Indelible Love Series + Entwined Bundle

by DW Cee

  “Babe, can you get my toiletry kit?” Babe…I liked that.

  By the time I got out some Q-tips, he had Ellie calmly cradled in his left arm. He then started explaining to her that he was cleaning out all the gook in her nose, so she could breathe. It looked like he was performing surgery up her nostril. Shockingly, this hyperactive girl just laid there listening to his soothing voice. Actually, we were all a bit mesmerized with Max’s baby-whisperer techniques. James, who was worse off than Ellie, got the same care, but he opted to go lay in Mom’s arms when Ellie threw herself back into Max’s arms.

  “Good work, Doctor.” I tried to place my arms around Max’s waist as Ellie stayed cradled in his arm, but this brat kicked my face not once, but several times, till I backed away. I swear she did this on purpose.

  “You obviously have your mom’s looks but your auntie’s temperament.” I was about to get upset and a bit jealous (of a woman who wasn’t even in this room, and a baby who wasn’t even nine months old yet—I know…I’m pathetic!) except Max pulled me in for semi-luscious kiss.

  Family audience, be damned. Foreplay, begin.

  Irritation gone, I happily called out, “Time to go nigh-nigh, Ellie. James is already in the room. You go join him, you flirt.”

  She dug her face into Max’s body and put her chubby arms around his neck understanding that her time with my boyfriend was over. She kept shaking her head no and digging herself even deeper—if that was possible.

  “You want me to put you down, beautiful girl? Come on, let’s tell you a bedtime story and have you nap on Auntie Jane’s bed.”

  “He’s pretty dreamy, Jane,” Laney said as we both watched Max carry Ellie into my room. “And he likes you so much!” Laney seriously needed a man. When I got back to work, I’d have to look around for a nice young lawyer who’d make her every dream come true. Though, she needed to lose most of those collegian ideals.

  Because Ellie did everything in her power to keep Max away from me, we had to rush through brunch to make it in time for the New Year’s Eve matinee showing of New York’s hottest musical, Once. Thanks to a generous Emily, we sat in a very cozy left box, perched adjacent to orchestra seats.

  “My sister got us superb seats, huh?”

  Max laughed.

  “What’s with the cynical laugh, Dr. Davis?”

  “You call Em you sister when you’re happy with her or if she does something that pleases you, but you call her your sister-in-law when the g.e.m. in you comes out.”

  “What’s a ‘g.e.m.?’”

  “It’s short for green-eyed monster.”

  “Not funny.”

  “But you are my gem—in every way. Speaking of, I have one more Christmas gift for you.”

  “You do?”

  He nodded and pulled out a slim, elongated box from the inside pocket of his jacket. “Here. Open it.”

  A sparkling gold chain bracelet winked at me as I opened the box.

  I turned to Max.

  “I wanted to give this to you after I got here and created some memories with you. When I saw this charm bracelet, I thought of each link as a bond we will form; and each charm I add, will be a memory that strengthens this bond,” he said while pulling out a Statue of Liberty charm. “This is our first memory together, my stunning gem, New York City.”

  OMG! I was actually speechless. Even if I wanted to say something, it was shortcut by Max’s kiss. It was the most electrifying, heart-stopping, toe-curling kiss, ever. He gave me one of those, two handed, thumbs by my ear, fingers woven through my hair while curled around the back of my head and parts of my neck, type of kiss. He literally devoured my lips over and over again. If someone had taken a picture of us, we’d look like a poster for a Nicholas Sparks’ movie. The kiss was fanfreakin’tastic.

  What was even more fanfreakin’tastic was that every time the actors started singing a romantic song, (which was about 95% of their songs since this was coined ‘the most romantic musical of the year’) Max turned and kissed me. He kissed me as if we were the hero and heroine of a Harlequin romance novel, like we were the only two in the theater, like we were just about to make love. He was as hot and bothered by these songs as I was. By the end of the show, both of us were ready to get a hotel room.

  “Hold on, my phone just buzzed,” I said, as we exited the theater. “…very cool! My brother says New Year’s Eve dinner at Masa tonight.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yep! Let’s go.”

  “You’re late,” my brother chided when we stepped into Masa.

  “Sorry. We were watching Once and I had my phone turned off.”

  “Did you enjoy it?” My sister was beaming. I didn’t know if it was because she and Jake had had such a good day, or because she was happy for me. It was probably a bit of both.

  “We enjoyed it very much,” Max answered while kissing her cheek. “Thank you, Em…ily.”

  Emily looked surprised by her new moniker and I was shocked, but thrilled, that he called her Emily.

  “About time you stopped calling my wife by a term of endearment, Davis.”

