Series Starter : Firsts in Series Collection

by Kaylee Ryan

  “Holy shit, are you going to propose?” he asks, shocked.

  I shrug my shoulders. “Well, yeah. I love her.” I hand the ring back to the sales lady. “I’ll take it in a size six, please.” I turn back to Aiden. “I have my trust money Hales and I got when Granddad passed, I’ve never touched it until now.” I smile at him. “Do you think she’s going to like it?”

  “Yeah, man, I do. It looks like Allison,” he agrees.

  I pay for Allison’s ring, Aiden finishes up his shopping, and we start home. We pull into his driveway, and I hand him the bag from the jewelry store. “Keep this for me, man. I can’t hide it in our luggage.” He smiles and shakes his head.

  The next few days fly by. This is mainly due to the fact Allison allows me to sleep with her in her room. Hales sleeps over at Aiden’s in the guest room. I make sure she is okay with it. She just smiles and tells me to enjoy my girl. My sister knows what Allison means to me, she also knows how cranky I get when I don’t get to sleep with her in my arms.

  Christmas Eve we have a huge brunch that Mrs. Emerson, along with Hailey and Allison, prepare. We eat way too much and open gifts. I brought half of Allie’s gifts for her to open here. She got three outfits and her boots. She got me the new Call of Duty for the Xbox and an iTunes gift card. Aiden and Hales are exchanging gifts tomorrow.

  After brunch and presents, Allison wants to go visit her parents’ grave. I beg her to let me go with her, but she says she needs to go alone. She does agree to let Hales drive her. I am relieved that at least she won’t be driving upset. Aiden went to hang out with his parents, and I stay with Gran. We sit, talking for a while, and I suddenly have the urge to show her the ring. I text Aiden and ask him if he could bring it over. Before I know it, he’s walking in the room with a grin on his face.

  I take a seat in the chair beside Gran. “I want you to know I love Allison with everything in me. I would like to have your permission to marry her.” I open the ring box and lay it in her hands.

  “Oh, Liam, it’s beautiful.” Gran takes the ring out of the box and examines it. “This is perfect for Allison, you know her so well.” She replaces the ring in the box and hands it back to me, grasping my hand. “Liam, I’m honored that you asked for my permission. Allison loves you so much, and you make her so happy. You’ve brought life back to my girl. You’ve already promised me to always take care of her, so, of course, you have my blessing to marry her.”

  I kiss her on the cheek. “Thank you, I promise she’ll always be loved and protected, you have my word.” I hand the ring back to Aiden. He shoves it into his pocket and takes it back to his house.

  Chapter 31

  Allison

  I agree to let Hailey drive me to the cemetery, more for Liam’s piece of mind. I know he really wants to be here with me, but I need to talk to my parents about him. I know that sounds odd, but losing them at such a young age, growing up without them, and coming here and talking to them about life always seemed to help. Hailey eases into the cemetery lot and turns off Liam’s Pathfinder. “I’ll be right here if you need me,” she says as she squeezes my hand.

  I squeeze hers back. “Thank you for being here, for doing this.”

  “Anytime, but promise me you won’t shut Liam out, he loves you and wants to be there for you.”

  “I know, and I love him too, so much. When I was little I would come here and talk to my parents about everything and, well, I kind of want to tell them about Liam.” I slip my gloves onto my hands. “I know you’re his sister, but you’ve also become my best friend. Liam, he says he wants forever with me. I know we’re young and haven’t been together all that long, but I want that too.” I watch her closely studying her reaction.

  Hailey grins. “So, what you’re saying is that we’re going to be sisters?”

  I laugh. “Hopefully, one day.”

  “Allison, if Liam told you he wanted forever, he means it. You’re it for him.”

