by Molly O'Hare
Five Months Later
Life was a fucking chaotic mess.
But Holly wouldn’t have it any other way.
It might have been a mess, but it was her mess, and she’d never been happier.
Holly looked around her living room. On the floor, Jimmy was wrestling with Ripley, with Twitch trying to hold his own. In the corner of the room, Waffles was climbing up the cat tree looking for treats.
Peanut was crying so Ben was rocking her in his arms.
And the whole room looked like it had exploded with toys — human and dog, clothes, blankets, and food. You name it. It was in her living room.
Still, even through all that, Holly had a goofy smile on her face.
Glancing around her home she noticed Waffles had made it to the second level on the cat tree. With a deep sigh, she pushed her three-day unwashed hair out of her face and made her way over to him. She plucked him from the cat tree and placed him on the floor, much to his protest.
Waffles stared up at her in disgust as he huffed loudly at her.
“What did you do to him?” Ben asked coming over to Holly. Peanut still in his arms as she cried.
“I took him off the cat tree.” Holly wiped off the front of her shirt. There were vomit stains, and something else, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was. She decided it was best to ignore it.
“Did I forget to put the gate around it again?” Ben asked looking behind her at Waffles.
“No, you did. He thinks when there’s madness going on, he can get away with pushing it to the side.”
“Typical Waffles.”
“Never a dull moment.”
Jimmy’s laughter rang throughout the room as he continued to play with Ripley and Twitch. He kept squeaking one of the dog toys driving Ripley to bark.
Then Peanut started to cry louder.
Holly caught Ben’s eye. Simultaneously a smile spread across their faces.
Chaos never looked so good.
Ben leaned forward kissing Holly on the cheek. “Love you, Grace.”
“Love you more.”
“I’m gonna take this one to the nursery and see if I can get her down for a nap.”
“Good luck.” He was gonna need it.
“If it works, you and I are sneaking off to the bedroom for five minutes.”
Holly’s eyes brightened. “That’s all you’re gonna give me, big guy? Five minutes.”
Ben growled at her causing Holly to throw her head back and laugh.
“I bet I can make you come no less than three times and still have a minute to spare,” he whispered into her ear.
“Talk is cheap.”
“Oh, Grace. You’re gonna get it.”
“Maybe.”
Ben kissed her again. “Be ready.” He turned on his heel making his way down the hall with Peanut still crying.
Never a dull moment.
She’d give Ben a few minutes before she sent Jimmy out back with the pups to play.
Hell, five minutes was all she needed.
Holly walked to the kitchen and reached for her trusted donut box. Once she had it, she took out her prized possession.
That’s when she noticed Waffles plop down on his butt staring her down as he eyed what was in her hand.
Not surprising, Waffles then lunged for her treat. Holly was too quick for him this time, though. She yanked it away from him. Waffles plopped back on the floor sending her a severe side-eye.
Holly took a bite as she laughed. “Not this time, Waffles.”
Waffles huffed in annoyance.
“This peanut butter glazed donut is mine!”
Just then Ripley came running into the kitchen with Jimmy chasing after her. Holly being completely taken off guard, tried swerving away but ended up losing her footing.
Before Holly knew it, she was on the floor staring at the ceiling.
That’s when Waffles casually walked over to her and plucked the donut from her grasp.
He looked down at her as he happily chomped on the last bite.
Instead of fighting it, Holly rested her head on the kitchen floor.
She counted to five the moment she heard Ben’s footsteps.
“Holy shit. What happened? I leave you for two minutes and you’re already on the floor.” He asked dropping to his knees checking her out before helping Holly to her feet.
“Waffles. Waffles is what happened.”
Once Holly was fully upright, Ben shook his head. “That’s it.”
Holly knitted her brows together as she watched Ben leave the kitchen in a huff and head into their garage.
“What are you doing?” she called out.
When he reappeared in the kitchen he held up his hand. “It’s time to try the bubble wrap again.”
Stay connected to find out when John and Emma’s story will be released.
Curious what Mildred was talking about when she saw a hunky firefighter and his woman in a compromising position? Check out Hank and Olive’s story in Teased by Fire. Sneak peek of Chapter One next.
Teased by Fire Sneak Peek
Chapter One
Olive Quinn glared daggers at her traitorous best friend, Miranda Parker, as the bane of her existence moved yet another piece of his furniture into her apartment. This was all Miranda’s fault.
“Stop trying to murder me with your eyes, Olive.” Miranda sighed in annoyance as she pushed the hair out of her face.
That only caused Olive to glare harder in her friend’s direction. “I will not stop trying to murder you with my eyes,” Olive whisper shouted. “It’s your fault he is moving into my apartment.”
“What the hell did you want me to do, Olive? I knew I couldn’t leave you stranded to pay the rent on your own. You’re just pissed I’m moving.”
“Damn right, I’m pissed. If I were you I’d check every box you packed for surprises.” Olive squinted her eyes harder in Miranda’s direction trying to intimidate her.
