The Way To A Man’s Heart: Books 1-10

by Love, Frankie

  “A stay-at-home mom?”

  She nods. “Is that something people plan for or just fall into?”

  I smile, remembering my childhood. “My mom was a stay-at-home mom. She loved it. And I think it’s as good a dream as any.”

  “I’ll need to get married for that to happen,” Bailey says with a laugh. “That’s probably a long way off.”

  I clear my throat, my mind going crazy. For her. Hell, I’m thinking things no eighteen-year-old needs to be considering.

  But sitting here, with Bailey next to me, it’s impossible to not dream of a future. Besides, girls grow up doodling the names of their crushes in cursive — why can’t a guy do the same?

  “It’s not a marriage proposal,” I say with a chuckle, “but I do have something to ask you, Bailey.”

  Bailey

  I breathe him in. He must use peppermint soap, and I look at him with wonder — having no idea what kind of question he is going to ask.

  “I was wondering if you’d go to prom with me next week?” he asks, holding my hand in his lap.

  I smile. “Really? I’d love to.” I shake my head, surprised in a good way.

  “Yeah?” He smiles so big that I find myself matching his.

  “Yeah.” I bite my lip. “I don’t have any formal dresses, but I’m really good at finding things at secondhand stores and ironing them to make them look fresh and new. A little bit of bleach or a hot water cycle can go a long way toward freshening clothing up.”

  “That why you always look so put together?”

  “You noticed?”

  He grins sheepishly. “I notice.”

  “As much as I love sitting here, I have to go catch the bus.”

  “Can I get us an Uber?” he asks. “I don’t have a car right now — but I’d love make sure you’re home safe.”

  “Really? You don’t have to pay for my car. I can take the bus.”

  “Or, we can get you home in twenty minutes,” he says. He places cash on the table to cover the bill and we gather our bags and coats. He takes my hand when we get outside and I feel a giddy lightness in my chest. Something I haven’t felt in so damn long.

  Most of the time, I am a ball of stress and anxiety, never knowing what kind of state I might find my mother in.

  But right now, it’s just about me.

  Well, about us. Because as we stand on the sidewalk, waiting for the car, Billy pulls me into his arms and kisses me.

  My knees melt and my belly flip-flops, and I sigh against him. His kiss is deep, and long, and sends a wave of desire through me I’ve never felt before.

  I don’t want the kiss to end — ever — but a car horn honks, and we pull back, Billy’s hand cupping my cheek and his eyes meeting mine.

  “God, I can’t wait to do that again.”

  Then we get into the car, hands held tight, and I swear I’ve died and gone to heaven.

  Chapter Three

  Billy

  The next week is a blur of work at the carwash where I work and listening to my sister, Kourtney, gush about the fact she is going to marry my boss.

  My dad is away on business a lot, but he’s home now, and I’m glad. I need to talk to him about Bailey.

  Every day, I make sure she gets home before I head to work, but I need a car. Dad always said he would help, but I have the money now to do it on my own.

  “I am thinking of getting one from the Ford dealership downtown,” I explain. “I have money saved, and I need a car now. I can’t wait until college in the fall.”

  “Why the rush?” Dad asks. “I swear, a month ago you said you might not want to buy one at all.”

  “Things have changed. Bailey needs—”

  Dad cuts me off. “Bailey — this the girl you are taking to the dance?”

  I nod. I have plans to do more than dance with her — but my dad doesn’t need to know that right now. It would freak him out.

  And no, I’m not talking about sleeping with her, either.

  It’s bigger, more important than that.

  “I love her, Dad.”

  “You what?”

  We’re sitting at the kitchen table and I know he’s surprised, but I press forward. “I do. And she’s been through hell. Having a car will mean I can help get her where she needs to go.” I know I’m being vague, but Dad will lose his mind if I tell him everything I’m thinking.

  “What aren’t you saying?” Dad asks.

  “Look, I’m just saying I love her — I have since we were in middle school. It’s not a phase. And Bailey’s life is hard. Ours is easy. If I can make things better for her, I will.”

  Dad exhales. “Look, I was going to wait for graduation, but I was planning on buying your car.”

  “Really? You don’t have to.”

  “I want to, Billy. Let’s go this afternoon, get you your first car. Save your money.”

  “You know what, Dad? Actually, that means a lot.” I swallow, knowing if I don’t just come out and say what I’m thinking, I might regret it forever. “Dad, saving my money is important right now because I plan to marry Bailey.”

  Dad runs a hand over his jaw, trying to understand me. “You’re in high school.”

  “For a few more weeks, yeah.”

  “You’re not thinking,” he says, shaking his head. “You have a whole future, a whole—”

  “Just like you and Mom?” I know my words are tough to hear, but it’s the truth. “You married her when you were both nineteen, before you went into the Army. And she died way too young. Are you saying you regret marrying her because you had a whole life ahead of you?”

  “It’s different,” Dad says, tearing up.

  “Different how?”

  He places a hand on my shoulder. “Because, well… because, Billy, I don’t want you to struggle like your mom and I did in those early years. I want more for you.”

  “Yeah, but you and Mom didn’t have family to support you through the hard times. I do.”

