by Alexis Anne
Of course Grace knew the bouncer.
We were two sides of the same coin and I loved her to death. Except in this exact moment, I was seriously considering killing her.
“Fine. Thirty minutes and then I want to get to bed.”
“An hour,” Grace countered.
I glanced at the silver watch on my wrist. Was it really only ten? Teenage Marie was laughing at me wanting to get home to my pajamas and a book on a hot Thursday night without my kid. But seriously, the cocktail dress was too tight, the heels were too high, my makeup was too heavy, and the humidity was too thick. I could be in something comfortable right now.
Besides, seventeen-year-old Marie got knocked up while being wild and staying out too late. But then again, Grace was being a good friend by dragging me out of my usual routine; the least I could do was return the favor by making it worth her while.
Maybe I could be her wing-girl.
“Fine, an hour. Then you’re taking me home. And I get to pick what we do tomorrow night.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “You are far too much work. Why do I put up with you?”
I grinned. “Because you can’t live without me.”
“Oh, that’s right!” Then she turned and stuck her finger in my face again. “Wait, you have to pick something outside of the house or the deal is off.”
I shook my head and sighed. “Yes, Gracie. I swear we will go out tomorrow night.”
She nodded and turned, stalking toward Jorge, who leaned down from his immense height to peck Grace on the cheek. “Should I check her ID, or are you sneaking beautiful underage women in under my nose?”
I froze and eyed Jorge. “I don’t like cheesy lines, dude.”
The enormous man chuckled and held out his hand. “Normally I’m pretty good at my job, but you’re what I call a ‘blank’. There’s really no way to tell how old you actually are without seeing your ID.”
I pulled my driver’s license out of my clutch with a flourish. “And just how old do you think I am?”
Jorge gave me a once over, glanced at Grace, and then back at me. “If I had to guess, I’d say twenty-four, maybe twenty-five at most.”
If Jorge hadn’t looked so serious I would have laughed. “I’m thirty.”
I held up my ID and Jorge frowned. “Damn. You look good Miss Marie Bancroft. Have a nice evening.” He leaned down as I walked by. “And watch out for Gracie, she’s trouble.” He winked and I grinned. Yes, Gracie was enough trouble for all of us.
We were standing at the crowded bar, halfway through our first drinks when I saw him. Blondish hair mussed in a sexy, I-run-my-hands-through-it-all-day, kind of way. A light stubble on his strong jaw, tie loosened with a button undone, sleeves rolled, revealing tanned, muscular forearms with a bulging vein running up and around from his wrist to his elbow. His eyes were a soft blue, but they looked dark and haunted. His jaw was clenching and unclenching as he dismissed the douchey reporter from Channel 8 that I always hated talking to.
I tried desperately to place this sexy, brooding, expanse of man across the bar from me, but I couldn’t. Something about this man called to me, though. I wasn’t sure if it was his looks or his mood, either way, it seemed to be radiating across the bar and into my skin. I could feel him even when I wasn’t looking at him. I wanted to know why he didn’t seem happy. He looked like so much more than a drink and a bad day. He was a mystery to me and mysteries were my kryptonite. I craved them. I wanted to unravel them and find out all their secrets.
Of course that was how I fell in love with Brandon and wound up with Natalie. He was dark and brooding and everything I needed to piss my parents off. I unwrapped his mysteries and found a selfish, egotistical, spoiled playboy underneath. His mystery wasn’t very exciting in the end, but it gave me the greatest gift I’d ever gotten—my daughter and a fresh start in life.
“Earth to Marie! Come in Marie!” Grace shook my arm, jolting me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry about that.”
“Were you daydreaming about Brandon? Do you think Natalie will pull another Parent Trap and try to get you guys to fall in love and live happily ever after?” Grace said all of this in a silly, sing-song voice with a ridiculous grin on her face. She knew better than anyone how little I loved my ex. We tolerated each other from a distance and made a nice family for Natalie, but love was the furthest thing from either of our minds.
A giggle started that I couldn’t seem to stop. “Oh, God. Me and Brandon. Could you imagine what that would look like?”
Grace started giggling, too. “Would he dare to move to Tampa?”
I busted out with a full belly laugh. I couldn’t help myself. The thought of Brandon living in a town like this? It was so far from possible that imagining it was ridiculous. I pictured him frowning every time he walked outside into a wall of humidity, and the laughter kept rolling out of me. Then I pictured him frowning and pulling his eyebrows together as Natalie suggested a boat ride. The thought of Brandon in anything but his two thousand dollar suits walking the streets of Paris was simply impossible.
“Nope, we’d have to move to Paris to be with him. He could never come down and spend time with the little people.” That made Grace laugh harder and I knew she was imagining the same things as me.
Thinking of Brandon anywhere but in his office, leading his family company as CEO of Calais Athletics, was like imagining the Pope in swim trunks.
