Take A Chance

by Micalea Smeltzer

  “And why is that?” The question came out as a breathless whisper.

  “Because,” he lowered his lips until they grazed the shell of my ear. “You have no fucking idea how bad I want to kiss you right now.”

  His fingers smoothed through my hair, further smearing the icing lodged there, and his eyes roamed all over my face before settling on my mouth.

  His tongue flicked out and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Those lips were made to kiss mine.”

  Before I could form a coherent response he rolled off of my body and into a standing position. He held out a hand and helped me up, purposely holding me close to his body for a moment before letting go. That one moment was enough to further shake my already jumbled insides. He smelled downright lickable…which was plausible considering he was covered in cake and icing.

  While we were on the floor the food fight must have ceased because no one was throwing anything anymore and the employees were looking on with disgust at the mess.

  Hayes clapped his hands together, drawing attention to himself. “Considering we’re all a mess I think it would be best if we moved on to the present opening before these lovely people over here kill us.” He pointed at the employees and then hissed behind his hand, “They have murder in their eyes.”

  Maddox snorted and Mathias shook his head. Mathias had a dollop of icing on the end of his nose and Remy promptly leaned over to lick it off, eliciting a chuckle from his throat.

  Hayes’ parents were covered in cake too, and I wasn’t even surprised they’d partaken in the madness.

  Hayes sat down and I followed suit, scooping up Mia and sitting her in my lap.

  Hayes reached for a present and Mia smacked her chubby palm against his muscular arm. “Mine first.” She pointed at the purple gift bag—I’d tried to talk her into a manlier birthday bag, but purple was her favorite color so she thought Hayes would like it too.

  “Which one?” He asked her.

  “Dat one.” She pointed again, wiggling her finger around.

  He grabbed the one she indicated and held it up. When she nodded her head enthusiastically he set it in front of him and started pulling out the tissue paper.

  His lips quirked with the threat of laughter as he held up the alligator shaped cheese grater.

  “This is a wonderful gift Ms. Mia. Thank you. I’m going to use this every day for all of my cheese shredding needs.”

  She clapped her hands together and wiggled out of my hold, reaching for Hayes. He took her and his eyes widened in surprise when she kissed his cheek. Blushing, she bashfully hid her face in the crook of his neck. Hayes smiled widely and smoothed his hand against her back.

  I couldn’t help smiling at him with my daughter. It was a beautiful thing that she had taken so quickly to Hayes. But if I let him into my life and then things didn’t work out I feared what it might do to her. Her dad had already abandoned her before birth, so what kind of psychological effect would it have on her if I let a man into my life again only for him to leave too?

  Hayes grabbed another gift, and I forced my thoughts away.

  When he got to my gift I bit my lip nervously. It wasn’t much, but what did you get a guy that had everything?

  He pulled it out of the gift bag, flipping through the pages.

  I’d ended up getting him one of my favorite books and while in the parking lot I’d sat and made notations throughout it, pointing out my favorite quotes, and my thoughts while reading.

  “Thanks Arden,” he glanced at me, “this is really special.”

  I worried my bottom lip between my teeth. “It’s just a book.”

  “No,” he shook his head, reaching up to rub his forehead and further smearing the icing there, “it’s more than that.” The way his voice dropped it seemed like he was leaving something unsaid, but I was afraid to say anything in front of everybody.

  “I’m glad you like it.” The words were clogged with barely contained emotion—an emotion I couldn’t even begin to decipher.

  I didn’t know what this boy was doing to me, and at this moment he wasn’t even trying to woo me with sweet words or the caress of his fingers. I didn’t know how I’d managed to avoid him for so long, because from where I was sitting there was no denying that there was something between us. Something infinitely more than a one night stand. It was a connection that if we followed it, it might lead us down the road of the greatest adventure of our life. But all roads had bumps, and I was afraid ours might be filled with craters.

  His blue eyes sought mine and the way his softened with understanding it was like he was saying that he knew why I’d stayed away, but determination still glimmered in his eyes and I knew nothing I did or said was going to get me out of the date I promised him.

  When he looked away the spell was broken and I hastily stood, grabbing Mia from his arms. “Well, we should be getting out of here.”

  Before anyone could blink I hurried out of the building and to my car.

  I was finished buckling Mia into her car seat when the sound of sneakers hitting pavement assaulted my ears.

  I closed the car door and turned around to face Hayes.

  His normally perfectly coifed hair was now a mess, but it only served to make him look even more handsome, and to remind me of what he looked with it mused from my fingers.

  He stopped in front of me, so close that his sneakers nearly touched the tips of my shoes.

  “You ran away so quick that I couldn’t even say goodbye.”

  I shrugged, feigning that I was completely unaffected by his presence. I was such a liar. “I remembered I had to get home and check something.”

  “Check something?” He repeated, fighting laughter. “What exactly was it that you had to check?”

  “Uh…”

  He pressed his arms on either side of the car behind me, effectively caging me in. “Don’t try to lie to me, Arden, it’s unbecoming of you.”

  My skin pricked with awareness at his close proximity.

  He lowered his head, skimming his nose along the bare expanse of my neck.

