THE HOT BAD BOYS BOX SET: A Bad Boy Romance Collection

by Wood, Lauren

  At first when the car pulled up, I was checking messages on my phone and wasn’t paying too much attention. I saw the vehicle that wasn’t Kendra’s and I half-thought that it was going to be Callise. They were together a lot, Kendra talked about her a lot, but I was wrong. Instead she was with a man and I instantly felt my face getting red and my heart pounding in my chest. We had just been together the night before. How could she just go with another man so soon after?

  Every part of me told me to stay in the car, but I wasn’t listening to reason. I was listening to the voice that told me to find out what was going on and to make sure that whatever man she was with did not think that she was available. She wasn’t. Kendra was mine, had been for a long time and I wasn’t going to let her slip through my fingers once more. I just couldn’t.

  Opening the car door, the two didn’t hear me. Kendra was giggling in a voice that I didn’t like when it wasn’t directed at me. Something he said was funny, but it had my teeth on edge. Who the hell was this guy? Didn’t she feel anything from last night?

  Chapter 98

  Kendra

  “Dennis? Is that you?”

  I squinted into the darkness as I saw a man walking up. It was too dark to see him really, but it was the way he walked that made me think of Dennis. Dennis has the same slow cantor. He had this look on his face that I didn’t quite understand. He looked upset, but I wasn’t sure why.

  Craig said something next to me, asking who it was, but I waved him off. He didn’t matter. We had just gotten back from grabbing something to eat after work. He wanted to come in for a drink and since I figured it was too early to call it night, I had agreed to just one. Craig was a good friend and he was always good to help me forget about life’s problems for a little while. Dennis was the problem right now and I didn’t like the way that Dennis was looking at Craig.

  “Yeah, I was waiting for you. I thought we were going to have dinner tonight and see what happens. I didn’t know that you were going to be with someone else.”

  I almost corrected him to tell him that me and Craig were just friends, but I didn’t like the assumptions he was taking like it was a given that I was going to spend my evening with him. If I remembered right, I had texted him and told him that I wasn’t going to be pursuing anything else with him. Did he not get it? I thought I had made myself quite clear.

  “Well I didn’t know that we had any plans…” I didn’t want to have to explain myself because I shouldn’t have to. He should have just get the picture, but that didn’t seem to be the way of him. He was still eying Craig and I could tell that my colleague was getting nervous. Craig was not a very aggressive man. Dennis was nothing but aggression at the moment. It didn’t bother me of course, I knew he was harmless to me, but I was starting to get a little worried about him being around Craig. Dennis was known to fight when he felt jealousy as he was feeling now. It didn’t bode well if he kept eyeballing Craig that way. I didn’t want the two getting into a fight because of a misunderstanding.

  I got the door open and I told Craig to go in and grab a beer out of the fridge. I would be in after a minute, but first I had to square things away with Dennis. He was upset and I knew that look better than most. He was about to lose his shit and I didn’t want him to take it out on Craig. The man had done nothing wrong.

  Letting Craig get inside, I finally looked up at Dennis and I could tell that he was even madder than before. I was mad as well. He didn’t have any say in what I did and who I saw. Dennis was way out of line.

  “What are you doing here Dennis? We already talked about this. I thought you understood what I was saying. You can’t be here.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you are looking at the guy I work with like you are going to skin him alive or something. We are just friends and you don’t own me, so why are you here acting like you are going to start something?”

  “I didn’t say I own you Kendra, but you are mine. Don’t forget that.”

  I was exasperated with him. Dennis was a very smart man. He had to see what he was doing to me and how awkward of a situation he had put me in. It was hard to not be a little irritated with him, though I had known Dennis a while. This is just how he was sometimes. While it was hard to deal with and I wanted to screw his head off, I should have seen it coming.

  “Dennis, we had sex one time in a decade. I don’t think that constitutes as me being yours.”

  He moved towards me and pulled me against his chest. His hand cupped my chin and pulled me in for a kiss. I couldn’t get away from it and I don’t think that I wanted to. I heard a soft mewl and I knew that it was me. The front door was still open, but I didn’t care that Craig could see us. He really wasn’t my type and I didn’t look at him that way, at all.

  Dennis pushed me against the side of the building and his hands moved to roam over my body. He knew exactly what he was doing and before I knew it I was dying for him again. Right here, right now. When his hands moved between my legs, I had to stop him panting.

  “We are outside Dennis.”

  “So, invite me in and we can go upstairs to your bedroom.”

  I giggled at him before I remembered that he wasn’t supposed to be here. “Seriously Dennis. You have to call before you come over. You can’t just pop up and expect me to drop everything. I have someone over right now.”

  “Are you dating him?”

  I gave him a look and shook my head that I wasn’t. “Like I said, we are just friends. Is that why you are here? To make sure that I am not dating anyone?”

  “I was here because I got us some dinner and I wanted to see you. I got that text earlier and I figured you were just messing around. If not, I wanted to know why you were willing to write us off so quickly after the amazing night we had together.”

