“Right!” Ma cups her hands, laughing, and leads her to the sofa. “So have a seat. I want to hear how you two met.”
“He hasn’t told you?” she asks.
“No, he has.” Ma rolls her eyes. “But I have a feeling his version is a bit condensed. I want to hear your side of the story—the unabridged version. Women have more of a penchant for the important details, don’t you think?”
Maritza glances at me. “I’d have to agree.”
“All right. I’m all ears.” Ma leans in. “Tell me how my favorite son finally took my advice and found a nice, sweet girl to spend time with.”
I exchange smirks with Maritza from across the room as she starts from the top, when it all began with a stolen pancake and ends with a stolen heart.
When the story’s over, I kiss the top of Ma’s head. “Sorry to have to bail, but I’ve got something special planned for Maritza tonight.”
“You do?” Maritza asks. “You didn’t mention anything earlier …”
“It’s a surprise,” I say, taking her hand. “Bye, Ma.”
“Be good, you two.” Mom waves from her chair, and I take Maritza to my car.
“Okay, so where are you taking me?” She asks a minute later, fastening her seatbelt.
Starting the engine, I glance across the console at a wild-eyed girl with contagious excitement. I still struggle to believe she’s finally mine. And while I never would’ve believed she was my type, she’s somehow exactly what I need.
“I have it on good authority that there’s this little band you love having a jam session at the lead singer’s house in Malibu … and I also have it on good authority that we’ve been invited to sit in and watch.” And by invited, I mean … I called my brother-in-law who put me in touch with Case Malbec so I could explain how important it was that I give Maritza the Panoramic Sunrise experience she deserves.
“Shut. Up.” She reaches for my hand, squeezing it hard as she bounces in her seat. “You’re joking. Tell me this is a joke. I don’t believe you.”
I laugh. She’s so freaking cute when she’s all worked up. “It’s no joke. We’re going to Case Malbec’s place to watch the band write some new songs.”
And then just like that, her eyes begin to well with tears and she covers her face with her hands.
“Are you … are you crying?” I ask, yanking away one of her hands so I can see her face.
Thick tears slide down her cheeks and I can’t tell if she’s laughing or crying or both.
“Maritza, are you crying?” I ask again. “What’s wrong?”
Dabbing her wet cheeks on the backs of her hands, she peers at me through glassy, chocolate-colored eyes. “These are happy tears.”
Unfastening her seatbelt, she leans across the console, cups my face in her hands, and kisses me harder than she’s ever kissed me before.
“I’ve never been this happy in my life,” she says. “You make me so happy, Isaiah. You’re everything.”
There aren’t enough words in the English language to convey to her just how mutual those feelings are, so instead I kiss her back, slow and lingering, savoring her soft lips and relishing in the fact that this woman, this beautiful, sweet, loving soul … has a heart of gold that beats only for me.
She’s mine.
And I’m hers. God, am I hers.
Chapter Forty-Six
Maritza
“I’m not reenlisting after this.” Isaiah hooks his hands around my waist as we skinny dip in Gram’s pool under a moonlit, midnight sky on an unusually warm spring night.
This marks the first time in for-ev-er that I’ve had Gram’s place to myself for a full week. Melrose is shooting some Lifetime movie on location in Vancouver and Gram decided to tag along before she embarks on a fourteen-day Alaskan cruise with Constance.
“Really?” I ask, circling my weightless legs around his hips.
“Yeah. Really.” He pulls me against him and I kiss his chlorine-flavored mouth. “I think it’s time to start thinking about what comes next.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” I hug him, our wet, naked bodies gliding against one another as we bob in the water. “What do you think you’ll do?”
“Maybe I’ll go to school for astronomy or physics?”
“God, you’d be the sexiest freaking nerd I’ve ever seen in my life.” I throw my head back. “Do it.”
Isaiah chuckles. “I’ve got three years to figure it out, but I’m leaning that way. How are your classes going by the way? Finally made it through all those letters.”
I smirk, thinking about how I’d handed him that old notebook from my nightstand where I’d written all those letters I never had the chance to send.
“That was fast,” I say.
“I devoured them,” he says. “And I’m so fucking proud of you, by the way.”
“You are?”
“Yeah. When you thought I’d ghosted you, you dealt with it, you acknowledged how you felt, and then you forced yourself to move on with your life,” he says. “Makes me proud as hell to know you respect yourself like that.”
“Thanks, Corp.” I kiss his wet lips again, my legs cinching tighter around him.
“You keep rubbing yourself against me like that and I’m going to have to take you right here, right now.”