  “Yeah…it is about time. And I don’t think I’ve had a chance to thank you for this trip, Jake. It’s opened my eyes to what a gem your sister is in my life. I don’t think I’ve had a better time with anyone as I’ve had with Jane. No offense, Em…ily. Boy, all those years of calling you Em is hard to erase overnight.”

  “No offense taken.” Emily, who was already seated when Max was talking to her, grabbed Max’s hand and pulled his ear to her lips. She proceeded to whisper something only they could hear, then tenderly kissed him on the cheek. He smiled, took my hand, and led me to our comfortable high-backed stools.

  I was in such orgasmic bliss (you get the teasing theme of this story?) with all that’d happened today, that the loving exchange between my sister and my boyfriend bothered me, none at all! Nothing could ruin my evening.

  “Max!” a voice, no different from nails screeching on a blackboard, called out again, “Max.”

  “Joyce…” Max bit out.

  Joyce? What the hell??? What was she doing here?

  Jan. 1, 2013 New Year’s Eve+Once+Masa+Alex Forrest+Sick Babies=Sex? Part 2

  Seriously, Woman?!? What the hell are you doing here?

  “Hi! What a pleasant surprise. I didn’t know you were coming to New York.” She said while touching my man’s arm. I was this close to slapping her hand away.

  This Joyce woman was about my height, with blond, blond hair, some freaky greenish (cat) color eyes, and had on a tight, tight dress. She looked older, her nose was a bit crooked and she had those pouty Angelina Jolie lips people liked—if one was into those kind of lips. I personally found those lips to make her mouth look too big. She kinda had that “girls gone wild” look with the big boobs and big lips. Great, my competition could model for a “girls, girls, girls” poster.

  “Um…I’m here with my girlfriend and her family. Jane,” he looked at me a bit nervous, trying to gauge my reaction, “this is Joyce. Joyce, my girlfriend Jane. You know Jake, over there.” He pointed my brother’s way.

  “Hi, Dr. Reid. And you must be his lovely wife, Emily. I’ve heard so much about you.”

  Kiss-ass!

  With all the intros done, I expected her to skedaddle, but she had the gall to say, “Max, can you come with me? I’d like to introduce you to my family—of course, you already know my parents. They’re excited to see you again.”

  “Um, okay.” As reassurance, Max kissed me close to my ear and whispered, “I’ll be right back, my precious gem.” Of course, the double entendre was heavy.

  If he hadn’t been so wonderful to me all day, I would’ve called him a choice name or two.

  “What the hell is she doing here?” I asked my brother. “Did you tell her we were all going to be here?”

  “Don’t yell at me, little sis.” He warned. “It looks like she is here with her family enjoying a meal, no different than what we are about to do.�
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  “This can NOT be a coincidence that she is at Masa of all places, on New Year’s Eve.” Alex Forrest from Fatal Attraction in the house! “You must have told her about it. And you,” I accused Nick, “how do you know that psycho, and why are you so friendly with her?”

  “Chill out, Jane.” Nick was laughing at me. “Though, I do agree with her, Jake. That girl is a bit weird. Whenever I stop by the hospital to visit you or Max, she’s always hanging around Max. In fact, right before you came back to LA, Jane, Max and I went to a bar to watch a game, and not long into the first quarter, this woman showed up and sat at our table. The weird thing was, it didn’t look like she was meeting anyone else there.”

  “You see!” I yelled again, but not so loudly where Joyce and her family would know what we were discussing.

  “Whatever. I don’t care. The only one who knew my plans was my PA since she booked everything for me. Aside from her, it was all a secret.”

  “Nick, does this Joyce woman hang around Jake as well?” Emily asked.

  “I don’t know since Max and Jake are usually together when I go see them at the hospital. But, I don’t think it’s Jake that she’s interested in.”

  “I don’t want you getting too close to this crazy woman, okay?” Even now, my sister sounded so cute. By the smile on my brother’s face, he definitely thought so too.

  “You jealous?”

  “No, but if you make me jealous for any reason, I’ll make your life a living hell.” Ooh…my sister had a bit of a don’t-mess-with-me, bad girl attitude. There was a threat masked under that sweet smile.

  My brother chuckled, saying, “My beautiful wife, you have no worries from me. I am in love with you, and only you, and will be the rest of my life.”

  “Good to know. Just stay away, okay?” She warned again. She then asked Chef Masa if he’d start the meal and did something so awesome, I could’ve kissed her right then and there.

