by J. A. Huss
She covers her mouth with her hand, but that smile—that smile that will keep me going for the rest of my days—peeks through her fingertips.
“Because I would very much like my first kiss to be with you, Princess. In fact, I can’t possibly have a first kiss with any other girl. It would spoil my whole life.”
This makes her draw in a deep breath. “I’d never kiss anyone, ever, if you left me without doing it, Five.”
We stare at each other for a few moments. I want that kiss so badly. But I have something else for her first. “I got you a present. Give me your phone.”
She looks down at her phone like she’s just remembered she has it in her hand. But then she holds it out for me and I take it. I flick away her sleep screen and take a small hard drive out of my suit pocket. I plug her phone into it and she looks at me quizzically.
“What are you doing?”
“I made this app and I was going to release it on Valentine’s Day. It’s for people who want to say mushy things to someone they like, but don’t know how to say them. It’s called Love Notes. But I decided I’m not going to release it. I made it for us. I’m giving it to you so whenever you get lonely or wish I was here, all you have to do is push a button and it will send me a love note.”
“I don’t even have to write it?”
“Nope,” I say. “And that may sound like it’s not personal, but it is, Rory. Because I wrote all the love notes myself and I wrote every one with you and me in mind. So if you send me one, I’ll know it’s real. And if I send you one, you’ll know it’s really from me. It’s just for us.” I look at her as the phone beeps, and then I disconnect the two devices and hand hers back. She takes it in her palm, and our hands touch, making an electric feeling shoot up my arm.
We lock eyes and I keep my promise to Spencer and place my hands on her shoulders as I lean in.
She holds her breath as our lips touch.
It’s a small kiss. It’s a teenage kiss. It’s a first kiss.
But it’s all the things that make a kiss perfect.
“I made it for us, Rory. Because I’m going to make sure, no matter what happens, there will always be an us.”
To be continued….
Five and Rory will have their own standalone (grown-up) love story coming spring 2016.
END OF BOOK SHIT
Well, shit. Going back into this world was the best. I had the most fun writing these seventeen chapters and I fell right back into their make believe lives. Its feels short to me. It went by so fast, but that was the idea. Just a little epilogue to see how the whole Team fared at the game of life. We should be so lucky, right?
So I hope you enjoyed this little Christmas story. It’s really hard for me to decide on a favorite part because it seems like every single chapter had some little gem that just made me smile. Kate was the biggest surprise. She was so small in Ford’s book and in Guns. She really had no personality, just a heavy genetic inheritance. So I love, love, loved her chapter at the ski slopes. It really shows whose daughter she really is. Ford’s. For sure. His mini-me, even though at first glance, everyone thinks that title goes to Five. He’d like another Kate. And good thing too. Twins, right? Ford can’t do anything without overachieving. Plus, Ashleigh deserves another round of babies. She met Ford and a year later was settled with 2.5 kids, a house, and a pack of face-eating dogs. Did she slip up on her pill? I’d like to think so.
And Spencer, so perfect as always. It took me a while to come up with the right gift to make Ronnie feel better. I was saying the same thing in my head as Rory was. There is nothing in any of those Village shops that will make Ronnie feel special. I almost did give them the limo, but what kind of people keep a limo driver on call on Christmas Eve? Not Ford and Ashleigh. ;) So the body painting was really the only way to set her right. I always pictured Spencer as a family man and it’s so much karma that he got four little princesses before he got his mini me, Oliver. But his girls will know how to change the oil on a bike and they will pass down all those Small Frye boots until the soles fall off. I think I love Spencer the most. And that’s funny, I barely liked him in Tragic. I never thought he could carry a book. But people started asking about him almost immediately and with each part he played, I loved him a little more. “Tell me what we like, Bombshell,” is still one of my most favorite scenes ever.
Rory was exactly how I pictured her – Princess, right? But don’t let her fool you, there’s a lot more going on in that head than cheerleading and horseback riding. There’s more to her than blonde hair and big tits. She’s the original Baby Bomb and she takes after her mother in more ways than one. ;)
I love that Ronin had a little life check. Does he work too much? I doubt it, but who cares. I’m sure Sparrow and Starling are grateful I gave him a mini mid-life crisis so they get to see him more. And the modeling—well, Sparrow is too smart to bank on her beauty. I bet she does become a veterinarian. I love that Rook found her voice and stood up for what she and the girls needed from Ronin. Rook has come a long, long way from Tragic and she probably has the near-perfect version of the HEA.
I love that Ford did all he wanted to do with the movie production stuff. I love that he quit doing it on his own, even before he realized he was just bored. And I love that he and Ashleigh started skiing after things settled down back when the kids were little. I picture Ford taking those kids to the Olympics one day. I think Olympic ski coach suites him. Maybe he will make that documentary? I’d watch it.
And how fitting that this books ends the team right back where Rook started it. Lots of things happened on Christmas Eve in these books. Rook decided to wish on a star back when she was with Jon. Ford met Sasha and had that whole day in a life Slack book. Ashleigh, if you were paying attention, got off her plane from Japan with baby Kate on Christmas Eve, the same one where Ford was having a Rook crisis. And James and Harper took Sasha to live with Ford on Christmas Eve after all that Dirty, Dark, and Deadly stuff was over.
And Five. Is he the New Ford? You’ll have to wait and see. There will be a full-length, standalone book about Five and Rory once they grow up (next spring, 2016). I can’t wait.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, and thanks for making 2015 spectacular. See you in the next book!
Julie
