Certified Disaster (Beautiful Mess Book 2)

by Preston, Jennifer

  Certified Disaster

  Beautiful Mess #2

  by

  Jennifer Preston

  Copyright 2014 Jennifer Preston

  Kindle Edition

  All Rights Reserved

  This publication is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state, and local laws, and all rights are reserved, including resale rights: you are not allowed to give, copy, scan, distribute or sell this book to anyone else.

  Cover art by Mayhem Cover Creations

  Editing by Jenny Hamilton

  This book is dedicated to all of you

  who fell in love with Bri and Cole

  and demanded more of their story.

  It wouldn’t have been written without you!

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  About the Author

  Connect with Jennifer!

  “It is rarely a lack of love that forces two hearts apart, but other obstacles.”

  -Robin LaFevers, Mortal Heart

  Chapter 1

  There had been many times in the past couple of months that Cole had cursed himself for agreeing to take things slowly. Well, to be completely honest, he cursed himself every day, especially on days like today.

  Bri was lounging next to him on her beach towel, wearing that damn white bikini that was manufactured specifically to drive the male population crazy. And Cole was in no way immune. Her auburn hair was loosely braided and hanging over her shoulder, her golden brown eyes were hidden behind her sunglasses. A soft breeze ruffled the pages of the book she was reading, and the warm sunlight glinted tantalizingly off her skin. Her glorious body was laid out like a mouth watering buffet that he couldn’t touch. He was a starving man, but he could only look, ogle, and drool. For about the five-hundredth time that day, he mentally smacked himself upside the head for ever agreeing to this.

  Part of him still couldn’t quite believe this was real, that she was actually here, lying next to him. He smiled to himself, and his mind drifted back to that night she had walked back into his life.

  He had finally accepted the fact that he’d have to figure out how to live without her, to find some way to go on with his life; not that he had been happy about it. Quite the opposite, in fact. He had been completely and utterly miserable, and not even playing basketball for Duke could rouse him from his depression. And then one day, Bri had appeared at a random party, looking hot as all hell, and said the words he’d dreamt of hearing, but had been sure he never would. She loved him. Loved him! Any autonomy he had managed to gain while they’d been apart went completely out the window, and he was hers, completely, utterly, and totally. She could’ve asked him to bark like a dog and he would’ve happily complied. Which was the only reason that could possibly explain why he had accepted his current frustrating predicament.

  “Cole,” Bri had said as he walked her home from his room that night. “I think we should take things slowly.”

  Things had gotten pretty heated between them earlier, and it had taken everything in him not to take her to back to his bed and give her the greatest make up sex in the history of make-up sex. But he’d known she wasn’t ready for that yet, so he held back and contented himself with everything of her that he could have. Not that it had been easy.

  “Bri, I don’t know if I can,” he answered, giving her a desire-laden look. He was rewarded by the blush that rushed into her cheeks as she smiled. That blush, that he loved, added with those swollen, just kissed lips, was a damn good look on her.

  “I know,” she replied softly. “I don’t know if I can either.” She gave him a heated glance, and he about took her right there. “But, things are different now. I’ve changed, you’ve changed, everything around us had changed. We aren’t the same people we were when we were together before, and I think we need some time to... I don’t know, get to know each other again or something. Plus, our lives are so different now, and with basketball, and dance, and school starting in a few weeks, I just think we need some time to adjust before we...” she trailed off.

  “Before we what?”

  “Before we add the complication of sex on top of everything else. I know it’s a lot to ask, but can you do this for me? Can you wait for me?” She turned her large, pleading eyes on him and almost melted him into putty. She had no idea the power she had over him.

  But, he also realized that he needed to take just a bit of that power back, for his own sake.

  “Okay Bri, we’ll do this your way. We’ll take it slow. But,” he stopped and turned her to face him. “You need to understand something. I let you call all the shots before, because you were so skittish I was afraid I’d scare you off. So I let you dictate what happened between us. I’m not going to do that anymore. If this is going to work, we need to have an equal partnership. I can’t just automatically defer to you because I’m afraid you’ll freak out and run off. We need to be able to talk through things, even the bad stuff, and make decisions together. I need to know that you are in this for the long haul, however long that may be.” He finished with his heart pounding. He hadn’t meant to lay it all out like that, basically giving her an ultimatum, but there it was. He was a little worried about how she’d react.

  But, to his vast relief, Bri had put her arms around his neck and pulled him into her. “I’m in this for the long haul. We’re in this together, and I have no intention of running off, ever.” She smiled beautifully at him, and Cole’s heart filled with so much love and joy he thought he’d burst. Then she slowly pulled his lips down to hers, and they sealed their promise with a kiss.

  And now they were here together, enjoying a warm, late September day on the shores of Falls Lake. His gorgeous girlfriend, whom he loved more than he ever thought possible, lay beside him, tempting him like she probably didn’t even realize, and all he could do was gawk.

