Hard Sell: A Bad-Boy, Rock Star Romance

by Savannah Skye

  He turned, leaning his ass on the porch railing and gazing down at her, a smile tugging at his firm lips.

  "So, just to clarify, you--my next door neighbor, for those keeping score--are suggesting that you give me a curfew. Have I got that right?"

  "Well, no. I mean, not a curfew..." Kaitlin gnawed at her lower lip for a long moment before continuing. "Don't turn this around on me, Mike," she retorted. “Ever since you started staying here, it’s been nothing but problems for me.”

  "This is my grandmother’s house and I need to get it ready to sell, which is easier to do if I don’t have to drive back home half an hour away every night. That said, I'm a grown-ass man, Kitty. I come and go as I please, and no one is going to stop me. Now, if you're asking if I can try to be more mindful of my temporary neighbor? That I can do."

  He dropped off the second step to land a few feet from her on the grass and peered down at her.

  "I’m planning to go out tonight and then stay at my own apartment in town, so you don’t have to worry. And next time I take the bike and come home late, I'll shut it off and roll it up the driveway if that makes you feel any better." He leaned in and tapped her nose with the tip of his finger. “And by the way, you've got poppy seed in your teeth."

  Damn it.

  "Which one?"

  He let out a low chuckle and turned to jog lightly back up the stairs. "Pretty much all of them."

  She let out a muffled curse as she scrubbed at her teeth with the pad of her index finger.

  Ugh, why did stuff like that always seem to happen when he was around? It was like she waited until the one person who was most likely to tease her and revel in her misery was present and accounted for before she did anything embarrassing.

  She shuffled her way back home, face still burning when she walked through the door again.

  Whatever. Who cared, anyway? She didn't need to impress Michael Blade. Judging by the past few weeks, he’d obviously already made up his mind to treat her like a child for the rest of their lives, despite the fact that she'd just turned twenty-five. She needed to stop thinking about him and start thinking about impressing the one person who really mattered now that she was back in the old neighborhood.

  Rick Blade.

  Kaitlin picked up her coffee and took a sip as she thought about him. Like his twin Michael, Rick was gorgeous. But unlike Mike, Rick was really sweet, super easy to talk to, and an all-around great guy. He also hadn't slept with eighty-five percent of the females in town and didn't have an arrest record.

  Huzzah.

  Not that she needed any of those reasons to be crazy about the man. He was pretty much perfect for her. Trustworthy, and loyal. There for the people he cared about when the chips were down. If he hadn't had the same girlfriend throughout his entire high school career and then another during college, she probably would've realized what she should’ve realized when they'd met on her eighth birthday.

  They were made for each other.

  And now he was a doctor, about to spend three months in Africa donating his time at various village clinics. Which meant that she had one night left—tonight—to make sure he realized he had someone waiting for him when he came home, if he wanted her.

  At least something good had come out of her sparring with Mike this time. He’d basically told her he had no plans to come back to his gran’s house tonight, which meant she could finally make her move on Rick. Up until now she was sure she’d missed her chance, nerves making her stall until pretty much last minute.

  A quiver of anticipation mixed with abject terror coursed through her. When the phone jangled a few minutes later, she was still trying to decide if she could actually go through with it.

  She glanced down at the screen and pulled the phone to her ear.

  "You must be psychic, Cher! I was sending up the mental bat signal like crazy.”

  If there was a person in this world that would be able to give her the confidence to do this, it was her best friend since middle school, Cheri. They’d been inseparable until college and even then, and through Kaitlin’s move two hours away, they still managed to stay as close as sisters. Cheri was the nuts to Kaitlin’s hot fudge sundae, and this wild move was right up her alley.

  “I’m here to serve, Commissioner,” Cheri chirped back without missing a beat. “What does Gotham need?”

  “I need you to make me look like a sex pot.” She swallowed back the rush of nerves and straightened her shoulders. “Because tonight, I’m going to put the moves on Doctor Rick Blade.”

