Impossible (19 page)

If we didn’t move quick our kids would descend upon us in this position.

Therefore, I got up, moved from our bedroom into our bathroom, opened the door to the shower just enough to peek my head inside and got an eyeful of the back of my husband. He was still gorgeous, the bull horns piercing his tanned skin the same way they always had.

I didn’t get to look for long because he heard the door open and turned to face me. He knew what I wanted, the same thing I always wanted when I peaked my head inside his shower, so he leaned forward and gave it to me. Pressing his lips to mine, he just briefly ran his tongue along the seam of my lips, and I shivered my contentment.

“I love you, Coleman,” I said, my lips still flush against his, before pulling back, shutting the door, and continuing through the bathroom to the closet.

I pulled on some stretchy yoga pants and a t-shirt, and then made my way back out of the closet, out of the bathroom, through our bedroom, out the door, down the hall, down the steps, and into the kitchen.

My two little ones were already seated at the island waiting for me to make them breakfast.

Every was the first to speak. “CJ comes home today, right?”

I nodded my head, looking at both her and Josh as I answered, gathering the ingredients I needed at the same time. “Yes, baby. But just to visit.”

Coleman was the one who had named Josh, believe it or not. He told me frequently how much he respected Josh, how grateful he was to be a part of the family Josh should have had. He said that if it weren’t for Josh there was no way we’d be where we were, and he didn’t mean his death. Coleman had seen my parents twice in all the years we’d been together, and had immediately told me what I had always known.

“Josh saved you,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“He gave you love and respect and all the things those assholes never gave you. He let you be you, and I don’t think I could ever thank him enough.”

I had immediately burst into tears, thankful that I not only had all the things Coleman said Josh gave me, but that I had someone in my life who could respect and honor the loss of Josh instead of seeing it as something to compete with.

Josh piped up, putting in his two cents. “Why’s he just visiting? He doesn’t want to live with us?”

God, okay. How to explain this to a six year old. “No, baby. It’s not that. CJ is just too old to live at home with us now. He loves coming home, but he has his own life separate from us.” And a girlfriend I hate.

Okay, that was a little unfair. She just wasn’t good enough for CJ. He had ridden a couple of years in the PBR, but had recently gone back to smaller time riding, preferring a local rodeo scene to all of the hoolpa. But his girlfriend was a straggler from his days with the PBR, and she had bunny written all over her. Though, she had stuck with him when he left, so I guess that said something.

“But Nan and Gramma and Grampa are old, and they live with us.”

Well, geez. Count on the kid to be accurate.

“Okay, I don’t really have an answer for this. Just...he doesn’t live with us right now. You’ll understand when you get older.”

Right on cue, Coleman rounded the corner from the stairs and added, “Stop houndin’ your mother, guys.”

“Daddy!” they both screamed in unison. I definitely wasn’t the favorite.

A knock sounded on the front door, followed by the small squeal of it opening and the sound of feet on the wood floor.

A few seconds passed, and Nan, Joanie, and Michael filed into the kitchen.

“Nan! Gramma! Grampa!” The shouting continued. So not only was I not the favorite, I was pretty far down on the list.

It didn’t matter, I loved it.

Nan and Joanie and Michael got along great, which was no surprise. What was surprising was that it had taken their moving onto the property with us for me to learn Nan’s real name.

You’re going to love this.

Katie.

That’s right. Her name was the same as the She-bitch Spawn of Satan.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out why everyone always called her Nan.

I had also asked her about all those years ago, when she pretended we hadn’t met in front of CJ. Her answer was pure Nan.

“I had been there, Sweetheart. I knew the feelings you were having personally, intimately. I figured you needed the help, just a gentle push in the right direction, but you also deserved the credit. Because when you chose to show yourself to CJ, to come back to the land of the living, that was all you.”

A smile took over my face as I stirred the batter from the pancakes, and I got three successive kisses on the cheek. It didn’t take long after that to feel Coleman’s weight settle behind me and his hands settle on my hips. He loved to do this, stand close to me, practically one person, plastered to my back as I did things.

