When Sparks Fly (28 page)

“I fell in love with your patience when you let me chase my dreams in writing. I fell in love with your honesty the day you read my first manuscript and you told me the truth about chapter thirteen. You were right, baby. That chapter was utter shit and your insight was brilliant. I fell in love with your mind in the most twisted way, when you missed me and became a girl named Raven. The girl who with or without intention is the reason we wound up back together. You see, Angel… I never stop falling for you. I fall more and more everyday and I’m sure right now as you’re watching me make an ass of myself in front of everyone, you’re falling for me, aren’t you?” Everyone laughed including her.

“Angel, I want us to fall for a lifetime and I want to catch you for a lifetime.” I blew her a kiss and then the screen lit up with the question I’ve been dying to ask her for as long as I can remember… WILL YOU MARRY ME?

She gasped when she saw it and turned to find me on my knees with a box in my palm. Tears soaked her cheeks and a watery smile was on her lips. She said, “Oh, my God! You’re crazy.”

“Crazy about you, babe. I want to spend forever with you, Angel. Will you marry me?” I asked.

The audience erupted into fits of cheering when she said yes over and over again. She leapt at me after I slid the ring on her finger, wrapping her legs around my waist and kissing me senseless.

“Get a room,” someone yelled.

It was hard sitting through the premiere for two hours after that. I don’t even think either of us watched that movie, but I knew it was good. It was damn good.

Everything with Angel since we married has been damn good. Of course we have our marital bouts of irritation, but we always kiss and make up. Kissing and making up is what led to the creation of the second most precious human to me.

Angel is an amazing mother. Our daughter Aubree Elise West is the epitome of perfection. She has her mother’s dark hair and my sapphire eyes. She’s beautiful and full of spunk at age three, too cute and rotten for her own good. She will be the death of me. I’ll probably go to jail too many times for kicking some dude’s ass over her someday.

Right now, she’s helping me decorate a giant chocolate chip pancake for Angel’s birthday breakfast in bed. Every day for a month I’ve surprised Angel with a gift. Each day leading up to this one has been a little something. From an inflated balloon taped to her closet door that said “Pop Me,” which was filled with a handwritten love note from our senior year together, to a spa day while I took Aubree to her dance class. I’ve spoiled her all month and I’ve loved doing it. She’s mine to spoil.

This is the last gift before the big gift. “It’s yummy, Daddy,” Aubree coos as she licks the whip cream off her fingers.

“You think Mommy will like it?” I ask her and she nods so cutely. “We have to be extra quiet so we can surprise her. Can you do that?” I ask.

She places her finger to her lips, pursing them and saying, “Shhh…”

I place her down on the floor handing her the flowers that she picked out. I grab the tray with the pancake and a mug with Angel’s favorite flavor of decaffeinated coffee—vanilla and caramel. She’s snoring slightly when we go in the room and Aubree giggles, I flick my eyes to her and give her that “Remember what we said” look. She quickly purses those lips and says, “Shhh…” I smile and give her the approval nod.

I feel bad for my woman. She’s been sick with the flu or something, and is constantly tired lately. It’s her dirty thirty and well, I don’t think we’ll be getting dirty tonight, but it’s her birthday and I hope this little morning surprise will brighten her day.

I put the food on the nightstand and stare at her face with peace. She’s beautiful even snoring like that. Aubree hops up on the bed, after I put the flowers on the nightstand and snuggles up against her mommy. I snap a picture with my phone just as Angel begins to wake up.

“Morning Mommy. Happy Birthday,” Aubree squeals. “I get cake. Look,” she points to the pancake with a happy face on it. “Yummy,” she says.

“Yummy is right. Come here, big girl.” She squeezes and kisses Aubree’s cheeks making her giggle. “Thank you both. You’re so sweet.”

