This Is Forever Read online

  “Shut up,” Justin says, and she gasps.

  “Not in front of the baby,” she says, and the little girl in Justin’s arms just smiles at her. “Viktor,” she says, looking over her shoulder, and a man comes forward, his brown eyes lighting up when he spots his daughter. “This is my husband, Viktor.”

  He reaches his hand out, and I shake his. “Nice to meet you,” he says, smiling. “You did a good job with Dylan.”

  “Thank you,” I say, and I swear my heart speeds up and my neck gets hot.

  “Okay, where is Mom?” Justin asks, and Zoe looks around. “I think she’s in the bathroom.”

  “There she is.” The voice sounds familiar as I look over and see Zara. She takes me in her arms when she gets to me. “My favorite muse,” she says. “I had the best time shopping.”

  I laugh now. “I really hope that you’re done,” I say. “I have more clothes than I know what to do with.”

  “Um, if I have a credit card,” she says, “I put it to good use.” I look over as the door opens, and Evan comes in with a little girl on his hip. She has the same hair as her mom, and it’s up in little pigtails.

  “Holy shit, that’s his woman?” he says, looking at me and then looking at his wife who glares at him. “Sorry, sweet Zara.”

  “Barf,” Justin says from beside me. I watch him rocking side to side, and the baby slowly falls asleep. He looks like he’s done this before. He looks like he was born for this, and my heart suddenly clenches in my chest.

  The door opens again, and in comes a woman who can only be described as a princess. Her hair is down and curled all down her back, and her green eyes are the perfect almond shape. Cooper walks over to her and leans down and kisses her lips. He says something to her, and she just smiles up at him, and you can feel the love they have for each other all around them. He puts his arm around her, and she looks around. When her eyes meet mine, she smiles, her whole face lighting up, and she walks over to us.

  “There she is,” Justin says with a huge smile on his face as he cuddles the sleeping baby in just one arm. “That’s my mom,” he says, and I look at the woman who made the man who has slowly made his way into my heart.

  “You are so, so beautiful,” she says. Taking me into her arms, she hugs me tight. “Look at her,” she says, looking at Cooper. “She’s stunning.”

  “Thank you,” I say shyly and then look at Justin, who looks like a kid on Christmas morning.

  “You did good, son,” Cooper says with a smile. Justin puts his arm around me, pulling me to him, and kisses my head.

  “Hit the jackpot,” he says, and I know that this moment will also live with me forever along with the silent words I whispered to myself. I love you.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Justin

  “Tomorrow night,” my mother says at the table, “we are going to have dinner at our place.”

  “The house is huge,” Allison says. “The backyard has a pool and a treehouse.”

  The rest of the dinner is loud as expected with my family. I look over at Caroline, and she is deep in conversation with Allison and Karrie. “Don’t fill her head with anything,” I say, leaning over and kissing her neck.

  Karrie shakes his head. “It’s finally good to have another woman who has to deal with the crazy Stone men.”

  “Hey,” Matthew says from beside her.

  “Don’t hey me,” Karrie says and looks over at Caroline. “Has he used his soft voice to change your mind yet?”

  Caroline opens her mouth. “He does call me sweetheart when he wants me to do things.”

  “That is not true,” I say, laughing. “I call you sweetheart because …” Looking around the table, I wait for one of the other guys to chime in, but they all avoid eye contact. “I call her sweetheart because I want to.”

  Allison throws her head back and laughs. “You’re one to talk, Angel.” Matthew makes fun of her nickname.

  “I call her angel because she is one,” Max says, and I have to roll my eyes.

  “You know he stole my sister,” Matthew says to Caroline, and everyone just groans.

  “I did,” Max says. “Tossed her over my shoulder.” He smiles and looks at Allison, who looks at him, pretending to be annoyed, but leans forward and kisses him. “Made her mine.”

  “That,” Caroline says. “That is what you do.” She points at me. “You get all annoying and then kiss me, and it’s like a soft spot.” I lean into her now, and her breath hitches.

