by Amie Knight
I woke up when the sun was high in the sky the next day. I had our story clutched in my arms still and I realized I must have cried myself to sleep after I’d thrown a grieving Holden out of my hospital room. For the first time in what felt like forever I felt normal, lighter even.
Coffee could wait and coffee could never wait, but I needed to know where Holden had been the last three months. Why he hadn’t come for me. Why he hadn’t demanded I see him in true Holden fashion.
I went to the bathroom and did my business, scrubbed my teeth clean quickly, and jumped back in bed with Holden’s book.
I read of Holden’s sixty-day stint of in-patient therapy for his PTSD. About how he talked all day to people he hardly knew and how he hated it. I learned that he couldn’t sleep, so at night he’d write. He’d write our story and he loved it.
Through the sleepless nights and the infuriating, never-ending days, I thought of her and she got me through. Because I wanted to be there for her. I wanted to be a better man for her. I knew I wouldn’t be perfect. I knew I’d have hard days, but when I went back to my Mae, I wanted to be as whole as I could be.
But above all else, I learned that he missed me. More than anything, he thought of me. He missed me. He still dreamed of me through it all. It elated me. It devastated me. I’d let him go. I’d made him leave me. And he went through all of this without me.
I knocked on the door to Emily Davies’s home, scared to death, but knowing I had to do it. It was only right. I should have checked on her before now.
The door swung open and she greeted me with a slow smile. “Holden Steel,” she said affectionately and my heart already felt lighter even as I loathed what I was about to tell her.
I cried buckets and buckets with Emily and Holden as he told her how her husband had saved his life in the desert that day, to only die a few minutes later carrying Holden to safety. I smiled through my tears when she told him that it wasn’t his fault.
I learned the past few weeks he’d been staying at Harper’s and writing and writing. I wondered why he just hadn’t come for me.
I breathed a sigh of relief even as a tear of sorrow fell down my cheek. How could there only be one page left? Our story wasn’t over, was it? Air stuck in my throat as I flipped the last page of our book. It didn’t disappoint.
Sometimes you just gotta watch the sunrise…
My One (Newly Revised)
Sexy Former Army Ranger With One Leg
Scowly And Overall Surly Man With a Big Heart
Closet Romantic Who Writes Romance Novels In His Spare Time
Three and a half long hours later, I parked Adrian’s car at the beach access I’d brought Holden to months ago. I pulled my T-shirt straight, fluffed my hair, and checked my lip gloss in the rearview mirror. What? I was a girl who hadn’t seen her man in months.
I’d made record time considering I’d had to shower quickly and make arrangements to borrow a car. I hadn’t replaced Lola yet, but it hadn’t really been a big deal since I walked most places anyway. Not until that moment.
Butterflies swarmed my stomach as I turned off the ignition and opened the door. I hoped he was there. I prayed I was right.
I ran down the pier and to the sandy spot that was ours, the cold wind stinging my face and whipping my hair around.
And there he stood. Holden Steel, looking utterly magnificent. Good enough to eat. He looked strong and healthy and when he saw me, he smiled and I swooned at that gorgeous dimple. He was wearing jeans and a blue thermal shirt with a coat over it. I pulled my coat tighter to me as I walked to him. I wondered what he was thinking. I wondered how he knew when I’d come or if I’d come and how long he’d been waiting.
I stood in front of him, feeling a thousand different things, but mostly thankful. My eyes stung with emotion. I’d never been so happy to see him.
“How long have you been waiting for me?” I asked, my heart on my sleeve, his in his eyes.
He didn’t hesitate. “My whole life.”
And I jumped up and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tight to me. He caught me, his arms around my waist. God, I’d missed him. I breathed him in and kissed his cheek before leaning back.
“But, no, really, how long have you been here?” I asked, chuckling.
He blushed down at me, looking sheepish. “Not long. Harper stayed at my apartment last night and let me know when you left in Adrian’s car.”
