by Anthology
Epilogue
Courtney
I raised my wine glass and tapped it against the rim of Ry’s, then Cassie’s and Roxie’s in turn. It was amazing how much my life had changed in a year. I no longer looked at Cassie as if she was the enemy. Instead, I saw her for the amazing person she was, so kind and caring. I wasn’t miserable anymore.
Jax, Will, David, and Chase were over talking sports or something. I drank Chase in. I couldn’t get enough of him. There was no doubt in my mind that he was my forever. Sure, we had our obstacles to overcome, but we would make it together. Life was imperfect, but we were perfect together. That’s all that mattered.
"Girl, you’ve got it bad," Roxie said. She bumped into my shoulder and I smiled.
"I can’t help it."
"I’m so glad you and Chase connected," Cassie said. "He’s such a good guy. It’s been quite a year for him."
"It definitely has. It’s been kind of like a roller coaster," I mused.
"All that matters is he has his kids back and he has you. Everything else is just background noise," Ry chimed in.
"Fuck yeah!" Roxie exclaimed and we all tapped our glasses together again. "And that he’s good in bed. You know that shit is important." We all laughed.
"Let’s not go there, okay?" Ry said, though she smiled.
We talked for a while longer. My attention kept going to Chase. Every time I looked at him, he met my gaze and we smiled. The butterflies still swarmed in my chest when I was around him.
Eventually, I couldn’t take the distance between us and I went over to him to press into his side. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead. "Hey, you," he whispered.
"Hey." I rested my head against his chest, feeling the warmth and security he filled me with.
"It seemed like you were having fun over there."
"Not as much fun as I have with you."
He chuckled, and the vibrations rumbled against my cheek. "We can have the naked kind of fun, so I agree with you wholeheartedly."
"Chase!"
"What? It’s a valid point!"
I pressed up on my toes and captured his lips.
"Hey, you have like three minutes to wait! Keep the lips separate!" Jax yelled.
Chase and I laughed and broke apart.
"Can I have a kiss at midnight?" he asked, then tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
"There is not another soul in this house I’d rather kiss at midnight than you, Chase," I said, repeating his words to me a year ago. He broke into a huge grin.
"What did the tomato say to the orange?"
"What?" I asked.
"I love you from my head tomatoes."
I smiled. "Thank you for the pun."
"It’s time! Everyone grab your kissing partner!" Jax yelled.
Chase wrapped me firmly in his arms as everyone counted down around us. It was amazing how much life had changed in the past year. And to think it all started with a kiss at midnight. Though it really started hours before that.
The ball dropped and we kissed, taking our time, enjoying the moment. He wound his fingers in my hair and I grabbed the back of shirt, and held him close. When he pulled away, I kept my eyes closed and hummed my approval of the amazing kiss. When I opened them, he ran his knuckles down my cheek, then kissed me sweetly, pouring his heart into me. "Thank you for the second beginning, Court."
THE END
About Kristy Love
From the time she was old enough to form words into sentences, Kristy Love has been writing stories. She attended La Roche College and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Professional Writing. When she’s not writing, Kristy can be found with her nose stuck in a book or spending time with her family and friends.
She lives with her husband and two girls in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Other Books by Kristy Love
The Fragile Fall
Heartfelt Lies
Unfolding Desires
Always Us
by Stephanie Rose
A Second Chances Story
After seven years of marriage, Lucas and Samantha are still crazy, head over heels in love. But happily ever after is now overrun by a teenager in a hurry to grow up, and a toddler demanding everyone’s full attention. With their children pulling them in every direction this holiday season, life is hectic and time alone together is at a premium. Lucas and Samantha’s only Christmas wish this year is to prove they're still Always Us.
Chapter One
Lucas
December 18
"I’m home!" I called from the doorway as I took my key out of my front door. If you had told me ten years ago that I would be riding the N train back and forth to Queens every day and loving it, I would’ve thought you were bat shit crazy. Okay, maybe I didn’t love the ride itself, but I loved where it led to—my home, with my wife, and my kids.
