Alluring Promises Box Set (Books 1-3)

by Josie Bordeaux

  I changed quickly and ran downstairs anxious to spend more time with her. Izzy was looking at my family pictures on my mantle. My mom made sure I had plenty of them from presents over the years. She said it didn’t make it look like such a cold, sterile bachelor pad. Fucking Whore kept trying to take them down. We fought over those too. I would never take them down. My family means everything to me and I loved having those pictures around.

  “I love this photo. Is this your Mom and brother–Matt, right?” She asked while giggling at the image.

  I took a quick look at which one she was holding and laughed. “Yeah, we were at Grand Canyon. My Dad loves to take pictures, so we barely have any photos with him in there.”

  She eyed me up and down then bit her luscious full bottom lip, smiling brightly. “Nice rugby shirt.”

  Trying to contain a groan from her look, I faked a chuckle. “I thought you might like it.” Maybe I need to get hot and sweaty and she’d really be mine.

  “Your phone rang while you were in the shower.” She said glancing back to another photo. It was a goofy one. We were trying to get our Dad to stop taking pictures, so we made silly faces. I quickly checked my phone. Fucking Whore called. I clenched my jaw. “Her again?” She asked. She didn’t seem angry or upset; she appeared to have sympathy in her voice.

  “Yeah. Let’s head out.” I changed the subject. “So did you make a list of what we need for tonight?”

  “Yeah, actually I did. I have an idea of what I want to make.” We started heading out the door and I put my hand on the small of her back to guide her. She seemed to take a deep breath when I did that. I realized my plan for the day was to try to touch her as much as possible if I could get that same reaction every time.

  “Are we taking the bike?” Her eyes were so bright and hopeful. I couldn’t say no if I wanted to.

  “Of course.” I got on and I watched her wrap her hair in a quick ponytail, then she got on behind me. She squeezed me tight around my waist and put her head on my back. I took a deep breath, appreciating how fantastic she felt wrapped around me. She seemed to be squeezing her thighs tighter as we took off and thoughts of her doing the same in bed only amplified the fantasies I had for her.

  We arrived at the store and went in. I grabbed a cart and gestured if she wanted to push. “Nah, you drive. I’ll fill.” I smiled at her. Sounds good. I’ll follow her around any day. She looks just as amazing from behind.

  She started putting items in the cart as we walked. She took a bag and started grabbing vegetables. I went over and helped her, casually grazing her hand anytime I could. We chatted about her college days and I tried to find out more about that night they were laughing about before they burst into tears. It seemed like an amusing story. She told me that Brad was shot down by that Morgan girl and he laughed at her and told her he really wanted her roommate anyway. The part about Mel getting sick was even funnier. I guess Melanie had told the group that drinking Lemon Drops was the way to go that night. And that’s all they should drink so they wouldn’t get sick. I laughed and told Izzy a story of Melanie trying to convince us guys one night that we should only drink a certain shot and we all told her ‘no’. Our night could have occurred just like the one Izzy just described if we hadn’t.

  We grabbed a few more things and then rounded the corner laughing and ran smack into douche…Mark. He was smiling until he saw me. That’s right dickhead…you can walk the fuck away right now.

  “Mark, hey…umm...how are you?” Izzy asked, shifting on her feet, but pressing a smile. Mark strolled toward her and planted a kiss on her cheek followed by a quick hug. It was clear he was trying to show me they were still dating. Whatever, dude. I’ve got her the rest of the day and I’m sure I know way more about her than you ever will.

  “Good, great to see you.” He looked at me quickly and said, “Z” with a head tilt and a tight voice. I gave him a nod.

  “Uh, how was training today?” Izzy asked. She was clearly uncomfortable and yet, I couldn’t figure out how to help her out especially since I wanted to beat the shit out of the guy. I kept quiet instead.

  “Great, it went really well, but I’m really looking forward to our run and lunch tomorrow,” he said smiling at her and touching her arm. I was trying my best to keep it in check. Punching him right now would not be good after Flynn just fought him the other night. I checked out the bruise under his eye and smirked. Flynn got a couple good ones in. Wish I had done that, but I’m sure Izzy would really be pissed with me then.

