“Then I met this amazingly smart and funny woman who challenged everything I knew. And in between making fun of my typing speed and driving me a little crazy, she helped me realize that everything wasn’t fine. It had never been fine and, if I continued living my life the way I was, it never would be fine. Because now…now I want more than fine.” He finally turned to face me. “I want you. I want us. I want a chance at a life I’ve never even dreamed of.”
Until that moment, with him looking at me so intently, so humbly, so honestly, I’d thought I wouldn’t cry. But I felt tears slide down both cheeks. I didn’t know what to say. How to tell him how sorry I was for all that he’d gone through. How hard it was to believe he could still care about me after everything I’d done wrong.
He took a deep breath. “If that’s not something you’re interested in pursuing, that’s…” His jaw clenched. “No, that’s not fine. It’s not.” His hand darted around my neck and pulled me into him. Our lips met already open, filled with regret for time wasted and desire for what was to come. I threw my arms around his neck and held on as he lifted me into his arms and went to the door. I reached behind me, banging my hand against the wood until I found the doorknob and turned it.
He tore his mouth away from mine, and we stumbled inside, slamming the door behind us. “I want more. I want this. Not just partway. You and me. Completely. I need to see if it can be what I think it could. Do you understand?”
I nodded, relief and disbelief making it impossible for me to say anything.
“You have the next four seconds to stop this, Andi. After that, I’m not listening to you anymore.”
We stared at each other, our breath shallow. He held me—eyes, body, and heart.
“Your time’s almost up,” he said, his eyes studying my face for signs.
“Actually, I promised Clare I’d give you three years.” I swallowed. “Anything longer than that will have to be negotiated.”
That might not have been the answer he expected because it took a second for the smile to show up. “I’m really good at negotiating, you know.”
“So I’ve heard.”
Then my back was against the wall, my legs around his waist, his hands in my hair. Our clothes came off piece by piece somehow, but I didn’t know whose hands did what. My fingers traced the muscles on his chest and abs, while my eyes stayed closed and my lips stayed on his. I unbuttoned his jeans and yanked down while he pulled my dress over my head. He shuddered and pulled back slightly, holding me by the waist and looking at my body with dark, needy eyes.
“Damn, you’re beautiful.”
“You’re such an easy man to please,” I said, smiling.
“Only by you, Andi. Only by you.”
Somehow, we made it to the couch, and then a little later, we got to the bedroom…with a few stops along the way. Maybe even a couple breaths. He was more than I’d ever wanted. More than I’d ever dreamed of.
Every kiss, every thrust, every second brought us closer together, until I couldn’t remember a time without him. He’d given me nothing but pleasure, respect, and trust. And, thank the heavens, I’d finally figured out I deserved it. I’d messed up so many things in my life, but he’d refused to let me mess this up. And Hayden Bennett always got what he wanted.
After what seemed like hours—and was—we separated. “I should start calling you Lance Armstrong, you bike so well.”
“I think we should stop using nicknames altogether, actually.”
I grimaced. “Good point.”
“Besides, Andi suits you. I never did think you looked like a Sara.” When he reached out for the glass of water on my nightstand, his arm bumped into the computer monitor that had been resting on top of it, waiting to be packed up. He tried to grab it but missed.
I cursed when I heard it shatter on the hardwood floor.
“Oops,” he said shyly.
“Oops? You destroyed $300 worth of equipment my favorite client gave me, and all you can say is ‘oops?’” I climbed partway on top of him to look down at the damage. “You’re just lucky the monitor isn’t where the important stuff is.”
“I know.” His lips ran across my collarbone, over my heart. “This is where the important stuff is.” Then he took my face in his hands, forcing me to look into his eyes. “The monitor was what you used to hide behind. But not anymore, got it?”
“Got it.” I had to speak, tell him everything. So while we were both still catching our breaths, I told him. Everything I kept hidden, everything I’d screwed up, everything I was. And he didn’t hate me. He didn’t pity me.
Nope, he loved me.
40
Hayden
I grabbed Andi by the waist and pulled her away from the trays. “You’re going to make Clare regret having the party catered if you eat all the food.”
“I can’t help it.” Slipping something into her mouth, she spun around and looked up at me with those dark brown eyes I’d never get bored of. “I’m nervous,” she mumbled after swallowing. “And I eat when I’m nervous. Normally, I have to make do with chips, but this is way better, which is perfect because I’m really nervous.”
“I can tell—it also makes you talk a lot.”
She smacked my chest. “Be nice, Birthday Boy, or you won’t get your present after everyone leaves. And believe me—”
I meant to shut her up with a quick kiss, but found myself, once again, losing track of everything else as soon as our lips touched. The last few months had been spectacular, so much more than I could’ve ever imagined. The Inspex project was in final negotiations, my new company was well on its way to becoming a force, and every day I got to come home to a beautiful, intelligent, spirited woman who drove me a little crazy in the best possible way.
