The Halo Series Boxed Set

by Kimberly Knight

  “Excuse me,” a male voice said, tapping me on the shoulder. I turned, ready to tell him that yes, in fact, I would like a drink. “It’s hot in here. Do you mind sitting on my jacket for me? I don’t want to carry it around.”

  What?

  What in the—?

  What the fuck?

  “Excuse me?”

  “Can you sit on my jacket?” he repeated.

  “You want me to sit on your jacket?” Who asks that?

  “Sorry, if you don’t plan to be here long, I can hold it, but they have no coat check.”

  “You want me to sit on your jacket?” I asked again, looking at the guy as if he’d lost his mind.

  “Yes, please. I know it sounds weird.”

  “Um…you think?” I chuckled.

  “How about I buy you a drink for payment?”

  I stared at him for a beat. See why I needed a shirt that read that I was single? He was cute with his spiky brown hair and green eyes. Maybe he had a girlfriend. Maybe he was gay. Why the hell was he asking me to sit on his jacket?

  “Yeah, sure. I’ll take a vodka cranberry and a shot of Fireball.” If he wanted my nice ass sitting on his jacket holding it for him, then I was the one with the bargaining power.

  “Thank you so much.” He flagged the bartender and ordered my drinks. “I didn’t want to have to carry it around all night.”

  Jacket-man left after paying the bartender and giving me his jacket. I turned back to my friends, shaking my head as I stood up, placed the jacket on the stool then sat down on top of it.

  Let’s hope I drink enough tonight to forget about this awkward situation.

  “See why I’m going to ward off men?” I asked, trying to keep a straight face. I was sitting on someone’s jacket for Christ’s sakes!

  “You know what you need?” Kym asked.

  “B.O.B. and a Costco pack of batteries?”

  “Yes, but also, my cousin Rachel met her husband on a singles cruise. You should try that.”

  “A what?” I questioned, my eyebrows furrowed as I tried to wrap my head around what she was suggesting. This was new to me. I’d heard of a singles cruise before but didn’t think anyone my age went on them.

  “A cruise for single people.”

  “I don’t know. That seems…”

  “Awesome. I’d do it if I could afford it,” Jenna said then took a sip of her Amaretto sour.

  I could afford it. I made good money as a nurse, but I wasn’t going to go on a ship by myself. These two bitches had no money and who I truly wanted to go with me had a loser of a boyfriend. Then, a thought popped into my head. I still needed to buy Brooke a birthday present. I wouldn’t tell her it was a singles cruise until she couldn’t back out.

  I woke up in my bed. Thank the Lord because I didn’t remember much of the night. I remembered Jacket-man, but I didn’t remember if Jacket-man had ever come back for his jacket.

  I groaned, my head pounding from drinking too much. I rolled over and onto something next to my pillow that crinkled and smelled like a man. I opened my eyes, noticing the black leather. Holy shit, I stole Jacket-man’s jacket. Serves that idiot right. I could use a nice leather jacket.

  I stumbled out of bed, still a little hungover from the night before. After pressing the brew button on the coffee pot, I jumped in the shower and washed the smell of must, alcohol, and smoke from my body. After a nice long shower—and once the coffee started to overpower my hangover—I booted up my computer to search for a singles cruise to somewhere warm.

  As I waited for my laptop to boot up, I grabbed Jacket-man’s jacket and searched the pockets. I didn’t remember if I had the night before and since it was now my jacket, I wanted to see if there was anything good in it.

  The first pocket I checked was empty. Moving on to the next, my fingers brushed along something flimsy and plastic. Pulling out a tiny baggie, I noticed that there was a small amount of white powder inside.

  Holy shit. No wonder he wanted me to have his jacket. The night before could have turned out completely different and landed my ass in jail.

  I ran to my bathroom to flushed the powder down the toilet then rinsed out the baggie and tossed it in the trash. After I checked every pocket in the jacket and there was nothing else, I hung it in my closet and returned to my computer.

