by Lauren Wood
Rosalyn just sighed out loud, very loudly so that we would both know her displeasure. “Sherry isn’t the one that is always out. She is going to college. You two are the ones in the city, out every night. Every time I go up there, there is a new girl for me to meet. I think that I should put my faith in you two first.”
I had to chuckle at her, even though Charlie was looking like he wanted to melt into the floor. He was embarrassed, but it was nothing different than what I was used to. Rosalyn had no qualms to say something like that in front of me or anyone else.
I steered the conversation away from what was making his face red and tried to ignore the look of anguish in my friend’s face. He really hated coming home, but I always liked to come back here and remember what family was supposed to be like. To a guy like me, this back and forth was as close to family as I got.
Chapter 3
Sherry
The flight was late and it took almost twenty minutes to even find a taxi. There was a line of them, but no one willing to drive all the way to Hartford. I had to pay extra to get the two hour ride covered. It seemed like they would be happy for the higher ride, but not so. It was the drive back with no running clock that was hard to stomach. There certainly wasn’t going to be anyone in Hartford looking for a cab ride.
Finally I got a nice guy like Steve to make the trip for me. He was tall and older, but handsome. He had a dimple in his chin when he smiled and he made me feel better about finally getting home. Steve was my savior for the time being.
“Thanks, you don’t know how many people I had to ask before I got to you. No one was willing to take the drive.”
“I saw you walking down the line. I was curious when you got to me what your game was going to be. It was not at all what I had expected.”
“No game. I just need to get home and I didn’t want to drive all the way down. I don’t know why I thought getting a cab to make the trip was going to be so hard.”
“At this time of night, it is slim pickings that will go out of the city. You couldn’t have someone pick you up?”
“Not this late at night. I missed my flight, so I didn’t want to keep anyone up. You know how people are from small towns. They go to bed at eight.”
He chuckled and I saw his dark brown eyes looking at me through the rearview mirror. I wasn’t unused to that sort of attention, but we were going to be stuck in this car together for a while and I didn’t want to appear like I was trying to come on to him. My openness got me in quite a bit of trouble and I was trying to be good.
“Yes, I was raised in a small town in Ohio.”
Steve pulled into traffic and I was able to relax a little bit because his attention was no longer on me, it was on the traffic around us. The city was bustling and even if I had the time to drive down, I never did get the knack of driving in bumper to bumper traffic. It was chaotic and I preferred something a little slower. Steve was used to it though, so I was able to calm down a little bit and enjoy the ride. It wasn’t long before Chicago was behind us and we were on our way across the state lines to Michigan.
The scene outside of my window never seemed to be something that I could get tired of. It was just so pretty and I tried hard to think of it as anything else but magical. I missed home and the reasons why were right outside the glass in front of me.
Seasons changed and instead of the wet, rainy weather I left behind in Seattle, the air here was dry and crisp. Leaves of all colors were on the trees and underneath them, scattered all over to create a collage of color. It was days like this that I missed my home more than anything else. I didn’t come home much because I would get so homesick every time. I would get to missing my family, as well as just the area around me. I missed the fall here the most. It was the prettiest time of year.
“So how long has it been since you have been home? You look like it has been a while.”
“It has been almost a year. I come back in the summertime when I am off of classes last year.”
“What are you studying for?”
“Biology.”
He crinkled his nose up, like a scientist?”
I nodded my head and smiled at his response. It was hard not to get the same reaction all of the time. It was like girls weren’t supposed to be scientists. That or they were picturing me in one of those white vests. It didn’t seem to be hard to stump most people.
“Huh, you must be one of those smart broads.”
“I guess so.”
He looked far less interested and that wasn’t something that I was unfamiliar with either. It was the way of things. I was hot until a guy realized that I wasn’t the cheerleader type. Dating had been interesting since I changed my major from communications. It seemed like the more down my path I was the harder it was to find a guy that I wanted to share it with. Not that Steve was an option, but the way he reacted reminded me that it wasn’t smooth sailing from here.
He rode for a while in silence. It was peaceful and I was able to see the lights going down for the day and the beautiful colors that the sun gave off. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that the leaves and the sun were competing against each other. I couldn’t say which one was winning.
“We’re here?”
“Huh?”
My head was leaned against the door and I realized that I must have dozed off in those few moments with no sound but the hum of the engine.
“We are here Sherry. Your directions were perfect.”
I looked up at my childhood home and smiled to myself. It was good to be home and all I wanted to do was get inside and get some rest. It had been many hours of traveling and I was ready to stay still for a time. It was hard to do that when I was always on the go, but now school was over and I had time to decide what was next. I had just finished up my bachelors and I was taking some time off before I tried to conquer a master’s degree. This was the long overdue break that I needed. Not sure where it was going to take me yet, but all I could think about now was drinking some tea on the front porch and watching the leaves fall. It would be a long time, years even that I had been able to do that. Every time I was here, it was either summer or a short stint in the winter for the holidays.