I locked the door and strolled into the living room after I hung up my coat. My three-year-old son, Joey was fast asleep under the Christmas tree, clutching his Ant Man doll and blanket for dear life. Late naps were his new habit and made for fun nights trying to get him to sleep. I chuckled and shook my head as I bent down to give him a kiss on the forehead. Every day he looked more and more like me, same sandy brown hair, blue eyes, and smirk that made females fall at his feet. As he grew, I’d have to teach him to use that power only for good.
Bella, my fourteen-year-old daughter, was due home from basketball practice in a half hour. I’d never pegged myself to be a family man, but that was before Sam. My wife was everything to me, and I was the luckiest bastard on earth for getting another shot with her nine years ago. I was protective of both my girls. They were beautiful, sweet, and entirely too trusting. I took my man of the house role seriously and almost wished my pint-sized protégé would grow up quickly so he could help me keep the boys away from his sister.
The smell of my wife’s vegetable lasagna wafted in from the kitchen and made my stomach growl. But with one kid asleep and the other not home, I needed to act fast before this golden opportunity flew right by us.
I stood in the doorway of the kitchen for a moment to indulge in my favorite pastime, ogling my gorgeous wife. My hungry eyes drank in those full, amazing breasts straining against the material of her blouse, and her tiny waist and toned ass hugged perfectly by her just tight enough pencil skirt. She was so engrossed in chopping tomatoes that she didn’t realize I was standing there.
"Shit, Lucas!" Sam jumped back and clutched her chest when she looked up. "You scared the hell out of me." She gazed at me with a playful scowl as I headed over to where she stood. I backed her up against the marble top kitchen island I had built for her when we moved in and slid my hands down her hips.
"You need to be more aware." I brushed her long chestnut hair to the side as I peppered kisses down her neck. Her body jerked as my tongue grazed down the same path as my lips. "Any animal could just stroll right in . . ."
Sam turned her head to give me better access as she wrapped her arms around my waist. "Yeah, the same animal who strolls in every day. Joey’s still asleep?" Sam’s words were a throaty whisper as I trailed open mouthed kisses across her neckline and cupped her breasts over her blouse. Her rigid nipples pointed through the material. I laced my fingers through the silky strands of her hair and pulled her close. Even after all these years together, a few moments in Sam’s presence made me hard as a rock.
"Yep." My lips made a ‘pop’ sound against hers.
Sam’s hands drifted from my waist down to my ass. "I didn’t finish dinner yet…" She whimpered as I grabbed her hips and rubbed my painfully hard erection against her core. "Don’t you want to eat tonight?"
I raised my eyebrows and nodded. "I sure do." I pulled up the h
em of her skirt and reached into her soaking wet panties. "My wife is my favorite meal . . . and I’m fucking starving." I smashed my mouth against hers as she moaned and writhed against me. I ached for her, but I took my time with the kiss. My tongue delved in slow languid motions, as it would when I buried my face between her legs. A devious smile spread across Sam’s face when I pulled back. I took that as her go ahead and dropped to my knees to lift her skirt.
"Mommy!" Joey’s cry pierced through the hallway. I dropped my forehead against Sam’s leg and groaned. My son had supersonic radar whenever I ventured to touch his mother. I lived with an adorable, thirty-pound cockblocker. I had blue balls so much lately, I had no choice but to learn to shorten my recovery time.
Sam gave me a quick peck on the lips as she shimmied her skirt down. "Coming, baby!" Sam whizzed past me to rush into the living room and scoop him up. As she strolled back into the kitchen, Joey flung his arms around her neck and cuddled into her shoulder. No doubt about it, he was a mama’s boy. But so was I, even at forty-something years old. Sam was an amazing mother, and I loved watching the closeness they shared—even though I was always the odd man out.
"Nuggets, Mommy. Please." Sam kissed Joey’s forehead and handed him to me.
"I’ll make them now, little guy. Go watch TV with Daddy until they’re done. Okay?"