  “Yeah, uh, yeah, looking forward to it,” Izzy said putting her hair behind her ear. Her eyes danced nervously between the two of us.

  “I thought that maybe we could have lunch after at The Magenta if you’d like.” He was obviously trying to show off his wealth. The Magenta was a really expensive restaurant that just opened up and it was tough to get a reservation there. Dick was trying to show off; unfortunately for him I was pretty sure Izzy had no idea about that restaurant, being new in town and all. The thought made me chuckle. Both Izzy and Mark glanced over at me as I continued to smirk from the thought.

  “Yeah, that…that sounds great. I’ve never been there before.” Izzy said as she glanced back to him. Yep, I knew it. I continued to smirk at my personal joke.

  “Well, good, I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early.” Then he went in for one on the lips. Fucking douche. Although Izzy didn’t seem to push him away either, I noticed. Fuck.

  “Okay, yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Izzy said.

  “Later Z.” He waved to me.

  “Yep,” was all I could manage to get out.

  Izzy cleared her throat. “Umm, chicken, we still need to get the chicken.” She walked off and I followed, trying to figure out how to get back to where we were before running into dickwad. We stood at the butcher counter waiting for our turn.

  “So, you’re still running with him?” She was clearly uncomfortable but figured I’d ask her point blank to see how she felt about dating him.

  “Umm, well, tomorrow will be the second date…I mean run...together…we…run.” She started looking around and seemed to be begging for it to be our turn. I clenched my jaw tight.

  It was at that point I realized that this is exactly where Flynn and Mel are. At least I think they are. It sucked having to watch her walk out the door yesterday, knowing she was going out with that asshole. Not to mention how fucking gorgeous she looked. Jealousy hit me again. I really couldn’t remember feeling this way with Fucking Whore or any of my other exes for that matter. I’m not even with Izzy and the anger was coursing through me. I decided I didn’t want to get into a fight with her, like Flynn would if he were in my place. Instead, I put my hand on her back and asked, “So what are you making for dinner tonight?” She seemed a bit relieved and exhaled a breath.

  “I think I’m going to make a chicken marsala-type dish I used to make in college,” Izzy said sounding a bit concerned about her choice.

  “That sounds great.” I tried to sound excited, but was still thinking about the Mark dating situation.

  My mind came back to that punishment question and I started to wonder if Mark knew anything about any of this screwed up ex of hers. Probably not. I can’t imagine how that would issue would be discussed on their runs. ‘Hey, by the way, my ex used to whip my cute little ass if I drank a beer.’ Yeah…I couldn’t see that happening.

  We got back to the townhouse and unloaded all the groceries from the saddlebags on the bike. I grabbed a beer for both of us and turned on some music. “What do you need me to do first?” I asked as I clapped my hands, ready to help her out.

  She smiled sweetly. “You don’t have to help. I enjoy cooking.”

  “No, I really want to help,” I insisted.

  She thought a bit and then said, “Okay if you don’t mind, um, I guess you can start washing and cutting up some of the vegetables.”

  I started on my task and noticed she really did enjoy being in the kitchen, especially as her hips sw
ayed to the music. She was so sexy moving around, singing and dancing as she cooked. I started moving to the beat with her. Every once in a while we’d bump into each other while dancing.

  She then started on some sort of dessert with chocolate. She handed the strawberries to me and asked me to wash them. She danced while stirring, her hips moving to the beat. I couldn’t wait to see how her hips moved when I finally get her in bed. I walked over to the bowl as she was stirring the mixture and dipped my finger in, stealing a taste. Wow...it was good whatever it was. What’s sexier than chocolate and a hot girl?

  I put some on her nose and she giggled. I couldn’t resist and I put some on her luscious lips. I bent down capturing her mouth with mine and overwhelmed by the intoxicating mixture of chocolate and her sensual taste. The combination was so fucking sexy. She opened her lips, welcoming the taste while our tongues entwined. I deepened the kiss and I grabbed the bowl she was holding, setting it on the counter. She wrapped her arms around my neck and started giggling in my mouth. That was definitely not the reaction I wanted.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked into her mouth, still kissing her.

