True Kisses
Josie Bordeaux
Sandy Toes Publishing, LLC
Contents
1. Luke
2. Chloe
3. Luke
4. Chloe
5. Luke
6. Chloe
7. Luke
8. Chloe
9. Luke
10. Chloe
11. Luke
12. Chloe
13. Luke
14. Chloe
What To Do Now
Also by Josie Bordeaux
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Acknowledgments
One
Luke
Throwing back his head, Jimmy groans, “Uh.” He closes his eyes as his blond hair flops down his forehead. Usually I ignore him when he gets like this. He’s too full of himself. Annoying is more like it. The guy thinks he’s God’s gift to women. Okay, so maybe I tend to be like that sometimes, but it’s more for appearances. I don’t really think that on the inside. Jimmy thinks that about himself inside and out. He’s a dick.
And my roommate.
I glance over and go ahead and ask. “What?” I’m only curious a little, since he slept with Chloe and she’s been talking about him nonstop at work. She knew he was trouble to begin with and didn’t listen to anything I said about him. Now I have to hear about it from him and her. At work and home.
Not fun.
Especially since I’ve always had a thing for Chloe. Not that she’d ever know.
“It’s Chloe.” He sighs heavily as if she’s the worst person in the world. “Again,” he bemoans.
“Just tell her you’re not into her,” I prod, hoping he’ll do just that. Maybe I can pick up the pieces and lend her my shoulder to cry on. Only I know that won’t really do. She’ll still want Jimmy.
“Nah. I mean…who doesn’t want a booty call every once in a great while.”
I cringe as I feel my face redden. Chloe isn’t a booty call. I mean, I guess to him she is, but if she were my girl she’d never be that. Except she’d never want me. Because we’re just friends.
And because she knows how many women I’ve slept with.
That’s pretty much the reason why Chloe could never be mine.
Even though I’ve been fantasizing about her being mine for a while now.
“I mean, she’s definitely not my normal type. Her dark, wavy hair and wide hips do nothing for me, but shit—she’s not bad in bed.”
Even though I keep my nails short, I can feel them digging into my palm as I clench tightly. What I wouldn’t give to beat the shit out of him right now. Which is odd because we’ve always been each other’s wingman. Hell, I’ve known him since high school and we’ve always been good friends. Until now. Now I just want to bash his face in. I stand quickly and head toward my room.
“Where’re you goin’?” Jimmy calls out.
“I need to get ready for work,” I say as I head down the hallway. I don’t. Actually I’ve got hours before I need to get to Allure. Jimmy’s just too stupid to figure that out—let alone to understand that Chloe is worth way more than a call in the middle of the night to scratch that itch.
Chloe is everything. She’s the one girl I’d love to have. And the one girl that could never be mine.
Two
Chloe
I throw my head back and whine out loud. “Gah!” Not pretty and not my usual self, but Jimmy makes me crazy. “Why won’t he just answer my text? I need to take him to this stupid wedding.” I’m not even bothering to look over at Ava. She’s rolling her eyes and I already know it. Shit. She rolls her eyes at just about everything.
Ava is not anyone I would have ever picked to have as a roommate. Everyone warned me not to room with her, but when your old roomie moves out and you can’t pay the bills, you take what you can get. Ava’s not actually all that bad. If you ignore her better-than-thou attitude, her passive aggressive comments, or the fact that she’s a complete slob and expects me to clean up after her. Never mind. She is that bad.
Pulling my eyebrows in, I can’t really name a good roommate quality about her. Which makes me question my sanity. Although I did that when I slept with Jimmy. And yet I still want to be with him again. He wasn’t even that great.
“Why do you need a date anyway? Weddings are fun to find a guy for a quickie,” Ava says with a smirk when I finally relent and glance her way.
“Because this is my ex-boyfriend. All of our old friends will be there and I need to make him jealous. Or at least see what he’s missing out on. Or…” I exhale and blow a curl that fell over my eye. “I can’t show up alone. I just can’t. It would make me look pathetic.”
“You could take me. Then we’d be two hot single women there to have all the guys’ heads turn our way. We’d make the women jealous and bitchy, making the men’s lives hell as they secretly fantasize about having their way with us.”
Did I mention that Ava tends to be a little melodramatic too? “What planet are you on?” I throw her a you’re crazy look as I shake my head. I glance back to my phone, hoping that during her little speech I hadn’t missed a reply text from Jimmy.
I didn’t.
Ava sighs heavily. “I’m just saying, maybe we don’t need a man to have a life. Maybe finding someone is just to enhance our lives.”
I sit there stunned as I think about the massive turn on what she had just said a second ago. One minute she’s making women jealous and the next she’s telling me it’s okay to be single. Living with her makes my head spin sometimes. “Hmm, that’s…a very smart thing to say.” I’m surprised to say the least. I mean, hearing something like that from Ava is definitely not expected.
“Yeah, well, maybe we all won’t find that someone though. You know some of us are meant to be alone.”
And there’s the Ava I know. Whether she meant me or her, I’m pretty much guessing she meant me. Backhanded comments are her thing.
