by J N Owens
Reckless Abandon
A Beautiful Liar, Book One
J. N. Owens
Copyright © 2019 by J. N. Owens
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Prologue
1. Finley
2. Finley
3. Finley
4. Finley
5. Finley
6. Finley
7. Finley
8. Finley
9. Finley
10. Finley
11. Finley
12. Noah
13. Finley
14. Finley
15. Scott
16. Finley
17. Noah
18. Finley
19. Finley
20. Noah
21. Finley
22. Finley
23. Finley
24. Emory
25. Finley
Epilogue
This book is dedicated to my amazing husband, Tracey, without you I would never have had the guts to go forward and try. Thank you. I love you More.
Prologue
I have watched her from the shadows for weeks. I know the way she walks. I know her favorite food, her favorite drink. I can recognize her voice and the way she talks. I can’t seem to get enough of the beautiful doctor. I have been here for close to a month with my girlfriend, but it’s not my girlfriend I’m focused on. Ever since the beautiful dark haired doctor with the angel eyes walked passed me, she is all I can think about. I feel like I know her already.
I follow her as she leaves in the evenings, and I’m waiting when she arrives in the morning. She has consumed my life. I have to make her see that we are meant to be together. Whatever it takes, I will make her mine. But I need to know more first, but how? Maybe the nurse she is always with? No, she is too close. Someone further away, but close enough she can give me answers. And then the answer hits me, literally, a nurse walks right into me. She is cute, but not my type. The way her eyes light up, I am clearly hers. I notice her name tag, and lucky for me, she works in the same clinic as the beautiful and future doctor of mine.
Smiling down at her, I offer to help pick up the files she dropped. I put on the thickest layer of charm I have, and that’s all it takes. I have this little nurse’s knees weak and ready to eat out of my hand. I’ll drag her along for a week and get all the info I need out of her. Then be done with her, or maybe I’ll keep her around for a fuck friend, my girlfriend doesn’t know about any of the others so she won’t have to know about this one. We will see. She is my key to getting all the information I need to get close to the woman I really want. And I always get what I want. If I don’t, well….. I will have her. She will see things my way, one way or another.
1
Finley
“Who is that?” Stacey, my nurse practitioner, asks as she has yet to pull her eyes away from the man across the way.
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen him before.” I’m not one to ever take notice of men. I have always been the brain, the book nerd. I haven’t even had a boyfriend, ever. I wouldn’t even know how to navigate a relationship. Forget sex. Oh God, I would be a train wreck. But there, leaning against one of the massive columns in the hospital food court, is a living breathing Adonis. I have never in my life laid eyes on anyone like him. Maybe once, but I that’s a completely different story. This man, he is so casual, just comfortable, and staring right at me. His beautiful aquamarine eyes are piercing right thru me. He has sandy blond hair pulled back from his face, but I can’t tell from here if it’s short or long. Whatever it is, I’d really like to find out and run my fingers through it. He makes my heart skip a beat, and I feel hot all over. Oh God I have never had a thought like that. I can see his muscles pulling against the fabric of his shirt. He isn’t a professional, that I can tell, he definitely works with his hands. I can see the dirt on them. He lowers his head just a tad, in an acknowledgement then winks at me. I can feel the blush rise to my cheeks. Stacey looks over at me with wide grin on her face.
“Well, he seems to know you, or he wants to. Or maybe he wants to know what’s in those pants,” she waggles her eyebrows.
“Oh my God, could you be anymore disgusting. We are grown women. We don’t talk like that.”
“You don’t. When was the last time you had sex? With a person, not your battery-operated friend.”
“Oh my God. Hush! Could you be any louder?” I push her away. “I don’t know, I guess it was probably during my residency. You know I don’t date. I have worked too hard to get where I am. Plus, I just have a lot going on.”
Her eyes go wide.
“Are you fucking kidding me? It’s time for you to get out there. Seriously. That man over there is a work of art. I bet he would fuck you till you didn’t know your name.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” I mumble as I look back over my shoulder. I get a strange feeling looking at him. One I don’t recognize.
We head back to the office at a children’s hospital in New Orleans where I’m a pediatrician. I love my job. I worked hard to get where I am. Stacey has been with me since I was a resident. She was a nurse on my rotation then, but decided to come with me when I got this job. We have been best friends ever since.
The idea of a man, a potential boyfriend, a ’relationship,’ is something I’ve never had to think about that. My stomach is tied up in knots just thinking about it. I feel like it may be more trouble than it’s worth, and I don’t need complication in my life. Then again, I deserve to have some fun and be happy. Don’t I? The thought makes a warmth spread over my body.
It’s been a week since I saw my mystery man, and trust me, I have been looking. I walk through the doors of the clinic on Monday morning. Stacey is standing there with a shit eating grin in her face. “Why are you in such a good mood?”
“No reason.” She is grinning and has a very devious look about her. I give her a questioning look then head towards my office.
“Okay.” I walk past her on my way, and she follows right on my heels. “What are you doing? Don’t you have work to do?”
