by Kat T. Masen
“Things change,” she says causally while pressing the button on the wall.
“Stop.” I hold her arm back. “Things don’t just change with you. Why… why the change of heart? Something must have happened.”
“I was angry at you, I’ll admit that,” she sighs, fixating on my facial reaction. “It felt like our lives would center around you, and everything I worked for would take a back seat.”
“But it wouldn’t—”
“Let me finish,” she interrupts. “I know that, now. You’ve always been my number one cheerleader well before we were a couple. No one witnessed how hard it was to get to where I am than you. And… I know you’ll never let me give up on my dreams. We simply need to alter them slightly, so we get the best of both worlds.”
“It’s true,” I tell her, bottling my breath in an attempt to calm the elation building inside me. “I’ll never ask you to give up on your dreams.”
“I’ve been looking for a sign, any sign, to show us that this is the right path for us, and then I found it…”
I wait in anticipation as her deep green eyes begin to dance, and her face brightens with a beaming smile.
“Pineapple. One big, giant pineapple.”
Narrowing my eyes in confusion, I ask the pressing question. “Pineapples?”
“Not pineapples. Just one giant pineapple. Queensland is known for The Big Pineapple, and if that isn’t a sign of good luck then I don’t know what is.”
My gaze clouds as I try to put my thoughts together to ensure my words come out right.
“So, let me get this straight. You’re happy to move to another country, leave your work and friends behind to live near a giant pineapple?”
“Yes.” She grins, practically bursting at the seams with elation. “You call that a knife? This is a knife!”
I burst out laughing at Zoey’s pathetic attempt to put on an Aussie accent and quote from Crocodile Dundee.
“I love you, you crazy fool.”
She joins in laughing along with me. “You too, mate.”
Zoey Richards has always given me everything I’ve wanted in life, and in the space of a few minutes she’s managed to make another dream a reality.
To new beginnings.
A fresh start.
And a lifetime of memories.
Someone up above blessed me with the best sidekick ever.
Zoey
There was this book I read a long time ago, a book which gave me the biggest book hangover ever. It was impossible to put down, the plot so engrossing I couldn’t stop reading it into the early hours of the morning and paying dearly for it the next day when I dozed off in an important meeting at work, and my then boss had to wake me up.
The heroine fell pregnant to her ex-fiancé who happened to be cheating on her with his personal assistant. She then met this new guy, a handsome billionaire who swept her off her feet and was willing to be the new baby daddy.
It was the messiest of love triangles, yet the thing I remembered the most was not so much the love triangle but the ability of the heroine to get dressed up, go on date-nights and manage to get a full night’s rest after she gave birth to her daughter.
Oh, and she was a single parent.
This book—still engrained in my memory—is the biggest crock of shit I’ve ever read. I only realized that today when I saw it come up on my Kindle.
Dressed up? Ha! I only manage to get a pair of jeans and blouse on today, but the overbearing stench of baby vomit is lingering. Yes, Oliver decided that puking on me after I got out of my PJs at midday would be a great idea.
Date night—interesting memory. Drew and I can barely sit down to eat a meal together. Mom offers to watch the babies, and the more we plan it, the more it becomes so difficult we give up. We are all about routines these days because it’s the only thing that keeps our sanity in check.
As for sleep. What is sleep? The bags under my eyes are a permanent fixture. My hair has fallen out in clumps which Drew said is normal. Fine for him to say that—he isn’t balding at a rapid rate like I am.
The boys are six weeks old now and wake up every five hours. It means from midnight to five o’clock is my best chance to catch some sleep, and the last thing on my mind is anything else.
Okay, a small white lie. Something happened to me after a week of coming home from the hospital. My hormones did a complete one-eighty, and I desperately needed my husband to entertain me sexually. I didn’t see it coming. I felt like a fat mess with breasts leaking milk, and not showering twice a day like I usually do.
I had never felt so unattractive in my entire life.
“Why am I so horny?” I blurt out while brushing my teeth. “I feel like jumping you right now, but the nurses say six weeks. How set in stone is that?”
Drew is dressed in only his sweat pants. It’s impossible to ignore the large bulge standing stiff beneath them. He leaned on the basin for support, bowing his head as if in pain.
“Babe, there are medical reasons behind it. Would you please stop talking about it… I’m dying here. I think I have blue balls.”
I hold in my laughter and run the tips of my fingers against his back. “So, I’m out of order, but I guess my mouth isn’t.”
He turns swiftly, the biggest grin on his face as he throws his sweats down toward his ankles. I’m just about to position myself when one of the babies starts crying.
