by Ella Arden
OFF LIMITS TEMPTATION
LOVE IN UNEXPECTED PLACES BOOK 3
ELLA ARDEN
Copyright © 2021 by Ella Arden
All rights reserved. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
ARIA
The second I walk into the bar and see Nathan Hunt, I know that my night is going downhill fast.
“What’s your brother doing here?” I hiss at my best friend, Jessie. “You said drinks with friends.”
“You two could be friends if you bothered to try,” she says, as if it’s really that simple. As if her brother and I don’t have years of issues between us. As if friendship isn't a two-way street, one I know he wouldn't even consider stepping onto with me.
Nathan Hunt is a bossy, arrogant jerk and he always has been. Ever since Jessie and I became best friends in high school, I was never good enough for his kid sister. Anytime she got in trouble or something happened, it was my fault. Even now, as adults, nothing has changed. He's always looking down his nose at me, giving me a hard time, acting like I'm still a stupid teenager.
And to think I once had a crush on him.
Ugh. I like to just blame it on puberty, which hit me like a truck during my freshman year, and the fact that Nathan is one of those insufferable people who has the face of a gorgeous model and the personality of a rotten tomato.
“Please tell me he isn’t the only one coming.” I don't think I can handle it if he is—this is supposed to be my night off to have a few drinks and relax. With Nathan around, relaxing is impossible.
Jessie shakes her head, always looking oh so amused by my suffering at the hands of her brother. “Kenzie and Sam are coming, don't worry. And I think they invited that new guy from work—the one who was checking you out in the break room yesterday.”
“More like checking out the mustard stain on my shirt.” My sandwich had decided to enact revenge for being eaten and dripped a huge glob of mustard down my brand new blouse. The new guy—I’m pretty sure his name is Tom or Tim, something like that—had walked in just in time to watch the show. Cursing at a sandwich while simultaneously dabbing at a stain isn't a good look on anyone.
I avoid looking at Nathan as Jessie pulls me to an empty table and waves him over. If he’s spotted me, there’s no doubt a lovely scowl on his face.
“He’s kinda cute, the new guy,” Jessie says, giving me her signature grin that means she’s about to say something inappropriate. “And those tight pants of his were showing off the ample goods. I'd say the bulge was a solid eight out of ten... at the very least, sex might be decent.”
Of course she was checking out his crotch—Jessie has a sixth sense for well-endowed men.
“He’s not really my type,” I mutter, wishing I had a drink in hand. I need to be at least tipsy, heading steadily towards drunk, to have a conversation about co-worker's dick bulges with her.
“Well, I think you should go for it.”
“Go for what?” Nathan joins us and I can’t help but look at him, hating how comforting and familiar his face has become over the years.
Like his sister, he has dark brown hair, just a few shades lighter than black, and hazel eyes. Unlike his petite sister, he towers over me, all muscle and masculinity that refuses to be ignored. His hair is always messy and his light scruff just accentuates his sharp jawline, giving him that sexy unkempt look that women love. He’s the type of man that you take one look at and want to climb like a tree.
Sure enough, I can see several eyeing him from across the bar. One blonde woman isn't even trying to hide her oogling.
“This new guy at work is into Aria,” Jessie tells him, ignoring my irritated look. “The girls are bringing him tonight and I think she should give him a chance.”
“Giving men a chance isn’t really her style,” Nathan says, like I’m not sitting right here.
My face gets hot. “How the hell would you know?”
He just gives me a look, one of his eyebrows cocked up.
“Maybe you should mind your own business,” I tell him. “You know, for once in your life. Jessie is allowed to have a say in my sex life—you are not.”
An infuriating smile curls at the corner of his mouth. I hate how amused he always is when I get mad, like he couldn't care less that I'm two seconds away from kicking him in the shin.
“Don't you have to actually be having sex to have a sex life?” he says casually.
Asshole. There's no way he knows that it's been way too long since I took a guy home—the last one so unmemorable that I can't even recall when it was—but his jab strikes a nerve dead center. My last serious relationship was years ago and with a man I only look back on with heaps and heaps of regret. Since then, things have been... dry.
“Maybe being around you has turned me off of all things male,” I mutter.
Jessie sighs loudly. “It’s the weekend, can you two please keep the bickering to a minimum? I’d really like to get drunk and forget that I have to be back at work in two days. Watching you two go at it like an old married couple isn't my idea of fun or relaxing.”
She’s right—I refuse to let Nathan ruin my night.
“I’ll get the first round of drinks.” It's a peace offering and earns me a warm smile from her in return. She knows that I'm trying, which is more than she can say for her brother, who just smirks at me as I walk by.
While I’m waiting at the bar to get the bartender’s attention, a man sidles up next to me, bringing a wave of strong cologne with him. Oh boy.
“Hey there,” he says, leaning next to me with a grin. “What’s a gorgeous girl like you doing here alone?”
