by Kitty Berry
“I had all these weird dreams when I was unconscious. They’re all starting to come back to me. I think that playlist that was playing may have prompted them. Did you make that for me? I think Asia just told me that you did but I can’t remember.”
“The doctors said that your memory will be foggy for a while, it’s normal, it’ll all come back to you just give it time” Tate calms his wife with his words.
“I made you a playlist of the songs from our past then I added some from the artists you’ve choreographed for and then some current songs that I could picture you loving and including in a workshop. I was hoping it would help to bring you back to me, and I guess I was right, it worked.”
“It brought back lots of real memories but raised lots of questions too. I think I dreamt that you were cheating on me, always, from the beginning with every girl that you saw and then with…oh my God, Asia.”
A gasp escapes Brook after the words are out of her mouth and tears start to race down her cheeks while she covers her mouth with her hand. Tate pulls her into his arms and buries his face in her neck inhaling her smell. He takes her face in his hands and before kissing her long and passionately he truthfully tells her that she’s the love of his life and the only woman he’s ever been with.
“Your subconscious must have been playing tricks on you. Everyone came to visit you and sat with you telling you stories, talking to you in hopes of waking you. Your parents came as soon as they heard; Damian and Drea were here too. My mother, Michael, Jeremy, Katrina and Bobby, Asia and Ted, Mac, Dominick and Heidi. Lots of colleagues sent you flowers and gifts and I sat here and read you every card and showed you each gift. Your dancers all came to see you too.”
“It all felt so real. I thought it was real…you cheating on me, it seemed real.”
“Baby, we lost our virginity to each other on my birthday, Valentine’s Day. Do you remember? You have always been my first, last and only. See right here. You still wear the necklace I gave you that night. You won’t let me buy you a better one. You insist that you will wear this one forever even if it turns your neck green.”
Brook remembers that night in Tate’s childhood bed. The candles and the soft music, how gentle and tender he was. How he made her feel like the only girl in the world for him.
Tate continues, “I have never touched another woman not since that first time with you or before. I admit I’ve had many offers over the years, I’ve gone to strip clubs and looked at porn but I’ve never needed or wanted anyone but you.”
“I dreamt you cheated on me in high school and in college.”
“A playboy was I? Ha! Maybe when you’re feeling better you can tell me all about it baby. It sounds interesting, like it has some potential for a fun night of role playing for us but you know it was all just your mind playing tricks on you. I would never betray your trust, baby. You are all I’ve ever wanted” Tate says as his mouth reaches Brook’s again calming her nerves as only his lips can do.
“In college I had no time at all. I had school and basketball and eight hour car rides to see the only girl I wanted to be with. I hung out with my friends so infrequently they used to forget to call me when I was on campus, leaving me alone most nights. But I didn’t care; it gave me more time to talk to you on the phone. We used to have great phone sex back then. Maybe I should go out in the hall, call and remind you” Tate says with a smirk but Brook grabs his arm and begs him not to leave her. He takes her in his arms and says, “Leave you? Never.”
“I dreamt that you didn’t fight for me when I left you. You didn’t come find me or fight to keep me when I filed for a divorce” Brook reports with tears in her eyes. “I filed for a divorce because you were cheating on me with Asia then I caught you with this young girl who was popping her gum over and over again like a twelve year old.
Tate sighs then starts laughing. “Baby, you know that’s not what would happen in real life. I would search to the end of the earth for you. And when I found you nothing and no one would keep me from having you. You are mine, always mine. I would never let you leave me and the gum popping twelve year old is our niece.”
“What?” Brook asks.
“Your sister is here with the girls and I almost killed them both for the annoying habit. They were sitting over there in the chair popping their gum over and over; I thought I was going to rip it out of their mouths. When I told them to stop I got the eye rolling routine. God, I hope our daughter doesn’t learn how to do that.”
Brook asks her husband about her sister and learns that she and her husband split up and she and Bobby seem to be getting very friendly. Brook tells Tate that she thought she dreamt that too.
“It’s funny how the mind works, baby. The doctors kept telling us to talk to you. They don’t know what people hear when they’re in a coma. I guess you heard a lot and your mind was just confusing stuff.”
Tate and Brook sit for hours talking about everything. Tate tells her what she’s missed at work…nothing much. Same old story, diva clients and managers that are full of themselves. Brook tells Tate what she remembers about her dreams. She tells him that she flashed back on their lives from the start and Tate jokes with her about reliving sex with him when he was much younger and able to go for three rounds without blinking an eye. Tate updates her on her family and his mother. Brook’s parents have been worried sick. Her sister, Katrina is at their house right now with her daughters but they’ll all be back to visit tonight. Tate’s mom cut her world tour short to come and make sure she was okay. Brook tells Tate more about dreaming of him having some kinky sex affair with Asia, it makes Tate laugh out loud.
