by Amy Muscat
“Keller…” I say nothing more because I can't; my voice has deserted me. But I do pull him into my arms and give him a big hug. “Listen to me, and listen to me good, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You are the only person she wants in that hospital room with her. The only man she wants at her side, and you are fucking super-Dad! The way you are with Ivy leaves me in awe. You came in, meet the daughter you never knew you had and took charge. Not many men out there would’ve been able to do what you did, Keller. Now go into that room, and be the man I know you are, take charge and don’t be a pussy about things, and be the man that my best friend needs.”
I watch as shock crosses his face for a second, but I shrug. What? He knows I'm blunt as Hell, so this shouldn’t surprise him.
“I love you, Charlotte Carter. You're like the sister I never had,” Keller says to me, placing a kiss on my head.
“I love you too, Keller James. You're the best non-big brother I always wanted, but if you call me Charlotte ever again; I'll kick you in the balls, and guarantee you’ll never have anymore babies.” I say raising a cheeky eyebrow at him.
His handsome face breaks out into a big smile, and he wraps his arm around my shoulder as we walk back into the living room.
“I DON’T THINK I want any babies after seeing that,” Lottie says as she rocks the baby in her arms.
I grimace remembering Peyton's shouts and screams of agony from outside the room. Peyton's Mom and Dad had missed the whole thing; something that I knew had gutted her mom. Peyton had asked Lottie to take over the position of her mom. So she had been in there for the whole five hours that Peyton was in labor. She looked slightly traumatized after the whole thing, but when I look at her face, she smiles down at the baby.
“But I know you were totally worth the pain you and your big brother just put your mumma through. So I think I'll reconsider.”
When she looks up at me hovering over her, I smile at her, feeling my heart burst with love for this woman.
Wyatt Cameron James, weighing 6.3 pounds was born at 8:43 pm and Lilly Charlotte James was born at 8:58 pm weighing 5.9 pounds.
They were fucking beautiful: Wyatt had his Dad’s coloring with his dark brown eyes, but Lilly had Peyton's everything; she came out with a shock of red hair, Peyton's small button nose, and I'm betting when she gets over the stage every baby has of having blue eyes, she’ll have her stunning emerald-green eyes.
The proud mom and Dad were sitting up in Peyton's bed, Keller has Ivy in his lap while Peyton had Wyatt in her arms and Ivy was softly stroking Wyatt’s leg.
It was a beautiful moment, and I was honoured to be here to share it.
But I stood up as I watch Peyton trying to cover her yawning, but there was no stifling the tiredness radiating from her face.
“Lottie, we should go, Angel.” She pouts. “Come on, we’ll be back tomorrow, Peyton's tired,” I tell her, and Lottie looks over to her best friend and sees what I see, and reluctantly agrees. She stands up and walks over.
“We’re gonna go and leave you guys to get some sleep. Munchkin, you ready for our sleepover?” Ivy nods excitedly.
“Yeah Aunty Lottie,” she whispers.
“Okay, I just want to do something first. I want you to get in-between mummy and daddy,” Ivy does as she's told, and then Lottie hands over Lilly over to Keller, before stepping back and pulling her cell out from her purse.
She takes picture after picture, all the while having the happiest smile on her face.
“Okay, come on then Munchkin, let's go.”
Keller and Peyton give Ivy a kiss and tell her they love her and that they’ll see her tomorrow. Lottie leans over, gives Lilly a kiss on her forehead before whispering something to Keller that makes him grin, and give her a kiss on the cheek. I think Keller is the only other man that I'm fine with, other than her Dad, to touch my girl. Any other man tries and I'd break his fucking jaw.
Lottie walks around to Peyton's side of the bed and does the same with her, as I lean down and say my goodbyes to Keller.
“Congrats again, man. You have one beautiful family, bud. I mean that.”
“Thanks, man,” Keller says getting slightly choked up.
I move over to Peyton and give the momma a kiss, and stroke a finger down Wyatt’s face; he’s so tiny and soft.
“Night momma,”
“Night Blake, take care of my girls, please?” Peyton's tired voice says to me, as she smiles gently up at me.
“Always.”
“OH GOD, I'M knackered.” Lottie groans as she collapses in bed face first.
“Me too,” I say and lay on top of her. I hear her grunt from below.
“Get off me you big oaf,” she laughs.
I chuckle but lift off of her, slapping her lightly on the ass as I do. She flips over and looks up at me, with what I’m presuming are her evil eyes.
“You don’t scare me, Beauty, so there's no point looking at me like that,” I tell her as I drag my t-shirt over my head. Once I drop it on the floor of her bedroom, I see that her eyes are fixated on my chest, and in response I clench my muscles making her eyes shot up to me. “Caught ya,” I say wiggling my eyebrows at her.
She blushes the slightest pink but tries to brush it off. It doesn’t matter; I've seen it, and I love how she looks at me.
“Let's go shower, Angel,” I say holding my hand out for her to take.
“Can’t be bothered.”
I bend and pick her up, slinging her over my shoulder, and walk us to her en-suite.
“Too bad.”
“Blake!” She whisper-shouts, obviously trying to keep her voice down; Ivy's asleep a couple of doors down.
I pull her off of my shoulder and deposit her back on solid ground.