I toss my phone onto the coffee table and stand. “I think I’ll go for a run.” I have time to kill before work tonight and I could use some fresh air. The weather has been more spring-like and I could definitely take a break from checking my phone every five seconds or wanting to devour a tub of ice cream. I have a killer sweet tooth I have trouble keeping in check.
“Since when do you run?” Ava’s face twists into a disgusted look, as if what I’m going to do is revolting to her.
“I…run. Sometimes.” I’ve never really gone for a run, but being with Ava makes me want to leave my apartment, fast.
And getting away from my phone is a major bonus.
Clearing my head might help, because right now the only answer to my problem is to take Jimmy to the wedding. He’s hot. He’s sexy. And would definitely make my ex come up and talk to me—at least say a few more words than introducing me to his new wife…who used to be my old best friend.
My choice in men really makes me question my sanity.
Three
Luke
“Well, you could go alone,” Sandy suggests to Chloe.
Chloe’s been nervous about this wedding for weeks now. I can understand it. Evan dumped her pretty hard for her old roommate. Now they’re getting married and she’s invited to the wedding. Pretty cold—and I still don’t get the reason her ex went ahead and added her to the guest list unless it was to rub her nose in it. I wouldn’t put it past him, actually. He hated that Chloe worked here at Allure. She’s adorable and gets hit on left and right. But she’s still stuck in the past. Or at least I thought she was until she slept with Jimmy. Now all she can do is go on and on about him.
She rakes her fingers through her curls on top of her head, making her dark ringlets bounce. The corners of her emerald eyes crinkle as she thinks through Sandy’s suggestion. I
t’s the third time tonight someone’s suggested it.
“I suppose I could. It would just be a little weird.” She huffs and looks around the club nervously.
Is she seeking out a stranger to take her? Seriously?
I watch as she checks her phone again. Her expression scrunches up as she quickly tells Sandy and Ava that she’s taking her break. I watch as she heads toward the break room, and I make my decision—I’m going to take her to this wedding.
“Sandy, I’m grabbing my break really quick. Be right back,” I tell her as I watch the corner of her mouth turn up.
“What are you up to?”
“The bathroom,” I say quickly, before she can say anything else, and dash off down the same hallway as Chloe, passing the bathrooms. As I turn the corner I see her in the break room with her phone to her ear. I try to be nonchalant and grab a bottle of water.
“Well, you said you could go when we were together. What changed between—”
As I eavesdrop, I know immediately she’s talking to Jimmy. I’m hoping she doesn’t talk him into it, but don’t want to chance it either. Before my nerves give out, I grab her phone and hit the end button.
“Hey—” Chloe’s mouth is open, her gorgeous eyes are wide, and she’s pissed.
Not exactly how I wanted to ask her to this wedding. Not that I had a plan or anything either.
I swallow hard and go for it. “I’m taking you,” I tell her, and then realize that wasn’t really asking. “What I mean to say is that, if you would like, I would love to accompany you to the wedding.” I realize I’m still holding her phone and hand it back to her as I wait for her to answer.
“You? Luke, that’s sweet but you don’t really want—”
“Yes. I do. I really would love to be your date and take you.” I let out a breath as I comb my fingers through my hair. “Look, Jimmy…he isn’t right for you. He just wants—”
“A booty call. I know.”
“You know? Why would you—”
“Because I was just so hurt by Evan and needed to get over my fear of dating again. I think dating a guy who never wants a relationship was my way of making sure I wouldn’t get hurt again.”
“But you kept calling him, he wasn’t returning your—”
Chloe closes her eyes. “I know. I didn’t say I was being smart about it. I think I still thought maybe he’d think of me different, even though I know he never could.” She shakes her head. “It’s stupid.”
“No.” I cover her hand with mine and her eyes drift to stare at them. “Look, we’ve been friends for a while now and I know how badly Evan and Bethany hurt you. Let me be there for you.”
Chloe’s eyebrows pull in as her mouth pinches to one side.
“I promise I’ll be the perfect gentleman. We’ll be the hottest couple there.”
“You won’t collect numbers?”
“Nope. I won’t. Promise.” With my fingers I make the motion to cross my heart and then hold up the Boy Scout symbol. At least I think it is. I was never a Boy Scout, but always wanted to be one. Maybe she won’t know what it’s supposed to look like.
“Okay. All right.” She smiles as she stands. “Let’s do it then.”
I exhale a breath of relief and smile. “We’ll have fun. I promise.” As I say it, all thoughts of things I would do for Chloe if she were my girlfriend sift through my mind. At the same time, my gut sinks. It’s a double-edged sword because as much as I want to enjoy our time together, I know it’s going to be short.
If anything, it’ll be the one day that I can definitely pretend she’s my girl.
* * *
“Luke?”
Sandy’s voice jolts me from my thoughts about Chloe. I try to remember quickly that I’m not supposed to get attached. That was what Chloe had asked anyway. She told me that since I’m a player—her word, not mine—we’ll make it just a fun night of full flirting without either of our feelings getting hurt.
