by Elle Kennedy
Dedication
This one’s for all the bad boys I wish I dated…
Chapter One
“Why are we here again?” Jake Bishop grumbled as he sidestepped a passing waiter.
His twin brother, Owen, sounded equally unenthused. “Because Mom said she’d murder us if we didn’t come.”
Right. Jake did recall a murder threat being hurled their way over breakfast this morning. Maybe it made him and O a pair of pansies, two grown men afraid of their mother, but Della Bishop was pretty damn formidable. Barely over five feet tall, with strands of silver threaded in her dark blonde hair, yet one glare from those sharp brown eyes and her sons didn’t stand a chance. At least Nate and Austin had managed to get out of this shindig, those lucky bastards. Nate, the eldest, was accompanying his wife on her latest concert tour and was probably on a bus making its way along the West Coast at that very moment, while Austin, the baby of the family, was currently running Nate’s pub in his absence.
If given the choice, Jake would’ve jumped at the chance to tend bar tonight, but Nate had specifically asked Austin—a not-so-covert attempt to keep their baby brother in town. Austin had been itching to flee Paradise ever since Owen’s wedding last month, but his family was determined to keep him here. At least until they figured out why Austin had been acting like an ornery ass for eight months now. So far, no one had managed to get him to talk about whatever was bugging him.
“I still don’t get why she bothers,” Owen said with a sigh, his gray eyes drifting in the direction of their mother, who was loitering near the tables that had been set up for the silent auction. “She gets so fucking involved in all this community crap, but we both know that everyone in town still whispers about her behind her back.”
“She knows it too,” Jake replied, swallowing the lump of bitterness that rose in his throat. “She thinks that if she shows them it doesn’t bother her, they’ll eventually quit gossiping.”
Which was unlikely. Although many of the residents were down-to-earth and accepting, Paradise still had its fair share of snobs. Like most of the people in this banquet hall tonight. The town’s wealthier residents continued to look down on the Bishop family, even though Henry Bishop had been dead for years. But his reputation had preceded him. A carousing, womanizing drunk who repeatedly—and openly—cheated on his wife. Jake and his brothers constantly endured unfair comparisons to their asshole father, but unlike his brothers, Jake had stopped caring a long time ago what people thought of him.
It was almost a game to him now. Act like the bad ass they thought he was, just to see them squirm.
He’d already made several people squirm tonight. The charity benefit his mother had helped organize was being held in the Paradise Golf and Country Club, a place Jake had never stepped foot in until an hour ago. The dress code had been listed as semi-formal, but the rich liked to go all out. Surrounded by all these cocktail gowns and tuxedos, Jake felt ridiculously underdressed in his black trousers and white dress shirt. He hadn’t shaved either, so his jaw boasted thick, ungentlemanly stubble. Just for fun, he’d fixed several menacing scowls on passing strangers, enjoying the way they blanched.
“Hey, boys,” a female voice said.
Jake glanced up, then frowned. Of course—who else would that haughty voice belong to than Lexie Price, the daughter of the town mayor? Wearing a dove-gray satin dress and strappy stilettos, with her blonde hair twisted into a fancy knot at the nape of her neck, Lexie looked every bit the ice princess she was. Jake had never been a fan of hers, and he still couldn’t figure out what had compelled his brother Nate to strike up a friendship with the woman. Lexie was tight with Nate and Owen’s wives too, which was pretty fucking mind-boggling.
He didn’t get it. Maybe Lexie had changed after he’d left town to join the army, but he couldn’t view her as anything other than the snobby bitch he remembered from high school.
“Hey, Lex,” Owen greeted her, leaning in to kiss her flawless porcelain cheek.
Jake wasn’t as gracious. He grunted out a hello, then focused on the makeshift stage that had been set up across the ballroom. “What’s the stage for again?” he asked, warily eyeing the runway and podium.
“The bachelor/bachelorette auction,” Lexie answered with a sigh.
“Maddie’s up for auction,” Owen reminded him. “That’s the other reason I’m here. To make sure the only man winning a date with my wife is me.”
