Carried Away: A Small Town Romance (The Moore Brothers Book 2)

by Brooks, Abby

  “Ellie?” James asked as she lowered herself into the driver’s seat.

  “Hmmm?” She turned the key in the ignition and maneuvered them out onto the street.

  “Thanks.” Except it didn’t sound like thanks at all, the word was so mangled by tequila.

  “It’s okay, James.” She smiled and turned on the radio, and then, as he swallowed hard and groaned as his eyes rolled back in his head, she rolled down the window and hoped the fresh ocean air would help keep him from throwing up in his own lap.

  2

  It was a feat of patience, keeping James conscious enough to give her clear directions to his house. There’d been a second where she thought she’d just bring him to her apartment—she lived close enough to the bar that it wouldn’t be that big of a trek—but she didn’t want any rumors started. All she needed was one person seeing him leave in the morning and then BOOM! Suddenly, she’d be the reason why the engagement failed and the whole town would hate her. The Moores were celebrities here in Bliss. James’s wedding had been the talk of the town up until it was replaced with the scandal of seeing his fiancée, Erin, out with another man.

  “Fuck me,” Ellie muttered as she pulled up into James's driveway.

  “You betcher ass I will.” James lifted his head off the headrest and his eyes tried valiantly to swim into focus.

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” She pulled to a stop and put the car in park. “I’m just a little surprised by the size of your house. That’s all.”

  “Erin picked it out,” he murmured and fiddled with his seat belt. When Ellie reached over to help him, he slapped her hand away. “I can do it myself, thank you very much.”

  Great, so now he’s moved on from horny as hell to pissed off and surly.

  “Of course you can.” Ellie climbed out of the car and waited for James to finish wrestling with his seat belt. The house was gorgeous. A sprawling, modern mansion with a manicured lawn and landscaping that looked expensive and impossible to maintain. It sat on a private beach and had more windows than walls. The view from inside had to be amazing.

  James finally emerged from the car and stumbled as he slammed the door closed. “Ian sold me the place for almost nothing. Barely put a dent in the ole’ trust fund.”

  “Must be nice, having a big brother with nice houses and a daddy willing to let you live off his money.” Ellie offered James her arm and started leading him towards the front door.

  “Not gonna lie. My life’s pretty easy. Til it’s not anymore. Then it just sucks. And it really sucks when shit sucks.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.”

  James fiddled with his keys, faltering back a few steps as he struggled to pick the right one out from the ring. He muttered a string of curse words until he finally located the one he needed only to drop them onto the porch. “Mother fucker,” he said and then blinked slowly and swallowed hard. “Scuse me. My French. My fuckin’ mouth gets away from me.”

  Ellie tried not to chuckle. “It’s okay James, I’ve heard bad words before. Even say them myself sometimes.”

  She bent and picked up his keys, flicked through them until she found the house key, and opened the front door.

  “Come in,” James slurred and grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.

  If the outside of the house looked like a page out of Architects Weekly, the inside looked like a frat house. There was stuff everywhere. Trash on the floor. Big empty spaces where furniture used to be but wasn’t anymore. She could smell the dishes in the sink, wherever the kitchen was inside this monstrosity of a house. And dear God, the beer bottles and empty liquor bottles. They were everywhere.

  “Place is a mess,” James said, waving around. “It’s a bachelor pad, now.”

  “It’s pretty disgusting in here.” James’s face crinkled in confusion. Shit. She really needed to learn how to get a filter set up in between her head and her mouth.

  James wandered deeper into the house and Ellie considered leaving. She’d done her duty, right? The guy was home and safe. He could just pass out and wake up in the morning with a rip-roaring hangover and everything would be okay. Except his bike was still at Fantastic Sam’s and the chances of him remembering how he even got home in the first place were slim to none. Might as well take this good deed all the way to the finish line and get this guy up to his bed. At least get his shoes off. Leave him a note to let him know what happened.

