Hearts and Arrows Read online

  A smile breaks out on my face, one that can’t be contained. My joy takes over as I run and leap into his arms, giggles escaping me.

  “Ahhh,” I shriek as I bring us crashing on the front lawn, him breaking my fall. “My Jensen, you’re home!” I screech into his ear. My body is at an awkward angle, but I’m still in his arms.

  “My sweet, sweet Terri. How are you, my love?” He asks me, calling me by the pet name he’d given me. He’d called me his love for so long. I don’t even recall the first time he’d said it. It’d just felt so normal, which should have been clue number one that I was with the wrong guy. But then he’d left, taking a piece of my heart with him.

  That thought passes through me. My heart. He took it with him. I pull back from him and examine the man before me, almost seeing him clearly for the first time.

  “Love, how are you?” He asks again. His baritone voice caresses me like a lover’s touch. But that’s impossible, we aren’t lovers. We’re only best friends.

  “I’m-” I stay silent, unsure how to even answer his question. A few minutes ago I was mourning what could’ve been, and now...now I’m thinking of what could be.

  Jensen—lover?

  The question bounces around in my head as I lie within his arms feeling his warmth and heat.

  “You’re what, Terry? Tell me, love. You know you can trust me.” He says as he locks eyes with mine. There’s that word again, love. Could we be lovers? A new question takes flight in my mind, fueling my courage and ability to maybe hope, maybe ask. Dare I?

  “I’m good...now that you’re finally home.” My voice faltering a little as I speak. Courage isn’t on my side tonight as I pull myself from his arms and stand up. My hand reaches out to help him up.

  “Did I hurt you on the way down?” I say with a grimace.

  “Naw, you can knock me down anytime. Now, answer me. How are you really doing? And don’t lie to me cuz’ I know when you’re bullshitting.” His voice goes from playful to serious in a nanosecond as he caresses my face with his hand.

  “Honestly?” I ask, stalling a moment longer because it's easier for me to look at him than to use my words. My thoughts aren’t able to form a sentence as I assess this new man in front of me. He looks so handsome with his man-bun and a few subtle piercings. Beads wrap around his wrist, trinkets perhaps picked up on one of his many overseas excursions. One would think he had a total makeover.

  “Are you sporting a man-bun? Mister, man-buns are stupid.” I grab for his head and make him turn around. He’d show me over Skype but it’s different seeing it in person. It makes it more real.

  “I am, and they aren’t. I’m a changed man, Miss Terri Ann. Just you wait, and I’ll show you all of the new me. Don’t worry, my old self is in there, too. Now, answer me, and stop stalling.” He pulls me into him and hugs me and I melt just a little. I breathe him in deeply, smelling his old familiar musk, along with something new, a little different, I kind of want to explore.

  I look up at him as he keeps his arms wrapped around me, and that word pops back into my head. Love. Could I have actually been in love with the wrong friend this whole time?

  “Answer me,” he says again as he squeezes me a little harder to get my attention.

  “Give me a second,” I try to form the words. “I’m not really sure what to say right now.” I see the familiar golden flecks within his brilliant green eyes as he stares at me.

  “Then show me, Terri. Show me like you used to.” He’s captivating, making it hard for me to breathe. Hard for me to breathe around my best friend? I’d never lost my breath around him before. In fact, I can’t recall a time that I’d had my breath taken away.

  Show me, his words whisper around me, and I’m taken back to another time when I’d use my whole body to tell him how I was feeling. There were times I’d dance it out, interpretive dance style, but I’d hadn’t done that since he was here, five years ago.

  “Okay,” I say, and move to the front lawn as I start to dance, almost as if my life depends on it. I need to get all the words out, but since I can’t seem to express them, I can demonstrate it through the movement of my body.

  I haven’t moved like this in years. My arms take on old familiar movements of their own, and my legs kick and jump around. I’m sure I look like an angry gazelle as I prance, but I don’t care. I feel free. I feel good. I feel love.

