by Logan Chance
Let me share my story with you. It doesn’t have a happy ending, just like the book I had stayed up all night reading didn’t. I was tired the next morning, and my coworker had given me these from her PR package, so I thought, ‘Sure, I’ll try it.’ I drank one before the most important meeting of my life. Big mistake.
This is not success in a can. Don’t drink the kool aid, people. Or actually, do. Maybe you won’t bounce off the walls and lose your dream client. Thanks, Max. Thank you for my failure. I hope you have a losing season.
And then, I press the submit button. Take that, Maxwell Hunter.
FINISH READING, AVAILABLE NOW.
SNEAK PEEK COLD HEARTED BASTARD
Cold Hearted Bastard is the next release of LOGAN, the trope-y fun pen name of Logan Chance.
This story features a sexy firefighter.
Hope you enjoy chapter one…
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Chapter One
Olivia
* * *
Present day
* * *
Five Things. That’s the title of the video I’m streaming. Corbin Carmack is the star, but tonight he won’t be on camera, even though he’s the best known firefighter in all of New York. Being a hero won’t make this a great story. People cheer for heroes, sure, but they find themselves in villains. They find all of those dark demented parts that you try to hide from public view, yet can’t seem to escape in the light of day, no matter how much sunshine is on your shoulders.
I’m not proud of the lengths I’m about to go to earn Corbin’s attention, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and I’m Susan Mayer type of desperate right now for him to take notice of me.
I’ve made him famous in all the wrong ways. I’ve lied, cheated, and snooped through his life uninvited by bullying my way in and deceiving him. And now, because of me, the whole world (at least most of America) knows his most precious secret.
I pull one of my heavy iron-backed dining chairs into the center of my living room, fixed right in front of my camera that rests on a tripod. The lighting is good thanks to the orange glow of a setting sun, but that won’t matter soon. The sun will be replaced by flames of a different sort, and these won’t hide themselves lovingly behind the neon blue of the moon.
They say there are at least five things kept secret in every person that no one knows about them, no matter what. Shit you’ll go to the grave with before you tell another soul. Thanks to my dirty work revealing five things about Corbin, he’s now known as New York’s Cold Hearted Bastard. A betrayer. A traitor.
So it seems only fair that I should begin my film with a list of things about myself. I take a seat in front of the warm light, feeling the soft, cushy padding settle under me as I stare into the lens. My pulse quickens and I pull in a deep breath.
“I’m Olivia Poppins,” I tell the audience. “And there are five things you don’t know about me. One. I’ve never done anything like this before. Two. I’ve never wanted a stranger. Three. I’m going to extremes, things that are illegal, things that could get me tossed in jail, just to steal glimpses of him. Four. For the last two months I’ve blown off friends, family and everything in between just to stay up late at night and watch this video as I pleasure myself to sleep. And five, well … number five is kind of tricky ...”
I look away and try not to cry as I recall meeting Corbin Carmack that fateful night. I first saw him when he made national news, rescuing my neighbor’s baby boy from their burning house in our Blue Bay subdivision. She was screaming from the front lawn, her husband Thomas clutching her in his arms as she begged for him to let her go, because their son was still trapped inside. I watched as Corbin jumped down from his blaring fire truck without a second thought and charged right into the flames of hell. I could feel the heat threatening to scorch my skin from where I stood behind the safety of the barricades. But he just swooped in like it was a walk in the park. Even with the protective gear on, I couldn’t imagine being that fearless or that daring. But he was.
