don’t regret the way things ended with her. It was rough on Brenton and me for a little while but as soon as I allowed Reese into our lives, she made it all better.

  And Mara got what was coming to her. Apparently, the man she left me for lied to her about his source of income. He made his fortune dealing in the black market. Word is that the both of them got picked up by the police somewhere in Central America and are awaiting trial for organ trading. It’s been a rough two years for Mara and her one remaining kidney. So much for her jet-set lifestyle. I hear those Guatemalan prisons are real glamorous.

  Anyway, she’s not my problem anymore.

  The people I care most about—my wife and three kids—reside under this roof in a sleepy little Illinois town called Copper Heights.

  Reese’s head snaps up at the sound of the doorbell and she casts a narrow-eyed stare my way. “It’s not even 8:00 in the morning yet,” she hisses as she slams down her coffee cup. She marches toward the door, her heavy footsteps conveying her fury. “I swear to god, if it’s that vacuum salesman again—”

  I stand at the other end of the hall, smirking as she tears the front door open and an enormous flower bouquet fills the entrance. “Delivery for Reese Montgomery?” The delivery guy totters under the weight of the thing.

  Her head snaps in my direction. “Baby…”

  I just grin.

  She accepts the delivery and lugs it into the kitchen. “Hmm…I wonder who it’s from?” I ask innocently, smiling into her coffee mug and taking a long sip.

  She’s teary-eyed when she sets it down and slaps me on the chest. “Stop joking around. You have me crying my eyes out.”

  “I’m romantic, huh?” I chuckle.

  “Yes, you are.” She wraps her arms around me and presses her cheek to my back.

  “You’re my inspiration, babe.” I spin around and hold her to me.

  “Well, I’m feeling very, very grateful…if you know what I mean.” She cups my semi-hard cock. A rush of blood heads to that region.

  “I’ll take you upstairs so you can show me,” I propose.

  She yelps when I pick her up and toss her over my shoulder like a cement bag. “Oh my gosh. You’re just a neanderthal masquerading as a gentleman, aren’t you?”

  I laugh. “Don’t let the flowers and soft focus light fool you, baby. I’m gonna fuck the shit out of you.”

  “You have a dirty mouth on you!”

  “Yeah, you’re a lucky, lucky girl. How about we go take care of business before the babies wake up?” I slap her butt as I tromp toward the stairs.

  “Good idea.” She giggles contentedly.

  “Oh, I’m full of good ideas. But falling in love with you is the best idea I’ve ever had.”

  THE END

  Note from the author

  Hey Reader,

  Thanks so much for reading Lover Boy. I hope that you fell in love with Reese and Leo’s story :) You can read book 2 in the Blue Collar Bachelors Series right now. Play Boy is 99c until Jan. 12th, 2018. Read a preview chapter right after this note. You can also pre-order Bad Boy, book 3 in the series.

  I’m also including a bonus book for you. Dirty Neighbor is book 1 in the Dirty Suburbs series. Enjoy!

  Love,

  Cassie xoxo

  P.S.: You can find all my books here.

  Preview of

  Play Boy (Blue Collar Bachelors Book 2)

  Chapter 2

  Charlie

  Peering through the front window, I see the all-white Acura Integra bumping along the curb. I cringe at the harsh sound of metal scraping against concrete. This girl really needs to have her driver’s license revoked.

  She hunches forward to peer into the side mirror then she slams her little fist on the edge of the steering wheel. I can’t see her expression from here but I can just imagine it—her full lips pushed into a fretful pout, her golden brows drawn down over her emerald green eyes, a tiny crease on her forehead.

  I chuckle to myself. She’s parked in that spot a million times but th
e curb outside my house catches her every time.

  The door creaks open and Nova steps out of the death buggy, onto the pavement. She analyzes the damage to the fender and grimaces for a fraction of a second. Then, she shrugs nonchalantly as she slings the strap of her purse over her shoulder.

  No big deal, right? Because really—what’s another dent in that old piece of scrap metal, anyway?

  When she bends inside and crawls over the gearshift to grab a foil-covered plate from the front seat, my chest tightens. That body will be the death of me. The tapered in waist, the wide hips, that ass…

  Oh, that ass…

  But Nova Chester is much more than just the titleholder to a killer body and the breathtaking face that goes along with it. She’s smart and tough with a witty, perverse sense of humor. Plus, she’s a multi-talented creative and an all-around badass. If someone she loves gets into trouble, she’s always the first one on the scene, ready to kick ass and take names. Yup, gorgeous, funny, loyal. She’s the full package.

  The fact that I’ve never fucked this chick…I deserve a medal. I adjust my erection in my pants.

  Anyway, now she’s moving toward my house, hips swaying like a damn hoola dancer as she stomps across the lawn. The steely determination in her expression tells me that she wants something. What that something is, I’m not sure I want to find out.

  With a grin on my lips, my feet move across the floor, taking me to the front entrance. I swing the door open right as she’s about to ring.

  She jumps a little in her scuffed up sneakers then narrows her eyes plaintively. “It’s making that funny noise again.” She gestures in the direction of her dilapidated ride.

  “Good morning to you, too, Nova.” I yawn and run my hand down my bare chest. And a part of me wishes she’d at least take a little look but her eyes stay focused on my face. “Didn’t I tell you not to walk on my lawn?” I glare down at her. Or at least I try to because I just can’t manage to wipe that damn goofy expression off my face.

  I love messing with her. When I know she’s getting herself all worked up about something, I love ribbing with her just to entertain myself.