Trailed

by Naomi Niles

  I smiled. “You know Sam won’t mind.”

  “I know he won’t,” she nodded. “But Renni and I have major plans, okay? We’re kind of having a girls night.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah,” Vanessa nodded. “Kami and Madison are joining us, too.”

  “That does sound fun,” I said. “Are you sure Kami will be up for a night out ,though? She was pretty tired this morning.”

  “That’s because she’s seven months pregnant,” Vanessa said. “But she’s rested now.”

  “Ok,” I said. “If you say so.”

  Just then, the door opened and Sam walked in. He looked particularly handsome in his opened collared shirt and dark jeans. His dark brown hair had grown out a little, and I was finding the look incredibly sexy. He looked excited.

  “Hi,” I greeted, standing up and twirling. “What do you think?”

  “It fits,” he said happily. “Geez, you look amazing.”

  “Nice choice,” I complimented.

  “You’re sure you like it?” he checked.

  “I love it,” I assured him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

  Renni jumped down off the bed and ran towards Sam. He grabbed her and hiked her up onto his hip. “You’re getting too big to be carried like this, Renni,” he said, giving her a little kiss on the cheek.

  “Aw, but I like it,” Renni said, as her lower lip jutted out.

  Sam smiled, his eyes lighting up when he looked at her. “In that case, I’ll carry you until you’re twenty-five. How’s that?”

  “It’s a deal,” she said readily, offering him her pinkie finger to seal the deal.

  I laughed. “You’re not going to be so excited about that promise when you hit thirteen, sweetheart,” I warned her. “Be careful what you wish for.”

  “I’ll always want Sam to carry me,” she insisted.

  “Yeah – p don’t try and break our deal, Mia,” Sam told me sternly.

  I held up my hands and backed away from their agreement. “Okay, I’ll stay out of it,” I said in amusement.

  “You and the girls are heading out tonight, huh?” Sam asked Renni.

  “Yup,” she nodded.

  “Well, there’s one more person that’s going to be joining you girls tonight,” he said.

  Vanessa stood from the bed and adjusted her dress. “Who is that?” she asked.

  “Jessica.”

  “Jessica?” I asked startled. “She and Alan are on their honeymoon. I thought they were coming down next week.”

  Sam smiled. “That’s just what they told us. I think they wanted to surprise everyone.”

  “Yea,” Renni crowed. “Did they bring presents from Paris?”

  “I’m pretty sure they did,” Sam nodded and Renni beamed with anticipation. “Aunt Jessica said she had something special for you.”

  I shook my head at her. “It seems everyone’s spoiling you.”

  “I agree,” Vanessa said, putting her hands on her hips. “And to be frank, I resent the competition. I used to be your number one favorite aunt.”

  “You still are,” Renni insisted.

  Vanessa threw her a shrewd look. “And where are your other aunts on the list?”

  She smiled. “They’re number one, too.”

  “You’re a cheeky little girl,” Vanessa said as she grabbed Renni from Sam’s arms, threw her down on the bed, and started tickling her. As Renni screamed with laughter, Sam turned to me and pulled me into his arms.

  “Are you ready for our romantic night?”

  “All set,” I nodded. “I should go and say hi to Jessica and Alan first, though… I know it’s only been a month since the wedding, but I feel as though I haven’t spoken to them in ages.”

  “You’ll see them tomorrow,” he said dismissively. “Tonight is our night.”

  I smiled and nodded, allowing him to lead me to the door. We blew Renni kisses and then we were off to start our romantic night together. The atmosphere in Vegas was electric, or maybe it was just my mood. Either way, it was great to be out and about in a new dress with a handsome man on my arm. I noticed the appreciative looks Sam and I got, and it made me feel young and beautiful.

  The restaurant we were heading towards resided in one of Vegas’ oldest and most beautiful hotels. And it was just a stone’s throw away from our own hotel. We walked hand in hand, enjoying the cool night air before we stepped into the beautiful lobby of the Charlton. It was a smaller hotel, but its interior was spectacular, and I had no doubts it’s restaurant would be, too.