“Break it up, you two,” I heard Clare say behind me. “Your guests are getting restless.”
“I’m the worst hostess in the history of hostesses, aren’t I?”
Clare glanced at me for help. “Should I lie to her?”
Andi groaned and swiped another hors d’oeuvre off the tray.
“Ignore her,” I said, taking Andi’s hand. “Besides, this party isn’t about you. It’s about me.”
We followed my ex-wife into the living room. With a lot of updating and construction, Andi’s house had become ours, at least until we outgrew it. Obviously, we could’ve afforded a larger place closer to my office, but I knew how much this place meant to her. I just hoped that by the time we needed a few more bedrooms and a playroom, she’d be okay with the move. But that wasn’t a concern…yet.
With an arm around Laney, my brother stared out the window, looking a bit lost. It wasn’t like him to be uncomfortable at a party or anywhere else, for that matter. But as soon as he’d stepped through the door, I’d known something was off—he held Laney a little tighter, didn’t make any lame jokes, and his smile seemed pasted on. When there weren’t this many people around, I’d have to ask him what was wrong. Maybe it was time for some more brilliant advice only a brother could offer.
“Does everyone have a glass to raise?” Clare waited for everyone to nod and pick up their champagne flutes. “Great. I’d like to make a toast to a very special man, who—”
“Is this going to make me cry?” Carson grunted as Laney’s elbow met his side.
“Hit him again, Laney. Only harder,” Clare called. “Like I was saying, Hayden is a very special man, who—”
“Could I say something when you’re done?” My stepsister Anna had an incredible ability to appear completely innocent with enough sass to convey her obvious guilt. It was her own special kind of skill.
“I want to, too.”
“Can I go next?”
I lost track of who was speaking—Emilia, Laney, Real-Sara, Carson, Shannon. One by one all the incredible people in my and Andi’s life spoke up and over my poor ex-wife, until even Clare was laughing.
“Seriously, people? Back off.” Clare downed her remaining champagne, refilled her glass, and hel
d it back up. “Hayden-I-love-you-Happy-Birthday-You’re-the-best-ex-husband-I’ll-ever-have,” she said, all in a single breath. “Now which of you jerks is next?”
“I’m next,” Andi said firmly and then grimaced. “Not that I’m a jerk, but…” She cleared her throat and started over, turning to face me. “Hayden—”
“Will you marry me?” It came out as a surprise to everyone, including me. This wasn’t at all what I’d planned. The program I’d contracted someone to build and install on her laptop was almost done. Flowers would be delivered to the house. But not tonight.
All I had was the champagne, the woman I loved, and the ring.
“What?” was said in multiple voices, but only one mattered.
“What did you say?” Andi asked again.
“I was going to wait for the perfect moment to ask, but then I realized that every moment with you is perfect. Because we’re perfect together, and I want it to last forever.” I brushed a misbehaving lock of hair out of her eyes so I could see them. They were shining. “I want to marry you, Andi. I want you to be mine, forever.”
Andi pressed her lips together and looked around the room at our friends, who were quiet for the first time in their lives. When she took my hands, I realized what was missing.
“Wait here,” I said quickly, ignoring the communal groan as I ran to our bedroom and grabbed the small blue box I’d hidden in my drawer. I opened it up, took a picture, and then texted, ‘Marry me.’ Then, to make sure she saw the message, I yelled, “You’d better answer that!”
I stared at my phone, waiting. Held my breath when I saw the gray bubbles appear. Closed my eyes and let out a shuddering breath when I read her reply:
‘Yes.’
And then another popped up, ‘Now, get your ass in here and seal the deal, Bennett.’
When I came back into the room, everyone was staring at me. None of them knew what had happened and, as much as I loved all of them, I didn’t explain. I focused solely on the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with.
As soon as I took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger, everyone cheered. Someone patted me on the back, while Real-Sara and Emilia pulled Andi away from me to hug her and admire the ring.
Clare held both my hands, squeezing them with excitement. “Please tell me I can plan your wedding. I know you said I should work on Carson’s, but I swear, he’s impossible. So who knows when that’ll happen.”
“Wait, he said what?” Carson’s eyes were enormous as he looked at Clare, then me, then Laney, who thankfully hadn’t heard the comment. “Dude, seriously?”
“Relax, little brother,” I said quietly. “I didn’t set a date or anything.”
“Yeah, well… Still not cool.”
“If you wait too long, you know that Laney could come to her senses, right?” I laughed.
“Thanks, Hay. Don’t think I won’t remember that.” He turned his back on us, grumbling, “Like I need more pressure,” under his breath.
After a lot of toasts and glasses of champagne, I finally got my hands back on Andi.