  Chapter 2

  Mike sat in front of the TV and flipped the channel with a contented sigh.

  He had intended to go out, but damn if he wasn’t happy to be mellow for once. His guys at the shop had just completed a sweet-ass paint job on the custom Harley he’d designed for a famous musician in the area and it was going to be like a mobile advertisement for his already booming shop. Then, he’d finished the remodel of Honey’s little bathroom, and the realtor had called and told he and Rick that she recommended putting the house up for forty grand more than they’d originally planned as soon as the holiday season had passed.

  Round it out with getting to tug Kitty Pepper’s braids a little this morning, and he’d call it a near perfect day.

  He grinned, recalling the fire in her navy blue gaze.

  He really shouldn’t get so much enjoyment out of her irritation, but for some reason, it never failed to cheer him up.

  He took a swallow of beer and peered at his watch. Not even nine o’clock yet. Way too early for bed, but as much shit as he’d talked to Kitty this morning about a big night out, he really was beat. He’d spent four hours on his knees tiling and then another two in Rick’s Mini, driving his ass to the airport. A long, hot shower and seven hours worth of shuteye was looking better and better every minute.

  He’d just finished his beer and flipped off the TV and the lamp beside him to make his fantasy a reality when the doorbell rang.

  A frown wrinkled his brow as he made his way to the door. That girl he’d messed around with the other night had been texting like crazy ever since. She’d been to his place in town, but he didn’t recall giving her his grandmother’s address.

  So who the hell could it be?

  He turned the knob and yanked it open to find a beautiful woman standing there, like a genie he’d conjured out of thin air.

  “Hey, you,” she murmured, her voice husky and trembling.

  Fuck.

  Mike’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth as his brain tried to catch up with what he was seeing.

  Little Kitty Pepper, the ginger girl next door.

  The ginger girl he’d spent the past fifteen years teasing mercilessly just for kicks.

  The ginger girl who had somehow morphed into the smoking hot woman standing in his foyer wearing only a cleavage-baring trench coat and a shaky smile.

  His pulse kicked into overdrive, sending an unwanted shaft of need through him even as confusion clouded his mind.

  What was she doing here? And why was she talking to him so sweetly?

  He was still trying to untangle that mess when she stepped closer and pressed her soft lips to his.

  The reaction was instant and all consuming. Like she’d lit a match and set him on fire. His brain sizzled to a stop and pure instinct took over.

  What did it matter why she’d come? She was here now. And apparently, she wanted him.

  The exhaustion and aches from the day of hard labor vanished in an instant.

  His arms snaked around her trim waist and he jerked her closer, suddenly desperate to feel her curves crushed against him. He slanted his mouth more tightly to hers, sliding his tongue between her lips, and she parted them with a moan low in her throat.

  She was all mint and heat and softness and he let his hands drift lower to grip those rounded hips. And even then, he was totally unprepared for it when she rolled those hips against him, grinding her pubic bone into his swollen shaft.

&
nbsp; Another hot rush of blood drained south and he made one last grasp for common sense.

  This was wrong. He might be a cocky son of a bitch in need of an attitude adjustment, but the last time he checked, he had some morals. He drew the line at sleeping with women who didn’t know the score. Clearly, she was out of her depth here, and primed for regrets.

  Hell, she didn’t even like him most of the time.

  Maybe she was drunk?

  That only made it worse. He might tease her, but he they’d known each other since they were kids and he would never want to take advantage of her that way.

  Just when he worked up the strength to push her away, she stepped back on her own. Her glittering blue eyes never left his as she reached down to the belt still loosely knotted at her waist and tugged, letting the coat fall open to reveal what it had been hiding.

  And, damn, was it good.

  Some sort of bustier, heart-shaped contraption clung to every curve, leading to a vee right above her belly button that pointed down to a teensy pair of panties that looked like they were made of the same material fairy wings were made out of.

