by Jenika Snow
Pitch His Tent
(Hot-Bites Novella)
Jordan Marie
Jenika Snow
PITCH HIS TENT (Hot-Bites Novella)
By Jenika Snow and Jordan Marie
www.JordanMarieRomance.com
[email protected]
www.JenikaSnow.com
[email protected]
Copyright © February 2018 by Jordan Marie and Jenika Snow
First E-book Publication: February 2018
Photographer: Wander Aguiar Photography
Cover model: Andrew Beirnat
Photo provided by: Wander Book Club
Editor: Kasi Alexander
Cover Created by: RBA Designs
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.
She’s my best friend’s little sister and completely off limits.
But I’m not going to stop until she’s mine.
Beau
I pushed Lexi away years ago.
I’ve regretted it every moment since, but a man can’t live in the past forever.
I decided to go camping to clear my head and plan my future—a future without Lexi.
Imagine my surprise when she’s already there.
Lexi knows nothing about camping, that much is clear.
That’s okay, I’ll use it to my advantage.
I have a second chance and I’m not going to waste it.
First, I’ll share my sleeping bag with her and eventually I’ll teach her exactly how to…
Pitch My Tent.
Warning: They’re back! Jenika Snow and Jordan Marie have teamed up to bring you another hot little number. This time they’re taking you out into the wilds. But don’t worry, the only thing attacking here is a hero alpha with his eyes set on his woman. A guaranteed safe read that is hot enough to melt your Kindle. It may not teach you how to survive in the wilderness, but if you read closely you might learn the correct way to anchor those tent poles.
Contents
Hot-Bites Novellas
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
Epilogue
Hot-Bites Novellas
Where to find Jordan
Where to find Jenika
Excerpt: Ride My Beard
Excerpt: Planting His Seed
Bought and Paid For
Ride My Beard
Planting His Seed
Jingle My Balls
Pitch His Tent
Chapter 1
Lexi
“Camping? Like real camping where you’re sleeping in a tent in the middle of nowhere, peeing behind trees, and eating beans out of a can? That kind of camping?” Sherry, my best friend since grade school, says in the most disgusted voice she can muster, I’m sure.
Even at twenty-two years old she still gets on my nerves, but makes me laugh at the same time. I stop packing and sit on the edge of the bed. I stare at my hands, knowing that this idea is slightly insane, but something I really need to do for myself. “Believe me, I know how crazy that sounds.”
“No, I don’t think you do.” Sherry gives me a sympathetic look. “Have you even ever been camping before? You do realize you have to have supplies? It’s not like you can go to the campsite and they have everything already set up for you.” She was smiling, teasing me.
“I’m not a complete moron.” I smile back at her. Even though inside I am telling myself there are other things I can do to relieve stress.
“You know if you need to talk I’m here. I’m always here.”
I smile back. “I know. I just need to get away for a little while and clear my head.”
She nods in understanding. “Yeah, I get that. How long are you going to be gone?”
“Just the week. I borrowed a bunch of camping gear that my brother had stored away, so I’m all set. I just need to get away from the city, from the bullshit of Eddie flaunting his new relationship in my face like I give a shit.” I think about my ex. We’ve been broken up for a month already, yet working with him, and seeing how he nearly fucks the new co-worker right in front of me, as if trying to somehow get back at me for “breaking his heart” grates on my nerves more than I want to admit. Hell, it shouldn’t bother me because I’m the one who broke up with him. But I think the stress of work, and the bullshit of Eddie being an asshole has been my tipping point.
“You should just report his ass. Surely him groping his new fling is sexual harassment.”
I shrug. “I don’t know if it counts as sexual harassment if she’s doing the groping too.” Sherry makes a disgusted face and I laugh. I get back to packing, and haul the last bag downstairs. I may be only going to be gone for the week, and probably over packed, but I want to make sure I have the comforts of home as I relax.
I toss the last bag in the back of my car. I turn and stare at Sherry. “I’m going to hit the road and get an early start. That way I can set up everything before it gets too dark.” I give her a hug and thank her for listening to me bitch. She’s the one person I trust implicitly. She’s always been there for me, especially in the times I’m feeling like my life is spiraling out of control.
“Oh, I forgot to mention I saw Beau the other day.”
Just the mention of my brother’s best friend has emotions rising up in me. He’s back? Is he on leave? Was he discharged? It’s been years since I saw him, years since he and my brother left for a tour with the army. My brother Brooks came home on leave, but I never saw Beau.
