Table of Contents
Copyright
A Man Who Knows What He Wants Series
Crocodile Dan D
Ruby
Dan
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CROCODILE DAN D
AN OLDER MAN YOUNGER WOMAN ROMANCE
_______________________
A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS, 40
FLORA FERRARI
CONTENTS
Copyright
A Man Who Knows What He Wants Series
Crocodile Dan D
1. Ruby
2. Ruby
3. Dan
4. Ruby
5. Ruby
6. Dan
7. Ruby
8. Ruby
9. Ruby
10. Dan
11. Ruby
12. Dan
13. Ruby
14. Ruby
15. Dan
Epilogue. Ruby
Extended Epilogue. Ruby
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COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2018 by Flora Ferrari.
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers.
A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS
Book 1: Baby Lust
Book 2: Veteran
Book 3: Built
Book 4: Bambino
Book 5: Rescued
Book 6: Leader
Book 7: Professor
Book 8: Burned
Book 9: Worldly
Book 10: Pistol
Book 11: Policed
Book 12: Driven
Book 13: Lucky 13
Book 14: Lumberjacked
Book 15: Protector
Book 16: Carpenter
Book 17: Italian Stallion
Book 18: Gardener
Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin
Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 21: Cocky CFO
Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th
Book 23: Mechanic
Book 24: SEAL’s Secret
Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch
Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée
Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina
Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy
Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol
Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess
Book 32: Statham
Book 33: Bodyguard
Book 34: Greek God
Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter
Book 36: Mountain Man
Book 37: SEAL’s Justice
Book 38: Royal Romance
Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery
Book 40: Crocodile Dan D
CROCODILE DAN D
The boys at my university are a bunch of dingos. And the ones that pretend to be Mr. Nice Guy are secretly Tasmanian Devils in disguise.
When I get an offer for a six-month working holiday visa to Australia I jump like a kangaroo at the chance.
I just want to enjoy some fun in the sun and see a few cuddly koalas.
But when my surf lesson goes terribly wrong I find myself face to face with another kind of trouble.
“Crocodile” Dan D.
He’s tall, rugged, and his voice booms like thunder causing me to glow when he drops his Vegemite sandwich just before saving me with his masculine display of might.
Now all I want is to bond at Bondi but his big muscles and carefree way try to tempt me for more when his swim trunks show that he’s clearly from the land of plenty.
I want him to take me out back and show me his knife for some dirty deeds done dirt cheap, but he says I’m too young and it’s too much of a great barrier to overcome even though I’m doing everything I can to bridge the gap.
I know if he shakes me all night long I’ll be harboring desires that he puts a ring on my finger the size of Ayers Rock.
He displays the focus of a man at work when he shows me the real meaning of down under, but as my time in Sydney comes to a close I’m left wondering if I’ll be the one down in the dumps, singling the blues outside the Opera House in a fried-out combie that’s on the highway to hell.
I’ve got a stiff upper lip but as the end nears it’s clear he’s not coming back in black board shorts before the pilot prepares for takeoff with a flick of the switch.
Just like in Western Australia I’ll be forced to wait awhile for my heart to mend…but when it comes to our high voltage relationship I just hope a while doesn’t translate to forever.
Because forever is exactly how long I thought we were going to be together, before everything we had exploded like T.N.T.
*Crocodile Dan D is an insta-everything standalone romance with an HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.
CHAPTER 1
Ruby
“Ruby, you look like hell.”
“Yeah, I just got back.”
It’s not much of an exaggeration. I’ve spent the last five and a half months picking fruit in Australia on a working holiday visa. Although I have no complaints, I have been outside under the scorching sun working my tail off all day from before sunrise to after sunset.
I’ve got a mean farmer’s tan. I’m covered in bug bites, scratches, and cuts. I’m going to need an ultimate trip to the day spa when I get back…and I’m not sure this tan will ever even out. If the skin on my neck was a flavor of KFC it would be something about five levels beyond extra crispy. It looks about like the crocodile lace-ups I saw passing some high end shop today.
