by Eden Finley
By EDEN FINLEY
Ebook Edition
One Night with Him Copyright © 2018 by Eden Finley
Cover Illustration Copyright ©
Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design
www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk
Edited by Xterraweb Edits
http://editing.xterraweb.com/
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher.
For information regarding permission, write to:
Eden Finley - permissions - [email protected]
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Please note: at time of writing, same-sex marriage was not legalised in Australia. That has recently changed, but this story does not reflect that.
Table of Contents
Chapter ONE
Chapter TWO
Chapter THREE
Chapter FOUR
Chapter FIVE
Chapter SIX
Chapter SEVEN
Chapter EIGHT
Chapter NINE
Chapter TEN
Chapter ELEVEN
Chapter TWELVE
Chapter THIRTEEN
Chapter FOURTEEN
Chapter FIFTEEN
Chapter SIXTEEN
Chapter SEVENTEEN
Chapter EIGHTEEN
Chapter NINETEEN
Chapter TWENTY
Chapter TWENTY-ONE
Chapter TWENTY-TWO
Chapter TWENTY-THREE
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
1
- GAGE -
SEVEN YEARS AGO …
New country. New person. New life.
That was the plan. It was also how I ended up here, living in my uncle’s house in Australia.
I expected the outback, dry hot sun, and maybe even a kangaroo. What I got was a concrete city with almost fifty times the population of my hometown in Virginia.
“I bet this’ll be different, hey?” Uncle Tony said from behind the wheel of his car. Which was on the wrong side. It matched with the odd notion of driving in the left-hand lane.
What kind of ass-backward country is this?
“Are you talking about driving or living in a separate country? I’m technically Australian. I was born here.”
“Nah, you’re not Australian until you pronounce it Straya. While you’ve still got your twangy accent, it doesn’t count. You also have to be bitten by a venomous creature before they’ll let you take the citizenship test.”
I thought he was joking, but I couldn’t be sure. “Really?”
He burst into laughter. “Nah, mate. You’re all good. And I meant going from the desert to an office will be different.”
I stared out the window. “Dunno if this is public knowledge, but Afghanistan isn’t exactly a dream holiday destination.”
I was discharged from the army because of a slipped disc in my back. That was the excuse I used. The injury was minor, and I could have re-upped if I wanted to, but I didn’t. I needed out.
New life, here I come.
“Well, I’m certainly glad you’re here. And as long as you work hard and try your best, that’s all I can ask for. I’ll team you up with the other kids fresh out of uni.”
“What’s a uni?”
“College.” He grunted. “You’re gonna have to get a US to Aussie English dictionary.”
When we pulled into the underground carpark of the office building my uncle owned, I was more nervous than when I turned up for my first day of basic training.
Uncle Tony was loaded. He said after the death of my mother, he threw himself into work and never stopped. It was why he didn’t end up having a family of his own. His commitment to his company scared the shit out of me because I was sure I was going to fuck up somehow.
“Isn’t it weird that I’m starting on a Friday?” I shoved my hands in my pockets on the way to the elevators, worried they were trembling. I was grateful for the opportunity, but I was looking for any excuse to delay starting. I’d survived a warzone, but a simple building intimidated the heck out of me.
“You won’t be doing much today. I’ll have you shadowing one of the others and introduce you to the rest of the team. Don’t worry, they’ve all been warned you’re my nephew and that they have to play nice.”
“Great. Because nothing screams favouritism like the boss telling everyone to be nice or get fired.”
“Nah, that’s not how we do it here. If you’re an ass, you have to buy everyone a round at the pub later.”
“Noted.”
My bank account was going to suffer if I had to buy everyone drinks. Because one thing I wasn’t going to do was be nice to anyone.
Trust wasn’t something I threw around easily, and each time I’d done it, it backfired. Lesson well and truly learnt.
I’d go to work, do my job, eventually move out of my uncle’s house, and live a lonely life.
I accepted that. I was okay with it.
What I wasn’t okay with was walking into that office building and literally running into the one person who could throw my brand-new look on life out the window.
Our bodies collided as neither of us watched where we were going. My arms instinctively wrapped around a small waist. All I could see was a sea of wild red hair, and then she raised her head and pierced me with sapphire eyes.
My dick, which had basically lay dormant for a year, perked up.
Fuck.
“Geez, Philippa,” Uncle Tony said. “Gage has been here twenty seconds, and you’re already trying to knock the competition down?”
She spoke to my uncle but kept her eyes locked on me. “Sorry, Mr. Parsons. Clumsy me wasn’t watching where I was going.”
She held out her hand for me to shake, but my arms were still wrapped around her. I had to step back to take her delicate hand in my beefy one.
“I’m Pip. Mr. Parsons calls me Philippa when I’m in trouble.”
She had it all wrong. I was the one in trouble because I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her.
