All I Want Series Boxset, Books 1-3: All I Want for Christmas, All I Want for Valentine's, All I Want for Spring Read Free Page A

I got together with a woman named Melissa. She was on the hockey team and was a real competitor at everything in life — including being the best in our relationship. She was an expert in putting me down and I was an expert at taking it, until around two years into our liaison when she decided to sleep with someone else and I was off the hook. I slept with a couple more women after that, but gave up on relationships for a while, happy to have the space to breathe. 
    I stayed in Bristol after graduating from its university, taking a job in a local marketing firm that set sail to my current career. The company was a small family-run business and I loved it there — I’m still in touch with them and visit every time I head west. Three months into working there, I met Amy, who owned the pet shop next door.
    And after Nicola Sheen, Amy was my second significant love.
    Everybody loved Amy — my mum, my friends, my colleagues — everyone . There really was nothing not to love. She owned her own business, loved animals and was one of the most caring people I’d ever met.
    After a year, I moved into her neat three-bed terrace, the floors covered with Amy’s carpets, the walls with Amy’s artwork. After two years, Amy started making noises about having children — at 35, her biological clock was booming. At 24, mine was not. A year later, Amy proposed: one knee, roses, diamonds, the works. I accepted, we told the world, and the world embraced us as one.
    Only I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t close my eyes without thinking about getting married and having children, all before I knew what I was doing with my life. Before I was ready. I was only in my mid-20s, and suddenly, my life had been thrown into fifth gear.
    After three months, Amy asked if I still wanted to get married.
    I told her I didn’t know.
    That was enough for her.
    We split up two months later amid a backdrop of tears and what-ifs. I couldn’t stay in Bristol, so I handed in my notice and moved into Holly’s spare room in east London. Moving in with her was the perfect choice because Holly had known me for over half my life. She knew I loved Mexican food, garlic mayonnaise, and cats. She knew I’d still worn knee-high socks at High School far later than it was considered cool to do so. She’d held my hair when I vomited after drinking too many pints of Snake Bite on my 18th birthday. Aged 25, London and Holly were the far better option — better than being married with kids.
    So yes, love. It’s come my way twice, and if I’m honest, I sometimes wonder if I’ve used up my lot. Should I have married Amy and stayed in Bristol? I might already be a mother — I knew Amy was.
    I shook my head. No, I’d done the right thing moving east. But now, 18 months later and after precisely three one-night stands and a four-date fling, I was ready to get back in the game. I wanted a girlfriend. I’d already fallen in love with city life, which took a little time for a country bumpkin like me. Now, I was ready to fall in love for real with a living, breathing woman, rather than that mannequin in Top Shop who I always think would make a fine lesbian. 
    Tomorrow night was date one. Her name was Ruby.
    If she kissed anything like Nicola Sheen, that would be amazing.

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 3
     
     
    Monday November 28th
     
    I was a Cancerian and Ruby was a Scorpio. According to most experts, that meant we were a match made in lesbo-heaven. If we got together, my future was set to be awash with emotional rapport, empathy, compassion and sensitivity. One site I checked last night even said we were ‘sextile’, whatever that meant. One thing was certain — even before Ruby turned up, we were destined for greatness.
    We’d arranged to meet in the West End, in a run-of-the-mill Soho boozer. It wasn’t a gay bar, but then again, there weren’t many of those left these days. Apparently with equal marriage and all the rest, we simply didn’t need gay bars any more.