It was freaking awesome.

********

I had just finished serving everyone their breakfast, they were all seated around our big dining room table, and the chatter was at an extremely high level.

Still, I managed to hear the truck pull in the driveway, my ears trained to hone in on that specific sound, and I took off like a shot, straight for the front door.

I may not be the favorite in this crowd, but I was the favorite with someone.

CJ and I had become incredibly close in the last seven years, and I absolutely couldn’t wait to see him.

Running through the living room, passed the big couch, and right to the front door, I yanked it open, dove out onto the porch and straight into a big hug with Coleman Cade, Junior.

He didn’t even budge since he was all man now that he was twenty-one, almost twenty-two, and I was still my little five foot two inch self.

He wrapped his muscled arms around me, gave me a squeeze, and muttered a hoarse sounding, “Hey Roni,” into my hair.

I released him, stepped back into my own space, and then made light of my freakishly large, albeit fleeting, display of emotion. “Hey, CJ. Wow, you were excited to see me, huh?” I teased.

He burst out laughing, shook his head, but answered with words that made the already present warmth spread further into my chest. “I sure as hell was, Roni. It’s good to be home.”

“Hey everybody,” CJ said.

I turned around to see that the crowd had amassed behind me.

Coleman smiled at me, I cherished it for a few brief moments, and then I took in the faces of all the people I loved. All of the faces of the amazing family we had created.

CJ was right.

It was freaking good to be home.

The End

Thank you so much for reading! I’m currently working on my next standalone project, A is for Alpha Male! And don’t think you’ve seen the end of the Cades. Next up, I plan to give CJ his own story.

For updates, check out my Facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/LaurelUlenCurtis

And wait...I’m not quite done! Keep reading now for some bonus material. I’ve included a bonus scene from Coleman’s POV after the Acknowledgements.

Acknowledgements

A huge thanks to my mom for reading and giving me feedback during the process.

Thanks to Stephanie White at Steph’s Cover Design for making the fabulous cover to house all of the hours of work I put into the inside!

Also, thanks to all of the readers who read The One Series, and stuck with me for this book. Your loyal following means more to me than I can possibly express!

Thanks to all the blogs who read and enjoyed The One Series. Your support and hard work does
not
go unappreciated. A special thanks to Three Chicks and Their Books and Reviews by Tammy and Kim. I can’t thank you enough for all of the things you do for me!

And of course, my biggest thanks of all, to my real life dream men, my husband and my son. Thanks for believing in me!

Coleman’s POV Bonus Scene

Hyped up on adrenaline and the high that comes with riding a bull, and riding it
successfully
, my veins were swollen with the extra blood flow and my body was practically humming.

I couldn’t fucking wait to get home to CJ and Nan, and God, especially my little Banty rooster. She was starting to open herself up to me, and it felt fantastic. What we had in bed and out of it was out of this world, and I knew it would only get better as she let me in more and more.

It was obvious she was still holding herself a little bit distant, but I figured she needed the time. I could tell she’d been through something traumatic, something I had my guess as to what it was, but she still hadn’t been willing to tell me.

I still saw no reason to take it personally because she’d given the indication that she hadn’t let anyone in on the secret. As far as her other secrets, I got the feeling that I knew more of them than anyone. Plus, I knew what it was like to know the kind of loss I expected she had had, and I knew it wasn’t easy.

Grabbing my bag in a hurry to get the hell on the plane and on my way home to her, I reached in and grabbed my phone, only to see that I had a missed call and a voicemail from CJ.

I kept walking as I listened, but as his voice came over the line, I stopped dead in my tracks.

He sounded scared and so goddamn young that it make my lungs freeze in my chest. “Dad...Fuck, dad. It’s Nan. We’re on our way to the hospital. The paramedics think she had a heart attack. The whole night turned straight to shit, and there’s more to the story than that, but I’ll fill you in when I talk to you. Just...just get home when you can. And be safe. Love you.”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and tried to call him back, but it went straight to his voicemail. I tried Roni, and the same with her.

