“True.”
When we walked into the outdoor putt-putt course, I acted as surprised as I’d promised I would be. My entire family was there, waiting for us. Jensen and Emery were bent over, talking to Colton. Austin and Patrick were trying to figure out how to juggle the golf balls. Morgan was shaking her head at the pair of them and talking animatedly to Julia. Sutton was chasing after a two-year-old Jason, who was toddling along ahead of her.
Heidi cleared her throat, and they all turned to look at us. “We made it!”
Everyone cheered and congratulated me on my first tournament back, and it was truly amazing to have my wacky, damaged, incredible family all in one place. Then, as the excitement wore off, everyone moved to pick up their equipment.
“I’m blue!” Morgan called.
“I call hot pink!” Patrick said in a pretty good imitation of Morgan’s voice.
She slapped him on the arm. Hard.
“This putter is way too short,” Jensen said, holding up a crappy putter. He shrugged, taking it with him anyway.
“I’m going first!” Colton yelled.
Heidi and I moved up to the putt-putt station last. I claimed a mustard-yellow ball that no one else had wanted, and she grabbed a magenta-colored one.
“You do realize, I’m going to win, right?” I asked with a cocky grin.
Heidi rolled her eyes. “No way. I am kick-ass at mini golf.”
“This is my job, firecracker.”
“Well, listen here. I’m very competitive.”
I laughed and kissed her. “We’ll see.”
“No, you’ll see!”
When I lined up my first shot, Heidi leaned in behind me and kept trying to sneak in kisses.
“Distraction is not working.”
“Oh, yeah?” she asked.
Her head darted back and forth, and as I was about to putt, she lifted her shirt and flashed me. I whiffed, knocking the ball down the green without a single ounce of precision.
“Told you.”
I smacked her ass with my putter as I passed to try to finish the horrible job I’d done. “You’ll pay for that later.”
“Promise?”
“Yeah,” I said as I sank my second putt. “You can put me down for a birdie, love.”
She wrote down my score and then wrapped her arms around my waist. “Love?” she whispered.
“Hmm?”
“I think I’m ready.”
“I hope so. It’s your turn.”
“For a baby,” she whispered.
I froze and stared down into her face. She was suddenly serious, even with her cute, scared smile. But I couldn’t stop my giant smile.
This was what I’d wanted for so long. A life and a family with the girl of my dreams, and here she was, offering it on a platter.
“Think we should get married first, or do you want to start here?”
“Not right here.” She laughed. “I was thinking we’d get married the weekend after the Championship.”
“That’s six weeks away,” I reminded her.
“Guess we have some planning to do then, huh?”
“I guess we do. And you’re sure about this?”
She stood on her tiptoes and gently kissed me. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”
“What about your dad?”
She shook her head. “I love him, but I won’t put my life on hold for him. He understands. I talked to him about it. I want to be with you. I want to be your wife and have your children. I’m ready.”
I picked her up and swung her around in a circle. Our game forgotten. Everything else falling away. Just me and the woman I loved with the entire world ahead of us, ready for the taking.
The End
LOOK FOR THE NEW STAND-ALONE CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE FROM USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR K.A. LINDE…
The
Wright
Mistake
I ALWAYS WANTED A NICE NORMAL BOYFRIEND. THE KIND YOU COULD BRING HOME TO YOUR PARENTS. INSTEAD, I FELL FOR AUSTIN WRIGHT. WE TRIED THIS ONCE AND FAILED. HARD. I SWORE, THE BAD BOY WRIGHT WHO SET MY BODY ON FIRE WOULD NEVER GET A SECOND CHANCE BECAUSE OUR LOVE IS HEROIN-LACED GASOLINE—ADDICTING AND DESTINED TO GO UP IN FLAMES.
COMING AUGUST 8TH!
PREORDER EVERYWHERE NOW: WWW.KALINDE.COM/BOOK/THE-WRIGHT-MISTAKE
TURN THE PAGE TO READ
CHAPTER ONE!
The Wright Mistake
K.A. Linde
One
Julia
“I’m really…so sorry,” I said with a sad smile. “I don’t think this is going to work out.”
Trevor stared back at me his face a mask of hurt and shock. We’d been together almost a year. A year in two days actually. Which made it all that much worse.
“You’re…you’re breaking up with me?” Trevor asked. “But Julia…”
“I know. I know.”
“It’s been a year. I had this whole,” he breathed in deeply and looked away from me, “this whole thing planned for you for our anniversary.”
I winced. Of course, he did. Because Trevor was this perfect, normal, nice guy. He was the guy who came over to your place to do your laundry while you were with your friends and filled up your gas tank when he noticed you were running low and called your mom to chat every Thursday. Or he would have done that last one…if he’d thought my parents were alive.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
He gave me a disbelieving look. “Why would you do this? There has to be a reason.”
“Oh. I…don’t think we’re compatible.”
“We’ve been together for a year. Don’t you think you would have noticed that before now?”
I had. I couldn’t say that. Not to him. But I’d definitely known it. Trevor was…safe. He made me complacent.
And he was trying to get too close.
Much too close for his own good.
“Yeah.”
“You can’t handle commitment, can you?” he asked. “You can’t let anyone in. You won’t let anyone know the real you.”
I didn’t say anything in my defense. That all was truer than he would ever know. I had let someone in, and it had fucking backfired like nothing else. It wasn’t that I was commitment phobic; it was just when I got to the point of admitting everything that had happened in my life, I always realized it was too fucked up to continue. So, I ended it. Perfect normal Trevor couldn’t handle the real Julia Banner.
“You should go,” I told him, crossing my arms over my chest.
He looked like he was going to plead with me, fall to his knees and beg. But he shook his head, turned, and walked out of my one bedroom apartment.
I sank into the couch and put my head in my hands. Why did I keep doing this to myself? Was this anyway to live?
My phone buzzed on the table and Heidi’s name flashed on the screen. Heidi and I had met day one when I’d started working at Wright Construction as the head of HR almost two years ago. I loved her to pieces.
I picked up the phone. “Hey.”
“Did you do it?” she asked.
I sighed. “Yeah. He hates me.”
“Psh. Trevor from accounting couldn’t hate a fly. He’s hurt. He’ll get over it.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“Want to get fucked up to feel better about it?”
“I want to get fucked to feel better about it.”
Heidi laughed. “That’s my girl.”
“Flips?”