Casey’s passing was traumatic, and sad. But with every death came life. It was the way of the world. I was missing the happiness of love. The love of someone who adored you, even through your ups and your downs. The love of family, and the love of life. Right now Arson and Rayne were living their lives to the absolute fullest. They had everything they ever wanted right here in this room. I knew what I wanted and I needed to take a leap of faith. I knew there would be heartbreak in my life, but if I got to experience life like this, it would be worth it. I just needed to accept it and never look back. I had so much to give to this world, and I knew that with love by my side, I could do anything.
“Thanks for staying,” Rayne whispered to me, and I squeezed her hand slightly.
“No other place I’d rather be.” I smiled. Arson walked over to me and told me to hold out my arms. When he placed that sweet child in my arms, I was in love. He was so beautiful, and I told his parents as much.
“You guys have a name?” I asked, and brushed my hand over his soft hair. He squirmed but was otherwise calm.
“Cameron Leo Kade.” Rayne smiled and my eyes flew to hers. Tears started sneaking out of my eyes, and finally, after so many weeks of grief, I was crying tears of happiness.
“Really?” I questioned excitedly.
“Yep. After his Auntie Cammy.” She winked and that was all it took for me to take that leap of faith. This was life, this was happiness, and this was love. The ultimate goal in life.
I stayed until they got Rayne set up in the room she would be in overnight, then I left and went home with a smile on my face. I felt like the Cammy I was yesterday was gone. Banished to the depths of the universe. Once I got into my apartment, I packed a ton of clothes, and went into the bathroom for my makeup bag.
I stopped in the doorway and stared at the stick I had totally forgotten. Feeling resolved to be happy either way, I walked over and looked down at the results.
“Two lines,” I smiled, and held it up closer to inspect.
“I’m pregnant.” I hooted. I was pregnant and all I could think about was a little redheaded girl, raising hell just like her mother. I made sure the cap on the stick was tight and put it in my purse, then headed out the door. I left my bags, and everything behind and jumped into my car.
As safely as possible, I sped towards my life of happiness.
Chapter Thirty-two
I parked the car outside the lodge and ran inside.
“Jake!” I called out to see if he was here but heard no answer. Binksie looked up from his bed in the living room and if I knew he wouldn’t scratch the hell out of me I would have hugged him. Instead, I settled for walking over and petting his head.
“I’ve missed you, boy.” He started purring and leaning his head into my hand.
“I’ll pet you more later, okay? Right now I need to find him,” I told the cat and began thinking of where I could find Jake. He wasn’t out by the pregnant Gemma, nor was he within sight. My gaze spotted the ATV and knew he must be walking around on foot. Feeling an opportunity here, I hopped onto the ATV and started searching. If he asked why I was driving it, I would just kiss him and shut him up.
My breath got stuck in my throat when I finally found him. He was helping build the new enclosure for the bear I had read about. When he heard the ATV pull up, he looked over with his hand shading his eyes, trying to see through the sunlight.
I stopped and hopped off, but didn’t move. Neither did he. We just stood there, so many words in our locked gaze. However, one word hung in the air between us like a cord.
Forever.
Our forever wouldn’t happen unless we were together. So I took off and ran towards him. He took a few steps and opened his arms, as I jumped into them, and wrapped my arms around him.
“I love you, Jake Wild. And I’m never leaving you again. You’re my mate for life.” I nestled in his neck, feeling him, and smelling him. Dirt, sweat and all.
“Mine forever.” I could feel his grin against my head. Feeling like we needed to seal our promise with a kiss, I eased back and looked into his eyes. This right here was my missing piece. As our lips met with a promise of forever, my life clicked back into its rightful place. I enjoyed our kiss for a few moments, before the news I had burst out of me.
“Jake.” I tried to pull back, but he wouldn’t let me.
“Jake, I need to tell you something,” I tried again, this time he let me pull back, but only enough so we could see each other’s faces.
“I’m preggers.” I beamed, watching his face for a reaction. Which I didn’t get any. Not quite what I was hoping for, so I started back pedaling a bit.
“In my depressive state, I was an idiot, and forgot about my birth control pills. And as you know, we had sex on the beach, and well, being that you are a big alpha man, your sperm were all about making babies, so I really didn’t have a choice in the matter. I…” He silenced me with a kiss, then groaned against my lips.
“You know when you rattle on like that, it turns me on like nothing else, sweetheart.” I felt the evidence of that growing as he spoke.
“Right.” I nodded.
“You’re having my baby?” he purred against my lips. I liked it when he did this.
“Yep. You ready for two of me?” I teased.
“Lord help us all.” I was about to go off on him for that response, but if I was being honest, he was right. Mini-me and I would rule the world. Our lips connected again, and with the sounds of the animals roaring in what I interpreted as approval, we jumped back into the pages of our beautiful story of love.
We spent the rest of the day helping with the new bear enclosure and our night wrapped in sheets, enjoying our new forever.
The morning sun woke us up. Yeah, Jake slept in with me. I was shocked to wake up with him still holding me in his arms.
“Rayne had the baby yesterday. I really want to go see them. Wanna go with?” I smiled, hoping that would help influence him to go with me.