I looked past him to where he had a blanket laid out with a box of Ducks Donuts on it.
“Donuts?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes you just gotta eat the donuts, Mae.”
“Well, you thought of everything, didn’t you?”
“Did I?”
I nodded, pushing my hands into the back of his hair as I brought his lips to mine, and I kissed him hard. I kissed him good. I kissed him good and hard enough to make up for the months we’d been apart and he grunted into my mouth.
“Holden, about what I said at the hospital,” I said against his lips.
“Don’t.” He placed his mouth on mine again. “It needed to be said. Fuck, I’ve missed you,” he groaned past my lips and ran both of his hands up my body and through my hair.
“I’ve missed you, too,” I said against his lips as he carried me to the blanket and laid us down.
“Knock knock,” he said, nuzzling the side of my neck.
I closed my eyes because it felt freaking fantastic. “Who’s there?” I breathed out.
He stopped nuzzling and gazed down at me and I pouted.
“Olive.”
I bit my lip and smiled up at him. I knew this one. “Olive who?”
“Olive you.”
I laughed and pinched his cheek. “That’s a good one, Steel.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I love you, too.” I kissed him again, this time softer. Slower, savoring the taste and feel of him.
“So what did you think of the book?” he asked, crawling over me and settling between my legs, his gaze burning me up.
I pursed my lips in mock thought. “I think you really need a good editor.”
He threw his head back and laughed and the vibrations felt good against my chest. He felt good. “That’s it?”
I ran my hand along his jaw like I knew he enjoyed. “No, I thought it was brilliant and sweet and beautiful even if it didn’t have an ending.”
He smiled down at me. “Come on, Mae, you know how our story ends,” he said before leaning forward and blocking out the sun, kissing me again and again until I was dizzy.
I grinned against his lips, because I did know how our story ended.
Happily. Ever. After.
Ten Years Later
“Fuck, baby, get there,” I said, looking up at Mae. And she was a sight.
I was lying back against the headboard and she was riding me, her tight heat enveloping me. Her head was thrown back and her hands at my thighs, her throat working.
Her stomach was small and round with what would be our newest addition in a few months.
She was fucking beautiful. And I was close.
“I’m almost there,” she panted out, picking up speed.
I was there, so I brought out the big guns. Dirty talk. My woman loved it.
“That’s it, Mae. Ride that cock. Milk it. Come all over it.”
She groaned and ground down harder on me, and I ran a hand down her chest past her breast to where she needed me the most.
I growled as I slipped a hand through her wetness to where we were connected before doing slow circles around her clit with my thumb.
“Fuck!” she shouted, and I smiled, knowing she was there.
I circled my thumb harder and faster and watched her come undone over me. Her impossibly tight pussy tightened around my sensitive cock and I came, pouring inside of her.
She fell against my chest, a sweaty, huffing mess.
I wrapped my arms around her, enjoying the closeness, the quiet.
“I see you, Da
ddy. I see you, Mommy.”
Mae groaned and rolled off me and we both looked at the closed door to the bedroom where tiny fingers peeked out from beneath it.
She looked at me and then back at the door. “They’re like tiny terrorists,” she deadpanned.
I huffed out a laugh and she hurried to get dressed. “Come on, get dressed, Hold. You’re helping me with breakfast. Everyone is coming over.”
I didn’t want to get up. I wanted to stay in bed with my girl.
“I can hear you now,” the little voice sang from beneath the door again, this time both sets of fingers wiggling beneath the door.
“Samuel Steel, move your fingers before you lose them.” Mae opened the door and there sat three-year-old Sammy grinning up at his momma. “Where’s Sean?”
I got out of bed, a sheet wrapped around my waist, and looked around Sammy. He and Sean were twins and they were never far apart. Something must have been up.
“I don’t know.” Sammy smiled mischievously, and Mae shook her head as she picked him up and headed for the kitchen, running her hands through his soft dark brown hair.