Wife. Man, it was still so surreal. His twin brother was married. Owen was a husband. Jake couldn’t wrap his head around it. Like him, Owen had always been the quintessential bachelor—up until four months ago, anyway. But, surreal or not, he didn’t disapprove of O’s marriage to Maddie. If anything, he wanted to kick his twin for taking so long to see what was right in front of him.
“What about you?” Jake couldn’t rein in his snide tone as he looked at Lexie. “Why aren’t you up for auction?”
“Believe me, my parents tried to get me up there.” She shook her head, looking frustrated. “But I stood my ground, and my little sister ended up volunteering, so the folks are happy.” Her gaze slid over the crowd. “Shoot, my dad’s signaling me over. See you later.”
As Lexie drifted off, Owen leaned closer and said, “She gets anxiety attacks. Being the center of attention isn’t her thing.”
Jake blinked in surprise. He stared at Lexie’s retreating back, the confident gait of her long legs and the proud set of her shoulders. “I didn’t know that,” he admitted.
Owen shrugged. “There’s a lot you don’t know. Maybe if you came home more often…”
Great, another guilt trip. Austin wasn’t the only one who got lectured for his inability to stay put, but in Jake’s case, he had a valid reason. When he’d enlisted, he’d known it would involve being away from home for long stretches of time, and he hadn’t minded. Adventure was in his blood—and Paradise, quaint as it was, didn’t offer much in terms of adventure.
Bitterness lined his throat again. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice in the matter anymore. He was home now, and for good this time. His family, however, wasn’t privy to those details yet. He wasn’t ready to admit he’d been honorably discharged, especially since he didn’t feel too honorable at the moment.
Fuck. What he really needed right now was a distraction. A way to get his mind off his messed-up thoughts. A reason not to think about all the decisions he still had to make.
And what better distraction than sex? Hot, sweaty, break-the-bed sex. That’s what he needed, but he sure as hell wasn’t gonna find that here, in this ballroom filled with Paradise’s wealthy, stick-up-their-asses crowd.
“Wanna hit a bar when this thing is over?” he asked his brother.
Owen grinned. “Nope. My wife and I scheduled some makeup sex for tonight.”
“Who schedules makeup sex?”
“Well, we fight so often that makeup sex is pretty much a daily routine now,” Owen confessed, but he didn’t look too unhappy about it.
Jake rolled his eyes. He loved his new sister-in-law to death, but Maddie Bishop née Wilson was too hotheaded for her own good. So was Owen, which was probably why the couple bickered like crazy.
“Fine. Guess I’ll go solo,” he said with a shrug. “Could’ve used a wingman, though.”
Owen snorted. “Yeah right. You don’t need a wingman to get laid. I’ve seen you in action, bro. You walk into a place, snap your fingers, and a hot chick appears, ready to rip off her clothes. That’s how it always is with you, Mr. Macho Military Man.”
“That’s a lot of alliteration,” Jake said dryly.
“Am I wrong?”
“Nope.”
He didn’t bother being humble about it. Truth was, women were more than happy to get naked w
ith him, especially once they discovered he was Special Forces. He didn’t have to work hard to find a willing bedmate, and he sure as hell wasn’t complaining.
“Hey, who knows,” Owen said, as people began to gather around the stage, “maybe you’ll find your sex partner up there. Auction’s starting.”
“I’m not going to pay for sex,” Jake answered. An evil glint filled his eyes. “On second thought, maybe I’ll bid on Maddie.”
That earned him a deadly glare. “Do that and I’ll cut your balls off.”
The curtains on the stage rustled, then parted as Brandon Price strolled up to the podium. The mayor looked like his normal distinguished self, salt and pepper hair styled to perfection, lean body clad in an expensive tux.
