Love like Yours Series (Box Set #1-4)

by Nicole S. Goodin

  I had no idea when it had happened, but she had become so much more than I ever intended her to be. I had to have all of her – not just in my bed.

  God... she is everything.

  This whole ‘let’s be friends’ business was a tough gig. I was cursing myself for ever suggesting it.

  I was just about to check my watch for the hundredth time when the elevator doors slid open... and there she was. I don’t know how it was possible, but every time I saw her, she was more breathtaking. She looked up and quickly scanned the room. I felt like the luckiest son of a bitch in the world that this beautiful woman was looking for me.

  Even if we are just friends.

  She must have felt my eyes on her because she turned and looked directly at me. Her nose crinkled up in the most adorable way when she realized she was being watched, and she gave me a nervous wave. I pushed off the wall and stalked towards her.

  “You look beautiful,” I told her as I lightly brushed a stray curl from her face.

  She laughed and gave me a small shove. “You are so full of shit. You saw me a few hours ago and I look exactly the same now as I did then.”

  I laughed at her. Not many women would speak to me like that. I knew I was an intimidating guy, and I liked that El didn’t seem to have too much trouble putting me in my place.

  I held my hands up in mock surrender. “Hey, I thought you looked beautiful then too, I just didn’t tell you.”

  She gave me a shy smile. “Shall we go?”

  I grabbed the coat she had slung over her arm and helped her into it. It smelled of her and I had a hard time keeping my hands to myself – as it was, I lingered a little longer than necessary. I stood close behind her and ran my hand along her collar, sweeping her hair out from under the jacket. I felt her shudder under my touch, and I couldn’t help the smug smile that spread across my face.

  “You’re already shivering and we aren’t even outside yet.” I teased her over her shoulder.

  She leaned back until her back was pressed firmly up against my front and turned her head slightly so her warm breath hit my face. My own breath came out in shallow pants as I felt her body against mine. She fit perfectly against me and I got lost in the rounded curve of her ass.

  “Seems I’m not the only one affected by the temperature in here,” she whispered against the side of my face. She laughed and pushed back slightly before walking off ahead of me.

  Tease.

  I chuckled as I realized that my overwhelming desire for this woman was leaving me a little behind the eight ball. I followed the sway of her hips towards the doors, something I decided I would happily be doing a lot of. I caught up to her and held the door open for her, she regarded me with an amused expression before stepping out into the street. The rapidly dropping air temperature hit us as soon as we stepped outside.

  “Holy shit it’s cold,” she squeaked. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to this,” she said between shivers.

  I took her arm, and when she didn’t protest I linked it through mine. “It’s actually starting to warm up a little. I wanted to get away for the weekend to board but now I doubt it’s gonna happen.”

  “You snowboard?” She looked up at me with excitement in her eyes.

  God, that look will be the death of me.

  “Yeah, definitely. I love it. Did Quinn ever tell you how good she is on a set of skis? Our grandparents took us all the time when we were kids.”

  “She may have bragged about it from time to time.” She smiled bigger. “I’ve always wanted to learn to snowboard, it looks like fun.”

  As we pushed through the doors to the bar, the plan in my head solidified.

  If that’s what the lady wants...

  I just needed Quinn on my side. Probably Reeve too... and a whole lot of luck.

  24. Quinn

  He is so sweet.

  When I arrived at the bar across the road from the office, Colt was already sitting down with my favorite beer waiting for me. I smiled as he caught my eye across the room and his own face lit up with a huge smile.

  If he were ten years older, I might just marry him right now.

  I felt bad for thinking about him that way, but there was no denying he really was too young. I repeated my cheesy new mantra in my head.

  He might not be Mr. Right, but there is no reason he can’t be Mr. Right Now.

  I leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, his hand lingered on my hip and he whispered in my ear, “You look good, Quinn.” There was definitely a spark between us, and I knew that we had more sexual chemistry than most, but something was missing. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what is was, but it was still lingering there in the back of my mind.

  We had been out on only one date, but had met here twice since then. We’d spent time having a drink and talking. I had enjoyed his company a lot more than I expected to. And it felt nice to have somebody so interested in me and what I had to say. The surprise date that he’d planned for me was amazing fun. We had gone ice skating, and I had loved every minute of it. It didn’t hurt that his hands were constantly on my hips, or that I had used his firm biceps for support on more than one occasion.

  “I got you your usual,” he said as he nodded towards my drink and took a swig of his own.

  “Thank you, it’s just what I need after the week I’ve had.”

  He was so patient. He just looked at me with raised brows and waited for me to explain.

  “It’s nothing in particular, it’s just been so busy getting the branch up and running with El, and I’ve been doing the hiring for some of the positions we still had to fill. It’s just been a busy time.” I gave him a reassuring smile. “But enough about me. How was your day?”

  “My day was pretty similar to yours, actually. Long. I had to hire three new bartenders since the club is so busy, and my brothers and I have decided that I will now be the one in charge full-time. Since they both have other crazy jobs, it just makes more sense.”

  “That’s awesome, I know you’ve been hoping for a little more freedom at the club. I’m excited to see what you do.”

