I knock on the door and he opens it.
“Knock for some cock?” I say unable to be pissed at him when he answers.
“Babe,” he shakes his head no, grabs my hand and pulls me in.
“What the fuck?” I say when I see the girls all sitting there and then notice the handmade Welcome Home sign strung across the room.
“You’re home,” a very sleepy Natalia sings as she runs toward me. “Finally you’re home.”
I am holding her in a hug when I look around and see some recognizable things scattered around the house. Picture, my rocker, my bottles of wine and wine glasses.
“What is going on?” I ask sternly.
Natalia smiles. “They all helped move your stuff.”
I pull her head tight to my shoulder and glare at them all. Every one of them.
“Can you tuck me in before you play with your friends?” She yawns. “I wanna show you my bed.”
Once in her room, which I am in awe of and may possibly want to share with her, she grabs a book off her bookshelf and hops on her bed.
She pats the spot beside her and yawns again.
“I hope you’re not mad but I took it from the studio in the basement that Daddy made for all your things.” She hands me the book my father had given me.
Ricco walks in the room. “You good?”
I shake my head no but say, “Yeah, yeah I am.”
“Love you girls and I’m gonna get to love you even more now.” He smiles and so do I. “You got me Kat?”
I nod yes and say, “No.”
Natalia lays down and yawns once again.
When I finish reading to her I go downstairs and everyone is gone. There’s a light coming from a door and I walk to it. It’s the basement.
I walk down the stairs and nearly die when I see that it is just as beautiful as the rest of the house and it’s a fucking basement.
“Family room.” He nods to the right. “Your room.” He nods left. “Natalia thinks it’s hers too. Insisted it was, so, some shit was added.”
I walk toward the area on the left and see the same pictures my mother had hanging in my room at her house. Pictures of my Dad and me. Next to them were pictures of Ricco and Natalia. Between the two was an empty spot.
“Always wanted one of those family Christmas pictures done, thought maybe we could hang it there and make copies for Christmas cards and shit.”
“And shit?”
“Little uncomfortable right now, I’m getting the sweetness but not the sass.”
I turn my back to him and look around at all my art supplies, my books, two desks, and two easels, and all the pictures. The things he called some shit because he was uncomfortable. I mentally give myself a fist bump.
His arms wrap around me from behind and he pulls me tight against his hard body.
“You’re quiet.”
“They all knew?”
“Had to.”
“So everyone came together and did this for us?”
“Knew you would balk the move. Know we’re better as one than two.”
“I hate change,” I say.
“Here it comes.” He stiffens behind me.
I turn around and hold his stubbled face in my hands. “Change was never good.”
“Know that too.”
“Changing with you feels good.”
“Yeah babe it does.”
“I love you,” I tell him.
“Lips.”
“Promise me sips afterward?” I ask trying to be… me before him and his smile immediately erases that need.
“Promise you the moon if you’ll take it.”
“Don’t push,” I warn.
He smirks. “Look around babe, I won’t push, I’ll just take knowing it’s best for us all.”
“You think?”
“I know.”
And he does.
The End
ALWAYS TO THE OWNER OF THIS BOOK FIRST,
If you are new to me, thank you for taking a chance on my work. I hope you enjoyed it. I loved writing it.
TO MY READERS WHO HAVE BEEN WITH ME FROM GO,
I CAN NOT TELL YOU ENOUGH HOW MUCH I APPRECIATE YOU SO I SHALL PUT TYPE IT ALL IN SHOUTY CAPS, lol. You all are amazingly supportive and it goes without saying that I could not do this without you.
TO HEATHER AT SOCIAL BUTTERFLY PR,
Thank you for being such a big part of this project.
TO JULES
,
Much love for the cover design, formatting, proofing, dealing with my crazy ass, but most of all the friendship and love.
TO ELLIE,
I have loved working with you on these two books. The cover, the editing, the messages, lol.
See you in Vegas!
TO MY ALPHA BITCH,
This can't end!!! Yet it must. Thank you again for your friendship.
TO MY NINJAS,
Life changes but we don’t. So very grateful.
TO MY READERS GROUP
(Ladies or Love and Steel)
I hope someday to have been able to meet you all in person because I want to give each and every one of you a squeeze. Thank you so much for all the love and support you have shown me. (please keep that shit up, lol)
TO ALL YOU MEN,
Some of you are complete dolls but the majority are total freaks. Either way you have made me laugh and that’s the most important thing.
Believe me when I say, 'This is not about any of you. It's fiction.'
Advice? Put the phone down, stop spanking the monkey to a text conversation because there is nothing better than skin to skin action with someone you give a shit about.
TO ALL YOU SINGLE LADIES,
I wish you luck. Please, please, please, be safe and please, please, please, don’t let any of the jackasses out there make you feel less than. You are not.
Oh and if you need back up, tips, or help, Kat's got you covered. She has social media, and a quick comeback for almost everything, just ask.
TO MY LITTLE CHICK,
New adventures begin again. Yay us! Smile always, laugh often, and when all else fails dive into a book and get lost. But not Moms books, they’re naughty and you can’t read them until you’re 25. I Love you more.
USA Today
bestselling author MJ Fields love of writing was in full swing by age eight. Together with her cousins, she wrote a newsletter and sold it for ten cents to family members.
She self-published her first contemporary, new adult romance in January 2013. Today she has completed seven self-published series,
The Love series, The Wrapped series, The Burning Souls series, The Men of Steel series, Ties of Steel series, The Rockers of Steel series
and T
he Norfolk series
.
MJ is a hybrid author and publishes an indie book almost every month and has over 40 self-published titles. She is also signed with a traditional publisher, Loveswept, Penguin Random House, for her co- written series
The Caldwell Brothers
.
MJ was a former small business owner, who closed shop so she could write full time.
MJ lives in central New York, surrounded by family and friends. Her house is full of pets, friends, and noise ninety percent of the time, and she would have it no other way.
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