“Nope,” she sings entirely too happy for a Monday morning.
“Oh, hey, I’ve meant to ask you, have you seen Jaimie lately? She hasn’t been here in the last couple weeks. I’ve been a little worried, it’s not like her.” She grabs my arm as we continue to walk to my office.
“You didn’t hear? She met some guy. Fell head over heels and quit, just like that. Moved off with him or something. I’m not sure. She sent some vague email. It’s crazy.”
Even though it is weird, and completely not like her, I just shrug. She has been alone since her divorce a couple years ago. Good for her. By the time we get to my office, I have moved on to running through my schedule for the day when I stop in the doorway. There is a huge vase of flowers. I have never not one day in my life gotten flowers. I turn to give Stacey a laser stare.
“What is this?”
She shrugs her shoulders.
“I don’t know they were on the front desk this morning.”
I make my way over to my desk to check the card. It just has my name but no sender. Huh.
This continues all week. Flowers arrive every morning. Sometimes they come with chocolate; sometimes, I get the fruit covered in chocolate. But they always come. Saturday and Sunday, a bouquet shows up at my house. To be honest, this is getting weird and a little creepy.
Monday morning comes again, but when I get to my office, rather than one vase of flowers, the room is filled. I can�
��t even get into it. There are flowers everywhere. All different kinds. From roses to hydrangeas. There is a card sticking out in the front. I pull it out, it simply has ’meet me in the courtyard at noon’ lazily scrawled on it. Staring at it for a minute, I have no idea what to do. I finally decide what the hell. I tell Stacey I’m going to meet this mystery man in the courtyard, so if I’m not back in an hour send the search team.
I make my way downstairs, it’s beautiful here. It’s one of the reasons I chose this hospital, besides keeping me close to home. It’s just gorgeous. It’s full of oak trees with moss hanging from them, a weeping willow by the pond that has a small bridge so you can feed the fish and geese. There is a small sitting area with benches to the side. That’s where I see him. Holy fuck. If that is even possible, he looks better today than when I first saw him. When I start towards him, he stands up so I can see every curve of muscle from his shoulders to his calves through his tight jeans and T-shirt. Good God in heaven this man has been blessed. Thank God I’m in loose scrubs today. Hopefully, he can’t see my hardened nipples beneath my top. I don’t think I have ever had this reaction to a man in years. Once, there was one person that had this effect on me. No one has been able to compare to him since. It is why I have never bothered with anyone, but that was more of a one-sided crush coupled with one night of incredibly hot sex. We never spoke of that again. But this man in front me might just be able to measure up, or at least fill in this void I seem to be carrying around. I walk up to him and immediately, the smell of grass and soap wash over me. It’s such an amazingly clean smell. I get chills all over, even though it’s March and 80 degrees out.
* * *
I smile up at him. He gives me the sexiest smirk. Oh fuck. I think my panties melted. I can feel them running down my legs. Oh wait, nope that’s me, I’m so fucking horny from him smiling I just came. Yep, from a smile. Fuck, I’m done for. I can only imagine what the rest of him can do.
“Hi, I’m glad you came.” His voice is low and gravely, like sex in the back seat of a car in the middle of summer. Or so my imagination is telling me. It’s like I can feel the windows fogging up around me.
Oh God, he can tell? Oh, no, he means came outside to meet him. I have to get ahold of myself. As I bite my bottom lip, I realize haven’t answered him.
“Hi, so it must be you that has been sending me the flowers?” He laughs
“You’re on top of it. Yeah I have been.” He does this little laugh thing after he talks, I’m not sure how I feel about it just yet. It’s not like a haha funny laugh, more like smart ass laugh. Juries out on that one.
* * *
“Why?” I turn and sit on the bench pulling out a peach from my pocket. I might as well as have my lunch while I’m out here.
“Why not?” He sits next to me.
“Touché, so, do you have a name, or do I just have to keep calling you mystery man? Orrrr was it your big plan to send me flowers, get me out here and then sit on a bench. Is this your grand finale?” I smile at him. He roars with laughter. I raise my eyebrows because let’s face it, it wasn’t that funny.
“Scott Oliver, it’s nice to meet you.” I reach my hand out to him.
“Dr. Carson, Finley. Nice to meet you,” he pulls my hand up to kiss it. Only it’s not a sweet little peck like most people do, nope he brushes his full soft lips across the top of my knuckles, while running his thumb over them. Suddenly, visions of what he can do with that mouth and those hands are racing through my brain. All my urges are yelling at me to straddle him right now. Nope. Not gonna do it. I have to get a handle on myself. Maybe Stacey was right. I really have been too long without sex.
“I already know who you are,” he looks up into my eyes.
“Oh, of course how silly of me. You were sending the flowers. You couldn’t have done that without knowing right.” I’m completely flustered now, and my voice is coming out all breathy. I sound like a fucking idiot.
“Right. So, would you like to have dinner with me? Say Friday night?” He reaches up and wipes peach juice from the corner of my mouth, then licks it. He fucking licks it off his finger.