  James had wandered off and she found him curled up at the bottom of the stairs. It should have been hilarious to see a man that big, all bulging muscles and hard edges, curled up and trying to sleep on one stair, but somehow, it wasn’t funny at all. Somehow, it was just plain sad.

  “Come on, big boy,” Ellie said, leaning over to get him up. “Let’s get you into bed.”

  James groaned but helped her help him upstairs. He half led her, half leaned on her past several doorways until they got to a large room at the back of the house. Of course, two of the four walls were windows and Ellie could see glimpses of the ocean through the dark night. This house was pretty amazing, even if it did have months worth of trash and laundry and who knows what piled up all over the place.

  James wandered over towards a king sized bed and fell face down onto it. With a sigh, Ellie put her hands on her hips and shook her head before heading over to him and sliding his shoes off his feet.

  “James,” she said as she dropped his shoes and they clattered onto the hardwood floors. “Let’s get you all the way into bed. Roll over for me.” She reached up and grabbed a shoulder. Pulled gently.

  James responded by rolling over and pulling her down on top of him, his mouth crushing hers, his tongue darting into her mouth as if he’d been invited. He ran a hand up her side and cupped her breast. He tasted of liquor and the stubble of his beard raked across her face. His hand was rough as he squeezed her boob, but she felt warmth pool between her legs. When he pulled her closer, she didn't pull away. Not at first. Because, no matter how completely wrong all of this was, how totally sure she was that doing anything with James tonight would be a huge mistake, her body was completely and utterly fine with what was happening.

  She kissed him back. Ran her hand up his strong arms, feeling the cords of muscles tighten and bunch under her fingers. She opened her mouth and invited him to deepen the kiss and for just a few magnificent moments, there was nothing but the sound of their breath, and the hiss of the sheets, the roar of the ocean and the pounding of her heart. His hand slid up under her shirt and his rough skin grated across her ribs as his drink-numbed fingers fiddled with the clasp on her bra.

  For whatever reason, that knocked some sense into her. “No.” She pulled out of his arms. “James. Not like this.”

  She would have liked for him to protest. Would have liked him to give her a reason to give into her body and go right ahead and make a mistake with him. But he didn’t protest. He didn’t even say anything, really. At least nothing that she could make sense of. He cleared his throat and curled up, eyes already rolling closed.

  Heart still pounding and lips still raw from his kiss, Ellie pulled the covers up over him and wandered downstairs. She dug a pen out of her purse and found a piece of paper. With just a few words, she left James a note, explaining how he got home and that his bike was still at the bar. Then she cleared a big clean space on the counter and put the note in the middle next to his keys. There was no way he could miss that in the morning. And then, still busy remembering the kiss, still half wishing she’d just gone ahead and let herself make the mistake of sleeping with him, Ellie let herself out of James’s house and drove home.

  * * *

  Alarms are never pleasant. Especially alarms set for four in the morning. But alarms that go off at four in the morning after you’ve been out way past your bedtime? Those are just plain awful. Ellie fumbled for her phone and got the thing to stop making that god-awful noise and then pushed herself into a sitting position. Her head hurt and her eyes were blurry, but she’d know
n this morning would be hard when she’d agreed to go out in the first place.

  Her restaurant opened at six in the morning. Every morning. When she’d agreed to meet that guy that never showed up at the bar last night, she was either going to use work as an excuse if things went badly, or be resigned to a hard morning if things went well. She wasn’t sure how she’d classify things going last night other than to say it had been interesting. Last night had been very interesting, indeed.

  But, interesting or not, there was still a whole lot of work stretching out in front of her and she needed to get her ass in gear. She took a quick shower and squeezed her hair dry. One of the great things about having curly hair was that it didn’t take her long to get ready in the morning. Just a few quick squeezes with her towel and the humid South Carolina air would take care of the rest. What time she didn't spend on her hair, she spent on her makeup. She liked feeling pretty and nothing made her feel better than spending some extra time in the mirror, doing her best to look fresh and natural.