  “Your parents are watching,” she whispers. “The whole table is looking.”

  “I don’t care,” I say, and kiss her once and then twice, and on the second one, she cups my cheek with her hand. “Still don’t care.”

  “See,” Karrie says. “It’s the Stone charm or curse. You used to make fun of us all the time. Fake barfing in the corner. Now look at you, all smitten.”

  Everyone at the table laughs, and by the time everyone leaves, it’s way past ten o’clock.

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Matthew says, looking at me.

  “Yeah, like handcuff her to a bed.” Max follows suit, and I push them out of the door with both of them laughing, and Dylan is dragging himself.

  “Do I have to take a shower tonight?” he moans, and I nod at him while Caroline loads the dishwasher.

  “You were in the pool,” I say. “Just go and rinse yourself off real fast, and then you can get into bed.” He moans and turns around, walking to the bathroom.

  “So …” I put my hands on the counter on each side of her, and I move her hair to the side, exposing her neck for me to kiss. “That wasn’t too bad.” I spread kisses along her neck, softly moving all the way up to her ear.

  “It was,” she starts then turns her face to the side, and my lips kiss hers. “It was a lot.”

  “They can be a bit much.” I give her more kisses.

  “That is an understatement.”

  Dylan yells from his bedroom, “I’m going to bed!”

  “Let’s go to bed,” I say, and she shakes her head.

  “I’m going to load the dishwasher, then go shower,” she says, and I kiss her neck one more time and go take a shower. I wait for her in bed, but my eyes give up. When my phone alarm goes off the next morning at four, I turn it off and turn to cuddle her in my arms until her alarm goes off.

  “One more day,” I say, and she looks at me with one eye open. “Our date. One more day.”

  I get out of bed while she stretches and go in search of coffee. I’m not even going to lie. My ass is dragging today, and it shows on the ice when the kids actually beat me. When I walk out of the arena that night and get in the car to get Caroline at home, I swear I could take a thirty-minute nap. When she gets into the car, she looks tired.

  “I can’t wait for tomorrow,” she says, and I’m thinking that she is talking about the date. “No alarm, no rush no work.”

  “You don’t work at the hotel tomorrow?” I ask, and she shakes her head.

  “No, it was a quiet week. They only have three rooms rented out,” she says, and I nod.

  When I walk into the backyard of my parents’ rental holding Caroline’s hand, it just feels good. Dylan runs over to the kids, and it’s like he’s been with them the whole time. He and Michael run over to the treehouse, and my mother comes over to us. “Hey, you two,” she says, and I drop Caroline’s hand to hug her. My mother hugs Caroline who just smiles and then looks at me, and I can see she still feels shy around Mom. We sit by the pool together talking, and at dinner, it gets louder when Vivienne, Karrie’s best friend, walks in with her husband, Mark.

  “Je suis arrive,” I have arrived, she says, and the kids run over to her, especially Chase who she bends and takes in her arms blowing kisses in his neck.

  “Ignore everything that she says,” I whisper to Caroline right before Vivienne comes over.

  “I have to say I always knew you would settle down with a model,” she says, and Caroline looks around. “She is exq
uisite.”

  “Oh, I’m not a model,” Caroline says, and Vivienne laughs.

  “Well, you are doing the world a disservice then.” She holds out her hand. “I’m Vivi.” She smiles. “And that eye candy over there is my man.” She winks at Caroline. “Cheri,” she calls Mark, and he grabs the beer Matthew is handing to him and comes over. “Come meet Justin’s girl.” She looks over at Caroline. “I hope he’s treating you well.” Then she leans in and whispers, “In and out of the bedroom.”

  “Vivienne.” I shake my head.

  “Okay, fine, in the kitchen also. I mean, in the shower and the couch. Ooohhh,” she says, “the car.” Then she turns to call for Mark again.

  He walks over, and she wraps her arms around his waist. She has been around since I can remember and never ever brought a man around. Then she finally caved, or he beat her down, we are not sure which. He smiles at Caroline as they share introductions, and then he walks away.

