Life as We Know It (Love Not Included) (Volume 4)

by J. D. Hollyfield

  Either way, I promised to shape up. Henry was questioned and it turns out he was completely in the dark about Cassandra Winters and her psychotic plans. Well not completely. He did admit guilt over the fiasco at Amelia’s. He confessed he was, in so many words, coerced by Cassandra to invite me to the café that day and do his best to physically engage with me. In his statement, he apologized profusely to me, telling the police that Cassandra promised the photos would only be used as security if I ever tried to come out and hurt his campaign. Shame for Henry, the law still sees conspiracy to black mail as a crime and was pulled from the Senate race. Not sure where that leaves his law career, but I also don’t really care. He tried to contact me after the incident to apologize for everything but I told him it didn’t matter. Because it didn’t. At one point I almost thanked him. Because if it weren’t for him, I would have never met Sam. I know our paths would have crossed eventually, because as we know, life has a strange way of working out.

  As for poor Fergus, and not so poor Bethany, they were both charged with kidnapping and attempted murder. I guess for Bethany, it didn’t pay to collaborate with the devil, after being convinced that, in return, your boss would finally notice you and off into the sunset you would go. While Fergus took his sentence quietly, Bethany was a whole other story. With a long record of numerous counts of stalking and restraining orders, everyone was shocked she even had a position in the workplace. She admitted to creating the photos and stuffing them under Sam’s door. She told the DA that Cassandra had approached her the day after she left Sam’s office. Told her she saw the way Bethany looked at him, and she could help her get what she wanted. And she did all right. She got Sam’s attention when he took the stand against her, requesting maximum punishment for all the harm she caused. Better luck next time Bethany.

  Moving on to the lovey dovey stuff.

  I know you caught the word fiancé. Sam and I made it official about three weeks after I was released. For someone who wanted to call in the hospital attending priest and marry us in my hospital gown, butt cheeks showing and all, he sure took his time on the whole proposal. Not that I was in a hurry or waiting for it, but Sam decided that he wanted it to be unexpected. I mean how do you act like you don’t know it’s coming when you know it’s coming? Well, Sam had plans. Those three weeks, he wined and dined me. The first date he took me on, he rented the whole beer garden on the roof of the Gansevoort Hotel, one of Manhattan’s best spots to view the skylines. He spoiled me with the fanciest foods, hired a god damn acoustic guitarist to play a set from The Has Beens, just for us, while we ate and drank. I waited the whole entire meal, with a knot in my throat, for him to bend down and do the honors of asking. Well he never did! By the time dessert was done, I was stumped on why he would go so out of his way to swoon me if there wasn’t a specific intention. Well he did, and nothing. He did take me home and show me all the ways he loved me, which left me walking funny for the remainder of the week.

  Potential proposal date two consisted of a rock concert. He bought me VIP tickets to one of my favorite bands and even arranged a private meet and greet so I was able to hang out with the band before and after the show. I felt really guilty, because if he was going to propose to me tonight, the last thing I wanted to remember was me drooling over the lead singer right before my boyfriend asked me to be his wife. Don’t worry. Because he didn’t flippin’ ask me! The whole night I watched him, waiting to see if he was going to do it. I really didn’t know what he was waiting for. I didn’t need any sort of fancy proposal. Shit I didn’t even care if I had a ring. I just wanted Sam.

  By the third and fourth over the top, potential proposal dates and no proposal, I was starting to get a bit irritated. I mean why make the effort and not do it? The queen of England probably didn’t even have as fancy of dates before she was propositioned!

  Either way, I was over it. Maybe he said all those things in the heat of the moment. Possible death can do that to a person. I got it. Maybe he changed his mind…

  Okay, all lies! I didn’t get it! And personally, I was getting a bit maddened by it. Maybe I just had to accept that he had a change of heart and I had to take what I could get.

  So that leads us to now, our current situation, which is visiting a site I found. Dresden Architects bought the patch of land, or should I say gigantic billion acres of field, to build industrial windmills which will feed power to plants in three surrounding towns.

  While Sam is taking pictures of the land, I am busy kicking around dirt in the forest by the field’s edge in the world’s worst mood. While picking random leaves off bushes I hear Sam come up behind me. Reaching around and wrapping his warm arms around my waist he brings his lips to my neck. “What’s wrong Pen, you seem a bit off today.”

  “Nothing. I’m fine. Just tired,” I say, a bit whinier than intended.

  “All right, well the land looks perfect. It sounds like with the mild seasons, we will be able to break ground in a few months and start getting the windmills up and running.”