  I really couldn’t believe him sometimes. It was times like this where Dennis showed his true colors. The last thing that I wanted to do was have to explain it. But I guess I was going to have to. The man never was told no, but I didn’t have that same problem.

  “We aren’t really together Dennis. You wanted to come by for the night and we had a really good time, we always do, but that doesn’t mean that we are back together. Nothing has changed between us. You can’t just show up whenever you want to. I think Craig was about to piss his pants. There was no reason for that.”

  Dennis smiled with the comment, but I could tell that he wasn’t very happy. The expression didn’t meet his now hard eyes. I thought he was going to kiss me again and I took another step back to give us some room.

  He chuckled and said something about marking his turf. I didn’t like the idea of being turf to anyone.

  “Dennis I got to go. If you want, I will call you tomorrow and we can set something up. I work all week though.”

  He agreed, but there was a big part of him that didn’t want to. I could see it in the way he opened his mouth and then shut it again, thinking better of whatever it was that he wanted to say. He was still mad, but he left and I took a deep breath before I went in. Craig had this look on his face like I had some explaining to do, but I didn’t want to say anything to him. I didn’t want to explain it. But I wasn’t going to have a choice.

  “Who was that? He looks familiar.”

  “It’s an old friend of mine from high school.” I didn’t tell Craig what his last name was, in fear that he would have heard of him. It was a bit more than I was willing to do right now.

  “Yeah, but he looks so familiar. Does he live around here?”

  While Craig was trying to place him, I had a feeling that he had seen a magazine cover with him recently on it.

  “No, he doesn’t live on this side of the city.” I wanted to leave it like that, but Craig started pressuring me and I finally just came out with his full name. Then the connection was made and he was looking at me in a way that I didn’t want him to. I didn’t want him to look at me like that. Craig was a friend and now he was wondering out loud why I never told him about Denn
is.

  “Me and Dennis were together years ago, long before he took over his father’s business and became so rich. When we were in school, he had an after school job because his dad made sure that he had work ethic, which Dennis has in spades now.”

  Craig nodded his head, but he was still stumped and I was stumped as well. I didn’t know what else to say, but I noted the way his eyebrow went up when I said something about us dating. I had wanted to keep it just about us being friends.

  “Well I will never be able to compete with that Kendra.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you really not see that I have been into you since we started working together?”

  I knew that Craig liked me, had known for a while, but I figured that he understood that I didn’t like him like that. He was a great friend and co-worker, but I didn’t have the same romantic feelings for him that he obviously had for me. How was I supposed to answer that comment without hurting his feelings?

  “Craig, it is complicated. We work together and I can’t imagine losing you as a friend. Trust me when I say that I am a far better friend than I am a girlfriend.”

  He didn’t seem to hear me and started to get closer. It was the look in his eyes that made me back step. I didn’t want to give him any ideas, though I had always been careful not to. Where was all of this coming from now?

  “I know that it is complicated, but I can’t deny that I wish you could just look at it in its simplistic form. I care for you and you care for me, why not see what happens?”

  Craig was advancing and then there was nowhere else to go because the edge of the counter was in my back, I didn’t know what to say or what to do. All I knew was that this wasn’t going to happen. “Craig I mean it. Stop. I don’t want to do this.”

  His face held a touch of rage before he smoothed it over with a smile. I wish I hadn’t seen it because now I knew how he felt. Was he like Dennis, thinking that he somehow had a hold on me or that he was owed something?

  “I don’t get you sometimes Kendra. You give me smiles like that, making me think something could happen and then shut me down. I am not going to wait around for you forever. That guy isn’t going to marry you. He is richer than most of the city and men like that don’t settle for women like you.”

  I was shocked with the vitriol in his voice. I had never seen his face so screwed up in anger before, no matter how long I had known him. It was a side of Craig that I had never seen before and I didn’t want to even look at him when he was like that. Why was everyone in my life being so possessive today?

  “I think you should leave Craig.”

  He turned to go, heading for the front door when he turned back around. His mouth opened and I braced myself for whatever he was going to do and say next. I can’t say that I was much looking forward to hearing it, but I was the type that thought getting it out was always better than keeping it in until someone explodes. Craig didn’t feel that way, just huffing and then leaving like I asked.

  It was going to be hard to go to work tomorrow. I knew that this wasn’t something that I wanted to linger, but I had a feeling that it was going to. Going to shut the door, I saw that Dennis’ car was still out front and I stopped for a second. What was he doing out here?

  I closed the door and sighed to myself. How had my life got so complicated all of a sudden when yesterday everything was fine?

  Chapter 99

  Dennis

  I watched the man leave her house not long after I did and I have to say that I felt good about it. I believed that she wasn’t with him in that way, the man was so much different than me, but it was even better to see him leave. Then I wouldn’t have to think about what was going on all night. I almost got out and knocked on her door. We had a lot to talk about but right now wasn’t the time for that. I didn’t miss the look that she gave me before she shut the door. Instead I just left the flowers that I had gotten her and went back home.

