LOL #2 Romantic Comedy Anthology - Volume 2 - Even More All-New Romance Stories by Bestselling Authors (LOL Romantic Comedy Anthology #2)

by Anthology

  Dangerous…

  “Melissa?” His deep voice rumbled in her left ear. His teeth caught her lobe lightly and nibbled.

  Mmm. She melted into him. He smelled wonderful, felt even better.

  “Is this going where I think it’s going?” he asked, dropping kisses along her throat to the hollow between her breasts. “Right now?”

  She curled one of her feet behind the other, trying to kick off the shoe, imagining staying right here.

  And then she realized she’d heard ambivalence in his voice—that magnetic, mesmerizing voice. She returned both feet to the ground and opened her eyes. He stared at her, tousled dark hair falling over his forehead.

  At that exact moment, her stomach growled.

  For crying out loud, as her grandfather used to say.

  She moved away from him a few inches, trying to catch her breath. Nice of him to break the spell. What a gentleman.

  That was even more dangerous.

  “Well, that was nice,” she said with her usual seductive charm.

  “Very nice.” His grin was brief, and she saw his jaw clench. “Melissa… ”

  Oh, God, now he’s going to apologize. “Maybe we were going a little fast.” She’d responded with the grateful enthusiasm of a desperate woman. Why did she always have to overreact? “Are you still up for dinner?”

  He shifted his hips. “In a manner of speaking.”

  “Great,” she said brightly. “Shall we go?”

  They stared at each other in the dim hallway.

  He shook his head. “We’re staying right here,” he said, and grabbed her again.

  Eduardo kissed her without reservations this time, realizing this was the moment. She tasted like peppermint and smelled like the sweet jasmine he’d asked her to plant in his backyard. Her warm velvet skin was softer than the clingy fabric hugging her curves, and he wanted to expose all of it, lick her everywhere.

  “Oh, thank God,” she moaned, snaking her arms around his neck.

  Smiling as he kissed her, he pushed his hand under the neckline of her dress, drawing it sideways across one breast to expose a sliver of a black bra. The bed was under the window, too large for the small apartment but just right for lovemaking. He liked room to stretch out and be stretched.

  He marched her there, hooking his leg behind her feet so she fell backward onto the mattress with a squeal. He climbed over her, pinning her beneath him, crushing her with another kiss.

  He found the bottom hem of her dress and yanked it up, exposing pale thighs and dark underwear.

  Those have to go.

  That was the last coherent thought he had for a long time.

  Breathing like an unprepared marathoner, Melissa unbuttoned Eduardo’s shirt with fumbling fingers until his chest was bare. She splayed her fingers against his abdomen, slid them up over the hair and muscles, so sexy, up to his broad shoulders. In a moment she’d shoved the fabric away and down. He leaned back, giving her a show of flexing pecs and biceps as he shook the shirt free and returned to his post pinning her to the bed. His jeans were rough against her naked thighs, his belt buckle rubbing her stomach.

  “Let me up for a second,” she said, gasping.

  He frowned but rolled to the side, sliding his hands up her leg and then stroking between them as she sat—tried to sit—up. His clever fingers nearly stopped her, but she was motivated.

  Her dress came off with two jerks of the stretchy belt around her waist, and she removed her bra and underwear, too, as quickly as she could before attacking Eduardo’s dark jeans. When he realized what she was doing, he leaned back on the bed with his hands behind his head, lips slightly parted, dark eyes darting between her face and her hands.

  She’d never felt so wicked. He was hard and huge under the fly of his jeans. Palming him slowly but firmly over the fabric, she met his gaze.

  “I think I’m in love.” His voice was deliciously husky.

  Knowing it was just the heat of the moment, she smiled, tilted her head to one side, and continued to stroke him. “Just you wait.”

  He braced his feet on the bed, arched his back, and in three seconds his jeans and underwear were falling to the floor. He held a foil condom packet between his teeth.

  Smooth.

  That was the last coherent thought she had for a long time.

  11

  MELISSA’S STOMACH GROWLED.