She lightly slaps my chest, before spinning around and turning the shower on. When she's looking back at me, I undo the button of my jeans and lower the zipper, before pushing the denim down my legs along with my boxer shorts.
I stand buck-ass naked, and gesture for her to strip off, too. She complies, and before I know it she's naked and I'm hard-as-rock. Great.
She holds her hand out to me, and I willingly follow her into the shower. She steps under the water and wets her hair and body, before moving over allowing me to do the same. I feel the hot water splash against my body, but I pay it no attention; the Angel standing in front of me has it all.
Blonde hair, darker from the water, stuck to her back, face clear of any makeup, and a smile that’s just for me. This woman is the dream woman every man craves. The kind of woman every man would give his right arm for. And she's all mine.
“Come here, Angel.”
She steps closer until our slick bodies are touching, and I watch as her body automatically relaxes against mine as I hold her in my arms. I unwrap one hand from her waist and lift it to her cheek, where leans into my palm.
“I love you, Lottie.”
“I love you too, Blake.”
Just hearing those words are like a balm to my soul. They’re the only five words that mean everything to me.
“Move in with me,” I blurt. Shit, it wasn’t meant to come out like that.
Smooth Blake, real fucking smooth.
Goddamnit.
Her mouth drops open in shock, obviously she wasn’t expecting that.
“Blake… don’t you think it’s a little too soon?” She inquires, a frown pulling her brows together.
I smooth the crease out and tell her the truth. “No. No, I don’t think it’s too soon.”
“But…but.” She stutters.
“But what, Lottie? You love me right?” She nods without hesitation. “Right, and I love you with everything I am, Charlotte Carter. And I would love it if you would do me the honor of moving in with me…” I'm nervous, I never really thought she would say no, just assumed she would be over the moon about it.
Fuck!
“Blake… it’s not that I don’t love you, or even that I don’t want move in
with you because I would love that. It’s just…”
“Just what?” I snap, apprehensive about what she was going to say.
“I just don’t know if you really want that or not.” What? I'm completely baffled. Why would she think I'm not ready when I was the one who asked her to move in? “Blake, moving in with someone, moving out of your place and into another’s, takes a lot of trust–”
“I trust you!” I shout, interrupting her.
“Do you?” She asks quietly, looking down to my chest absentmindedly rubbing along my angel tattoo.
Yes! “Yes, I do. I promise I do. How can I prove it to you? Lottie please?” I beg when she stands there quietly.
“Move in with me,” she breathes. Now she's looking up at me, blinking away some of the water that runs down her face.
I gasp. Move in with her? Could I do that? Looking at her, and the hurt expression on her face, as I take my time with my answer, makes up my mind quick enough.
“Okay. Yes, Charlotte Carter, I'll move in with you.” I grin at her, as I watch the biggest smile grace her beautiful face, as she flings her arms around me.
“Really?” She asks after she leans back. “You really trust our relationship that much?”
“Angel…” Lottie is a literature buff, and I knew the way into her head was to say something to wow her. “‘The best proof of love is trust.’”
Lottie gasps. She looks thoroughly shocked and I love that I did that to her.
“Did… Did you just quote Joyce Brothers?” She asks breathlessly.
“I don’t know who said it, angel, but I read it somewhere a couple of days ago, and it just made me think of us. I liked the quote and saved it in my head to recite to you one day, and that one day is apparently today.” I say shrugging, and pulling her closer to me. Both of us are now under the big showerhead, but I duck mine so there isn’t a ton of water getting splashed on her still shocked face. “What I'm saying, Lott's, is that I love you with every piece of my heart, and I trust you with my everything. I'll move in with you, if that’s what you want, shit I'll even run around New York shouting how much I love you if that’s what it takes. I'd do anything for you, Angel…” I'm shut up as Lottie smashes her lips to mine, and her legs wrap around my hips as I grip her ass and lift her up.
When we come up for air, she says, “So what you’re saying is that I'm trusted by you?”
“For fuck’s sake woman. Yes! Yes, you're trusted by me, yes you're loved by me; you're everything by me. Now, shut the fuck up and kiss me.”
But before she does, she says one more thing that mends any little crack my heart has gone through over the years.
“I trust you, too. I trust you with my heart, my love, my fucking everything. I love you, Blake.” Thank fuck. “So yes, I'll move in with you because I am trusted by you.”
Oh, God. This woman can be so exasperating sometimes, but I wouldn’t change her for the world.
The End.
Acknowledgements
To my family for putting up with me, I love all of you to the moon and back.
To my Gils, thank you for always being there.
To my Beta readers, Rhiannon, Sirenda, Nicole, and Hannah. I love you girls. Thank you so much for all of your pointers.
My editor, Laura, thank you for putting up with me, I know I can be a pain in the arse!
Melissa Gil for my awesome book cover.
Thanks to Kylie from Give Me Books for an awesome blog tour!
To all the bloggers, for sharing and participating in my blog tour, you guys rock.
Thanks to my formatter Cassy Roop from Pink Ink Designs, for making my book look fantastic!
Thanks to Jake for helping me out with a certain scene.
And last but not least, thank you to every single one of you’s for reading Trusted by You. I hope you loved Blake and Lottie's story as much as I loved writing it.
If you can spare two minutes of your time, I would appreciate it if you could leave a review on amazon.
Thank you so much!
Love
Amy Muscat Xx