“And I’m going to be your girlfriend—for real this time? For more than a minute?”
“Forever, Jones. I swear. When I fell for you in middle school—I fell hard.” He looked deep into my eyes, melting my heart with his fervent gaze. “I fell forever.”
He finally did what my eyes (and heart) begged for—he kissed me. And this time he didn’t pull away. This time it was for forever.
******
We hope you liked the story. Keep reading. There is another story in this book after the following book info. It is an hour-read romantic story called, “My Impossible Heartthrob.”
Note about the story you just read: Summer Baker from this book stars in the author’s new novel, The Hockey Player’s Heart. (Zoey and Riley as a couple are in the book as well.) The book is available now.
Summary of
The Hockey Player’s Heart:
When Summer Baker is stalked by her obsessed ex-boyfriend she’s forced to ask for help from her secret weapon—her “bad-boy” ex-friend, Mason … but that’s a lot of ex’s. Also, Summer’s not sure her heart can take re-connecting with Mason. Mason who had once—no matter how brief of time—been her “stepbrother.” Mason with his smokin’ hotness and lingering stare.
Still, Summer is forced to call on him, and he comes to her rescue. Just like she knew he would. But the problem is: Summer has always had a secret crush on Mason. But—whoa!—suddenly he’s looking at her all hungry and longing-like. And he says all the right words to get her heart spazzing. It almost has her thinking he craves her too. Almost. But let’s face it, actions speak louder than words and Mason has put out zero action … unless you’re talking about action with other girls. He’s put out plenty of that. Grrr! He breaks girls’ hearts at lightening speed and has made-out with every hot girl at their school … that is, every hot girl except Summer. Because in Mason’s mind, Summer is off-limits. But that bites.
(The Hockey Player’s Heart is now available.)
Note about The Hockey Player’s Heart: It is a standalone novel that includes another novel in it as well, about a member of the Christian Hockey Team, Liam, and his secret crush on his childhood sweetheart, Tatum. The hockey team plays some matchmaking to get them together. It’s a sweet romance.
Both books in The Hockey Player’s Heart are standalone novels, and no book needs to be read before or after them, but they are part of The Hockey Team series, so you may want to read The Heartbreaker Next Door first. You don’t have to though … but right now that book is only a dollar.
Summary of
The Heartbreaker Next Door:
Faith Cooper lives next door to a heartbreaker—sadly. However, she has to admit, the man is sweet and charming and … okay, yummy hot. Unfortunately, she can see that. After all, she’s not blind. Or deaf. (Again, unfortunately.) She can hear the man through the walls of their connected townhouses. Hear him with his sweet son, talking about angels and about how his son’s mother is now in heaven watching over her sweet little boy. Sadly, Faith is falling hard for the guy. Sadder still, so is every other single lady in town. (Grrr!)
**Words from Faith’s neighbor, Justin Hanson—Hey, I’m not a heartbreaker! Not gonna lie though: I’ve always had a thing for Faith Cooper. She was my kindergarten girlfriend. When I find myself living next door to her, things are definitely looking up for me. Well, sort of. Too bad Faith won’t give me the time of day. But when beautiful sweet Faith unexpectedly owes me a favor, she offers to help convince the woman of my dreams that I’m actually not a heartbreaker. Sure, I’ll let Faith help me get my dream woman. Faith just doesn’t realize SHE’S that woman. Definitely Faith, help me out.
The Heartbreaker Next Door is available now. Right now it is only a dollar (or you can read it for free if you have Unlimited.)
The two books by this author mentioned are:
*The Hockey Player’s Heart
*The Heartbreaker Next Door
Keep reading. There is another story in this book. It’s an hour-read romantic story called, “My Impossible Heartthrob.”
A note from the author, Melanie Marks
I hope you enjoyed the story
There will be more to their romance in the future.
