“Hello, yourself,” Kallie says. “What took you so long?”
I shrug my shoulder and take a sip of the champagne, not getting into the real reason we are late. I’m sure she doesn’t want to know it was because her brother tore off another pair of panties and had his way with me. “I didn’t know what to wear.”
“This is something, right?” Jacob says, shaking his head. “I bet you Beau fucking hates this.”
We all look over at him and see that he’s pulling the shirt from around his neck. “Can I go to the swing?” Ethan asks. Jacob nods his head, and we watch him run away.
“How long do we have to stay?” Casey asks, and I groan and then the chatter around us stops and we all look toward the door where Savannah stands. “Jesus, even eight years later, people still fucking point.” I watch her as she looks around, and you can see she’s not happy to be here. She is wearing a tight red dress that goes all the way to her neck and is tight all the way down to her knees, and then it ruffles off. It’s a stunning dress she’s paired with black heels. Her eyes find Beau’s, and she smiles huge. You can see how much she loves him, but the only one who doesn’t know is him.
I follow her eyes to Beau’s, who smiles just as big, and when he sees her, he finally walks away from his brother and his father, who both glare at her. He weaves his way to her, and when she finally comes down the steps, he hugs her and kisses her cheek. They make their way over to us, and we all smile at him.
“There he is, Mr. Mayor,” Kallie says, joking with him, and he shakes his head. “Do you curtsey to a mayor?”
“There is no fucking way in hell I’ll ever curtsey to him,” Jacob says. “He keeps eating all the fucking food in my fridge.”
“It’s not my fault,” Beau says. “You always invite me over.”
“I never invite you over,” Jacob says.
“Who wants to see the major’s office?” Beau says, and the guys all nod. Jacob kisses Kallie, and Casey leans over to kiss me, and the three of them leave.
“Am I missing something?” I ask as the men walk up the steps and enter the house.
“The guys used to sneak into the office when they were younger and take some of Mr. Beaumont’s whiskey,” Kallie says, and I laugh and so does Savannah.
“Where is Ethan?” Savannah asks, and Kallie points at the swing. I don’t know how Kallie does this. Stands there with Savannah after everything they went through. But Kallie is the bigger person, and in the end, if she was bitter, it would fall onto Ethan, and she loves that kid like he’s her own. “I think I’m going to vomit,” she says and puts her hand to her stomach, and Kallie walks over to her and rubs her arm. “If it was for anyone else, there was no way I would come here.”
“We all feel that way,” Kallie says, and then I look down.
“What do you guys say we join the boys?” I smile, and the girls nod.
We walk to the house and up the steps. “I don’t think a girl has ever been invited into the office for drinks,” Savannah says, and when we get to the closed door, she puts her hand up to knock, and then she opens it and walks in.
The minute I step foot inside, I know something is off. I look around the office, and I spot Casey and Jacob standing there in front of the desk but neither of them is moving. The look of pure anguish is all over Jacob’s face. But nothing, and I mean nothing, could prepare me for the look on Beau’s face.
He has tears running down his face, and the pain in his eyes is so transparent that you feel it in your soul. The white paper in his hand crinkles as his body shakes. He looks at us standing in the door, and then he looks straight at Savannah.
“Tell me,” he says almost in a whisper, then looks down at the paper in his hand. “Tell me that my brother is not the father of your son.”
Epilogue One
Casey
One Year Later
“But why?” she moans as she comes out of the bedroom, and I look over at her. She is wearing white jeans and one of my T-shirts, her feet bare, her face free of makeup. “I thought we were going to stay in tonight, and you know …”
“It’s our anniversary,” I remind her, shaking my head and also wondering why I’m surprised that she would opt to stay in rather than go out on the town. I waited every single day for her to tell me that she was done with the country and wanted to move to the city. But as the days turned into weeks and then the weeks into months, she just got more and more settled.
The house that I built is now a home with her touches in every single room. The throw pillows on the couch along with the big throw blanket that we cuddle under. The pictures of the family all over the fridge. The fresh flowers in the middle of the island. The pictures of us all around the house, whether it’s on the side tables or hanging on the walls. It shows that this is our home. “But.” She looks at me. “I cooked for you.” I look at her, and my eyebrows pinch together. She has been trying to learn the whole time. My mother by her side each and every time, but no matter what she did, she usually burnt it. “Okay, fine, I tried, and well, your mother made an extra one.” I laugh now and walk to her.
“How am I supposed to wine and dine you if you won’t let me?” I take her in my arms, and in a second, she has her legs wrapped around me.
She clings to me like a monkey, burrowing her face into my neck. “I don’t want to be wined and dined,” she whispers. “I want to be home and naked.”
“I can help you with that,” I say, carrying her into our room. She starts to kiss my neck, and my cock is already ready to play. Every single time I’m with her, it’s like the first time. Every single time that I think it can’t get better, it does. Even when I took her to Mexico and had her every single hour we were there. The private house on the beach. I rented our own oasis, and I didn’t think we would top that. “You really are going to talk me out of going out tonight.”