Joey whined and reached for Sam, but I pulled him away and tickled his side. "Hey buddy, how about some love for Daddy for a change!" I blew a raspberry into his neck as he giggled and tried to squirm away. "I know Mommy’s pretty, but you have to stop being a hog."
I carried Joey back into the living room and set him down on the floor with his toys. I took my suit jacket off and put on the Christmas tree lights. I wanted a real tree but Sam was too worried about Joey picking up the pine needles. I was getting used to the sell-out, pre-lit crappy tree the past couple of Christmases. Sam was so into Christmas, the tree went up Thanksgiving night. By December fifteenth or so, the damn thing made me sick. But the kids loved it. Even Bella, my too cool for kid stuff newly teenage daughter, loved making ornaments with her brother and helping him hang them from the lower branches of the tree.
"Hey, Dad." Bella burst through the door and dropped her duffle bag next to the coat rack.
"Hey, Butterfly. How was practice?" She gave me a hello hug after she hung up her coat. I was almost six foot two, and Bella already came up to my chest. In the past year, she resembled a young woman more than a little girl. Watching her grow up both filled me with pride and broke my heart.
"Okay, I guess." Joey barreled into his sister’s legs. Bella laughed and picked him up.
"You guess?" My brow furrowed at my daughter. "Did something happen?"
"No, no. It’s fine, Dad." She answered too quickly to be truthful. For the past couple of days, she’d been acting a little off. It was as if there was something she wanted to tell me, but couldn’t. I voiced my concern to Sam and she said I was imagining things. I got the feeling both my girls were hiding something from me.
"Dinner’s ready!" At the sound of Sam’s voice, Bella carried Joey into the dining room without looking back at me. I shrugged and followed.
Bella settled Joey in his seat as Sam put dinner on the table. All of us dug in except for Bella. She pushed her food around with her fork but wasn’t eating. I gazed over at Sam and nodded in Bella’s direction. Sam waved her hand like it was no big deal. Now, I was pissed off. I threw my fork down on the plate and folded my hands as I glared at Bella.
"Bella, enough. What’s—"
"So, Christmas is next week already." Sam swooped in to change the subject. "Joey’s preschool is having a Christmas show Thursday. You can still go, right babe?" The cheerful lift in Sam’s voice raised my suspicions even more.
"Of course, I can." I smiled at my son and he beamed back at me with a mouth full of chicken nuggets. Bella used to be that simple to read once upon a time.
"There’s a Christmas Dance at school on Friday, right, Bella?" Sam raised her eyebrows as she glanced at Bella from across the table. Bella’s nodded as she kept her gaze down. A dance was the big secret?
"It’s not really a Christmas dance. They’re calling it Winter Wonderland," Bella mumbled as she continued to scrape her food back and forth.
"Isn’t the Winter Wonderland dance for sophomores? I think I remember that from the freshman parent meeting." I turned to Sam and she nodded without looking at me.
"Bella, did someone ask you to that dance?" Panic laced through my system as it all clicked in my head. Why Bella was afraid to look me in the eye, and why Sam kept waving me off. Sam squeezed my shoulder as my gaze fixed on my daughter. My beautiful, only fourteen-year-old daughter who was not going out on a date with some older kid. Hell fucking no.
"You know Christian Davis, babe. He lives up the block—"
"That little punk?" I yelled louder than I meant to. "He’s almost sixteen! No."
Sam huffed. "First of all, he’s not a punk. I’ve known him and his family since he was a baby. And second, Bella is almost fifteen. It’s only a three hour dance in the school gym."
"He’s a punk, trust me. I can spot them from a mile away. I never liked that kid’s attitude." Sam rolled her eyes and rubbed her forehead. I took in Bella’s sad eyes but didn’t waver. "Sorry, Bella. The answer is no."
Bella’s eyes filled with tears as she shot up from her seat to storm out of the dining room and up the stairs.