  One thing was for damned sure.

  Little Kitty Pepper was all woman now.

  She sucked in a shuddering breath and her full, firm breasts threatened to spill over the top.

  God, give me strength.

  He clenched his fists at his side and called on every ounce of self-discipline in his notoriously undisciplined mind.

  “Ah, shit. Kitty, look--”

  “No!” She wet her lips and stepped closer, the flush on her cheeks giving her that freshly-fucked look that made his already iron-hard erection even harder. “Please don’t say anything. Just let me…”

  Her husky voice trailed off as she straightened her shoulders and rolled up onto her toes. The scent of cookies washed over him and he swallowed a groan.

  Leave it to Kitty to pick the one scent no man in the world would find sexy as the frontrunner for her big seduction.

  Only—damn it to hell—it was sexy.

  On her.

  And why was that? She was like an annoying kid sister to him.

  Was being the operative word. But in the past few weeks, he’d started to realize she wasn’t a kid anymore. Now here she was, twenty-five and half-naked, bent on seduction.

  She pressed against him harder, peppering his jaw with awkward but enthusiastic kisses and pushing him farther into the house. He put his hands on her shoulders, but couldn’t bring himself to push her away. With a flick of her foot, she slammed the door behind them.

  She pushed him all the way to the living room, and shoved him down on the couch. Her eyes burned with lust through the dark, overwhelming him with desire.

  “I want you.”

  She jammed her knee into the cushion next to him and swung the other silky-smooth leg over, straddling his lap. Her tongue dragged across his neck, tasting his essence. Her breasts pressed into his firm chest, and she grabbed fistfuls of his hair and tugged.

  He couldn’t help himself. Like a man possessed, he placed his hands on the small of her back, pulling her even closer. She moaned with delight and began nibbling at his earlobe. With every grind, every bump of their hips, his grip grew stronger and his mind grew weaker.

  “This is better than I ever imagined.” Her husky words sent a warm puff of air into his ear. “I was so nervous.”

  He kissed her from her cleavage to her lips, reveling in the softness of her skin. “I gotta be honest,” he nipped sharply at her full bottom lip, “I never guessed.”

  “Mmmhmm,” she hummed. “I should’ve told you a long time ago. Seemed like it was now or never.”

  His mind was racing, his cock throbbing, his heart pounding against her breasts.

  “I’m not trying to stop you from going,” she murmured, “but I needed you to know how I felt before you left.”

  Mike twisted his face into a frown. “Left?”

  A thousand alarm bells went off in his head, echoing in his lust-clouded brain and sending a blast of unreasonable anger and frustration coursing through him.

  “Rick? Is everything okay?”

  Until she’d said the name, a kernel of hope had lingered that maybe he had it wrong. Maybe she knew it was him and had finally decided to get real with herself and acknowledge the chemistry he’d felt boiling between them since she’d gotten into town.

  But she didn’t want him at all.

  Not the troubled youth turned real bastard with a chip on his shoulder.

  Not the guy who couldn’t stick with a woman for longer than a season.

  Not the idiot who was currently being turned upside down by the girl next door.

  She was here for his twin.

  It all made perfect sense now. This morning, she’d caught sight of him getting his mail and came storming out of her house, twin flags of fury blazing high on her cheeks. She’d proceeded to rip him a new one about waking her up. And then he’d told her he’d be out all night. Apparently, she’d thought it was the perfect time to make her move on Dr. Rick Blade. Too bad for her, Rick had opted to take an earlier flight that afternoon to avoid an ice storm delay in New York city.

  Now, she was tongue-dueling with the wrong brother and had no idea.

  Which meant, as irritated as he was, he had to stop her before she did something she’d regret. This had already gone further than it should have.

  “What is it? What’s the matter?” she asked, wetting her lips nervously.