She unclings herself from me and stands in front of me. Peeling off her shirt, she shows me a new bra that I’ve never seen before. Trust me, I know. I’ve had to replace more than my share, that and her flimsy panties. “I was hoping that.” She winks at me, and then she unbuttons her jeans, and I see that she has the matching panties.
I pick up my hand. “Wait,” I say, and she stops mid-zip. “Jesus, I can’t believe you're making me do this here,” I say. Turning around and walking to my closet, I find the suit jacket I was going to wear tonight and grab the square box. I look around the closet at our stuff. When I walk back into the room, she is still there in the middle of the room. “We are going to have to make up a story.”
“What in the world are you talking about?” she asks, confused. Then I get down on one knee, and it all clicks into place. I wait for it, and there it is. My girl has her hand on her mouth, and tears already running down her face.
“Olivia,” I start to say. “Darlin’.” I see her smile. “I never thought that this moment would come, yet after being with you for this long, I wonder why I didn’t do it sooner.” My own tears come now. “One year ago, I asked you to stay and make a home with me. I promised to help you plant roots. I held my breath the whole time, waiting for your answer. You didn’t just help me make a home, but you also became my home.”
“Casey,” she says, laughing and crying at the same time.
“I built this house, not knowing that I wanted to fill it with children. I want our kids to run in from the barn and mess up the floor. I want our kids to hide in the room upstairs and then pretend they ran away. I want our kids to grow up here, and then I want them to bring their own kids here.” She sobs now. “There is only one person I want to do all that with, and it’s you, darlin’.” She doesn’t say anything; all she can do is sob. “One year ago, I asked you to stay and make a home with me. Today, I’m asking you to help me fill our home. I’m asking you to hold my hand today and always.” I don’t finish because she grabs my face and kisses me hard. The taste of her tears on my lips.
“Yes,” she whispers, her lips still on mine. “But,” she s
ays, and my heart stops in my chest as she turns around and walks to the side of the bed and takes something out of her side table. “Just so you know.” She starts to say. “We are going to be filling the house sooner than you think.” She holds out the white stick to me. My eyes go to the word pregnant, and then I drop the box and take the stick from her. “Casey Barnes, you are going to be the best father anyone could ask for, and I’m so happy that our children are going to have you.”
I don’t move from the spot still on bended knee when it finally hits me. “How?” I ask her, the tears now leaking down my face. She laughs at me.
“If I need to tell you how?” She shakes her head.
Laughing, I grab the box that fell out of my hand and open it, and just as I know, my girl doesn’t even look at the ring. She couldn't care less, but I care. So, I went overboard, and she is probably going to moan about how big it is, but I couldn't care less. She now looks down and gasps out at the five-carat pink square diamond ring that I got for her. “I know that it’s not traditional, but when I saw it, the only thing I could think of was the sunsets that we watch every night. How the sky turns a light pink right before the sun sets, and I knew that it felt like home.”
“Yes,” she says before I say the words again and lunges for me, making me fall back.
“I love you,” I say to her right before I rip off her new panties.
Epilogue Two
Olivia
Five years later
“What is all this fuss about?” I ask, walking into the nursery while my two-week-old daughter, Harlow, cries at the top of her lungs. “I just fed you,” I say, taking her in my arms, and I kiss her soft cheek. The minute she is in my arms, she quiets. “Not you, too,” I say to myself, walking over to the rocking chair and sitting down. “After your two brothers, we said you wouldn’t be spoiled,” I say, and she just closes her eyes while her hands are folded over her chest. “I’m giving you two more minutes, and then I’m going to put you back in your crib.” I rock her back and forth and look around at the pink nursery. After having the boys, Quinn, who is four, and then Reed, who just turned two, I went full-on bubble gum pink for her.
I rock her for five minutes and then get up, placing her down gently. She stirs for just a moment, and then I walk back out of the room. I walk down the hall to Quinn’s room, and I find him in the middle of his bed, sleeping like a starfish with the covers already thrown on the floor. My son hates to be covered, no matter how many times I try. Walking in, I turn off the light and lean over, kissing him on his cheek. He looks exactly like Casey, right down to the way he smirks at you. He is also the biggest daredevil in the world. Last week, he somehow convinced Billy to let him ride a mustang. “I love you,” I whisper and walk out of the room, pulling the door closed behind me but leaving it open just a crack. I walk over to the other room and find Casey in bed with Reed. My heart stops in my chest when I see him spooning Reed. I lean down and kiss my husband’s cheek, and he slowly opens his eyes. “Hey.”
“Hey,” he mumbles. “Is she asleep?”
“For now,” I say. “I’m going to go to sleep.” I lean over and kiss Reed’s cheek, and he turns over right away. He also came out looking exactly like Casey, something that I resented since I carried them for nine long months.