Today our group was welcomed back into civilization. We’re out of the field and have our last couple weeks here in Australia to use the money we made and travel the country. I can hardly wait.
But I’m even more excited to finally talk to my boyfriend.
The phone reception was hit or miss out there in the middle of the boonies where I was. And Wi-Fi? Forget about it.
But now that we’re back in Sydney we can finally start to remember what it feels like to live as real humans do.
I stare into my computer screen so happy to finally see my boyfriend’s face again. It may just be a Skype call, but the video’s running so it feels somewhat real. But I can’t wait to get back home and throw myself in his arms.
“Excited to come back home?” he asks.
“Of course! I can’t wait to see you again. I’ve already got a wonderful night planned. Straight from the airport to a little surprise I just put together.”
Before I called Daryl I did some quick looking around at hotels online. I booked a five star place for two nights. It has an incredible view, a bathtub, marble floors, Jacuzzi, California King bed with a retractable skylight…pretty much the works.
And after all the work I’ve put in here I can not wait to put some of that money to work for a little enjoyment. I haven’t spent a dime since we were taken to the worksite. I’ve managed to save quite a bit and am more than happy to drop a few hundred dollars for one night on me and the man I plan on marrying one day.
“Yeaaah. About that.”
My entire body is suddenly still, thrown off by his strange reply. How could he already know what I have planned?
He has had five and a half months to bring up the idea with my mother and get her blessing.
I just hope he doesn’t do it over Skype right now. If he tells me to cancel I’ll be happy to in lieu of something much, much bigger and much, much more important.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you something, but I preferred to do it face to face.”
Oh my god, is he really going to go for it right now?
“Since we’ve been apart it’s made me realize just what’s most important in my life and how much I value that importance and want to take the steps to ensure it lasts forever.”
Forever? My eyes come off the screen and scan the Internet cafe. All around me are backpackers typing away feverishly at old PCs, trying to get the most out of their browsing time as they can’t. Internet rates aren’t cheap down here, and apparently my boyfriend’s not either. He’s been saving up for a rock! I know it. He just can’t wait anymore. He has to show me now. He wants what we have to last…forever.
Being apart made him realize just how special I am, not that he needed it. He always was a great boyfriend, but now he knows just how great of a girlfriend I really am. How much of a catch I am.
“Is this really happening?” I say.
I feel my hands start to shake and I lean back in my seat, my eyes intently focused back on the screen.
I know I’ve got the biggest smile ever plastered across my face, and I know he can see it. He deserves to after all. He’s the one who put it there. He’s about to make me the happiest girl in the world right now.
“It is,” he says. “I’m just so surprised you’re okay with it happening this way.”
“This is one of those moments in life that you cherish no matter what…well unless it’s on one of those big screens at a sporting event and you’re not a sporty kind of girl, but even then I’m sure any girl would still be overcome with positive emotion.”
“Positive emotion? Wow, well this just got a lot easier.”
“That’s how we do it, right? Teamwork!” I high five the screen and somehow smile even wider. “You know we’re always on the same page and I’ve always got your back just like you’ve always got mine.”
“Definitely. No matter what we can all always stay as friends.”
“Right!” I turn my head to the side as my eyebrow raises. Wait. What did he just say? “I don’t get you.”
“Friends. We’ll all always be friends.”
“Of course we’ll always be friends. You’re my best friend, silly.” He must be nervous and his tongue is tied. Why is he stumbling to say always. All always? He’s so cute when he’s nervous like this. I’ll just help him out with the final part. “Okay! I’m ready!” I clasp my hands and look into the screen wide eyed waiting to see him kneel in front of me.
But instead I see a pair of…panties? And it’s attached to a person who’s currently walking in the background of his side of the call.
“Ummm. Daryl? Who is that you’ve got with you?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. We’re all always going to be friends.”
“What do you mean all?”
“Hi Ruby!”
Suddenly another face appears on the screen next to a waving hand, but not just any waving hand. Her waving hand. My bff Veronica.