“Sure.” He kissed my forehead and I snuggled against him, enjoying this moment of waking up together. After another ten minutes of snuggling, I had the urge to pee so we decided it was time to get up. Jake checked in with Derek to make sure things were calm enough for him to sneak away for a few hours, and I cleaned up, and dressed myself in a cute green sundress. As soon as Jake finished checking in, we left in his truck and drove to the hospital—stopping for a bacon egg and cheese biscuit on the way, of course. Mimi-me needed breakfast.
Rayne and Arson were snuggling their sweet baby when we walked through the door.
“Hey, parental! How was the first night?” I plopped down on the couch, while Jake stood next to me.
“Pretty good. He ate through most of it, so not very much sleep for us. But he exhausted a lot of energy being born and all, he needed to fill up.” Rayne smiled but you could tell she was tired.
“Fun stuff,” I commented. I mentally crossed my fingers that our baby was a sleeper like me.
“So I see you guys are back together. Does this mean you told him?” Rayne was looking at me with a happy gleam in her eyes, while I had a gleam of confusion staring back at her.
“Huh?” I cocked my head to the side.
“That you’re having his baby.” She shook her head like it was ridiculous she had to answer that question. Arson choked and had to cough out his surprise.
“How did you know?” My voice was a little loud, but honestly, I was shocked she knew. She rolled her eyes.
“You left your stick on the counter in the bathroom. Not very discrete, babe.” Well, there you go. I blushed a little, remembering how I had completely forgotten about the stick and freaked out about getting her to the hospital. Everyone in the room laughed. Which made little Cameron wake up. He squealed and Rayne took him to her breast to feed. Jake discretely averted his eyes and we all started chatting about babies, the rescue, and just enjoying life together.
At this moment, besides waiting to have our own little bundle of j
oy, I couldn’t imagine life getting any better.
About a month had passed since I came back to the rescue, and man I had been so unbelievably busy. After much consideration, I had come to the conclusion that while I still loved my salon and everything that it entailed, it was no longer my passion.
Mary mentioned that she would love to buy it from me, and I agreed. Together we worked out a plan where she would rent to own with me. I taught her well and I knew she would do my baby right. It was hard to come to that final decision, but I knew it was the right one. I wanted this life. I wanted to be here on the rescue, making a difference and raising our child. One day while I was perusing through the gift shop looking at all the things I wanted to buy the baby, an idea hit me. An idea that was all me and was close to my heart, so I went back to the lodge and drew out my thoughts.
Three bananas, and one pee break later, I looked over my design.
It was a T-shirt with a tiger head on the front; underneath the tiger it said I am their voice. I was going to start a movement. On the back of the shirt it had #CaseysLegacy. I would tell Casey’s story and create awareness to end cub petting. It was a start, and I wanted to do it. I would have the girls brand it, and we would have everyone tweeting, instagramming, and sharing the hashtag worldwide. Jake looked over my drawing later that night and thought it was a great Idea.
He was a happy man that I was here with him, in his life, a part of this mission to help the animals, and with his child growing rapidly in my belly. Before we fell asleep, we started talking about building a house back by the edge of the property, near the shed that housed his sexy beast of a car. I wanted a little more privacy, and a pool. We lived in Florida. I wanted a pool.
The next day I woke up to a note that told me to meet Jake out by the cheetah’s enclosure. It was around 8:30 in the morning, and I figured I might as well get up. I dressed quickly and walked out to the habitat, but not before grabbing a granola bar on the way out. There was a camera guy set up again for another YouTube video, with Jake ready to be filmed. I noticed something green hanging from one of the trees and the cat was in its little nook.
“What’s this video about?” I alerted everyone to my presence with a question. When Jake’s eyes met mine, he smirked. Oh, that smirk. So hot and so infuriating at the same time.
“Piñatas,” he finally answered. I looked over towards the green thing in the tree and noticed it was indeed a piñata. One in the shape of an M. Weird, but okay. I would have gone for a unicorn, personally.
“Ready to shoot?” the camera guy asked Jake, and he nodded. He made a quick joke about how the cats like piñatas and celebrating a special day. I ran through my mental list of holidays and came up with none for today. However, maybe it was a feline version of Cinch de Mayo or something. Or maybe someone’s birthday? We walked around to all the enclosures that had the piñatas set up and I realized that they were all letters.
M.
A.
R.
R.
Y.
M.
As we watched the lion about to attack the last piñata of the day, something in my mind made me purse my lips. Why all the letters? I went through them in my head and took in the one that the lion had knocked down.
E. A fucking purple E.
Shock ran over my face and then I saw that the camera was no longer on the cat, but on me. Oh my God. I looked at Jake just as he took a step towards me, and bent down onto one knee. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the most beautiful ring I had ever seen.
“Cammy sweetheart Jennings, will you be the Nala to my Simba and marry me? Be my wife, my mate forever?” He smiled, obviously very proud of his little joke, but I laughed and lunged for him.
“Yes, you ridiculous man!” I kissed him and he slid the ring on my finger.
Our life was perfect. No wall we needed was to welcome our baby into the world and complete the puzzle in our perfect life.