I place a kiss to Angel’s lips and then hand her the birthday breakfast Aubree and I prepared. Of course Aubree steals one of the strawberries that we used for the eye and I swipe my finger on to the whip cream mouth I drew and touch it to Angel’s lips. She licks it off and my gaze lands on Aubree. My tiny little cock blocker. Love my child, but I’m glad my mother is taking her for the evening. Angel is having her dirty thirty party and then she and I are going to make up for all the nights we fall asleep dead tired. I’ve conjured up dirty ways to celebrate her dirty thirty. The filthy things I want to do to my wife tonight… Oh, shit! But she’s been sick and this could change all of our plans. Damnit.

“How are you feeling?” I ask her.

She looks up at me with something in her expression, that expression that says I need to tell you something. She went to the doctor yesterday after weeks of feeling nauseated and sick, but I realized this morning that we never even discussed how that went. After I picked Aubree up from dance class, fed and bathed her… Angel was already asleep, which was very odd for her, but I knew she didn’t feel well, which was why I offered to handle Aubree on my own.

“About that,” she smiles and looks over to Aubree. “It’s not the flu.”

“It’s not?”

Her head shakes and she bites her lip. “I won’t be able to drink tonight at my party.”

“Oh? Well, that sucks. Because of the medicine?” I ask. I’m sure she’s not happy about being put on antibiotics that prevent her from drinking. Especially since we’re serving dirty martinis, which is one of her favorites.

“No, not because of the medicine,” she whispers. “I um… You’ve been surprising me every day this month with sweet gifts and well, oddly enough on my birthday I have a surprise for you.”

My forehead crinkles and maybe’s it because it’s still early and I haven’t had enough coffee, but I’m not following. “What?”

“I think that… I mean I know that… Well, Aubree might like to have a sibling, right?”

Aubree looks over with chocolate covering her face because she’s not only stealing her mommy’s strawberry, but has been enjoying her chocolate chip pancake as well. Realization sets in.

“Wait! Are you pregnant?” She nods her head slowly. “You’re pregnant?” My voice drops as my eyes and palm land on her belly.

“Yes, it turns out that I am. Happy birthday to me,” she says with a nervous squeak.

“Wow! I mean, I… another baby. We’re gonna have another baby.”

I sit on the bed because I’m suddenly unable to stand.

“How do you feel?” she asks, reaching for my hand. How do I feel? She’s the one that’s been miserably tired and not feeling well.

“Nervous, excited. Happy! Wow, I’m just… I’ve gotta say I didn’t see that coming.”

We’ve talked about having another baby and we haven’t been using protection. If it happened then it happened. We weren’t planning or trying, just not preventing.

I scoop Aubree up into my lap and begin tickling her. “Let mommy eat her pancake, you silly goose.”

“I not a goose. I’m a girl,” she squeals. “A big girl.”

“Well, actually… you’re going to be a big sister. How does that sound?” I ask.

She gets real still and looks at me confused.

“You know how Taylor is to baby Ezra?” Taylor and baby Ezra are… you guessed it… Ezra and Tenley’s kids.

It’s probably weird that we’re all friends now, but life is weird sometimes. We started out as friends and that’s how it should end. Well, not for Jeremy and Avery because they started out as a couple, ended as friends and are ironically a couple again. Not married yet, but they will be.

“He stinks,” Aubree answers with a squished up nose.

We both laugh. This should be fun.

“Happy dirty thirty, babe.” I lean forward and give her a kiss that makes Aubree say, “Ewwww.”

We eat her pancake together and then lie back on the bed as a family. This is the life—drunk on chocolate chip pancakes, coffee, news about babies, snuggles from my daughter who will soon be with a sitter and now, thoughts of dirty sex tonight with the love of my life. My wife. My Angel.

The End

I dedicate this little surprise to my beta readers who I hope will forgive me for not reading it first. I love all of you so very, very much and your continuous support and guidance is beyond words.

To my IEZ girls for always uplifting me when I feel blue and just not myself. Your friendship in a world that often feels lonely keeps me sane and makes me so very grateful. We are lifers. #IEZ4Life

To my husband and my daughters for always be supportive, understanding and willing to let me live in my head while I write…I owe it all to you. You were my first inspiration in writing and now you’re my biggest cheerleaders.