Casey gets off the bed and turns off the light. He puts his arm around me as we walk toward our bedroom. I grab his hand that is on my shoulder, and I kiss it. His wedding band shines in the dim light. It took him three weeks to wear me down and agree to a shotgun wedding. If I’m honest, I would have married him the same day he asked me. “If you want, I can take the next feeding.”
“No,” I say softly. “It’s fine.” I didn’t know what type of mom I was going to be. I mean, I had an idea of what type of mother I wanted to be, but I didn’t know I would be that type of mom. The mom who didn’t let her kids do anything unless I was there. The mom who spent all her waking time with them, the mom who would make five different dinners just so they would eat. I’m the pushover mom, the mom who says no, but really, it’s a yes.
“You're tired, and if you don’t get the rest you need,” he says, “you are going to get sick.”
“I know,” I say. I pushed myself after we came home with Harlow, and within four days, I was in the hospital after fainting. “Fine, you can feed her,” I say. “There is a bottle in the fridge.”
He gets into the bed, and when I slide in with him, he quickly finds me and pulls me to him. “I love you, darlin’,” he says softly, and I kiss him. The kissing quickly takes on a life of its own, making us itch for more, but we still have another four weeks to go. “Fuck,” he whispers, and I know that it’s killing him. “I thought six weeks would have been easier the third time around.”
I laugh into his neck, and I close my eyes. It takes maybe three minutes before I fall asleep.
I wake up when my breasts start to hurt, and when I look over, I see that the spot next to me is empty. I turn and look at the clock, and it shows that it’s a little bit after midnight. I’ve been sleeping for four glorious hours. I’m about to get up and find Casey when I hear him in the monitor and look over to see the image of him rocking Harlow on the screen.
“I know you don’t like the bottle, Princess H.” He talks to her. “But Momma needs her rest.”
The sounds of her little cry fill the room now. “I have the goods right here. All you have to do is take it. That’s it, my girl.” I wipe the tear that is now rolling down the side of my face. I didn’t know that someone could be this happy. I didn’t know that I could love someone so deeply that I can’t exist without them. I didn’t know that my biggest nightmare would be my fairy-tale ending.
I watch the two of them the whole time, my eyes never leaving them, and when he puts our daughter on his chest, I can’t stop the tears from coming. I can’t stop these overwhelming feelings, and when he comes into the room five minutes later and takes me in his arms, the only thing I can do is whisper, “Thank you for giving me my home.”
He kisses my lips. “Thank you for filling my home.”
Find out what happens next with
Savannah & Beau
in
Southern Storm
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Books By Natasha Madison
SOUTHERN SERIES
Southern Chance
Southern Comfort
Southern Storm
Southern Sunrise
This Is
This Is Crazy
This Is Wild
This Is Love
This Is Forever
Hollywood Royalty
Hollywood Playboy
Hollywood Princess
Hollywood Prince
Something Series
Something So Right
Something So Perfect
Something So Irresistible
Something So Unscripted
Something So BOX SET
Tempt Series
Tempt The Boss
Tempt The Playboy
Tempt The Hookup
Heaven & Hell Series
Hell and Back
Pieces of Heaven
Heaven & Hell Box Set
Love Series
Perfect Love Story
Unexpected Love Story
Broken Love Story
Mixed Up Love
Faux Pas
Acknowledgments
Every single time I keep thinking it’s going to be easy. It takes a village to help and I don’t want to leave anyone out.
My Husband: I love you, I don’t tell you enough. Thank you for letting me sit in bed most of the day writing, and for not busting my chops when I don’t cook. Oh wait you do!
My Kids: Matteo, Michael, and Erica, Thank you for letting me do this. Thank you for being proud of me, I love you honey bunches and oats!
Becca: I don’t even know
where to start. Thank you for taking me in and making this series what it is. Thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone.
Rachel: You are my blurb bitch. Each time you do it without even reading this book and you rocked it. I’m so happy that I didn’t give up when you ignored my many messages.
Dani: Thank you for taking me on and not quitting on me when I started to message you twenty times a day! I don’t know what I would do without you.
Jenny: For taking my manuscript and making it perfect! Thank you for always being ready when I send you a PM!
Beta girls: Teressa, Natasha M, Lori, Sandy, Yolanda, Denise and Yamina, Sarah, Jan, ML and Layla. Thank you for holding my hand, telling me when things sucked and for being by my side.
Madison Maniacs: This little group went from two people to so much more and I can’t thank you guys enough. This group is my go to, my safe place. You push me and get excited for me and I can’t wait to watch us grow even bigger!
Julie: You’ve been with me since book one and I trust you with anything and everything. Thank you for loving me and for making my words looks pretty!
BLOGGERS. THANK YOU FOR TAKING A CHANCE ON ME. You give so much of yourself effortlessly and you are the voice that we can’t do this without.
My Squad: Sabrina, Melanie, Lydia, Shelly, Stephanie, Marisa. Your support during this whole ride has been amazing. I can honestly say without a doubt that I have the best Squad of life!!!!
And Lastly and most importantly to YOU the reader, Without you none of this would be real. So thank you for reading!
Southern Comfort Page 19