  I couldn’t believe I was going to trick Brooke into going, but there was no other way. She wasn’t single—even though I’d told her a million times to dump her loser boyfriend. If I had to end up begging, I would. I was tired of meeting losers with girlfriends. Of course, meeting someone on a singles cruise wasn’t much better. I mean, if I did meet someone, no telling where he would live.

  I started to second guess myself as I scrolled through the list of cruises on the website I found, but I wasn’t getting any younger and what if? What if a singles cruise was where I’d meet my future husband? Anything was possible.

  I finally found something I could convince Brooke to go on. It was a cruise out of the Los Angeles area that went to the Mexican Rivera for eight nights and seven days. The icing on the cake was that it was during Spring Break. I’d noticed on Brooke’s sister’s Facebook page that she and some friends were going to Cabo San Lucas for Spring Break during that same week. Brooke’s sister was off at college in California and Brooke only saw her during holidays, so it was meant to be. Fate as some people called it.

  I paid for the cruise, not thinking about it any longer. Worst case, this trip was going to be a vacation with my best friend. Best case, I would find the one. It was a win-win no matter what happened.

  After waiting almost thirty minutes for Brooke’s loser boyfriend to be ready to go to dinner for his girlfriend’s birthday, we made it to the restaurant—late. After enough food and cheesecake that I was sure would make me gain five pounds, we left to go bowling. I hated bowling, but I was sucking it up for my best friend. Brooke hadn’t had the best upbringing, so when she told me that she’d always wanted to have a bowling party for her birthday, I couldn’t deny her.

  We broke into teams of boys versus girls and even though Brooke swore she was good, she wasn’t. I sucked at bowling and Brooke’s girlfriends sucked at bowling too.

  We were screwed.

  I sat back, watching the boys kick our asses, and decided I needed to come up with some sort of distraction plan. Plus, I was about ready to strip Mike of all his clothes if I watched him bend over one more time in front of me.

  “Hey, Mike,” I said, standing near him as he waited for his ball to come out of the ball return. I reached out and stroked his arm, squeezing his biceps a little, and trying to flirt with him to distract him. “How do you throw the ball so hard? Do you work out?”

  So my flirting wasn’t that good, but what I knew would get him was when I bit my lower lip. All guys loved that shit. Their gaze would drop down to my mouth as if they couldn’t think of anything but kissing me.

  “I do,” he said, his gaze lowering to my lips.

  “Maybe you can show me how well you’ve built up your stamina?”

  “Yeah, maybe,” he said, his gaze now lowering to my chest. I knew my low-cut emerald green tank top would pay off.

  “Maybe we could get some air?” I suggested, tilting my head towards the side doors that led to the parking lot.

  “Yeah, maybe,” he said again, finally looking back up to my blue eyes.

  “Maybe I’ll go after this game and you could maybe happen to see me outside?”

  “Mike, dude, go already!” one of the guys shouted behind me.

  “I better go,” Mike said, picking up his bowling ball. “The game’s almost over.”

  I turned around to go back to my seat, noticing Brooke at the bar with Jared and some other girl I’d never seen before. Brooke was showing Jared a lot of affection—something they never really did in public. Maybe the alcohol was making her frisky.

  Finally the game ended and everyone decided to take a break before the next game. I eyed Mike and no
dded towards the doors that led to the side parking lot. He nodded in agreement and I left, grabbing my leather jacket, and went to stand in the cold winter air.

  A minute later, Mike came out the glass double doors and walked towards me. “Fancy meeting you out here.” I smiled, smoke from the freezing air leaving my mouth as I spoke.

  Without saying a word, Mike grabbed the back of my neck and brought his lips to mine. He tasted like beer. His lips were soft and he smelled like the ocean and all man. I moaned as he backed me against the brick wall, his free hand cupping my ass over my jeans.

  Our tongues dueled, and I pressed my hips into him, telling him that I wanted more. I wanted more and I didn’t care that we were on the side of a bowling alley in the dead of winter. Mike was hot and I’d been watching him bend over for an hour as he threw a damn bowling ball.