  “The restaurant we want is on the third floor,” Sam told me.

  I followed him without question as he led me through the third floor. “Hold on,” I said, as I pulled Sam to a stop in front of a huge area of floor to ceiling glass windows. “Let’s take a moment to appreciate that view.”

  The city was lit up like a gem. It was so bright and bursting with color that I had to avert my eyes after a moment. I found my gaze shifting to Sam’s perfect profile. He noticed me watching him after a moment and he smiled.

  “Like what you see?” he teased.

  “Always,” I nodded.

  He turned to me and kissed me slowly, passionately. I felt my right leg flick up in an old world gesture of romance. “I didn’t expect to like Vegas this much,” I admitted, when we broke apart at last.

  Sam smiled. “It’s not Vegas,” he said.

  “It’s not?” I asked, with a raised eyebrow.

  “Of course not,” he replied. “It’s us… It’s being with each other that makes the magic. I feel this way every single day I’m with you and Renni. We take the magic with us wherever we go.”

  “Wow,” I smiled. “You could have been a poet.”

  “I can take up poetry when I retire from fire fighting,” he laughed.

  “I look forward to that day,” I said, joining in his laughter.

  “Hey,” he said, his eyes falling on a point passed me.

  “What?”

  “A ballroom,” he said, taking me hand and pulled me along behind him.

  “A ballroom?” I repeated. “What about it?”

  Sam pushed open the huge brass doors and peeked in. “Wow… It’s amazing in there. Let’s sneak in.”

  Before I could protest, he had pulled me through the doors and into the breathtaking ballroom. It was lit up as though in anticipation of some special event. Dainty arrangements of flowers lined the circular tilt of the room and the chandelier above us glittered with the strength of a million diamonds.

  “Wow,” I said, staring up at the ceiling.

  The ceiling was filled with paintings of angels, cherubs, and a number of other fantastical creatures. I was so caught up in the stories on the ceiling that I didn’t even notice the music start to play until Sam had pulled me into his arms for a dance.

  “We’re dancing,” I said, looking at him in surprise.

  “We’re dancing,” he nodded, twirling me underneath his arm. “This is practically a scene from Beauty and the Beast.”

  I laughed at that. “Renni would love to see this,” I said. “She would have really appreciated the similarities.”

  “Hmm…maybe we should go and get her then,” Sam suggested.

  “I thought this night was just about us?”

  “Since when has ‘us’ not included Renni? She is a part of us.”

  I smiled. “I love how much you love her,” I said as we danced around the empty ballroom.

  “I love her like she’s my own,” he said sincerely, and I saw the truth of that in her eyes.

  “I know you do,” I said. “You can’t know how much that means to me.”

  “I think I have an idea,” Sam replied.

  Then he stopped abruptly and dropped his hands from my waist. I frowned, wondering what had happened. Then I saw him nod at someone behind me and I whirled around to see who he was looking at.

  I stopped short when I saw Renni standing there, only a few feet from us. “Renni?”

&n
bsp; The smile on her face was huge. She took a step forward and drew out a little box from the pocket of her dress. “Hi, Mommy,” she said. “I have something for you.”

  I stared at the box in her hand. “Renni…what is that?”

  Her answer was to open the box and reveal the small but beautiful diamond sitting in the center of a midnight blue cushion. I sucked in my breath and turned towards Sam. I stopped short when I realized he was on one knee, staring up at me with stars in his eyes.

  “Sam…”

  “Mia,” he whispered. “I’ve thought about a million ways to do this over the past few months. I knew I had to do it someplace special, with Renni at my side.”

  Renni came to stand by Sam’s shoulder. He gave her a small wink, took the ring from her hands and then turned back to me. “Mia, you are the first woman I’ve ever loved ,and I want you to be the last. I want you to be my wife, and I want your daughter to be my daughter. Will you marry me?”

