by L. P. Maxa
THE PERFECT MATCH
Lincoln Sumner’s life is perfect. He gets to live every man’s dream: He’s in a perpetual state of adolescence working as a baseball coach at St. Leasing Boarding School for Boys. He bags all the chicks he wants, vacations around the world every summer, drives a hot car too fast, and has the best packmates in the world. “Forever” is not in the stars for Linc. Then the gorgeous new school nurse arrives.
Madden West’s life is perfect. Working her dream job as a trauma nurse in short-term gigs all over the world, she lives life on her terms, goes where she wants and does what she wants with whomever she wants to do it. When the opportunity to become the school nurse at St. Leasing falls into her lap, she says, “Sure, why not? Never been to Colorado.” When she meets sexy baseball coach Linc Sumner, she thinks, “There’s my next fling.” Until everything changes and forever is more than a possibility, it’s the reality she was sure she never wanted but now craves.
JAW DROPPING
St. Leasing – Book Three
L.P. Maxa
ALSO BY L.P. MAXA
St. Leasing
Mouth Watering
Breath Taking
RiffRaff Records
Royalty
Legacy
The Devil’s Share series
Play Nice
Play Dirty
Play Fair
Play Softly
Play Hard
Play For Keeps
Other Novels
Happy Place
www.BOROUGHSPUBLISHINGGROUP.com
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Boroughs Publishing Group does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites, blogs or critiques or their content.
JAW DROPPING
Copyright © 2017 L.P. Maxa
All rights reserved. Unless specifically noted, no part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Boroughs Publishing Group. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or by any other means without the permission of Boroughs Publishing Group is illegal and punishable by law. Participation in the piracy of copyrighted materials violates the author’s rights.
ISBN 978-1-944262-91-4
E-book formatting by Maureen Cutajar
www.gopublished.com
To all the girls who truly know themselves, and stand up for what they want. The ones who dance alone in their living rooms. The ones who look in the mirror everyday and smile. To all the wild cards out there.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, my first thank you is to my husband and my daughter. Y'all drive me insane. No joke. As I'm trying to write this you are both making me want to pull my hair out, and both of you are blissfully unaware of my mood. Thank you to all my readers. I know that Linc's HEA is a long time coming and I hope he was worth the wait. My friends, thank you for all the words of encouragement. And the exclamation filled texts telling me to stop trolling Instagram and go finish my book. Smitten Kittens, you guys are amazing. I love hanging out with you everyday. You make my job the most fun. Amy {times two} I couldn't do any of what I do without y'all. My heart and my brain, you each know which one you are. And Michelle, I don't know how you do it. How one conversation with you can make a whole book come alive in my head. Thank you.
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Epilogue
About the Author
JAW DROPPING
“Love is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
—L.P. Maxa appropriating Helen Keller
Chapter One
Linc
“Honey, I’m home.” Making a grand entrance, Linc threw open Dom and Corey’s front door, causing it to smack against the wall.
“There goes the neighborhood.” Corey hoisted herself to her feet and let Linc wrap her in a hug.
“Look at you. Holy crap, you’re huge.” Linc ducked when Corey took a swing at his head. “I mean, your belly. The baby has gotten so big.” It’d been less than three months since he’d seen his best friend’s baby momma, but man, that kid was growing.
Dom chuckled. “Life lesson. Don’t call pregnant women huge.” Linc took Dom’s outstretched hand and then pulled him in for a bro hug.
Linc made the sign of the cross over his chest. “And the good Lord willing, that’s a life lesson I’ll never need outside my sisters in this pack.” He wasn’t Catholic, but every little bit helped, right?
Keller and Molly came in through the back door, loaded down with grocery bags. “Hey guys.” Molly dropped the bags on the counter and then rushed over to Corey, hugging her.
Baze and Riley entered next through the still-open front door, carrying a case of beer each.
Dom grabbed the beer out of Riley’s arms and quickly shut the door. “Should we be letting one of our under-aged players walk around campus carrying beer? I’m thinking, no.”
Linc followed the crowd of people into the kitchen—well, more like he was following the beer. “Dom, you sound more and more like a parent every time I talk to you, man.” They’d been apart all summer, and Linc wasn’t too macho to admit that he’d missed everyone. Sure, he’d had a hell of a good time in the Caribbean, but still.
Dom scoffed and handed Linc a bottle. “Which isn’t too often these days. I don’t think I talked to you once the whole time you were gone. How was your trip?”
“It was amazing. The weather was perfect. The tequila flowed like water. Ear muffs, little one.” Linc put his hands on Corey’s belly, ignoring growls from both Riley and Dom. “And the women were fucking spectacular.”