If you would like to receive email notifications of my newest books, or would like to get in contact with me (I love feedback) email me at:
MelanieMarksBooks (at) MarksFam.com
[email protected]
Note about the story: I had planned for this to be the end of the Zoey and Riley series—Riley and Zoey finally getting together forever. But readers kept asking about Finn. What happened to Finn? So now there is a third book available. It’s called Finn’s Fall. The novel has Zoey and Riley in it (and they tell a portion of the story), but it is Finn’s story and what happens to him after Zoey and Riley get together (and before they got together), but it also shows Zoey and Riley as a couple and how they are doing.
It’s available now.
Note: Finn’s Fall is included in the author’s new book called: “aka: Sara The Stalker … I guess.” The book is available now. Look for it. (The book also includes a sweet romantic novel called: The New Boy.)
Update: Summer Baker from this book stars in the novel, The Hockey Player’s Heart. (Zoey and Riley are in the book as well.)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XDBHGKF
Link to:
The Heartbreaker Next Door (which is the first of The Hockey Team series)
https://www.amazon.com/Heartbreaker-Next-Door-Hockey-Team-ebook/dp/B06XDHWFBR
Keep reading. Next in this book is: “My Impossible Heartthrob,” then there is a short story that “aka: Sara the Stalker … I guess,” is based off from.
My Impossible Heartthrob
CHAPTER 1
I’m at the mall, getting a drink at the water fountain when I hear guys behind me talking about me. Loudly. And total guy-like (aka: lewd and inappropriate).
I whip around, ready to flame them, but my scolding words strangle in my throat when I see who is standing with them. ‘Cause it’s my foster brother, Sage.
“Ohhh,” Jake Saunders chokes out an amused laugh. “It’s your sister, Sage.”
Sage’s eyes are glued to me as he murmurs, “Foster sister.”
He says the correction softly, eyeing me like he hardly recognizes me. Which maybe he doesn’t. Well, hardly.
He was my foster brother while we were little kids—for over a year—but now he’s back at my house. Only it’s not like before. Not like when we were little and it was like we were actual brother and sister. Now it’s like he’s a guy. A smokin’ hot one.
His eyes squint and stare at me, not like he’s mad. Like he’s, well … a guy.
I blush. I know he wasn’t one of the guys talking all gross and lewd, but he was with them. Now the guys are laughing about it.
Jake grins at me all entertained. “Sage stopped talking when he saw you. Stopped in mid-sentence, eying you like candy. It seemed he was staring at his dream girl.”
Sage’s eyes are still on me. He doesn’t look pleased. “You look different,” he murmurs.
Yeah, I look different. Completely. I’m dressed different, and my hair is down (I usually wear it up in a long braid). And I’m even wearing make-up. The truth is, I’m trying to look exactly as he said: different.
The sad thing is though, I’m doing it for him.
Since he’s come back to our house I’ve been nuts. Totally psychotic. It’s frustrating!! I mean, how lame. I have a “thing” for my dear, sweet foster brother!! A strange attraction/fascination. It’s killing me. So, I need to get over him. Fast.
Duh.
I mean, he’s my foster brother—that I grew up with.
So, this is what I’m going to do—I’m going after a guy. I chose the one I want (well, the one I want that’s not, you know, forbidden.) His name is North and he’s dreamy. Not as dreamy as Sage … but still. What ya going to do? Desperate times call for desperate measu
res. Besides, he’s delicious eye-candy … and he’s available. So, yeah. North is my target.
The thing is though—I’m kind of out of the loop with guys. I mean, I started out on the right foot. Had a boyfriend back in middle school. But then, he turned out to be deranged and it made me weary of guys. I mean, I’m basically okay with them around. Well, as long as they don’t talk to me and stuff. They call me an “ice queen.” But really what it is—well, it’s that I’m afraid of them. That deranged middle school ex-boyfriend made me that way.
Anyway, since then I figured it was okay—me not talking to boys. Or, you know, ‘dating’ them. No big deal. But then Sage moved back into our house and—wham! Hormones took over my body. And my fantasies and my dreams. And I was like, Holy smokes, I need a boy. Right now.