“Don’t you want to give up this little dream of running the Tampa branch of Bancroft Sports and run off to be taken care of by your prince charming?” Grace downed the rest of her drink and slammed it on the bar. “I’m hitting the ladies. Get me another?”
I nodded and swirled the last of my drink. As I stared at the quickly melting ice, I couldn’t help but think back on my fourteen years with Brandon. We were only lovers for a very short while, but we’d struck up a unique friendship. He was one of the few people in my life who truly understood the pressures of growing up in a powerful family—the need to step out from the shadow and pursue my own dreams. So while he was an annoying thorn in my side, he could also be a good friend at times.
Running the southern branch of my family’s company wasn’t entirely a dream come true, but it gave me the separation and freedom I needed. Plus, I had a fairly large amount of job security. Brandon was my rebellion, not my knight in shining armor. I’d never met a man I wanted to fill that role, and I wasn’t sure I ever would.
I didn’t want to be saved. I just wanted to be understood. And if that meant never falling in love or getting married, I was fine with that. There was so much more to life than falling in love.
But then I looked up in time to see the sexy man from the other side of the bar. He was rounding the corner and coming straight for me. His gorgeous blue eyes were locked onto mine and I felt the entire world fall away. One glance and this dark man had taken all the air from my lungs.
Who was he? And why was he coming to talk to me?
“Greg Hamilton.” He said it almost curtly, thrusting his hand out.
I looked down and cocked my head to the side. This was an interesting turn of events. “Marie,” I replied simply. My last name tended to give me away more often than not, and I had a feeling I didn’t want to be exposed to this man in that way.
I shook his hand and I tried my hardest to not get lost in his blue eyes, because damn, they were intense. It felt like he could see beneath my skin and into my soul. They were even more penetrating up close than they were from across the bar.
“I just wanted to come over and tell you that you have the best laugh I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Was that a line? Because if it was, it was one of the oddest ones I’d ever received. “Thank you?”
Greg shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t hear laughs like that very often, and yours was particularly beautiful. I just thought you should know.”
My laugh was beautiful. Not me. Not my dress or my hair. Not even my body. “Well thank you very much.
Can I get you a drink? I was about to order us some fresh ones.”
Greg looked down at his mostly full glass. “No, I’m fine, but thank you.”
I leaned my hip into the bar and signaled the bartender. He held up a finger, letting me know he’d be over in a moment. I turned back to Greg. “So is that really the only reason you came over?”
He chuckled and took a drink, a wry smile pulling at one side of his lips. “Look sweetheart, you’re a beautiful woman, I don’t think you need me to tell you that. Or maybe that’s what you prefer?”
Oh…this dude had an attitude on him. And for some reason, I liked that. “Actually I can’t stand it when men say bullshit like that. I was just trying to figure out what your game is. One minute you’re pissing off Tyler Jones and looking like you’d rather eat nails than be in this bar, and the next you’re over here smiling and telling me my laugh is beautiful.”
I couldn’t decide if Greg was a genuinely interesting mystery or just another half-drunk jackass bored and looking for a quick fuck (or a fight) on a Thursday night.
He took a step toward me. Even in my three-inch heels he had a couple of inches on me, which wasn’t saying a whole lot, I wasn’t exactly tall, but I had to look up to see into his eyes. “I have a policy to always tell people when I admire something about them. Life is too short to keep shit like that to ourselves.”
Oh, that was very interesting. Greg Hamilton had a history, of that I was sure. People only tended to throw around lines like “life is too short” when they knew first hand just how fragile life could be. “That’s a very sound policy. For the record, you have the most amazing eyes I’ve ever seen.”
Those baby blues widened and then darkened. Hot didn’t begin to cover it.
“And, just for the record, you do have a beautiful body.”
For some reason, that made me blush. His gaze flicked to my cheeks and neck, and then he took a step back, as if realizing he’d embarrassed me and felt bad. But having him step away made me sad. There was something about having him close that I very much enjoyed. His presence was immense. The closer he got, the more intensely I felt it. The air was charged and his scent—some sort of manly Old Spice-type musk—was everywhere.
It was like a little taste of heaven and I wanted it back.
He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”
“Why are you sorry for telling me that? I thought it was your policy to always tell someone when you admire something about them. Unless you were lying?”
He frowned and cocked an eyebrow. I had a feeling this was a typical expression for Greg. The lines on his brow creased and deepened as if this was the normal position for his skin. “No, I wasn’t lying. But you turned red.” He waved his glass in a circle over my face.
I smiled. This man was a very interesting enigma. “So?”
“So I felt bad.”
“Why did you feel bad for complimenting my body?”
He looked at me like I was crazy. “I just…” he ran his hand through his hair, messing it into a totally different configuration. A totally tuggable one at that. “I just didn’t want you to think I was that kind of guy.”
“And what kind of guy is that?” I knew I was being difficult, but Greg was making it so much fun.
“The kind of guy who picks up women in bars.”