  And for the first time, I finally feel something, not just going through the motions of life. I’m not scheduling what needs to happen next, just living in the moment. Totally uninhibited.

  My movements start to slow as I get closer to where Jensen’s standing, and I continue to dance for him. For him alone.

  I tug my shirt off and I’m in a thin-strapped camisole as I move around him. The cool crisp February doesn’t daunt me. I open my heart and soul to the one man who has always understood me. I slow down my movements and stand in front of him breathing in and out, trying to get air in my lungs.

  This is it.

  Chapter Four

  Jensen

  I reach for her, my arms taking on their own movement, and pull her close to me. Our chests heave up and down as if there isn’t enough oxygen in the world for either of us right now. My arms snake around her thin waist, and I tug her closer, needing to feel every inch of her body near mine.

  My hand skims up her back to cradle the back of her head. This beautiful woman is finally in my arms, and all I have to do is bend down to kiss her.

  I take a deep breath, shut my mind down, and drop my lips centimeters from hers. I wait for her to reach up and kiss me back. I need to know if she wants this as badly as I do.

  I close my eyes and feel the weight of her in my arms, focusing on that. I don’t even want to entertain the thought of what I’ll do if I can’t have this beautiful creature in my arms.

  What feels like a lifetime finally ends when her lips brush mine. The kiss is soft and gentle at first. Then passion ignites in both of us. This woman, whom I’ve waited all my life for, is finally kissing me as if her life depended on it. And I give it back to her just as eagerly.

  My arms grip her tighter to me, not wanting to let her go. But I know that the end will come all too soon—our first kiss.

  Slowly, she pulls away from me, and we rest our foreheads against each other, breathing in the same air. This woman has always been my life, my own solid rock in a world that was ever shifting and changing.

  “Hi.” Her shyness is evident in her voice and her eyes don’t meet mine.

  “Hey,” I say back as my smile takes over my whole face. I watch as hers does as well, and her eyes finally meet mine. They shine back with only love, joy, and happiness.

  “I don’t want to let you go,” I tell her, as my grip tightens on her hips.

  “I don’t want you to let go.” She softens into my embrace causing no space to come between us.

  “I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long, but the timing never felt right. Now, it feels perfect—on a cellular level.” I lift her chin up so that I’m looking directly into her eyes, wanting to take over her whole world. Her smaller frame fits perfectly against me.

  “I love you, Terri. As more than just a friend, to clarify. I’ve loved you since the day I met you, but I knew I wasn’t the man you’d need or would want. I knew that I needed to grow up. That may be in another lifetime I’d finally be ready for you. That you’d finally be mine.” I stop my rambling and move her hair from around her neck, knowing that was always something she’d hated. She’d never liked her hair touching her neck, but she wouldn’t cut it as she likes it long. Doesn’t make sense to me, but in her world it does, and that’s all I care about.

  “I love you, Jensen. I didn’t know until I saw you on the steps tonight that I was with the wrong friend. But—” she pauses her voice a little breathless, and I’m on pins and needles waiting for the rest of that statement.

  “But...” I prompt her.

  “But had you not traveled the world, then
I wouldn’t be standing here in your arms right now. Had you not left, I couldn’t miss you. Had you been the one all this time, I would miss the man you are now. You’re the man that I can finally fall deeply in love with.” She leans in and kisses me again, and it’s as if time stands still and the world fades away. Never did I think the beautiful world that I’d spent five years traveling could ever fade away, and yet with her, it did.

  “Aw, you two.” I hear my mother’s scratchy voice call over. “It’s about damn time you both finally hooked up! Now, help me take this inside. I swear, I’ve been baking for an army the last few days so, you’d both better eat these.” Her arms are full of her homemade chocolate chip cookies. Nothing in the world beats those cookies, and I’ve tried many.

  Terri starts to pull away from my arms at the same time the door opens up, exposing us to Franklin and Kimber. She freezes not knowing that Franky and I had talked.