We were supposed to come to Australia together, but she couldn’t make it last second. Something came up she said, which was too bad. The entire trip was her idea. I mostly just wanted to come along and support her, but I knew we’d have a good time at the end when we got to travel up the coast together making memories that we could look back on when we were old and gray and in our rocking chairs laughing at all the silly things we did.
“Thanks for being so cool with everything,” she says.
“What is this everything that I’m so cool with?” I say.
They both laugh.
“Surprise!” they say together, raising their hands to the screen showing me their rings.
“Daryl, why are you wearing a ring on your ring finger?”
“I told you. We’ll all always be friends. This time apart made me really come to realize just how perfect Veronica and I are together and also how you were telling me that by going to Australia that you needed space. I mean Australia is a really vast and open country. It’s a new frontier in a lot of ways. And you wanted to explore that frontier by yourself. I didn’t get it at first, but Veronica explained it to me in “woman speak” and then it all made sense. It was strange to deal with at first, but you know…I respect that, just like I respect you. And the ultimate show of respect is to let you spread your wings and fly, just like you’re doing now.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?”
“Veronica and I are engaged!”
“You’re what?”
“We’re getting married next month. We weren’t sure whether to invite you or not, but seeing how awesome you’re being about all of this we’re going to reserve you a seat now. A lot of my friends will be there too. Single ones just like you.”
“Oh helllll no! You have got to be kidding me! You’re breaking up with me and you’re making this about me? You cheated on me you jerk! And Veronica…you…you…whore!”
“Oh, I thought you said she’d buy this reasoning,” Daryl mumbles to Veronica.
“Buy this reasoning? More like buy this bullshit and there is no way in hell I’m buying any of it. You two…uhhh!”
“Ma’am on computer forty-four, please keep your voice down.”
And now the attendant is going to scold me? You have got to be kidding me.
“Oh my god, you two. I swear—“
“You’re breaking up,” Daryl says. “Must be the connection.”
Suddenly the screen goes blank.
“Uuuh!” I yell.
“Ma’am, in the interest of others we going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Interest of others huh?”
I drop my headset and storm out of the lab.
I stand against the outside of the wall and feel my legs start to crumble. My back slides down the wall and suddenly I’m sitting on the corner like I’m homeless. I need to talk to someone.
I pull out my phone and type the little code the girl gave inside and log back into their Wi-Fi.
My Facebook feed instantly loads.
“We needed a trial run free of criticism and judgment to decide. Fortunately everyone is in agreement and we’ve decided. He asked me. And I said yes!” It’s a picture of Veronica’s ugly hand and even uglier finger with that stupid engagement ring on it.
And it was posted, “less than a minute ago” according to Facebook. “Fortunately everyone is in agreement?” They’re trying to spread fake news that I’m cool with this?
Not only that, but they call it a trial run? What in the hell were Daryl and I? A pre-trial run?
That’s funny because I was all in from the first time I looked at him.
And now here I am down here halfway around the world picking fruit and getting bit by spiders and battling all kinds of other strange and exotic animals that can pretty much kill me just by looking at me, and what for? Because Veronica tricked me into getting me out of the picture while she made her move.
And speaking of move, when I got back we were going to move so he could go to law school while I got a job and worked to support both of us. The direct deposits for my payments down here in Australia were being automatically swept into his account each month!
I hear a notification and look back at my screen.
“Pics from our new place.” Another post from Veronica.
Their new place? It’s tagged as being in Boston. They can’t afford that. Oh my god. They took that money and got a new apartment with it. I don’t know much about law but I do know that if I gave the money willingly to Daryl then there’s no
t much I can do to get it back. He tricked me into being the one to set up the deposits!
This can’t be happening. I’ve lost my boyfriend and most of the money I busted my butt to get these last almost six months.
What in the world did I do to deserve this? To get betrayed by both my boyfriend and my bff. Make that my ex-boyfriend and my ex-bff.
And now when I get back I’m going to be the laughing stock of the town. And to make matters worse I’m going to pretty much look like a guy. Bad farmer’s tan. Unkempt from working outside all day long. Increased muscle from all the lifting and twisting and manual labor.
This cannot be happening.
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