My stomach twisted at seeing her hurt, but I was a teenage boy once—and I remembered all too well what goes through those horny little bastards’ heads. My butterfly wasn’t going near that smartass.
I felt Sam’s glare before I turned my head. "Don’t. And nice how the two of you ganged up on me like that. Lucky for me, I don’t give a shit about being the bad guy." I shrugged and went back to eating.
Sam crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at me. "What is the big deal? It’s a dance. You know how tough it’s been for her this year getting used to high school. And Christian is not a punk. He’s a nice kid and he likes Bella. Can you stop being an ogre for two seconds and trust my judgment?"
"You don’t exactly have the best history on good judgment."
Sam’s eyes went wide as she slowly rose from her seat. Nope, shouldn’t have said that.
"No, I guess I don’t." Sam spit the words at me before she took the same path as Bella away from me. Bringing up her ex-husband probably wasn’t my smartest move. It always bothered me that Marc was a Grade-A asshole, but she married him anyway.
"I guess you’re the only friend I have left, buddy." I turned to Joey and even he had pity in his eyes for his old man as he chewed on his French fry.
"Mommy and Bella got mad." I nodded and dropped my face to my hands as I contemplated who to grovel to first.
* * *
I took Joey upstairs to play in his room and tapped on Bella’s closed door before I inched it open. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt my daughter, but she needed to see where I was coming from. There would be plenty of time for boys later. God help me, why couldn’t she just be a kid for a little while longer?
My heart sank at the sight of Bella sobbing into her pillow as her mother glared at me with murder in her eyes. Sam glowered as she rubbed Bella’s back.
"Let me talk to your dad a moment. We’ll be right back, okay?" Bella nodded into the mattress as Sam marched out her door and into the hallway. I held my gaze on Bella for a minute before I shut the door behind me. In all the years she’d been in my life, this was the first time I caused the tears instead of wiped them away. I didn’t want to be that kind of father. I didn’t want to lose her, and if I didn’t figure out how to stop acting like a fucking tyrant I was scared that’s exactly what would happen.
Sam leaned against the wall and rested her chin on her folded hands. "I’m going to let the bad judgment crack slide. Truth is, as funny as it sounds, I don’t regret marrying Marc. He gave me Bella, and in an odd way led me to you. That is,
when I was ready for you, and we had an actual chance. Plus, sometimes it’s good to know what a real jerk is like so you can clearly see the nice guy come along. You know, when he’s not being a stubborn and unreasonable caveman." The smirk that tickled the side of Sam’s mouth told me I was forgiven—at least by her.
I wrapped my arms around her and buried my head in her neck. "I’m sorry, Baby Girl. I get . . . a little crazy when it comes to the two of you." I gave her a sheepish grin as she kissed my cheek.
"And I love that about you. You swooped into our lives and saved us. You’re our Superman, remember?" She took my face in her hands and I laughed like I usually did whenever she called me Superman. "You talk about me and Joey, but there was never a bigger Daddy’s girl than Bella—from practically the first day you met. Now is not the time for her to be afraid to tell you things. I love Alpha Lucas, but when you deal with her, you need to tone him down."
I narrowed my eyes and nodded towards our bedroom door. "Well, I don’t have to hold him back completely, right?" I cocked an eyebrow as I pulled her closer. Sam shook her head and slid her arms around my waist as she gave me a soft, sensual kiss.
"In there, he has full reign, babe. Always," Sam whispered against my lips. I growled as I bit her bottom lip.
Sam chuckled. "If you say no to this dance, which again is not a big deal, you’re going to start a rift between the two of you. I would hate that, and so would you. Just go in and talk to her, okay?" I nodded and kissed her forehead.
"She can go, but that doesn’t mean she can freely date at fourteen. She’s still too young—"
"I agree. Just explain it to her without being so harsh. I think she’ll understand."
"Mommy, can we watch Iron Man?" Joey tugged on Sam’s skirt and wedged his way between us so he could push me aside. Little guy was exactly like me, all right; relentless as hell and always pushing me out of the way for Sam’s attention.