Review
Daisy and Forrest will take you through the ringer, and your heart will hurt and heal with them each step of the way.
—Five Star Kindle Review
This is not your average boy and girl meet and the sex is so phenomenal that they fall I love. These characters spoke to me because they were real people who loved each other and still made mistakes. Love didn't win because it was supposed to. They worked at the relationship, really worked, and came out on top. Looking forward to book four.
—Five Star Kindle Review
While most post people look for the ideal relationship(man) in books, Maya has done a good job of bringing out actual angst in a relationship when two very ambitious people meet. I loved both journeys as they discover what is important.
—Five Star Kindle Review
From the Author
I loved writing Not A Love Marriage. Forest was a delight. A beach bum Judge who takes his career seriously; and Daisy who takes everything to heart.
I hope you'll give my book a chance. Here is a chapter to whet your appetite!
Chapter 11: Forest
I drove like a madman to get to her. Daisy wasn't the type who'd send a message saying urgent if it wasn't a firestorm.
She opened the door before I could ring the doorbell. She was in denim shorts and a t-shirt. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun. She looked absolutely gorgeous and worried as hell.
"Baby, what's wrong?" I took her in my arms, and she hugged me back.
She led me inside the house and we into her brightly lit kitchen.
"You want coffee?" she asked.
I shook my head. "Honey, what's going on?"
"Sit," she instructed and pushed me onto the white bench in the breakfast nook. She sat across from me, looking nervous.
I took her hands in mine and moved my thighs to hold hers between mine.
She smiled uneasily. "Forest, I...I'm pregnant."
Thunder bolt! "I don't know if I heard you correctly. Did you say you are pregnant?" My heart was falling all over itself beating like a mother. Finally, finally, the universe was giving me a break. Yes!!!!!!
"Yeah. I just found out. Took five pregnancy tests. I need to make an appointment with my gyno. And...Forest?"
I couldn't stop beaming. "You're pregnant?"
"Yeah."
I got up and pulled out of the breakfast nook and hugged her. "This is awesome, DeeDee."
She pulled away so she could see my face. "You're not upset?"
"Upset? Why the hell would I be upset? Nah. This is...wow, DeeDee. We're going to be parents."
She smiled, but she was confused. "I'm so...it's great that you're so positive. We'll obviously come up with a...you know custody agreement and all that."
My heart sank, but I refused to let go of her. Of course, she'd assume that we'd continue as we were. The hell with that. She was mine now. DeeDee and the baby inside her.
I did some fast thinking—well, I was known to think on my feet and be creative. I graduated top of my class in Harvard, and I was a Judge. "DeeDee, sweetheart, you know I'm up for the judgeship of the Ninth Circuit."
She nodded.
"Baby, we can't...you know...you can't have a baby without us being married. It's going to mess up my chances."
I had no idea whether that was true or not; and if this were any other woman than DeeDee I'd be all about a custody agreement and the hell with the world. But this was my Daisy, and I was going to marry her. Sure, I was trapping her, using a bogus reason, but once she was mine, I'd make it my life's work to keep her there.
She looked stricken, and I kissed her on her forehead. Poor DeeDee. This was all too much for her. But I was here now, and I'd take care of her.
"We have to get married?"
"I'm afraid so." Thank you, UNIVERSE!!
"Married?" If she got any paler, I'd have to call 911, I thought.
"But Forest—"
"DeeDee this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me."
"Then we tell no one," she said steadily. "And...once you get confirmed—"
I hugged her tighter and kissed her to stop her from talking. "You know it's going to be near impossible to keep it a secret. I want to come to all your doctor's appointments. I want to hold your hand through this and be there with you. Please, DeeDee."
"Christ, Forest." She pulled away from me. "This isn't like you asking me to come to some party with you as a date. This is a marriage."
Think, Forest, think before she convinces herself that this is a bad idea.
"I know. How about we say we'll remain married for eighteen months and then we can revisit our status."
"Why eighteen months?" she asked suspiciously.
Hell if I know! It just seemed like a good number.
"You know how these hearings go; they can take long. You'll need help once the baby is born. We should be together for all of that."
"Eighteen months is doable," she said, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "But we have to live here. I can't live in Venice."
"Not a problem. This is closer to the court, anyway." I'd give up surfing if she asked me to.
"We'll have to have an airtight prenup. I don't want anyone to think that I want anything from you."
I grinned. The world may think Daisy was marrying into the Knight family for money, but the truth would be that she'd make sure the prenup protected me. I didn't need protection. I didn't even want a prenup. The hell with it. I was never going to let her go.
"Of course. I'm sure we can get that in place. Stop thinking so hard, baby." I opened my arms.
"Come here."
She took two steps, and she was in my embrace. I held her close.
"I don't want us to keep fighting, Forest. It's too stressful."
"I promise I will be the most agreeable husband you could ever imagine." As long as you didn't want to leave me, then I'd be damned disagreeable.
She chuckled.
"What?" I asked.
"Looks like you and I will get married in the courthouse like Esme and Dec; and Mateo and Raya did. Too bad you can't marry us. Then we'd just put a "get married here" sign outside your chambers."
"If you want a Church wedding..."
"It feels wrong when we know this is temporary."
She was killing me with this wall she had built around her. "Anything you want."
"My parents, Forest. I have to tell them."
"We'll do it together." She would never have to do anything difficult alone again.
She nodded. "And your parents, how will they react?"
"Let me prep them first and then it should be fine; and if it isn't they can go hang themselves. If they can't be happy about a grandchild, the hell with them."
I stayed the night with her.
There was no way I was going to give her time and space to think about us. She'd convince herself the marriage was a bad idea. She lay with her head on my shoulder, and I had an arm around her with my hand on her stomach. A slightly curved stomach—but that wasn't the baby, not yet, just Daisy, lush and lovely.
My phone vibrated, and I saw that it was River who tended to call at all times of day and night. I had called him earlier in the evening and left him a voicemail to call me back.
I disentangled from Daisy and left her bedroom with my phone and called my brother.
"Who's dead?" River asked.
"Daisy and I are having a baby." I couldn't believe I'd just said those amazing words.
"Wow! You're obviously thrilled."
I heard loud popping sounds on River's end. "Where are you, River?"
"Somewhere in the East."
"That's a rather large mass of land. And what I hear is a HIMARS." I had been in LAPD for a hot minute and knew my weapons.
"A what?"
"A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System."
"No? Really?" River chuckled and then somberly said, "Congratulations, brother. This is awesome news. What's next? What can I do for you?"
I told him quickly (because he was literally in a war zone) about the upcoming wedding and how I'd sort of emotionally blackmailed Daisy into agreeing to it. I had absolutely no moral issues with it. She just needed to start believing in me and us; and know I'd not mess up the way I had.
"Please tell me you didn't get her pregnant on purpose," River laughed.
"I would have if I'd thought about it...but this is the universe smiling at me."
Daisy felt small. Inconsequential. The man she loved had never loved or trusted her. He’d believed the photos.Highlighted by 110 Kindle readers
