Always You: A Friends to Lovers Romance-Book 1

by Alexis Winter

  “Ok first of all, what an ass bag for breaking up with you over the phone that is inexcusable and says a lot about his character and maturity. More importantly though, how are you doing? I know you guys had only dated for a few months but you seemed to really like the guy.”

  “Yeah we had fun, he was nice to look at,” she said with a coy smile. “The truth is I’m not so heartbroken that we broke up, I didn’t think he was the love of my life or anything but I’m just so tired of getting dumped.” She flicked the hash browns around her plate, wallowing in her self-pity for a moment. “I know it’s not all on him, I have a history of picking the wrong guys. I just don’t understand why it’s so hard to find someone! I’m tired of the game Harper.”

  “Well, I think a lot of us women can commiserate with you there. I know you get weirdly panicked thinking you’ll end up alone with 15 cats—and don’t say you don’t, I know you do!—but I know you’ll find someone when the time is right. We’re only 27 so we have plenty of time and besides F the pressure from society to fine ‘the one’ and settle down. Do what makes YOU happy! In the meantime, how did Luke make you feel better?” She said with a smirk. She had teased Bridgette about Luke since the first day of freshman year. “Did he console you? Maybe offer to bang the memory of Bret out of you?”

  Bridgette rolled her eyes, “God no! He brought pizza and beer over and let me cry it out. One of these days you need to get over this weird obsession you have with him and me hooking up or whatever.” She flipped her hand in the air as she took another large gulp of coffee. “OH!” She exclaimed almost choking, “I almost forgot he said he’d go with me to our 10 year reunion! I think that was another thing that had me upset about the breakup…showing up to our reunion alone.”

  “Uh excuse me? I’m going alone…well actually I thought you and I were going together?” Harper’s look of frustration was written all over her face.

  “We are! Luke said he’d drive down with us and it would also give him a chance to see his family. His brother just had his second kid so he’d like to go visit with them.” She took the last bite of her breakfast and pushed her plate back. “Well, looks like I just completely negated that workout.”

  “You’re a twig, one giant breakfast won’t change that. So, the plan is still we drive down together? I kind of feel like a third wheel now that you have a date…I wonder if I could convince Jason to go with me.”

  “You’re ex Jason? The guy who tried to sleep with your sister?! Yeah Harper that’s a great plan! Talk about my bad judgement in men!” She flailed her arms around wildly.

  “Hey he was going through some serious stress at work and had a bit of a breakdown! I’m not excusing his behavior by any means but he’s still a nice person and we’re friends.”

  Bridgette suddenly shot up in her chair with a huge grin on her face. “What about Grant? Luke’s best friend. I know he’s single and you’ve met him a few times at softball games and when we’ve gone out for happy hours!”

  Harper shrugged her shoulders, “I dunno Bridge, I’d feel weird having to hang out with someone I don’t really know and make small talk.”

  “Come on he’ll be talking to Luke the entire time I’m sure, this way they can be entertained with each other and we can do whatever we want, but we still show up with dates so we don’t look like sad, lonely 27 year olds.” She said with a fake smile plastered across her face. “Let me just find out what he’s up to that weekend and see if he’s available, sound good?”

  “Yeah I guess, can’t hurt. Why is he single anyway? He’s one tasty snack, I can’t imagine he has a hard time finding women.”

  Bridgette laughed at her comments, “Ya know…I’m not sure. I know he’s dated quite a bit in the past but I haven’t seen him with anyone in some time. Luke doesn’t usually share too much about his friend’s personal life but I should pry…see what kind of dirt I can dig up.” She said as she rubbed her hands together.

  “Well don’t do it on my behalf, I was just curious. No intentions there.” She put her hands up in the air to emphasize her point. “Okay so anyway, I need to get back to work. I have two more classes to teach today and then I have some client meetings so I need to get a move on. Thanks for brunch and again I’m sorry about Bret. I know you’re already over him but still I know it hurts. We’ve all been there girl, I’m here for you.” She stood up and pulled her friend into a warm embrace. “Alright I’m outta here. I’ll call you later, love ya doll.”

