by Xyla Turner
Meet Me Halfway
Xyla Turner
AZINA MEDIA PUBLICATIONS
237 Flatbush Avenue, #187 Brooklyn, NY 11217
This is an original publication of AZINA MEDIA PUBLICATIONS.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2017 AZINA MEDIA PUBLICATIONS
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Edited by Gayla Leath
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Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Peek —> March: In Her Shoes
Peek —> Undertones
Peek —> The Client
About the Author
Also by Xyla Turner
XYLA’S CONTACT INFORMATION
Acknowledgments
To my family, friends, co-workers, supporters, and fellow authors!
Thank you AuthorGo Family
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You are my guide, O God!
Praise for Xyla Turner
I love the fact that Xyla makes sure that all the lead females are portrayed as successful in their own right in her books..
Avid Reader
I feel as though Xyla Turner can do no wrong when it comes to her books.
Nikki’s Reviews
This is my fifth book by this author and I'm hooked.
Shelly
Excerpt
Knox interrupts Nina's breakfast in his town!
My hand skipped a beat and I almost grabbed it because my eyes were not seeing what I thought. It couldn't have been. Yeah, she said she had moved on but that was a ploy, right.
To top it off, right before my eyes, he picked up her hand and kissed it. In the middle of the open restaurant for all to see. It was Saturday, fucking morning and he was putting his lips on her in front of everyone.
Without any notification or signaling to my rationale mind, I strolled towards their table, snatching the first empty chair I saw and turned it around backwards. Then proceeded to slam it on the floor as I plopped down at their table.
"Nina, howdy." My eyes were on her. "Heard you were in town."
At first, she pulled back in shock, then her eyes narrowed on mine.
"Hello, Knox," Nina pronounced every syllable. "I'm busy as you can see."
She gestured towards the tool across the table.
"Ah, this must be the one who has the permission to put his lips on you anywhere, since my access has been revoked." My eyes stayed on her.
If looks could kill, I would have keeled over with the chair and my fingers were holding it with a white-knuckled grip.
What in the hell was wrong with me?
"Nope, that's none of your business. All I will share," she nodded towards him, "is that this man is the one I'll be sharing my breakfast, lunch and maybe my dinner with today. So, bye."
"Yeah, darling. That's not happening." I turned towards the guy. "If I was you, I'd go."
It appeared that he was only catching up to what was taken place. When it registered, he said, "Pal, the lady asked you to leave."
"Well, I'm not," I simply said and stared at him.
"Knox," Sarah's husband, Cal, called me. "It's Saturday morning. Please don't start your shit. It's too early. You just bought new furniture last year."
"Cal," I shook my head. "Sorry man."
I stood up and looked down on the young man. "If he don't go willingly, I'll remove him myself."
"Knox," Nina hissed but I ignored her. "Knox."
Cal shook his head and every patron’s eyes were on us. I knew all of them so this wasn't a surprise. JD was the reformed one. I was not.
"I suggest you go," Cal said to the other guy.
"He's not going anywhere," Nina stood up too. "We came here to eat breakfast."
"Yeah, he's not invited," I informed her. "Plus, you and I need to talk. I suggest we do that now."
"I cannot believe you." Nina was outdone.
"Believe it, darling."
My head turned back towards the guy, who was now standing.
"Look, I'm here with the lady to eat. Can we just do that?" Poor guy, tried to reason.
"In all fairness, this ain't got shit to do with you but right now, you're in the middle of something that needs to be settled. With all that being said, I will drag your skinny ass all over this place if you don't leave." I tried to reason with him as well. "Don't mean no harm to you but the lady and I need to talk. So it's your decision."
"Knox, you are a big bully," Nina hissed at me. "I swear to God, I..."
"Swear, what?" I interrupted her. "You going to talk to me or will I get arrested today?"
"Sherman, look. Let me talk to him real quick, so we can finish our day. Okay?" She smiled at the guy. "Promise it won't be more than five minutes."
That was all I needed to hear because I looped my arm in hers and headed towards the back. She tried to pull out but we were moving too fast for her to win that tug of war.
ⓒ Xyla Turner
Chapter One
Surprise Engagement Party
Nina:
“So, do you think he’ll bite the bullet and move to New York or stay here?” The familiar voice spoke before his lips swept over the top of my ear.
God, this man was a tease.
My best friend Tess just received a marriage proposal from her long-distance man friend, J.D. Timms, who happened to be the brother of the jerk whose body heat scorched the right side of my back. She was crazy for trying to have a long-distance relationship with the man. While the couple had been busy fixing the issues in their relationship, I had kept Knox occupied by taking him around New York. Plus, in order for the couple to have some privacy, I let Knox stay at my house for a few evenings but nothing happened until the last night.