I’d also forgotten how to talk, apparently.
“So, you’re the nephew from Canada, eh?”
I laughed at her fake Canadian accent. “Virginia. America.”
She cocked her head. “Same thing, right?” Her smirk let me know she was yanking my chain.
“How about I call you a kiwi and see how you like it?”
My uncle had warned me about the war between Australians and New Zealanders. New Zealand was the little brother Australia had never asked for.
She narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t dare. Do you want to start off on the wrong foot?”
Before I ran into her, I wouldn’t have cared if I made an enemy of a co-worker on my first day. But now? For some reason, I didn’t want to piss her off.
“Wouldn’t want that, would we?” Shit, that doesn’t mean you should flirt with her, asshole.
“Great to see you two getting along,” Uncle Tony said. “Pip, he’s going to shadow you.”
My head snapped in the direction of my uncle who was trying to hold back a smile.
“And I expect no complaints from either of you. Chop, chop, get to work.” My uncle left me with the only woman I’d found attractive in over a year.
Well, shit.
***
I had no idea what I was doing. Not only with the job I had absolutel
y no experience in, but also with the girl who was showing me how to do it.
My new rules were simple: No girls, no friends, no drama.
Yet, there I was, finding any excuse to touch her. She’d ask for a file, and I’d put it in front of her while my spare hand went to the small of her back.
When she showed me something on the computer screen, I’d lean over her and invade her personal space. I was half-expecting her to complain, but she never did.
Her hair smelled like citrus, and I craved oranges. I had to shut it down or I was never going to survive. Even so, when she asked me out for welcome drinks after work, instead of saying no like I should’ve, my mouth said “Sure.”
Fucking mouth, you traitorous bitch.
My hand went to the small of her back again as I led her into a pub.
It was official: my brain was no longer in charge of my body parts. My brain said not to touch her, and my hands replied with a big “fuck you.”
Pip led me straight to the bar. “What’ll you have? My treat.”
“Where I was raised, it’s rude to let a lady pay for her own drink, let alone someone else’s.”
“Well, you’re in Australia now, Yank. Us women wrestle crocodiles and box kangaroos for fun. We can buy our own drinks.”
“I’m starting to think this whole Australian wildlife thing is a myth. Have you even seen a kangaroo in real life? And are drop bears real, or is my uncle giving me shit?”
“Well, as for drop bears”—she leant in and lowered her voice to a whisper—“it’s a secret that Aussies will never tell. You have to be part of the club to know for sure. Myth or reality? Who knows?”
All I wanted to know was if a feral koala was going to drop on my damn head and try to kill me.
“Kangaroos are around. You don’t have to go far to stumble across one. Crocs, on the other hand, they aren’t found this far south. Still, doesn’t mean I can’t buy you a drink.”
I could let a girl buy me a drink. It was best to keep this purely platonic anyway.
Platonic? As in friends? The whole relationship should be kept as acquaintances. Shut it down, Gage Lucas Tanner.
“In that case, I’ll take a Coke.”
Pip’s shoulders slumped. “Not even a beer?”
“I don’t drink much.”
“Is this a thing against a woman buying you a drink, or are you telling the truth?”
I shrugged. “I’ll have a beer every now and then, but I’m not into the whole drinking thing.”
“And you moved to the binge-drinking capital of the world? What were you thinking?”
I hated she was funny. Why couldn’t she have had the personality of a fish?
On a sigh, I mumbled, “I was thinking I had nowhere else to go.”
“What was that?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. Fine, if you’re adamant about buying me a beer, I’ll have a Fosters. That’s Australian for beer, right?”
“Oh my God, you poor American. You actually drink that piss water we export over to you? I’ll get you a Four-X. That’s Queenslander for beer.”
While she did that, a table of guys caught my eye across the room. They were all staring at me.
Sweat trickled down my neck, and I adjusted the collar of my work shirt. I couldn’t handle being stared at. “Uh, Pip? Do you know those guys over there?” I lifted my chin.
She turned to look and then met my eyes. “Ignore them. They’re assholes.”
“Who are they?”
“Only my best friends in the entire world.”
“And they’re assholes?”
“They’re the friendliest and best people I know.”
“But—” I was so confused.
“You’ll soon learn that we tend to call each other names. Most likely, one of them will call you a C-bomb within the first few minutes of meeting you. Don’t take offence if they do, okay? It’s what us Aussies do.”
“You Aussies are fucked up.”
“Welcome to the fold, Gage Tanner. Drink up.” She handed me my beer and then held hers up. “Cheers.” We clinked bottles, and then she eyed the table where her friends sat. “We don’t have to go over and talk to them if you don’t want to. We all went to high school together, and we have the tradition of meeting up once a week for pub night. I figured you’re new to this country and could probably do with some friends.”
Friends. “I’m all good with my friend quota, but that doesn’t mean we can’t hang out with them if you want to.”