  Damn he has a nice ass.

  Mike pressed his hips to mine, his erection stiff in his jeans, and our mouths still tasting each other. His hand slowly made its way down my neck to my breast and he cupped one in his hand.

  “Wait,” I said, breaking our mouths apart. He pulled back, looking me in the eyes. “We can’t do this. What was I thinking?”

  “Why not?” he asked, both of us panting and trying to catch our breath.

  “It’s Brooke’s birthday. I can’t ditch her.”

  “This was your idea,” he said, still pressed against me.

  “I know. I’m sorry. We can go back to my place after the last game.”

  “All right.”

  “Shit, no. My car’s at Brooke’s and we’re supposed to go to breakfast in the morning for her real birthday, then spend the whole day together.”

  “I’ll make sure you’re awake,” he said, nipping my bottom lip with his teeth.

  While it was tempting, I really couldn’t let my best friend down, especially when I wanted her to go on the cruise with me. I knew Mike was only a hook-up. He had player written all over him, but man, did I want to know how it felt to be under his hard body.

  “Give me your phone. I’ll program my number and you can call me tomorrow night so we can finish what we started.”

  “Sure,” he said, digging into his pocket for his phone. I watched him adjust himself.

  Dammit!

  Could this be it?

  Could this be when I’m going to meet the one? The one I’ll spend forever with?

  I’d always been a hopeless romantic; always searching for that special girl to spend my life with. Wanting to know what it felt like to find that one person to share every secret with, to share my dreams with, to have someone care for me no matter what mistakes I made. Someone to spend forever with.

  I was human…and I was a guy. I was bound to fuck up. I had with past relationships, but I was ready to find the one. I was tired of going to bed alone or going on dates that lead nowhere. I was a good catch. I owned a successful bar with my best friend, Easton, owned my own townhouse, had decent money saved up, had a decent body that I worked on at the gym, and I was an admirable dude.

  Why was it so hard?

  When you loved someone with your whole heart, that love was worth fighting for. But I hadn’t found the girl worth fighting for yet. No matter how hard I tried, I hadn’t found her. But I wouldn’t give up. There was somebody out there for me and this trip might be the ticket.

  “This better be important,” Easton said, swinging open the door of his house.

  “Dude, calm the fu…” I looked over his shoulder. Crap C.C. was home. Whispering I said. “Seriously, I have some fucking awesome news.” I couldn’t hold my excitement in. If this plan didn’t work out, then I was giving up hope.

  “If it involves me going back to sleep in the next five minutes, I’m all for it,” Easton said, stepping aside so I could walk inside.

  “What up C.C.?” I asked Cheyenne, Easton’s ten-year-old daughter. I considered her my niece, even though we weren’t blood related.

  Easton and I had been friends for twenty-six years. We’d been through each other’s ups and downs and one thing I knew, I could always count on him. He was my brother, my best friend. Some even said we looked like each other with our shaggy dirty blond hair, blue eyes and similar builds.

  “Uncle A, want to watch this with us?” C.C. asked, pointing to the TV. Each day Cheyenne looked more like her mother with her blonde hair, blue eyes and cute little dimples on each cheek.

  “I would love to, but I need to talk to your Daddy. We are going to California!”

  “We are?” C.C.’s eyes lit up, looking away from her phone in her hands.

  “We are.”

  “We are?” Easton questioned.

  “We are,” I said, winking at C.C. I walked toward the dining room and sat down at the table.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Easton asked, sitting across from me.

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking…” I smiled. This was going to be epic!

  “This can’t be good,” he said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

  “All the girls that come into the bar really only want one thing.”

  “I know. I’ve told you for the past two years that you could be getting laid nightly if you would just follow my lead.”

  “You know that isn’t what I want,” I said, leaning back in my chair.

  “Dude, seriously, just have fun and look for the one that you so desperately want to find.”