It was a mixture of a little too much wine and beer with his mouth ending up on my privates. It was mind-blowing but when I woke up, the man was nowhere to be found. He had left the premises and did not say one goddamn word.
We were standing in J.D.’s New York condominium with ceiling to floor windows, wall-to-wall carpet, stainless steel appliances, and a twenty-four-hour on-site concierge service. My actual bet was that J.D. didn’t have these amenities at his place in Iowa, so he’d probably move to New York.
“So…?” the annoying man asked.
It would have been a lie to say that the man did not affect me more than I would like to admit. He did and that was more of a nuisance, especially given how we left things.
“Knox Timms, why do you need to put your lips on me?” I reluctantly sighed.
Despite my brush off, he remained where he was behind me.
“You didn't say much about my lips being on you last month. Now it's a pro
blem, darling?” Knox kept his lips right where they were, his large hand on my left hip, and his hard body against my back.
God, he was so sexy. His Iowan accent made my knees weak and belly flutter. Earlier, before J.D. proposed, Knox was leaning against the wall across the room in those form fitting jeans, a navy-blue button up shirt, black cowboy boots and his Stetson in his hand. The facial hair that he sported awhile back was gone and the sharp features of that chiseled jaw and cheeks would make any woman jealous. Those deep-set eyes were focused on me but I guess he got sick of me circling the room to avoid him.
“Well, you're not making me cum, so this is different.” I moved so the heat from his body was no longer singeing away my common sense. Hopefully, I could think straight without his brute aroma clouding my judgment.
“You know I’m more than capable. Like a jack rabbit on a hot date.”
The laughter bubbled up from my core as I thought about a jack rabbit on a date. Knox’s metaphors were so mid-western and just plain funny.
“Is that before or after you left my house without so much as a word? No goodbye, no see you later. Shit, not even thanks for letting me stay over for a few nights. Just vamoose.” With my four-inch heels, I took a side step away from the tempting man, while being careful not to break my neck in the process. Then I tipped my wine glass up to my mouth and sipped, just to show how unbothered I was.
Damn, this would be a long night, and I was in no mood to deal with Knox and his wishy-washy ways. As a matter of fact, I was so over him and his shenanigans, I had started seeing someone else. Not exclusively, but still. I did not want to think about the brother of my best friend’s fiancé.
Nope.
There was nothing to rekindle.
“Wait, darling. Let me explain that,” Knox said as he followed me.
I quickly turned around and held up one outstretched hand for him to halt.
“Nope, let me stop you right there cowboy,” I said. “We had fun, it’s over and we’re cool. I've moved on. This is my best friend and your brother’s engagement party. We are here to celebrate the occasion, so please go elsewhere and enjoy yourself.”
I’m sure both of my eyebrows were raised and lips were spread in a faux smile. My head jerked down in a sharp motion, indicating that the matter was closed. Turning on my heels to leave, my body was suddenly stopped mid-way with an iron fist around my elbow. My head swiveled around before the rest of me could catch up, in time to hear Knox growl, “What do you mean you’ve moved on?”
He asked that question with red, hot heat in his eyes. The man’s shoulders and upper body were tightly coiled, but I was more concerned with his strong fingers wrapped around me. It didn’t matter one iota how mad he was, therefore my quick gaze to his hand that connected with my elbow was meant as a signal for him to move them.
To his credit, Knox followed my line of sight and let go of me but leaned in and asked again, “What do you mean, “you've moved on”?”
“I meant just what I said. I'm not interested in you. I'm dating another guy and he has permission to put his mouth and hands on me. Unlike you.” I narrowed my eyes. “That plain enough?”
“Crystal,” he snapped back as his head jerked with a sharp nod. “No sweat off my balls darling.”
“Precisely,” I responded as I was finally able to make my full turn and leave the asshole to his own conclusions.
Knox’s behavior spoke volumes. His actions after our night in New York and the “no sweat off his balls” comment helped harden my resolve. My heart stung slightly but I was sure that was the fajita wraps that J.D.’s Pops insisted that he needed to have for the engagement party. It surely was not an organ in my body giving two damns about a man. I was a serial dater for heaven’s sake, and long term was never in the cards for me. There would be no engagement party, no future marriage proposals; solely because I wouldn’t have a man decide to get up and leave me after he was done ruining my life.
Somewhere deep, I blamed my relationship outlook on my parents, their loveless marriage, and their extra-marital affairs. They called themselves staying together for me but seeing my dad kissing on his mistress outside of town when I skipped school was bad. Seeing some guy fucking my mom in the kitchen, on another day I had been dismissed early from school, was worse.