“Good evening, everyone,” the man boomed into the microphone, his baritone voice bouncing off the mahogany-paneled walls. “Welcome to the sixth annual Paradise Charity Benefit. This year’s proceeds will be going to the Bethany Foundation, which provides support to families with autistic children. I wanted to thank you all in advance for…”
Jake tuned the man out. Mayor Price had a reputation for long-winded, boring-as-ass speeches, and tonight proved to be no exception. The man droned on for ten minutes before the auction finally got underway. The bachelorettes were being auctioned off first, and Jake rolled his eyes as Price introduced the first lucky female. Women being sold off for dates like cattle—he wondered if the autistic kids knew how their money was being raised.
“You know our first bachelorette from Sandra’s Cookies ’N Cakes,” Price began in a jovial tone. “Give a warm round of applause for Sandra Cohen.”
A plump brunette in unbelievably high heels and a dress with the lowest neckline Jake had ever seen stepped onto the stage from the wings. As she made her way down the runway, the mayor continued to spit out facts.
“Sandra is a Scorpio, enjoys sailing and hiking, and in her spare time, she bakes cookies for the annual Paradise Elementary School bake sale.”
Jake stifled a sigh, already bored as hell. He didn’t give a shit about Sandra Cohen and her love of sailing, nor did he care about the next woman who emerged from the curtains, a retired gardener older than his grandmother. To his amusement, someone in the crowd bid four hundred bucks on the granny, Price yelled sold and then the next bachelorette graced the stage.
A second later, an erection graced Jake’s crotch.
“Is that Bree?” Owen hissed, his head swiveling from the stage to his brother.
Since his entire mouth had turned into sawdust, Jake simply nodded. He couldn’t tear his eyes off the woman up on the stage. And not just any woman—his woman.
Shock spiraled through him. Fuck, even after twelve years, he still thought of Bree Lockhart as his.
What the hell was she doing up there? He hadn’t even known she was back in town.
“She looks fantastic,” Owen murmured.
Fantastic? Uh, try absolutely fucking incredible. The Bree he’d known in high school had been pretty, but this newer, older Bree was even more tantalizing. Tall and curvy, with an X-rated set of perky breasts and a taut ass that made his mouth water. Her straight black hair was shorter, dancing just above her shoulders and layered so that it framed her heart-shaped face. Her skin was as pale and smooth as ivory, her eyes were bluer than he remembered, and her mouth…man, she still had those pouty, fuck-me lips.
The memory of those lips wrapped around his cock flashed into his mind, and just like that, his dick strained against the zipper of his trousers like a bull frantic to burst out of a chute.
“I know you’re all familiar with Bree Lockhart,” Mayor Price announced. “Now, I’ll admit, the Price and Lockhart families haven’t always seen eye to eye, but we can both claim the honor of being this town’s founding families.”
Owen laughed under his breath. “And the honor of being this town’s biggest snobs,” he muttered.
“Bree works as a junior partner at Lockhart and Associates, a prestigious law firm in Denver,” Price continued. “She’s an avid skier, volunteers at a local soup kitchen, and prefers quiet evenings at home to crowded restaurants. But she’s willing to make an exception—the lucky man who wins a date with Bree will join her in the private dining room of Carlotta’s tonight. A romantic dinner for two!”
Looking uncomfortable, Bree stopped at the end of the runway and did a feeble little half-turn.
Jake frowned, wondering how she’d gotten roped into this. She seemed totally ill at ease up there. The way she walked, how she nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she turned back to the podium. Jake saw something very vulnerable in her smoky blue eyes, something fresh and appealing, something that made him want to march up on the stage and kiss that pink lip gloss off her luscious mouth.
He’d never been able to resist the prim good-girl thing she’d had going on. Especially when he’d discovered she was oh so bad beneath the surface.
“Didn’t you two used to…” Owen tactfully trailed off.
Jake met his brother’s curious gray eyes. “Yep,” he confirmed in a hoarse voice.
He and Bree used to do a lot of things. A lot of things. Even now, he couldn’t figure out what had spurred her to seduce him that night after the big game against Huntsville. A wide receiver for the Paradise Panthers, Jake had been coming down from the victory high after the team crushed their neighboring town in a rivalry game for the ages. Bree was on the cheerleading squad, but their paths had never crossed until that night.
