by Kyle Autumn
“Yay!” Lyra quietly enthuses. “I can’t wait to—”
“There’s more,” Patti tells the room. “Zed and I have to tell you guys something.”
“Okay,” Shiree says, drawing the word out. “What’s up?”
“Well,” Zo starts, but the doctor enters the room, interrupting her.
“Everyone ready to go home?” he asks, a cheerful tone to his voice.
The room agrees—Zo’s is particularly enthusiastic. In fact, she stands up, says, “I’ll see you guys later. Congratulations!” and flees from` the room.
Patti huffs a breath out. “Sorry. I guess we’ll talk some other time.” Then she heads toward the door and follows Zo out.
“I hope they’re okay,” Lyra says.
“I’ll call them on the way home,” Shiree says.
Then we get on with getting Lyra and the baby ready to leave the hospital. While they get settled in a wheelchair, I go pull the car around. They’re waiting for me by the time I drive up to the curb. So I carefully tuck my fiancée and my son in the car and wave goodbye to the doctor, Shiree, and Chaz
“Ready, angel?” I ask her, my hand on her thigh.
She checks the back to make sure our son is safe and sound. Then she looks at me. “Ready,” she responds, linking our fingers together.
The diamond in her ring glints in the sunlight. Her hand feels so perfect in mine. And our son is nestled in his seat, sleeping peacefully. Everything about the world, though it’s so different than it was nine months ago, is just right. So I put the car in drive and take my family—the one thing I thought I’d never have but the very thing that makes me feel whole—home.
The End
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If you want to check out a sample of book 3,
The Girlfriend’s Secret, flip the page.
And you can preorder the rest of the series.
Find them here for $0.99 (on sale for a limited time):
The Girlfriend’s Secret (Thirsty Thursday #3)
Coming March 22, 2017
The Barista’s Wager (Thirsty Thursday #4)
Coming April 19, 2017
Sneak Preview of Thirsty Thursday #3
The Girlfriend’s Secret
Coming March 22, 2017
Chapter 1
Zo
Like the coward I am, I run out of Lyra’s hospital room. Once I’m out of sight, I lean against the wall, bring a hand to my forehead, and sigh out a deep breath. I wasn’t ready. We’ve talked about it and talked about it then talked about it some more, but I just couldn’t say the words. Not when I didn’t know how everyone would react. They were stuck in my throat, and then the doctor interrupted the moment, so I took it as a sign. And I left. Ugh.
Patti comes out of the room, hot on my heels. “What happened in there?” she asks, her hands out to her sides. “I thought we were going to tell them today.”
“We were,” I admit, kicking off the wall. Then I start walking toward the elevator. “But I choked up.”
“I noticed.” When we get on the elevator, she faces me and stares me right in the eyes. Once the doors have closed, she asks, “Do you not want to tell them? Because, if you don’t, I—”
“Yes!” I rush out. “Yes, I do. I really do. I swear.”
“Then what the hell is going on?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest. “We can’t keep this from them forever.”
When I don’t say anything for a moment, she raises an eyebrow at me.
“I know,” I tell her on a deep exhale. “I know, okay? I don’t know what you want me to say.”
The elevator doors open, but Patti doesn’t make a move to leave. But I can only take her disappointed glare for so long. Before the doors close, I step out onto the first floor and head toward the exit whether she’s following me or not. I have to get out of here.
I get it. I fucked up. I dropped the ball. This was supposed to be the day we came clean. And, honestly, I’m tired of living a lie. Keeping a secret. In theory, I’m more than ready to tell everyone. Lyra, Shiree, Chaz, Blake… Even my parents. And I’m beyond sorry that my chickenshit attitude has made Patti keep this from them too. She deserves so much better than to keep my secrets.
But, without knowing how they’ll react, I’m not sure I can say anything yet. I can’t handle the unknown when it comes to something this big. It could be life-altering, mind-blowing, and earth-shattering news. And we’d have to start at the beginning. I’m just not sure I want everyone in my business, and telling people is a guaranteed way to make them look at me differently. I hate to say it, but I’m still not ready for that. Which is why I’m ready to tell everyone but still unwilling to go through with it.
Once we reach my car, I go to get into the driver’s seat. But, instead of going to the passenger’s side door to go home, Patti follows me. Carpooling was a great idea on the way here, but now, I’m regretting the decision. It’s only going to make me face this. Whether I’m ready or not.
“Hey,” she says, her hand on my arm to stop me. “We need to talk about this. Because I can’t keep doing this with you, Zo.”
The use of my actual name hits me right in the gut. I almost can’t remember the last time she called me that. It’s been Zed ever since we finally acknowledged what was happening between us. So it almost sounded like an insult to my ears. She’s serious, and she means business. Shit.
I face her and take a deep, steadying breath. “I know we do.” My hands are shaking, and I just want to crawl inside a hole and hide. “I hate that you’ve had to keep this secret with me, but I don’t want anyone judging me or…”
She lets my arm go by sliding it down to my hand and clasping my fingers. “Or what? You have to tell me so I can help you get through this.”