Letting out a loud, frustrated groan, he buries his head in his hands. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Show’s over. And that, my love, is the biggest cockblocker ever.”
We eventually hit the six-week mark, and despite Drew’s distaste for rubbers, there’s no chance in hell I want to fall pregnant again anytime soon.
And six weeks becomes this huge milestone. The babies begin to open their eyes more, showcasing their facial expressions which I’m certain to capture several times on video.
Henry is a Momma’s boy. He wants to be held all the time making it impossible for me to get anything done, whereas Oliver is happy to be sitting in his bouncer and stare at the black-and-white soft toys which hang from above.
On top of trying to learn the ropes of motherhood which not one or those stupid books prepared me for—we are packing to move to Australia in two short weeks.
The herbal tea is sitting on the coffee table, steam rising against the sun shining into the room. The boys are down for their afternoon nap, buying us two hours if we’re lucky. Two hours to secure a tenant to rent this place out during our stay down under.
Drew walks the first prospective tenant in. Her name is Harmony, aged forty-three, a yoga instructor and lover of animals.
“So, you love animals?” I ask, looking at her application. “Do you have any pets of your own?”
Harmony’s posture is perfect, her yoga pants and dry-fit tank matching while sitting loose against her thin frame.
“No, I don’t. I believe animals need to be in their intended sanctuary. An apartment is no place for a pet.”
Thank God. I don’t want the apartment to smell like dog. Drew must have sensed my relief, eyeing me dubiously which distracts me from the list of questions queued in my overly-tired brain.
“Your application looks good.” Drew quickly reads the paper before reverting his attention back to her. “Do you have any questions for us?”
Her slim face breaks into a forced smile, gazing around the room. I follow her lead, my eyes aimlessly staring out our surroundings trying to decipher her thoughts.
“I’m not looking for a furnished place,” she tells us.
“We are moving to Australia, so taking our items would be rather costly,” Drew mentions, releasing a breath while trying to remain professional.
“I don’t really care for pineapples. I’m allergic to them.”
And we’re done.
I stand quickly extending my hand. “Thank you, Harmony, for your application. We’ll be in touch soon.”
My lips pinch toget
her, eyes wide demanding Drew show her out. He catches on, showing her out and returning a few moments later.
“Really, Zo?” He shakes his head, disappointed. “She wouldn’t have trashed the place.”
“She’s allergic to pineapples. I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life.”
Frustrated and mouthing words which I purposely ignore, he heads to the door and lets in the next applicant.
Sebastian Gosling—thirty years old and profession, fireman.
I don’t even have a second to process fireman as Drew introduces me to Sebastian. Hot-diggity-damn. This man is quite something else, muscular if I’m being honest is the first word that comes to mind.
He extends his hand. “Sebastian Gosling.”
“Zoey Richards.”
Drew clears his throat, rather loudly. “Baldwin. My wife has baby brain.”
“Yes,” I laugh, awkwardly, admiring Sebastian’s tousled thick, brown hair which sits just above his hazel eyes. “So, Gosling, related to Ryan?”
“If I had a penny,” he answers with a flirtatious grin, accentuating his dimples.
Keep your shit together, Zoey. Your husband is a creature of habit. A jealous one at that.
“Right.” My turn to clear my throat, a welcome distraction from the stifling heat that seems to have suddenly engulfed our confined living area. “Tell us a little bit about yourself?”
“I’m a fireman, three years now. I don’t spend too much time at home. I’m single, but my family is quite big. I’m the only son with five sisters, so we get together quite often. It’s the Italian blood.” He flashes that cute smile again, and to distract myself I motion for Drew to ask something.
“You said on this application that you’re looking for a roommate?”
“Yeah, like I said, I spend a lot of time at work and do a lot of volunteering. Having someone to share would ease the financial burden. Preferably someone who’s a homebody. They would see this place more than me.”
Drew asks another round of questions which end up in a conversation about politics. I hate talking anything political and become increasingly bored until they wrap things up.
“Look, I’m happy with your application. We need to see one more applicant but expect a call back from us today once we check your references.”
We all shake hands. Drew lets him out and returns with his arms crossed firmly against his chest. His glasses, which he wears today, sit above the bridge of his nose and behind them, his steely gaze is boring into me.
“Nice guy,” I say, ignoring Drew’s body language.
“Shall I call him back in so you guys can go at it in the room?”
“Please…” I drag. “He’s too into politics.”
“Oh yeah, because that’s the reason you can’t screw him…”
My laughter escapes. Drew’s jealousy is cute. We don’t even have time to get into it when the door knocks again. This time, I answer it.