We hadn’t expected twins for sure. As far as we knew they didn’t run on either side of our families. I’m sure the looks on our faces were priceless when the doctor told us there were two only a year and a half after we had Andrew.
“You and your brother are gonna drive me crazy,” she whispered under her breath.
Five-year-old Andrew was sitting at the breakfast counter, playing on an iPad, his red hair in his eyes.
Mae took it from his hands. “No electronics today, Drew. Grandma and Ainsley and Adrian are coming over. So, go start cleaning up the living room while I get breakfast started.”
She looked over at me. “That goes for you, too. No work today. I mean it.”
I started helping Drew clean the living room. We’d moved to a bigger house right outside of Columbia almost five years ago, right after Drew was born. Mae’s apartment didn’t have enough space for our growing family.
And we needed the work space. Both Mae and I worked from home. We each had an office, one where she edited books and I had mine, where I worked on my blog that gave information and help to military veterans experiencing symptoms of PTSD. It was popular and growing more and more every day. Luckily I had an in-house editor when she wasn’t knee-deep in the romance book editing cave.
I never wrote a romance novel again. Let’s face it, I’d never be able to surpass mine and Mae’s story.
“Oh my God, why are you licking that? Do not lick things, Andrew. We’ve talked about this!” Mae shouted, snatching the remote out of his hand.
I just grinned at the shit you thought you would never say to your kid but did.
A knock sounded at the door and Mae walked toward it to answer, but the coat closet door swung open and Sean jumped out. “Boo!” he yelled.
I swear Mae jumped ten feet in the air.
“Holy cheese and crackers, Sean!”
She looked like she wanted to strangle him, but instead took a deep breath and opened the door.
The little bugger gave me the thumbs-up and darted from the room, Sammy hot on his heels.
“Oh, thank God you’re here, Momma.”
Luanne breezed through the house and immediately to Andrew, kissing his cheeks and fussing over him.
Luanne hadn’t been the ideal mother to Mae, but something happened the moment we had Andrew. She’d taken one look at that baby and had fallen in love. She was an amazing grandma, and even though she claimed she never played favorites, Andrew was her first and she was still completely smitten with him.
“Where’s Max?” she asked.
Mae let out a deep breath. My girl was tired. Having four rambunctious boys was exhausting. “Still in his crib. You mind getting him up and changing his diaper while I start some eggs and biscuits?”
“No problem.” Luanne darted toward Max’s room.
He was only a year and a half and we were already pregnant again. Which was the plan for us. We decided six years ago when we married that we wanted kids. That meant we wanted all the kids.
I was rolling out biscuits with Sammy and Sean, and Mae was whisking eggs when we heard the front door.
“We’re here,” Ainsley called.
“We’re in the kitchen,” Mae yelled back.
Adrian and Ainsley stood on the other side of the bar that separated the kitchen from the dining room.
Mae looked around them. “Where are the kids?”
“Oh, they stayed at my mom’s last night, thank God,” Ainsley answered.
Adrian and Ainsley had been having a tough time lately with Blue and Paisley. Blue was a pre-teen and Paisley was four going on twenty. It was rough over there. I didn’t envy them.
“Bummer, I have some news for everyone.”
Adrian stole a piece of bacon off a plate. “Oh, do tell!”
Mae popped his hand when he reached for another. “I’ll tell when we’re eating.”
We were all piling food and dishes on the table when we heard Will call out, “I’m here!”
Mae smiled. She loved that kid, still. He was a man now at eighteen years old, but I had a feeling he’d always be eight to Mae.
She hugged him and gushed over his new haircut and I rolled my eyes before bringing him in for a hug and slapping him on the back. “You here to steal my girl?”
Mae rolled her eyes behind Will’s back.
Will looked around the room. “It depends. Does she come with all these kids?”
“Probably.” I nodded, sitting at the table.
“It’s gonna be a hard pass then.” He laughed as everyone got comfortable.