  By the time her ‘time to leave’ alarm went off on her phone, Ellie was feeling much more awake, although she was fighting a small headache. Small price to pay for getting to make out with James fucking Moore! Had that really happened? Like, was that really a thing that she got to put on her list of Things I’ve Done? Yeah, it happened all right. She’d been stretched out across James, in his bed, his lips on hers, his hands all over her body and it had felt really, really good.

  “Can’t believe I didn’t go through with it,” she whispered as she let herself into the restaurant and flicked on a few lights. She got to work grinding the coffee for the morning and getting things brewing. Got the baked goods unpacked so she could get them into the glass display and helped herself to a muffin.

  There was a light knock on the front door and Ellie looked up from her work, still chewing on a bite of orange cranberry deliciousness. That would be Ben, one of the cooks she’d hired when she’d expanded the menu to include breakfast items. Blowing air through her mouth and widening her eyes, she wandered back through the darkened dining room to let him in. She didn’t like working with Ben because he liked working with her just a little too much.

  “Morning,” he said with a bright smile on his wide face.

  “Morning, Ben.”

  “Did you have a good week?”

  “I sure did.” She had learned fast not to give him any details of just what exactly constituted a good week. All he needed was just one detail of her personal life for him to glom onto her and try to turn that into a way to get even more information from her. “I’m gonna get the counter stocked for morning rush,” she said, keeping the conversation focused on work. “Will you get the kitchen set up?”

  Ben sighed. “I sure will.”

  As the sun blazed to life outside and the inside of the cafe started to smell delicious, Ellie found herself wondering how bad James’s hangover was. How sick was he going to be when he woke up?

  Oh shit.

  Did he throw up last night? Her heart started pounding and she paused, trying to remember if she’d left him on his back or his side. What if he’d thrown up while he was sleeping and choked to death?

  Her stomach flip-flopped around with worry while her head was busy admonishing herself for stressing unnecessarily. James was a big boy. He could take care of himself.

  She instantly flashed back to having his body pressed against hers. Hell yeah, he’s a big boy. She was still grinning when her ‘time to open the joint’ alarm went off. She swiped away the alarm and went to unlock the doors and flip the sign so it read open. It wasn’t long before she was lost in a swarm of customers and friendly conversation. Ellie made it her business to get to know her regulars and make new customers want to come back. She memorized orders and life details and asked questions about important stuff in people’s lives when they came in. It wasn’t just a smart business tactic, it was just the way she was wired.

  Just as the morning rush started to die down, the doors jangled open and Ellie’s jaw dropped. There, standing in the doorway, sunglasses on and hair all mussed, was James. He waved and she clamped her mouth shut, finished getting the coffee order ready for the woman at the counter.

  “Hey,” James said as he sidled up to the counter, looking sexy as hell with his sunglasses and scruffy, fuck it I’m not gonna shave this morning beard.

  “It’s not a Saturday,” Ellie said, widening her eyes and trying to ignore her jackhammering heart. “Did you get confused? I never see you in here unless it's Saturday.”

  “Not confused,” he murmured and ran a hand through his hair. “I just wanted to thank you for your help last night.” He raked a hand across his cheek, making a scratching sound against his beard. He leaned on the counter and lowered his voice. “I found your note.”

  “Good. I didn’t want you to worry about your bike. It’s still there, all safe and sound. I drove past Fantastic Sam’s on my way here and saw it this morning.”

  James nodded. “I saw it, too.” He sucked in his lips and rubbed the back of his neck. “Hey, listen.” He swallowed and ran a hand through his hair again. “The details around last night … I’m a little foggy. I remember… ” He lowered his voice again and leaned in really close. “Did we…?”

  Ellie smiled. “Nope. Ellie stuck out her pinky finger. “Scout's honor. I didn’t take advantage of you. Your dignity is intact.”