“Yeah?” I glance over at Sandy and see her smirk. Her eyebrow is cocked up high and I can tell she’s playing matchmaker already. I shake my head. “Forget it.” I laugh and stop instantly. My hand is cold and wet and when I glance down, I realize how zoned out I was. Flinging the water from my hand, I quickly pour the over-filled water glass and wipe it down before setting it on the counter.
“You haven’t stopped staring at her all night.”
Sandy’s comment makes me wonder how she hasn’t noticed that I do this just about every single night we work together. Or maybe she has noticed and just hasn’t said anything until now. Or maybe I’m just that good at covering up by remarking about another woman that’s near where Chloe stood.
“Don’t start.” I point to her and throw her a serious glare, which only makes her laugh. We’ve worked together too long. She knows me far too well.
“I’m not saying anything,” she says, and then laughs. “Well—”
“I knew it!” I interrupt her. “You can’t go without saying something. What? I shouldn’t do this?”
“No. I wasn’t going to say that. I was just going to say that I think it’ll be tough for you both to come back from this wedding without feeling something for each other.”
“Friends. I’m doing her a favor and she said we’d go back to what we were. Are. We’re friends.” I tilt my head. “Coworkers. I’m helping her out. That’s all.”
“You keep telling yourself that.”
I shake my head, laughing. “I will.” I avoid her gaze and glance across the room to see Chloe walking toward me. Her strut has me mesmerized. Her emerald eyes have a shimmering spark to them as she pierces me with her gaze. How can she turn me on with just that look? Never mind her body.
“You’re fucked,” Sandy whispers in my ear.
I think she might be right.
“Chloe,” I overhear Ava whine. “You’ve already wiped those tables down. Come on,” she says through clenched teeth. “Let’s go!”
Chloe’s eyes meet mine before she looks away quickly. It seems like we’ve been avoiding each other all night.
“I’ll meet you at the door,” Chloe says as I finish wiping a glass and put it away. I hear her clearing her throat and turn to see her standing at the counter; her fingernail taps the counter as she shifts her weight. “You’ll pick me up at ten, right?” Chloe asks me.
“Ten sharp,” I tell her, and manage a small smile.
“I’m just making sure.” She twists her mouth nervously and then asks, “And you have a suit, right?”
I can’t help but chuckle. “Yeah. I’ve got this awesome lime green one I bought years ago at a thrift store.”
Her eyes open wide as her mouth pops open. “No. You…you can’t.”
“Relax,” I tell her. “I’m teasing.”
Chloe’s shoulders relax a little and a small smile returns to her lips. “Yeah. I knew that.” She tries to sound convincing, but she’s far from it.
I finish drying the last glass, and put it away and walk around the bar counter. All night I’ve been itching to touch her and I know I finally can. I place my hands on each of her bare shoulders, inwardly thanking Z for the uniform halter tops the women wear, and squeeze just enough so she feels a little bit of a massage. “I told you, it’ll be perfect tomorrow.” Then I lean down, the smell of her raspberry shampoo fills my senses, and my lip scrapes her ear lobe as I whisper, “He will be entirely jealous and she’ll be mad you have a love they don’t have.”
I feel her body give a small tremble, and I pull back to see her swallow and press her lips together. I’m fired up and would love to kiss her right now. Tomorrow, I tell myself. I’ll have every moment to kiss her and pretend for just one day that it really could be possible that I’m in a loving relationship. Not only that, but one with Chloe—a woman I can’t stop fantasizing about. I’m going to make sure it’ll be a day we both won’t forget.
Four
Chloe
Staring at the door, I wonder why I’m having second thoughts ab
out this. Luke has always been a fun guy to hang around. Maybe because he flirted with me last night—not to mention how his breath tickled my ear, giving me goosebumps—is what’s giving me second thoughts about this. Luke is…Luke. He’s my friend. Maybe that’s the real reason why I’m doubting this so much; I’d hate to lose him as a friend.
I’ve watched him flirt with women all the time. I’ve teased him about some of his choices before—not to mention how they’ve come in the next night almost obsessed with him, only for him to not go out with any of them a second time.
Now I’m going to pretend he’s mine for one day. I keep wondering if we can pull this off—if anyone there will really believe that we’re together.
“Stop pacing,” Ava says as she swings her foot and taps something on her phone. She’s lying down on the couch, her foot swung over the armrest. Her long hair splayed out along the cushion as she reads whatever it is on her phone.
“I can’t stop. I’m worried I made a mistake. Did I make a mistake?” I glance over to her as she rolls her eyes. Why am I bothering asking her for advice? Other than I’m so nervous I can barely stand it. The worst is I’m not sure if I’m more nervous about the wedding itself or going with Luke.
Ava smirks and says, “You need to—”
The sound of someone knocking on the door stops Ava mid-sentence, which is good. I’m not sure I really wanted to hear her advice.
We both stare at each other as I swallow hard. My heart is about jump from my chest, and my palms feel so damp that I quickly wipe them on my dress, which I regret because I really don’t want to wrinkle it before we even leave my apartment. I inhale a deep breath and open the door.
True Kisses Page 1