  I could only stare at him for a moment, completely taken back, completely touched and completely overwhelmed by the unexpected moment.

  “Say yes, Mommy,” Renni prompted, her little earnest voice cutting through my emotional thoughts.

  And really, that was all the encouragement I needed. A tear slipped from my eye as I laughed. “Yes,” I said. “Of course, I’ll marry you.”

  Renni gave a scream of delight as Sam rose to his feet and lifted me off mine. I felt Renni barrel into us, and I reached down to touch the silky softness of her hair. Just at that moment, the door to the ballroom opened and Sam’s family trooped in, screaming and cheering and yelling their congratulations.

  “You planned this,” I breathed, looking into Sam’s hazel eyes.

  “I did,” he nodded, smiling hugely.

  He took my hand and we turned together to our bright new future.

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  HOOK UP DADDY

  By Naomi Niles

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 Naomi Niles

  Chapter One

  GAVIN

  I stretched out on my king-sized bed after a short rest. After a late night of hanging with a couple of women from my job, morning came fast. We threw back a few drinks and had a good time enjoying ourselves after a long day of work. I was the CEO of High Time, a watch company that produced high-value Rolexes, Movados, and other high-quality wrist wear. I started the business almost thirteen years ago, and even though we got off to a rocky start, I stuck with it.

  Sooner than later, our numbers climbed into the hundreds of thousands, and now we were on the verge of crossing into the millions. The revenue came in hand over fist, and because of that, I was sitting on top of the world.

  It was 7 am when I pulled myself out of bed and walked to the kitchen. As I passed through the front room, I flipped on the 60-inch HD television mounted to the wall. I turned the volume up just enough for me to hear what was going on from the kitchen.

  I had to catch the news each morning, primarily to keep an eye on the rising price of stocks and bonds. I learned to invest the money that I made so that down the line, I could make money by not lifting a finger. That is how the rich became wealthy, and even though I was on the verge of climbing that mountain, I kept the hunger inside of me to get there. I wanted to do everything I could to provide the best life for me and my son.

  I glanced at his picture on top of the fireplace mantle. Vinny was my 7-year-old boy. His mother and I didn’t last like we thought we would. I didn’t want her to leave, but I left her no choice. She wanted me to commit to her for the long term, but I was too busy having fun and enjoying my life to settle down. She was a good girl, but once she found out that I was messing around with other women, she never looked back. I wished things were different, but that was a hard lesson to learn for me. She was still in his life, and we were cordial, but that was it; that is all it will ever be.

  Before I could walk away from the television, a commercial flashed on the screen. “Are you tired of sitting around with nothing to do? Building a life, but you don’t have anyone to share it with? Well, that is what we are here for! The Right Click is an excellent way for established and professional men and women to meet up! You don’t have time to find a date? Don’t worry about it! Sign up for free on our website and let our professionals connect you with the man or woman of your dreams!”

  I smirked, then walked away from the television. I didn’t think any sites like that would work out in the long term for anyone. I’d read the testimonials for things like that, but I was more interested in who lasted than who hooked up. They never show you how it ends, only how it began. I walked down the long, carpeted hallway to Vinny’s room.

  As soon as I opened the door, he was already completely dressed and in the process of making his bed. I looked to the right. On the floor beside his bed, his bookbag was packed and ready to go. “Wow. You never cease to amaze me, Vinny.”

  He swiped the Spider-Man blanket on top of his mattress to get the last few wrinkles off his cover, then turned towards me. His face was clean. Two patches of freckles covered his left and right cheeks. His cropped, blonde hair was combed to the side the way he always liked to wear it. “What, Dad?”

  “The way you get yourself up and get ready for school without me having to say anything to you.” He grabbed his bookbag and placed one strap on each shoulder. “It really is something, Vinny. I’ll tell you that when I was your age, my mother had to damn near drag me out of bed to go to school in the morning.”

