Be Mine: A Bad Boy Next Door Romance

by Lauren Wood

  One lucky perk about being a flight attendant was that she could grab ny open seat available. Her main goal was to get out of London as quick as possible. And if that meant flying to California instead of flying to DC, then that’s exactly what she would do. As she settled in the seat and pressed her head against the window, she tried to tell herself that she was doing the right thing. She simply wasn’t ready for a man like Joshua to break her heart. It would be far more devastating that anything that Greg had ever done to her, and she’d been with him for two years.

  “Stupid,” she muttered to herself. How had she gotten herself into this position? Was she such a masochist that she needed to find over-the- top ways to break her heart? Greg wasn’t enough, so she needed the man who paid her bills to destroy her.

  She needed therapy.

  A few hours into the flight, the captain came over the PA system. “I’m sorry folks, but we’re experiencing some flight difficulties. We’ll be heading back to London to make some quick fixes before departing again. Please check with your flight attendant about making arrangements for your connecting flights.”

  Going back? What the hell? She unsnapped her belt and ducked behind the curtain.

  “What’s going on?” she asked anxiously. The young flight attendant shrugged. “We’re not sure. The captain has been ordered back.”

  Orderedback? Thatusuallyonlyhappenedwhentherewasa dangerous passenger on board. She couldn’t help but sigh as she made her way back to her seat. Of all the flights she got on, she just had to pick the one that didn’t actually want to leave London.

  After their unexpected arrival, the passengers began to murmur restlessly on the plane. A stewardess walked towards her and bent down to whisper in her ear. “Selena? You’ve been asked to disembark from the plane.”

  “What?” She frowned. “Why? Do they need me to work a flight?”

  Sometimes emergencies liked this happened.

  “I’m not really sure. If you’ll check in at the desk in the airport, they’ll give you more information.”

  “Fine.” It didn’t really matter which flight she was on and whether she did it as a passenger or as a flight attendant. She just needed to get as far away from Joshua as possible. Grabbing her bag, she moved quickly down the flight of steps. The wind whipped around her as she ducked her head and crossed the tarmac.

  A ramp had been pulled out for her. She frowned as she crossed it. Of course it hadn’t been pulled out for her. That would have been absurd. Obviously it was left over from the last plane. Lucky her. Crossing the threshold of the gate, she made a beeline for the desk.

  “Hi. I’m Selena Cutler. Should I be boarding another flight?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Selena felt her heart skip a beat as the familiar voice enveloped her. Turning slowly, she found Joshua standing behind her with anger in his eyes. “What the hell were you thinking,” he snapped.’

  Her jaw dropped. “You did this? You turned an entire plane around just to fly me back?”

  “Yes, and it cost me a pretty penny to do it. Not to mention that I’m missing my meeting,” he grumbled.

  The attendants at the desk were hanging on to every word, and she moved away from them. “What is wrong with you? What did you think was going to happen this morning?” she hissed softly. “One night stands end in the morning. That’s why they’re called one night stands.”

  “What gave you the impression that we were just a one night stand?”

  He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the corner. She could only gape at him. “My God, you’re serious. Joshua, you own an airline. You own several hotels around the world. Sleeping with flight attendants is probably a hobby for you. I can barely pay my bills. I’m up to my eyeballs in student debt, and you wouldn’t even consider that pocket change. At what point did you think that we were compatible?”

  “Christ, Selena, this isn’t about money. I don’t give a damn how much you make, and I know enough about you to know that you don’t really care about how much I make.”

  That was true enough, but it was an easy enough excuse to hide behind. “Okay, let’s consider the fact that we barely know each other.”

  “I’m not proposing, Selena. I’m trying to get to know you better. I can’t do that if you take off in the morning. This has absolutely nothing to do with me and everything to do with you. You felt a connection last night, and it terrified you.” Shaking her head, she tried to move past him. “I can’t do this right now.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and hauled her back. “Damn it, Joshua, people can see us!”

  “If you walk away right now, I won’t come after you. I’ll let you go. But if you do leave, know that you’re not doing it because I did something wrong. You’re doing it because you’re too scared to open you heart.”

  “I just went through a break-up, Joshua. You can’t really expect me to jump into another relationship.”

  “Really?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “Not once last night did you tell me that you loved Greg. You told me that you trusted him. You told me that you thought things were good. But you didn’t tell me that you loved him.”

  She opened her mouth to refute him, but the words didn’t come. He smiled in satisfaction. “You didn’t lose the love of your life. You lost something that you were comfortable with. I don’t think you ever loved Greg. I think he was easy to be around, and it was easier to stay with him than to find someone to love.”

  His accusations sunk in, and she knew that he was right. “What do you want from me?” she whispered.

  “There is something here, Selena. I just want you to explore it with me. I want you to take a chance.”

  She gazed into his eyes and felt her heart skip a beat. Last night had been unbelievable. No man had ever made her feel that way. And no one had ever turned a plane around just to yell at her. Of course, she’d never dated a man that had the money and resources to do that. But no one had ever made that kind of gesture.