“You know what I think that’s about? Asia was here every day reading to you from this new hot book. All the women are reading it; I heard some parts that Asia read to you and again if you want to act any of them out, I’m your guy” Tate jokes with her. “Or maybe it’s that you want to have kinky sex with me and you were projecting it onto Asia. Either way I’ll be more than happy to oblige when you’re out of here. Maybe a little handcuff action and a good spanking for making me worry about you like I’ve been. I’m sure Dominick or Mac can get me a good strong pair of handcuffs. I know Damian would loan us his room at the Society.”
At Mac’s name the images come back and Brook blushes and can’t look at Tate. When Tate notices Brook’s reaction he asks what’s wrong. She debates if she should tell him or not but after all those dreams she decides honesty is the best policy. She tells Tate about the part of her dream where she was with Mac at a beach house. Tate laughs and says it was probably because she somehow knew he saved her and was just trying to work it all out in her head.
“Mac spent a lot of time in here with you, talking. He and Drea seemed pretty friendly; you didn’t actually hook them up before the accident did you?”
“I may have mentioned my idea to each of them but I can’t take any responsibility for it, I truly don’t remember if I did or didn’t. It’s just this thing with Mac felt so real too, you know?”
“I’m sure it was just because he saved your life, you must have known that. But just in case I think I’ll keep my eye on him. As you know, I don’t share well, I’m an only child, never learned the skill especially not when it comes to you. Speaking of Mac, Damian just hired his company to do his security on my recommendation. He was waiting for you to be in the clear before he started with him. His partner, Jonesie has been covering for him. Mac is going to be moving into Damian’s penthouse. And if he’s sleeping with Drea and going to be living there with her and Damian I can’t wait for the fireworks. Damian is bound to find out and he’s going to flip. I can’t wait to see it” Tate laughs. Brook hugs her husband and they share a gentle kiss.
“I love you, baby” Tate whispers to his wife.
“I love you too, Taters.”
“You are my first, last and only Brooklynn Taylor.”
“And you are mine, Tate Taylor.”
Tate and Brook fall asleep in each other’s arms in he
r hospital bed and dream of their days together when they were kids. When Brook awakes in the middle of the night and looks at her husband sleeping contently next to her with his hand resting over her heart where she has always held him, she can’t help but think about the life decisions that people make every day that shape who they are as a person today and in their future. How every choice is a parallel tracking of many different destinies, essentially the what-if scenario. Everyone has those little moments in time, times that are impossible to go back and change when they question which decision is right and which is wrong, both can change your life forever, leading you down different avenues. How do we ever know if we have made the right decision?
One can never be totally sure but as she sleeps in her husband’s arms with her family close by Brooklynn Taylor knows she’s made the right choice.
If you want to watch as Brook and Tate’s relationship continues look for the second novel in The Stone Series. In Stoned we will meet the charming Damian Stone, the quintessentially intense urban male, sexual Dominant and Tate’s younger cousin. He is wealthy, powerful, successful and painfully gorgeous; Damian dominates over everyone and everything both in his work and in his pleasures. Each semester for the past seven years he’s trained a young college girl to submit to his every sexual desire at the sex club he owns. Damian can have any woman he wants and for seven years that is what he has had. But the sexy, confident, and commanding Dominant is growing tired of the same old game. Shortly after telling his best friend that he is done with the life of submissives, Sydney Cooper falls at his feet. She is a strong, young interior designer despite her traumatic sexual past but Damian immediately senses her submissive tendencies. After meeting Sydney, Damian realizes that he only thought he had everything he wanted; now that he’s met Sydney he realizes that what he wants, what he needs is her. Damian seduces Sydney into a life of BDSM and finds himself falling in love for the first time. However, Sydney’s past is not all that stands in the way of their happiness, Damian’s past connects them in a way that may destroy them forever.
About the Author
Kitty Berry resides in the suburbs of Fairfield County, Connecticut with her husband and three sons. She is the only woman in a house of sports fanatic men! She is an only child who never wished for a sibling and openly admits to being a spoiled brat. This is Kitty’s first self-published novel.
She loves dark chocolate, music inspires her writing and the theater is a place she wishes she could go to each and every night. She plans on enjoying all of those things as soon as she’s done driving carpools, attending basketball games and coordinating the social life of her three adolescent children who have way better social lives than she does.
Visit Kitty’s website at kittyberryauthor.com
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You can also email Kitty directly at [email protected]
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: The Beginning
Chapter 2: The Reunion
Chapter 3: The Rekindling
Chapter 4: The Reestablishment
Chapter 5: The Reawakening
Chapter 6: The Repairing
Chapter 7: The Reminiscing
Chapter 8: The Restoration
Chapter 9: The Betrayal
Chapter 10: Paradise
Chapter 11: New Beginnings
Chapter 12: Healing
Chapter 13: Closure
Epilogue
About the Author