  “Great,” I mutter while breaking away from his embrace and continuing my mission of ripping all the leaves from any plants in sight. As I pull on a branch, Sam picks me up, backing us up against a giant tree and pressing my back against the old bark. “What’s wrong Pen?” Again he asks, nuzzling his face in my neck, one of his favorite spots.

  “Nothing. I told you, I’m just tired.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine. Are we done here? We should probably get back on the road to avoid traffic back into the city.”

  He pulls away, giving me a long stare until he nods and unlatches his hands from my waist. “Okay, you’re right.” He releases me, creating some space between us. He goes to grab for my hand when he flicks at my skin.

  “Ouch. What did you just do that for?”

  “You had a spider on you.”

  My body stiffens instantly. “Nooo I did not” I gasp. Spiders are the devil’s creatures. “Oh my God. Are there more on me? Get them off!!” Freaking out, I start swatting at my clothes. Sam looks behind me, I don’t know why, he should be looking at me for any more spiders! “Oh shit we are under a spider tree. They nest here. And I think they are in season. If they get into your skin they can be poisonous.”

  “Whhaaaat?! You’re joking me, a spider tree?” I squeal. Have I ever mentioned that I am deathly afraid of spiders?!

  “Shit. I unfortunately am not. Take your clothes off, hurry.”

  We both start undressing, me faster than humanly possible. The multi-tasker that I am, I’m ripping my shirt off all while screaming bloody murder for these creepy crawlers to get the hell off me. I’m jumping around, running in circles, and wildly scratching at my scalp in case those devil creatures are in my hair.

  I take a second and open my eyes to see how Sam is fairing and he’s standing completely still.

  Kneeling actually.

  Buck naked in front of me.

  “What the? You have to be kidding me. Right now?!”

  “Penny,” he says my name on a chuckle. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you would take such offense to the spiders.”

  “Sam! They are the devil’s little creatures sent out to kill us all!” I mean seriously, I hate spiders.

  He can’t keep a straight face for the life of him, and I’m about to go ape shit.

  “Penny, I’m sorry. I lied. There are no spiders. I just wanted to get you naked.”

  Huh? “What? Why?” I ask now realizing, for some awkward reason we are both naked. “And why the hell are we buck fucking naked?”

  “Because when I did this, I wanted absolutely nothing between us. I wanted this to be just us.”

  Well, taking the clothing option out definitely gets him closer to that goal. I continue to stare at him, completely caught off guard.

  “Penelope Summers, I love you. At times I fear that I don’t know how I will ever show you how much. I lay in bed at night trying to figure out ways to make you happy and sho
w you just how much my life is in your hands. You do something to me Pen, and I can’t explain it. The feeling in my chest every time I think about you, I look at you, I smell you. God, to touch you. It’s like a gift from heaven. I don’t deserve you. I know that. No one does. Because you are so beautiful and so perfect, and there will never be a time where I ever feel worthy of you. But god dammit, I want you and I need you. I’m willing to be that selfish bastard and make you mine.”

  He pauses to grab at my dangling hand, since I’ve just stood frozen in my birthday suit ever since he began his speech. “Be mine, Penny. Be my forever. Be the person that fills my day and night. Let me be the person who loves you, knowing I was put on this earth to do just that. My destiny is you. And I need you to live. To breathe. Say you will become my wife so I can cherish and treasure you for the rest of our lives.”

  Holy crap. Holy crap! Way to take a girl off guard. And being naked at that. My tongue is wrapped up in his confession.

  “I’m naked,” is how I respond.

  Moron. He’s pouring his heart out to you.

  “And I want you this way until we are old and frail.”

  Ew, old naked people.

  “Penny?”

  Oh yeah, focus.

  I look at Sam for real this time.

  And I see a man who I love. I probably fell in love with him the second he wrapped my shaking hand within his and pressed his warm lips to my skin that night on the cruise. I take Sam’s words and incorporate them into my life. How I would feel, live, breath without him no longer in my life. And the conclusion was, I couldn’t. I needed him. He filled a part of me that I never knew needed filling. He was my one. My life. The love that hits you out of nowhere like a freight train and changes life as you know it.

  And he is that train.

  “Oh Sam.” I dive at him, wrapping my arms around his bare neck. “Yes! It will always be yes with you. I love you more than any silly word out there can describe.”

  He barely allows me to finish my own confession before he wraps his arms tightly around my waist, taking me down to the cool ground. Laying me gently on the fresh grass, he spreads his warm body over mine. He places a beautiful ring on my finger and brings the palm of my hand to his mouth, brushing his lips across my skin.