  “Franklin,” her startled voice states. Her deer in headlights look bounces between the both of us, not sure what to do.

  “I, umm, I, don’t, yeah, and, I know, then, I just had to...” She rambles on and I can’t keep my laughter to myself as it rises from deep inside of me and comes out, shocking her.

  “What are you laughing at? Is this some kind of joke?” Her anger taints the air around us as she pushes away from me. She grabs her shirt off the grass and angrily yanks it over her exposed skin.

  “If this is some kind of sick, cruel joke, Jenson Alexander, then I’ll curse you to the end of the dead seas and back. You asshole.” She turns to face me and flips me the bird and I rush to wrap her in my arms.

  “Oh, love, never. Never would I joke about the love I have for you.” I wrap her in my arms and pepper kisses across her cheeks waiting for her anger to dissipate so that she’ll melt into me.

  “Don’t worry, love, I wasn’t laughing at you. I was laughing at the fact that he had the door opened the whole time and was listening in on us. It just hit me as funny. Don’t be mad at me?” I look down at her and can't help the smile that takes over my face, the joy that spreads through me at having this woman in my arms.

  “He heard the whole thing? What did I say? I don’t even remember.” She wiggles a little in my embrace to get her arms free from me pinning them against her. It allows her to, wrap them around me.

  “You said that you loved me, and I said that I love you,” I remind her as we both start to sway together, slow dancing on the lawn in front of my other best friend.

  “Oh right, you love me.” Her smile goes wide at that moment, and I lean down to rest my forehead against hers.

  “You two better come on inside before you both catch a cold out in this cool weather,” I hear my mother tells us from the doorway.

  “You ready to go inside?” I ask the love of my life.

  “Umm, no. I mean, awkward much?” She asks as she places her hands in my back pocket of my pants. Except, I don’t have back pockets.

  “Is that your underwear?” She starts to feel around my ass, and I can’t help but chuckle as she basically feels me up.

  “That is, ” I tell her.

  “And umm, so like, do I pull my hands out or keep perusing?” She giggles as she keeps feeling me up. The warmth of her hands on my ass has new ideas forming in my mind that I’d not thought of—at least not with her presently in my arms—and it has my dick taking on a form of its own.

  “Is that, umm,” she doesn’t finish her sentence, her face flushing crimson.

  “Yes, why, yes it is. It happens when I find a woman attractive and want to make her feel as good as she makes me feel.” I try not to rub myself against her, even though that's all I want to do.

  “You two, hurry up!” My mom calls again, and just like that I’m no longer inspired to show her around Jensen-Land.

  “Let’s go inside before my mother makes this any more awkward.” I start to push away from her and grab for her hand, but she doesn’t move.

  “Don’t worry, we talked about it and he’s all good,” I tell her, as I take another step towards the door.

  “When? What the hell did you two talk about?” She yells, annoyance lacing through her words. It makes me wonder what she’d look like when she’s screaming my name. Down boy, no thoughts like that around my mother, I scold myself.

  “Well,” I scratch the back of my head with the hand not holding hers, “before I came outside he said it was cool.” I look back at her and see that her eyes shift from being upset to one or relief.

  “Okay, let’s go inside, new lover.” She winks at me. “Who knew that I would end up loving Valentine’s Day? Maybe it’s my favorite holiday after all.” She skips up to the door and we both walk inside to our friends and family, finally hand in hand.

  See, folks? I just string one bow at a time and let it loose on a couple that’s meant to be. And yes, timing is everything. Sometimes, a person needs to leave and grow a little before they can be with their soulmate. But not always . . .

  Cupid

  Cupid’s Arrows

  Playlist:

  Bette Midler: The Rose

  Ellie Goulding: Don’t Need Nobody

  Walk the Moon: Surrender

  Katrina & The Waves: Walking on Sunshine

  Listen up, I’ve got a story to tell you. But let it be known, this isn’t mine to tell, it’s just a something for you to know about. Let’s see if you can pick up what I’m laying down here. If there's one thing I want you, humans, to know, it’s this: Love is a real thing. It’s a feeling that some people get to have their whole life, and for others, it takes a bit of trial and error. Read on and know that in the end, it will all work out. After all, I’m Cupid.