The night she demanded he deflower her in the back of his pickup truck.
Which he’d done without a single protest.
“So c’mon, fellows, let’s show Bree just how much you like her!” Mayor Price said into his mic.
Right off the bat, a tall, brown-haired man in the front of the crowd bid two hundred dollars.
Jake frowned. Cheap bastard.
“Three hundred,” someone else piped up.
“Four.”
“Four-fifty.”
The higher the bids climbed, the more annoyed he got. Up on the stage, Bree had started fidgeting with her hands. Her visible discomfort triggered something dark and protective inside him. Bree might have a secret wild streak running through her, but she’d always been shy, and Jake could only imagine the thoughts swirling through her pretty head right now. She was no doubt contemplating how to run off the stage without causing a scene.
“Five hundred and fifty,” a deep voice called out.
Jake glanced over, his shoulders stiffening when he noticed the bid had come from Dan Bradford, a guy he’d gone to high school with. Bradford had played linebacker for the team, and he was still as huge as ever—broad shoulders, barrel chest. The beer belly was new, though…
The flicker of unease in Bree’s blue eyes told Jake that she wasn’t thrilled with the newest addition to the bidding war.
In fact, if he recalled correctly, back then Bradford had constantly harassed Bree to hook up with him, even after she’d turned him down a hundred times.
Jake’s jaw tensed and it took a few seconds before he could pry it open. When he finally got his mouth to work, the words that flew out of it stunned both his twin and himself. “One thousand dollars,” he yelled.
Dead silence crashed over the room. His bid was the highest by far, but he didn’t regret it one damn bit. Screw it. One look at Bree’s silky black hair and big blue eyes, one glimpse at that body-hugging dress, and he knew that the only man she’d be having dinner with tonight was him.
On the stage, Bree’s eyes had widened with recognition. Her head shot in Jake’s direction, her beautiful features creasing with shock and wariness.
As their gazes locked, Jake felt a current of electricity run between them. A resulting jolt of anticipation shuddered through him. Oh yeah. It was still there. The connection. The heat.
“What are you doing?” Owen’s expression reflected a twinkle of amusement.
“My part for charity,” Jake answered wi
thout taking his eyes off Bree.
“One thousand dollars, going once, going twice…sold!” Mayor Price declared.
Disbelief now floated into Bree’s face, as if she couldn’t comprehend why Jake had bid on her. He might’ve asked himself the same question, but the second their eyes had met, he’d known the answer. He wanted Bree Lockhart back in his bed. And if he was being honest with himself, this wasn’t the first time he’d fantasized about being with her again. He hadn’t seen or spoken to her in twelve years, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t thought about her. In fact, his memories of Bree had gotten him through many tough nights, not to mention countless missions.
But there would be no more missions, and that memory only reminded him of the goal he’d set for tonight. The distraction he’d craved.
His gaze drifted back to the stage, in time to see Bree ducking behind the curtains.
Well, what better distraction than some wild sex with his former wild girl?
Jake Bishop had bid on her.
Bree resisted the urge to fan her cheeks, which were so hot she knew she must be blushing like crazy. When she’d heard Jake’s deep, husky voice out in the ballroom, she’d nearly keeled over with equal doses of shock and desire. What was he doing back in Paradise? Why the hell had he bid on a date with her?
And how on earth could she get out of it?
“Did I imagine it, or did I really hear Jake shelling out a thousand dollars for a date with you?”
Bree spun around and spotted Maddie Bishop approaching. She had to blink a couple of times to make sure it really was Maddie, but yes, the brunette in the pretty yellow shift and satin flats was indeed the tomboy Bree remembered from high school. Maddie looked so cute and feminine Bree had to wonder what else had changed since she’d last come home.
Not her attraction to Jake Bishop, apparently. The second she’d heard that man’s voice, the second their eyes locked, Bree had experienced the same aggravating sexual rush that Jake had always managed to evoke in her.
“You heard right,” she answered, running a hand through her hair in frustration.