  He smiled at me even bigger and nodded in agreement. “I’m actually really excited too, it’s gonna be a hell of a lot of work, but it’ll be worth it to get that place to where I know it can be.”

  He had a real eye for seeing the potential in an idea. We had talked about his visions and he had some amazing plans for the club.

  I felt my phone buzz in my pocket at the same time I spotted my brother and best friend walk in the door. I quickly checked the message and frowned when I saw it was from Lawson. I glanced up at him again to check if he had seen me and locked eyes with him.

  He’s up to something.

  He had a gleam in his eye that told me he needed something from me.

  “I Need help. Can we talk alone? asap.”

  My brother had been all over the place since our night out a couple of weeks back. He’d shown up at our offices every single day, and only one or two of those visits had he even come to see me. I could see how gaga he was over El – I just couldn’t figure out why he was playing the friend card instead of pursuing her like he would with any other woman.

  “Hey, sis.” Lawson pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Colt.” They gave each other one of those guy handshakes where they smack palms and bump fists and so on. I raised my eyebrows at him, but the subtle shake of his head told me he wasn’t talking in front of El.

  He is so fucked.

  I smirked at him.

  “Hey, Colt, good to see you again.” Ellerslie smiled at him warmly – I knew she liked him. She wasn’t nearly as concerned about the whole toy-boy/cougar aspect as I was.

  “You too, Ellerslie, we’ll have to get you back in the club again sometime soon, it was a good time.”

  El laughed.

  “Gah, you can go without me, I swear I was hungover for three days after that,” I replied.

  “Don’t sweat it, Q, you’re just gett
ing old,” Lawson teased. He’d been doing that a lot lately, teasing me about being older. I was willing to put money on my so-called best friend ratting me out about how old Colt was. Then again, Lawson could have just asked him – Colt had no idea I was looking to keep his age on the down low.

  I chose to pretend I didn’t notice his intentions. “You forget your walking stick today, old man?”

  He just chuckled and asked El what she wanted to drink. “Surprise me?” She smiled at him.

  I caught Lawson’s eye as he got up to head to the bar. “I’ll come with you, get another round.”

  ***

  “Are you mad? Tomorrow?” I looked at Lawson like he’d lost his marbles.

  I actually think he has this time.

  “I know it’s short notice, but—”

  I interrupted him with a very unladylike snort. “Short notice? That would have been a week ago, Law.”

  “I know. I know. But just listen. One of my guys from work has a place near there that we should be able to use, and then we would just have to pack up and go first thing.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. This was not exactly my brother’s usual style. He tended to be a planner. Making sure that all the details were in place before he ripped in and got stuck into something. It was what made him so great at his job – he saw the big picture and planned for every detail.

  “Okay. I’ll go along with this... if you tell me why you really want to go in such a hurry.”

  “I’ve been wanting to go for weeks. Then Ells said she’s always wanted to go—”

  “Ahhh, there it is,” I interrupted him again.

  He looked confused. “What?”

  “This is all for her isn’t it?” I grinned at him. “You’ve got it bad. Not that I blame you, the woman is a goddess, and you haven’t even tried her homemade pancakes yet, they are amaz—”

  “Quinn. Focus. We are... we’re just friends. It’ll be fun. Please?”

  I shook my head at his blatant lie. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, buddy. I’m not buying it, but yeah I’ll go. And I’ll sneak around and pack her bag and shit so you can swoop in and surprise her.” I winked at him. “Just one condition.”

  “Name it.”

  “I’m bringing a plus one.”

  ***

  We’d been at the bar for another hour or so when Lawson excused himself to make a call. He came back with a giant smile plastered on his face, which I took to mean we could use the house he was hoping for.

  I had whispered the details to Colt while El and Lawson were having yet another flirty debate. Colt hadn’t even hesitated when I’d asked him to come. All that was left was to get Reeve in on the plan. Whether or not he wanted to come, I still needed him to get El out of the apartment for half an hour so I could get my sneak on.

  I sent him a text.

  “Surprise snowboarding trip tomorrow courtesy of my brother. Wanna come? Need you to get El out of our place for half an hour so I can pack for her. Help me?!”

  His reply came quickly.

  “Done. And shit yes I’ll come. Can I bring Lisa?”

  I smiled thinking about Reeve and Lisa, she seemed to be a really sweet girl and they were good together.

  God, it’ll be like a bloody triple date.

  “Definitely. Colt is coming too. Does she need me to sweet talk her out of any shifts?”

  “Nah she’s got the weekend off. Save the sweet talk for the bedroom.”

  Smart prick.

  I smirked.

  Well maybe I will.

  “I’m anything but sweet in the bedroom.”

  I laughed at his reply.

  “Jesus, Quinn. You know I can’t un-see shit like that, right? I’ll text her now.”

  I grinned as I chucked my phone back in my bag and waited for Reeve’s plan to be put into action.

  ***

  “That’s weird. Reeve just text to see if I can come up to his place when we get home. Something about my divorce.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she typed out her reply.

  Lawson looked at her with a worried expression before I caught his eye and winked at him. He looked from me to El and back again and laughed lightly as he shook his head. “Well, I hope it’s all good, Ells.”