  “HOW EMBARRASSING,” she said, twirling Eduardo’s hair between her fingers. She wasn’t embarrassed at all. Everything was fine in the universe. The world was perfect. Existence, a joy.

  Eduardo’s head was resting on her shoulder. While she ran her fingers through it, smiling at the ceiling, he cupped her breast and licked her nipple.

  No, she didn’t care about her stomach growling. At that moment she wouldn’t care if an asteroid struck San Francisco and obliterated civilization. Not that San Francisco was civilized, but there would be larger repercussions, like dust clouds that destroyed ecosystems around the world. Which she still didn’t care about.

  “I feel bad for feeling so good,” she said.

  He lifted his head and frowned up at her. The curve of his cheekbone was beautiful. She shifted sideways so she could trace it with her finger, grinning like a fool. Mine.

  “I feel good about feeling good.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. “You should too.”

  “Didn’t use to be my style,” she said. “But I’ve been working on it.”

  “Let me help you with that.” He rolled onto his back, pulling her on top of him.

  Laughing, she wiggled on top on his broad hairy chest until she was comfortable. She felt movement down below and decided that comfort wasn’t the only good feeling a person could have. Agonizing pleasure was a delightful alternative.

  “Tell me,” she said. “Now that we’ve gotten to know each other’s adult selves a little better, what do you do for a living?”

  He tightened his arms around her. “Guess.”

  “No. Just tell me.”

  “I want you to guess.”

  “Too bad. I want you to tell me.”

  He reached around her thigh, slipped his hand between her legs from behind, and began strumming her like a world-famous classical guitarist.

  Eyes closing involuntarily, she whispered, “Musician?”

  “Seriously. What did you think when you met me?”

  She collapsed on top of him like cheese on a tuna melt. No, not fish; beef. A cheeseburger.

  Damn. Stomach was growling again.

  A long minute passed, during which all thoughts of guitars and cheeseburgers disappeared into the hot smoke of increasing, spiraling tension.

  Right before his fingers pushed her over the edge, Eduardo said, “Guess.”

  Throat tight, she whispered, “Cop?”

  Chuckling, he licked the curve of her ear, did something outrageous with his hands, and catapulted her into the light.

  Whee.

  When she’d recovered—well, her eyes were half-open—she asked, “Was I right?”

  “Sorry,” he said, stroking her belly. “I’m a high school teacher.”

  “Get outta here.”

  “Rather not,” he said.

  “High school?”

  He nodded.

  “Some kind of juvenile detention facility?”

  Now he sighed. “Everyone thinks I’m a cop. I don’t know why.”

  “Actually, I considered the possibility you were a spy.”

  “For our country, I hope.”

  She bit her lip.

  He growled and pulled her on top of him. “Hey.”

  “Of course! You’re very patriotic!”

  “I should be,” he said. “I teach American history.”

  “I also considered the possibility that you were an internationally famous underwear model.”

  “But now that you’ve seen me naked, you know better? Thanks a lot.”

  “Now I know you have a backup career waiting
for you,” she said. “Touring the world naked.”

  He kissed her. “I do like to travel. How about you?”

  “Love it.”

  “Your car has Nevada plates,” he said. “That makes me nervous.”

  “You’ve never been the nervous type.”

  “I’m not.” He captured her face in his hands and looked deeply into her eyes. “But I’m nervous about losing you.”

  Her heart kicked into high gear again. “We barely know each other.”

  “You know that’s not true.”

  She sank into his touch. “You’re right,” she said softly.

  Neither said anything for moment.

  “Let’s get dressed and go out, get dinner, start filling in the blanks,” he said.

  Impossible optimism suffused her. She should’ve been terrified, should’ve been overrun with worry and doubt, but being with him made her feel calm, happy, loved…

  “I can’t believe you’re a teacher,” she said. It made her happier than she would’ve thought possible. And history—she loved history. She’d given up graduate school but read biographies for pleasure, adored videos about ancient Egypt, saved up for trips to Europe and Asia. And now to find out Eduardo Diaz didn’t only have brawn and beauty, but brains, too…

  He got out of bed and leaned over to pick up his boxers. “I can’t believe you thought I was an underwear model.”

