“Stranger things have happened.” I give her waist a quick squeeze and nod to our families who seem to be having a great time all on their own. “You ready to do this thing?” I lean in and take in the scent of her warm skin, sugar and cinnamon.
“I’m in, Collins. Stay strong. And remember, if you find yourself staring down the barrel of a gun, don’t be afraid to tip a table or two on your way out the door.” She tucks a quick kiss under my ear. “Don’t worry, I’ll hunt you down at your place and make you mine.”
“That’s what I’m hoping.”
We head to the table, and a small round of applause breaks out.
“What’s this?” Serena nearly falls against me, floored by the spontaneous ovation.
Sunday clears her throat. “We just wanted to show our gratitude to the two of you for going above and beyond the call of duty and taking a murderer off the streets.”
Lex winks up at us. “I feel safer already.”
Marlin growls, “But next time, leave the dirty work to the police.”
“There won’t be a next time.” I’m still so relieved Serena is safe, I drop a kiss over the top of her head without thinking, and just like that, everyone at the table freezes.
Serena shrugs. “The rumors are true. Shep and I are together.”
“As in a couple.” I look to my parents who look mildly amused. My mother gives a playful tip of the head, but my father somewhat glares at me as if to say don’t screw it up. It’s exactly what he tells his team as we’re about to head to court. And I won’t.
A strange groan comes from Marlin, and it inspires Seth to scoot his chest a few inches over as if he was expecting him to barf and he might.
“Serena”—Marlin says her name stern as he stares us down—“if this guy even thinks about making you cry, just drop me a line.” He glowers at me a moment. “Same goes for you. My sister can be a real pistol.”
“Marlin!” Serena shouts as the table breaks out into laughter.
Dinner goes off without gunfire or the need to tip over a single table. Instead, Axel stands and lifts his glass, inspiring us to do the same. “I realize we’re at the end of our feast, but I wanted to say a few quick words. First, congratulations to Misty and Nolan on your pink bundle on the way. We’re all ecstatic for you. Christmas can’t get here soon enough. And congratulations once again to Sunday and Seth who in a few short weeks will welcome their little one.” He turns to me. “And I do believe congratulations are in order for Shep, my little brother, for finding someone brave enough to tolerate him. Serena, my parents and I have nothing but the utmost respect for the courage and fortitude you seem to have in abundance.” A quick round of chuckles skirts the table on my behalf. “And if you don’t mind me stealing a part of your night”—he tips his head my way—“Lex and I have some news of our own we’d like to share.” He gently prods her to her feet, and Lex bears a tight smile for less than three seconds. She’s still a hell of a lot more personable than she started off. I’ll give her that.
Serena gasps and covers her mouth before my brother gets another word out.
Axel looks to Lex with nothing but love and adoration in his eyes. “We’re expanding. There will be one more member of the Collins family come next spring.”
The table erupts in cheers as everyone stands to their feet. Serena and Sunday are the first to collapse over Lex with a firm embrace. I head over to my brother and pull him in.
“You’re the man. Congratulations. Can’t wait to meet my future niece or nephew. I know he or she will be damn good-looking.” I give a playful sock to his arm. “And smart as hell. With Lex as its mother, I expect nothing less.”
“Agree.” He leans in, and that mirror version of my face grows serious for a moment. “I’m happy for you, man. You deserve the best. And I do believe you found her.”
“I believe it, too.” We hug it out, and soon enough our party clears out. It’s just Serena and me as we say goodnight to Sunday and Seth.
Sunday offers me a quick embrace. “I’m watching you. I may not have a gun like Marlin, but I’ve got something far more dangerous—ripe hormones ready and willing to ignite on command.”
We share a laugh as the two of them take off.
Serena smiles up at me with a devilish gleam in her eye. “Now what, Professor Collins?”
“How about we head to my place and work on your final? Axel swung by earlier and dropped off a few bottles he thought might complement hot honey.”
“Done!”
We head out the door and into the humid Hollow Brook night, and I hold her right under that oversized black bear they keep just outside the entry.
“I wish Emilia could have been here today. I’m sure she would have loved to see us together. Or at least I hope she would have.” My entire body grieves for my sister at once. It’s still a fresh wound, especially when my family gathers for events like this one. I don’t think I can ever get used to not having her around. And here Serena is missing both her mother and father. I plan on making sure she feels all the love and affection she deserves in this lifetime.
“Oh, she would have,” Serena asserts as if she knew firsthand. “Remember me telling you about the time I wanted a kiss and you ditched me?”
I cringe at the thought and give a subtle nod. No part of me wants to own what an ass I once was to Serena.
“And remember me telling you she said to brush it off?” she continues. “Well, there was a little more to the story. She said you probably didn’t want to kiss me because I was far too beautiful and you might accidentally fall in love. She went as far as suggesting that I forgive you and play nice—that you’d come around eventually.”
My body goes numb for a solid five seconds. “Emilia said that?”
She nods as tears build in her eyes.
“She couldn’t have been more right. She called it, didn’t she?” An ache pushes through my chest, and it’s all I can do not to weep at the thought of my sister predicting so accurately what’s transpired. “I’d like to think she’s up there watching over us. I know she loved you. She told me at least twice a day how adorable she thought you were.”