  She pulled back, biting her lip. Her blue eyes twinkling as she told me, “Umm...I think you might have chocolate all over your back. I forgot to put the spatula in the bowl.” She held it up while laughing.

  I took it from her and put it in the bowl and turned back to kiss her. “You can roll me in this stuff if it means kissing you more,” I whispered into her lips.

  “Mmm,” she moaned kissing me back. A faint sound of a buzzer went off in the background. She pulled back our lips still touching and whispered, “Oven is ready.”

  I kissed her again. “Yeah, is it hot?” I teased. She smiled and gave me a quick peck on the lips. She turned and bent to get a cake pan out of the lower cabinet. Fuck she has a great ass. I quickly adjusted my hard-on while she had her back to me. She sprayed some stuff in the pan and then poured the batter into the pan. She put the cake in the oven and turned around smiling sexy. Her eyes sparkled like she really had something she wanted to say, but I wanted to laugh at what I saw. I chuckled and stepped toward her.

  “You still have chocolate on your nose.” I grabbed the towel and wiped it, then kissed her deeply. She kissed so deep and sensual. I wanted to take more. I was trying to remember to go slow with her so she didn’t think I’m rebounding, but it was really getting tough to keep control. Our kiss deepened and I pulled her tighter. She moaned into my mouth and it turned me on even more. I grabbed her and lifted her onto a bar stool, moving by body in between her legs, pulling her tighter into me so she could feel how hard I was for her. I thrust my hands through her soft hair as I kissed her with even more desire than I thought possible.

  Her phone rang, but she ignored it and moaned into my mouth. Our hands ran over each other’s bodies recklessly and I was certain if she were as breathless as I was, we might never recover from this. I moved my hand down to the bottom of her shirt and put my hand under it, feeling her smooth skin and started to move my hand up the front of her shirt.

  “Holy shit! I walked in on you guys again! Haven’t you two learned to go to her room yet? Fuck that is HOT! Is dinner ready yet?” Clark asked as he kept going upstairs to change.

  I swear I’m going to kill that asshole one of these days. Especially as I watched Izzy straighten herself up and jumped off the stool. Spell broken. Again. Damn, Clark.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Izzy

  SERIOUSLY? How many times is someone going to walk in on us? I was so ready for Z to take me on any surface he could find. He kissed so incredible and I just keep losing myself with him. I looked up at him, watching him shake his head.

  “Do you think it’s a sign that he keeps interrupting us?” I asked, curious to see what he would say.

  He shook his head smirking. “No, actually, I think it’s a sign that we can’t keep our hands off each other.” He kissed me again, his lips tender and soft. “Come on. Mel and Flynn should be home soon. Might as well get dinner ready otherwise we’ll be walked in on again.”

  A song I loved came on and I started singing and swaying to the music as I started on the salad. It felt so good to be myself again. When I was with him, I could only sing and dance when he was at work and I was by myself.

  Z came behind me and put his hands on my hips, swaying with me and kissing my neck. God, if he keeps this up, I won’t be able to finish the meal. We might have to order pizza. I leaned my head back enjoying the shivers brought on by his lips skimming that perfect spot on my neck.

  I let my mind wander about us. Maybe he does want something more than just a quickie to get over Sheila. We obviously do have a strong attraction to each other and it was definitely more than what I had with Mark. Maybe I should call Mark and just end it. Although I didn’t know what “it” was with Mark either. I really didn’t have that same connection with Mark that I have with Z.

  Footsteps on the staircase caused Z to give me another quick kiss on my neck and step back so he could help me prepare the food. Clark came down just as the front door opened and Flynn walked in. “Hey,” everyone said to each other. Flynn ran upstairs to change and just then Melanie walked in. She flopped down on a barstool exclaiming, “Oh God! What a day!”

  Clark smugly smirked with his brows pulled together. “Really Mel? Were there that many yuppies buying art today?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Screw you. I had a whole collection come in today and one was ripped. Try explaining that to the artist. I had to talk to the insurance company and you know how that goes.”

