15 Kisses: Zes and Miranda - Tumultuous

“I spent all summer thinking about it, and I still don’t understand,” Daisy said. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and Zes hated he was the cause of them, but what was he supposed to do? They weren’t going to work. Not when he had so much magic and she didn’t even know magic existed.

He took in a slow breath. “I’m not sure there’s another way I can explain it. I just…don’t feel the same way about you that you do about me.” She opened her mouth, and he continued before she got a chance. “Having been on the receiving end of that, it’s not okay. It’s better to end it rather than lead you on. I’m sorry. I wish I was there, in that same spot, but I’m not.”

“I can wait for you.”

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15 Kisses: Zes and Miranda - Window

Zes peeked out the window for Miranda. They didn’t have a date, but if she showed up at the front door and someone else answered it, it’d be assumed they were going on a date and he’d be teased mercilessly by the upperclassmen on his way out. He had to be the one who answered. Of course, his pacing in the entryway of the house was a giveaway that something was up so everyone’s attention was on him anyway. If he was there and ready, he’d be able to slip out fast at least.

Soon, he saw her walking up the sidewalk toward the door. As much as he wanted to conveniently leave and meet her outside, that seemed too obvious and weird. Not natural. She rang the bell, he counted to five, and then answered the door.

“Hey!” He gave a wave to the guys just as some of them started to whistle. “How much are you not looking forward to this?”

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15 Kisses: Zes and Miranda - Thirteen

Miranda showered Zes with kisses. “Happy thirteen day anniversary!”

“Wait, that’s a thing?” He hadn’t been planning on celebrating any anniversaries until their one month. “Sorry, I guess I’m out of touch with what all the cool people are doing now.”

She poked him in the side. “It’s my own invention. You can be in charge of all the traditional celebrations, and I’ll do my own at random. Then we never have to worry about our plans overlapping. It’ll be a surprise.”

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15 Kisses: Zes and Miranda - Reality

How could his life be real? Zes kept having a hard time wrapping his mind around it. One month down, one big date, three little ones, two fights, and he wasn’t regretting one moment with Miranda. No red flags were popping up, and he knew for a fact he wasn’t blinded by her feminine charms or the giddy feelings of puppy love. Actually, he was almost positive there was never a puppy love stage. It kind of scared him.

He clung to what she said before. Take it one thing at a time and don’t hold back for stupid reasons. He followed his heart and followed her cues. This time when he jumped into bed so soon into a relationship, he didn’t feel the same reservations after the fact. With Chey, he had a sinking feeling in his gut telling him it probably wasn’t the best decision to make. Miranda didn’t leave him with any kind of regret, though his brain tried to fight with him and tell him all the reasons it was stupid to do. What if they broke up? A “what if” that could happen no matter how far into his relationship he’d progressed.

Anj would chastise him for not having more self-control, or perhaps do that thing where he was supportive of the decision but only because they were brothers. Deep down, he’d worry. ”Are you sure? Just be careful. Remember what happened last time.” But what had made Cheyenne so devastating was the fact that she didn’t actually love him back, she’d just used him to convince herself she wasn’t in love with another guy. Zes had known it all along, and let himself believe the lie.

Miranda wasn’t lying. He’d felt every ounce of her devotion and love, and the moment with her was so drastic from the one he’d had with Chey.

He placed a kiss on her forehead and then gazed up at the ceiling of his room. Soon, she’d be meeting his family, and maybe Anj might tell him if there was a place for her in his future.

15 Kisses: Zes and Miranda - Unchecked

“So this is the Miranda I’ve heard so much about,” Anj said, taking her hand and putting it to his lips. Always the charmer. His being married never stopped him from flirting a tiny bit. Then again, if he wasn’t being witty and suave, chances were he was sick or dying. It just wasn’t in his nature, and that’s why Zes held off on introducing them for so long. Distance was only the cover-up excuse.


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15 Kisses: Zes and Miranda - Resourceful

Zes had babysat his twin nephews a few times already. He was prepared for everything — except for three blowouts and no extra outfits. Thank goodness for Miranda. In less than five minutes she was creating a whole new costume for the handful-of-months-old poop-machines from old bed sheets.

“And done! Tada! Caveman babies!” She handed one of the boys over to Zes. “They needed a real Halloween costume anyway. A dog onesie doesn’t count. That’s like a girl wearing lingerie and cat ears and calling that a costume.”

“Aw, that explains all of the authenticity in yours.” He looked over her cat costume which was a full body suit of fluff.

Miranda winked and blew him a kiss. “Don’t worry, I got the noncostume for later. I’m not above wearing it. Just not for Halloween!”

“C-cool.” He swallowed. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he did this on purpose.”

“Did what?”

“Load up his kids then dumping them on me so they could…dump on me.” He scrunched up his nose. “I don’t know if I can save this shirt.” He pulled it off and tossed it into the trash.

She gave him a sympathetic smile. “We’ll get him back and then some later.”

Did that mean she wanted to have his children? He had heard correctly, right? What did he say? Did he point it out? Ignore it? “For sure.”

“What?” She tilted her head to the side.

“Like usual, you’ve rendered me speechless.”

With her free hand, she gave him a sideway hug. Then she leaned up to kiss his cheek. “We’ll wait a few years so your brother thinks he’s safe. Then it’ll be a full on assault.”

Yup, she did mean it. A future. She saw a real future with him. So easy. Too easy? Just keep hanging on for the ride. Don’t get off. Don’t spoil it.

15 Kisses: Timber x Chevelle - Rose

Two roses. I’d have done more, but I didn’t think overdoing it was a good idea. Especially since I wasn’t sure if Chevelle liked roses. I try so hard to not be the person to make assumptions. All the other girls I’d ever dated liked flowers of all kinds. The most I knew about Chevelle was she was far from being a green thumb. Every house plant we started with was dead or under my care. Can’t say I’m much of a green thumb, either. I had a Christmas cactus back home, otherwise all greenery was taken care of by my mom or hired help.

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15 Kisses: Timber x Chevelle - Manipulate

Timber Hudson was interested in…me? It took a long time to get past that fact. Sometimes I still thought of him as the super star who would have never given me the time of day back on Earth. Or maybe he would have if our paths had crossed. It’s hard to say. There are so many “what ifs” to factor into our situation. Those “what ifs” that I had to ignore if I had any hope of actually seeing how compatible we actually were. Because it was hard to not wonder. It always would be, no matter what, right? So I just had to drown them out.

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