  Watching him move around naked, flexing as he pulled the boxers over his hips, she completely forgot about his brains. But then he paused, giving her a goofy, vulnerable smile. “You aren’t disappointed, are you?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “About me not being a cop?”

  She jumped out of bed and went over to him. “No,” she said, shaking her head, horrified she’d given him any doubt. “Teachers are hot.”

  He kissed her hard on the mouth before saying, “Damn right. And hungry.”

  They walked out into the night, hand in hand, to begin filling in the blanks of the missing years.

  With their eyes and hearts on the future.

  Author’s Note - Gretchen Galway

  Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the preceding story, Just Can’t Forget You, the newest installment in my bestselling Oakland Hills series. Sign up for my mailing list at www.gretchengalway.com and get a free short story! You’ll also hear about sales, free books, and new releases.

  LOVE HANDLES (Oakland Hills #1): When a couch potato inherits a fitnesswear company in San Francisco, sparks fly with her arrogant, Olympic medalist vice president.

  THIS TIME NEXT DOOR (Oakland Hills #2)

  NOT QUITE PERFECT (Oakland Hills #3)

  About the author: Gretchen Galway is a USA Today bestselling author who writes romantic comedies because love is too painful to survive without laughing. A native of the Midwest, she now lives in California with her husband and two kids.

  Gretchen Galway

  www.gretchengalway.com

  Sweet as Cake

  Caitie Quinn

  A young baker gets the chance to show off for a rock star… until her ex shows up.

  DESCRIPTION: Maddie Deren has been invited to the Brew Ha Ha to make her Bake America! winning secret recipe for rock god, Dalton Reddy. But, with an MIA assistant, a smart mouth barista, and the ex who broke her heart, what could possibly go wrong?

  GENRE: Sweet Contemporary Romantic Comedy, 7k words or approximately 28 pages. This is a stand-alone short story with a happy ending. The characters are connected to Caitie’s Brew Ha Ha series, but you don’t need to have read It’s in His Kiss, The Last Single Girl, Worth the Fall, or Love in Tune to enjoy this story. Magic happens in every visit to the Brew Ha Ha.

  HEAT LEVEL: Sweet! Contains love and romance, but no explicit sex or strong language.

  Turn the page to begin reading SWEET AS CAKE by Caitie Quinn, or click here to return to this anthology’s Table of Contents.

  Sweet as Cake

  Caitie Quinn

  ONE

  “This is a dream come true.”

  I didn’t want to tell Allie what an overstatement that was, because it wasn’t. It’s just her reason for the dreaming and mine was a wee bit different. Okay, not so wee.

  But, even from four hundred miles away, I could picture the look she was giving me.

  “I can’t believe,” she rushed on, “that you get to bake for Dalton Reddy. Dalton. Reddy. You’re going to be in the same room with him. He might sweat on you.”

  I cringed, trying not to picture any situation where some random guy could be eating dessert and accidentally sweat on me.

  “How exactly is he going to do that?” I switched my cell to the other hand and swiped at the counter one last time, rethinking my question. “You know what? I don’t want to know.”

  “I bet he takes one bite of your secret recipe and proposes. Make sure he knows that I was the guinea pig for you all those years. I was the one who ate your first cupcake even though it tasted like sawdust.”

  “One day I’m going to feed you sawdust just to force a comparison.”

  “And, I’d probably eat it.” Allie was a giggler, which always made me happy. “You know I’m your biggest fan.”

  “You’re everyone’s biggest fan,” I challenged.

  But, it was true. Allie had been there for years for me. Every time I needed her, every time I started to break again, she was there.

  “But, if I become Mrs. Dalton Reddy, you can’t.” I threw that out just to get her going.

  If the tabloids were right, no one was going to marry Dalton Reddy. I certainly had no interest in fighting that uphill battle.

  What I wanted from the rock god was very simple: Unadulterated adoration of my super-secret Cherry Chocolate Heaven in social media. Preferably on a very active Tumblr page that fed directly to his Twitter and Facebook.

