Wide Open Spaces (Shooting Stars 2)

“Trust me, I know you love my mouth.”

“I love eating you out. I love the way you taste, and how you come so fucking hard every time I’m eating you and you’ve got my cock in your mouth.”

“Oh, God,” she breathes, and I feel her walls start to spasm.

“Fuck, come for me. Let me feel you come on my cock. Let me feel how wet you get when you come all over me.”

“Zach,” she hisses, leaning up, latching onto my shoulder with her teeth, and pulling me along with her as she falls over the edge. Thrusting three more times, I plant myself deep inside her then listen to her wild breathing that matches my own.

“Remind me to thank Joe for taking the kids,” I say, rolling to my back and dragging her with me.

“I’ll send her flowers,” she mutters, and I laugh, looking up at the ceiling, then run my fingers down her back. “I love you,” she whispers, not knowing those words mean everything to me, not knowing she has filled the void I felt for so long. She’s given me everything I’ve ever wanted and then some. I was content in my life with my kids, but with her, Hunter, and Penelope, my life is complete and my days are beautiful.

Shelby

Seven years later

“Dad!” Pen yells, and I roll to my stomach, thankful it’s not me she’s after this early, then feel Zach’s mouth touch my shoulder before he gets out of bed. Knowing Pen, there could be a million reasons she’s yelling for her dad, but the most likely reason is she has done something she wasn’t supposed to and is calling him in first to butter him up before involving me. He’s a pushover for his girls, all of us. Not that he isn’t a pushover for Hunter and Steven, but it’s definitely not the same.

“Jesus, Pen, what the hell are you doing?” I hear him ask, and I groan, pulling my pillow over my head, knowing I probably don’t want to know what she’s done now. Since the time she was a toddler, she’s been on the move and into everything. Plus, she’s smart, so damn smart it scares me.

“I’m trying to make Aubrey pancakes. It’s her wedding day! She needs to have a good breakfast,” she cries, and I hear pots and pans clinking and then a loud thud, and I roll out of bed, grabbing one of Zach’s flannels on the way to the door. I still can’t believe my girl is getting married. Part of me thinks it’s far too soon for her to be a wife, but the other part of me trusts she’s smart and knows what she wants. Not that it has helped Zach at all—he’s been an angry bear ever since Gabe proposed.

I didn’t see Aubrey with Gabe in the beginning, but since her freshman year of high school, they have been friends, and then eventually, Gabe—who is a little bit of a nerd—worked up the courage to ask her out, and since then, they have been tight. I know Aubrey loves him, but I don’t know if she’s in love with him, and that is truly my only worry when it come to the two of them getting married. But then again, he’s her best friend, and with a relationship built on that kind of foundation, I don’t see bad things for either of them.

“Hey, honey.” I smile at a rumpled looking Steven, as he almost sleepily walks into me in the hall. He, on the other hand, gets the heebie-jeebies anytime you even mention commitment or long-term relationship, but I have no doubt he will find someone and fall hard. He’s been going to college in Seattle, close to Max, who has done a one-eighty since the birth of his daughter Justine. He’s even helped Steven out on more than one occasion, when he’s needed a recommendation or just a ride, and is always willing to be there if we can’t for any reason.

Grunting, he runs his hand through his hair then looks to the side as Hunter comes down the stairs.

“Sheesh, you’d think Pen would still be in bed. She didn’t go to sleep until after one. What the hell is she doing up? It’s only seven,” he asks, looking at the clock on the wall.

“You know your sister,” I mutter, moving past them. Hunter has one more year of high school left, and then he’s off to Seattle, where he and Steven plan to get a place together. They were close while they were both living at home, and that bond has only gotten stronger over the years, and every time Hunter flies out to see Max, he bounces between Steven’s dorm and Max’s house.

Feeling something furry sliding between my feet, I look down and find Dime, who has obviously decided to get away from the chaos in the kitchen. Penny passed away a few years ago, and it took a long time before we were able to get another animal. We didn’t get another dog, but a big, fat tabby cat that Pen decided to name Dime, short for Diamond.

