This Is Crazy (This Is, #1)

by Natasha Madison

“What do you mean by getting yourself a date?” my father asks, his face going white. “Are you hiring an escort? Zara Stone,” he hisses out my name.

She isn’t pretty, and she isn’t beautiful. Exquisite is the only word that comes to mind.

I care that you were working all day, and you might be tired,” he says, turning and shutting the door.

brings it up to tuck my hair behind my ear. “You have to be the most beautiful woman I have ever met in my whole life.” His voice is soft, and I swear I’m inching closer to him.

leave. “I can’t kiss you right now,” I tell her, and her mouth opens a touch. “And it’s not ’cause I don’t want to. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.” She looks down now and then up at me. “It’s because one kiss won’t be good enough. I know if I kiss you, I won’t stop kissing you.”

“This isn’t a joke, Zara,” my father says. “He said you were his. You know what that means.” “Um,” I say, and my father continues. “There are certain men out there …” he starts. “Like your father,” my mother says, “and your brother and Max and Zack.” “Parker, this is not funny,” he says, and I can see them. “These men. Once they say you’re theirs, you’re theirs.”

“I’m not beautiful,” she says, and her voice is soft, almost as though she’s embarrassed. “You are so much more than beautiful,” I say, and suddenly, I wish I could reach out and push the hair behind her ear and lean over and kiss her. Softly.

I’ll remember this kiss forever. It’s a kiss I’ve dreamed about; it’s the kiss that my sisters would tell me about that I never had, a kiss that every single little girl dreams about having. It’s a kiss that even if I wanted to tell them about it, I couldn’t do it justice.

“Ruined,” he says softly, leaning in and kissing me again softly. “If I don’t get away from you, no one is going to be eating.”

“I’m not going to hide that you’re mine,” he says, looking straight at me. “First thing, I’m my own person,” I tell him. “Second, we aren’t hiding anything. We are being private.” I grab another chip and dip it, waiting for him. “You kissed me,” he states. “You kissed me. You made yourself mine when you did it.”

“You first.” He gets down on his knees, and my legs open for him. “You always first.”

love her. I’ve fallen in love with her. She is wearing my jersey, but the little girl is wearing the New York jersey, and I skate to the side where she is at.

“I get it, that feeling like you can’t breathe when you’re not together. Or the missing them so much your heart aches. The whole my stomach is sick from not touching you. It all makes sense.”

That moment you see the person who owns your heart, who can destroy you. Knowing that without her, you are going to be half the man you should be. Knowing that only with her, your heart beats normal; knowing that only with her, everything is going to be okay.

There is no doubt in the world that my father loves my mother. That he cherishes her right down to his soul. If she is sad, he makes her happy; if she is worried, he moves heaven and earth to make sure she isn’t.

“Why? Because the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” “That is so not true.” Zoe shakes her head. “It’s usually through your vagina.”

“She’s mine. There is no other way to put it.”

“Beautiful, this is just the beginning of our crazy!”