Closing my eyes, I squeeze her hand. When I open them, I say, “Or…not loving me anymore.”
Her shoulders slump forward as she exhales a whoosh of breath. “Oh, Zed. That’s never going to happen,” she says, pulling me into a tight hug. When she pulls back, she holds my cheeks in her hands. “You’re still you no matter what, okay? Everyone will still love you. I promise.”
I nod as a tear slips down my cheek.
“And, if for some unlikely, ridiculous-ass reason they don’t,” she continues, making me smile a little, “then you don’t need them in your life anyway. But I don’t think you’ll run into that problem.”
Again, I nod, and another tear falls down my other cheek.
She wipes them away for me using her thumbs. “And who cares? You’ll always have me.” Her lips curve up into a grin. “I’ve even proven to be more than you can handle sometimes. What more could you possibly ask for?”
At that, I break into a small laugh. Because it’s true. She’s my best friend, and I don’t know what I’d do without her. But, if I don’t grow a pair soon and give my secret up, I’ll find out exactly what I’d do without her. Which is a much scarier thought than anyone’s judgment or lack of love. I’d be so lost and alone. If I don’t have to be, I don’t want to be. So I decide to grow those balls.
Right now, apparently. Because it’s now or never. We agreed on today, so today it will be.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more, Patti.” With tear-stained cheeks, I shake my head a little. “Nothing at all.”
Then, with Shiree and Chaz approaching their car, which is parked right next to mine, I lean forward and kiss my girlfriend on her soft, sweet lips. For everyone to see for the first time.
***
Patti
Well, this was unexpected. The woman I love more than life itself has her lips on mine in broad daylight. I’m so conditioned to not do this that I freeze for a second. But then I unfre
eze and take hold of the moment by sliding my hands in her hair and deepening the kiss. I’ve waited for this moment for over nine months. Of course I’m going to take advantage, sear it into my brain for all of eternity, and make the absolute most of it.
I run my tongue across the seam of her lips, and she lets me in. She always does. It’s my favorite way to kiss her, but I’m finding that it’s even sweeter with the sun on my skin. Or maybe it’s the footsteps I hear approaching us that make this better. Someone else in the world, even if it’s a stranger, knows we’re together. It’s not even a voyeurism thing, and I don’t particularly want them to watch us. But someone knows. Someone besides us. Thank the lord.
Her palms grip my back, and her short nails dig into my shoulder blades. But it’s almost too hard. To the point of pain. I pause our kiss, about to pull away from her, when I open my eyes. Hers are wide open too, but they’re not aimed at me. They’re aimed over my shoulder. So maybe she doesn’t want strangers watching us kiss yet. That’s okay with me. Someone has, and right now that’s enough. But I’m curious who had the pleasure, so I unstick our faces and twist around.
Only to find two people who are decidedly not strangers staring at us.
“Wh…wh…what?” Shiree squeals, throwing her arms out to her sides. “What is going on?” Turning to Chaz, she asks, “Babe, what is going on?”
“Well, Shiree, it looks like Patti and Zo were—”
“I know what it looks like!” she exclaims, interrupting her husband. “I have two eyes. I saw what happened. What I don’t understand is why it’s happening.”
Zo is frozen, stock-still, so I grab her hand to encourage her. When she looks at me, I see all the fear she has inside pouring out of her gaze. All I want to do is wrap her up and keep her safe. Make sure nothing bad happens to her. Ever. But I can’t. And these are our friends. Even though Shiree’s reaction was, well, unexpected, I don’t think it’s going to be bad. So I squeeze her fingers and raise my eyebrows a couple of times.
“It’s okay, Zed. I’m right here,” I remind her, giving her a small smile. “You can do this.”
She takes a deep breath, which comes out on a shudder. “Well…” Then she stops.
While I squeeze her hand again, Shiree looks at Chaz with wide eyes. He just shrugs and faces us again, so she does too.
“Spit it out, Zo,” she says, taking her husband’s hand. “Is it cancer? A brain tumor? Just tell us already!” Tears pool in her eyes, and she wipes at them.
Zo’s jaw falls open, and her eyebrows draw down on her forehead. But nothing comes out of her mouth. So I speak up for her.
“What the hell?” I shove my hands on my hips. “Why do you think she is sick? Because she wouldn’t be with me if she wasn’t dying?”
“B-be with you?” Shiree stutters out. “Like…you two…” She waves a finger between the two of us. “You’re…together?”
“That’s what I looked like to me,” Chaz says, putting his arm around his wife. “I hear that’s what two people do when they’re together.”
“I know that,” she grinds out between clenched teeth, swinging her gaze to Chaz. “But I want to know why they couldn’t just tell us that.”
“We’re right here,” I remind her, my heart pounding from the anger coursing through my veins. I know I wanted us to finally tell everyone, but if we’re going to get shit from the people we love, we could have kept it to ourselves. “We can hear you.”