  “No decision has to be made tonight, does it? I mean, hell, Billy, I haven’t even met this girl.”

  “You will soon enough, Dad,” I tell him. “And you’ll know her for the rest of your life.”

  * * *

  I’m still a little shaky from the heart-to-heart I had with my dad today. I know he thinks I’ve lost my mind, but he is a good man who never once put me or my desires down. It was obvious his concern was for my well-being, and that I can understand.

  Now, I have a great used SUV, but my boss, Kaden, offered me the keys to his Corvette for prom, so I take him up on it. My sister helps me get fitted for a tux and I order a wrist corsage for Bailey. I don’t think guys do that anymore for their girls, but Bailey isn’t like most girls. She’s old-fashioned with her clothes, loves to starch her shirts and iron her jeans. I know it’s because taking care of her clothing is one thing she can control in her uncertain world, but I think even if she wasn’t living so close to the edge, she would still have that way about her.

  I think it’s beautiful, the way her long brown hair swishes in a ribbon-tied ponytail, the way she finds brooches at thrift stores to pin to her cardigans. As I pull up to the motel where she is living, I take a deep breath. I have never met her mother, Janet, but Bailey asked her to be here tonight to meet me. Still, I know she is nervous about it all.

  I climb the steps to the second floor of the motel and knock on their door. When no one answers, I text Bailey, then call her.

  Nothing. My stomach is in knots and I head to the front desk. Maybe I have the wrong room number.

  “Are Janet and Bailey MacAdams staying in room twenty-eight?” I ask the older woman behind the counter. She’s playing Candy Crush on her phone and seems put out by my question.

  She scoffs, shaking her head. “That woman is not welcome here anymore.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask, trying to piece this together.

  “She’s gone. She and her daughter were kicked out of here a few hours ago for not paying up. The
y left, son.”

  My heart falls.

  Sinks to the floor.

  I waited for Bailey for years — and just like that, she decided to leave.

  Bailey

  Two Hours Earlier…

  I try to breathe in and out. In and out.

  This cannot be happening.

  I’ve spent years wondering. Waiting. Knowing my mom might ghost me at any given moment.

  But today of all days?

  But it’s true. The motel manager knocks on our door, saying we haven’t paid for our stay in over three weeks and that we are being forced out if we don’t pay up.

  “Seriously?” I ask, turning to my mom. “Where will we go?”

  I know Mom doesn’t have any money, but when she starts shoving her clothes in a bag, saying we need to pack up and go, I shake my head.

  “No,” I tell her, my voice cracking under the weight of this decision. My heart is pounding. My prom dress is hanging in the closet. I have the night of my life ahead of me. I won’t lose something beautiful because she’s making one more bad decision. “I’m not going with you.”

  Because I know what going with her means. It means some stranger’s couch, maybe another motel for a day or two, a Greyhound bus ride to her sister’s place in Texas, and I’d be caught up in her mess again.

  I’m ready to move on.

  I have to. It’s my life.

  “What are you, crazy?” she asks, swiping her cosmetics form the bathroom counter into a tote bag. “We got to go or she’s going to call the cops.”

  “No,” I tell her again. “I’m not following you.”

  “Well, you still got to go,” the manager says. “You understand? You have one hour to vacate the premises.”

  I reach for my suitcase, opening it, then I begin folding my clothes. My mom making fun of me as I do.

  “You think you’re such a little princess,” she says, laughing. “But you’re as white trash as me, Bailey.”

  Mom is wrong, though.

  I don’t think I am a princess. I think I am tired of living in survival mode. And right now, I don’t have to. Billy offered me a place to live.

  And maybe he is more than my prom date.

  Maybe right now, he is the Prince Charming I need.

  Not because I need a man to rescue me, but because I love him, and that matters. That means something.

  Before I can call him though, and ask for his help, Mom grabs my phone and runs outside. She throws it down the stairwell, laughing as she does. Why have I been trying with her for so long when she treats me like this?

  I run after her, watching as my phone smashes into pieces.

  Just like my heart.

  Chapter Four

  Billy

  I leave the front desk and push out the doors, corsage in my hand.

  And that is when I see her.

  My girl.

  My one and only.

  She didn’t leave me.

  “Bailey,” I say, running over to her. She’s in a sleeveless pink dress that hits her calves, a puffy skirt, and her hair is swept up in a bun. “You look beautiful,” I say, breathless as I take her in. There is a suitcase at her feet. “But what’s going on?”

  She shrugs and blinks back tears, telling me about the eviction, a fight with her mother, the broken phone. She is trying to put on a brave face, but I see her lips tremble and my heart breaks for her as I pull her into my arms.

  “Oh, Bailey, you’ve had one hell of a day.” I cup her cheek with one hand. “I thought you’d left.”

  She shakes her head. “Never, Billy. I love you. And I’m not trying to put pressure on you when I say this, but I knew you’d come for me, and save me from this mess.”

  “What have you been doing the last hour? Since your mom bailed?”

  She smiles somehow, despite the day she’s had. “I snuck into the bathroom and got ready for my prom date.”

