Happily Ever Never Read Free

“You. Are. An. Asshole!”
    I backed out of the booth and turned to leave, only to have him latch on to my wrist. “Wait. Didn’t you come here to get to know me?”
    “Get off me. You’re disgusting!” I kneed him hard, sending him keeling over. I didn’t turn around to see if he was okay. A part of me hoped he got an infection where his penis would eventually turn black and fall off. He was pathetic, and I felt horrible for all those children that trusted in the school they attended to give them consideration and compassion. Men like that didn’t deserve to be near innocent kids.
    Instead of heading home and admitting I’d failed again to Shawna, or that I’d just gone on a date with the most arrogant man on earth, I decided to walk for a while to calm down. When I was near my residence, I stopped by a local grocery store to fetch a quart of ice-cream. When I came out I had three brown bags full of items. Struggling to walk in heels and hold on to the bags wasn’t something I’d thought about beforehand. I lost my footing about fifty feet from the door and cans went tumbling as one of the bags ripped. My cans began rolling under cars as by-standers stood there watching me freaking out. I kicked off the heels and began crawling around like an idiot, forgetting that I was even wearing a little dress. At this point I didn’t care. I’d been humiliated again. I’d failed myself, and now I had little dignity left. When I’d hit rock bottom something happened. Out of all the bystanders watching me fend for myself, only one person came to my rescue.
    He had just come out of the gym that was located in the same shopping strip. His hair was sweaty, and he was wearing shorts even though it was chilly. His light brown eyes caught my attention first, but it was short-lived when he ducked down and salvaged some items rolling away. While on my knees, he approached me with two of my dented cans. “Did you drop something?”
    I took the cans from his hands, while mine began shaking like I’d never been this close to a man before. “Thanks.”
    “I’m Major.”
    “Like a military major?”
    He smiled, displaying two sugar bowl dimples and a set of perfect teeth. “No, like my grandfather had the name and passed it on.”
    “I’m Bailey.” I shoved all the cans to one side of my body to extend out my hand. “I’m sorry to meet you under such stressful circumstances. As you can see I’m having a terrible day. I’m usually not this much of a mess. I just came from a horrible date, and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and shovel ice-cream down my throat until the self-shaming goes away.”
    He let out a deep laugh and then brought the back of my hand to his lips. I could feel the slight bit of stubble from atop his lip as it touched my tender skin. “The pleasure is all mine, Bailey.”
    When our eyes met it was an electric connection. Chills ran through my body sending jolts of excitement to every limb. I can’t say for sure how it was even possible, but I swore I fell in lust with him immediately. Perhaps I was so desperate from my failed date attempt that I yearned for it to be something worthwhile. At any rate, this guy had my undivided attention, and from that moment I think I knew I needed to know him, I just couldn’t bring myself to understand what that meant, and how it would impact my future.
     
     

 
    Chapter 2
     
    Two years had gone by.
    Two years of late night phone calls.
    Two years of dinner dates.
    Two years of weekend movies.
    Two years of sleepovers.
    Two years of spending every waking second falling in love with Major Valero.
    There was no denying it. My focus had shifted from work to a real relationship with a wonderful man. I sat across the table from Major imagining back to that first date.
     
    It had all started at the grocery store. After helping me collect my groceries, he gave me a ride across the busy street to my home. Instead of insisting on coming inside, he simply thanked