  “Are all the guys in your family hot?” Caroline says, and I glare at her.

  “I mean, you are the hottest.” She’s laughing, and I grab her and kiss her hard, sliding my tongue into her mouth, and she pushes me away. “Don’t you dare in front of your family.”

  “But you’re mine,” I say, and she crosses her arms over her chest. “Sweetheart.”

  “Don’t you sweetheart me,” she says, and she walks away from me. I put my hand in my pocket, trying to make my cock go down, and my father comes over.

  “What did you do?” he asks, laughing

  “I stuck my tongue in her mouth,” I say, and he shakes his head.

  “She’s a great girl.” I look at him. “Raised a great son.”

  “She did,” I say, and we watch Dylan.

  “I just …” he starts to say. “It’s not just her you have to think about, son.”

  “I know,” I say, holding my breath and trying not to imagine my life without her in it.

  “Do you think that maybe you rushed things a bit?” I look at him, and for the first time, I turn to look at my father with anger. Sure, I got mad at him as a teenager, but this is different.

  “Were you sure about Mom three days in?” I ask him, and he looks over at me.

  “I’m not the enemy,” he says.

  “She’s the one,” I say, shrugging. “I don’t know why, and I can’t explain it. But I know.”

  He nods his head. “As long as you know what you're doing.”

  “I wouldn’t make her meet my family and move in with me if I wasn’t a hundred percent in this.”

  “Cooper.” My mother calls him, and he walks away. I stand here with my heart racing, and my stomach full of nerves. I try not to let it get to me, and I bury it for now, but I know that I’m going to have to sit down with my parents and squash whatever doubts they have.

  After dinner, I’m looking for Dylan, and he runs over to me.

  “Can Michael sleep over?” he asks, and I look at Caroline, who just watches me.

  “Sure,” I say.

  “Can we sleep in the game room and do a fort?” he asks, and I shake my head.

  “You can sleep in the game room but no fort.” It scared him the last time, and I can’t handle that again.

  “Mom!” Michael yells, and Allison looks over. “I’m sleeping at Uncle Justin’s with Dylan.”

  “Whatever,” she says, and I have to say this, this right here is what my family is. We trust each other with everything we have. “I’ll take them tomorrow.”

  That night, Caroline is on pins and needles, and she gets up every hour to check on them and make sure they are okay. “Sweetheart,” I say after the tenth time, “if they need you, they will call.”

  “But,” she starts to say, and I pull her tighter against me. “He’s never had a friend sleep over.”

  “Sweetheart,” I say. Rolling her to her back, she opens her legs for me, and I lean down and kiss her.

  “We are not even dropping the puck, Stone,” she says. “Can you imagine Michael catching us?”

  “Chances are, he’ll know exactly what we're doing. He caught his parents in the act two or three years ago.”

  “Oh my God,” she says, and I bury my face in her neck and turn to the side. It takes her a while, but she finally falls asleep.

  `*`

  “Are you sure you have everything?” Caroline asks Dylan for the tenth time, and he looks at me for help.

  “Mom, I have everything, and if I need anything, I’m going to ask Allison or Max,” he says.

  “You can call whenever you want,” Max says by the door.

  “We are going to pick him up at around ten,” Caroline says and then looks at Dylan. “We have church.”

  “Kiss your mom,” I say, and he comes over and hugs her around the waist, and she whispers to him. Then he walks to Michael, and they walk out with Max looking at us.

  “I’ll send you texts,” he says and looks at Caroline. “It’ll be okay.” Then he leans in and pretends to whisper, “I’d feel bad, too, if I had to be alone with Justin.”

  I push his shoulder while Caroline laughs. “Get out.” Shoving him out the door, I can still hear the sound of his laughter through the door after I slam it shut.

  “What are the chances that we don’t go out for a date?” Caroline asks, and I see her fidgeting with her fingers.

  “Zero,” I say. “Go get ready.”

  “But …” she starts to say.