Georgia—or Georgie—as she introduces herself, takes a seat on the sofa, nervously fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt. It has a logo of Transformers on it… ugh, how lame.
“So Georgie, you’re studying to become a biochemist. I’ve always taken an interest in science,” Drew mentions in a relaxed tone.
She pushes her tortoise-shell framed glasses so they’re sitting correctly on her face. The more I examine her, the more I realize she has potential. Okay, so the Transformers’ attire is geeky. If she wore contacts, it would contour her face better, and her eyebrows could do with a shaping. She isn’t exactly fit looking but isn’t overweight either. If she didn’t wear the baggy shirt and loose cargo pants, she’d probably have a good figure beneath.
“You must study a lot?” It’s the only thing that comes to mind. I’m known to ramble, a defense mechanism to avoid awkward situations.
“I do.” She nods her head but offers a nervous smile. “I don’t go out, really. I’m not sure if you’re open to it, but I was thinking of finding myself a roommate. It’ll be out of my comfort zone, maybe someone who’s not in my face all the time.”
A smile plays on my lips, and instinctively, I glance to see Drew staring right back at me, his chocolate brown eyes amused and mouth twitching upward on the left, dimpling his cheek.
“Huh,” I say out loud, hiding my grin. “How do you feel about firemen, Georgie?
Georgie stares back at me, oddly.
I don’t need to say another word. Drew and I both agree without even talking out loud.
In life, things happen for a reason.
Drew was never meant to be the man I fell head over heels for the moment I saw him. We built a friendship, a bond that has carried us through some dark times. And here we are, years later, married with twins, moving to Australia to embark on a new journey, a new stage of our lives.
Once again—the stars are aligning.
And this time, it’s Roomie Wars—the new generation.
Check out these books by
Kat T. Masen
#JERK
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BLURB
He was that boy in the playground.
The one who pulled your pigtails.
The one who lifted your dress in front of the entire school.
Now he’s that guy in the office.
The one who steals your lunch from the fridge.
The one who gets away with everything.
I'm sure you know him.
Everyone knows that guy.
He’s a #JERK.
Presley Malone knew her relationship with her fiancé, Jason, had run its course.
The second that ring came off her finger, she didn't expect to be the pawn in an immature game played by the office jerk.
Haden Cooper enjoyed playing games, and when it came to Presley Malone, it was all too easy. Miss Know-It-All with her over-the-top OCD was soon going to get a taste of what it was like to live on the edge.
But what starts off as an innocent prank soon becomes an unhealthy obsession.
Mr. Rebound
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BLURB
Moving across the country was supposed to be a fresh start. I’d made mistakes, but I told myself I’d no longer prey on emotionally unstable women. I don’t do relationships—I’m a selfish bastard who enjoys not answering to anyone—and relationships mean being with only one woman. More often than not, one that carries emotional baggage, like cheating exes or even worse—kids.
After landing myself in trouble, again, my cousin, Charlie, dared me to settle down with one woman. I’m not one to shy away from a dare, so I chose Scarlett Winters, the most sought-after actress in Hollywood and also the sexiest woman on Earth.
I just needed to get past the roadblock—her assistant, Morgan Bentley—the wicked bitch of the West.
Between her multiple personalities and the giant stick up her ass, I should’ve seen it coming. I’d been with enough women to read the signs. Morgan Bentley was after one thing, and one thing only—a rebound.
That’s me, right?
Mr. Rebound.
But what if this time I wanted more?
*** NOTE – These are complete standalone stories with HEA. ***
Stand Alones
#Jerk
Roomie Wars
Mr. Rebound
Wedding Wars: A Roomie Wars Novella
Kicking Reality
Bad Boy Rich
The Dark Love Series Box Set
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Box set includes:
Into the Darkness Book One
Into the Light Book Two
Julian Book Three
Adriana Book Four
Summer Rain—Belinda Carlisle
Footloose – Kenny Loggins
Could’ve Been - Tiffany
Karma Chameleon – Culture Club
Nothings Gonna Change My Love For You – Glen Medeiros
Islands In The Stream – Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers
Together In
Electric Dreams – Philip Oakey
Check these links for more books from Author Kat T. Masen.
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Born and bred in Sydney, Australia, Kat T. Masen is a mother to four crazy boys and wife to one sane husband. Growing up in a generation where social media and fancy gadgets didn’t exist, she enjoyed reading from an early age and found herself immersed in these stories. After meeting friends on Twitter who loved to read as much as she did, her passion for writing began, and the friendships continued on despite the distance.
“I’m known to be crazy and humorous. Show me the most random picture of a dog in a wig, and I’ll be laughing for days.”