I’ve tried to keep hidden, keep submerged. Beau Sterling is my brother’s best friend, his army buddy, and the man I love. He’s a guy I grew up around, one who, just looking at him, makes me want to set something on fire. He is arrogant, sure of himself because he knows he’s so damn good looking. All through the years I’ve wanted to slap the smirk off his face, and then pull him in close and kiss him.
It’s been a long time since I’ve spoken to him, yet I’m still consumed with my feelings for him. I can still remember that night all those years ago, right before he left, at the party my parents threw for him and Brooks. I can still remember my lips on his… I shake my head. Nope, not going there.
He’s only ever seen me as Brooks’ little sister, even when I wanted to be so much more than that. I think that’s why I get so pissed thinking about him. Because he never saw me as the woman I am, the woman I grew up to be. He still sees me as that little girl who probably got on his nerves.
But then there’s the fact—the secret fact—that even though he pisses me off, I want him. God, I really want him.
I love him.
I’ve been in love with him since I knew what that word even meant, since I felt my emotions for him rise up and threaten to strangle me.
“I swear,” Sherry says, this lustful look in her eyes. “If Beau wasn’t such a cocky bastard I might’ve gone aft
er him.” I snort at that. “No, probably not. He’s not my type, not in the least.” She wrinkles her nose. “But he was wearing a tight black shirt that showed off every muscle.” She starts fanning herself. “I love guys in the military, but it’s a shame he got injured.”
At the mention of that my heart cracks in two slightly.
“And the worst part about it all is he knows how damn good-looking he is.”
I laugh, hiding the fact that just thinking about Beau like that gets me all hot and bothered. I feel my face start to heat as I think about him, about how much I hate him ... how much I want him. I say goodbye again quickly and get in my car, not wanting Sherry to see how I am reacting.
Because the last thing I need is for Sherry, or anyone for that matter, to know exactly how much I want Beau Sterling. All that will accomplish is to leave me with a broken heart and nothing to show for it.
Chapter 2
Beau
I throw the last of my crap in the back of the truck with a grin. The old truck looks like a rolling wreck, but eventually I’ll fix it back. It’s a symbol for me. Proof that even battered, with miles on you, you can always start over. When I get this truck restored it will have exactly what I’m giving myself: a new beginning.
Next week I start fresh. After being discharged from the army, I’ve been at a loss on where to go with my life. Nothing feels right. I miss the military life, but a bum knee that I got as a result of taking shrapnel ended that dream.
My best friend Brooks is still serving and in a lot of ways that makes it worse. Brooks and I have done everything together from grade school up. Where one of us was, the other would be close behind. Brooks’ grandfather used to say we were brothers, but I think we were closer than brothers. Hell, I have a brother now I never speak to and, even with Brooks being stationed in Afghanistan, we still talk once a week.
I’ve been in a rut. It’s time I start getting my life back together. That begins with getting my head straight and starting to live again. Since being discharged, that’s something I haven’t been doing. I had a purpose in the army. Outside there was nothing for me—nothing I could have anyway. There was plenty I wanted… what I’ve always wanted and denied myself.
Alexandria “Lexi” Clark.
Brooks’ younger sister has haunted me since she was five. At first she was annoying. A cute annoyance that Brooks and I put up with, but an annoyance just the same. As she grew up, that slowly changed. She had a quick sense of humor, she was smart, and she made me laugh. There hasn’t been much in my life to laugh about, but Lexi always managed it. Still, I never saw her as more than a kid, my best friend’s sister. That’s it. Then Beau’s parents held a going away party for us the night before we were to be shipped overseas. At twenty-four, I wasn’t prepared for what was waiting for me across the sea. I sure wasn’t prepared for Lexi following me outside that night when I broke away from the party to get a breath of air.
I can still remember it as if it was yesterday. From the yellow and white sundress she wore, to scent of lemons and sugar that clung to her skin.
“Are you scared about going into war, Beau?”
“We’re not in war anymore, buttercup. We’re just helping that country get on its feet again.”
“People die over there all the time.”
“People die everywhere.”
“You’re not scared?” she asked again and I studied her face—really studied it. Her features were etched with concern, her hazel eyes sparkled with emotions I was afraid to name. I knew Lexi had a crush on me. Brooks knew it too. He made me swear to stay away from her. I laughed it off, telling him she was too young for me and wasn’t my type.
I was lying out of my ass.
“Not a bit. I aced all my training. Those soldiers overseas won’t know what hit them,” I bragged, but inside I was scared. I had never admitted that to anyone. I barely admitted it to myself. Being cocky was how I got through my own issues, how I hid my own fear. I also knew it grated on her nerves, but I didn’t want to show her that a part of me was afraid. I was scared to leave the only place I’d ever called home. I was afraid to leave her.