  “What are you doing to me?” I asked breathlessly.

  “Seducing you,” he replied with a soft chuckle. “Resist all you want, Little Bird, but I’m not giving up on you.”

  “Little Bird?” I don’t know why those were the words that I latched onto.

  “Yes, Little Bird,” he repeated, his lips barely touching my neck, “because whenever I touch you your heart speeds up so fast that it reminds me of the beating of a baby bird’s wings.”

  I pressed my hands to the flat expanse of his chest, in the plans of pushing him away, but somehow my treacherous fingers ended up wrapping around the fabric and holding him to me so that he couldn’t get away.

  He rested his forehead against mine, staring into my eyes and straight down into my soul that yearned so desperately for his. It begged me to give in and see where things might go, but one date was all I was giving him—giving us. I couldn’t risk more. I’d never been a gambler, but I’d once put all my money on a sure bet and he ended up hurting me in more ways than one person should be hurt. And Hayes? He was a wild card for sure. He would shake me up and spit me out, but the question was would he still be there to catch me when I fell? He was a player, plain and simple, and I didn’t know if I could trust that I was different.

  But my God I didn’t think I could stay away any longer either.

  One day with him—hell, not even a whole day—and he’d already crumbled every single wall I’d built around myself the last two months.

  It was more than his charm and good looks.

  It was just him.

  “It’s my birthday,” his breath skirted over my cheek, “therefore I think I should get a kiss.”

  Oh God.

  I knew I should push him away, I really did, but instead I only held on tighter.

  It was like I was under a spell. Those blue eyes of his had hypnotized me, that was my story and I was sticking to it.

 
; “One kiss?” I asked breathlessly, not having forgotten that my daughter sat in the car where my back was pressed.

  “Only one,” he tilted my head back, “but I fully plan on making it count.”

  He slanted his mouth over mine stealing the words on the tip of my tongue and swallowing them. I let out a soft moan and his own drowned out the sound. He cupped my face between his hands holding me as his willing prisoner.

  My mind shut down and my body took over.

  I stood onto my tiptoes, grasping at the longer strands of his hair, and licked my tongue between his parted lips.

  He let out a soft groan, nibbling my bottom lip before stroking his tongue over the same spots where he’d just peppered small bites.

  His hands slid from my face, down to my waist, where he grasped my hips.

  My body arched completely into his and his tall frame shadowed over me.

  With one last sweep of his tongue he pulled away and brushed his lips against my ear.

  “Dream about me tonight.”

  When I opened my eyes he was gone, but the imprint of his lips still lingered on mine.

  DREAM ABOUT ME tonight.

  Those four words kept replaying in my mind as I drove home. I would never tell him, but I’d been dreaming about him almost every night. Actually, it was more like a memory than a dream as my brain looped every detail of the night I spent wrapped in his arms. Even in sleep my brain was trying to tell me how good it was with Hayes—how what he made me feel shouldn’t be denied.

  My thoughts and feelings were a complicated and twisted mess.

  I’d spent enough time with Hayes, before I started avoiding him, to develop real feelings. But it was difficult to decipher exactly what those feelings were. Was it simply lust? Or was it more?

  The way my chest clenched and my body hummed with electricity I knew it was more than lust.

  Sweat dampened my skin.

  I was so screwed.

  This was bad, really bad.

  I pulled into the driveway of my modest two-bedroom house. It was small, with only one bathroom and a kitchen you could barely turn around in, but it was home and I loved it.

  I pulled a sleepy Mia from the car and carried her inside and straight to the bathroom. I started a tub of warm water and stripped off her icing covered dress.

  I lifted her into the bathtub and the bubbles foamed around her.

  She giggled, grabbing some and making a fake beard around her chin.

  “Look at me, momma! I haz a beard!”

  “Yes you do silly girl.” I tweaked her nose.

  “Read me a stowy,” she pleaded with wide blue eyes.

  I narrowed mine on her. “What do we say?”

  “Pwease and tank you?”

  “That’s right.” I smiled down at her.

  I was so thankful to have my daughter. Despite the shit I was put through by my ex I couldn’t regret Mia. She was the bright light in my otherwise dull life. “Which story do you want?”

  “Um…” She put a finger to her lips. “Ariel!”

  “Ah, The Little Mermaid. I should’ve known.”

  I grabbed the large storybook and sat down on the tiled floor.

  “I wanna be a mermaid when I grows up,” Mia chimed, kicking the water.

  “Don’t do that baby,” I scolded lightly. “You’ll get the book wet.”

  “Sowwy.” She ceased her kicking and sat still, waiting for me to start reading.

  I flipped to the right page and began to read. Mia sat, listening with rapt attention despite the fact that she’d heard this story a million times.

  When I finished the story I set the book aside and washed her hair.

  Once she was clean I dressed her in pajamas, even though it would still be a while before she went to bed, and put a movie on for her in the living room.

  I showered as quickly as I could, hating to leave Mia unsupervised for even a second, but it was necessary to remove the hardened icing from my hair and skin.

  Once I was clean I put my hair up in a messy bun and dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt.