  The next day I went to work and tried not to think about it. I had messed up again with her and I wished that I didn’t care as much as I did. But I did care and I knew that none of my old vices were going to make me feel any better. If I felt this way before, I would merely find a woman to be with and then I would forget about whatever it was that ailed me. If that didn’t work, there was always solace in the bottom of a bottle, but even that wasn’t working. It just made me think about her more.

  So I decided that I was going to ignore the gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach and I was going to forget about all of the things that could go wrong. She said she would contact me and to save myself from going absolutely mad, I was going to wait it out and see if she did or not. I knew that it was going to be hard, but losing Kendra again would have been harder.

  Work kept me busy for most of the week, but it was worth it. I just left her to her thoughts and finally on Friday she texted me. I wanted to ask her about Craig, but I knew better. When she just said hi, I waited for more, curious what it was that she wanted, but I knew that I wasn’t going to lead her on. I was going to let her tell me what was on her mind and then I would know better how to respond.

  “Let me just call you.”

  I waited for the phone to ring and my heart rate jumped a little when it did. I knew that it was her and again I didn’t like the anxiety I felt. I was not used to all of these feelings. I was used to running things. I was a man that ran most things, my business, money, women, everything, except Kendra.

  “Hey Dennis.”

  Her voice was soft and so sweet. I hoped that the timbre I heard in her voice was because she was in need. It was what it sounded like to me, but I could be wrong. Hell with Kendra, it seemed like I was always wrong.

  “Hey Kendra. What is going on?”

  “Not much. Just got off of work and I am deciding what I want to do this weekend. What are you doing?”

  I had a million things to do, meetings to have and a merger in the making, but for her, I would clear it all.

  “Not much of anything. Why, what’s up?”

  “I was wondering if you could do me a favor Dennis. I hate to ask you, but me and Craig aren’t really getting along at the moment and I need an extra adult for some plans I was trying to make.”

  It sounded promising and I liked the fact that she was arguing with Craig. It just made him further off the list as far as I was concerned.

  “Sure Kendra, what do you need?” I was really hoping that she would tell me that she wanted another night like last Sunday. I was still thinking about it and just the idea of it made me a little hard. Damn I forgot how this woman affected me. It was like I could never get enough of her.

  “One of the girls needs to go upstate and she wants to take a friend. To leave and go that far, I have to have another adult. This would be something that me and Craig did, but like I said before, we kind of had a falling out and he is not going to be able to make it. I would appreciate it so much if you could ride up with me.”

  “I didn’t mean to start anything between you and him. I really didn’t. I was just not expecting him there is all. When I saw you with another man, it just threw me off.”

  “It wasn’t like that, but what is done is done. I would really like her to go up there to see her parents. I am hoping to get her out of there, but I have to make sure that her house is ready to go back to. It’s kind of like an inspection and time for them to see if they can work past some of their problems. It is the whole point of this place and I would really like to help her. She hasn’t been home in so long.”

  It was not at all what I was thinking about, but the idea of going upstate with her didn’t seem to be such a bad idea. That meant some time together, even if it wasn’t alone. I am sure I could find a way to make that happen.

  “When and for how long?” I was asking just to see if I could figure out a way to get some alone time with her, but it didn’t matter what she said. I don’t care about any of that and would do anything to be with her. If that meant taking her up
there with a couple of her girls from work, I was okay with that. I would have agreed to anything.

  “Tomorrow we would leave and then it takes about four hours to drive up there from here. So most likely we would get a hotel for the night and then go back in the afternoon some time. I want to give her some time with her parents and then make our way back before Monday morning. I know it is a lot to ask and I am sure you have plenty of things to do, but I figured I would ask anyways. I don’t know who else to call.”

  “Of course I can help you Kendra. I am here for you in all ways.”

  She didn’t miss the innuendo. I could hear it in her voice. But she didn’t really respond to it either. I wanted to go to her and be inside of her, but I held off. I didn’t want to mess up the chance. Kendra was acting like a little bird and I didn’t want to scare her away.

  “Well I just need help with this right now Dennis. Are you sure you don’t mind? I am sure that you have a million things to do. I can’t imagine how busy a guy like you is.”

  “It’s fine, really. I am the boss so I don’t have to ask permission. I will move a few things around and I will be there in the morning to pick you up.”

  She breathed out a sigh of relief. It was the least I could do when I considered the fact that it was my fault her regular partner wasn’t speaking to her. I kind of felt bad, but at the end of the day, I was far more worried about taking his place.

  “Thanks Dennis, you don’t know what this means to me. I wasn’t going to call, but I didn’t know who else to call.”

  “It’s fine Kendra. I am glad you thought of me. Are you sure you don’t want any company tonight? I could bring over some pasta and wine.”

  I waited for her to answer, but the answer was no. I should have known, figured it was, but I held out hope. If not tonight, I was going to make it happen tomorrow night. If I had learned nothing else, face to face with my hands on her body always seemed to produce better results.