  Bridgette said goodbye and picked up her gym bag to head home. What started out as a horrible weekend was turning around pretty quickly. She was super excited that her closest friends would be going with her to her reunion. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Luke: Hey, got a quick second? Have an idea I’d like to run by you.

  A few moments later her phone rang and Luke’s name appeared on the screen. “Hey thanks for the quick response! I have an idea but need your input. So, what’s Grant’s story?”

  Chapter 3

  Luke’s chest tightened, was she seriously going after Grant now? He cleared his throat and played down his unease. “Uh, depends what you mean I suppose, why? What’s up?”

  “Okay so hear me out. I was talking to Harper today about the reunion and I explained the whole Bret thing and how you’d offered to go with me and she now feels like a bit of a third wheel since she and I were going together. I was thinking if Grant isn’t doing anything maybe he could go as well and be her pseudo-date?” The other end of the line was silent, “Hello?”

  Luke let out a long sigh of relief, he wasn’t sure why he’d been so jealous lately. He’d always been protective of Bridgette but over the last few years his protectiveness had developed into feelings and desire. He’d be crazy not to notice how beautiful she was, she had blossomed into a confident and successful woman but he also didn’t fail to notice how sexy she was. He not only noticed her curves but he noticed the way her body moved. The sensual sway of her hips, the curve of her neck into her collarbones. He’d suppressed the feelings for a while now…mostly out of fear. Fear of losing her, fear of destroying their relationship, fear of just not being good enough for her.

  “Yeah I’m here, sorry. I think it’s a great idea actually. I’ll find out if he’s busy that weekend, I’m sure if he’s not he’d be down to come along.”

  “So what’s his deal by the way? Is he still single?” Bridgette climbed the stairs to her apartment ready for a much needed shower.

  “He is, he’s had a bit of a bad breakup with his ex so I think he just needed some down time. He’s a good dude Bridge, he’ll be a gentleman don’t worry. What are you doing by the way? You sound like you’re about to pass out.”

  “I just ran up the stairs to my apartment. I went to Harper’s first boot camp class this morning at 7am and let me tell you after last night it was a nightmare. Afterward I felt great but my god I thought I was going to die so many times throughout the class. What about you? Don’t you have a softball game tonight? You guys going to Shanahan’s after?”

  “I just got home from the gym, you’re such a lightweight you know that?” He laughed remembering how many times in college he’d spent the night before a big football game drinking into the early morning hours. “We have a game in Wicker Park, same field as last week. It’s a 6, you coming? I’m sure we’ll get drinks after.”

  “Of course I’ll be there, who else is going to heckle you and call out all your bad pitches.” Her voice became muffled as she struggled to take over her sweaty sports bra.

  “You getting strangled over there?” Luke laughed.

  “Sorry just trying to peel my very sweaty sports bra off of myself while keeping the phone in my hand. Success!”

  Luke couldn’t help but flash back to images of her full breasts from last night, the way they strained against the lace of her unlined bra had his mouth watering in seconds and his dick to become very aware of the situation. Before it became too much of a situation he shut it down, “Okay
well on that note I’m almost home myself so I’m hanging up to jump in the shower myself. I’ll see you tonight.” He quickly hung up and rushed into the elevator of his building.

  Thoughts of a soapy and wet Bridgette were in his head. Before he knew it he was imagining the water cascading over her breasts in torrents, hitting her nipples and then falling to the ground. He wondered what it would be like to lick one of those nipples as he hands explored the soft curves of her ass. He ran his hands gruffly over his face, “Fuck!” The elevator door opened and he rushed into his apartment stripping as he headed for the shower.

