Love Me Like I Love You

by Willow Winters

  That had been a month ago. Since then, I’d spent most of my nights at Gray’s apartment. At first, I’d had no interest in returning to my house, scared of another maniac breaking in. Even though Gray and Quake had reassured me the man wouldn’t bother me again, I’d still been wary. I also wanted to be with Gray. My place was with him, and he made that very clear night after night, and sometimes during the day, too.

  Reed beat his opponent in the second round with an arm bar. It had happened too fast for me to see, but I had to admit, my focus had been on Gray. He'd shouted to Reed from outside the cage, his attention razor sharp on every move his fighter made. I loved that intensity about him, especially when it was focused on me.

  When he’d gone into the cage as Reed’s arm was lifted in triumph, Gray turned and looked for me in the crowd. He grinned and gave me a wink. This was his moment, his time to shine, and he’d stopped and thought about me, to turn and share it with me. Chris nudged me, and Simon rolled his eyes, but I couldn’t help the grin that escaped. It couldn’t get any better than this.

  Thank you for reading! 100% of the profits from this anthology will be given to the Live A Thousand Lives charity.

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  Ready for more? Get Reed’s story next in Rough and Ready!

  When a rough-edged bad boy takes on a straight-laced college professor, can they both win the fight of their life?

  Reed Johnson grew up on the streets rough and ready with his fists to survive. These days, all his fighting now is done in the ring. With The Outlaw as his coach, he's way more than a cowboy. That was enough for him, until he meets his new neighbor.

  Harper Reed's running from a dangerous past, but no matter how hard she tries, it follows. This time, she's not alone. She runs right into the arms of Reed. She's his now. His to protect. His to save. To do so, he'll have to return to the life he's left behind. But the brainy PhD is worth the fight and with her, he'll be ready for anything. Even something he never thought he deserved. Love.

  Read Rough and Ready now!

  Also By Vanessa Vale

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  All Vanessa Vale titles are available at Apple, Google, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other retailers worldwide.

  About Vanessa Vale

  Vanessa Vale is the USA Today bestselling author of sexy romance novels, including her popular Bridgewater historical series and hot contemporary romances. With over one million books sold, Vanessa writes about unapologetic bad boys who don't just fall in love, they fall hard. Her books are available worldwide in multiple languages in e-book, print, audio and even as an online game. When she's not writing, Vanessa savors the insanity of raising two boys and figuring out how many meals she can make with a pressure cooker. While she's not as skilled at social media as her kids, she loves to interact with readers.

  Chasing Hannah

  By Melissa Ellen

  Prologue

  HANNAH

  Ten months earlier…

  In the middle of what had to be the tiniest airport in the country, I stood staring at the phone in my hand, willing it to do something. Anything. Ring. Vibrate. Notify me of a new text. Shit, or even an email.

  He has email, right? Surely. Everyone had email these days, even if it was just to collect spam. And though we didn’t exchange email addresses—no one does that with someone they just met and hooked up with—he could get my email from Lottie. I mean, that’d be kind of a weird and formal way to reach out to me, but I’d take it at this point.

  My thumb hovered over his name in my list of contacts. I guess I could always call him, let him know I didn’t mean it. In reality, I couldn’t really blame him for what happened. I needed to just tell him the truth. I wanted to, desperately, and I would’ve, had he stuck around and not ran out on me the way he did.

  Gah. He ran out on me! Like I was nothing. Like he couldn’t get away fast enough. Granted, most guys probably would have after the events that transpired this morning, but still. I thought we’d connected on a deeper level.

  God, all this thinking was killing my already pounding head. Hangovers sucked, especially when accompanied by a little bit of a broken heart.

  “Ma’am, your boarding pass and driver’s license, please?” The hefty airport security guard sitting behind the podium with a bored expression on his face reached his hand out toward me.

  “Oh, yes. Sorry,” I apologized, digging through my carry-on as I took the last few steps to him. “Here they are!” I beamed, handing them over to him just as my phone chimed with a text.

  Keeping them, I abruptly pulled back my hand, and the man gave me a funny look. I ignored him, unlocking my phone with nervous excitement, hoping the text was from Billy. Maybe he didn’t think I was bat-shit crazy after all.

  I frowned when it wasn’t, my heart cracking a little more. My brows pinched with further confusion when I saw who it was from and what it said.

  Lottie: Don’t leave without me. I’m coming.

  Shocked by Lottie’s message, I continued to stare at the screen. The impatient security guard cleared his throat.

  “Sorry,” I said, stepping aside and out of line. “I’ll be right back.”

  He gave me a suspicious look as I turned and headed for the check-in counter. Whatever had happened between Billy and me would just have to wait. I had a sinking feeling Lottie needed me more than she ever had.

