It was hot outside the main entrance of the hospital as I helped Leo into the car to leave. The discharge paperwork was finally signed and we were ready to head home to recover from the day.“Well, that was fun,” he remarked, handing his paperwork to Murdoch and going to the open backseat car door. I helped him get settled, chuckling at how he thought the blur of tests, stitches, casts, and medical words was “fun.”“I'm just glad you get to go home tonight,” I said as Murdoch closed the car door behind me. I took Leo's hand in mine. He looked absolutely exhausted. Luckily, other than some dehydration, a broken arm, plenty of stitches and more bruises than I could count, the doctors said he was fine. They still wanted him watched overnight as they hadn't ruled out a concussion, but they were confident he would make a full recovery.“Me too. There are some perks to having access to a personal physician who can provide all the hospital requirements in the comfort of your own home,” he re

I never thought this day would come.I look down at my white dress and giggle. It feels so surreal. I have to be dreaming, and this has to be the best dream of my life.I'm going to marry Leo Westbrook.I've dreamed of this day since I was thirteen years old, and now, finally, it's coming true.“You ready, Char?” Chloe, my childhood best friend asks. She's grinning at me, looking gorgeous as usual. The same dark hair she shares with her brother is curled into perfect waves. “Everyone's waiting.”I take one last look in the mirror and then I nod.I was born ready.Just outside the door, Bastian is waiting. He's leaning against the wall, pretending to be calm and collected, but I know better. He's nervous. The tick in his jaw and the way the little scar above his eye is pulsing show me that he's nervous.He smiles and his face softens as he sees me. “Wow,” he whispers. “You look so beautiful.”I grin. “You don't look so bad yourself,” I tell him. He stands up a little straighter and puf

“Hey, I'm on my way,” I told my sister over the phone as I started the car engine. My ancient little Pontiac purred to life and I thanked my lucky stars. Some days she decided to drive like a dream, and on other days she was hell on wheels. Today would have been a terrible day for her not to start. There was no way I was walking back into that restaurant to get a jump start.“How was the date?” Rosie asked.“Awful,” I said, pulling out onto the main road. “It'll be great for readers. I really think they're going to eat this one up.”I could hear her moving around on her end of the phone. “You're the only person I know who gets more excited about bad dates than good ones,” she replied.“Are you moving stuff around again?” I asked, ignoring her statement.“No,” she answered defensively before sighing. “Yes. Fine. I'm moving the crib to the other side of the room. I think the draft from the window will make him cold.”I couldn't help but smile. She was so excited for her first-born child

“And so it is, Mr. Bathroom shall be forever memorialized for his unique ability to use a toilet as refuge from paying the bill. Ladies be warned; if you get picked up by a guy whose meal costs more than what he pays for rent, abort mission. Flee the scene. Leave before he comes back from hiding. At least today we know he gets to go back home to his mommy- let’s just all hope she preps him a little more before his next date.”My arms fell from the keyboard as I allowed them a momentary rest. This was going to make for a great post, I could already tell. Posts like these came effortlessly with the most challenging part being accurately recalling the extent of the disaster. Every little detail was required to paint the full picture of what I had dealt with, and my readers ate it up.As I was doing a final skim over the passage for any typos or grammatical errors, my phone buzzed obnoxiously on the table. I was usually good about not allowing my phone to distract me in the middle of writ

The computer screen glowed against the backdrop of the oncoming evening. The dark blue of the sky as night felt was soft and comforting like a blanket around a child. It was another warm night in Miami and the intense heat of the day had mellowed into a pleasant temperature and the humidity was actually comfortable. On a normal night, my computer screen became the only light in the room and I used it to get lost in my blog.However, this evening was different. On this particular evening I needed to research and make sure I was prepared for my date. I had gone deep into the conversation that my sister had begun. I was like a student studying over a textbook before a big test; I knew their conversation held valuable information, it was a matter of trying to dissect it and uncover his personality.The mask that Rosie had assumed while trying to imitate me was hilarious. I had already scanned their conversation several times and had paused frequently to laugh out loud. She either had no i