Therefore, no. I would not care about a man. Fuck Knox and his cowboy hat.
Chapter Two
Knox:
Standing there, I watched Nina walk away feeling a burning in my chest at the way things ended. Perhaps it was just the loss of her in my presence. My brother’s engagement party was not the time or place to delve into the why's of our issues but the woman had fire in her eyes. It resembled a hurt I had felt a long time ago but I was a jaded bastard.
My mind kept playing the words she spat at me. Moved on? Another man had permission to put his lips on her?
None of this was sitting right with me, but Nina was correct. This was J.D.’s engagement party, so she and I needed to find another time and place, when I could explain and have her hear me out.
Walking up to my older brother, I clapped him on the back and said, “Congratulations! You're about to get shackled.”
“Yes, I fucking am.” J.D. smirked. “Willing and with eyes wide open.”
“Crazy, huh?” I laughed.
“Not with Tess.” He was shaking his head. “Don't know how I know, but I know. She's it for me.”
“Yeah, look at her.” I moved my hand in his fiancée’s direction.
The woman was laughing that laugh any man would fall in love with. Not surprising to me, when I looked back at my brother, pure adoration, love and respect was written all over his face.
I’d had that once.
Tess had him wrapped tight from the very first time they got together. Apparently, it went down at some conference, where they had hooked up and never stopped. Tess tried to break it off but that was because she didn't know J.D. had the stubbornness of a bull. The damn man won the lasso contest for years. He always got what he wanted, and she was no different.
The issue they would face was simply who was moving where. She lived in New York and was a city girl if there was ever one. Our family was from Iowa and J.D. had started and invested in his business, Can-It, where he lived.
That was the million-dollar question, but it was not mine to answer.
My question, as of late, was based on what I wanted to do with my construction company. Keep it, sell it, or move the base site to a more suitable place. The family didn't know about my internal questions, and I was not sure if it was anything worth mentioning but I did not feel content and needed to make some decisions.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, so I silenced it and patted J.D.’s shoulder when I said, “Man, I'm happy for you. Truly.”
“Thanks man,” he nodded and went towards Tess as I headed to the patio where I pulled out the mobile device and saw it was Pops face-timing me.
Ever since J.D. bought him that damn phone, he no longer called like normal people, he face-timed.
“Hey, Pops,” I greeted him after I hit the green button.
“Son. How's the party?” I could only see his forehead.
“Going well.”
“Did Tessa accept?” he asked.
“Yes, Tess accepted,” I said as I corrected him.
“That a girl.” I figured he was nodding as I saw his thinning hair moving up and down.
“Pops, I can only see your forehead,” I said with a sarcastic tone since it was irritating me.
“Oh, yeah,” he said and then brought the phone down so I could see just above his nose. “When you coming back?”
“Probably tomorrow. I got a big job coming up. Tilden project,” I answered.
“Yeah, yeah. Well, be sure to swing by and see your old man. Got some business to discuss with you.”
“Everything good?” I asked.
“You betcha. Just need to talk.” He nodded. “See ya soon, ya here.”
> “Yeah.”
That was the second odd feeling in a fifteen-minute time span. One with Nina and one with Pops.
I stood a moment longer on the patio and looked out at the city skyline. It was beautiful and we were far enough up for it to be serene. However, nothing beat the Iowan open sky, open road and the familiarity of home.
Nina stayed away from me the rest of the evening, and I let her be. There was no need for me to make a fool of myself any more than I already had. However, on the plane ride back home, I drafted an email explaining why I had left in the hopes that would provide some clarification. Yet, I didn't send it. That niggling feeling started to bother me that I felt the need to let someone know why I did what I did and it was insane. She had not wanted to hear my excuse and I was not going to be the one to keep pressing a non-existing issue.
Well, so I thought.
Iowa: J.D.’s Office
“I love you too,” J.D. said in a low hush over the phone as I walked in his office. “Yeah, I can do that. Bye, darling.”
He pressed the glass-covered smart phone and twirled around in his brown executive chair.
“What, you don't knock?” He raised an eyebrow.
“No,” I responded. “How's Tess?”
“She's good. Trying to get me to think about moving to the city or at least move closer to New York,” he responded.
“How are you leaning?” I took a seat in a comfortable chair in front of his large desk.
J.D.’s sharp eyes met mine with a downward tilt of his head. The motion conveyed what needed to be said, but he continued anyway. “Brother, I'll go wherever she wants me. Truth be told. I love her but I want to raise our kids here or not in New York.” He sat back. “I'll do whatever to be with her but when we have kids…we’ll need to discuss that.”