“I’m not alone,” I tell him, then pointedly turn back to the bar.
It does nothing to deter him, of course. He’s either cocky, drunk, or both. “Ditch them and join me. I’ve been looking all night and you’re the first girl to catch my eye.”
“Lucky me,” I mutter under my breath.
When I don’t answer, he shifts a little closer, invading my space with his big ego and toxic cologne. “Come on, baby, don’t you want to have a little fun?” He's not even looking at my face, his gaze shamelessly fixed on my chest.
“Not interested, thanks.”
“Don’t be like that. You’re not even going to give me a chance?” His hand on the bar is creeping closer to my arm and if he touches me, he's going to discover firsthand that my idea of fun is knocking handsy perverts on their ass.
I open my mouth to tell him to back off, but I’m interrupted by a scowling Nathan appearing over the guy’s shoulder.
“Move along,” he says bluntly, standing next to me and crossing his arms, his short-sleeved shirt showing off his stupidly attractive muscles. “She’s not interested.”
The guy squints up at Nathan. “What’s your problem, man? I was here first.”
Wow, okay, he's really playing the first dibs card. Classy.
“I don’t have a problem, yet. Move along before I decide otherwise.”
Nathan sounds grumpier than usual. Jessie must have sent him to save me the
n. I glance over to give her a look, but she’s at a completely different table talking to a guy in a blue polo, not even remotely paying attention to us.
Apparently, I’m not worth a fight because the man mumbles something that I can’t hear and stumbles away to most likely go hit on some other poor girl. I’m embarrassed but relieved when he leaves. hoping he stumbles into the bathroom and locks his drunken self in a stall for the rest of the night.
“Why were you even talking to that guy?” Nathan turns to me and his tone makes it clear that he somehow thinks less of me for this situation rather than, I don’t know, the drunken idiot who refused to take no for an answer.
“For all you know, we were having a nice conversation,” I retort.
“Somehow I doubt that.”
At least when Jessie has to deal with this, she can just blame it on him being an overprotective brother. When it’s me, I just know he’s being an asshole.
“Well, I didn’t ask for your opinion.” The bartender is still chatting with two busty girls hanging off the other end of the bar and I’m seconds away from losing my cool. “You could always ask next time before you chase off the one guy hitting on me.”
Nathan laughs lowly. “You can’t be serious; that guy was practically radiating desperation to get laid.”
My face gets hot. “Not every man who's interested in me has to be some desperate scumbag. But thanks for making your opinion of me clear.”
His eyebrows go up in surprise. “Aria, that’s not what I was—”
“Whatever,” I cut him off, flushed with mortification and anger. “It doesn’t matter.”
I go back to the table before he can say anything else. I don’t know why I still let his opinion affect me so much. I really should know better by now.
When he comes back to the table, he’s got a bottle of beer in hand and sits down, not saying anything and pointedly looking away from me. All that and he didn't even grab me or Jessie our drinks.
Fine.
Kenzie and Sam show up a few minutes later, and sure enough, they’ve got the new guy in tow. Jessie was right—he is kind of cute, in that glasses-wearing-hipster sort of way. Not really my type, but then again, sticking with my type means I haven't been on a date in almost a year.
“Hey, babe,” Kenzie greets me, giving me a quick hug as she shrugs out of her hot pink jacket. I’m so happy for a distraction that I could cry. “Have you met Tom yet?”
I give Tom-not-Tim an awkward little wave. “Briefly. He got to witness my mustard catastrophe at lunch yesterday.”
“Happens to the best of us,” he says easily, and sits next to me at the table. “I’ve also been the victim of an unprovoked mustard assault. To this day, the color yellow terrifies me.”
I laugh in surprise and catch Nathan glaring at us from across the table. What's his problem? Knowing him, he's just waiting for the perfect opportunity to come scare Tom off or tell him some embarrassing story from when I was a teen.
Whatever.
Ignoring him, I turn my attention back to Tom, making myself smile.
CHAPTER TWO
NATHAN
What does Aria even see in this Tom guy?
The bar is obnoxiously loud with all the people struggling to be heard over the thumping music, but I can still make out her musical laugh as Tom says something that is definitely not funny. They’ve slowly migrated closer together at the table, and her arm keeps brushing against his. I know her well enough to recognize the look in her eyes—the exact opposite of the one she had when that drunken idiot was hitting on her earlier.
She likes him.
I take another swig from my beer just so I don’t have to keep looking at them.
He doesn’t even know her. Not like I do. I knew Aria when she was a gangly teenager, all bangs and braces, and then when she transformed into a stunning, sophisticated woman. I was there through all those years and I know her almost as well as my own sister. I know her favorite color, her favorite foods, that she fidgets with her necklace when she's nervous and will always re-read a favorite book instead of picking up a new one.
I can’t help but let my gaze wander over to Aria again. She looks good, her tight blue top showing off her gorgeous curves and full tits. Did she dress up for Tom?