A special thank you goes to Grace Augustine, Maryann Jordan, Kristine Raymond and Beth Maddox…I just love you ladies. Truly, I do. I’m very blessed to have been involved in this super secret project and even more blessed to have you as friends.

To the fellow authors writing beside me—we rock! I was so nervous going into this project. Afraid that I wouldn’t make the deadline, but y’all were there to give me a boost. We gave one another a boost and that is what a good team is all about. Supporting other authors on this journey. I love that we support one another and I look forward to many more years with you as my friends.

The Shifting Series (Books 1-3)

* Available as individual novels and together in a complete boxset. *

Will the pain they feel ever lead to pleasure or will they always be searching for something? Shifting together. Shifting apart. Making lyrical love, dancing wildly in the dark. Our music told the story for us.

Author Note: *The Shifting Series is not paranormal. This Coming of Age Romance trilogy is a love story told in the dual POV of two best friends, Josh and Riley, woven poetically with his music and her dark poetry. It’s not an easy story to tell, but love isn’t always rainbows and sunshine and often times we must travel through the dark to find the light at the end of the tunnel. This is their journey.

Not recommended for anyone under the age of 17 due to underage drinking, sexual content and adult language.

Is taking a chance with your heart worth the escape, or was it better to have never loved at all? Can forgiveness really set you free?

After the unexpected death of her Dad, and the haunting manner in which he died, Riley Shaw built invisible walls around her heart. Barriers she created to protect her from splintering into broken pieces that couldn’t be repaired. She was unable to move forward from her past, letting the guilt of her parent’s mistakes dictate her own choices.

Dean Warren was safe. Being with him was innocent and peaceful because she didn’t truly love him. His words held her captive in a false sense of security. His eyes were deceptive, and his promises of never pushing her beyond what she was willing to give were broken, leaving Riley in a state of regret and doubt.

Joshua Parker had the power to take what was left of Riley’s splintered pieces and ruin her completely, or make her whole again. He was her best friend, her next-door neighbor—everything she wanted and settled on never having. Loving him was as easy as breathing air. The fear of losing him forever was more real to her than the feelings she couldn’t escape.

When faced with the very thing she feared the most, and in the arms she thought were safe, Riley finds herself questioning every decision she has made over the past two years. When she finally escapes the doubt in her head, and accepts the truth in her heart, is it too late?

“I’m so close to the edge of the cliff that I know one more breath, one more inch, I could fall.”

~Riley Shaw

Torn apart by a tragedy, pushed together by fate. Nothing is coincidence.

Riley and Josh have been through it all together, first as best friends and now as a couple.

Faced with a decision that will test their relationship, these two learn to fight harder than ever before to keep their hearts intact. Once the decision is made, there is no going back. With the past creeping into their present, and miles between them, they learn nothing is easy. Every moment matters.

Can Riley and Josh survive the first year of college apart? Will their love remain strong enough to embrace every moment that belongs to them? Or will someone from the past interfere, take what he wants and ruin them forever?

“For each star in the sky, I have a reason why I love you. When you look up at night, never forget this truth.”

~Josh Parker

She escaped the doubt, and he embraced the moment. Shifting apart then shifting together. Could they finally emerge into forever?

One secret broke his trust, which led to both of their heartbreak. They both learned that sometimes love just isn’t enough. Until now.

Nothing with them had ever been simple and coming home to right his wrong would be no different. Josh was prepared to say or do anything to fix his mistake and mend what he had broken between them. He wasn’t expecting to find out his worst nightmare had come true. As usual, though, not everything is as it seemed.

Riley had been slowly spiraling into a dark hold of loneliness and despair without Josh. Rebuilding walls he had once broken down, pushing away everyone around her. One self-destructive mistake left her unguarded and vulnerable causing her past to slam into her present with painful force. Destroyed by Josh’s assumptions then given hope by his reassurance, she climbs out of the dark and back into his arms. He’s her light and she’s his music.

Enough is enough and communication is key. No longer hiding behind walls and past screw-ups, they fight like hell for what they want. One another. Always wanting more.