“That’s not the kind of guy you are? You’ve never picked up a woman in a bar before?”
I was absolutely positive that Greg had picked up his fair share of women over the years. He wasn’t exactly young, but he wasn’t old either. My guess was mid-to-late thirties. A wonderful age for men. They were still young enough to have fun, but old enough to have learned from their mistakes.
He glared at me. “Fuck. Yes, I occasionally meet women in bars.”
“Then why don’t you want me to think you were trying to pick me up?”
Greg looked completely exasperated by me. His brows were furrowed, he was frowning, and his glass was almost empty now.
“What can I get you?” The bartender had finally made his way back down to me.
“Another white wine and a whiskey and tonic.”
“The Glenlivet?”
“Please.”
The bartender looked over my shoulder. “Another Knob for you?”
When I looked back at Greg I realized he was staring at me. “What?”
“Nothing,” he replied quickly. “And I’m fine, thanks.” The bartender nodded and got busy making our drinks.
Whatever Greg was thinking, it was not nothing. I didn’t know what it was…but I sure wanted to find out. “So Greg Hamilton, drinker of Knob Creek and occasional picker-upper of women in bars, what are you doing over here talking to me?”
He swallowed and shook his head. “I think I might be getting picked up by you.” A huge grin split his face, lighting up his eyes.
I looked Greg up and down before meeting his eyes again. Was I picking him up? I hadn’t done anything that ill-advised in years, and yet…I kinda wanted to see what would happen. I bit my lip while I debated, and Greg’s eyes narrowed. Oh, this was nice. I had an effect on this man. “I haven’t decided yet,” I finally said.
Greg stepped up so that our fingertips were touching. “Well, then let me help you decide.”
When Lightning Strikes is now available!
Start reading now!
Also By Alexis Anne
Steamy Baseball Second Chance Romances
The Storm Inside (A Jake & Eve Novel)
Reflected in the Rain (A Jake & Eve Novel)
When Lightning Strikes (A Marie & Greg Novel)
Never Let Go (A Jake & Eve Novel)
Summer Heat (A June & Roman Novel)
Night Games (A Carrie & Wes Novel)
Last Fall (A Zoe & Erik Novel)
Erotic Sports Romances
Reckless Kiss (A Leo & Esme Novel)
Reckless Love (A Leo & Esme Novel)
Small Town Contemporary Romances
Come For Me, Darling (A Ben Kaine Novel)
Go Away, Darling (A Chris Kaine Novel)
Kiss Me, Darling (A Scott Kaine Novel)
Erotic Romance
Tease (And Adam & Elizabeth Novel)
Stripped (A Rockstar Romance)
Tempt (Allison Riley & Theo Sutherland)
Burn (A Michael Sutherland Romance)
5 Dirty Sins (A Rockstar/Bodyguard Romance)
6 Dirty Secrets (A Nicki Sutherland Novel)
7 Dirty Lies (A Lily Lawrence Novel)
The Complete List of Alexis Anne Books
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—The Storm Inside Series—
Welcome to the big little city of Tampa, nestled into the heart of Florida along the salty Gulf of Mexico. This is where sun and second chances find love and sexy times. The Daniels family has baseball in their blood. The daughter of “Papa Joe” Daniels, Eve has taken up the family tradition along with her sisters Cassandra and June and gone to work for Major League Baseball... using her career as a shield for her broken heart.
Jake Spencer is from the other side of the tracks. Broken and abused his entire life, he’s risen to become one of the most prominent businessmen in town along with his best friend Greg Hamilton. Driven to succeed by their failures, these brothers in life don’t believe they deserve love... Until the sexy, powerful women of Tampa teach them otherwise.
The Books of The Storm Inside Series:
The Storm Inside
Jake and Eve
10 years spent trying to forget each other…
Reflected in the Rain
Jake and Eve
Happily ever after begins with I do…
Never Let Go
Jake and Eve
In sickness and in health. Love conquers all…
When Lightning Strikes
Greg and Maire
Single mom, grumpy workaholic…fireworks were inevitable
Summer Heat
&
nbsp; June and Roman
He was forbidden. Taboo. Off limits. She couldn’t resist the temptation…
Night Games
Wes and Carrie
Friends to enemies…with a Las Vegas wedding thrown in.
Last Fall
Erik & Zoe
A slow burn baseball romance
About the Author
Alexis Anne has a BA in Anthropology and an MA in Applied Anthropology with a concentration in Historic Archaeology and GIS (Geographic Information Systems.) She scribbled her first stories as soon as she could write and has never been able to kick the addiction. As a native Floridian she's still getting her seasons mixed up after a move to North Carolina with her husband (affectionately known in the writing community as The Sexy Editor), two parkour-loving sons, and their adventurous husky. She prefers coffee, whiskey, travel, music, and most of all, exploring all the different ways love has made the world a better place. AlexisAnneBooks.com