“That was by far the best text ever written,” she said.
“And the longest wait for a reply.”
She shrugged. “You should really work on your patience, Hayden.”
“My patience? And here I was assuming you were considering other offers.”
“No way,” she said, smiling. “In business, when you see something you want, you need to move in fast before anyone else swoops it up. But you can’t let anyone know how badly you want it, or you get screwed in negotiations.”
“Oh, you’ll get screwed all right, my love.” I kissed her. I kissed my fiancé. “In fact, I think it’s time everyone went home, don’t you?”
“Patience, Mr. Bennett.”
When Real-Sara asked where we were going to get married, all other conversation stopped.
Andi looked up at me. “I’ve heard good things about the Maldives.” She wiggled her finger, asking me to bend down a little so she could whisper in my ear. “No extradition.”
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I don’t mean like that,” she said, her lips warming my ear. “But I kind of love the idea that I can keep you there for as looong as I want, and no one can do anything about it.”
That sounded perfect.
“Pack your bags, everyone. We’re going to the Maldives.”
there was a woman who lived in a glass box, believing she would remain there for the rest of her days to pay for mistakes of long ago. And there she stayed until she met a man who had been living in another cage built by his and the hands of others. Wall after wall after wall. Until it was impossible for anyone to get through. But when he heard the woman's true voice, he knew her to be good and kind and caring. And because his desire to reach her was so great, he broke down wall after wall after wall of his prison.
And though she feared him getting too close, she knew he would never be able to see through her glass, and thus he would never see what a horrible thing she was. But the man wasn't content to stand outside her cage, knowing she was suffocating within it. So he began to chip away at the mirror. Day by day, hour by hour, he toiled.
And when he finally got through, he didn't think her ugly, he thought her the most beautiful thing his eyes had ever seen. To help her understand her beauty, he brought her to the other side of the glass and stood beside her. Piece by beautiful piece he showed her that she was no longer the woman she had been, and no longer deserved to be punished.
And when she looked at the glass from the outside, she saw the man holding the hand of a woman she didn't recognize. Only understanding after she looked down and saw that the hand the man held was hers…and he would never let it go.
Afterword
Thank you so much for reading Virtually Impossible. If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review.
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Immaterial Defense
(Once and Forever #3)
~ Coming late 2016 ~
Available for pre-order now on some retailers (others to come soon)
Book three in this contemporary romance series is a twist on The Emperor’s New Clothes, and this is how Sara’s fairytale begins…
Once upon a time there was a woman whose life had been blessed from the moment of her birth. She wore beautiful gowns, and went to fancy balls, and danced with handsome princes, and hated every second of it. For though none but the woman knew it, these things were not real but imagined. And the reason she understood this was because she wasn't real either, having been unmade in a single moment in time…by an enemy she hadn’t foreseen…in a way that left her body wounded and her soul scarred.
So the woman began a new life, apart from all others, even while surrounded by admirers, for she knew they were admiring someone who wasn’t real, whose truth couldn’t be seen by their eyes. Though outwardly people still believed her to be beautiful and blessed, inwardly she knew it wasn’t true. And though her appearance and wealth continued to bring compliments and accolades, she saw what none other could—that for the rest of her nonexistence, she would be invisible to all…
Seriously, folks, this one breaks my heart. Can’t wait to share Sara and Declan’s story with you.
Oh yeah, and I should probably mention…
Deeper Water
A Carson and Laney novella
~ Coming soon ~
No, a novella continuing Carson and Laney’s story wasn’t in the original plan. What can I say? I’m weak and gave into peer (reader) pressure. The fact that I absolutely loved writing this couple and didn’t want
to say goodbye to them yet might have also had something to do with it…possibly. But I prefer to blame other people since I’m not 100% sure about that last part.
Plus, stay tuned for my twists on The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and the Princess and the Pea.
Also by Lauren Stewart
Paranormal
Unseen, The Heights Vol 1
Job security isn’t something Addison is all that concerned with. Death, however? Yeah, death is a major concern.
While a prophesied war brews in the Heights, Addison and Rhyse must decide which carries more risk—trusting someone who could destroy you or trusting someone who could love you?
Unearthed, The Heights Vol 2
What would you give up for freedom? Even if it wasn't yours?
Two people from opposite sides of a war will discover the price of freedom and what they’re willing to pay for it. But in the Heights, nothing is ever fair. For something they both want, one of them will pay with their eternity.
The Heights not only protects the secrecy of vampires, shifters, demons, angels, and other supernaturals, it protects the humans unaware of the world hidden within their own. This series is a mixture of urban fantasy and paranormal romance with multiple interlocking stories and characters and plot lines as well as different races of supernatural beings, each with their own cultures, hierarchy, and attributes. It’s not a series about only two people, or three, or even four. This is a world in which everyone will have to pick a side.