  Flynn came back down. “Hey Mel.” Seeing her face, he added, “Bad day?”

  “Nope, it was a great day actually!” She gave him a smug smirk and ran up the stairs.

  Wow. This is going to go on for a while. Z shook his head. “Actually, she was just telling us how shitty her day was. Maybe you want to go up and talk to her?” Z clapped Flynn’s back, handing him a beer.

  Clark looked at me and chuckled, “You chicks are so messed up.”

  “What did I do? I’m just making dinner,” I jeered.

  “Looked more like you were making Z. At least that’s better than that Mark dude.” My face fell. I turned quickly and started to put away the rest of the veggies in the fridge. Z mouthed something to Clark, but I didn’t care to try to decipher it.

  My phone rang again. I decided to go ahead and take the call this time. It had to be Mark since Mel was upstairs and she was the only other person who had my number. I walked over to the poolroom for privacy. “Hey,” I answered. I was relieved to have an excuse to leave the discussion with Clark.

  “Hi, Gorgeous,” Mark said in what I presumed to be his sexy voice. It seemed a little forced unlike the sexy huskiness that Z could do so naturally.

  “Hi.” I paused waiting for what he had to say while I debated the Z versus Mark issue in my head.

  “I thought I’d call to talk. Umm, you looked a bit uncomfortable today at the store. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too weird for you,” he said.

  “Uh, no, I’m…good,” I stammered. I wasn’t sure what to say. Do I tell him now? Do I want to pursue something with Z?

  “Well, I wasn’t sure if you and Z…what I mean is…are you two dating?” I swallowed hard. How do I answer this one when I don’t even know myself? Technically, Z never asked me on a date.

  “Umm…well, we, umm…we kind of….we’re friends with…he’s my roommate’s best friend,” I spit the last part out. What was I even trying to say? Do I want to tell him now? I should. That’s not fair to string him along, right? I took a deep breath. “Umm…look, we….I’m not sure what Z and I are, actually. I’m not sure how to answer that.” I tried to be honest, but it sounded confusing even to me.

  “Yeah, that’s what I gathered. Look, I’m not into trying to contend with anyone. I like you. Actually, I like you a lot and would love to see where this goes, but I can’t get into some weird back and forth thing.�
�

  “Yeah, I understand. I do. I don’t want to do that to you either.” I was still struggling with what to say to him.

  “When you decide if you want to pursue something with me, let me know, okay. No hard feelings.” He sounded sincere, it made me wonder if I want to see him again. But I didn’t, did I?

  I answered without thinking, “Okay, thank you. You’re very sweet and maybe we can still run together sometime?”

  “Sounds great. I’ll see you around on the trails some time, okay?” Disappointment was clearly laced in his voice.

  “Yeah, I’d like that, thanks.”

  “Bye.”

  “Bye.” I hung up the phone and stood there for a moment staring at the screen. Did I just end it with Mark to pursue something with Z? I was worried that all of a sudden I made the wrong choice. Shit. Am I a rebound for Z or not? It had only been a week since he broke up with Sheila. How long had he been with her? I turned and walked back into the kitchen. Everyone was whispering to each other, but quickly tried to make idle conversation when I walked back in.

  I grabbed a beer and drank. Okay…it was more like I chugged the whole thing down. Melanie was eying me. I took a deep breath and turned around to the oven to check on the cake. Shit. I forgot to turn on the timer! It was completely burnt. I pulled it out and tossed it onto the stove, throwing my oven mitts onto the countertop.

  Melanie came over and hugged me from behind. “It’s alright. We didn’t need dessert anyway.”

  I gave a half laugh, “Nah, I’ll whip up a strawberry dessert instead. I just wanted some chocolate today,” I said with a huff.

  She laughed while she kept her head on my shoulder. “Well, you could probably lick Z! He seems to have it all over his back.” I turned to look at Z. He was chatting with Clark and Flynn and sure enough, there was a huge chocolate stripe down his back. I looked at Mel and started laughing. Oops.

  Melanie watched me, trying to gauge my expression. “Are you okay?” she asked.