Meet Me Halfway (Learning to Love Series)

Heaving forward, I curled my spine, trying in vain to roll into a sitting position. I failed, flopping back onto the mattress when the round weight on my stomach was too much. I tried again, grumbling out a curse.

“Seriously, Garrett, I have to pee so bad, move!”

He laughed, a dimple peeking out at me from where his head laid on my torso. He wrapped his arms tighter around me and turned, snuggling his face down toward my lap.

“If I wet this bed because you won’t get off me, I’m going to rub your nose in it like a dog.”

He playfully bit my thigh and chuckled harder when I swatted him. “Learn to curb your wine intake when we have get-togethers, and you won’t spend half the night emptying your bladder.”

I shoved his head this time, kicking and thrashing my legs, wiggling them out from under his weight. I made it as far as a foot before his arms grew vice-like and he rolled, taking me with him. Stopping in the center of our bed, he pinned me beneath him, letting me feel a hint of his weight but holding the bulk of it off me.

A hand slid down my side, curling around one of my legs and wrapping it around his waist. “You know, a full bladder can heighten pleasure.”

I scrunched my nose, pressing my palms against his chest. “Is that actually true?”

“I feel like we’re in a prime position to find out.” He rolled his hips, eliciting a groan from me.

“Garrett.”

“Maddie.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

The man had been mine for over a year now, and I couldn’t get over how lucky I felt every day we’d been together. He still technically lived next door to us, but you wouldn’t know it since he slept in my bed every night. I didn’t mind it. I’d never get enough of him.

I was just as head over heels in love with him as I had been all those months ago. He treated me like a queen during the day and his own personal whore at night, and I’d never been so fucking happy in my life.

But I’d also stab him in the damn foot if he didn’t get off me soon.

“You won’t remember what pleasure is, if you don’t extricate yourself from on top of me.”

Another roll of his hips, firmer this time. “Baby, I’d love to see—”

Three quick raps hit my bedroom door. “Mom, Layla’s home. She’s waiting outside and said to hurry up if we want a ride.”

“We’re coming, bud!” I pinched the underside of Garrett’s arm. “We’re going to miss our flight, you giant ass caveman.”

“There’ll be another one if we do. My family can wait.” He raised his arm, cupping the side of my face, and running a thumb along my cheekbone. Pressing his lips to mine, he whispered onto them, “Are you nervous?”

“About peeing all over myself? Yes.”

He tugged on my earlobe. “About meeting my mother tonight.”

I tilted my head, letting my eyes roam over his face, from the harsh cut of his shadowed jaw to the dark mess of his hair. “Not really. I made you like me. How much harder could it be?”

He smiled, finally shoving off me and helping me up. “She’s going to love you. Now go pee before you make us late,” he said, smacking me on the ass.

I was still glaring when I made my way into the bathroom. The man drove me crazy, absolutely batshit crazy. But I loved every moment of it because, crazy or not, he was everything Jamie and I needed.

Life before Garrett hadn’t been perfect, but I’d come to accept it, and with his help, I’d finally stopped letting my past affect how I saw myself and my future. Life wasn’t meant to be perfect. A candle couldn’t change its shape without first burning. I wouldn’t have what I have, be the person I am, without my past.

I’d been a mother for almost ten years, and yes, eight of those years were really fucking hard, but what were eight years in the grand scheme of things? I’d take twenty hard years if it meant I got sixty good ones with Garrett after.

I washed my hands, thinking back to that Christmas I risked giving my heart to him. So much had happened since then. I’d graduated summa cum laude, gotten hired at a youth correctional facility as an intake coordinator, and quit every other job. I still had the dream of helping teenage mothers, but I was taking life one step at a time.

I no longer froze when my phone went off, worried who might be calling. I didn’t check around corners wondering if someone like Rob might catch me unawares. I didn’t work seven days a week, didn’t stay up half the night studying, didn’t miss out on Jamie’s events, and didn’t shy away from opening my soul to my boyfriend.

I still had people judge me for my history, especially with Jamie catching up to me in height, and the moms at school would never like me no matter how much Garrett threatened them, but I was doing better at not giving a shit. My little family was happy and that was all that mattered.

Happily ever after didn’t always mean pregnancy and a diamond ring. Sometimes it also meant only working forty hours a week and discovering who I was as an adult and as a woman. Who I was as Madison, outside of who I was as a mother and a friend.

And I was okay with that. More than okay.

Even if the tungsten wedding band hidden in my suitcase said differently.

Walking out into my living room, I paused at the mouth of the hallway, watching my boys drag the suitcases to the door. Jamie’s face was lit up while chest-deep laughter bubbled out of him at something Garrett had said. The love of my life reached over and ruffled Jamie’s hair before glancing up and winking at me.

I might not need a ring for my happily ever after, but I did need Garrett Rowe, and tonight I was going to make sure he knew it.