Mr. H.O.A. by Carina Taylor (readera ebook reader .TXT) 📗

showed up on our doorstep the day after the block party."

I smiled as I remembered the block party night. The first time I kissed her.

"I know I broke your trust. I know how important it is to you to be with someone that you can rely on—who won't go back on what they've said. I wanted to be that person for you. I think that's why it was so hard to tell you the truth. One lie turned into another, and it kept getting bigger and more out of control to the point where I knew if I told you the truth it would irreparably hurt you. I didn't want to hurt you. I wanted to love you. But because I was selfish, you were hurt by me."

Two fat tears rolled down her cheeks from her puffy eyes. "You deserve someone you can trust. You deserve someone who is braver than me. But I want you to know how much our time meant to me. I want you to know I'll remember it for the rest of my life. I hope you don't forget me too soon." She smiled softly. "And I came to let you know that Dad took care of everything for you. He's explained away your absence in the neighborhood."

"Nola. None of that matters."

Her eyes widened. "Wha—what do you mean?"

"I mean, I forgive you," I said quietly.

She stepped an inch closer. "You do?"

"I do."

"When did you forgive me?"

I cleared my throat. "Right after I left the house."

She blinked rapidly. "Thank you. I don’t know if I could stand it if you hated me. Now, I’ll get out of your way so you can get back to work."

"Nola, you’re not getting away that easy."

"What do you mean?" She asked as she turned towards the door.

"We’re married." I crossed the distance.

The surprise in her eyes was joined by a dash of hope. "We’re not truly married."

"I don’t care. We’ll make it official. Because this—" I waved my arm through the air as if I could encompass our problems. "This is the kind of stuff couples work through together. They don’t quit on each other. And I won’t quit on you."

A tear ran down the edge of her nose and pooled on her top lip. "Bane, I couldn't quit you, even if I were to try."

I caught the tear with my thumb. "Then why are you sad?"

"I’m not sad!"

I wiped away another tear. "Your face says differently."

"My face hasn’t got the memo yet that we’re happy. I don’t know if my heart is up to speed. I came to this office to apologize. To see you one last time. I didn’t think you would want to have anything to do with me anymore."

"Well that just goes to show you how wrong you can be." I pressed a kiss on her forehead. "I’ve fallen head over heels in love with you, Nola Mercier, and there’s no stopping me now."

We stood there embracing in the quiet. The silence only broken by a few ragged breaths from Nola as she tried to stop crying.

"When did you first fall for me?" She asked shakily.

"I think when I first saw you arguing with Chippy about the eviction notice. Or maybe it was in the store when you loaded that basket with grapefruit. But I think the moment that tipped the scale forever was when I introduced you to Carol as my wife. It kept playing over and over in my mind. Then as we played pretend, I wondered if I could make it real. But then everything with Sally, and your big crush on Mercier—"

"Hey now, I've explained that. You can't hold it over me forever."

"I'll consider forgiving you if you kiss me again."

"I'll consider it. Only because you're my favorite yummy, human."

"Yummy?"

She blinked her eyes slowly as she looked at me. "You probably don't want to know."

"I think I do." I nodded. "But Nola, there's something you need to know."

She swallowed. "What's that?"

I took a step closer to her, reaching out to grab her arm and tug her closer at the same time. I leaned towards her right ear. "I need you to know that you sleep in the middle of the bed. And you're a snuggler."

She tipped her head back and laughed.

"And I want to wake up every night to you drooling on my pillow."

"I—well, I'm so overwhelmed by that poetic speech that I can't help but say yes."

I wrapped one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders. I pulled her tight against me as I took in every detail of her face. A face I could happily look at for the rest of my life. I lowered my lips to hers. No hesitation. No fear of rejection. Just kissing her with complete abandonment.

A few minutes later, Nola pulled back. "What exactly did I say yes to? Forever kisses, I hope."

"You said yes to being my real wife."

Nola beamed at me as she ran her fingers through my rather long hair.

Her hands stilled abruptly. "Oh, I forgot! My mother is in the waiting room."

She grasped my hand and tugged me after her.

Her mother. The one who had been gone. For some reason I couldn’t remember her mom’s name. Maybe that was because Nola had always referred to her as "Mom" when she talked about her.

I followed Nola to the small waiting room. She flung the door opened and stepped inside.

She gasped in horror.

Sebastian Mercier was lip-locked with a woman wearing a light blue dress.

"Disgusting!" Nola yelled. She slapped one hand over her eyes, then blindly felt around my face to cover mine. "I did not need to see my parents making out in a waiting room. In fact, it's at the top of the list of things I never wanted to see."

Sebastian stepped back from his wife and grinned. Her mother turned toward me with a sheepish smile. "She's been gone a long time. You can't blame me."

I could see since Nola's hand was ineffectively covering my mouth instead of my eyes.

"How'd