After a few moments he emerged with the baby clutched to him, Corbin’s mask over the baby’s face to give him oxygen while he sucked smoke. And afterward, everyone stood there in their pajamas and robes applauding his effort, and I’m sure, like normal people, went back to sleep, went back to living their lives. I must be strange, or deranged, because the first thing I did that night was look up the heroic rescue to find out his name. It was right there online, like everything else I had found. His name, phone number, address, hell, even his email address. It told me his family member’s names, and while I had a lot of trouble finding anyyyyything about Corbin on social media, his mom has a penchant for posting every single thing about herself. Her name’s Lisa and she loves to cook, fish, and Jesus. And this is why I’m beginning to unravel. This is why I’m going to more drastic measures to get close to him. I can’t take it anymore. He’s consuming my every single thought. I wake with him on my brain. I go to sleep with him on my brain. On my fingertips. On my fingertips that wander down into the hem of my panties when I should be getting a full night’s worth of rest so I can wake in the morning fully refreshed and ready to teach a classroom full of kindergarteners. Ugh. See? I’m supposed to set an example for the next generation. And here I am breaking laws and moral codes. I’m hunting this person down and trying to dig into their life because I have a sick need to get closer to a total stranger. In reality, when I step back and think about what I’ve done, I know it’s wrong. I know that we’ll never be together, in love, or any kind of real relationship. But when I stare at him on the screen, all I see is a man that I want to submit myself to. I want him to look into my eyes and fuck me raw. I want his sweet nothings in the morning. I want him holding me in bed with his strong tattooed arms, smelling like smoke and fire. I want it all. Ah shit, the smoke alarm is going off…my lungs are starting to fight...Just relax, it will be over soon. I can’t just walk up to the firehouse and introduce myself. Offer myself up as some kind of prize. I’ve done all my research and I know what he likes. I’ve sat and watched from across the street, parked at the post office as they get an order from Rosario’s Italian delicatessen every Friday. I know every morning at five-thirty am until eight-forty am he’s at the gym. He runs treadmill first, then weights, then back to the treadmill. He likes to stop at JoJo Juice and orders a mix of pomegranate, cherries, kale, and pineapple after his workout. There’s no girlfriend coming in and out of his home. I’ve watched the videos of him no less than forty-two times. No ring. There’s no baby mama drama of swapping kids on weekends. It’s just him. Day in, day out. Until one day…it isn’t.
And that’s when all the trouble began.
“911 what’s your emergency?”
Like I said, I’ve never done anything like this in my life. It’s the very first way we ever met.
And I think it’s fitting it will also be our last.
If he gets here on time.
If he will show up at all after what I’ve done.
With a deep breath I face the camera again. “Hello, Hightower Hills. You know me as Olivia Poppins, your social media coordinator, but tonight I’m here to set the record straight. I’ve told you the first four things about myself, but what you don’t know is that I’ve committed a terrible sin against this department’s most beloved fireman. I feel the only way to make it right is to let him know I’m willing to do anything to get my story out.”
I breathe as smoke starts to fill the room, choking me instantly until I nearly gag. “So, here’s number five. I set my house on fire last year just to meet Corbin Carmack. And tonight, I am going to do it again.”
Be sure to add Cold Hearted Bastard to your Goodreads TBR.
This read is coming early September.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Logan Chance is a USA Today, Top 20 Amazon, KDP All-Star, and KDP All-Star UK bestselling author with a quick wit and penchant for the simple things in life: Star Wars, music, and smart girls wh
o love to read. He was nominated best debut author for the Goodreads Choice Awards in 2016. His works can be classified as Dramedies (Drama+Comedies), featuring a ton of laughs and many swoon worthy, heartfelt moments.
Logan Chance can also be known for writing under his new pen name Logan, with the fun and witty romantic tropes we all love.
ALSO BY LOGAN CHANCE
RENDEZVOUS (THIS IS A PERMAFREE BOOK. CLICK TO DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY TODAY)
MAFIA ROMANCE
The Deceit Duet
BRIDE Book One
GROOM Book Two
TAKEN
WE ALL FALL DOWN
THE PLAYBOY SERIES
PLAYBOY, BROTHER’S BEST FRIEND ROMCOM
HEARTBREAKER, ANGSTY ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS ROMANCE
STUCK, MOVIE STAR STEPBROTHER ROMCOM
LOVE DOCTOR, BOSS/EMPLOYEE ROMCOM
THE SEX ME SERIES
DATE ME
STUDY ME
SAVE ME
BREAK ME
SEXY STANDALONES
THE NEWLYFEDS
GRAHAM
THE BOSS DUET
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR READING GROOM. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE DECEIT DUET.