by Lauren Wood
ACCIDENTALLY MET HER
A CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE AUTHOR
Contents
© Copyright 2018 – All rights reserved.
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
FIRST LOVE (SAMPLE)
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
© Copyright 2018 – All rights reserved.
In no ways is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters all are production of the author’s imagination. Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18.
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ACCIDENTALLY MET HER
Prologue
Candy
“Hey beautiful.”
I groaned inwardly and I didn’t even have to look behind me. Vegas was full of men that were out to have fun, even though everyone knew that it wouldn’t go anywhere.
“Keep walking. Trust me, that seat is empty for a reason.”
“Well, not anymore. Don’t mind me, but it looks like you could use a little company.”
I turned towards the voice, already a few sheets to the wind and I was surprised at how tall and handsome he was. They certainly didn’t have guys like this back in California. His suit was impeccable, and I had to wonder what he was doing in this place.
“Professional gambler?”
“Lawyer.”
I shook my head and told him that it was just as bad. The bartender came over and the man ordered a couple shots of whiskey and another of what I was having.
“Vodka huh?”
“Yeah, does the trick.”
“And what trick is that?”
“Makes me give a damn a whole lot less. That’s what is needed right now.”
“I see. What has you feeling this way? I hate to see a pretty girl like you upset.”
“My best friend just got married today.”
“Ah, I see. Men have the same reaction to weddings.”
I didn’t even know this guy, but I was telling him more than I told anyone else. I don’t know why it was easier to talk to a random stranger, but it just was. He didn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon, and he wasn’t too bothersome.
“I don’t think so. Guys don’t want to get married. They are always holding out for something better.”
“Not all men. Some can appreciate a beautiful woman when they find one. What is your name?”
“Candy.”
“That is the perfect name for you.”
“Why, because you bet I taste like sweet Candy?”
“Heard that one before, have you?”
“Only a thousand times.”
“Well I will spare you a thousand and one. It is the perfect name though. It’s a name that would be unforgettable.”
“Sometimes that isn’t always a good thing. I’ve decided to give up on the lot of you.”
He took my hand and I felt a shiver with the touch. “Don’t give up on all of us Candy. I promise that we are not all that way.”
“Really?”
“You don’t believe me?”
I looked at his hand and asked why he wasn’t married if it was so great.
“I hadn’t found the right one, but I think I have now.”
He made me blush, something I hadn’t done in a long time and it was hard for me to meet his gaze.
“Is that so?”
“Oh yeah. I would marry you in a heartbeat, Candy.”
“Okay.”
I took a swig of my drink and I really thought that I was calling his bluff. If he wanted to say such things, I was going to call him on it. I was feeling rebellious and I still had a few hours to burn until my flight back to California.
“Okay?”
“Yeah, you said you want to get married. Let’s do it. Then we will both have it out of the way and won’t have to worry about it anymore.”
“You’re serious?”
I looked at the drink in my hand, finished it off and said that I was.
“I mean, it’s not like Vegas marriages really count, right?”
Chapter 1
Candy
We were halfway through the ceremony when it got to the part about speaking now or forever holding their peace. I looked out to the people that were behind us and I don’t know why, but the knot that had been growing in my stomach was sure that someone was going to pop up and say that we couldn’t be married. I saw it happening several times in my head, so when an older man did stand up and said those very words, I wasn’t really hearing it. “What?”
Jax was cursing under his breath, asking the man what the hell was going on. I was like Jax, I wanted to know as well. I didn't know who the person was standing there, but he didn't look so happy to be getting all the attention now. The attention he was getting, was not a good intention and I almost felt sorry for him if he wasn't in the middle of ruining my wedding.
“I work for the office of Cheryl Roberts. I just found out some information when doing the background check that was requested by the groom and I found out that the bride-to-be is already married. So, since she is already legally married, there can be no wedding today. I am sorry that I had to say it like this, but it is impossible to talk to either one of you before the wedding. Your security is rather strong.”
My mouth was open, and the reason was that I had no idea what he was talking about. First off, is the fact that Jax had had him check up on me. That was weird enough, but the fact that they thought I was married was ridiculous.
I looked to Jax and told him that there had to be some kind of mistake. I wasn't married, never had been married and I would have told him if I was. This was all just some huge mistake.