  “But nothing. Go get dressed. I’ll use Dylan’s shower,” I tell her. “Be ready in an hour.”

  “Now that Dylan is gone, we can shower together.” She tries not to laugh, but she sees me glare, and the laughter escapes her mouth. She turns and walks to my bathroom and closes the door.

  I feel so nervous when I grab my things and go to the other bedroom and get ready. I’m fastening the button on my right wrist when she comes in the room, and I stop what I’m doing. She’s wearing the white lace dress, and it’s long sleeves. Her hair is tied up on top of her head in a ponytail. The dress goes until her mid-thigh and then flares out just a touch with a ruffle. “Can you zip me?” she asks, and I look at the rest of the dress. It goes high to her neck, the lace playing peekaboo with her skin. She turns, and I see that she isn’t wearing a bra, her skin a soft tan. I lean forward and kiss the back of her neck and slowly zip her up and then put my hands on her hips. She turns around in my arms. “You look so hot.”

  She smirks, and I look at her, seeing that the dress goes tight at her waist a bit, showing off her hips.

  “You’re stunning,” I say and lean to kiss her again.

  “I’ll be ready as soon as I put my heels on.” She smiles. “You might have to hold me up.” Laughing, she walks out of the room.

  “Forever,” I say quietly to the empty room. I adjust my hard-on now and run my hands through my hair. Going into my bedroom to get my belt, I find her sitting on the bed, leaning forward to tie the strap around her ankle. I grab my brown belt and shoes, putting on the matching blue jacket and pulling out the cuffs.

  “I’m ready,” she says, and I turn to see that the heels are white. A strap around her toes and another around her ankle. Her legs look longer than ever. “So where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise,” I say, and I’m suddenly afraid she is going to hate this surprise. I grab her hand, and we walk out of the apartment with her holding my one hand with both of hers. When we get into the garage, I walk over to the red sports car. She stops walking. “What’s the matter?”

  “Can we not take the flashy car?”

  “What, why?” I look from her to the car.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way,” she says, “but this is a big deal to me. I’ve never gone on a date, and my first date is with Justin Stone.”

  I try not to laugh. “And I know people are going to look at us tonight, which I’m still not okay with, but it is what it is.” She looks down. “Just, can we not draw more attention to ourselves?”

  “We can take t
he BMW,” I say, walking over to the car and opening the door for her. She turns around before getting in.

  “I know that we haven’t even left yet …” She looks down and then up again. I can see her hands shaking. “But this is the best date I’ve ever had.”

  I put one hand on her hip and pull her to me while the other hand goes to cup her cheek. “It’s just the beginning.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Caroline

  “It’s just the beginning.” His words hit me straight in the heart. My stomach flutters, and my knees almost get weak as his voice goes lower. He leans forward, and I finally kiss him. I’ve been dying to kiss him since I walked into the bathroom and asked him to zip me up.

  He stood there in his blue pants and white dress shirt, and everything fit him like a glove, and all I wanted to do was unbutton his shirt one button at a time and just stay in. I wanted to just be with him, but here I am, getting ready to go out, wearing a dress that is so soft on my body and probably cost as much as my rent for six months. I’m not even going to think about how much the shoes cost.

  “If we don’t get in the car now, this date is going to go from us going out to me carrying you back upstairs,” he says, kissing me again, and my mouth opens for him. My hand goes to his waist as I hold his jacket that feels like silk in my hand.

  “I, for one, will not say no,” I say, and he looks at me. “I know that you want to take me out. I know that you want to give me this.” I lean in now and kiss his neck right inside the open collar of his shirt. “But this, just being with you, is”—I shrug—“well, it’s everything.”

  “If you could plan this date, what would you want?” he asks, and I get even closer to him. His hand falls from my face and wraps around my waist.

  “You won’t be mad?” I ask him, and he shakes his head. “Well, it would be me and you.” I look up, and our eyes meet. “Your bed.” I look down. “And lots of penalty shots.” The hockey lingo comes out as I try not to sound like a horny girl who just wants him for sex.