A tear glides down her cheek. “I’m still adorable, and don’t you forget it.” She gives a slight laugh, but her expression grows serious. “I loved her, too.”
“I know.” I wrap my arms around her, and Serena and I hold one another like that for a good long while.
“We’ll keep her memory alive,” she whispers into my ear. “I want to.” She pulls back and blinks up at me with tear-lined lashes, that familiar naughty grin building on her lips. “How about one day, not all that far away, when you and I plan a family of our own, we name one of our little girls after her?”
My heart swells with love for this woman before me. “That sounds amazing. And if we have all boys?”
“Oh, sweetie, we’ll keep trying until we pump out a pink little sweetheart with hair long enough to put in pigtails on day one. I’m going to have a heck of a good time with our little Emilia. Of course, I’ll practice by spoiling Sunday’s precious angel first.”
I belt out a laugh as we head to the car. “Little Emilia. I really like the sound of that.”
“You should. It’s beautiful.” She gives my side a pinch. “How about we do a little baby-making practice for the next five years?”
“Sounds like a damn good plan. I’m already counting down the hours.”
“It’ll go by quickly. Life always does.”
“You know what doesn’t go by quickly?” I whisper deep into her ear, and Serena quivers against me. “The things I’m about to do to you.”
And we both walk a little faster.
Axel dropped off five new bottles for Serena and me to play around with. We’ve already poured the liquor and carefully administered the heated honey to each and every glass.
“You ready for a taste test?” I lift my glass, and she does the same.
“Salute.” She takes a careful sip and shudders. �
��Bleh! Definitely not that one.”
“Agreed.” I shudder right along with her. We try out three more and groan our way through the offerings.
“Last one.” She hikes her glass my way before leaning in to sniff it. “My God, that smells like heaven. What is it?”
“Cinnamon infused whiskey. It’s one of The Pelican’s and the Black Bear’s best sellers.”
“No kidding?” Her eyes widen, and we take a sip on three. Serena’s mouth falls open. “Winner, winner, hot honey dinner!” she chants, whooping it up as she jumps into my arms. “This is it! This is the drink I’ll officially gift to the Black Bear. They’re going to make a fortune off it. This is really delicious.”
“I agree. It tastes damn good with hot honey. You know what else tastes damn good with hot honey?”
A dirty giggle brews deep within her. “Me?”
“Damn right.” I swoop Serena off her feet and start to make my way out of the room with her, but she protests and reaches for the honey pot until it’s safe in her hands.
“I think tonight we make all of our hot honey dreams come true, one delicious kiss at a time.”
“Words I would never dare argue against,” I say, speeding us off to the bedroom.
She smears a line of the warm honey over my lips before kissing it off. Kissing Serena routinely arouses me to heights unknowable before, but tonight, with the sweet backbeat of Hollow Brook honey, she sends me into the stratosphere before I ever get her horizontal.
Serena gives a sultry laugh as I lay her onto the mattress. “This brings new meaning to the words licked you, you’re mine.”
“I’ve always been yours, Serena.” I lick a line up her neck and feel her trembling with laughter beneath me. “And I always will be.”
Serena and I spend the night partaking in exactly what we plan on doing for the rest of our lives. There are acrobatics involved, hot, sticky, sweet honey, a few stray rose petals that I can never seem to quite get rid of no matter how often I change the sheets, and whole lot of love and kisses that stretch into the early morning light. Serena and I have everything we’ve ever wanted, and we found it in the very last place we looked—right in front of us. In each other.
It couldn’t have happened without Emilia, though. It was always her dream for me to teach one day, so when the opportunity presented itself, I took it on behalf of my sister. In an effort to make my sister’s dreams come true, I accidentally made my own dreams come true as well.
That’s exactly what life has become with Serena in it, a beautiful, beautiful dream come true.
Weeks go by, and Sunday and Seth have a beautiful baby girl named Priscilla Rose Baker. Her moniker was given in honor of Sunday’s own mother who had passed. They call her Rissy for short, and Serena and I are smitten with her already.
So much has changed this summer. Life has propelled forward in both frightening and beautiful ways. And even though I spent the summer teaching, it was me who learned the biggest lesson of them all. Love is something you don’t need to chase down and force your way into. When the time is right, it will chase you down.
It will happen just the way it was meant to happen.
It may not be easy, but it will always be worth it.
Having Serena in my life is worth stumbling over a thousand hurdles and obstacles, and maybe a body or two.
Yes, if I had to, I would do it all over again.
Serena is worth it.
She is worth everything to me.
Life doesn’t get better than that.
***Would you like to read Eli and Harley’s story? Pick up Shameless Kisses (3:AM Kisses 18) NOW!
Edited by Paige Maroney Smith
Cover Design: Gaffey Media
Hollis Thatcher Press, LTD.
Copyright © 2017 by Addison Moore
This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to peoples either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places, and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to reproduce this novel without written expressed consent from the author herself.