  I reach over and give her a hug. “I won’t be long.” I get out of the truck and make my way to my parents’ graves. Sadly, this is a path I’ve travelled many times the last eight years. I lay the fresh flowers we stopped for on the way here at the base of their headstone. “Hey, guys, I’ve missed you. College is good. I’ve met some amazing people. Aiden’s there, and, well, I’ve kinda fallen head over heels for his roommate. Funny thing is, my roommate Hailey is Aiden’s roommate’s sister. Small world, I know. His name is Liam, and he’s amazing. He’s tall, dark, and handsome, Mom. I know you would approve. Dad, he’s the quarterback for the football team, and rumor has it he and Aiden are going to be first round draft picks for the NFL. He’s so good to me, Daddy. He treats me like I’m the most precious gift in his life. Things are serious between us. He wanted to come with me today to meet you, but I wanted to be able to tell you about him first. I love him so much, he’s my future, and, well, I just wanted you to know I’m okay. I’m living life and missing you every day, but I’m slowly painting my canvas as Gran would say. I need to get going, sorry I can’t stay long. Aiden and Liam are waiting for us at Gran’s. We’re heading to Liam and Hailey’s parents’ for Christmas. His parents are wonderful and already treat me as if I’m a member of the family. I love you both and miss you every single day. Merry Christmas.” I kiss my fingers and place them over their headstone, wipe the tears from my eyes, then turn and walk away.

  I climb back into the Pathfinder, wiping the stray tears from my eyes. Hailey reaches over and grabs my hand, silently offering me support. By the time we make it back to Gran’s, my tears are under control, that is, until Liam comes barrelling out of the house. He must have heard us pull up. He runs to my side, just as I’m stepping out. He captures me in one of his hugs, and I feel the dam break. Tears flood my eyes, and I sob into his chest. Tears of sadness and tears of happiness combined. Liam picks me up, bridal style, and carries me to the porch swing. He sits down with me on his lap, holding me tight.

  He places a kiss on the top of my head as he softly whispers, “I love you.” He doesn’t say anything else. He just holds me close and lets me cry. After several minutes, I’m able to control my tears. “How you feeling?” he asks me.

  I sit up on his lap. “Good, I’m sorry you had to see that.”

  Liam tucks my hair behind my ear. “Don’t apologize, I want all of you, Allison, anyway I can get you.” He kisses my temple. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I wanted to tell my parents about you. I wanted to tell them I had fallen head over heels in love with you.” I reach up and press my palm against his cheek. “My tears are happy and sad. Happy I have you in my life, that I have you to wrap your arms around me and make me feel safe. Sad, they will never get to meet you and see how amazing you are. They’ll never get to see the happiness you’ve given me.” I take a deep breath. “When you came rushing out the door to me, I couldn’t control my emotions anymore,” I explain.

  “They’re always with you, with us. They know how much I love you.” He holds me tighter, and when he speaks again, I can hear the emotion in his voice. “They know you’re my forever.”

  It’s getting late, so we say goodbye to Gran and Aiden’s parents and begin the journey to the MacCoys’. Liam and Aiden load the Pathfinder, and Liam tosses Aiden his keys. Aiden nods his head, understanding Liam wants to sit in the back with me. He tucks me close under his arm. I’m emotionally exhausted and fall fast asleep in his arms.

  I wake up to Liam pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Wake up, baby, we made it.” I open my eyes and smile at him.

  “I love you, Liam MacCoy,” I whisper in my husky sleep laced voice. I’m gifted with his smile, dimples and all.

  “I love you too, beautiful. Let’s get you inside.”

  Exhausted from the long day we say a quick hello to Mr. and Mrs. Mac and turn in. I quickly change into one of Liam’s t-shirts and slide into bed. As I slide in Liam reaches for me. He draws me tight against his chest. “Goodnight, beautiful. I love you.” I manage t
o tell him I love him too before falling back to sleep.

  Christmas morning with the MacCoys is amazing. We all sit in the living room eating pastries and drinking coffee before opening gifts. I’m nervous to give Liam the gift I made him, so I busy myself with passing out my gifts to everyone else. Mr. and Mrs. Mac love the gift card Aiden and I got them to a restaurant close to the bed and breakfast Liam and Hailey reserved for them. Aiden loves his Best Buy gift card. He wants a new stereo system for his car. Hailey squeals when she opens her Coach wristlet and matching iPhone case. I smile shyly at Liam as I hand him his gift. He smiles at me in return and hands me two more as well. He, of course, makes me go first.