  “You still wanna go?”

  She sighs, taking my hand, lacing her fingers through it. “I want something good from this mess. And dancing with you seems pretty damn good, Billy.”

  I slip the corsage on her wrist, and she beams up at me. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Not too cheesy? I don’t know if they are really in style anymore.”

  “It matches this dress I got at a thrift store perfectly. I think it’s waffle-y cute.” She stands on her tiptoes and kisses me and damn, I love kissing this girl.

  My hands are on her waist, her arms around my neck, and it’s all I need right here, right now. This.

  Her stomach growls and I pull back. “Let me guess — you haven’t eaten all day?”

  She shrugs. “You know how it goes.”

  “I’m not letting this happen anymore. You’re staying with me from now on.”

  She sighs, her hands running over the lapels of my suit coat. “I wanted to hear you say that, but what will your dad think?”

  “He knows how I feel about you.”

  “And how do you feel about me, Billy?”

  “I love you, Bailey — I love you with all my heart.”

  She smiles up at me as if I am her dream come true and maybe I am. Because I know for certain she is mine.

  “Let’s go get you some food, okay, sweetheart?”

  She smiles. “I’m sure you got us reservations somewhere nice, but you know what sounds really good?”

  I laugh, smacking her ass as we walk to the Corvette. “Let me guess, something waffle-y sweet?”

  Bailey

  Billy and I walk into our senior prom like a force to be reckoned with. Something has happened in the space of a week and it has changed my life.

  “You look so beautiful,” he tells me, whispering in my ear as we move toward the dance floor.

  Heat rises in my belly. He loves me. And he is here, wrapping his arms around me, holding me tight.

  “I don’t want you to think I’m a weak girl who needs a man,” I confess, my arms wrapped tight around his neck as the music slows.

  “I don’t think you’re weak, Bailey. You are stronger than anyone I know. Strong enough to stay when it was hard, and strong enough to leave when you knew it was time. And strong enough to let someone help when you need it.”

  “You’re doing more than helping me, Billy,” I say. “You’re rescuing me.”

  “Good — let me be your knight in shining armor. Let us make a fairy tale right here, right now, you and me.”

  “When you talk like that,” I whisper, blinking back tears, “I get my hopes up, you know?”

  “Good,” he says, smiling down at me, taking my hands and spinning me out, around, back into his arms. I laugh despite everything. “Let’s get our hopes up so high no one else can touch them. Let’s make them ours alone, Bailey. You and me.”

  “God, I love you,” I say, kissing him again, the music changing to a faster beat. The lyrics are ridiculous and everyone around us starts grinding to the rhythm. It is so not me it’s not even funny.

  Billy knows.

  “What do you say, princess, wanna get out of here?”

  I laugh. “As long as I’m with you, yes. I’ll go anywhere you lead.”

  He drives us home, and when we get to his house, it’s empty — his sister recently moved in with her fiancé, Kaden, and Billy’s dad had a flight tonight for a business trip.

  “You sure this is okay?” I ask as he locks the door, carrying my suitcase inside. I’ve only been here one other time this week when Billy showed me his tux, and that time, his sister was here with us.

  Now we’re alone. The mood changes, and I’m glad. I’m ready to give Billy all of me tonight.

  “Look, no pressure, Bailey. There is a guest room down the hall and—”

  I cut him off. “I need to be with you, Billy.”

  He smiles, wrapping me in those big, muscular arms of his. “Good, because Bailey, I wouldn’t sleep a wink if you were down the hall from me.”

  I lick my lips. “Oh, Billy, I hope to
night, neither of us sleeps a wink.”

  Chapter Five

  Billy

  I take Bailey’s hand and we walk to my bedroom. I’m glad I made my bed earlier, and that I upgraded to a queen a few years back when my feet were hanging off the edge of my twin.

  This bed will fit us both, and the idea of spending the night with the woman I love gets me hard as rock. Damn, I love her, don’t want to ever let her go. I want to take care of her, support her, be the man she needs. Today and forever.

  “You okay?” she asks softly, walking up behind me and wrapping her arms around my chest. Her cheek rests against my back and I press my palms to her hands, thanking God for this moment. Thanking God for her.

  “Bailey, I love you,” I say, turning to face her. Her eyes are closed, and she looks like an angel, a princess.

  “I love you too, Billy,” she whispers. She runs her hands over my chest, pausing at the buttons on my shirt. God, I want to strip her of her clothes, run my fingers over her naked body — and soon, I will.

  We begin to undress, slow at first, then quickly as the charge between us grows. Her eyes are filled with want, and I know that look well. I feel the exact same. She sets her corsage on my dresser, and we both look at the flowers. They are a promise. Fresh and new and full of life.

  “You’re so beautiful,” I tell her, taking her in. Naked before me. More than a princess, she’s my one and only and I don’t care if that sounds crazy. She is all I ever want.

  Her cheeks turn pink as I stand before her in my boxers — my cock straining against the fabric, revealing just how bad I want her. She reaches behind her back and unclasps her bra, letting it fall to the floor, and goddamit, I can’t hold back. I step to her, running my hands over her pure, soft skin.