So, I set my sights on North. Because he seems very gentlemanly. And he’s not all girl-crazy. In fact, he seems shy around girls. I like that. Girls flirt with him, and he seems … afraid. So, score! He’s my guy. A match made in heaven, right?
Only … not quite. I have to some how get him. Easier said than done. But my friends have a plan. And it starts with this—me dressed ‘different.’ Dressed to standout rather than hide and blend into the walls.
Sage’s eyes keep taking little involuntary peeks at me, flicking down to my tight outfit, then back to my eyes. He lowers his brow. “Why are you dressed like this, Gypsy?”
I swallow. “Like what?”
Without answering, he draws out a breath. He looks up at the ceiling a second, then tells his friends to go away.
Meanwhile, he gently leads me by the elbow in the other direction—away from his gawking friends.
When we’re out of earshot, he pins me against the wall. My knees go weak, and the air whooshes out of me. Holy smokes, he’s close. So close I can feel the heat of his body, and his warm tantalizing breath on my yearning, longing lips.
Suddenly, my whole body is on fire, wanting him even closer. Wanting his gorgeous hot mouth to crash on mine—like in my dreams.
Geez, it’s hot in here!
His eyes dart between my mouth and eyes as he murmurs, “Why are you dressed like this?—like you want to drive guys wild?” He draws even closer. “What are you doing, Gypsy?”
He’s being all concerned and brother-like. But he’s doing it really, really close. And seductive, though I know he’s not doing the seductive part on purpose—yet I’m seduced. Big time.
I gulp. “Am I driving you wild?”
“Me and every other guy in the mall,” he mutters.
He says it matter-of-factly. But come on. That’s not a very brotherly thing to say … right?
He’s been back at our house for almost two months now.
Things have been … not what I expected. At all.
Back when I first heard he was coming to live with us again I’d been thrilled, thinking things would be the same between us, that I’d finally have my sweet, wonderful brother back.
The night before he came, I stayed up late, making him this tiny little layered cake from our tiny Kid’s-Can-Bake oven that we used to make little treats from all the time when we were kids. I’d just wanted to remind him of our past together, and make him feel special and loved—remembered.
But when he showed up, I about dropped my cake, and definitely my jaw. Because he was nothing like I remembered. He was freakin’ hot.
Staring at him, I about dropped the cake.
Sage had grabbed it as it wobbled in my shaking hands.
He grinned, “That looks good. Is it for me?” Then his grin grew, “I guess it is—since it has my name on it.”
“It’s from our kid oven,” I stammered out, not able to take my enraptured eyes off him. I swallowed, “—from when we were kids.”
—which we so aren’t now, my head informed me. Or more like my hormones did. He was no longer cute little Sage. He was … a Greek god.
But a sweet one, telling me my cake looked yummy.
Only, all I could do was stare at him.
Man, talk about yummy. He looked delicious.
He eyed me like I looked delicious too.
I cleared my throat. “Do you—uh—want to put your stuff upstairs?”
He shook his head, “No. I want to eat this cake—with you.”
I brought my palms to my flaming cheeks, watching as my parents brought his stuff into our house. They had no clue what was going on. That I was going to have an aneurism having this gorgeous, staring slice of heaven living in our house. I mean, I was already all breathless and having dreamy fantasies of seeing him with bed-head in the mornings. Mmmm. He already had that tousled, just-rolled-out-of-bed sexy look about him. I was on fire realizing that I’d get to see it for real. Everyday. Because he was going to be living in our house. Everyday. The thought had me on fire.
So, awesome, right?
That was how our big family reunion started—with me drooling over my sweet, little foster brother. (Who was not little anymore.)
But things settled down (sort of) when Sage started school. Because then he had hordes of girls admiring him. The popular girls. So, his stare on me eased up a little. In fact, became brotherly. (Sob.)
But that was good … right?
I just needed my stare on him to turn sisterly.
So, that’s what I was doing here at the mall—dressed all “different.” I was following the plan to nab North, which was (supposedly) going to help me get over forbidden Sage.