  Mia was still right where I left her and I sat down on the couch beside her. Immediately, without tearing her eyes away from the screen, she crawled into my lap.

  I grabbed the fluffy blanket off the back of the couch and fixed it around us both.

  Mia snuggled even closer to me and I brushed my lips against the top of her head. “I love you baby girl.”

  “I know, momma.”

  I couldn’t help but grin at her response. It warmed my heart to know that my daughter knew I loved her. I never wanted her to ever doubt that. She was my world. She had been since the moment I knew she was growing inside me, and it would remain that way until I took my last breath.

  I eased the door closed to Mia’s room and backed down the hallway.

  I turned the lights off in the living room and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

  I’d started in the direction of my bedroom when I heard a soft knock on the front door.

  I froze mid-step. No one knocked on my door.

  I set the bottle of water down and tiptoed into the living room and stood by the window beside the front door in the small foyer. I edged back the curtain, barely risking a peep out the window.

  When I recognized the tall figure all of the worry seeped out of my body.

  I threw the door open and hissed, “You scared me!”

  “Sorry.” He raised one hand in surrender, a box clasped in the other. “Can I come in?” He swept two fingers to the side, indicating the living room.

  “Uh…”

  “Excellent. You’re so kind.” He breezed right past me, through the living room, and into the kitchen.

  Stunned, I closed the door and followed after him.

  He’d set the box on the kitchen table and proceeded to poke at my coffee maker.

  “What are you doing?” I stepped up behind him, trying to peer over his shoulder but since he was a giant my efforts were futile.

  “Trying to make coffee, obviously.” He said in a sassy tone.

  “Don’t break my coffee maker.” I shoved at his heavy body, but didn’t succeed in moving him even an inch. “Move. Let me do it.”

  He sighed and stepped aside.

  “Why exactly am I making coffee?” I asked as I reached for the filters in the cabinet above.

  “I brought cake.”

  “Cake?” I glanced over at him. “Why?”

  “Because you ended up wearing it, not eating it. I thought you and Mia might like some.”

  I leaned back, scrutinizing the box on the table. “That looks like a new cake.” While the coffee began to perk I walked over to the table and picked up the box. Yeah, it was definitely a new cake and not the remnants of his original birthday cake. “Why does it say Happy 50th Birthday Barbara?”

  Hayes bent over me to look at the cake. “Shit, I must’ve grabbed the wrong one. I was going to get one with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it but then I got distracted.”

  “By what?”

  “Well, someone recognized me and then there was a lot of screaming, some tears, and some declarations of desires to birth my children. So when that happened I grabbed the first cake I could get my hands on and ran out of there…I also forgot to pay. Fuck. I should probably call the store.”

  “What store was this?” Curiosity was taking over.

  “Walmart.”

  I snorted. “You mean to tell me that you, Joshua Hayes, willingly went into Walmart to buy a cake?”

  He paused, scrutinizing my face. “I also had to buy toilet paper. Forgot that, though.”

  I snorted, covering my face with my hands. “I can’t take anything you say seriously.”

  “Hey, I can be serious,” he defended, the warmth of his body leaving mine as he began opening cabinets in search of coffee mugs, “but life would be pretty miserable without laughter. Aha!” He cried, finally finding the mugs. He grabbed one
and began to laugh. “Mickey Mouse? Really, Arden?”

  “Mia saw it and insisted I buy it. She’s a bit Disney obsessed. Hopefully I’ll be able to take her to Disney World sometime. Although, she might pass out from excitement.”

  He chuckled and set the mug down, pouring the steaming hot liquid inside. “Where is she anyway? With her dad?” He looked around.

  I swallowed thickly. I didn’t know how much Hayes might know from Sadie about my ex, but I figured it couldn’t be a lot since even she didn’t know the whole story.

  “He’s not in the picture.”

  Hayes stared at me for a moment, seeming to read so much in the hollowness of my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not.” I shrugged.

  He shook his head. “I’m not sorry for the reason you’re thinking.”

  “Then what are you sorry for?” I asked, confusion coating my words.

  He stepped towards me and my small gasp echoed through the kitchen as he smoothed his calloused fingers against my cheek. “I’m sorry that he hurt you, but I’m not sorry that he’s out of your life. Because if he wasn’t gone I wouldn’t be standing right here with you, where I’m meant to be.”

  “Hayes—” I started.

  “No,” he said firmly, clasping my face between his large hands, “don’t try to deny it. I see it in your eyes. You know we belong together just as much as I do. You’ve been skirting around this for months. Remember this summer? At the beach house and all the time we spent together? Not once did I try to make a move even though I wanted to. I know you want to believe that this is just sex for me, but it’s not. That night with you…” He closed his eyes briefly, swallowing thickly. “It was fucking amazing, but one night will never be enough with you. Hell, I’m not even sure the rest of my life would give me enough time to get my fill of you.”

  “This is…it’s too sudden.”

  He dragged a breath into his lungs and nodded his head as he stepped away.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself.” He smiled wryly. “My mom always did tell me I liked to push things too far, too fast, and that the most important things in life take time.” He nodded at his own words. “You owe me one date and I’ll stick to my word that after that date the ball’s in your court. But Arden?”