  “I can feel you staring,” she smiled, not taking her eyes off her book.

  “If you’d let me, you’d be able to feel more than just my stare,” he shamelessly taunted her. Turnabout was fair play, after all.

  “Yes, but then I wouldn’t hold all the power anymore.” She turned to look at him, and her grin turned into a cocky smirk. His cocky smirk. She’d taken his signature move, perfected it, and made it her own. And now she was using it against him. She was so going to pay for that.

  “Oh really?” he cocked an eyebrow at her. “You think you hold all the power?”

  “I think it’s a proven fact by this point.” Her eyes sparkled.

  Cole pulled her sunglasses from her face, and then let his eyes rove slowly and deliberately up her body before meeting her eyes with a promise of everything he wanted to do to her. He saw the small shiver that raced through her, saw the hitch in her breath. The smirk fell from her face as her lips parted in anticipation. He leaned in close, just millimeters from her mouth, and could feel her quickened breath.

  “Thought so,” he whispered smugly, and then captured her perfect lips. He rolled her unde
r him and kissed her senseless. When he felt she’d had enough he pulled back.

  Bri sat up, her fabulous chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, and gave him an indignant glare. “That was hardly fair,” she pouted.

  “Who has all the power now?” He leaned back with a smirk, trying to look unaffected. He didn’t want her knowing how much her kiss had gotten to him, too.

  “Hmm,” she grunted, and stood up. “We’ll see.” She strutted down towards the water, her perfect rear end swaying teasingly in that skimpy, skimpy suit.

  And just like that, the ball was back in her court.

  As it always would be.

  Suddenly needing to cool himself off, Cole jumped up and followed Bri down to the water. Coming up behind her, he grabbed a handful of that perfect butt, eliciting a squeal from her, before diving into the blessedly cold water. He heard her laugh as he came up, shaking water from his black hair. With a wicked gleam in his eye, he ran over to her and wrapped her up with his soaking wet body.

  “Ah!” she shrieked, trying to pull away from him. “You’re freezing!”

  “I figured I wasn’t the only one who needed a little cooling off.” He rubbed his wet face alongside hers. “So, what’s your schedule like this week?”

  “I have practice on Tuesday and Thursday night, and the football game on Friday. And I have my study group on Wednesday night for my Biology class. What about you?”

  Trying to find time to spend together between their constantly alternating, and often conflicting schedules had not been easy.

  “I’ve got practice Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.” Bri’s face fell, and he quickly added, “But I can still meet you for lunch on Tuesday and Thursday.”

  “And maybe you could get a front row seat in my section while I cheer on Friday?” she asked hopefully. The dance team was also required to help cheer at the games, as well as dancing during time outs and half times.

  “Already done,” he smiled at her. “You’re just lucky I have connections at the ticket office.”

  “By connections you mean a girl who’s hot for your bod and will do whatever you ask, hoping you’ll finally ask her out?” She raised her eyebrow.

  “What?” he replied innocently. “I can’t help it that many, many girls find me irresistible. I am a fine specimen of a man after all.” Bri elbowed him in the ribs, and he laughed. “But you know better than to think that you have anything to worry about.” He leaned in and kissed her. “Besides, Melanie knows there’s no one for me but you. It all works out.”

  She laughed at that. “As long as it all works out for me, not her. So, I guess it’s just Friday night this week. Unless I can come over after practice on Tuesday. We’ll have to see how much homework I have by that point.”

  “Yeah, and I have some more bad news. Starting in October, we go into season mode. Which means practices five nights a week until March.”

  “What?” Furrows of disappointment creased her brow. “But then, when will I see you?”

  “We’ll just have to make the most of our weekends,” he smiled sadly, secretly loving that she was so upset. “And then once pre-season starts in December, I’ll be traveling, too. Hey,” her crestfallen face broke his heart and he pulled her to him. “We’ll get through this, we’ll make it work. Plus, us not seeing each other will make this whole taking things slowly a little easier,” he tried to joke. Not that that was true. Even when she wasn’t around, Bri was taunting him in his thoughts.

  “I just can’t wait until next semester when we can at least take a few classes together,” she sighed. “I guess I should’ve thought about coordinating schedules a little more when I came up with my plan. Obviously, I didn’t think that through very well.”

  “Ah, your evil master plan,” he laughed. “I don’t know, I’m kind of glad things worked out the way they did. You showing up at the party that night wouldn’t have been much of a surprise if you’d called to register for classes together first.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. That look on your face was so priceless. I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” she laughed.

  “Yeah well, you shocked the hell out of me.”

  “You were so mad, too. I thought you were going to bite my head off before I could even get a word out.”

  “Actually, I wasn’t really mad,” he confessed. Her head whipped up, shocked. He hadn’t ever admitted that before. “I just wanted you to think I was angry. I was trying to be tough and aloof, and not let myself get my hopes up about you being there.”