  He smiled. “Well, I must’ve got this from mom then. She always wakes up early.”

  When he walked towards me, I flipped his light switch off, then put my arm around him and walked to the kitchen. “Hey man, thanks for taking care of the house last night. Did the sitter give you any trouble?”

  “No, she didn’t. She just stayed in the front room all night on her cell phone. She made sure I ate and went to bed on time though. So, I guess she was alright.”

  “Yeah. That’s what I paid her for, so I hope that she would’ve at least done the top two things I asked of her.” When we got into the kitchen, he walked to the cabinet and grabbed a box of cereal. The milk was already out on the table when he sat down. “You sure you want cereal?” I asked, standing at the stove. “I can whip you up some pancakes really quick if you want that.”

  He looked at his watch. “No, I better eat something quick. The bus will be here in a little bit.”

  “Right.” I slid the box of pancake batter back into the cabinet, then glanced at my watch. “I didn’t realize that it was so late.” I looked at him as he poured the cereal into his bowl. I felt bad that I wasn’t able to hang out with him like I wanted to. I was usually out with friends during the week, and on the weekends, I was too tired to do anything special with him. He never complained, though. That just wasn’t in his character. Even with that, I knew he wanted to hang out more. I wanted the same thing.

  “Vinny, how about we go hang out this weekend? Go bowling or catch a movie, you know? Get some guy time in together.”

  He shoved a spoonful of cereal into his mouth and waited until he swallowed before he responded. “Yeah, Dad, that sounds good. We can do that.”

  “You sure? I mean, you don’t sound excited.” I took a seat beside him at the table. He swirled the spoon around in his bowl to soak the little sugar coated pebbles with milk. He had a hard time believing that I would keep my word. For some reason, something always came up whenever we planned to do something together. “Vinny, this time, we are going, okay? No question about it, so you may as well clear your schedule a
nd book it.”

  He smiled. “Alright, Dad. I want to go. Bowling and a movie sound fun.”

  I winked at him as he put another spoonful of cereal into his mouth. “Yeah, it sure does.” I stood up and announced, “Well, I’m gonna go and put a shirt on so I see you out to your bus stop.”

  “No, it’s alright, Dad. I can walk myself.”

  “I know you can, son, but I wouldn’t forgive myself if something happened to you on your way to your bus stop. I’d rather keep an eye on you, you know? There are some crazy people in the world, and I don’t want them to even think they have a chance to take you from me. I would lose my mind if something happened to you, Vinny.”

  He smiled.

  “Good. So, I’m going to run upstairs and grab a shirt. I’ll be right back down.” He nodded his head with a mouthful of cereal. A stream of milk dripped from the corner of his mouth until he took a napkin and wiped it clean. As soon as I came back downstairs, Vinny stood patiently by the door, ready to go. I grabbed the handle and swung it open. The soft, morning sunlight beamed down into our faces as soon as we stepped outside.

  This neighborhood in Roanoke, Virginia was always peaceful around this time in the morning. Vinny was one of the only children on our block. The area was primarily filled with elderly adults who decided to settle down in this neighborhood after retirement, good old folks that I could trust to look after my place whenever I was gone.

  We stood on the corner at the end of our block, and not even a minute passed by before the school bus arrived. “Well, there it is.” I shook his hand as if he was an adult. His grip was surprisingly firm for his age. “You have a good day, alright? I will see you later tonight.”

  “Are you going to have a sitter for me again?”

  “Um,” I looked at him. His sky blue eyes were glaring back at me with expectancy. “No, not tonight. I’ll be home tonight.”

  “Okay.”

  The bus stopped in front of us, and the doors folded open. He climbed the steps and walked into a sea of children. I could hear their voices from inside as I watched him walk to his seat. He waved goodbye, and with that, the bus took off down the street. I went home, got dressed, and left for work.