I became desperately determined to do it last week (before that I was just like, yeah, yeah I should definitely work on getting over my disturbing crush on my foster brother—who has totally put me properly in the “sister-zone” now … where I belong. Duh.) But I was being lazy about doing it—and having all kinds of fantasies about him. But then last week, we were shoveling the snow off the walkway, just like brother and sister—and we were moaning about it, just like brother and sister. But then we got into a huge snowball fight—which had started out being totally brother-and-sister-like too … until he had me pinned on the ground.
At first we were all laughing and I was squirming under him, trying to get free. But then as he was over me, his eyes lost their teasing and turned full of longing, stalling on my lips. It was like he was going to kiss me. I held my breath, waiting for it. Anticipating it.
But instead of doing it, he groaned and let me free. “I’m not used to having a sister anymore, Gypsy.”
I played dumb, like I hadn’t noticed the hungry look in his eyes. “What do you mean?” I murmured, my heart pounding wild.
“I mean when I first saw you again, ‘sister’ is not the word that popped into my mind.” He grinned, “I was worried I was going to make moves on you.”
I swallowed, then managed to choke out, “Why didn’t you?”
He grinned, “Because it seemed inappropriate to hit on you—since you’re gay and everything.”
I gave him a playful punch in exasperation, “I’m not gay!”
He laughed and made a move to kiss me—but he was just teasing. Still, I jumped away with a yelp. He laughed again.
“Hey, just because I don’t want you to kiss me doesn’t make me gay,” I informed him.
He gave me a look, raising his eyebrows and I reddened, having to concede. “Okay, that would make me gay, I guess. It’s not that I don’t want you to kiss me … it’s that I’m too smart to let you kiss me. You’re bad for a girl’s heart.”
He raised his eyebrows, tilting his head. “But you want to kiss me?”
“No, what I want to do is this.” I smashed a snowball in his face.
We went on with the snow fight, laughing like hyenas … until his gorgeous girlfriend came to pick him up for some popular-people party that I wasn’t invited to.
Sage gave me a playful pet on the head, “’bye sis.”
He said it as his girlfriend dragged him away from me. She didn’t look pleased, as he was late, and a wet, shaggy mess from our fight.
As
they drove away, Sage texted me, “The fight was fun. Sorry I was inappropriate. Like I said, I’m not quite used to having a sister again yet. But I’m working on it.”
Then he added, “By the way, if you’re not gay … why no boyfriends?”
When I didn’t answer, he texted, “Well, whatever. The real reason I didn’t hit on you wasn’t because I thought you were gay (I was just teasing about that). The real reason I didn’t hit on you, and it’s the ONLY reason that keeps me from doing it is—I’ll get sent away if I do. No romance can come between us. So, restrain yourself. I know it will be hard, what with me being so irresistible. But … resist.”
Then he added, probably grinning, “—which you did pretty well: the resisting. Snowball in my face—nice move.”
He was just teasing about everything. Pretty much. I know because his next words were, “Well, also no romance because you’re my sister. And we made mud-patties together and little cakes in that oven, and tents in the living room, and rode our bikes until it was dark—every night—and had thumb-fights during church. I know I don’t actually TELL you this—but I do think of you as a sister. Most of the time.”
His words touched me.
And I knew what he was saying—we couldn’t have a romance.
He was right, of course.
Sigh.
So, yeah. My nabbing North plan … and my new look. It’s all to get over Sage. So, it’s kind of ironic that here Sage is, at the mall, where “The Nabbing North” is supposed to go down.
Sage’s eyes linger on my mouth, then he takes a giant step back, like he’s just noticing he’s so close. Too close to be to his “sister.”
He squints about my ‘different’ look again. “What are you doing, Gypsy?”
“I have a … thing,” I hedge, embarrassed to tell him.
He seems to know I’m hedging. He tilts his head, a faint grin playing on his lips. “A thing?” He looks up at the ceiling really quick, then back to my eyes. “Okay, enjoy your thing.”
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