Now I was here for the perfect part of the year. But it was late and everything was dark. Most of the lights were off in the house. It didn’t seem like it was that late to me, but like I had told Steve, things ran a little slower here in Hartford. I made my way up the stairs to the door and let myself in. I wasn’t even going to bother with getting something for dinner. I just wanted to take a shower and then get some sleep. I was still groggy from my nap in the cab and it made me realize how badly I needed to actually get some rest. College life was hectic and I was ready for the slow movement of Hartford, if only for a little while until I discovered what my next adventure was going to be.
Chapter 4
Rex
I just got back from a hot few minutes with Candy in her small apartment in downtown Hartford. She was everything that I had hoped she would be and more. The girl was talented and I had to wonder where she had learned her moves. She was better than any of the city girls that I had had in a while. Candy was going to fit in well at the club. We were going to pick her up in the morning since we were forced to stay overnight. Charlie’s sister had a late flight so she wouldn’t be in until the morning.
When I got back to Charlie’s house, everyone was already asleep and since I was told I could stay in Sherry’s room, I made my way upstairs. She wouldn’t be in for a little while, most likely morning, so I was going to get a few hours of sleep before all of that happened. I didn’t remember Sherry as much as I should have. She was always so much younger It had been years since she had been home when I was there and last time I seen her, she was tall and awkward. It made sense that she was going to become a scientist now.
I went up to her room and noticed that the lights were on. I figured that Rosalyn or her husband had left it on for me. It was one of those thoughtful things th
at she did that made me feel welcome there more than any other place. It was part of the reason that I always tagged along when Charlie was coming over for a visit.
I put my bag down and kicked my shoes off. I should go jump in the shower, but it was loud and I didn’t want to wake anyone up. It was down the hall on the other side of the house where everyone was already sleeping. Besides, I didn’t need to draw attention to the fact that I was coming in so late. Charlie wasn’t the only one that didn’t want questions shot his way.
With the light on, I could see all of the trophies and plaques that Sherry had won over the years. She was ambitious, not like me and her brother. Her ambition was good and pure. Sherry was into sports and academics. Mine came from a want of money that was hard to get any other way. What would my life have been like if I had parents like these? What would it had been like to have all of my energy pushed into other things.
I shook my head and tittered myself. There was no reason to think this way. I had the life I had and I worked hard to keep what it was that I wanted. Sherry was just a kid, an innocent one and as soon as she got home, me and Charlie would be back in the city and I could forget about the right ways to do things. What I did wouldn’t be considered right by a lot of people, but it gave me the life that I wanted since I was a kid in foster care and never had any clean clothes.
I was tired and after shirking off my clothes real quick, I slid into the bed and sighed. It was so comfortable and after having my way with Candy, I was actually a little beat. I don’t know why, but it had been a long day and that girl had nearly sucked me dry. Candy was the last thing that I thought about as I closed my eyes. She was going to be a fun tagalong, I could see it now. All we had to do was wait a little longer and then we would be back to the city where things were normal and I didn’t feel so damn unclean around these nice sorts of people.
Sleep was fast coming because my body was so sore. It was one of those nights that I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. It didn’t matter that I was in someone else’s room or that everything in there was pink. All that mattered was the softness of the bed and the darkness in the room so I didn’t have to see any of it.
It was a while later that I felt someone shifting into the bed with me and when I was half asleep, I was sure that it was Candy. My mind was still on the wild time that we had together. I called out her name as I pulled her warm body to me. She was wet though and when she made a noise, I knew that it wasn’t Candy and I was getting pulled out of my slumber from the high-pitched sound that came next.
“What the hell! Who are you and why are you in my bed?!”
I couldn’t make out the words, but I could surely see and hear that I wasn’t supposed to be here. It took almost a full minute of me blinking into the bright lights to realize that I was still in Sherry’s room, but now I was not alone. A dark-haired woman was staring down at me and I looked down to what she saw in horror and saw that I was out. I never slept with any clothes on and thinking about Candy had made me rock hard. Now this girl was staring at me like I was a rapist or something, yet it did nothing to staunch my body’s desires. A stiff breeze made me this way and this woman in her bra and panties was doing the same damn thing.
“Who are you?”
“Who am I? This is my room! What the hell are you doing in here Rex?”
Her words finally got to me and I didn’t know what to say. “Sherry?” Was this woman in front of me my best friend’s little sister? She looks so different than I remembered. When did she grow up and become a woman?