  You don’t need a fancy arrow to fall in love—now, don’t go telling people that or I’ll be out of business. All you need to fall in love is a little bit of courage and a voice to tell your story.

  Check out what my girl finally figured out, after a few arrows…

  Cupid

  Chapter One

  Let it be known that I, Layla Jackson, have no idea where I saw this. You know how late night scrolling on the Internet goes before you fall asleep? You see so much and take in nothing. Well, one thing stuck out to me—Cupid’s arrows for sale. It seemed basic and cheesy, but when I woke up this morning, I couldn’t help but look it up. Apparently, it's the real deal. A real Cupid who slings real love-laced arrows. Or so the website claimed.

  I had to check it out. Now that I’m here, I see what looks like an old gypsy palm reading place. It’s fitted on the outside with a neon blinking light of an arrow pointing to the door. A chalkboard sign rests on the steps that exclaims, “Get Your Arrow On!” With all the hearts and arrows covering the joint, I’m positive that I’m in the right place.

  Hesitating at the door for only a few seconds, and remind myself why I’m here. I need a date for our company’s Valentine’s Day party. I really don’t want to show up alone again for the third year in a row. Our CEO and a few kiss-ass employees tend to point out those that are single at this yearly party. It’s like a game to them to pick out the people who haven’t settled down yet. And if it wasn’t for the bonuses he gives us, I wouldn’t show up at all. Money talks though, right? And I need the funds right now, so I’ll do what I can to endure the pain of singledom.

  It’s not like my dating life is nonexistent. Well, it is. Hence, the reason why I’m at Cupid’s Shop hoping to find my soulmate. Great. If I would have told myself a few years ago that I’d be here, I’d laugh my butt off. But here I am. Rock, meet bottom. After trying it all, even dating apps, nothing’s worked. Trust me.

  Anyway, this year has to be the year, because hanging out by the non-spiked punch bowl is so high school. Yes, our CEO’s that cheap. He wants to have parties to show us that we matter, but then cuts corners, including the alcohol, as it’s an added expense. And “we want that money returned back into our own pockets, right folks?” Hearing his deep old-man voice in my ears and I shiver. One should never th
ink of their boss on the weekend. Ever.

  I head inside and pull my jacket tighter around me. A bell rings over my head, signaling that yet another rock-bottom girl has entered the tiny room.

  This better work, I repeat to myself over and over again. Please let this work. My desperation bleeds from me.

  “Welcome, Layla.”

  Weird, I don’t remember giving my name. “Umm, hello to you too. How do you know my name?” I say in a tight small voice. I wasn’t expecting to find a man behind the counter, like a man’s man. His shoulders are twice the size of me. His height is impressive even as he stands to come around the counter and I see his footwear. Steel-toe biker boots? Dayum! I was expecting some skinny, small dude dressed up as a sweet cherub angel with wings and a bow and arrow, not a man that could bend me in half if I looked at him wrong. Not to mention the full sleeve tattoos, and long dark hair blowing around him as if there was a breeze on him. Does he have a fan on him?

  Astounded by his hotness, I try to get my mouth to work and let him know that I’m here needing an arrow or two, maybe three. Third time's a charm and all, right?

  “Because I know everything. Don’t worry, sweet Layla. I’m here to help your soulmate fall in love with you. Right?” His baritone voice tells me as he steps out from behind a light brown cheap desk that his body practically swallows whole.

  I feel like a bobblehead nodding up and down, but my brain isn’t functioning enough to form words. It’s like my mouth is on pause while the rest of me is ready to get this over with.

  “Come sit down at the table and tell me about the boy of your dreams.” His voice doesn’t sound mocking at all as he leads me to a small nook in the corner of the room. Everything in here screams dainty and doesn’t fit the aesthetic of the man in front of me.