Christmas With The Houstons (Acceptance #4) (29 page)
Read Christmas With The Houstons (Acceptance #4) Online
Authors: D. Kelly
He smiles at me and I relax a little, even though I’m still crying. “But I’ll tell you a secret. Mr. Stafford… he loves his missus with all of his heart, but he loved her a whole lot better when she was young and feisty like you. And without all her priss. Do you love Mr. Zack?”
I nod my head emphatically and he pats my hand. “Love has a way of coming back to you. Have faith this might not be the end. To forgive
is
to love,” Reginald says firmly as he exits the plane. I want to get in the air as soon as possible, so I shove myself into the seat and tug the seatbelt around the dress. After the plane is in the air and the pilot says I can take my seatbelt off, I have the onboard flight attendant unbutton the fifty or so buttons on the back of the dress for me.
As the dress falls to the floor, she immediately picks it up and takes it to the bedroom in the back of the plane. I’m assuming she’s trying to figure out how to hang it up but honestly, I’m too emotionally spent to even care. All I want to do is cry myself to sleep and pretend today never happened. After pulling on a pair of yoga pants and a sweater, I recline the chair and continue crying.
The enormity of what I’ve done hits me like a cold shower. I’m now living in a world where Zack and Cassidy are not a couple and that’s a world I don’t
ever
want to be a part of. Zachary Stafford owns my heart and always has.
I’ve just made the biggest mistake of my life.
Keep reading for an excerpt of
Waiting for Us by Dawn Stanton.
Waiting for Us
by Dawn Stanton
Prologue
The warmth of the early morning sun on my face and the heat of a firm, male form pressed along my back, are the first things I notice as I slowly stir from a deep and satisfying sleep. It takes me a moment to fully grasp where I am and who I’m in bed with. His warm lips nuzzle the back of my neck and move over to nibble on the bottom of my ear. I smile to myself,
I’d recognize those lips anywhere.
I arch my back, rubbing against him like a cat purring for attention.
“This is the best morning I’ve ever had,” he whispers in my ear. I’m overcome with emotion and my throat tightens as I try to speak.
He needs to hear that I feel the same.
As I roll onto my back and look up at his handsome face, I am once again overwhelmed by the happiness I see reflected in his eyes. He opens his mouth and I place my finger over his lips, interrupting him with a gentle kiss from my fingertip. It takes me a moment to regain my voice.
“Let me say something first.” He’s always the one who puts himself out there and for once I want him to know what I’m feeling. “I love this, waking up in your arms. I can’t think of a better way to begin my day. I want to be with you, kiss you, make love with you and wake up with you, always.” The words have barely escaped my lips before he has me wrapped in his arms. As he holds me tight, I think of all the time it took us to get to this point and what a journey it’s been…
Chapter One
November 2004
I've never seen such an example of physical perfection as the one I'm staring at right now. He just strutted into our kitchen with my older brother Jake as if he's been here hundreds of times before. He has black Wayfarers pushed up holding his brown, wavy, chin-length hair back and a canvas messenger bag slung across his broad chest. His plum colored Hawaiian shirt combined with jeans and brown leather flip flops gives off a bit of a hippy vibe. I'm not sure how I'm noticing anything aside from his gorgeous face...wow, that face. His cheekbones are chiseled and the strong angles of his jawline frame his plump and impossibly soft looking lips. Even though I'm only twelve years old, when he smiles at me, I feel a physical reaction, like hundreds of tiny butterflies fluttering crazily in my stomach.
"Hailey, this is my buddy and roommate at school, Cory." As Jake introduces us, he politely shakes my hand with a nice firm grip. I’m almost incapable of speech when I glance into his whiskey-colored eyes for the first time. It takes me an extra beat before I finally manage to squeak out an awkward "Hi," as I feel my face heat with a bright red flush of embarrassment.
"It's nice to meet you, Hailey. Aren't you adorable," he says winking at me. At this point, I begin slinking lower and lower down the ladder back chair I'm sitting on while doing my homework and wanting to disappear under the kitchen table. I glue my eyes to my math textbook as if it's the most interesting thing I've ever read.
"So Munchkin, where's Mom?" I roll my eyes at his hideous nickname for me before glancing up at Jake.
"She's gone grocery shopping. She should be home soon."
"Okay Munchkin, Cory will be staying with us for the Thanksgiving break. I'm gonna go show him to his room."
"Mhmm," I mumble keeping my focus on my book as they leave the room.
Oh my God! He’s staying for a week. How am I going to make it through all that time when I can barely speak around him?
Dinner tonight is excruciatingly painful for me. Cory is sitting directly across from me so unless I stare solely at my plate of food it's pretty much impossible not to notice him. A couple of times I've glanced up and actually made eye contact with him and it's caused chills to run up my spine.
Oh God, he looks even better now than he did two hours ago.
His chocolate-colored hair falls to his strong jawline in a perfect chaotic mess of waves and loose curls. Every once in a while he runs his fingers through its thickness and pushes it back off his face. The way each shiny strand returns to its place is mesmerizing.
I try to pay attention to the conversation going on around me, but I'm too focused on watching the way Cory's large hands cut up his roast beef and the graceful way they lift his water glass to his full lips. When I'm able to pay attention and not be distracted by his good looks, I learn that he is from New Hampshire and an only child of divorced parents. He has plans to remain in Boston after he and Jake graduate from Beacon University in two more years.
The rest of the week passes without me making a complete fool of myself and I don't see Cory again until the next summer when I’m thirteen.
https://www.facebook.com/DawnStantonauthor?ref=tn_tnmn
About the Author
I'm a wife, a mom, and a dog lover. I'm also a taxi, problem fixer, extreme multi-tasker, and my kids’ biggest fan in anything they do. I’m married to my high school sweetheart... how cool is that? Margaritas and sarcasm make me happy. Chocolate makes that happiness grow exponentially. People who make me laugh are my favorite kind of people. I believe Karma is a bitch who slaps back hard and mean people suck. I'm California born and raised, and I love the beach but hate the sand. And, of course, I believe Starbucks makes
any
day better. I’m the author of
The Acceptance Series
and
Chasing Cassidy
with more books soon to come.
For more books by D. Kelly –
www.dkellyauthor.com
Table of Contents