“I don’t even know you.” I stutter out.
“Oh, but you will, I can guarantee you that.”
“You seem very sure of that. Why?”
“I can see it in your eyes, the way you look at me. I can hear the way your breathing has increased. I can see the rise and fall of your, well, let’s just say I can tell your breathing has increased and leave it at that. I saw you blush. Those are things that lead me to believe you want to get to know me. You want me as much as I want you. Am I wrong?” He has gotten very close. I can feel his breath on my face. My heartbeat has picked up. His eyes dip down and are watching my breast swell with every breath I take. He looks backup with that same scorching smirk. “I’d say that’s a yes. But more importantly, how do you expect to get to know someone if you don’t give them a chance?”
“True. But why me? You know nothing about me.” I can barely get the words out. For Christ’s sake, I’m a 32 year old doctor. I should be able to talk to a man. It shouldn’t be this hard.
“I know all I need to.”
“What’s that?” He runs his thumb over my cheek and down to my bottom lip.
“The first time I saw you, I felt you. I could feel your heart. Like we were connected. You were mine, and I had to have you. I’ve never felt that way before. Something was drawing me to you. So now don’t you think we should find out what that pull is? What is bringing us together?”
He still has his hand on my cheek slowly running his finger down to my lip, back and forth. I think this may be some kind of hypnosis. I can’t seem to form cohesive thoughts.
“Um yeah okay. Friday night.” He stands up slowly.
“Great should I pick you up? Say 7?”
I shake the fog from my head. “No. No, I’ll meet you. There is a little bistro downtown, Anthony’s. Do you know it?” There he goes with that smirk. God please, that strength we talked about, yeah it would be good now. He slides his hands down into the pockets of his jeans. Bringing entirely too much attention to the bulge there. I snap my attention back to his face.
“Yes, I know it.” I stand up. God he is tall. I’m almost 6 foot. So, he has to be at least 6’3.
“Good. I’ll meet you there at 7.”
“Sounds good.” I finally get my shit together as I’m walking away. I turn back to him.
“Oh, and Scott,” he turns around, “you’re going to make me regret this aren’t you?”
“Probably.” He winks at me, “but in a very good way. I promise.” Then he walks off. I turn back around, silently shaking and head back inside.
I hear him laughing as he walks the other way, hands still in his pockets. I glance back once more. Fuck if he doesn’t have a perfect ass too. What have I gotten myself into? He is trouble. I had a sinking suspicion that Scott Olivier was going to be more than a little trouble. I had a sinking feeling in my gut, maybe it was nerves, but maybe it was more. I guess I would soon find out.
2
Finley
Friday night comes and we meet up at my favorite little bistro in downtown. It’s close to my house so I feel fairly safe being somewhere I’m familiar with. Lucky for us, it is nice weather, so we choose to eat outside. We order drinks, and everything is going well.
“So did you always know you wanted to be a doctor?” he asks as I am sipping my wine.
“Yes, actually, ever since I was a little kid. I would always make my little sisters pretend to be sick and I would fix them. They would make up fake symptoms and I would try to figure out what they were sick with.” I see him smile at my memory. I love thinking back at when my sisters and I were all together.
“Sisters, how many?” he asks me, seemingly genuinely interested. I am so new at this, I have no idea how these things go. The last ’date’ I went on, wasn’t a date. We already knew each other, and the conversation just flowed. This whole getting to kn
ow each other is so foreign to me.
“I have two sisters, both younger. Layla is 2 years younger. Then there is Emory, she is 10 years younger.” His eyes go wide.
“Wow, ten years. That’s a lot. Was she an oops?”
* * *
“Yeah, she was. But she is still the favorite.” I laugh. “What about you? Do you have brothers or sisters?”
“I have a brother.” Well that was vague.
“Okay, well, tell me what you do?”
“I have a farm, about 250 acres about 30 minutes north of the city. I have cows, a couple horses, some chickens and a few goats. I have a vegetable garden, not too big, just enough for me. Nothing fancy, but I love it. It’s home and it keeps me busy.”
I smile because I can tell he truly enjoys it and is proud.
“So, you’re a farmer? You don’t look like a farmer. Is that what you always wanted to do?” I take another sip of my wine to ease the tension I am feeling. The conversation doesn’t feel natural. I’m not sure why, but it just feels forced. I like him. He is nice, charming, and obviously really good looking, but something is off. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s my lack of experience dating. He just seems hesitant to answer.
“No actually, I went to school for finance. I have a degree in both financing and agriculture. I do some work for the state sometimes. Just private consulting work from time to time, but once I finished school and went to work for my dad, I hated it. It was boring being inside all the time. I hated sitting behind a desk. I love the outdoors and working with my hands, so I decided to put my agriculture degree to work and start my own farm. It worked out really well. Working with the animals and having my own land is great. I love it. But what about you? You didn’t finish telling me. I mean, you said you wanted to be a doctor, but have you always wanted to work with kids?”