Logically, I knew they were probably in the hospital and couldn’t have their phones on, but logic did nothing to ease the crippling ache in my chest. Being a man that had broken almost every bone in his body at one time or another, I knew pain.

But this...this kind of pain hurt so much fucking worse.

Normally, I would stay, socialize with the fans, but I had to get home, so I forced my way through the crowd, trying not to be an absolute dick while I did it.

I had something worthy of my rushing, but these people didn’t know that. They just wanted to meet me.

If you can fucking believe that. I was just a guy. But I wasn’t to them.

As I weaved my way through them, I tried to put a small smile on my face and at least meet everyone’s eyes.

Obviously, the last was a mistake. Because that’s what led me to a pair of eyes that I had come to know very, very well in the last few weeks. Only this set was a part of a little angelic face. A face that was also astoundingly familiar.

I wanted to let it go. To keep walking past the little girl and the older couple standing with her just like I had done to all of the other fans, but I just couldn’t.

Working hard, putting all of my energy into it, I pulled my face into a friendly smile and put my ass to my boot and a knee to the ground to get down closer to eye level with her.

“Hi, sweetheart. I’m Coleman Cade.”

She didn’t miss a fucking beat, smiling a dazzling smile and replying, “Hi, Colemand. I’m Every Russo.”

The sound of Roni’s last name falling from her lips was like taking a fucking knife to the gut. I almost collapsed to the ground right there, but I forced myself to hold her eyes and tell her the God’s honest truth. “Well, Every. You are without a doubt the prettiest little girl I have ever seen. In fact, you remind me of someone I happen to care about very much.”

Or at least, I did. Before I found out that she fucking played me. That she had
this
, this beautiful little girl, and she fucking left her.

Now I didn’t know what to think.

What a cruel joke that this was the woman I felt an undeniable draw toward. This is the woman who made me want one woman, this woman, for the rest of my life.

And I find out she’s got a secret like this. And she fucking knew about Katie yet still went along playing this game.

Jesus.

I fought the churn in my gut and gave Every’s shoulder a squeeze before standing up and looking into the eyes of her grandparents.

Shaking their hands, I did my cursory hellos and then got the hell out of there, but not before giving Every one last smile. None of this was her fault. She was just an innocent, fucking beautiful kid.

The confrontation with Roni wouldn’t be pretty, and you better believe there was
going to be
a confrontation, but I needed to be home for my mom and for CJ.

********

When I pulled up in the driveway of the house, I was barely keeping my fury in check. I needed to get a quick shower and then get over to the hospital to be with my mom, but my mind kept coming back to how beautiful Every was, to how beautiful my and Roni’s kids would be.

The more I thought about that, the angrier I got. I was angry with her for lying to me and for leaving her daughter. But I was so fucking
angry
that she was taking away what I had dreamed about- a life with her and CJ, someone to share my experiences with, someone to love, and kids...With. Her.

It’s amazing that it’s possible to both hate someone so much that it’s all you can do to contain the rage and want them so bad that it hurts deep in your gut at the same time. But it is possible. And as a result, I was a fucking mess.

I was almost vibrating with my fury as I kicked open the door to my truck, jumped down, and headed for the door. As I walked by Bo, I managed to give him a scratch behind the ears, and with the way I was feeling, I took pride in that as if I had won an olympic gold medal.

When I walked in the house, I headed straight to the kitchen to get a drink. All of the acid burning in my throat wasn’t just making me uncomfortable and putting what felt like a fucking hole in my gut; it was also making me thirsty.

Unfortunately, as soon as I walked in the kitchen, I could feel her anger toward me rolling off of her in waves.

What a fucking joke.

I didn’t have to wait long before she made her displeasure known verbally, stating maliciously, “It’s about time you got here.”