Riley swatted Linc’s hands off of his cosmic baby sister and then knelt down next to Corey’s stomach. “Hey sweet girl, how you doing in there? I missed you.” The room got quiet. He stood and shrugged, his eyes on the ground. “What? I did. Have any of you ever spent the summer away from your cosmically linked little sister?” Everyone stayed silent. “No? Then don’t judge.”
Corey laughed and ruffled his hair. “We missed you too, kiddo.”
Dom scoffed. “Speak for yourself. I loved having both my girls all to myself for a whole summer.”
Riley raised an eyebrow at him in question. “Really?”
Dom broke into a smile. “No, not really. If I have to watch one more episode of The Real Housewives, I’m going to lose my mind.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Linc couldn’t help but smile. Partying in the sun, taking body shots off half-naked women for breakfast…all that had been great. But being back in Haxton, Colorado and gearing up for another year at St. Leasing was even better.
***
After dinner everyone was sitting out on the back porch, enjoying one of the last warm nights and the first of many cold beers. Well, everyone except Corey.
“I miss beer.”
Dom put his hand on his mate’s knee. “I know you do, babe.”
Linc peered at Corey over his bottle. “You don’t have that much longer to go, right? I don’t see how your stomach can expand any more than it already has. What are you, eight months?”
Corey looked past Linc. “Molly, would you mind?”
Linc ducked, but he was too late. Molly’s hand connected with the back of his head. He was kidding. This was his way, this was him being him. Making everyone laugh. He knew Corey was only like six or seven months along. Although, she really was massive.
Baze propped his feet up on the edge of Linc’s chair. “Hey, guess what I heard today?”
“‘No, you can’t put that in there, you sexual deviant?’”
Baze ignored Linc’s attempt at a hilarious joke and kept talking. “We’re getting a new school nurse.”
Corey clapped her hands. “Oh my gosh. I can’t believe we forgot to tell you guys. I know her. The new nurse. We grew up together in Forest Hill. I ran into her this summer when Dom and I went to visit my parents. She mentioned she was between jobs and I told her we needed a nurse.”
Linc leaned forward in his chair, his interest piqued. “A new nurse? What’s she look like? Is she hot?”
Baze shook his head. “Oh no. No freaking way, Linc. You aren’t allowed to sleep with the new nurse. Number one, it’s in the contract you signed after the last one was fired.”
“Contract? Come on, it was on a Moon Bar cocktail napkin and I was three shots in. I hardly think that would stand up in court.” Linc rolled his eyes.
“Doesn’t have to stand up in court, jackass. It has to stand up to the pack. And I don’t think I’m alone when I say, no. No nurse for you.” Baze grinned wickedly.
Keller put his arm around Molly and pulled her closer to him. “Yeah, man. After what happened with Brooks last year? I’m with Baze. No nurse.”
Corey raised her hand. “I’m with them. This woman is my friend and the last thing I want is you getting your man-whoring hands on her.” She pointed to Dom. “He’s with me too. Oh and him.” She gestured to Riley.
Linc crossed his arms over his chest, “Fine. I won’t nail the nurse. I bet she isn’t even pretty.” Please don’t let her be pretty. He had a weakness for pretty nurses. Well, he had a weakness for pretty girls in general.
Corey smiled, like the little devil she was. “Sorry Linc, she’s hot.”
Linc narrowed his eyes. “Is she? Or are you just trying to torture me?”
Corey smirked. “Go ahead, Dom, tell him.”
“She’s…I mean…she’s okay. I, uh…” Dom was talking to Linc, but he kept glancing back at Corey like he was afraid of her. Linc couldn’t blame him. Corey was a bit of a live wire.
“It’s okay babe, you can be honest. Tell Linc how hot she is.” Corey rubbed her mate’s back, reassuring him that she wasn’t going to go off the deep end if he answered truthfully.
“She’s smoking hot. And like the kind of hot you are into. Super flirty, lingerie model hot.” Dom peeked over at Corey; she was nodding her head in agreement.
Linc took a long pull off his beer. “I hate you both.”
Chapter Two
Linc
Today was the first day of the rest of his life. Today was a new beginning. Today he would become a better man. Linc was walking up to the athletic building with a big ol’ pep in his step. He’d spent the summer different shades of drunk while fucking his way across the Caribbean. He’d hopped from yacht to yacht, bedding down more rich chicks than imaginable. A few yachties as well.
But now it was the first day of school, aka the first day of the new Linc. He’d pissed off his whole pack the end of last year by causing a mess with Agent Brooks. How the hell was Linc supposed to know that the nurse he’d banged a couple years ago had had a fiancé in the FBI? And what were the damn chances that said now ex-fiancé was going to be sent to Haxton Colorado, to investigate wild claims made by a now long dead guidance counselor?