Miranda shook her head. “How many times are we going to go through this? If I thought I had a chance of getting the job, I would have told you. I would have thought hell would’ve frozen over first.”
“And yet here we are. Hell must be mighty cold right now.”
“I’m sorry, okay. I’m freaking sorry.”
At Miranda’s defeated posture Olive softened. “No, I’m the one that’s sorry. You’ve got your dream job now. I need to stop being angry and just be happy for you.”
“It’s a lot changing all at once.”
Olive looked at Miranda, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m going to miss you. We’ve been stuck together since the first grade.”
“Nothing’s changing,” Miranda tried reassuring her.
“Everything is changing. You’re moving clear across the country and I only found out two days ago. I haven’t had time to accept the fact my only friend is leaving me.” Her eyes narrowed. “And, to top it all off, you went behind my back and gave your brother your room.”
Miranda sighed before crossing her arms over her chest. “I don't understand why you are freaking out so much? Yeah, Hank is an ass, but if you both stay out of each other’s way, you’ll be fine. Plus, I’ve brought you the best research tool a romance writer could ever ask for. You’ll be able to get a up close and personal experience on how he operates. I brought you a gift.”
“If you mean the gift of an STD infested man-whore? You can keep it.” Olive’s eyes widened as everything clicked into place. This wasn’t her best friend. There was no way in hell her best friend who she’d known for years would actually be doing this. That settles it. She’d somehow been abducted by aliens and the person standing in front of her was an imposter. This is it. This is the zombie apocalypse we’ve all been waiting for. Olive quickly grabbed Miranda’s arms examining them for any sign of an implant.
Miranda snatched her hands back. “Jesus, Olive, what are you doing?”
“Checking to see if you have a tracking device somewhere,” she said as a
matter of fact.
Miranda rolled her eyes. “Do you ever live anywhere other than your fantasy world?”
Offended, Olive crossed her arms over her chest. “Hey, my weird brain is a masterpiece. How else do you think I come up with my stories?”
“I don’t know how you function when all you think about is the zombie apocalypse or some strange alien race invading the earth.”
Olive pointed at her head. “This imagination makes me money.”
“How? Your brain makes zero sense. You don’t even write the shit that goes on in your mind.” Miranda shook her head. “Olive, you write contemporary erotic romance. Please explain to me how a brain so involved in aliens and zombies writes hardcore romance with alpha males that make all women drool?”
Olive shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it’s a weird yin and yang thing, you know, balance to the Force and what not.”
“Fuck!” They heard from the other room as a loud bang echoed throughout the space.
Olive’s eyes narrowed back at her friend as her lips thinned. “He’s a big oaf, and he’s gonna use his big oaf muscles to make holes in my walls.”
Miranda crossed her arms over her chest. “All right, Olive, I get it. You’re fucking pissed. Okay. If I were you I’d be pissed too, but there is nothing we can do about it now. Hank is moving in. Right now, as we speak. He needed a place and you need someone that can pay half the rent. End. Of. Story.”
Olive knew Miranda was right, but that didn’t stop the betrayal and hurt from running through her. Within two days, everything she was accustomed to had been upended. That’s a lot for anyone to take in.
“It’s not like he’ll be here often anyway,” Miranda remarked. “He’s always at the fire station, and when he’s not, he’ll be out with his flavor of the week.”
“That isn’t the point. With Hank the Tank…” Olive physically revolted. “I hate that nickname everyone calls him.”
“It’s stupid, I agree.”
“Back to what I was saying,” Olive started again after shaking the thoughts from her head. “With Hank moving in, I can’t be me anymore. Olive Quinn: awkward, hates people, never goes outside or wears a bra. I’ll be banished to my room or forced to wear a bra. I don’t want to wear a bra. Bras suck and stifle my creativity. Oh god, don’t even get me started on underwires. Who the hell came up with underwires for bras, anyway? I bet you it was a man. Yup, it had to have been a man. A woman wouldn’t have invented something that after a little while, a hard metal wire pokes out and causes you excruciating pain; when all you want to do is walk to the store and buy some snacks. But no, instead I'm walking down the sidewalk discreetly trying to move the wire to a place where it’s not trying to puncture through my skin and kill me.”
Miranda chuckled. “You have a point about the bra, but you said the same thing about pants and you’ve grown accustomed to wearing them.”
“Not by choice! I only wear them because you kept the air on “cold as fuck.” If I didn’t wear pants these thunder thighs would have gotten frostbitten.”
“I keep it cold because you have that weird obsession with the holidays.”
“I do not!”
Miranda’s brow rose before she pointed to the corner of Olive’s bedroom. “You have a freakin’ Christmas tree up.”
“Yeah, what’s your point?”
“It’s the middle of June. No one needs a Christmas tree up in the middle of June.”
Olive held her hand to her chest as if she’d been shot. “How can you say that?”