We passed food around and cut everything into a million pieces for the children.
When everyone’s plates were full, Mae said, “Okay, I have something to tell y’all!”
“We already know you’re pregnant, Miranda!” Luanne said, Max in her lap gumming a biscuit to death.
“I have an announcement, too!” Andrew piped in. “Momma said I can’t touch myself in the living room, or the bathtub. Only in my bedroom when I’m alone.”
“Good gravy,” Mae muttered.
Adrian and Ainsley snickered.
“Listen to your mom, she’s a smart woman,” Will said around a mouthful of eggs.
“Okay! Listen up!” Mae knew how to get everyone’s attention. Over the years she’d really honed the skill of talking over a room full of loud boys. “I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday. An ultrasound.” She looked at me.
I gasped, my fork clattering to my plate. “You went without me?” I’d never missed a doctor’s appointment for the kids. “You told me you were going to the makeup store!”
She raised her eyebrows at me. “I couldn’t have you jinxing me, Steel! Besides, you chanting please be a boy over and over while the ultrasound tech checks the sex was getting old!”
And then she smiled. She looked damn triumphant and I started to sweat. Oh, God, a girl terrified me. She’d have girl drama and periods and boyfriends. I’d kill her boyfriend.
“And?” Ainsley danced in her seat.
Mae whipped an ultrasound pic out of her bountiful breast, raising it over her head. “It’s a girl!” she shouted, shooting to her feet.
“Finally!” Luanne exclaimed.
“Amen!” Ainsley jumped up, giving Mae a high five.
“One less penis for the win!” Mae yelled, and I was smiling despite myself. She was so happy.
Adrian forked some food in his mouth and gave me a look that said you are in for it. I knew the shit Paisley gave him, and I shuddered.
Will said, “You’re fucked.”
Maybe I was fucked, but I was deliriously happy. She’d been wanting a girl and now we’d have one. I’d learned quickly in the first months of marriage that if my wife was happy I was happy.
Harper flew into the living room, removing her coat and eyeing the craziness that was the women cheering. “What is
it? What did I miss?”
“It’s a girl!” Mae shouted again, running to hug Harper.
“Hell to the yes!” Harper yelled, jumping up and down while holding on to Mae.
I gazed around the table at my family. They were a rowdy, crazy, flawed bunch, but I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Some days were harder than others. Some days I still felt the heat of the desert on my back. Some days the nightmares were all too vivid. But most days I’d wake and my bed would be full. Full of four crazy boys and Mae. Full of love, and I’d learned that love could get you through a hell of a lot.
True love, mad love, deep love.
The End
Want Kelly's happily-ever-after? Keep reading for a sneak peek.
“You’re pregnant.”
The doctor’s deep voice resonated throughout exam room one in who the hell knew where we were Alabama. I barely heard his words. The acoustics were fantastic in here. I wanted to bring my band in and set up shop. Bang my drums a little. Rock out.
“Excuse me?” I pitched my body toward him in an effort to get closer, thinking surely I’d heard him wrong. A slight breeze coasted up the back of my paper gown and the blue vinyl I sat on clung to one of my ass cheeks.
He smiled and looked down at the iPad gripped in his big hands. “The test came back positive. You’re pregnant.”
What in the hell was he grinning about?
This time when my body rocked backward it wasn’t of my own doing. My head swam. My palms sweated. Oh, hell no. Surely this was a mistake. I’d only come to the doctor because I’d been throwing up for days and was hoping to get some drugs to help with the nausea.
I had a virus.
Not a baby.
The creepy smiling doctor was wrong.
I was fucking careful. I religiously took my birth control pills. I always used condoms. I drank. I rocked out. I traveled. I was a party girl, sure, but I was a responsible one. My momma made sure of that.
“I think we need another test.” My voice sounded croaky. Nothing like the sultry voice that had captivated audiences in small clubs all across the Southeast.