  I open the larger one first and grin from ear to ear when I see it’s the new Coach purse I’ve been eyeing at Macy’s. “Go on, you’ve got one more.” Liam urges me. I slowly un-wrap the last gift and open the black felt case. Nestled inside is a beautiful diamond heart necklace. I look up at Liam with tears in my eyes. “I figured since you own my heart you should have a symbol of it to wear as well,” he says while his entire family and Aiden watch us.

  I don’t care who’s watching, I launch myself at him and hug him tight. “Thank you, Liam. I love it. It’s beautiful.”

  “Not as beautiful as you,” he whispers so only I can hear. He clasps the delicate chain around my neck, placing a soft kiss against my nape when he’s done. I grab the box that his last gift is in and hand it to him. Here goes nothing. Liam makes quick work of the wrapping paper and gently lifts the lid off of the box. He pulls out the pale blue book that represents our school colors. Liam opens the book, and then looks back at me. “How did you?” He turns to the next page. “Where did you?” He looks through a few more pages, before setting the book aside and capturing me in a soul searing kiss. “I love it, and I love you. This is the most amazing gift ever. When did you find the time to do this?”

  I sigh with relief that he likes it. “I worked on it the weekends you had away games and spent at Gran’s. She gets tired easy these days and sleeps a lot, so I worked on it while she napped.”

  “What is it?” Aiden asks him. I kept the gift a secret from him.

  Liam smiles as he passes it to him. “It’s a scrapbook of my entire football career,” he tells him as he reaches for me and gives me one of his bear hugs. “You’re amazing, Allison.” The book is passed around, and everyone compliments me on it. Once they’ve all looked at it, Liam sits on the floor between my legs and studies the details of every page. I explain to him that his mom and Hailey both helped me with pictures. I included his pee wee days all through college.

  “Well, there’s just one more gift to give,” Mr. Mac says as he gets up and grabs four envelopes from the mantel. “We know how close all of you are, and well, we thought it might be nice if all of you were able to get away for a weekend.” He hands each of us an envelope. “All of these are the exact same, but we wanted each of you to be able to open one, so on the count of three.” On three we all tear open our envelopes, and inside is a voucher for a three-night stay at a log cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. All four of us are immediately on our feet, hugging Mr. and Mrs. Mac and thanking them for the gift. “There’s no expiration date, and it’s paid in full, so you guys can go when you can get your schedules to mesh. Of course, you’ll have to call to schedule your date with the company.”

  We’re only able to stay at Liam’s parents for two days due to Liam and Aiden needing to get back for football practice. They’re playing in a bowl game on New Year’s Day.

  Liam unloads all of our gifts into our room while I unload all of the leftovers Mrs. Mac sent home with us. Once I am done, I walk back to the bedroom and find Liam sitting on the bed, propped up against the headboard, looking through his scrapbook in his lap. “Hey.”

  “This really is incredible, Allison,” he says as he continues to flip through the pages. “You managed to capture my entire football career in this book. This means so much to me. This is the most personal gift I’ve ever been given, and to know you made it for me, makes it even better.”

  “I wanted to do something special for you.” I hesitate. I am afraid to tell him what I am thinking. I decide to just go for it, he loves me. “I thought it would be something you could show your kids one day.” I shrug.

  He leans over and kisses me softly on the lips. “I will definitely be showing this to our kids, so they can see how amazingly talented their mom is.”

  Chapter 32

  Liam

  Waking up with Allison tangled in my arms is something I’ll never get tired of. She pretty much lives here now. Well, not technically, but most of her clothes are here, as well as all of her books and laptop. It’s been weeks since she’s stayed at her dorm. Hailey’s always here too, unless she has a date, which has been less often. The four of us have become a tight knit group. Allison thinks there might be something brewing with Aiden and Hailey, but I don’t see it. Of course, I rarely pay attention to anything else when Allison is around, I’m captivated by her.

  Today is New Year’s Eve Eve, and since Aiden and I have a big game New Year’s Day and we fly out to Miami tomorrow, we decide to just have a quiet night at the apartment. Hailey decides to stay in with us, as well as Blitzen and his date, Jerrica. Blitzen very seldom has dates, he’s more of a hook-up kind of guy. I can’t judge him, because I used to be the same way before Allie. Maybe Jerrica will be the one to help him change his ways.