He wanted to believe me, but he also wanted to hear to what the old man had to say as well. He must have trusted his lawyer, more than he trusted me. I don't know where he got his information from, but he was wrong. I would know if I was married.
“She says that it isn't true. Do you have proof?”
The old man looked stricken for a moment and started to pat down his pockets. It was clear that he had some sort of proof, but I was sure that it was just going to be a big misunderstanding. It was someone with my name, something like that. It was the only thing that I could come up with.
When he walked towa
rds us, Jax took the paper out of his hand in a not too nice way. I could tell that my husband-to-be was frustrated, and I didn't blame him. I was frustrated as well, more like humiliated and I wanted someone to pay for this. Whoever had messed up, should have to pay for this moment because this was happening in front of everyone that I knew.
Jax looked back at me and I will never forget the expression on his face. It called me a liar, even if his lips did not. I could tell by the way that he was looking at me, that he believed what the man said was true.
Now, I wanted to see what was on that paper and I put my hand out, asking for him to let me see it. If a piece of paper was going to ruin my life, I at least wanted to know what it said.
It looked like Jax didn’t want to give it to me, so I snatched it out of his hand. I wanted to know what was going on and I hated all the attention that we were getting. This was not how this was all supposed to go. In my head, it was all supposed to turn out so much better.
When I finally started to look at it, there was a name that I didn't recognize. What I did recognize though, was my signature on the bottom of the page. Looking further I could see that it was done in Las Vegas. I had been there a few years back, for a bachelorette party , but I was just getting out of college at the time and I don't remember much of it.
I didn’t remember Las Vegas at all, though I did wake up one morning in a bed that wasn't mine. I of course, got out of there as fast as I could, but now I was starting to wonder what happened. There were several hours of my life that I couldn't remember, and I was afraid that maybe this paperwork had something to do with the missing time. Did I really get married?
“Well say something, Candy.”
Jax was pissed off and I could hear it in his voice and see it on his face. He most likely could see that I was starting to question everything, and I wasn't denying it anymore.
“I am not saying that I did get married, I don’t remember it if I did. But I was in Las Vegas about this time. It is a possibility.”
He cursed a little louder and I could hear a gasp going out through the room. I was so embarrassed, and I couldn't even look over towards my family’s side. I knew that they were going to think that I was a fuck-up, like always. What was I supposed to say now?
“Jax, if this is real, which I don't even know if it is, we can take care of this. I don't even know who this guy is and if I somehow got drunk and signed a piece of paper, that doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean that we can't be together, and it certainly doesn't mean that I love this man or anything like that.”
“It doesn't matter if you love him. It matters that you are married, and we can't get married today. All of these people are here and what are we supposed to tell them?”
He wasn't talking so loud now, and his voice was almost a whisper. I knew more than anything that he was embarrassed like I was, but he didn't take it as well. His family was well to do, and they had a reputation to uphold. I don't think that they wanted me and him to get married in the first place and now it was just reason for them to hate me more. My perfect day was turning into anything but perfect.
“I don't know what to say Jax. Do you want me to say something to these people?”
He looked out at the crowd and I could tell that he was debating it in his mind. I think a lot of it had to do with how he wanted to move forward with me. If we were still going to be together, the last thing he wanted to do was make it harder. But if he was going to walk away, it wouldn't matter what anybody else thought.
“I don't know what to do.”
He looked over at the old man and told him that he had done what he came there to do, and he could go sit down.
“In fact, why don't you go ahead and just get out of here? I think you have done enough for the day. Tell my lawyer that I will be talking to her soon. She could have found a better way to do this.”
The lawyer’s assistant was stuttering a little bit and I could tell that he was upset. He was of course, just the messenger and it wasn't his fault.
“She was just trying to make sure that you didn't break the law. That is her job above anything else is to protect your family Jax.”
Jax waved him off and told him to go. I knew that he was trying to hold in his temper, but it couldn’t be easy for him. While everybody thought Jax was easygoing, he really wasn't. he was quick to get upset, but he was good at hiding it. I could tell that he was seething inside. I hated that it was my fault that he felt this way.
This was all my fault and even though I didn't remember marrying anyone in Vegas, I wouldn't put it past me. I was in a weird place back then and I was drinking a lot. There is no telling what happened. The old adage that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, is obviously not the way it worked for me. What happened in Vegas, did not stay in Vegas for me and now I was going to have to pay for the consequences, whatever they were going to be.