** To date, the video of Jake proposing to me with the big cats’ piñatas was on YouTube’s top 100 most viewed videos of all time. *
Epilogue
Andrew Williams, a friend of Casey Wild
Sixteen years later
I wiped the sweat from my head as I pushed the lawn mower across the large front yard. I noticed Casey from the corner of my eye, heading toward me with a lemonade in her hand. I turned off the engine and smiled at her. She was a sweet girl, but a hellfire.
“Brought you some lemonade.” She smiled and handed it over to me. I gulped it down like a man would in the desert. August in Florida felt like the desert.
“Thanks.” I handed it back to her.
“When you’re done, do you want to hang out in the pool for a bit?” She bit her bottom lip, and as tempting as that was, I was in love with someone else, and our classmate Cameron had warned everyone off trying to date this girl. Everyone except her could see that the guy was all in for her. My guess was, he was just biding his time, giving her a chance to realize it herself. Cam was a go-getter type of guy, like his dad, the fighter. He would get what he wanted, and hell if I was going to get my ass beat by that kid for looking at Casey in any way other than friendship.
“I have to head home afterwards. Mom needs me to help with her garden.” I turned her down nicely and she nodded, but walked away muttering something about a caveman. Maybe she was closer to realizing things than I had thought. The sound of their front door opening brought my attention dead ahead of me. About a quarter of a football field away, Casey’s mom walked out in just her bikini, toward her car.
She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. She was perfect in every way. You would have never even known that she had given birth to Casey, by the way she looked.
Her long red hair was down and bouncing as she walked, and her skin looked so soft and delicate. But I knew she was just like her daughter—a hellfire. With a slight puff to my chest, I knew I could handle her.
When she turned on the hose and started washing the old mustang that was in the driveway, things started to stir in my pants. She was so sexy and she wasn’t even trying. I watched as she started sponging the car and tossing her hair around. She wiggled her hips to a tune playing in her head and I enjoyed every moment of it. It was like she was performing just for me. A dream come true.
She broke out into dance while getting soaking wet, then suddenly froze. Her eyes were on her husband, who was watching her, shaking his head, and smiling. I saw even from here the blush on her cheeks, as she turned off the water and walked inside, looking guilty.
I watched as Casey’s dad walked inside after her, with a huff from my lips.
He didn’t know what to do with a woman like that. I would. I know it might sound wrong, but I was in love with Casey’s mom.
Read the First Chapter of
The Final KO
Rayne and Arson’s story
Chapter One
Everyone loves a good ice cream body sundae
“Does it hurt when you get kicked in the face?” asked Holt, the man I was currently on a date with. I bit my lip trying to not just blurt out that he was an idiot. After mentally counting to ten, I felt like I could answer nicely.
“Yes, getting hit anywhere hurts, but you don’t really think about it much when you’re in the octagon.” I took a sip of my wine and prayed the waiter brought us the check soon.
It wasn’t that Holt wasn’t attractive or that he was a bad guy, he was pretty nice, actually. He was around six foot, a little on the smaller than average size, and he wasn’t built, but you could tell he worked out. He had pretty brown eyes and sandy blond hair. He had opened doors for me, held out my chair, treated me with respect, and tried to engage in conversation with me. I should have been begging him to give me his babies, right?
Wrong. He was too sweet, and while I was sure he would make some librarian woman very happy, I, on the other hand, fought in the MMA for a living. I loved it; it was a passion. My friend Cammy had set me up with this g
uy, thinking he would sweep me off my feet, but as soon as I’d seen him I had called how the date would go. He just wasn’t man enough for me.
The sound of his cell phone ringing brought me back to reality. He reached down into his pocket to see who it was, then pushed it back into his slacks.
“Sorry, my mom was wondering how the date was going.” He smiled knowingly, like I knew the feeling of having a caring mother. I did, but she wasn’t involved in my love life. I tried to keep that information from her because she was a sex therapist, and she loved to try and help me in the love department. I smiled and sipped some more wine. I was going to have to pee really bad after this date.
“So, I’ve probably got a few more hours before she will wonder when I’m coming home; would you like to do something else? Maybe see a movie?”
I almost spit that sip of good wine all over the table. After swallowing, I couldn’t keep it in anymore.
“You live with your mom?”
He smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, she’s been going through a rough time. Got divorced from her second husband two years ago. She needs the company. It’s nice though, I rarely have to cook anything.” I could tell he was truly happy about his life.
“Well, good for you. I’m gonna go, this isn’t going to work out for me. I’m looking for something different. Have a good night.” I pulled a hundred out of my clutch and knew that would cover the bill and then some. I didn’t want to sit there anymore with the sweet mamma’s boy.
“Are you sure? I thought we had something. We could go get ice cream and walk in the park?” He was so sweet and sincere, it was almost painful.
“Unless you are going to lick the ice cream off my tits and fuck me hard in the park, then yeah, I’m sure.” The shocked look on his face told me he would not be doing that. Shame. I waved goodbye and turned to leave the restaurant. Some of the people looked at me as I walked by and I could see the recognition flare in them.
The Final Chase (Final Love Book 2) Page 15