  Joshua was right. She wasn’t running from love just because of Greg. She’d been doing it all her life. And she’d never had to face the truth before now. “I live in DC,” she said lamely. He chuckled softly and brushed a finger down her cheek. “Location is not an issue. I own three hotels in DC. Are there any other excuses you’d like to throw my way?”

  Short of admitting that she was terrified, there really weren’t any. She closed her eyes and leaned forward to rest her head on his chest. His arms came around her and held her tightly. “I’ve never felt like this before, Selena. I don’t sleep with flight attendants as a hobby. From the moment I saw you, I felt the world pull the rug out from under my feet. Although, I have to admit that I lied earlier. If you walked away, I would have shut down all of the planes to keep you here.”

  “That’s a good way to lose millions of dollars,” she said as she smiled into his shirt. “Don’t care. You would have been worth it.” She lifted her head and stared at him. “And if this only lasts a month?”

  He kissed her slowly, and she felt that kiss all the way to her toes. “It will be an amazing month.” As it turned out, it lasted more than a month. In his arms, Selena learned to finally trust in love. And when he slipped a ring on her finger and announced to the world that he’d be hers forever, she often wondered why she ever even tried to run from him to begin with.

  THE END

  LAUREN WOOD BAD BOYS!

  Bad Boy Next Door Standalone Series:

  Only Mine: A Bad Boy Next Door Romance (Book 1)

  Always Mine: A Bad Boy Next Door Romance (Book 2)

  You’re Mine: A Bad Boy Next Door Romance (Book 3)

  Forever Mine: A Bad Boy Next Door Romance (Book 4)

  Bad Boy Second Chance Standalone Series:

  Never Mine: A Bad Boy Second Chance Romance (Book 1)

  **Every book in these page-turning bad boy romance series can be read as a standalones, there are no cliffhangers, and happily ever after’s guaranteed! Although, I would recommend n
ot to miss book 1. **

  **Flip to next page for preview!**

  PREVIEWS

  Only Mine

  A Bad Boy Next Door Romance

  ONLY MINE: A BAD BOY NEXT DOOR ROMANCE

  “From the instant we met, I could see your innocence. You were both shy and bold, all at the same time. I needed to learn more. I need to know all of you.”

  I am going to bring this angel down to my level.

  I have a reputation in the city. My bar is always open to the right kind of people and everyone who is anyone knows me. The ladies know me as someone else. I am their lover, bad boy, anything they want me to be for the night.

  But then Eve moves in downstairs. She is a preacher’s daughter, innocent and I want her.

  She’s my one desire. I can already feel her pull like her namesake. I want to do bad things to her.

  I’m going to take her innocence and forever make her mine. I will not stop until I have her screaming my name and begging me for more.

  Eve is not made for the city, so I don’t know how much time I had. Her family wanted her to marry another, a gentle man.

  But I am not a gentle man and with her right downstairs, I knew it was only a matter of time until I had her bending to me. She can’t resist me for long.

  I don’t care that I shouldn’t have her. She was too good for me, but that didn’t matter.

  She was warned about men like me for a good reason.

  I was going to take it all.

  Wrong or not, I would have her and I was never going to let her go.

  ***

  Chapter 1

  Carlos

  “Hey man, what are you doing up this early?”

  I shook my head and shrugged. I didn’t know why I was up with the sun. I hadn’t even slept but a couple of hours. Something loud coming from underneath me was what woke me up and as I took a drag off of the cigarette in my mouth, I went to the porch to see what it was. I wasn’t above cursing someone out first thing in the morning if I couldn’t get some peace and quiet while I woke up.

  “Looks like someone is moving in downstairs.”

  I wanted to tell Joel that he was being Captain Obvious, but I didn’t. Instead I just kind of looked at him and then to the moving truck that was parked downstairs. I wasn’t too thrilled to have new neighbors because it took me so long to get rid of the last ones that had called the police on me several times before. Every time I had a party, I was sure to get the cops called and I didn’t want to go through that again. I didn’t want to be quiet, I wasn’t a quiet person, but I knew that I didn’t have a choice. I was too stubborn to rent out the apartment below. Why would I when I could just make the people leave?

  “So who do you think it is going to be?”

  Again it was a moronic thing to ask. I didn’t know and there was no point in imagining who it would be. It was better to wait and as I flicked the cigarette, watching the ashes float down to the pavement below, I stopped when I saw the tiny blonde that reemerged from the inside and went back to the moving truck to get another box. I could tell she was struggling with it. It looked like it was as big as she was, but I didn’t feel moved to help. I felt moved to watch her and her jiggling breasts as she tried to get it in without dropping it.

  “I think I’m going to go help her. You know, be neighborly and all of that.”

  I sighed at Joel and reminded him that he didn’t even live in the building. “She isn’t even your neighbor, Joel.”

  “Yeah, but you are my cousin and you live here, so that technically means that I live here too.”