  Hailey and Allison take care of all of the food preparation while Aiden and I set up the living room to accommodate everyone. We picked up a case of beer, but that’s all since we have practice and a flight tomorrow. Tonight, we’re just going to chill, not get our drink on. Hell, all I want to do is make love to Allison, but what else is new.

  When Blitzen and Jerrica arrive, you can tell she feels out of place, being the only new person to the group. Allison must sense this, because she quickly introduces herself and drags Jerrica off to the kitchen with her and Hales.

  “So, you ready for the big game?” Blitzen asks us.

  “We got this,” Aiden replies as he holds a fist out to each of us to bump.

  “I think our chances are good, our team is strong,” I respond. We continue to talk about the game until the girls get our attention by yelling that the food’s ready, didn’t have to tell us twice. They have really outdone themselves. We have meatballs, buffalo chicken dip, finger sandwiches, chips, cookies, and brownies.

  I tug Allison to my chest and kiss her just below her ear. “Thank you for doing all this.”

  She smiles as she turns to Jerrica, trying to include her. “Thanks again for helping us get all of this together,” she tells her.

  “This is so good,” Aiden says as he shoves a meatball in his mouth. I watch while Hailey grabs a napkin and wipes his face for him. Interesting.

  After we eat, we gather in the living room for a game of battle of the sexes. The girls kick our asses. So, of course, us being the manly men that we are, we refuse to play again and demand another game. We vote for Rock Band, so we take turns, guys and girls. Of course, we’re all acting crazy and making fun of each other, which leads to cranking up the iPod and dancing around the living room. Aiden, Blitzen, and I decide it is time for more food. Once we return to the living room, the girls have cleaned up the games and are starting a movie. We’re watching Easy A, and surprisingly none of us have seen it before. I sit down in the recliner and tug Allison down on top of me. Blitzen and Jerrica take the love seat while Aiden and Hailey take the couch. The movie is good, at least what I watch of it. It is hard to focus with Allison’s warm body snuggled up against me. The movie ends right before midnight, which works out so we’re all able to get our New Year’s kiss. I’m able to see Aiden pulling back from Hailey as I pull my lips away from Allison’s. I know he wouldn’t hurt her, and I can’t exactly tell him to keep his hands off my little sister, since Allison is just like a sister to him and I pursued her. I’ll have to at least mention it, another time t
hough.

  Blitzen and Jerrica thank us for having them and leave a short time later. Allison and I say goodnight to Hales and Aiden, and lock ourselves in our room. We go through what has now become our routine, brushing our teeth together and changing for bed. Allison crawls into her side of the bed and I follow, pulling her next to me as close as I can get her. She’s never close enough.

  “I love you, beautiful girl,” I whisper in her ear.

  She looks over her shoulder. “I love you too, Liam.”

  I kiss her. She rolls over to face me and deepens the kiss. I have my hand on her thigh and slowly move it up under my t-shirt she’s wearing to cup her breast. The next thing I know, she has her shirt off and is pulling at my boxer briefs. I take the hint and make quick work of taking them off and throwing them on the floor. Allison climbs on top of me and continues our tongue duel. She pulls back and gently guides me home. I immediately sit up and hug her. I kiss her neck and work my way down to her breasts, slowly making love to them with my tongue. Allison must have different plans as she pushes me back onto the bed and begins to rock against me. My hands find her hips, and I assist her with bringing us both the pleasure we crave. I’m so close, and I want us to fall over the edge together, so I gently rub between her thighs. This brings us both crashing into bliss within mere seconds. She collapses on top of me, and I instantly wrap my arms around her and kiss the top of her head.

  My mind travels to the engagement ring I have hidden in Aiden’s room. I know now isn’t the right time, but soon. I have to know I’ll have these moments with her forever. I need to make her mine in every way.

  Allison pulls herself off of me, and immediately I miss the connection, the warmth of being inside of her. She curls up on her side and wiggles back against my chest, where she belongs. It’s only a matter of minutes until I feel her completely relax and her breathing evens out, so I know she’s asleep. I gently brush her hair back from her ear and whisper, “I love you, Allie, so much. I can’t wait to marry you.” And then sleep takes over.