  “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” he continues to murmur as he trails his mouth from my knuckles, up my arm, and finally to my awaiting mouth. Our lips connect and he kisses me like a man who has been waiting to finally begin living.

  I need more of his mouth, but I pull away, my damn curiosity butting in at the worst times.

  “But Sam? Why did you wait all this time to do this now? Why here? I mean, we’re technically naked in the middle of a deserted bug-infested field.”

  He chuckles while moving his lips down my neck. “For starters, I fibbed about the spiders. But mostly because I wanted to do it when my little nosy, crazy girl was least expecting it. Make it more special.”

  “What? I am not nosy.”

  “Penny, I caught you snooping in my suit jacket pockets, three days in a row.”

  “What? No! That wasn’t snooping. I wanted to do your laundry and was making sure there were no Kleenexes in there. I mean that’s the worst, washing clothes with Kleenexes, I mea—”

  “Penny…” he cuts me off.

  Ugh. Mind reader.

  “Okay! So I was. I mean, I didn’t know what you were waiting for! I was starting to think you didn’t want me as much as you said you did anymore,” I say with a pout.

  He brings his hands up to cup my face, then guides his fingers into my hair. “My sweet Penny, I would have to be dead to not want you. But even in death I would. My heart would still only beat for you.”

  “Well technically you would be dead so it wouldn’t beat—”

  His mouth cuts me off. Which is completely fine. We kiss, and shocker, we have amazing outdoor field sex.

  Because with Sam, everything is amazing.

  So that’s that.

  I can’t really tell you much more than that. We have a crazy future ahead of us. A wedding, babies, and lots of really intense office sex. But that’s for us to share. And live.

  Maybe one day, you’ll have a peek into our future. But for right now, we’re perfect. We don’t need anything fancy in life to make us, us. There just isn’t anything to make us love one another anymore than we already do.

  In the life as we know it, love does take its course. And if there is one thing I can leave you with, it’s that when you love each other as much as Sam and I do, a baby tends to happen.

  And in two hours, I will inform Sam that there is actually something else in this world that he could possibly love more than me.

  A little baby Sam.

  Or god help us, a mini me.

  But that’s for another day and another story.

  The end.

  Thank you first to my bomb ass husband. Who always puts me before himself. I know it takes a lot to deal with a writer. So thank you for all those times you’ve questioned my sanity at two in the morning, and just turned and walked away. Since they haven’t invented a word strong enough for how much I love you so we will stick with the four letter word for now.

  Thanks to my bestie, Sarah. Sometimes you just can’t make this shit up. I won’t admit or deny what parts of this book are from experience but I will admit that having a friend just as crazy as you are gets to be pretty fun… and sketchy. I love you man.

  Thank you to my editor Vanessa Bridges and her team at PREMA for helping bring this story to where it needed to be. Thank you to my amazing Beta team, and all the ladies who offered their eyes on this project. Kristi Webster, Robin Bateman, Amy Wiater, Amanda Williams Brown, Jenn Wood, Sylvia Volkmer Schneider, Angela Drennan Lamb, Katie Monson, Jennifer Morris, and anyone else I missed who took the time to jump on my story and work together to make it what it is today. I appreciate you all!

  Thank you to Nicole Blanchard for your patience when it comes to once again creating my amazing cover. A cover is the first representation of a story and you know to nail it every time.

  Thank you to my awesome reader group, Club JD. All your constant support for what I do warms my heart. I appreciate all the time you take in helping my stories come to life within this community.

  A big hug and wine clink to Stacey at Champagne Formats for always making my books look so pretty.

  Thank you to Lisa Schilling Hintz and the team at The Rock Stars of Romance for all your hard work in promoting this book!

  And most importantly every single reader and blogger! THANK YOU for all that you do. For supporting me, reading my stories, spreading the word. It’s because of you that I get to continue in this business. And for that I am forever grateful.

  Cheers. This big glass of wine is for you.

  J.D. Hollyfield is a creative designer and author of the Love not Included Series. When she’s not cooking, event planning, or playing around with her husband, son and three doxies, she’s relaxing with her nose in a book. With her love for romance and her head full of book boyfriends, she has been inspired to test her creative abilities and bring her own stories to life. J.D Hollyfield lives in the Midwest and is currently at work on her fourth novel.

  You can learn more about J.D. Hollyfield on her website, authorjdhollyfield.com.

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  Other Books

  Love Not Included Series

  Life in a Rut, Love Not Included, Book 1

  Life Next Door, Book 2

  My So Called Life, Book 3

  Faking It

  Sinful Instincts

  Unlocking Adeline

 

 

 
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