  “Well… ” Allie was really thinking this through. “If you marry him, I’ll never forgive you. But, I’ll tell you I forgive you because then you’ll make me your maid of honor. That way I can jump him at the altar before you walk down the aisle.”

  “You’re putting way too much thought into this.” Which, if I were being honest, was standard Allie. “You know, if you’d just move here, you could have been my assistant tonight.”

  This was probably the first good argument I’d had for trying to get her here.

  “I know.” She let out a deep, dramatic sigh. “If Billy doesn’t propose by Christmas, you’ll be looking for a new apartment with two bedrooms.”

  We’d been over this six-million-bazilliony times, so there was no reason doing it again. But, really. We were twenty-four. There was zero reason to be pushing the marriage thing quite so hard.

  But, then again, I might be biased.

  “Right. I’m really counting on that.” I opened the oven and stuck my head in, taking a deep breath—in a test the scent way, not a Sylvia Plath way. “I’m sure you’re packing as we speak.”

  “Why are you so echoey?”

  I pulled myself out of the oven and reached for my all natural cleaner before heading back in.

  “I’m cleaning their oven. It’s spotless, but I can smell the ginger he used recently.” The super secret fluff on top of the super secret dessert picked up scent like a Kardashian booty shot picked up likes.

  “Because industrial cleaner smells so much better.”

  “Allie, Allie, Allie-cat. You know me better than that. I’m cleaning it with a mixture of water, lemon juice, and crushed almonds.”

  “Hey! That’s what you gave me for my birthday as an organic face scrub.”

  “And your face is smooth and blemish free, right?” I dragged the bucket of water in with me, rinsing off the oven’s wall.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m all pretty and stuff.” In the background, I heard a cabinet open and Allie take in a breath. “It does smell nice.”

  Right. Because that’s what was important tonight.

  “I’ve gotta go,” is what I finally told her. “If you
had left seven hours ago, you could have been here. But since that’s Past Allie and Future Allie doesn’t have a time travel machine, I guess you’re out of luck.”

  “Ha, ha. Thanks.” She paused, taking in a breath. “And, Maddie, for real? Good luck tonight.”

  “Thanks for the call and keeping me calm. And, you know, always believing in me.”

  “Dude, I totally didn’t believe in you when you were feeding me sawdust. Thank goodness that’s over.” She laughed and I knew she was kidding. The day after the sawdust cupcakes, she’d bought me a little baker’s kit for beginners. Listed ages: three to five. We were fifteen. “Now, go seduce a rock star with chocolate.”

  TWO

  “What do you mean you aren’t coming?” I glanced at my watch. I would have had to get here thirty minutes earlier if I’d known I wouldn’t have an assistant. “You know what tonight is. If this fails, it’s back to square one for my dessert catering company.”

  “I’m sorry, Maddie. But, Jeremy—I mean, we just got tickets to the Demolition Derby out west and he says I need to go with him or it won’t be as fun.” She huffed a little before adding, “You’re so good. I didn’t think you really needed help to make one thing.”

  Beth was a sweet girl, but a pushover. And she was being pushed over by the wrong person.

  “Beth, this is a job.” I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. I’d just explain to her she needed to be here as soon as possible and everything would be fine. “I was counting on you. There’s no way I can get everything done on my own. You were supposed to pick up half the ingredients on your way in. Without them, there’s no dessert to make.”

  “Oh, sorry. But I’m sure you’ll think of something.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “That’s why you’re so good.”

  I closed my eyes, trying not to throw my phone across the room because Beth wasn’t there to get hit by it.

  “You know if you’re not here I’m going to have to fire you, right?”

  “For calling out of work?” The shock and awe was pretty darn obvious.

  “You aren’t sick. What you are is messing me over on the biggest night of my career. I expect you to follow through on your obligations. If I can’t count on you, why should I keep you?”

  “Oh. Well, um… ” An angry voice drilled at her from the other end as she covered the phone and argued right back. Finally, when the shouting stopped, she returned. “The thing is, we’re already halfway there.”