“Is that a threat? Or a promise?” My hips circle against his growing hardness and I wear a teasing smile that I bury in the solid bend of his neck. His corded steel arms wrap around me, holding me tight, and I swear I could live here in this moment for the rest of my life and be perfectly content.
Striding to a shallower corner of the pool and taking a seat on the steps, Isaiah’s hands slide up my outer thighs before gripping my ass and pushing me down onto him.
I exhale as he fills me and I lower myself deeper before tossing my head back and holding onto the back of his neck. He takes a pointed nipple between his lips as I grind against him, rocking slow then fast then slow again.
We’ve got all night.
And all day tomorrow.
And the rest of the week.
Hell—the rest of our lives.
Neither of us are going anywhere.
Isaiah’s rough palms skid along my slick body, the pool water lapping around us, ripples of water kissing our skin as we move.
Dragging my hands along his sculpted shoulders, I lower my lips to his neck, peppering kisses along his collarbone then working my way up to his jaw before finishing at his mouth. I could kiss Isaiah a million times and it still wouldn’t be enough to show just how crazy I am for him.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he says, lips tracing mine as he drives himself into me, our bodies rocking in tandem. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Maritza. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving that to you. I love you, Maritza the Waitress.”
My lips curl. “I love you, too, Corporal Torres.”
Epilogue
Isaiah
Three Years Later
Dear Isaiah,
It’s so strange to think that this will be the last letter you ever get from me while overseas. In a way, it’s bittersweet, like the closing chapter of an amazing book you’ve spent years devouring, but mostly it’s just sweet because now we get to start our sequel.
No more goodbyes. No more sleepless nights. No more waiting. No more worrying.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what’s next for us. I’ve always kind of liked not knowing what was next, and I’ve always thought it’d be nice to wing it with you because I can’t imagine any scenario being less than amazing as long as you’re in it.
In your last letter you mentioned that you’d never wanted kids until you met me, and that one night you dreamt we had three kids and it got you excited. To be honest, it caught me off guard because I never knew if I wanted to have a family either. Being an only child with one cousin and parents who were never around all that much doesn’t really instill muc
h for family values, but since I’ve met you, I’ve been thinking …
And I want a big, loud, crazy family and I want it with you.
So yes. Let’s do it. Because I can’t imagine doing it with anyone else.
See you soon …
Yours forever,
Maritza
P.S. I love you.
I spot her from the other side of a high school gymnasium in Burbank, where my troop is making their official homecoming entrance. It’s loud as hell in here, people crying tears of joy and shouting and running into each other’s arms, but there’s my girl, standing under a basketball hoop in a pretty floral sundress, scanning the room.
It only takes a moment until our eyes catch and the way her face lights sends a shock of joy to my chest. A second later, she runs to me, jumping into my arms and wrapping her long legs around me.
“We made it, baby,” I say, holding her tighter than I’ve ever held her before. “I’m done. I’m all yours now.”
She kisses my neck and breathes me in again and again. “I’ve waited so long for this day.”
I think about everything we’ve been through. Our chance meeting. The fact that, against all odds, we somehow couldn’t get enough of each other. I’ve never once believed in fate, but I’ve always believed in karma, and I like to believe I did something right to get an effervescent girl like her to fall head over heels in love with a damaged soul like me.
Maritza slides down, but she doesn’t let me go and she won’t stop looking at me. It’s been six months since I’ve seen her last, but this is my fourth deployment since she’s met me. It never gets any easier and there’s always that unspoken chance that I might not make it home this time.
But I made it home in one piece.
The last few tours were some of the hardest of my life. Turns out things are different when you’ve got someone waiting for you back home, but my stint in the Army is officially over and I’m never going back.
Maritza is my home now. She’s the place I run to when life gets hard. She’s my refuge and my solace from the storm. When I’m with her, all my worries and cares and demons tend to fade into the background, sometimes melting away entirely.
“Ian’s probation got denied,” she tells me, biting a smirk.
“Good.” The bastard got caught last year embezzling money from the brokerage firm he was working for in Brentwood. Wouldn’t surprise me if he was another Bernie Madoff in the making, but now we’ll never know because he’s serving time at some white-collar facility on the east coast and once he’s out, he’ll never be allowed to work in finance again.
“Your sister called and told me this morning. Wanted to personally deliver the news. Kind of sad though. Almost feel bad for him.”
“I don’t,” I chuff. “I feel bad for all the people who trusted him with their money.”
“True … anyway, let’s focus on the important stuff. Like the fact that you’re home for good and the fact that I cannot wait to show you my new office space in Riverside and introduce you to my newly hired assistant.” She does a little jump. “It’s so weird being someone’s boss but I kind of love it.”