  He leaned forward placing his hands on the shower wall letting the hot water run over his head and shoulders. He couldn’t shake these lustful thoughts he was having, he reached between his legs and grabbed his already firm cock, stroking it gently. His hand began to pump faster as images of Bridgette flooded his mind, images of her delicate hands running over his chest, her soft lips against his neck, her hand reaching down and wrapping around him. That was all it took before he groaned loudly, completely coming undone. He instantly felt guilt and shame for imaging her in positions and ways that he had no business imaging, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

  ❖

  The bleachers were already pretty full when Bridgette arrived to the field. She spotted Harper waving at her wildly and maneuvered her way through the fans. “Here I grabbed you a beer already.” Harper said as she handed it to her friend. Bridgette took a long sip as she settled into her seat.

  “Thank you! Is it just me or are the crowds at these games getting crazier?” She asked as she wiped the foam off her upper lip and looked around at the many faces she didn’t recognize.

  “Yeah it does seem that way but I think it’s because they’re playing the most popular team in the league tonight. Apparently people just can’t get enough of the over 30 softball league.” She said with a smirk. The girls laughed and chatted about the rest of their day.

  Bridgette looked around over her shoulder to make sure nobody that knew Grant was lurking before she leaned in to tell Harper about her chat with Luke earlier today. “Soooo,” she said as she placed her hand on Harper’s thigh and lowered her voice. “I spoke with Luke today about Grant and he is still 100% single and he said he was sure he’d be more than willing to go as your date to our reunion. You can thank me later after you guys have two kids and a third on the way.” She patted her friend’s leg confidently and took another long swig of her beer. Harper couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Oh god!” she said as she let her head fall back on exasperated laugh. “Well thanks for asking and I hope you didn’t put some stupid idea into Luke’s head that this is anything more than just me not being a third wheel.”

  “No, no he knows it’s not like that, I just wanted to make sure he was still single and find out if he had plans is all. We can all talk about it at Shanahan’s tonight, you’re coming out after right?” Harper nodded in agreement as she drank the rest of her beer and the girls launched into cheers and hollers for their friends.

  The game was a close call but the guys pulled it off and won their 10th straight game. Grant and Luke grew up playing baseball together, first on little league and then through high school and even college. In the last few years they had since switched over to softball and joined their most recent team The Windy City Mavericks and led them to several victories.

  “Cheers to another win! Pretty soon it will be the championship!” Luke toasted as everyone raised their glasses and whooped and yelled their praise. The guys slapped each other’s backs and bro hugged like they’d just won the World Series rather than a local softball league game. Bridgette smiled as she watched Luke with his teammates, she loved how excited and invested he was in his team. He always made everyone on the team feel valued and very much part of the success of the team.

  “Luke’s looking pretty good in that uniform huh?” Harper couldn’t help but poke fun at her friend. Bridgette just slowly shook her head and turned around on her bar stool.

  “Oh yeah, he’s looking like grad A meat, and what about Grant huh?” She wrapped her arm around Harper’s shoulders as she spoke. “Just imagine ripping that jersey open, buttons flying everywhere as she throws you on the bar top and ravages you.” Harper couldn’t help but feel her cheeks warming as a pink flush crept up her neck. She swatted at her friend and rolled her eyes but if the truth be known she wouldn’t say no to an opportunity like that with Grant. Just then the guys both turned to look at the girls as if they knew they were talking about them causing both girls to blush and burst into laughter.

  “So let’s talk about this reunion road trip ladies!” Luke clapped his hands together, rubbing them vigorously as he approached the table. “I say we go all out, limousine and tuxes, you gals in slutty dresses…whaddya say?” He pulled out his best and boyishly charming smile. Even when Luke said stupid shit like this Bridgette couldn’t help but melt a little inside when he pulled out that smile.

  “Yeaaaah this isn’t prom so let’s not do that but I say we make it a good time for sure. We can rent a car? Are you guys going to get a room at the hotel the reunions at?”

  Luke interrupted Bridgette, “Bridge we can take my Range, no need to rent a car and why not just stay at my parents? They have plenty of room now that we’re all out of the house and my mom would be pissed if she knew you were in town and didn’t come over. You guys ok with all of that?” Everyone voiced their agreement. “Great! So next Saturday meet at my place at 8am and we’ll head out. Now let’s get some more god damn beer over here!” Luke shouted as he slapped the table.