  Always trying to stay positive and keep my head up, I decided this was for the best. After what happened and the way he responded, it would be humiliating to talk to or ever have to face Billy Miller again. For that matter, I was now pretty set on never talking to anyone about it or ever returning to this small town.

  Besides, what was I really expecting? For him to chase after me because of one amazing night together? There was no lying to myself and saying I wasn’t a bit of a romantic, but even I knew that stuff only ever happened in the movies.

  Chapter 1

  HANNAH

  I blinked, my mouth gaping open. I pressed my clammy palms together in my lap, fingers wrapping tightly around my wrists, my heart rate and body temperature rising rapidly with my anger.

  I wanted to strangle her. Grab her throat and shake. There was no way I heard her right. Laid off? I blinked again, snapping my limp jaw closed. It fell open again when I thought I had a verbal response to everything I’d just heard.

  Nothing.

  I had no words.

  It snapped shut again.

  I just stared at her, blinking in a stunned silence.

  “I feel terrible about this, Hannah.”

  Bullshit.

  It was the only word I could conjure in my shocked state of mind. She didn’t even look a tiny bit distraught about delivering such terrible news to me on a Friday afternoon.

  Numb. Cold. Calculated. That’s how she looked. Maybe a little annoyed that I was still sitting in her office, not making a move to leave the black, leather chair my butt had been planted in since I was called in to see her.

  And why would she look any different than her normal self? It wasn’t her getting the axe. It was me. It was my career—my life—that had just g
one up in flames in a matter of seconds. What the hell am I going to do?

  “I’m happy to write you a recommendation letter. You’ve been a great asset to our team. We hate to see you go.”

  Then why let me go?

  “Unfortunately, we’re having to make budget cuts across all departments,” my boss—I mean ex-boss—continued to respond to my silent questions.

  This time, she’d had the decency to look halfway sympathetic as she said the last few words. Most likely she was just relieved it wasn’t her being sent home with a laughable severance check, a half-hearted apology, and a measly thank you for all your hard work.

  My head bobbed up and down slowly, as if everything she was saying made perfect sense. It made zero sense. Surely there was someone else they could lay off, like…Amber. That woman was always the last one to work and the first to leave. I had it on good authority she was screwing someone in HR during lunch every day, too. Probably the reason she still had a job, and I didn’t.

  We stared at each other for a few more uncomfortable seconds of silence until she attempted to dismiss me with the clearing of her throat. Breaking our staring war, she glanced at the early-edition TAG watch that hung off her boney wrist. Another subtle hint I wasn’t willing to take.

  “Well”—she gave a swift double tap of her red, manicured nails on the desk—“unless you have any further questions for me, you are free to go, Hannah. Please make sure to leave your employee badge with the front desk before leaving the building.”

  So, that was it. After eight long years of hard work, all I got was basically a don’t let the door hit you on the ass. Oh, and the mediocre severance package, of course.

  Fine.

  I stood confidently— mostly—in my peep-toe stilettos, flipping my long, blond locks over my shoulder, my chin held high. Screw this. Screw her. Screw all of them. I was Hannah freaking Montgomery. I didn’t need this place. I’d show them! And I’d make them regret ever letting me go.

  I turned on my heels, stomping proudly out of my ex-boss’s office, fisting my hands at my sides to keep from giving her the double bird. Only because I did need that recommendation letter. But that was it. I didn’t need them, otherwise.

  Damn.

  I really needed that job.

  I glanced down at the bills sprawled across the table, taking another large gulp from the bottle of wine I’d picked up on my way home from the job that was no longer mine. I swallowed hard, then cringed, squeezing my eyes closed, hissing through my teeth from the bitter aftertaste the cheap wine left on my tongue. Being broke was going to suck.

  My phone rang in the distance, where I’d left it on the kitchen counter along with the wine glass I decided to forgo. Feeling a light buzz through my body as I stood, I dragged my pathetic butt over to answer it. I closed my eyes, taking in a deep, calming breath before picking it up to answer.

  “Hey, Lottie! How’s life in the sticks?” I attempted to sound my usual optimistic self, only to come out sounding like a drunk toddler.

  She was slow to respond. I could picture the wheels already spinning in that pretty little red head of hers. “What’s wrong? You sound…weird. Are you drunk?”

  I took another swig from the bottle, walking back to the table where all my troubles printed on letter-sized sheets of paper were mocking me. Flopping into the chair, I sighed as I pulled a bent knee to my chest. “Aren’t I always?” I huffed my sarcasm. “And nothing’s wrong. Just a minor road bump. Nothing for you to worry about. How’s the wedding planning coming along? How’s Tucker?”