Chapter 2
Colt
The sun was coming in through the window and it was blinding me. I don't know why the hell the curtains were open, but I didn't have the strength to get up and close them. I looked over and saw the blonde in the bed with me. I didn’t remember her name so I called her babe and asked if she would shut it. It was easier that way then to play the name guessing game. I wasn’t very good at it. I should have a system in place.
The blonde didn't look so happy to be woken up and she cut her eyes at me, telling me to get up and do it my damn self. She turned back over and practically growled at me.
Me, I was trying to always keep it light, but it appeared that the mystery woman didn’t like my sense of humor.
“Well I can see that we're not going to be soul mates.”
From the look on her face, I would imagine that she agreed as well. It was strange to have a woman mad at me before I kicked her out, but I figured it was just as well because that's where was going to go anyways.
“Well, since you’re up, I need to get to work soon so...”
She made a face and started to get up.
“And let me guess, you need me to get out of here so that you can leave right?”
I had a feeling that she had heard it before, but I had to think that it had something to do with her attitude. She wasn't very friendly, though I do remember her being rather friendly the night before. When she had a few drinks in her, the blonde had been delightful.
Since she wasn't going to close the curtain and I wasn't going to get any more sleep because I had a feeling she was about to start bitching, I turned to the night stand and grabbed a cigarette out of the pack next to me.
I needed a rush of nicotine, as bad as I need some caffeine. I was going to make my way to the kitchen to make coffee soon. I knew now that the last thing I should do was ask her to make it for me. If she did, I had a feeling that there was going to have a little extra spit in it.
I started to get up and I was hard, but I wasn't even going to attempt it with the blonde. In the morning light she wasn't at all what I was looking for and instead of trying to pretend that this was going to go anywhere, I didn't say a word. I just let her huff and puff and get dressed, cussing me under her breath. She did say it loud enough for me to hear her, so I figured she wanted me to. It wouldn’t be the first time that I was called a dick and it wouldn‘t be the last.
Part of me wanted to remind her that she wasn't bitching about its last night when she was screaming out my name from so many orgasms. I had her begging for it. I would never get why women changed so drastically in the morning light, but they all seemed to.
Last night, I was looking like a conquest to her, but now that I didn't want her, it was time for her to go. I knew that it was because she was upset, her attitude, but it still wasn’t something that I wanted this early in the morning. The cigarette was helping with my sanity at the moment, though not as much as I would have liked.
It wasn't long before the woman was leaving, and she still didn't have anything nice to say. I got no thank you for giving her a ride with one o
f my drivers. I don't know what she expected, but she obviously did not get it from me. It wouldn't be the first time that I had let a woman down, but for some reason I was a little irked about it today. I thought last night had went well. And sometimes I didn't understand why women couldn't just accept that a great night, could just be a great night. Who said that it had to be anything more than that?
“I see that another one has left you and it doesn't look like she has a smile on her face. You really should work on that Colt. I have a feeling that you would do better in the day, if you weren't cursed out every morning by some random woman. There has to be a better way.”
Ralph thought it was funny, but he was lucky that he was the best butler that I'd ever had. He had been around, working for my parents when I was younger, and he was one of many things that I took from the house when I left. His witty humor was a little harder to deal with in the morning sans strong coffee.
He left and came back a moment later with a cup of coffee in his hand and I was ready to take on the day, as well as Ralph’s sharp tongue. I answered his smart-ass comment, now that I had a little caffeine in my system.
“They are pleased in the night, and that is all that I worry about. I can't help it if they want more and expect more the next morning. You would think that women would know by now. I thought that they all gossiped, so I would think that someone would have said something by now.”
The butler found me funny and just shook his head like I was hopeless. Maybe I was, but I didn't see anything changing. This was just the way life was now and I didn't have much of a problem with it. I didn't like the first ten or fifteen minutes in the morning that it took a woman to get out, but it wasn’t going to change me going to a bar and doing the exact same thing again tonight. If not for one-night stands, what in the hell was the use of living in Las Vegas?
Ralph said something about the phone ringing, but I didn't even hear it. I never answered it and when I did it was never good news, so I decided that I just wasn't going to anymore. He was really good at getting rid of most people and he only made me care when it mattered. I really don't know what I would do without Ralph, I would most likely be lost. He was the buffer that I needed between me and the rest of the world.