Wildflower (Colors #4) (33 page)

“Push, baby. You’re doing great. I’m so proud of you.”

“Will you shut the fuck up!?” I bellowed as the nurse on my other side stopped counting. “This is all your fault! I hate you!”

Another contraction ripped through me and I feared my body was being torn apart from the inside. “Another push,” the doctor between my thighs ordered, and I wanted nothing more in that moment than to take my foot out of the stirrup and kick him upside the head.

Bearing down, I began to push with all my might as the nurse on my right began counting to ten. Noah held my hand like a champ, even though my grip was likely crushing his bones into dust.

On ten, I fell back to the bed, out of breath and exhausted.

“I’m sorry,” I cried as my sweet, loving husband wiped my sweaty hair from my forehead. “I don’t hate you. I love you. This just hurts so damn bad.”

“I know, baby,” he soothed. “I know. But you’re doing so good. Just a few more pushes, okay? All we need is a few more. You’ve got this.”

I didn’t have this. Not even close.

“I don’t
want
to push anymore,” I pouted belligerently. “You get down here and fucking push if you want to so badly!”

“Don’t worry, sir. Mood swings are totally normal. They’ll be over soon enough.” the nurse on my other side assured Noah.

“And you can just fuck right the hell off!” I yelled at her. “
You
try having a perfect stranger standing all up in your business like he’s about to hike a goddamned football and tell me you don’t get a little moody.”

Another contraction.

Another order from the douchebag at my crotch telling me to push.

I was so ready for this to be over. I was tired, in pain, and I wanted to see my baby more than anything. The stupid cow of a nurse got to six when blessed relief washed over me as the sounds of an infant’s cries suddenly filled the room.

“It’s a girl!” The quarterback between my thighs declared happily as he lifted my baby girl up and placed her on my chest.

“A girl,” Noah breathed as he stared down at our little girl in wonder.

“She’s beautiful,” I whispered. “We did good, honey.”

“
You
did good.” Noah smiled back at me as he reached down to trail a finger across our little girl’s head. “Thank you for giving me a daughter, wildflower.”

I sniffled and did my best to lean up and kiss him. “Thank you for giving me our future.”

“Have you two picked a name?” the nurse asked.

“Lucy,” I replied, looking down at the light of my life, curled up against my chest. “Her name is Lucy.”

Noah’s fingers tilted my chin up so he could place another kiss on my lips.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful baby.”

“Thanks,” Noah beamed. “We named her after the wisest woman we’ve ever known.”

A short while later, the room filled with all of our friends and loved ones. Ethan, Chloe and Derrick, Navie and Rowan. Everyone I loved was in the room with us.

Noah sat on the bed with me while Ethan held a sleeping Lucy snugly against his wide chest. Just watching him with her, I knew she was going to be in for it when she got old enough to date. Judging by the look on his face, he was going to take over protective to a whole new level.

“She’s so tiny,” he spoke softly as he rocked from side to side. “She’s perfect.”

“Just like her momma,” Noah whispered in my ear, nuzzling his nose along my neck. “I love you, wildflower.”

“I love you too, honey. Forever.”

“Forever.”

As I looked around the small room filled with so much love, I did as Grammy had always done, and thanked my lucky stars for the many blessings I had in my life.

Curled up in the arms of my soul mate, I knew, without a doubt, that my life would only get better from here.

Stay tuned for Derrick and Chloe’s story

Sweet Sunshine

Coming 2016

To my husband: You are one of my blessings. Thank you for blessing me again and giving me our beautiful son.

To Jennifer Wolfel: Seriously, I have no idea how I ever wrote before you. Thinking about you not beta reading my next book gives me anxiety. Never go away!

To Jenn Van Wyk: Proof reader extraordinaire. Where would I be without you? Wait…no, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know, because it’s never gonna happen!

To Aly Martinez: You talk me off a ledge. Then I talk you off a ledge. Then you talk me off a ledge. Then I talk you off a ledge. It’s a vicious cycle, but for some crazy reason it seems to work for us, so let’s keep doing it.

To Erin Noelle: My polyamorous book wife. I love your crazy ass unconditionally, even though our writing dates usually lead to more drinking than writing. But that’s what makes it fun!

To Jill Sava: You make my life easier, and if I thought I could get away with it, I’d kidnap you and keep you in my pocket.

To my friends and loved ones: I can’t express how much your support has meant to me.

To the lovely ladies of F*ck That Noise: Thanks for giving me a place to go when the world is being an asshole and I need an escape from reality.

And as always, to my readers: This is for YOU!

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Be sure to follow all of the Colors novels!

Scattered Colors

The use of the phrase life is hard has become so diluted, so overstated through the years that when someone hears it the words go in one ear and out the other. The impact is no longer there. The meaning, the importance of that phrase no longer holds any water with those it's spoken to.

Freya Linden's life became hard at the age of seventeen, the summer before her senior year of high school. The bright colors of her life faded into black and white, a colorless shell full of loneliness.

Until she met him.

Parker Owens breathed life back into her world. With him she began to heal. But happiness isn't a guarantee. Sometimes opening yourself up only leads to more heartbreak. The person she thought to be her saving grace shattered her completely.

Her story isn't a pretty one. The bumps in the road were monumental and infinite. But it's her story. And the one thing that holds true is this: despite the hardships, she made it through to the other side.

Shrinking Violet

Forgiveness

From the time we’re old enough to understand the word, we’re taught to forgive those who wrong us, so what do you do when the one person you can’t forgive is yourself?

For Cassidy Ashworth, it’s a question that haunts her. Forgiveness has become a foreign concept. Self-loathing is something she’s much more familiar with. Convinced that she doesn’t deserve happiness, Cassidy is determined to spend every day trying to make up for the wrong she’s done. But no amount of repenting for the past will ever convince her that she’s worthy of a future with Carson Langford.

Raised in the foster system, Carson has always been a throwaway kid. He knows firsthand just how cruel life can be, how easy it is for people to prey on the weak, and there’s nothing Carson detests more than a bully. So focused on his self-imposed role of protector, he never counted on the beautiful blonde with the haunted eyes to stumble into his life and shake up his world.

Despite her reluctance, Carson is determined to have Cassidy in his life, but once the truth of her past comes to light, the question is…will he still want to keep her?

Love Hate Relationship

People say that sometimes the line between love and hate is thin. What they don’t tell you is that sometimes it’s invisible.

Rowan Locklaine gave his heart to one woman a long time ago and has no desire to go through that kind of torture ever again. His painful past has turned him cold and heartless. Women serve only one purpose as far as he’s concerned, and relationships are nothing but a waste of time and energy. When the mouthy little blonde, Navie Collins, is hired as his personal assistant, he finds his world turned upside down. And against his better judgment, he can’t seem to stop thinking about her.

Navie Collins has spent years convinced she’s not good enough, that no one could possibly want her. Growing up the way she did helped to thicken her skin, so when she walks into a job interview and meets the temperamental, foul-mouthed, best-selling author, Rowan Locklaine, she’s all too happy to put him in his place.

Rowan and Navie are convinced they hate each other. But as time passes and the attraction between them begins to grow, these two stubborn, strong-willed people have a life changing decision to make. Can they move beyond their pain for a chance at something better, or are they destined to let their pasts dictate their future?