  “Well, if this plan doesn’t work out, then I will. Okay?”

  “What plan?”

  “So, like I was saying,” I said, getting up and going to the fridge, “I was thinking of what I haven’t done to find the future Mrs. Scott. You know I’ve tried the online shit and that didn’t work out too well, and yeah, okay, I see hot chicks at the bar, but they just want to fuck.”

  “You think?” He laughed, watching as I poured myself a glass of orange juice.

  “Yes, I know,” I said, taking a sip of the juice. “Anyway, I heard from Bethy that she knows a guy who met his wife on a singles cruise.” Bethy was one of our bartenders at Halo who I talked to about my dating life, wanting to get a woman’s opinion on what I was doing wrong in the dating world.

  “A what?”

  “A cruise that’s only for single people.” I returned to my seat across from him.

  “I know what a singles cruise is, dipshit. It just sounds like a Friday or Saturday at Halo. A lot cheaper than going on a cruise, too.” He laughed.

  “I know, but this way I don’t have to buy them dinner.” I laughed. “And there will be hundreds to choose from. And dude, this is a cruise. We have money. Won’t that be fun?”

  “I guess, but how are we both going to be able to go? Who’s going to manage the bar?”

  “I think Bethy would be good, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, I guess she would be. How long is the cruise and where are we going?” he asked, yawning.

  Shit, I’d forgotten that he worked all night—well, not really. Usually, we switched off who managed the bar on Saturday nights. Since I didn’t work the night before, he worked. But I was so excited to talk to him about the cruise. I’d stayed up all night researching when and where they traveled to. I was stoked! If Easton didn’t want to go, then I was going alone. Fuck it!

  “Eight days and Mexico.”

  “Eight days? You think Bethy can manage the bar without us for eight days, especially two of those days being the busiest days of the week?”

  “We can have more than one manager or something. Look, you’re my best friend and we’re both single, and I want to go.”

  “What about Cheyenne?”

  “That’s why I told her that she was going to California. She can stay with Bill and Trish.” Bill and Trish were Easton’s late wife’s parents. Even though Dana was gone, Easton still made sure Cheyenne saw her grandparents.

  He paused, watching me drink my juice as I pictured the wheels in his head turning. “And when is this cruise?” he ask
ed.

  “Second week of April—for Spring Break. Fucking Mexico for Spring Break! Can’t you picture all the hot pieces of ass in their bikinis?”

  “You need to get laid.”

  “That’s the point.”

  “I thought the point was to meet the one?” he asked, mocking me.

  It was no secret that I wanted to settle down, have children, and grow old with one person for the rest of my life. Easton had wanted the same when we were in high school. After we’d graduated high school, he proposed to his girlfriend and I went off to college. Before I knew it, he was married and had Cheyenne on the way. What we all didn’t expect was his ex dying in a car crash the last day of their divorce trial, leaving him a single father.

  We lived in Long Beach at the time and since that day, I’d stepped up my role as Cheyenne’s uncle. She was only five at the time of her mother’s death. Easton doesn’t have any siblings; his parent had moved to New York and his in-laws tried to help, but Easton stepped up and became the father he needed to be. That little girl has had us both so wrapped around her finger that we’d do anything for her.

  “I’m going to try. If it doesn’t work, I’ll take your approach. It’s been a long time since I’ve fucked.”

  “You know that it would just be cheaper to fuck a chick you meet at the bar, right?”

  “Just let me try this,” I said, crossing my arms. “Also, asshole, one day, some chick is going to knock you upside your head. I know you’re not looking for the one, but you can’t be single and unhappy forever.”

  “I’m not unhappy. I like my life and I’m doing what’s best for Cheyenne,” Easton said, leaning back in his chair again with his arms crossed over his chest like mine.

  We were both stubborn. I knew that Easton didn’t want to leave Cheyenne. He hadn’t gone on a vacation since Dana died. The only time he was without Cheyenne was when she visited her grandparents in California for a week or two during the summers, but he would work—not have fun.