“Hey, Pip,” a male voice said from behind us.
The guy was an inch or two taller than Pip. I had a good half a foot on him, but I was six-five. He had brown hair and a clean, preppy innocence about him.
“Whatcha doin’ over here? Did you finally get someone to agree to go on a date with you?” He turned to me. “Blink twice if you’re here under duress.”
Pip shoved him. “Blair, this is Gage. He’s new at Parsons’ and to Australia, so play nice, or he’ll go running back to the US and tell everyone over there how shitty we can be.”
“Hey, man.” He held his hand out for me to shake.
Pip laughed. “You drew the short straw to come over and find out who I was with, didn’t you?”
Blair waved a hand towards the table. “Apparently, my boyish good looks mean I’m the most approachable and least threatening. I pointed out if I was punched by one of his tree stumps for arms, I’d probably die, but they scissor-paper-rocked me into coming over.”
Yeah, I was kinda stacked. “I swear I’m as harmless as they come. I’ve only been out of the army for a few months, so that’s why I have ‘tree stumps for arms.’” I used air quotes.
“You were in the army?” Pip asked, her eyes wide. I knew that look. Tag chaser alert.
“Was. Discharged now, obviously.” I needed to get out of there. I took a large swig of beer.
“We’ll introduce you to the rest of the guys,” Blair said, either sensing my desire to escape and trying to help or being completely oblivious to it and about to pull me in deeper.
We made our way over to the booth, and Pip and Blair introduced me to the other three. Cole, Hunter, and Spencer.
“Were you a tomboy growing up by any chance, Pip?” I asked. “All your friends are guys.”
“My best friend, Reece, has a son, so she’s at home with him.”
“What’s your deal?” Blair asked. “Move with a girlfriend or wife?”
I shook my head. “No fucking way. I don’t do relationships.”
“Ten bucks on a bad breakup,” Hunter said. “You can hang out with me. I don’t do relationships either.”
“That’s because you’re a model and you have pussy flying at you,” Spencer said.
“Syphilis doesn’t sound fun,” I said.
All eyes fell on me. It was weird for a twenty-three-year-old male to abstain from sex, so I expected the shocked expressions.
“You’re celibate?” Blair asked.
“Well, I’m not a virgin if that’s what you’re asking.” I deflected with a non-answer. They all laughed, so at least it worked. “It’s easier to avoid drama than put up with all the shit relationships bring—however temporary they might be. There’s not a single woman on this earth I trust, and there never will be.” Not a single guy either, but it was better to let them think I was bitter over a lost relationship with a woman.
“Definitely bad breakup,” Hunter said.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw what I thought was disappointment on Pip’s face, but it had to be done.
It didn’t matter I was attracted to her. It didn’t matter she was one of the hottest women I’d ever seen or that her sense of humour made me laugh—something I hadn’t done in a long time. I could only be her friend, and even that was pushing my rules. Her friends seemed all right, and maybe I could bend on being civil with people. But like hell I was going to get close to any of them. Been there, done that, had the T-shirt that said “I got fucked over by pe
ople who were supposed to be like family.”
“You’re serious?” Pip asked. “You don’t date ever?”
“Serious as a heart attack.”
She forced a smile and said in a sweet voice, “That’s a shame.”
Yeah, it fucking is.
2
- PIP -
ONE YEAR AGO …
“Serial killer alert,” I whispered into my phone.
The deep chuckle that came from Gage both soothed and annoyed me. I could’ve been in a life or death situation here, and he was laughing at me. Granted, the chances of my date being an actual serial killer were minimal, but I felt safer locking myself in the bathroom of the restaurant. You know, to be sure.
“Did he try to skin you with his butter knife?” Gage asked, trying to hide his amusement.
“He may as well have. I know your dads have come all the way from the States to visit you, but please, please, please come rescue me?”
“Uh … okay. Wait, why can’t you call Reece?”
“She’s about to give birth—I’m not going to make her get out of bed.”
Gage hesitated.
“I’m not asking to meet your dads.” For some reason, he was adamant about keeping his US life and his Australian life separate, which meant no meeting the men who raised him. I wasn’t happy about it, but it wasn’t like I had the right to demand things. Gage and I were just friends. He refused to let anyone in, and I gave up trying after the first few years. He was always there for me, and he knew everything there was to know about me, but it was a one-way street. I’d accepted that was the way it was with him.
“I’m not accusing you of trying to,” Gage said, his voice quiet. “But getting out of here without them wanting to tag along is impossible.”
“Maybe I should put my big girl panties on and go tell Ted Bundy I’m not getting in his car.”
“I’ll be there in ten,” Gage relented. “Usual first-date restaurant?”
“You know me so well.”
This wasn’t the first time he’d rescued me from a horrible date, and I was sure it wouldn’t be the last.