“I’m scared. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you, Beau.”
“You’d barely notice, buttercup.” I dismiss her words, even as they make me feel raw inside. No one in my life really cared if I lived or died except for three people. Brooks, his grandfather and Lexi. Of those three, none of them made me ache like Lexi. She made me yearn for more. So much more.
“I’d notice, Beau. I’d be destroyed. I love you,” she whispered and then she kissed me.
I pull my mind away from the past. I can’t live there and when it comes to Lexi, I want to. Other women may have kissed me in my life. Hers was tame and innocent really. She was only seventeen at the time. I pulled away immediately. I was seven years her senior and she made me want to forget that. That one kiss has been a memory that has lodged deep inside of me over the years. Fitting, since Lexi Clark is the one woman I’ve never been able to forget.
She’s only one more thing to put behind me.
Next week I start my career as an officer of the Montana division of the fish and wildlife agency. It’s a new career and a new world before me and it’s way past time that I forget the life I used to have and the memory of a kiss from a girl I should have never kissed.
I jump in my truck and turn the key. The engine roars to life and I smile. Things will be different now. I just have to stop living in the past. I’ll use this week to clear my head and burn the bridge to my past. I won’t look back.
What better place to do that then up on Boulder Ridge, camping and getting back to nature? It’s the perfect way to kick off this new chapter and leave the past right where it belongs.
Behind me.
Chapter 3
Lexi
“Son of a bitch,” I hiss and toss the hammer across the ground, cradling my busted thumb to my chest. It’s throbbing because I was a dumbass and hit the digit instead of the spike that would hold my tent down.
I sit on my ass and stare at my half-erected home for the next week. I still have no idea why in the hell I decided to do this. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but now I’m seriously having my doubts.
Exhaling and scooting back so I’m leaning against a thick evergreen, I tilt my head back and stare up at the sky. There’s a break between the tree line, which shows a beautiful swatch of blue and white. I hear nothing but the rustling of wind through the leaves, the scurry of some animal off in the distance. I close my eyes and let the wind brush over my skin. The scent of pine and dirt fill my head. This is a very beautiful place, scenic and relaxing. Peaceful.
Now I remember why I needed to do this.
I don’t know how long I sit here, but it’s the sound of an approaching vehicle that draws my attention. I lean forward and stare at the vehicle I can see in the distance. And as it comes closer I realize it’s an older truck, one that looks very familiar. My heart starts beating hard and fast, and just when I think it’ll drive past, it actually pulls into the camping spot beside mine.
God.
It can’t be who I think it is.
My position makes it hard to see exactly who the driver is, especially with the glare from the sun covering the windshield, causing a reflection of the trees all around.
I wanted peace and isolation, but with my new neighbor I doubt I’ll get that now. It’s not like I can just up and leave, not unless I want to lose all the money and time I spent in planning this damn retreat.
The driver’s side door opens and from my position I can only see a boot emerge. It is big and worn, scuffed, and clearly masculine. And then the guy comes fully out, slams the door shut, and proceeds to stretch. My heart jumps into my throat when I see who it is.
Beau Sterling.
Has hell frozen over right now? I look up at the sky to see if pigs are flying. How in the hell is Beau Sterling parked in the campsite beside me? Is this some ki
nd of cruel, sick joke? He has yet to notice me, or if he does he is clearly ignoring me. Maybe that is for the best.
I can’t hide the fact I do have feelings for him. He is strong and smart, and does have a caring side that I’ve seen a handful of times. He served in the army, got wounded because of it.
I made a fool of myself over him years ago. I was young and naïve and I just want to forget that kiss, forget the way he acted uninterested in me. I don’t know how long he’s been home, but I hate that he didn’t come see me.
It looks like my luck has just run out in keeping my emotions locked down, in pretending I can not be in love with him.
He turns his head and looks right at me. My heart jumps to my throat, my belly clenches tight, and every erogenous zone in my body tightens up. He’s big and strong, tall and muscular. The jeans he wears are slightly loose, but they fit him perfectly, showing off his masculinity. The T-shirt he wears is snug, showing the ripples and dips of his muscles, the ridges of his six pack.
His dark hair is short, slightly disheveled. And his eyes, like two pieces of onyx, seem to look right into my very soul, knowing all my secrets. I feel my face heat and wonder if he can see me blushing. My nipples tighten, beading up under my shirt. And I’m wet, God I’m so wet between my thighs my panties are becoming soaked.
How in the hell am I supposed to camp with Beau Sterling right next to me?