“I can’t even deal with this right now,” Zach growls, meeting me just outside the kitchen doorway.

“That bad?” I ask, peeking around him, then feel my eyes widen. The room is covered in hearts, giant and little hearts from all different kinds of paper, all hand-cut at some point. “That’s so sweet,” I whisper, and his eyes narrow.

“There is pink gunk everywhere.”

“Pink gunk?” I frown.

“Pink batter for heart-shaped pancakes,” he grumbles, and I smile.

“Pen,” Aubrey says, pushing us out of the way to get into the kitchen. “This is so beautiful.” She twirls around, taking in all the decorations, then walks to her sister, grabbing her up into a hug.

“I think the pancakes turned out more like Mickey Mouse than hearts,” Pen says, sounding disappointed, and Aubrey laughs then looks at me over her shoulder with tears in her eyes.

“Well, I love Mickey Mouse, so this is going to be one of the best parts of my day.”

“Oh, God, I’m going to cry,” I blurt, and hear both boys groan then feel Zach’s arms around me. I love my girls, and I’m going to miss having them both home. Even though Aubrey will only be next door. We never sold Zach’s house. We have made a killing off of renting it out over the years, and kept it for extra income, but when Aubrey told us her plans, we told her and Gabe they could have it. Honestly, we’re being greedy, wanting to have Aubrey close. We’re just lucky Gabe’s work allows him to stay in town.

“Bre, your mom will be here at ten, along with your hair dresser, so if you’re up, you should probably eat and shower,” Zach says, and I lean back to look up at him.

I can’t say that I like Tina, but she has been better since divorcing her ex two years ago. Before that, she was in and out of the kids’ lives. At first, I tried to make her see what she was giving up, but Zach had been right; it wasn’t my place to force her into being around. She had to figure it out on her own that she was losing her kids because of Thomas. Since her divorce, she has made more of an effort to be there when Steven and Aubrey have needed her, but they are still hesitant when it comes to her because of her past actions, but hopefully, with time, they will move past the disappointments and let downs, and rebuild their relationships with her.

“Right, since we’re all up, let’s eat, and then we can fight over the hot water, only Aubrey gets first dibs today,” I say, then move away from Zach and into the kitchen, where I find everything is covered in gunk, but I ignore that and focus on the fact the kids are around us, each of them happy and healthy, each of them becoming adults we are proud of. I just wish Samuel was here today. Years ago, Samuel reached out to us when he turned eighteen. Since then, we’ve talked to him on occasion, but have let him lead when it comes to the direction of our relationship. He talks to his siblings more than he talks to us, but just knowing how well he was raised and the kind of man he is, is enough for Zach and me to be content in our decision.

Feeling Zach’s hand on my back, I soak in the feeling of his touch as I come out of my thoughts.

“I love you, Shel.” Leaning my head back, I look up into his eyes and close mine briefly. That wide open space that always seemed impossible to fill was filled by him and the kids years ago, but every time I hear him tell me he loves me, it overflows and runs through me, filling me up impossibly full.

“Love you too,” I whisper, then lean up to kiss him, hearing the kids make gagging sounds, which causes us to laugh against each other’s lips. There is nothing better than this, nothi

ng better than having my family and the love we have for each other.

Final book in the Shooting Stars Series

One Last Wish

Aubrey and Denver

Finding out my husband, my best friend, only had months to live was devastating.

Sitting out under the star-filled sky, listening to him wish on star after star, night after night, almost killed me.

He never wished to get better.

He wished for me to be happy.

He wished for me to find the strength to move on.

I told him his wishes were pointless, because happiness wouldn’t exist without him.

I found out soon after he passed away that I was pregnant.

But I had no idea his final wish would bring me something I never thought I’d find again.

If you haven’t read Fighting to breathe here is an excerpt from that book

Fighting to Breathe