  “I don’t think it works that way.”

  He disagreed and really wasn’t listening to me anymore. To him, he was already downstairs with the blonde lovely and I could tell just by looking at him what he had in mind. I didn’t blame him. She was beautiful, but I learned not to mess with anyone that I was going to have to see every day. She may have been pretty now, but after a few times with her and after I get bored with her, she wouldn’t be quite so attractive. Not when she would no doubt hate me for whatever it is I would be blamed for doing. No doubt I would break her heart.

  The idea made me smile and then I saw Joel talking to her. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but whatever it was, she must have thought it was funny because I could hear the melodic sound of her laugh from where I was. For a moment I regretted not going down there with Joel, but part of me knew that it was for the best. I didn’t need to get involved, especially with a neighbor, no matter how cute she may be.

  Going back inside, I didn’t want to hear the two of them any longer and I crawled back into bed. I shouldn’t be up before noon and I didn’t plan to be. Ignoring the sounds of the moving going on downstairs, I went back to sleep without worrying about a thing. Joel would tell me all about her later when he got back upstairs. I could wait to get the low down on the new neighbor. I was hoping that she would at least be okay with me and my life style. The last thing I needed was some uptight woman that was going to give me a hard time.

  ***

  “So, what is she like?”

  Joel just smiled and then poured himself a drink. It was almost one when he came back upstairs and I had been up for a while, wondering what in the world he was down there doing. I didn’t hear any noises like he was getting it in, so I had to guess.

  “Her name is Eve and I have to say, I don’t think I have ever met anyone like her before.”

  It was his tone and the way he said it that made me look at him a little sideways. Why was he acting like he was in love with this chick or something? It didn’t make sense. He had only been down there a few hours and I didn’t see how anyone could feel anything for someone else when no time had passed. I slept with the same girl for a week and I was bored, so I didn’t get what it was that he was smiling like an idiot for.

  “What is wrong with you Joel?”

  My cousin shrugged his shoulders and took a drink of his glass, looking off in the distance a bit too much for comfort. What was wrong with him?

  “Nothing man, she is just perfect. I can’t believe you didn’t go down there. I told her that you lived up here and Eve thought it would be good to meet. I told her that you would go down there later for an introduction.”

  “Why the hell would you tell her that?”

  “Because you should. You are going to regret it if you don’t. I’m telling you Carlos, there is something about her that you are going to want to see.”

  I thought he was talking about her physical attributes. I had seen a bit of them from my place on the porch earlier, but then he started talking about her personality and her likes. What had gotten into my cousin? It was like he wasn’t himself all of a sudden and I knew that it had to have something to do with the new neighbor.

  “I didn’t see anything that special about her Joel. I think it has just been too long for you.”

  He tried to look like he was offended, but he wasn’t. Joel was a one-woman man and after his divorce, he was even more so now. I kept trying to get him involved and looking for other women, but he was still in love with his ex-girlfriend Lisa. For him to actually like a girl in that way had me sitting up and taking notice. It also made her off limits in a way. If there was someone that was going to make him forget Lisa, I wasn’t going to mess with that.

  “You just have to meet her.”

  “I think I’m good. You can chase after her if you want to.”

  Carlos didn’t say anything, but I knew that was what he was thinking about. It didn’t take a genius to really get it. “I don’t think we have much in common. If you went down there with me, then it would be less pressure.”

  “Are you actually nervous around her?”

  He wouldn’t admit it, but it was pretty clear that he was. I didn’t know what to think about his reaction, but it did make me want to see what all of the fuss was about. What was it about the woman that had acting so strange?

  “Well, all I know is that I hope she isn’t like the la
st ones, always banging on the door when it gets too loud.”

  “I don’t think she is much of a partier. I think she is some kind of journalist or something.”

  I sighed and blew out a breath. If she was one of those types, I was sure that it was going to be hard to keep it quiet for her. Not that I cared, but I had a feeling that I was going to hear from her whether I wanted to or not.

  Chapter 2

  Eve

  I was trying to concentrate, but it was almost impossible. I got a couple of hours in the morning that were silent and peaceful, but once noon rolled around and the man upstairs woke up, there was no more quiet to be had. He was loud with everything that he did and at one o clock, it was back to me trying to ignore him. It was impossible though, everything about this apartment felt impossible. Why couldn’t he be like the nice man that had come down and helped before?

  Getting up from my seat, I tried to think of something else to do that didn’t need quiet, but it was work that called to me and that was more important than anything else. That was the reason that I had moved to the city in the first place was to work for the paper, but I was missing my small town more and more. I liked the excitement of the work and I liked having my name in print, but was it worth it? Everything felt so different here and it felt like I didn’t belong.

  Carlos was the name of the guy upstairs and I couldn’t help but wonder what it was he did. He didn’t work in the day time like most people and he was gone until late in the night, but after he got home there was usually a party going on. A couple of times I had heard a knock at my door, but there was no way that I was answering at one o clock in the morning. It couldn’t be that important.