Lexie was undoubtedly that woman.
The two of us were like thunder and lightning. One didn’t exist without the other.
She’d confessed to missing me when she had to leave me to go and sing for an hour, or take her music classes. When I worked, and she didn’t, she was always in her spot, down the end of the bar, either drinking an orange juice, reading a book, writing in the pregnancy planner I’d brought her, or making easy conversation with the staff or patrons.
Work had never felt so easy.
It was going to be strange, moving back here and not working together anymore, but I had a feeling that Lex would be taking up a permanent spot at the end of whatever bar I worked.
***
“We’re moving to Boston.” Lexie blurted out when she was finally able to get a moment of silence from the chattering of the group.
“What?”
“Oh my god, what?”
“That is so cool!”
“Seriously, bro?”
The replies fired rapidly at us.
Lexie beamed up at me. She was so excited to make this move. Obviously, from their responses, our friends and family were excited too, and we hadn’t even got to the biggest news of all yet.
Lexie grinned at Quinn and El before squeezing my hand under the table, and I knew she was about to drop the bombshell. “I’m so excited!” She squeaked. “We just decided that we’d rather raise a baby here than in L.A… and so here we are.”
I smirked into my glass, waiting for the penny to drop.
The girls were so excited about the fact that they’d be having Lex here in Boston; they still hadn’t stopped to think about what she’d just revealed.
Harrison was the first to realize what she’d said. His jaw went slack and his eyes flashed over to meet mine.
“Are you… is she?” He stuttered, pointing at Lexie.
I nodded, a massive grin on my face. I slung my arm around Lex, pulling her close, at the same moment that Quinn figured it out.
“Holy shit, are you pregnant?” She yelled, causing half the restaurant to stop what they were doing and look our way.
Lexie giggled and nodded.
“You’re having a baby?” El shrieked, looking backwards and forwards between the two of us.
“We’re having a baby!” I announced loudly, just in case anyone in the whole place had missed the memo.
I couldn’t make out many sentences or words from the few minutes that followed, but if the smiles, hugs, tears and bump rubbing were anything to go by, everyone was incredibly happy for us.
Mitch sidled up next to me and bumped his shoulder into mine. “Who would have thought you and I would be contributing to the population, huh, little bro?”
“Another five or so months, man, I can’t wait.” I glanced sideways at him and grinned.
The fact that my baby would get to grow up alongside his or her cousin– I was pretty certain it was going to be a girl, I just had a feeling, but Lex had made me promise to keep an open mind. But regardless, the fact that the baby would have a cousin and eventually cousins here, had played a big part in us making the move to Boston. I wasn’t close with my parents so I didn’t really factor them into the equation… Lexie’s Mom and her husband lived in Kansas City, and her Dad and his wife were in Dallas, so it didn’t make a lot of difference to either of their travel time for visits.
“So you fell in love for real this time, huh?” He taunted me, his own loved filled eyes on his fiancé.
I chuckled. Mitch might have given me a hard time in the past, for believing that I’d been in love so often, but he knew that this time was different for me.
I looked at Lex and knew that I’d fallen in love for the first and last time.
“I fell in crazy, stupid, life changing love, man.”
“That’s the best way to do it.” He tipped his chin in Sophia’s direction. “I didn’t know what hit me when I met Soph… most days I still don’t know how I got so lucky.”
I knew exactly what he meant. I still woke up every day and had to check next to me to make sure she was there… that I hadn’t dreamed the whole thing up.
“You got room at that club for one more?” I nudged his arm with my elbow.
He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, his brow raised. “You for real?”
I nodded.
“Thank god, the place is going to shit without you.”
I chuckled. I knew he was joking, but it was a nice feeling to be welcomed back with open arms.
It was so good to be back. I hadn’t realized how much I would miss Boston once I was gone.
I’m so happy we’re moving.
I already knew that our decision to move here was the right choice. We’d gone back and forwards, written pro and cons lists… we didn’t take the decision lightly. Penny had ended up being the real deciding factor. Lexie had been so nervous to tell her that we were considering making the move back to Boston. She was convinced that Penny would be disappointed, even hurt that we wanted to move away.
That couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Penny had been upset, sure, but only that she wouldn’t be able to squish the baby’s cheeks whenever she wanted – her words, not mine. There had been some tears, but she was so happy for us, and agreed that we were making the right decision, as long as we agreed to come back and visit at least once a year.
She’d even surprised us both by pulling some strings job wise. We had both been offered jobs upon a sister ship that departed from Boston. It was an incredible opportunity, like someone had just picked up our lives from L.A. and transferred them to Boston.
Surprisingly though, Lexie had declined her offer, and in turn so had I. She didn’t want to be raising a baby on a ship, and she’d finally realized that her voice was worthy of being in a recording studio – she’d had numerous contract offers already and we were working through some of the terms, together. I intended to come back to the club and work alongside my brother to make ‘The L’ even better than ever.
There wasn’t anything more I could ask for.
I would have a job that I enjoyed, a beautiful woman that I intended to spend every minute of forever with, a baby that I already loved more than my own life growing in her belly and family and friends surrounding me that I wouldn’t change for the world. Even the little cottage we’d bought on the outskirts of town was perfect for us.
Just like I imagined.
I wouldn’t change a damn thing.
I smiled as I watched Lexie, Quinn on one side of her, and El on the other, each of them with a hand on her cute little bump. She was the most precious thing in the world to me – she was everything, and she was mine, she even still slept in my shirts.
God she’s beautiful.
When I looked at her smile, her eyes, heard her giggle or watched her speak I knew that I was going to spend the rest of my life doing exactly that.
Nobody had more in this moment than I did.
***
Another five or so months later
I was right… it was a girl – a perfect little girl.
Just like her momma.
Thank you!
Thank you for reading Chased! I hope you enjoyed it.
If you did enjoy it, please consider leaving a review, they give authors valuable feedback and help other readers find new books and I’d really appreciate it!
If you are interested in getting sneak peeks into my current work in progress, you can sign up for my newsletter HERE.
Thanks again!
Other books by Nicole S. Goodin:
Love like Yours Series
Rushed – Book 1
Pierced – Book 2
Hunted – Book 3
Acknowledgements
I was never too sure if I’d get as far as book four, I half expected book one to be a giant failure and that I’d slink away into the shadows with my tail between my legs.
I couldn’t be happier that that’s not the c
ase.
I want to thank all of the friends I’ve made in the book world in the past year. All the tips and advice are so appreciated. There’s nothing quite like having people to bounce ideas off and it’s pretty cool to have people to talk to when our characters decide to do all kinds of crazy stuff.
Thanks for not thinking I’m going crazy with all these voices in my head – or for at least accepting that you’re just as crazy as I am!
Thanks to everyone who has read my books, the support means so much to me and I hope you enjoyed Lexie and Colt’s story. A lot of readers had a soft spot for Colt after Hunted, and I hope that you’re all satisfied with the happily ever after he’s found with sweet little Lexie.
Thank you again!
Book #5 – Love like Yours Series
Granted – Reeve and Lisa’s story – due out early 2018
Reeve
I knew that Lisa’s past wasn’t entirely in the past. The nightmares that plagued her sleep were a pretty good indication that the fear she felt about the horrors she’d endured, was still very much in the present.
I didn’t see the damaged, broken girl she thought she was, all I saw was love, life and everything I wanted for my future. Her scars didn’t define her – the fight in her eyes did.
She ran away from her own personal hell by moving halfway across the world, so why could we still not escape the demons of her past?
Lisa
I had a past as colorful as some of the people on those tacky day time television shows. I’d endured domestic violence, I’d been unloved by my parents and I’d travelled to the other side of the earth to escape it all.
But despite all of that, I’d somehow stumbled across a man who loved me with everything he had, and who I knew would never, ever, hurt me.
I should have had a beautiful life ahead of me. I knew Reeve wanted to marry me – I’d found the ring in his jacket pocket.
I was terrified of commitment, the feeling that someone owned me threatened to swallow me whole most days. But Reeve was worth the fear. I just had to trust that he could get me through this, like he had everything else.