  Chapter 4

  “Let’s goooooooo!!!” Grant leaned out the window and honked the horn of his friend’s Range Rover. Luke held up his hands as he ran back into his building, grabbing some last minute items. Luke disappeared into the building but reappeared after just a few moments carrying a plastic bag.

  “Sorry guys, I almost forgot my snacks.” Luke tucked the bag in the center console and turned around to face the girls in the backseat. “You ladies ready to take a road trip to your past?” He gave them his famous charming grin as he threw the automobile in hear and merged into traffic.

  The trip home took about three hours and was filled with a lot of laughs and stories as they recounted tales from high school. Although the four of them only had one full year together at the same high school they had plenty of shared memories.

  “Bridge who’d you go to prom with again?” Grant asked.

  “Well I didn’t go Jr. year, but Sr. year I went with Paul Westmore. He was so nice, we were in Yearbook together and I think homeroom. He was so old school he actually asked my dad if he could take me to the prom first and then at the end of the night he gave me a kiss on the cheek.” Bridgette smiled as she recalled how excited she was when it happened. It had been her first kiss.

  Harper furrowed her brows trying to remember who she was talking about. “I remember you having a date at prom but honestly I just remember you and I hanging out most of the time, poor guy! I’m trying to remember what Paul looked like but I’m not placing him.”

  “I don’t think you had any classes with him so I’m not surprised. I think he kept to a very select group of friends. Oh he was in band with you! I can’t remember what he played…maybe a tuba or something?” Both girls had spent the bulk of their high school years being studious, participating in extracurricular activities and trying their best to get out of P.E. class. Their high school experience had been a lot different than the guys. They were both football and baseball stars, dated the most popular cheerleaders and were always on the prom and homecoming court.

  “Luke who’d you go to Sr. prom with again?” Harper asked. Bridgette’s stomach immediately tightened, it had been a million years but the same feelings came flooding back. She knew exactly who he took to prom that year, Mindy Fuller. She was well known for having the biggest boobs in school and the loosest morals. The rumors started flying after that night that L
uke had given his V card to her. Years later in college he had confessed to her that she had only given him a blow job but that he wasn’t about to put the rumors to rest that they’d gone further.

  “Wendy Fuller and maaaan did she live up to that last name!” The guys both burst out laughing and high-fiving each other. Bridgette just rolled her eyes and looked out the window.

  “Uhhh what’s that supposed to mean?” Harper looked back and forth between the group with a look of confusion on her face.

  “It means she had a HUGE personality,” Grant said as he held his hands out over his chest laughing hysterically. Luke doubled over the wheel laughing right along with him. “My man here became a man that night.” Grant said as he slapped Luke on the back. Luke looked up in the rear-view mirror catching Bridgette’s eyes. He had never revealed to Grant the truth about what happened that night, that he hadn’t really lost his V card. In fact, the only person that knew that he had held on to his virginity until he was almost 20 was Bridgette. She caught looks gaze in the mirror and gave him a knowing smirk and head shake causing him to burst into a smile.

  They were nearing the end of their trip and almost to Luke’s parent house. She had always loved spending time with his family. They were so loving and open, treating her as if she were their own, even his older brother had always treated her like a sister. She hadn’t been back home for almost three years, since her mom had died. She never knew her dad, he left when she was a kid and her mom had raised her by herself. She had battled through breast cancer while Bridgette was in early middle school and had beat it but it came back with a vengeance a few years later and had ultimately taken her life. Luke’s parents had been there for her through it all.

  Luke turned into the driveway, before he could even get the car in park the front door flew open and his parents stepped out onto the porch with open arms. Luke bounded up the sidewalk to embrace both his parents in one of his bear hugs. Bridgette loved the relationship he had with his family, it said a lot about the way he was raised. Luke looked just like his dad, a strong Nordic build at 6’3”, piercing blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. His mother was a petite woman but was fierce in her love and devotion to her family.