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Copyright © 2017 by Addison Moore
Prologue
Axel
Seven Years Earlier…
Senior year. My last year at Whitney Briggs as an undergrad. You would think that thought alone would invoke a smile on my face, but, in fact, it has the power to do the exact opposite. It’s the chief reason I’m in need of a cold one.
The Black Bear Saloon is the university’s favorite alcohol-soaked watering hole and the same place I’ve spent the last four years eating and drinking my way through midterms and finals. Yes, when all is said and done, it would have taken me five years to achieve my four-year degree because, as my father likes to point out, I’m unfocused, too enamored by what the world has to offer rather than zeroing all of my energy into law. Which brings me to my next dilemma. Law school. It’s my father’s dream for me. Hell, it’s my mother’s, too. It might be mine on a subconscious level. Who the hell knows. All I do know is that my degree in poly-sci won’t get me far in the world without a graduate degree to give it some backbone.
A giant black bear, life-sized, stuffed to the hilt, is the first to greet me as I hit the bar, along with about a dozen sorority girls dangling off its limbs trying to garner that perfect selfie.
“Hey, Ax!” a few of them call out, and I tip my head that way while speeding inside. I’ve slept with my fair share of sorority girls, and I’m not proud to say I’m unable to I.D. every single coed who’s made her way onto my mattress. Much like law school, it’s a habit I’d like to break. But I’m done with sleeping around, done with losing my crap after drowning in beer and settling for the first skirt who flirts my way. Who knows? Maybe I’ll abstain from both one-night stands and all thoughts of law school for the next nine months. And then as soon as graduation rolls around I can reconsider.
I do a quick scan of the vicinity for Levi or Brody, a couple of buddies I’ve grown close to over the years at Briggs. There’s no one I recognize in the place tonight and that’s how I like it. It’s still hot and humid out, thus the scantily clad bodies thrashing around the bar. The energy level is still high as the student population rides out the final fumes of summer. Classes started last week, and it never fails to amaze me how new everything still feels at the beginning of each fall semester. As much as I hate to admit it, there is something magical about this season of my life. Living away from my parents has been a major plus, but it’s more than just getting out from under their thumb. It’s discovering who I am. And in doing so, I’ve done nothing for the last few years but wrestle with the idea of spending the rest of my life imprisoned in a law firm with my father, working for him, becoming him, being right back under his thumb once again—only this time forever.
I take a seat at the counter and order a beer and fries. My eyes skirt the periphery at the girls, an unspoken roll call that my eyes are accustomed to. Almost on a subconscious level I size up the girls, scope out the friendly smiles, narrow down the prospects, the home run propositions to see where my man parts might land for the night. According to that growing need in my boxers, my short-lived opposition to one-night stands is a subject I’m no longer interested in. My stomach sours at the thought. The waitress jogs by and drops off two baskets of steaming hot fries, and just as I turn to catch her, my eyes hook on a stunning redhead seated in a dark booth near the back.
The world stops spinning. I can’t quite take my next breath. Her hair. It’s the first thing I notice. It’s an entity in
and of itself waving up at me as the breeze from the speeding waitress dictates. The girl is beautiful. Coed no doubt, stack of books beside her, laptop opened, nose buried in it. She has a tall glass of iced tea at an arm’s reach and a smattering of appetizers to go along with it. I’ve never seen her before. She looks busy. On a mission, even. Might be waiting for a friend. Hell, probably waiting for a boyfriend. She has a no-nonsense look about her, but those features, that warm tanned skin, high cut cheeks, brows that rise to a pitch as if she’s either permanently intrigued or pissed. Maybe both. She’s dressed a little more conservatively than the bevy of short skirts prancing around. Jeans, white T-shirt, and both of those hug her body with curves I would love to spend some serious time cruising myself. But nothing about her screams one-night stand. Nope. If anything, she’s screaming leave me the hell alone. So I do the only thing I can think of. I grab my beer, my spare basket of fries and head on over.
“This seat taken?” I slide in across from her, and a pair of lime green eyes glow my way. My heart stops. The music blaring from the speakers, the laughter, the cackling of drunk sorority girls is quickly drowned out by the beauty of the angel before me. This is not your average sorority girl, not your average girl in general. This is the embodiment of the perfect woman. And then it hits me.
“I think I’ve just met my wife,” I blurt, hoping she’ll find the humor in it, but her features morph to something that denotes an oncoming homicide, and I immediately regret the error of my ways. “Um, the waitress—she accidently gave me an extra basket.” I flick the spare fries. “I thought you might like them.” I scoot the crisped potatoes sitting on a bed of greased paper toward her as if it were evidence.
“Wow.” Her eyes widen in a seductive yet threatening way that suggests without words that she’s up for slaughtering me for the greasy fry offensive. Okay, so it was most likely the lousy foreshadowing of all things matrimonial, but in my defense, I could swear on a stack of Bibles that I was right. Mrs. Axel Collins is alive and well in Hollow Brook, and she just so happens to be seated right across from me. “Three cheesy pick-up lines in a span of thirty seconds. Are you going for a record?” She gives a forced blink, so sharp it has the power to slice my balls off. “Let me guess. There’s a frat brat lurking out there with a stopwatch.” She glares accusingly at the crowd as if determined to confirm the stopwatch theory.
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