The problem, the real problem, the only one actually occurring outside of my head… was the thing I wanted the most for us – babies.
Lots and lots of babies.
But thanks once again to the demons of my past, I didn’t know if that would be an option for me… for us. The monster that had done his best to ruin my life, just very well may have after all.
For now, I just had to hold on… I would try and live in my moment of sunshine with the man of my dreams and not worry about what the future might hold.
Playlist
Shape of You – Ed Sheeran
Collide (Acoustic Version) – Howie Day
A Drop In The Ocean – Ron Pope
Let Me Love You – DJ Snake & Justin Bieber
Never Forget You – Zara Larsson & MNEK
Tenerife Sea – Ed Sheeran
This Is What You Came For – Calvin Harris & Rihanna
Make You Miss Me – Sam Hunt
I Don’t Wanna Live Forever – ZAYN & Taylor Swift
What Now – Rihanna
Unconditionally – Katy Perry
Wherever You Will Go – Charlene Soraia
Titanium – Madilyn Bailey
Like I’m Gonna Lose You – Jasmine Thompson
Rockabye (Acoustic Version) – The Mayries
Fast Car – Boyce Avenue & Kina Grannis
Everglow – Coldplay
True Colours – Tom Odell
Love Me Now – John Legend
Human – Rag’n’Bone Man
A Thousand Years – Jasmine Thompson
Say You Won’t Let Go – James Arthur
Use Somebody – Tyrone Wells
Lean On – Tim Halperin
Touch (Acoustic) – Little Mix
Steal My Girl – Matt Johnson
Certain Things – James Arthur & Chasing Grace
People Help The People – Birdy
Starving (Acoustic) – Hailee Steinfeld
I Won’t Let You Go – James Morrison
Not Easy – Alex Da Kid, X Ambassadors, Elle King & Wiz Khalifa
X2CU – Jason Derulo
Kid In Love – Shawn Mendes
Call Home – Noah Guthrie
Selfish – Future & Rihanna
Slow Hands – Niall Horan
Feel Good – Gryffin, Illenium & Daya
Total Eclipse of the Heart – Sleep At Last
Symphony (Acoustic version) – Clean Bandit & Zara Larsson
Perfect (Acoustic) – Matt Johnson
All I want – Emma Bale
I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Acoustic) – Adam Christopher & Ashlynn
Chains – The Sweeplings
Can’t Help Falling in Love – Haley Reinhart
Love Like This (Acoustic) – Kodaline
The One That Got Away – Alice Kristiansen
When You Love Someone (Acoustic) – James TW
A Little Respect – Beth
Something Just Like This – Missy & Blonde & Julia Ross
Don’t Let Me Down – Conor Maynard
There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back – Shawn Mendes
Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice
Your Song – Rita Ora
Despacito (Remix) – Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber
Oasis – Jasmine Thompson
Little Do You Know – Alex & Sierra
September Song - JP Cooper
Dandelions – Ruth B
Moments – Bliss n Eso & Gavin James
Swalla – Jason Derulo, Nicki Minaj & Ty Dollar $ign
Can I Be Him – James Arthur
Magnets – A-Trak Remix
Sweet Creature – Harry Styles
Middle Of The Night – The Vamps & Martin Jensen
About the Author
NICOLE S. GOODIN is a twenty-eight-year-old mother of two from Taranaki in the North Island of New Zealand.
Mid 2015, she started to write about a group of characters who wouldn’t get out of her head. Her first book, Rushed, was published in mid 2016, Pierced late 2016, Hunted early 2017 and Chased mid 2017.
Nicole enjoys long walks on the beach, pillow fights and braiding her friends hair. She dislikes clichés, talking about herself in the third person, and people who don’t understand her sense of humor.
Please feel free to contact her either via email, Instagram, Twitter or on her Facebook page, she would love to hear your feedback. If you’re feeling really game, you can even sign up for her newsletter HERE.
Upcoming titles by Nicole S. Goodin
Upcoming titles in the Love like Yours Series
Granted
Jaded
Paper, scissors, rock – a standalone rock star romance
Chased (Love like Yours Series Book 4) Page 19