I kiss her forehead. During my latest deployment, she opened a small PR and web development firm out of some cheap office space in Riverside. From what she’s told me, everything’s going well, but I’ve yet to see it in person. “I knew you’d find your element. Never doubted you for a sec.”
I make my rounds, saying goodbye to all the familiar faces, and then we head out to the parking lot where Maritza parked my vintage Porsche.
“I knew you’d want to drive her first thing when you got back,” she says, handing me the keys, which I gladly accept before stealing a kiss from that sweet mouth of hers. As soon as we get to the car, Maritza flings her arms around me once more. She does this whenever I get back, hugs me and kisses me and touches me a hundred thousand times, like she has to make sure I’m real, that I’m here to stay. “So what next? What do you want to do now?”
Resting my hand beneath her chin, I peer into her gorgeous dark eyes and smile. “First I’m going to marry you. Finally. And then I’m going to buy you a house. And we’re going to fill it with lots of babies. After that, I think I’m going to spend the rest of my life growing old with you. A lifetime of Saturdays. How’s that sound?”
Maritza chuckles. “I meant, like … are you hungry? Do you want to grab dinner? Do you want to stop at your mom’s? But I like your answer. It sounds pretty perfect to me.”
I kiss her, threading my hand through hers and pinning her back against my car.
Our future starts right here, right now, in this high school parking lot, just a former waitress, a former Army corporal, and a lifetime of memories ahead of them.
THE END
Dream Cast
Isaiah – Milo Ventimiglia
Maritza – Olivia Culpo
Melrose – Jennifer Lawrence
Rachael – Rachel McAdams
Gram – Susan Sarandon
Murphy – Murphy Renshaw
Myles – Matthew Gray Gubler
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
Whew! What a ride, right? I hope you enjoyed your time with Maritza the Waitress and Corporal Torres! If you have a moment, I’d love if you could write a review on Amazon! (No spoilers pretty, pretty, pretty please - I’d like everyone to have a chance to be surprised!)
Also as a token of my appreciation and for a few weeks only, I’m including ABSINTHE and DARK PROMISES in the eBook version of PS I HATE YOU—a savings of almost $8 (if you spend it at Starbucks, I promise I’ll be there with you in spirit, sipping on my iced grande nonfat chai).
Anyway, I know we’re not supposed to have favorites … but ABSINTHE is easily one of mine. It’s forbidden and angsty in all the right places. And DARK PROMISES is a deliciously dramatic fake-relationship romance between the president’s youngest son and the daughter of a family friend. Even if you hate politics, you should still check it out. I promise it’s 100% fictional and completely focused on the relationship! (And you don’t need to read DARK PARADISE first as they’re both standalones).
Last but not least, I’ve included a sample of my next book, PS I MISS YOU, which will be Melrose’s story. That one will release April 28th, but you can read the first few chapters now!
XOXO—
Winter
Absinthe
Copyright 2017 Winter Renshaw
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
COVER DESIGN: Louisa Maggio
COVER MODEL: Mitchell Wick
PHOTOGRAPHER: Wong Sim
COPY EDITOR: Wendy Chan, The Passionate Proofreader
PROOFREADING: Janice Owen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or, if an actual place, are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
Important!
If you did not obtain this book via Amazon or Kindle Unlimited, it has been stolen. Downloading this book without paying for it is against the law, and often times those files have been corrupted with viruses and malware that can damage your eReader or computer or steal your passwords and banking information. Always obtain my books via Amazon and Amazon only. Thank you for your support and for helping to combat piracy.
Books By Winter Renshaw
The Never Series
Never Kiss a Stranger
Never Is a P
romise
Never Say Never
Bitter Rivals: a novella
The Arrogant Series
Arrogant Bastard
Arrogant Master
Arrogant Playboy
The Rixton Falls Series
Royal
Bachelor
Filthy
The Amato Brothers Series
Heartless
Reckless
Priceless (a Rixton Falls crossover)
Standalones
Dark Paradise
Vegas Baby
Cold Hearted
The Perfect Illusion
Country Nights
Description
The name on the screen was “Absinthe.”
But I knew her as the sultry voice blowing up my phone for late night chats about Proust and Hemingway interspersed between the filthiest little … conversations.
We’d never met.
Until the day she walked into my office, her cherry lips wrapped around a candy apple sucker and an all too familiar voice that said, “You wanted to see me, Principal Hawthorne?”
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This full-length romance is steamy, scandalous, twisted, and, at times, divisive. It is a complete standalone and contains subject matter that may trigger sensitive readers. All characters are adults and all interactions are consensual. Please enjoy with an open mind. ;-)
First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald
Prologue
P.S. I Hate You Page 22