  “You weren’t mad?” She arched an eyebrow at him. “Because you sure pulled off the whole I-can’t-believe-you-had-the-gall-to-show-up-here act off perfectly.”

  “How could I possibly be mad at you? You looked so good, all I could think about was how much I’d missed your lips, and your body, and all that soft skin.” He nuzzled her neck. “I don’t really think I heard much of what you said that night. I was a little distracted,” he teased, which earned him another elbow to the ribs.

  “I can’t believe you’ve never told me this,” Bri shook her head. “I really thought that what I’d said had won you over.”

  “Baby, you already had me. You can’t win me back when you never lost me in the first place.”

  Tears welled up in her eyes.

  “I love you,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry I put you through all of that, that I put us through all that.”

  “Stop,” he insisted. “Don’t keep blaming yourself. I screwed up pretty badly, too. But none of that matters now. We found our way back to each other, that’s enough. Let the past go.”

  She nodded, wiping a tear from under her eye.

  “And just so you know, you never lost me either. Even before I knew it, I was always yours.” She smiled up at him, and he felt like the luckiest man in the world. What he’d ever done to deserve this perfect, beautiful creature, he’d never know. But he’d thank his lucky stars until the day he died that he’d won her heart.

  So he leaned down, and kissed the best thing that had ever happened to him.

  Eventually they packed up their things and headed back to Bri’s Jeep. Cole wasn’t going to lie, having a girlfriend with her own transportation was awesome. Especially when he had none. His dad had sold the truck, and Cole had been forced to leave his Ducati, his baby, behind in California. So it was lucky that at least one of them had wheels, and they weren’t confined to campus or public transportation.

  Bri pulled up in front of Cole’s dorm and shut off the car.

  “Want to come up for a little while?” he asked, hoping beyond all hope she’d say yes. That bikini was just begging to become a pile on his floor.

  Maybe sensing his thoughts, or please God, having the exact same thoughts, she smiled sadly at him.

  “I don’t think that would be the best idea. I have to get home and work on my English paper that’s due tomorrow.”

  “Come on Bri, please?” he begged with his saddest puppy dog eyes.

  “You are terrible,” she laughed. “One of these days I’m not going to be able to say no to you.”

  “I pray for that day every night,” he grinned. He knew she wasn’t going to change her mind about coming up to his place, but that didn’t mean he was going to make it easy for her. He leaned across the armrest between them and kissed her slowly and seductively. He pulled back slightly, waiting to see what she’d do next.

  Bri hesitated for about a second, then her hand curled around the back of his neck and pulled him back to her. Cole couldn’t help the satisfied grin that spread across his lips as she kissed him hungrily. Before he knew what was happening, she climbed over into his lap, her hands slipping under his shirt and up his back. And heaven help him, every last bit of self-control he had left went right out the window.

  He returned her kisses with his own desperation, greedily taking everything she was giving him. His hands, demanding more of her, moved slowly down her back and up the front, cupping her perfect breasts.
To his utter shock, and intense relief, she didn’t pull away from him. Instead, she moaned against his mouth. A shudder ran through him, and he set out to remove any and all barriers between them.

  He grabbed the hem of her cover up and yanked it up and over her head. His hands roamed her almost naked body, eliciting more gasps and moans that nearly undid him right there. The thin fabric of her top was too much, he wanted to feel her. So, as his lips made their way down, his hands made their way up to the tie at her neck. Just one simple bow. That was all that separated him from that chest he’d been dreaming about. He pulled the string, and paused, his breath catching.

  Later he would berate himself for his hesitation, because that was all it took for Bri to come back to her senses. She gasped, this time in awareness, as reality hit her. Her hands flew up to the undone tie of her top, and quickly re-tied it. Cole glanced at her warily, worried he may have crossed a line. Her head dropped against his shoulder, her hair hiding her face, and he couldn’t see what she was thinking or feeling. There was a moment of horrible tension, and then he heard the last thing he’d expected to hear in this situation.

  Bri laughed.

  Not sure whether to be relieved or insulted, Cole could only sit there.

  “Oh my gosh,” she managed through her giggles. “What is with us and cars?”

  “Um,” he chuckled nervously, “I’m not sure.” He still wasn’t sure what was going on.

  She finally lifted her head, and the genuine amusement on her face sent relief flooding through him. “I mean, here we are, in the middle of the parking lot, where anyone could walk by and see us, and we’re about ready to get naked and just go at it, and not for the first time!” She burst into a rolling fit of laughter. Unable to resist, he found himself laughing with her. “There are probably security cameras out here, too,” she squealed.

  “Yeah, we just gave any of the guards watching quite a show. We probably just made their night!”

  “Oh man!” she returned, and they both broke down into hysterical laughter. It took a few minutes before they were able to calm themselves down, and then Bri removed herself from Cole’s lap. His body protested the loss of her.