  ***

  After Reeve’s text message, El had asked if we could leave sooner rather than later – I felt a little guilty for making her worry, but I knew she’d forgive me.

  Maybe Reeve really does need to talk to her about her divorce anyway.

  She had gone straight up to his place and I knew I had to work fast. I found a huge suitcase in the hallway cupboard and headed into her closet. I stuffed anything that looked warm in and then looked around for underwear and pajamas. It was probably a little weird that I took a bit of extra time to pick out some of Ellerslie’s lacy sets, but I decided I didn’t give a shit. My brother and her weren’t going to be able to carry on like this forever.

  Wary of being caught, I wheeled the case into my bedroom and shut the door. Anything she didn’t have we would be able to buy or hire when we got there. I had to admit that this secret, short notice business was actually pretty damn exciting. I hoped that El wouldn’t mind having her weekend taken over, although I had a feeling that as long as Lawson was there, she wouldn’t be complaining about anything at all.

  25. Ellerslie

  “Are you kidding me?” I screamed and threw myself into my brother’s arms. “Are you for real, Reeve? This better not be a joke.”

  Reeve grinned down at me and swung me around in a circle. “No joke, honey. It’s over. He signed it. You can really move on now.”

  “But how... he was so set on the money...”

  “I went to visit him.”

  I gasped. “What? When?”

  “I decided the best way to sort out an intimidating little prick was to intimidate him right back. He wasn’t happy, but let’s just say I can be very persuasive when I want to be.”

  “Is it wrong that I hope you roughed him up a bit?” I squeezed him tight before shaking my head in disbelief. “Eeeeek. I can’t believe you pulled this off so quickly. Well I can – I mean you’re an amazing lawyer, but I’m still shocked.” I smiled at him and gripped his biceps. “Thank you so much for this, you have no idea what a weight off my shoulders this is.”

  Sadness filled his eyes. “I do know, El. I’ve never seen you so down on yourself. I’m just glad to see that spark back in your eyes.” He picked me up and swung me around again as I dissolved into a fit of giggles. It felt amazing to be so free. To be able to act like Reeve and I were just kids again for a minute. When we were younger he would always pick me up and swing me around like I weighed nothing.

  I have the best big brother in the world.

  “We need to celebrate, I’m gonna treat you tomorrow and you’re not going to fight me on it,” I insisted.

  Reeve slung his arm over my shoulders as he walked me back to the elevator. “Sure thing. Now get some rest, who knows what tomorrow might bring.”

  He had a mischievous gleam in his eyes, but for once I was content not interrogating him for details on what he meant. I was on cloud nine that I could finally put Baxter Dent and our disaster of a marriage behind me.

  Forever.

  ***

  “You aren’t going to believe it!” I yelled out in the direction of the kitchen where I could hear Quinn.

  She looked up from the leftovers she was demolishing with a guilty look on her face. “What? Did he say something?”

  She is such a weirdo sometimes.

  I stopped and looked her over quizzically before remembering my news. I jumped up and down on the spot. “Baxter signed. I’m divorced!”

  The fork Quinn was eating with dropped to the counter with a loud clatter. “Holy. Fucking. Shit.” She launched herself at me and enveloped me in a bear hug. “He really did it. Holy shit! How?”

  I wiped away the few stray tears that had formed in the corners of my eyes. “I’m not 100 p
ercent sure... I’m not sure I want to know. But he went to to see him and came back with it signed, so I don’t really give two hoots how it got done.”

  “I’m so happy for you, El. I mean... it’s a shitty situation. But it’s behind you now. That bastard is never going to stand between you and happiness again.” Quinn pulled back and wiped away a tear I’d missed. “You are happy, right?”

  I nodded my head. “It’s just a lot, you know? The past few months have been hard.” I snorted. “Shit, who am I kidding – it’s been hell. If it weren’t for you and my family, I think I would have drowned. Thank you for keeping my head above water, Q.”

  Quinn pulled me in for another hug. “Always,” she whispered.

  We both pulled away and laughed.

  “God, Q, when you get married, make sure he’s the right one. It hurts too damn much when you find out too late that he’s not.”

  Quinn just gave me a small smile and nodded her head. “I’m so sorry, El.”

  I quickly shook my head. “Don’t be. I’m not. Not anymore. I’m just glad I know now.”

  Quinn started jumping up and down and I burst out laughing as I joined her. “Holy shit I got my girl back.”

  I threw my head back and laughed even louder.

  God, I love this girl.

  ***

  I pulled the hair band from my loose bun and let my mass of curls fall freely around my shoulders. I rested my head back on my pillow and pulled the covers over myself. The best bit about the cold out here was getting snuggled into bed under my warm covers. It was almost as good as having a warm body to cuddle up next to.

  Almost, but not quite... not his body anyway.

  Dammit, there my thoughts were – right back to Lawson. I had managed to stop myself from texting him the minute I found out that Baxter had signed the divorce papers, but now, a couple of hours and a few red wines later, my resolve was crumbling.

  “I talked to Reeve...”

  I had barely put my phone down on the bed when I heard it vibrate with a text message. The thought that he might have been waiting to hear from me made my stomach do little flips.