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NEVER KISS A BAD BOY: SNEAK PEAK
PREVIEWS
A BAD BOY ROMANCE
BLURB:
I met Grey at the most inopportune time, but it was all for a reason.
I was new to the city and it wasn’t starting out as planned.
My car died and Grey swooped out of nowhere to help me.
He was the kind of man that every girl dreamed about and he was there to help me.
Things got complicated when I realized that he was looking at me with the same lust in his eyes as I had in my own.
After tracking me down to my new job, I was unable to resist him any longer.
I needed him inside of me.
I wanted to be his and when he touched me, there was no going back.
Now everything had changed.
I just wasn’t sure if it was for better or for worse.
***
Chapter 1
Grey
“What the hell are we doing here Scott? I could be at home with Kaika all over me right now. This is not going to be any better.”
I looked up at the hot woman on the stage and then back at my old friend. I hadn’t seen him since college and a chance meet turned into a night of drinking and now women were on the menu to finish off. It was just like old times, though this time we both had more money to rain on them.
“Nothing is better than that ass Grey. I don’t care what you have waiting at home for you. This chick could bounce a quarter off of her ass. That is talent that you aren’t going to find in common folks, no matter how wild that chick of yours is.”
I chuckled at his comment and I would be the first to say that his assessment of the firm ass in front of us was just as nice as he made it out to be. It didn’t change the facts though. The fact of the matter was that I should be at home with my girl, not out partying with him. We were already on the rocks and pissing her off wasn’t the way to go. Kaika was talented and I had kept her around longer than most. I still wasn’t sure if I was ready to walk away from her skills. That was something that was hard to find.
“Maybe so, but Kaika has other talents that are even better than bouncing money off her ass. She has a tongue that feels about a foot long when she uses it right.”
The man chuckled and slapped the one in front of him. The girl glared back at him. We weren’t supposed to touch the dancers. That was rule number one, but sometimes it was hard to stop oneself from doing it and there is always ways to smooth it over.
Scott handed her a hundred dollar bill and she wasn’t as pissed off as she was before. “There is more of that if you want to take a trip to the VIP lounge with me and my friend here.”
The dark-haired dancer smiled at me and I smiled back out of instinct. Right or wrong, I was hard as a rock and my body was ready to do all kinds of naughty things to the stripper. It was all I could think about at the moment, though I knew there was much that I could do. If this woman decided to take the offer, I was going to be balls deep in her very soon. Nothing else would matter and the woman waiting for me at home wouldn’t matter either.
There was no reason or need for me to encourage Scott. He didn’t need it and once Rose decided to take a break from the bar, I knew that I was sealing my own fate. Sad thing was I didn’t care.
***
“Where the hell have you been Grey? I have been up all night waiting for you to get home.”
“You should have gone to sleep. I told you that I was going out.”
“You smell like booze.”
I wasn’t going to argue with her. Kaika was the type of woman that wasn’t to be messed with. She had a temper that was almost as scary as mine. It was part of the reason I liked her. She wasn’t so vulnerable that I was afraid I would break her when I took her properly. No, Kaika was tough and that meant that there was a battle ahead of me if I didn’t cut her off at the pass.
“I just went out. We had a few drinks, caught up and talked about old times. I haven’t seen him in ten years.”
With other women I wouldn’t even go this far to explain myself, but the girl had a way of swallowing me whole. I had never seen or felt it before and I doubted that I was going to find someone as talented as she is. It was worth taking a little bit of her grief if I
had to.
“Really? That is all you did? You weren’t at the strip club on 3rd avenue, right?”
I was and that told me that she was asking the question that she already knew the answer to. Did she know what I had done there? It was a good indication that she did and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do about it. I could just come clean, but that had never been my style. I could try and convince her that she was crazy, but Kaika wasn’t going to go for that. I was stuck and my silence seemed to mean to her the same as an omission.
“What do you want me to say? I just went out, that’s it. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. You are the one making it that way.”
“Because I want to know what the hell you could spend five hundred dollars on at a strip club.”
I wasn’t sure how she was getting her information, but I had to admit that she knew what was going on. I don’t think that I was going to be able to talk her out of it and the fact that I had just slept with a stripper wasn’t helping my cause. I actually felt a little guilty and I think she could smell it on me.
“Look Kaika, you are making a big deal out of this. It is really not that dramatic. It just happened, I swear it to you.”
“What just happened?”
“The club and all of that." They got a hold of my credit card, so there is no telling what all got charged on it. I will check it in the morning. Right now I am tired and I want to go take a shower.”
“You aren’t going in there until we are finished. I need the truth Grey.”
This was going nowhere fast and it made me nervous when she said something about the truth. She didn’t want this truth and if she got it, I was sure that I wasn’t going to see her again. I knew where this was headed and I didn’t want it to go there, even though I really didn’t have a choice.