Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Garner
Maggie’s reddish-brown hair glistened under the soft lights in her living room.
Light from her tree, her TV, and the string of lights around the room shone down on her, her green eyes sparkling.
She looked at me like she had all those years ago, with love and admiration, the love still strong between us.
There wasn’t a day where I stopped loving Maggie. I wanted to make a life for her and me, a life where neither one of us had to worry about money, but instead, I was back home, broke and alone, and hoping my high school sweetheart still loved me.
The moment she opened the door, it was as if someone came by and knocked the air clear straight out of me. I gasped for breath at her beauty, even in her Christmas pajamas and her hair a mess.
I’d never stopped loving her.
But there was a huge elephant looming between us. Or should I say a huge ring.
There, nestled on her left ring finger sat a large diamond.
Maggie’s engaged.
A knife cracked open my chest, the pain strong.
No. I shook my head.
It couldn’t be.
Showing up on my ex’s doorstep to find her engaged dashed all of my hopes. But there had to be an explanation. This woman belonged to me.
Now, as we stood in her living room, I confessed my truth and her face softened, her eyes reflecting my pain. But I still couldn’t get past the ring.
“I’m sorry, Maggie. I didn’t know you were engaged. I should go.” I turned for the door when Maggie held out her hand to stop me.
“Not so fast. I can explain.”
“How can you explain being engaged? It’s not complicated.”
“Well, it can be. And mine is. Sort of.”
“I came here because I still love you, Maggie. I never stopped. So, finding out you’re engaged to someone else hurts.
Yeah, my situation sucks. I’ve got no job and no family around.
But none of that matters to me. What matters is you.
I’m sorry I stopped by on Christmas. I should’ve called first. Have a good night. ”
“Garner wait. Please. Let me explain, too.”
She was right. She deserved the same chances I had. A relationship was two people, not one.
I sat down on the couch and leaned forward, resting my forearms on my knees, my hands twisting together.
Maggie sat beside me and her scent filled my nose, a soft lavender mixed with a hint of vanilla, the same scent she’d always had.
It was like coming home after a long trip, her familiarness comforting and soothing.
“I’m not in a relationship with anyone. I haven’t been since you left.
I tried to date, but nothing stuck. Nothing felt right.
When I was in college, I grew close to my roommate, Kat, who dated this guy from a really rich, high to do family.
They didn’t approve of my friend because she wasn’t the same religion as they were and preferred their son to marry a Jewish girl.
Anyway, after college, I lost touch with my roommate, but not Aidan.
We both studied creative writing, so we became feedback partners.
He learned from his family that he wouldn’t be able to collect his trust fund unless he married by the age of thirty.
So, he asked me to help him out. We were due to be married next week, after his thirtieth birthday.
Once he collected his trust fund, we were going to have the marriage annulled.
But luckily, he ended up falling head over heels in love.
Once he proposes to her over Christmas, I’m out. ”
I studied her side profile. She was so fucking beautiful. My heart felt like it was permanently in my stomach around her.
And that mouth of hers…God did I want to kiss it.
Once I started, though, I might not stop.
Now that my dick hardened and my thoughts were stuck on kissing her, I processed the information.
She wasn’t engaged. At least not for real.
She still belonged to me.
“You never stopped loving me?”
“No. How could I Garner? You were my world. You still are. No man will ever compare.”
I swallowed hard.
No man will ever compare.
Without asking, I just took.
I couldn’t wait any longer.
I was taking back what was mine.
Grabbing her face with both hands, I looked her in the eyes, and then I kissed her.
As soon as my lips were on hers, it felt like I had come home after way too long.
I slid my tongue inside and she tasted exactly how I remembered. Sweet and soft, our mouths moving together as if they’d never been apart.
Groans escaped her throat as I deepened the kiss and moved my hands from her cheeks to the back of her neck and into her air. I tugged gently and her head fell back, breaking our kiss and exposing her neck to me. I immediately went in, tasting her skin, licking and sucking on the sensitive area.
Maggie groaned louder and my dick strained in my pants. I wanted to sink inside her. To fill her whole like I had before.
Countless times, in my car and hers, were snuck around without our parents finding out. We found different places to hide and have sex and sometimes hunting the place was just as fun as when we finally enjoyed one another.
But it didn’t matter now. We were adults.
Willing, consenting adults.
And it was time to christen every damn inch of her place.
Yet I couldn’t rush. Not with her.
She meant too damn much.
After one last nip of her neck, I backed away, both of us staring at the other as our chests heaved, our breaths short. A few seconds longer and I’d be carrying her upstairs without asking.
“Everything inside me wants to throw you over my shoulder and take you upstairs. But I want to make sure this is something you want. I don’t just want sex with you, Maggie. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” I confessed, while still holding her gaze with mine.
Maggie’s arms slipped around my neck, and she climbed into my lap. “I still want you too, Garner. I was waiting until you came back for me.”
“How did you know I would?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t. I just hoped you would. I still wouldn’t want anyone else, even if you had moved on. You’re it for me. You always have been.”
My heart burst with happiness and a true genuine smile crossed my face. I loved this woman so fucking much. “You’re it for me too. My career shit the bed, and I took it as a sign. We’d been apart long enough. I dated no one else either.”
Maggie studied me closely. She tilted her head to the side as if she could really read my mind if she tried hard enough. “You didn’t?”
“No. I won’t lie. I tried. But it made me miss you more. I focused on other things. Like learning lines, auditioning, and stalking your Facebook. Though you didn’t give me much to stalk.”
Maggie laughed and her eyes sparkled. “Nothing exciting happened.”
“How about we change that? Remember our favorite Christmas together? Senior year of high school.”
She nodded. “How could I forget?”
“Let’s relive it.”
Her eyes lit up, like a little kid in line for a rollercoaster, and it was his turn next to ride. “Really?”
“Yes. Then we’ll come back here and finish.”
“Finish what?” Maggie asked innocently, though she knew damn well what I meant.
“I think you know.” I squeezed her hip gently and kissed her soft, sexy lips before moving my mouth to her ear. “And if you don’t, just imagine.”
Nipping her earlobe, I felt her shiver and my dick jerked. He’d have to wait.
There was fun to be had first.