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.

“This is going to end up on SportsCenter,” Matthew grumbles. “I have to go. Kiss the kids for me, and you twins …” I look at Zara, and she looks at me. “I’ll liquidate some stocks to make sure I have bail money.” He laughs, but my father groans. “I see this ending very badly.” My mother laughs. “For one of us anyway.” I smirk at her.

“I feel like kicking you right now,” I tell him, and he looks up and smirks. It just makes me want to kick him even more. I mean, kick him and then kiss it better.

You would be like fucking YOLO, Zoe.” “I would not say that,” I tell her. “Really? What about that biker I dated?” she says. “Zoe, YOLO. Zoe, who cares that he has a warrant for his arrest. Pretend he’s Charlie Hunnam.” “I didn’t tell you to marry him,” I point out. “And didn’t you have good sex?” “I woke up to his old lady coming in with their kid,” she points out. “She didn’t even blink that I was naked in his bed.” I shrug. “I mean, I guess it’s a win.”

“Lilo, off,” he says and picks up the phone again. “Sorry, the dog jumped on the bed.” I laugh, looking at the dog look at the camera his nose coming to the screen and sniffing it. “Go away, she’s mine.”

“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 get in and see a huge bouquet of red roses. “Those were delivered five minutes ago,” he says. I look at them and grab the white card. To MY sweet Zara E. I smile a smile I don’t think I’ve ever worn. It’s a smile that can’t be erased. It’s a smile that even if you want to erase it, you can’t. It’s a smile that fills your heart, it fills you with warmth and makes your stomach do that little flip. “Dad was right,” I say to myself as soon as the driver gets into the car.

“I can’t kiss you right now,” I tell her honestly, and she looks almost sad. “I can’t kiss you right now because I won’t stop.” I touch her hair with my hands, wrapping it around my finger and thinking to myself it’s softer than silk. “I need to get you fed.” I look into the depths of her green eyes and see she’s watching my every move. “I need to let the dogs in, and then,” I whisper, “then I’m going to kiss you, sweet Zara.” Her eyes cloud over when I say the last part. “Then the house could fall down around us, the dogs could eat the couch, and the world could come to an end, but the only thing I’ll be doing is kissing you.”

He cups my face in his hand. “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.”

I’ve kissed girls before, but nothing that rocked my world the way it did when I finally kissed Zara. It was an out of this world, kick you in your balls, holy shit hat trick moment.

There is nothing wrong with it, and now that she’s facing me, I see it’s a wrap dress. “Well, for one, it’s not long enough,” I tell her, and she just laughs, making me glare at her. “For two, it’s not long enough,” I repeat because besides the length, she looks amazing. “Three, it’s not fucking long enough, Zara,” I say, now running my hands through my hair.

“Well, you look handsome,” she says, and then steps into the car and sits, making her skirt go higher. “This is going to be the longest night of my life,” I say, closing the door and walking to my side of the car.

If I died at this moment, my life would be complete is the only thing I can think. She is so much more than exquisite, and I can’t come up with the words. No words can do her justice.

She is holding a kid in her hand that has to be Max’s. Seeing my girl holding a girl, I swear my heart squeezes in my chest. I almost stop skating in the middle of the ice when it hits me. I 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 love her with everything I have. I love her like I have loved no other. 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.

“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.”

“Son,” my father says, poking his head into the room and then spotting my mother. He smiles at her and kisses her. “You can’t be here.” “I can be here,” Evan says. “One, I own the house, and two, she’s here.” He points at me. “And where she is, so am I.” “Well, I can’t argue with that logic,” my father says, and Matthew just nods.

“The first boy who said he liked you. Do you remember what you did to him?” I look over her and shake my head. “You kicked him in the balls.” “Oh right,” I say, thinking back. “But in my defense, you actually told me to do that.” “Yeah.” He laughs. “Don’t ever tell your mother that.”