She faces us again and clears her throat, blinking slowly. Then she approaches Zo and takes her free hand, the one I’m not holding. “Zo. Sweetie. Tell me two things.”
Zo, in her state of frozen shock, nods. I grip her hand tighter for some strength. It’s not that I think whatever Shiree is about to ask will be bad. I just know my girl. And, right now, she needs it.
“You and Patti and dating?” Shiree asks, staring my girl right in her eyes.
Again, after a short bit of hesitation, Zo nods at her.
“And you don’t have cancer?”
This time, she shakes her head.
“Or a brain tumor?”
More head shaking.
“Or any other life-threatening disease?”
One more head shake.
“Oh thank god!” Shiree shouts before throwing herself at Zo and wrapping her arms around her.
I stumble back from the exertion and lose her hand, but she seems fine after a moment of more shock. She even returns Shiree’s hug. And I can’t help but smile at seeing two of my favorite people in the world so happy. I think I might even see happy tears falling from Shiree’s eyes. I definitely see some in Zo’s, but they’re likely also tears of relief. Mine? They’re tears of pride.
“When you left like that, we were too caught up with Lyra and the baby to think about it,” Shiree says, pulling back from Zo to look at her. “But then, when Chaz and I were walking to the car, I went back to it, thought about it, and thought the worst! We couldn’t think of why you couldn’t possibly tell us what was going on with you.” Then she goes back in for another hug, this time flailing her other arm at me so I’ll join them.
Gladly, I wrap my arms around my girl and our friend. Shiree squeezes us so tight that I can barely breathe, but we’re all laughing at the sheer ridiculousness that was this misunderstanding. And it’s about relief. Shiree’s relieved that Zo’s not dying. Zo’s relieved that the secret is out and her friends still love her. Well, some of them, but one set down, another to go. And I’m relieved that Zo’s worst-case scenario didn’t come true. I knew that it wouldn’t, but some people have to go through it in order to believe it. I wasn’t scared, which is why I pushed. But fear is a tricky bitch for Zo. I’m just glad to be the one by her side to help her through it.
Chaz decides to join the hug by embracing all three of us at once. “I’m glad you’re okay, Zo.” He squeezes us tighter and then ruins everything. “I had no idea you two were lesbians though.”
“Oh my god!” all three of us say to him at the same time, and we all break the hug up.
“It’s not even like that,” Zo clarifies. “We’re just two people who happened to”—she slides her gaze to me—“fall in love.”
Right here in the parking lot of the hospital, my heart swells. It’s full love pride, love, and joy. All thanks to this woman standing next to me. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I have no idea what I’d do without her.
“I love you too, Zed.” I bring her hand to my lips and kiss it.
Her shy grin sets my soul on fire. Always has, always will.
“Well, now that that’s out of the way,” Shiree says, “come back to the house with us! I have to get back to my babies, but I want to hear all about how this”—she waves that finger between us again—“happened.”
Zo looks at me, one eyebrow up in a curious expression. I shrug with one shoulder, telling her that it’s her call. Maybe it’s best if we have a trial-like run at this. Get one instance of telling someone our story under our belt before the heavy-hitters, like her parents, come into play.
Once she agrees, Shiree claps her hands. “Yay! We’ll see you there!” She turns toward her car. But then, halfway around, she freezes, looking like an idea—a bad one—has struck her. “Wait!” she exclaims, slowly pivoting back to face us and holding a finger up in the air. “Tell me just one more thing.”
“Okay,” Zo and I both hesitantly say.
Shiree puts a hand on her hip. “Does Lyra already know? You two didn’t tell her first, right?”
If you enjoyed that sample, you can preorder this book here
($0.99 for a limited time!):
http://mybook.to/TheGFsSecret
Or add it to your Goodreads TBR here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34098851-the-girlfriend-s-secret
And here’s a preorder link for book 4 in the series:
The Barista’s Wager (Thirsty Thursday #4)
Coming April 19, 2017
Thanks a
gain for checking my book out!
About the Author
Kyle Autumn is the author of sexy contemporary romances that will melt your heart and your panties. She also writes erotic short stories series that will likely melt your panties more than your heart. She loves chocolate and pajamas. Can't be bothered to brush her hair most days. Can always be bothered to write her pants—er, pajama bottoms—off.
Find her around the web:
Amazon – www.amazon.com/author/kyleautumn
Facebook – www.facebook.com/kyleautumnauthor
Twitter – www.twitter.com/kyle_autumn
Newsletter – www.eepurl.com/cno2Xn
Goodreads – www.goodreads.com/kyleautumnauthor
Table of Contents
Books By Kyle Autumn
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 2
Blake
Lyra
Chapter 3
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 4
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 5
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 6
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 7
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 8
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 9
Blake
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 10
Blake
Lyra
Chapter 11
Blake
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 12
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 13
Lyra
Blake
Chapter 14
Lyra
Blake
Epilogue
Lyra
Blake
The End