Miranda instantly rolled her eyes. “It’s the middle of June. That’s how I can say that.”
“Haven’t you heard of Christmas in July? I’m just a few weeks early.”
“Christmas in July,” Miranda scoffed. “Olive, you haven’t taken it down in the three years we’ve lived here.”
“Damn, Scrooge much? Sorry, my joy of the holidays makes you a bitter humbug.”
Miranda held Olive’s shoulders. “Please leave this apartment more often and get some fresh air. I really am worried about you.”
“Do not shit all over my love of the happiest time of the year. And, stop deflecting on the fact that you went behind my back and moved in your brother.”
“Think of all the material for your books you’ll get now.” Miranda swiped her hand towards the bedroom door. “His friends are delicious, what more can you ask for? Hot firemen as your personal research subjects. You can save your computer from all the viruses from those porn sites you...” She made air quotes. “…use for research.”
“Hey, don’t knock it. Those sites are a golden tool for my line of work.”
“Whatever. It’s done. Now, let’s go back out there and get the rest of my stuff packed away.”
Olive huffed before following her friend. “Remember those research subjects include your brother the next time you read one of my books.” Olive couldn’t help the smirk that spread across her face when Miranda’s eyes widened. Take that you, traitorous devil woman!
“Oh shit, what have I done?”
Olive pushed Miranda’s shoulder shoving her towards the door. “Serves you right.”
As they walked back into the living room, Olive’s heart stopped as she saw a shirtless, sweaty Hank standing in the middle of the room. How in the hell was it possible to look that good? He had muscles for days. Her eyes went to his abs as she started mentally counting them. Sure, half the men in her books were described like him, but that was in her mind. Men did not look like them in real life. And, why the hell was he looking at her like she was a tall glass of water and he was a man dying of thirst?
Her whole body shivered. She one-hundred percent stepped into an alternate universe.
“There you two are,” Hank remarked. “I thought you’d left all the work to us.” He nodded his head towards his station buddies that’d agreed to help move Miranda out and him in.
Olive looked around at the men scattered throughout the room. It was like a Hot Fireman/Paramedic calendar threw up in her apartment. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
She turned towards her friend and smirked, which made Miranda blanch for a brief second before she spoke. “No, we haven’t left. We were just discussing something in Olive’s room,” Miranda announced before making her way to one of the many boxes in the living room.
“That so, and what did you and Olive Oil need to discuss?” Hank smirked in her direction.
“Do not call me that!” Olive glanced around the room for something to throw at his head. She’d grown up with Hank teasing her every chance he got, and if he thought she would just stand by and let him do it in her own home he had another thing coming.
At her annoyance, Hank chuckled. “Oh, I think living with you will be lots of fun, Olive Oil.”
Olive turned back to Miranda ready to demand she make him leave when Hank yelled out, “Any of you seen Dog?”
A chorus of no’s rang out throughout the room which made Olive roll her eyes. “Let me guess, another one of your degenerate friends?” she asked glaring at Hank.
His eyes brightened with laughter as his smile grew wider. “Miranda didn’t tell you about Dog?”
Olive’s eyes shot to her best friend who now busied herself with removing an invisible piece of dirt from her shirt. “No, I guess that tidbit of information escaped her,” Olive sneered.
Hank disappeared out of the room leaving Olive with her brow raised and her arms crossed at his sudden departure. Well, okay then. Clearly living with Hank was not going to be a walk in the park.
A few minutes later she heard Hank shout, “Found her!” He then made his way back into the living room. That’s when Olive spotted the largest Maine Coon cat she’d ever seen in her life cradled in Hank’s arms.
“What is that?”
Hank pat the cat on its head causing the ginormous thing to tilt its face in his direction seeking out more attention, or possibly meat from a small animal being used as a sacrifice. “This i
s Dog,” he said with a grin.
That’s when she snapped. “Who the fuck names a cat Dog?”
Continue Hank and Olive’s story In Teased by Fire.
Also by Molly O’Hare
Hollywood Hopeful Series
Hollywood Dreams
Risking It All (Danny and Lexi’s Story) – coming soon
Stumbling Through Life Series
Stumbling Into Him
Stumbling Into Forever - this book
Teased Series
Teased by Fire
Lucas & Miranda’s story- coming soon
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About the Author
Much like any author out there, sleeping does not come easily to me. It turns out I have the worst insomnia of anyone I have ever met. Since I was a little girl, to help myself fall asleep, I would recite stories. Each night I would pick up where the story left off previously until the tale was complete. One morning, after I finished a particularly fun story, I decided I wanted to start sharing them with others. A few months later, here I am, sharing my lack of sleep with all of you. Who says the stories in our heads can’t be fun for others?
I think I will bestow upon you some fun facts about me.
Fun Facts for Stumbling Into Forever:
I still have a Corgi.
I hate donuts.
I love car rides.
I love foxes.
I tripped into the car this morning.
I sing at the top of my lungs. Especially, if I don’t know the words.
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