He’d had shit luck in his opinion. But in the opinion of Corey Cooper and Molly Page, he was setting a terrible example for the young shifters he coached. So, Linc had vowed to try harder. Best foot forward, lead by example. And all that other bullshit.
Linc had always loved school. He was popular, well liked. He didn’t have any high school horror stories. Hell, he was basically a legend in his hometown. And more than anything, he’d always loved the first day of a new school year. When he was younger it meant a whole new crop of girls to plow through. Now that Linc coached at an all-boys school, it meant something else entirely. It meant new impressionable minds, new players to mold—a fresh start for a whole new Linc.
He pulled open the large double steel doors and whistled on his way down the long hallway, his tennis shoes squeaking on the gray tiles. When they lectured him last year, Corey and Molly were right. It was time he grew up. Put away childish things, such as casual sex, and try to set a better example for the team. He truly wanted to be different this year, wanted to make a difference in some kid’s life. He was going to be responsible. He was going to be a role model. He was turning over a new le—Oh holy hell.
He stopped short and took three steps back. The trainer’s office was currently occupied by what appeared to be a gorgeous woman. Her back was turned to him, and she was standing on her tiptoes, searching through a cabinet above her head. Her cream-colored sweater had risen up and exposed a strip of sun-kissed skin. Her ass. Good god, her ass. Linc’s mouth started to water as he eyed the way she filled out her jeans. The chick’s hair was dark brown with long locks hanging almost to her waist. He folded his arms over his chest, careful not to make any noise or interrupt. He wasn’t ready for her to turn around. He liked the view from behind just fine.
But all too soon she glanced over her shoulder, her dark brown doe eyes narrowing in confusion when she realized he was standing there. Watching. “Excuse me. Could you tell me where I can find the trainer’s first aid kit?”
Linc couldn’t move and couldn’t talk. A shiver ran through his body at the sound of the stranger’s voice. When she turned around to fully face him, his jaw dropped open. He’d never felt so utterly unsmooth in his whole life. The woman standing in front of him was fucking gorgeous. Her lips were full and glossy, her cheekbones high, her jaw defined. With curves that wouldn’t quit, she looked like she’d just stepped out of a lingerie catalogue. The narrative running through his mine jogged something loose—the description Corey had given the other night of the new nurse.
Wait. That couldn’t be the new nurse. No. No way. The world wasn’t that cruel.
“Hey. Hello? First aid kit? Where can I find it?” She snapped her fingers in front of his face.
First aid kit. He let out a sad sigh. Yeah, she was the nurse. He was being punished; he knew he was. He’d been too late in all his mental “turning over a new leaf” crap. “Uh, yeah, my bad. It’s right here.” He opened the bottom cabinet to his right, pulling out the red duffel they used for first aid supplies. This was probably some kind of cosmic punishment brought down on his head by Corey. He wouldn’t be surprised if his packmate’s fiancée had a direct line with the ruler of the universe. “Here you go.” Their hands brushed briefly during the pass off and his body began to hum in anticipation. According to the rest of his pack, all he should be feeling was disappointment since wasn
’t allowed to have her. And by have her, he meant fuck her. After the last nurse had to be let go, through minimal fault of his own, Linc had to promise he wouldn’t sleep with the next one. Hell, more than promise; Baze made him sign a damn contract.
The incredibly gorgeous new nurse opened the kit, laying it flat on the countertop to Linc’s right, taking inventory of everything that was still in there from the school year before. “Thanks.” She mumbled the word like it was an afterthought, clearly already caught up in her work.
He watched her, unable to look away even for a second. He felt mesmerized by her movements. The way she pushed her hair behind her ear, the way she counted, her lips moving silently. Linc had been with some beautiful women, there was no denying that. But the woman standing four feet away that smelled like cinnamon? Broke the damn mold.
Baze was going to have to suck it. There was no way Linc was going to walk away from this one. There was no way Linc was going to be able to watch that perfectly toned ass sway across campus day in and day out and not tap it. That would be going against nature, going against who he was. And that just wasn’t going to work for him. Linc denied himself basically nothing, and this nurse wouldn’t be the exception. He’d still try to be a better role model for the team. He’d be a responsible adult during the day and a horny bastard as soon as the sun set.
Life was all about balance anyway. Right?
After a few more seconds he realized he was still leering with his jaw on the ground. That wasn’t him. He was suave, flirty, disarming. He needed to get their encounter back on the right path. The path that led straight to his dick in her mouth. He wrinkled his nose. Corey and Molly were right; he was vulgar.
Linc cleared his throat. “Sorry, about earlier. I know I was staring.” He took a few steps forward, his flirtiest smile now firmly in place. “We don’t normally have beautiful woman around here—”
Linc winced as a small hand came into contact with the back of his head. Only one chick packed that good a wallop. “Ow, Corey, damn.”