  Despite her being my best friend who I told almost everything to, there was no way I was ready to tell Lottie I’d been let go from our previous place of employment. She’d only blame herself, thinking it was because she’d quit a few months earlier, leaving me there with no buyer to assist. It was in no way her fault. Plus, she didn’t need to be focused on that. She needed to be focused on marrying her soulmate. Lottie finding him again, finding happiness, was worth losing my job.

  They’d been high school sweethearts, and after returning home for her mom’s funeral, they reconnected after twelve long years. I hadn’t blamed them for not wanting to waste any more time and having a short engagement. Tucker had proposed as soon as she made the decision to move from Seattle to Billingsley, Texas, to be with him and help raise his niece, Lily.

  “Great. Everything’s set. That’s what I was calling you about actually. Did you get your flight booked?”

  You mean, the flight I can no longer afford? “Yep. All booked. I’ll be there early next week.”

  “Did you need a ride from the airport?”

  Initially, I’d planned on renting a car, but looking down at all the bills that’d be due soon with no paycheck in the foreseeable future, I decided passing up a free ride was no longer an option. Sure, I had some savings, but I’d need to stretch that until I could find another job.

  “You know what, yes actually. That’d be great.”

  “Really?” She didn’t even attempt to hide the disbelief in her voice.

  “Yeah, really,” I snapped defensively, rolling my eyes with another pull from the bottle, the bitter burn still present as it slid down my throat. You’d think the wine would start to taste better at some point, numbing my taste buds, disguising my depression.

  “Okay, okay,” she surrendered. “Just a little surprised by your response is all… Are you sure everything is okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  She paused, her silence telling me she was debating whether to call me on my lie. Nobody was ever fine when they used that word to describe how they were. She sighed. “If you say so… I’ll have Billy pick you up from the airport.”

  Wine sprayed from my mouth, burning my nostrils as I coughed and choked on the swallow I’d just taken, sputtering out, “No. Absolutely not. Forget it. I’ll get a car. I don’t need a ride.”

  “I’m messing with you,” she responded, barely able to get the words out through her laughter. “I won’t send Billy.”

  As she got control of her hysterics, I dabbed and blotted at the red spots on my unpaid bills.

  “Are you ever going to tell me why you’re so hell bent on avoiding him?”

  “Oh darn, I have another call coming in. I have to take this. Sorry, babe. I’ll see you in a week.”

  “You’re a horrible maid of honor for lying to me right now, but I’ll let it slide this time. You can’t avoid me or this conversation forever.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Gotta go! Give Tucker and Lily a kiss for me.”

  I ended the call before she could say any more or my tongue, loosened by wine and self-pity, could. We both knew the more I drank, the looser it got. And I was already passing tipsy town moving into slush city.

  I stood on the sidewalk, my luggage resting beside my feet as I glanced at the clock on my phone. Where the heck is she? It wasn’t like Lottie to be late. She was punctual as hell. I’d been waiting over thirty minutes by the curb outside the tiny airport I’d thought I’d never pass through again. I sent her a text to see how far away she was.

  Lottie: Sorry! Going to kill him.

  Hannah: Who?

  Lottie: Wes. My one employee called in sick today.

  Hannah: Wes??

  Lottie: Tuck’s brother. I’ll find out where he is.

  Lottie: He said he’s pulling in now.

  Lifting my eyes, I glanced around for an arriving vehicle. The only thing coming toward me was a gust of wind creating a mini dirt tornado. There was no sign of anyone. The airport was mostly deserted. I was on the last flight in and all of my fellow passengers had left.

  Hannah: He lied.

  I took a seat on top of my luggage, crossing my legs—my skirt riding up—and removed my heel. My feet were killing me from standing for so long. I was rubbing the sole of my foot when I heard the loud engine of a large truck coming up the road. It slowed, rolling to a stop in front of me, windows down, dirt covering almost every inch of it. The man sitting b
ehind the wheel was not much cleaner.

  He smiled. And I couldn’t deny it was a nice smile. Confident. Practiced. One that would normally earn him a smile in return, had I not been tired and annoyed.

  “No need to show me some leg. I’m happy to give you a ride, sweetheart,” he said, winking.

  I slipped my shoe back on my foot and stood, smoothing my skirt back down before crossing my arms over my chest, narrowing my eyes.

  “Wes, I presume?”

  “The one and only.” His grin widened.

  I refrained from rolling my eyes, releasing my arms as he shifted the vehicle into park. He exited the truck, giving me the full vision of him. Unsurprisingly, his body was as defined and masculine as his younger brother’s, his face just as handsome. The Monroe family had good genes when it came to the looks department. As for whether he was as charming as Tucker—the jury was still out.