  “Kitty,” he paused and raked his hand through his hair in frustration. “I don’t know how to tell you this--”

  “Tell me what?” she demanded. Her voice flipped from sultry to apprehensive in an instant.

  Better to yank it off, like a bandage.

  “I’m not Rick. It’s me. Mike.”

  The horror on her face as his words hit home was like a sucker punch to the ego. She shot up from his lap in an instant, covering her cleavage and panties with trembling hands.

  “Wait, wh--what?”

  “Rick left this afternoon. I thought you knew.”

  She began frantically searching around the dimly lit room for her coat and he stood up and flipped on the lamp to help.

  She froze like a deer in the headlights, on the verge of tears, trembling in her sexy lingerie. “Turn the light off!”

  Her gaze flicked to his stubborn still-very-obvious erection clearly visible through his jogging pants.

  “Oh my god, do you seriously still have a boner at a time like this?” she demanded.

  Mike turned the lamp back off. “Well shit, Kitty, what did you expect?”

  Great. Now he felt like a heel and a perv.

  “You could have told me,” she hissed, fumbling around still searching for her coat.

  “I didn’t know,” he returned, his sympathy for her evaporating under the heat of his own annoyance now. He’d just been sitting here drinking a beer minding his own business when she strolled in and took her tits out. She had a lot of nerve being pissed at him.

  “I have to be dreaming.” She shook her head. “Th--this can’t be happening.”

  She looked so miserable, he blew out a sigh and bent low to retrieve the trench coat he spotted next to the coffee table.

  “Look, I’m sorry, Kitty.”

  “Just. Don’t.” She snatched the coat from his grasp and wrapped it around her shoulders before scurrying towards the front door. “And stop calling me that!”

  “Come on, K--” He caught himself. No point in poking an angry wasp’s nest. “Kaitlin. It’s okay. It was a couple of kisses. No big--”

  But the door slammed shut between them and he found himself talking to the other side of it.

  For the first time in a long time, Mike felt a stab of jealousy towards his brother. Of course she thought he was Rick – she was constantly fawning over him since she rolled in.

  He went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face, hoping to wake up from this half-dream half
-nightmare, or at least to wash her heavenly scent from his body.

  It didn’t work.

  The scent of cookies and lip gloss clung to his skin like static. She was gone but her gentle touch was still there. Her lips were still wandering his neck. Her fingers still gripped his hair. Her heart was still pounding against his chest, matching the pace of his own. Her soft voice still echoed deep in his thoughts.

  No matter how hard he tried to wash away what happened, it was too late.

  He’d had a real taste of Kitty Pepper and he wanted more.

  Chapter 3

  Kaitlin stared at the ceiling in the morning light, unblinking. The paltry three hours of sleep she’d managed hadn’t erased the previous night’s events from her mind. Hell, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.

  About him, was more like it.

  Her face flamed and she covered her mouth with the pillow and let out what she swore would be her last muffled scream of humiliation.

  How could she have gotten it all so wrong?

  She tossed the pillow on the floor and threw back the covers. Putting off the inevitable wasn’t going to change a thing. She’d get up, and get on with her day and just hope that, with time, she could face herself in the mirror again.

  Facing Michael? That was a whole other story.

  She rubbed her eyes and shuffled out of bed and to the bathroom. A hot shower usually did the trick to clear her head. After shutting the door and waiting for the steam to completely fill the room, she stepped in and let the water sluice over her, heating her weary muscles.

  Michael Blade.

  His name floated into her thoughts and she tried to force it out.

  How could she not recognize that hard body? Sure, Rick took care of himself, but Mike was ripped to shreds. His hands, so rough, but so strong. Definitely not the hands of a doctor. And the voice? Rick’s was smooth, silky, with an air of intelligence. But Michael’s – his was lower, gravelly.

  She closed her eyes and it all came back to her in a rush. The faint scent of gasoline on his skin. The stubble on his chiseled cheeks tickling her neck.