  James laughed. “I don’t think the scouts stick out pinky fingers like that.”

  She looked down at her finger and then dropped her hand to the counter. “No, I guess they probably don’t.”

  James shook his head and then pulled his glasses down so she could look into his eyes. His horribly bloodshot eyes. “Well, my friend, from what I can remember from last night, any man would count his lucky stars to lose his dignity with you.”

  She couldn’t stop the blush that worked its way across her face anymore than she could stop the warm feeling of happiness that worked its way through her body. Of course, he didn’t really mean it. He was being nice. Or he was being a flirt. Either way, she liked it.

  A line had formed behind James while they were talking. “Well, hey,” she said. “Let me get you a coffee. Might take the edge off the headache.”

  “Bless you, friend.” He had used that word twice now. Friend. Was he trying to make some kind of point?

  “Black, right?”

  “You know it,” he said and the smile that stretched across his lips looked forced.

  Of course. He wasn’t here to flirt. He was here to be nice. Because even when his heart is broken and he’s busy making a million bad decisions and nursing what had to be one hell of a hangover, James Moore was nice. She handed him the coffee and noticed that his knuckles were all bruised and broken open. Had they been like that last night? She hadn’t noticed.

  “Thanks, Ellie,” he said, sauntering off towards the door. “You’re the best.”

  “Back atcha, my friend.”

  Ellie went to work putting James out of her mind. Sure it’d been fun kissing him last night, but it’d be more fun imagining him as the perfect man rather than getting to know him and finding out that he’s just like every other human being with a penis … a self-focused asshole

  3

  James didn’t go home after he left Good Beginnings. He called a few friends and talked them into meeting him at Fantastic Sam’s so he could pick up his bike. Then, he talked them into driving his truck back to his house so he could go on and take his bike to the gym. There was no doubt in his mind that they’d do it, either. That was the glory of having more money than anyone else you knew. They were willing to do just about anything to stay in your good graces.

  Most people sought out a friendship with him because they hoped some of his money would rub off on them. That they’d get to live some kind of rich and famous lifestyle just because they were friends or something. James didn’t feel at all bad about taking advantage of those kinds of people, since they were
essentially taking advantage of him. But then there were the ones who loved him because of who he was and not what he could do for them and that was a different story altogether. He would bend over backwards for those people.

  It was a gorgeous day for a ride, even if he was hungover as all hell. After handing his truck keys over to Ethan and watching him drive away with Oliver following behind, James hopped on the Ducati and revved the engine before backing out of his space and gunning the throttle with a practiced twitch of his wrist. The bike lurched forward and his stomach protested with a queasy lurch of it’s own, but he wasn't in the mood to listen to his hangover.

  When he’d woken up in his own bed this morning, he had been so confused. And even more confused when he realized he was still fully dressed, all except for his shoes, even though he was pretty sure he remembered having his hands all over some class-A titties last night … some sweet thing stretched out on top of him, his mouth devouring hers. When he’d finally pulled it together enough to stumble down the stairs and found Ellie’s note, he’d been more than a little embarrassed.

  Ellie Charles. The woman who sold him coffee every Saturday. The girl who had been in at least one of his classes every year throughout most of his years at school. The chick who was just a little more curvy than he liked his women, with wild dark hair and a bluntness she didn’t know how to rein in. The total opposite of rail-thin, platinum blonde Erin, the woman who held the keys to his heart for the last decade.

  Thinking of Erin turned his stomach again. He rolled back on the throttle and the bike shot forward, eager for him to let it off its leash. Bliss didn’t have a gym, so it was a good long ride out to a town that did. With the warm sun on his back and the wind rushing past him, the sea glistening beside him and a long straight road ahead of him, it was easy to forget all the reasons he was broken right now. He wasn’t going to let thoughts of Erin creep into his head and ruin this day like she ruined other every day for the last two months.