  She walked over to Max, who was still conversing with Joyce and her family, and said in her sweetest voice, “Excuse me…but our meal’s about to begin so we need Max back at our table. It was nice meeting you, Joyce.” Before Joyce could protest, Emily placed her hand on Max’s arms and tugged on him, while ignoring her. If that wasn’t a serious set-down, I don’t know what is. Go Emily!

  I saw my brother trying to mask his laugh as Emily walked over to her stool after depositing Max in his seat.

  “Missed me?”

  “No.” I was as curt as possible.

  Then he did it again! Right as the servers brought out our first course, he placed both hands on my cheeks and did that Nicholas Sparks’ movie-poster kiss. He practically swallowed me whole in front of everyone. “I missed you,” he winked and picked up his chopsticks.

  “May I take this empty seat?” Psycho asked as she sat next to Max. “I think I’d like to eat the prix fixe menu at the sushi bar instead of the a la carte menu at our table.”

  Even before Max’s saliva had dried on my lips, Psycho ruined the afterglow.

  Laney, who was to my left, giggled and tried to break up the tension on our half of the sushi bar.

  “Jake, Emily, I want to thank you for inviting me on this trip and for paying for my plane fare and for this extravagant meal. That’s really kind of the both of you.” Laney, no different from my sister, was sweet. Some man would be lucky to snatch up such a kind and pretty girl.

  “I’m glad you’re here with us, but I can’t take any of the thanks. My wonderful husband planned this entire surprise. When he told me we were spending some time in New York, I had no idea I was getting so much more.”

  Nick and Doug chimed in. “Laney says she wants to meet a man just like you, Jake. We told her to meet a real man, instead.”

  “Shut up, you two. That’s why you’re still single. You need to take lessons from Jake.”

  “Why thank you, Laney, for setting those boys straight, and for the huge compliment. If I find someone just like me, I will send him your way. And as for your thanks, you’re welcome, and I’m glad you could join us.”

  “Was there a special reason for all these surprises for Emily in New York?” She continued to ask.

  “Well…” now Jake turned to Emily and we all knew group conversation was over. “The last time Emily and I were in New York together, I broke her heart. There are some memories I can’t forget no matter how much I try, and that is one of them. I needed to correct this memory and create new ones for us—much better ones that’ll wipe out what I did to her.”

  Emily, of course, had tears in her eyes. “That’s why you’ve been doing all this? I haven’t thought about that day since our night in Kyoto. None of this was necessary, Jake. You and the twins have given me a better life than I could’ve scripted.”

  “Love, I still need to make up for the Grand Canyon incident as well. Since I can’t buy the Grand Canyon, I don’t know how I’ll rectify what happened there.”

  “Oh my gosh!” I breathed. “Way too heavy for a sushi bar. Either keep it between the two of you or let’s table it for another time.”

  “I think that’s so romantic, Dr. Reid. Your wife is such a lucky woman.” Who invited Psycho into our conversation?

  “So Max…” was how Psycho started every conversation in between courses. She kept throwing questions at my man so we’d have very little time for conversation ourselves. My man knew I was pissed! He pulled my stool right next to his and kept his left arm around my waist. Often enough, he threw playful kisses on my face—the wet ones behind my ear, being my personal favorite. I was appeased…somewhat.

  Twenty-eight courses done, Jake informed everyone that he and his wife were leaving us early. He had one last surprise for Emily.

  “What’s the last surprise, Jake?” Laney asked. “Please tell us. I’m dying to know.”

  Jake held back.

  “Please???”

  “Why don’t you tell Laney? I’ll be surprised either way.”

  “I have a suite reserved at the Trump Hotel for the night.”

  “How cool!” Laney clapped like a little girl.

  “Overnight?” Emily asked, not sounding too happy.

  “That’s usually how it’s done with hotel rooms, Love.”

  “We can’t stay away from the kids tonight—especially James. They are both not feeling well and they both had a rough night last night. James was up most of the night and Ellie got up a few times as well.”

  “What? How come I didn’t know this? Why didn’t you wake me up? I could’ve helped you.”

  “I didn’t want to wake you. You had watched them for most of the day while I went furniture shopping.”

  “Emi, I don’t want you suffering by yourself if I’m around to help, okay?”

  “All right. But…is it okay if we go home tonight? As it is, the kids haven’t seen us all day. It might be a rough night for them again.”

  “Anything for you, my love.” He then got up with Emily, pulled out a key card from his pocket and said, “Davis—enjoy, but be safe!” and handed him the hotel key.

  HOT DAMN! PRIVACY TONIGHT‼! Take that, PSYCHO!

  Our grins were telling and I made sure I grinned Psycho’s way. Emily kissed me on the cheek and whispered, “Happy New Year, Miss Jane!”