She’s twisting a piece of her blonde hair around her finger as she talks to him, her little nose scrunching in amusement at something he says. When she turns to grab her drink, our eyes meet.
It feels like I’m being sucker-punched in the gut every time she looks at me lately. I don't know what's gotten into me.
Her blue eyes narrow at me from across the table and I can see that she wants to say something. She’s probably still pissed at me from earlier, always making a big fight out of nothing. Jessie likes that about her, her spark and fire. I just try to keep my burns to a minimum most days.
“What?” I challenge.
“Oh, nothing. I just wanted to introduce you to Tom. He’s the new guy from work that Jessie mentioned.” She has her hand on his arm.
I nod across the table at him, not liking the way his gaze is fixed on the dip in Aria’s shirt while she’s talking to me—my douche radar is going off.
“Tom, this is Nathan, Jessie’s brother.”
His eyes dart over to me before she can see how he’s leering at her admittedly enticing cleavage. “Hey, man, nice to meet you. Jessie's great, she's really been fun to work with. Are you here with anyone or...?”
Aria laughs, smirking at me. “Nathan with a date? Please. He’d have to learn how to treat a woman nicely first.”
Her bitter tone catches me by surprise. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a date, sure, but I’ve never mistreated any woman I’ve taken out. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, I don’t know... how about scaring away someone’s date so they have to go to prom alone? Or getting them grounded for two weeks so they miss out on summer camp? Sound familiar?”
I’m speechless for a long second.
“You do realize those things happened years ago, right? When we were teens? If you want to get technical, you were a girl then, not a woman. You can’t seriously still be holding onto grudges from then.”
She splutters adorably for a second. “Yeah, well, it’s funny how old wounds feel so fresh when I have to be around you.”
I finish my drink with a grin. She always has to have the last word.
Tom clears his throat. “So, are you guys exes or something?”
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Aria look so surprised. It was like Tom had just dumped his drink in her lap. “What? Us? God, no.”
I’m surprised by the little pang that her horrified tone sends through me. At least she knows her worth. I like to think she's barely dated over the years because she knows all these jerks don't actually deserve her. Her last boyfriend was an ass, always treating her like his property and flirting with other girls right in front of her. Jessie had to stop me from decking him more than once. I still think about him sometimes and what I'd do if I saw him on the street.
“Yeah, no way,” I reassure Tom. “Hell would freeze over first.”
He looks embarrassed. “Sorry, I didn't mean to—”
“It's fine.” Aria stands from the table abruptly. “Would you like to buy me a drink? I could use another one.” He nods so she pulls him away from the table and towards the bar before I can say anything. But when I look over my shoulder, I see him guiding her through the crowd with a possessive arm around her back.
Why do I care? We don’t even like each other, we never have. I’ve always been Jessie’s overprotective older brother trying to ruin their fun. Yeah, okay, maybe I was a little harsh or too serious sometimes after mom died. She made me promise to look out for Jessie and I overdid it for a year or two, scaring away most of her friends that I thought were too wild for her. The only one who stuck around was Aria.
But Jessie and I worked that out and we moved on. It's Aria who could never let
it go. She's so stubborn like that.
A few women come up to me over the next hour but I politely express my lack of interest. I'm too busy keeping an eye on Aria with Tom, making sure he’s keeping his hands to himself. She has another drink and when Kenzie and Sam join them to talk for a while, I’m strangely relieved. Tom just looks disappointed to be interrupted, ha.
But not as disappointed as he looks when Aria starts hugging the girls, always a sign that she’s calling it a night. When she skips over him for a hug and only says something briefly, I nearly laugh at his deflated expression. That’s right, Tom, she’s not some easy hookup.
She comes over and grabs her purse from the table, not looking at me.
“Poor Tom,” I comment, getting her attention. “He looks pretty disappointed over there.”
Her eyes narrow. “I’m sure he’ll survive.”
That grabs my interest. “Ouch, that’s cold. Tom wasn’t doing it for you? But he seems like such an interesting guy.” So interesting that I’d nearly fallen asleep from what I’d overheard of their conversation.
She grins before she catches herself, clearing her throat. “Don’t be rude, you didn’t even try to talk to him. He’s very... nice.”
Coming from Aria, that means boring.
“So nice that you didn’t give him your number? You clearly can’t wait to see him again.”
“Are you just sitting over here watching everyone like a creep? Get a life.” She tosses her golden hair over her shoulder. “And, not that it’s any of your business, but I’ll be seeing him at work on Monday. Maybe I’m trying to not seem overeager. Playing hard to get or whatever it's called.”
Is she being serious? That guy isn’t worth that level of thought or effort from her. Aria is miles out of his league. He wouldn't even know what to do with a woman like her.
“You’re joking, right?”
I can practically see her bristle defensively—she’s never had much of a poker face. “What’s with the third degree? Why do you even care?”