Trouble (Bad Boy Homecoming Book 2)
Page 13
Leah pressed a finger to his mouth, stopping him mid-sentence. His heart sputtered to a stop as the words died on his tongue. This was it. He could see a decision in her eyes. He'd either convinced her or he was going to have to continue this grovel in Denver.
"I know why," she said, a soft smile curling up one side of her mouth. "I've probably known somewhere deep down since I was six years old, but it seems like I was just as slow as you were." Her finger brushed across his lips and he couldn't stop himself from kissing the tip. "We work because we're different sides of the same coin."
It made sense. He was always Mr. Law and Order and she was little Miss Trouble. "Head and tails."
"Yeah." She took a stop closer, eliminating every inch of space separating them.
His hands seemed to move of their own accord, automatically going to her because he couldn't ever seem to stop touching her. "You do have a phenomenal ass."
Leah threw back her head and laughed. "Really? That's what you're going with at a time like this?"
He dipped his head lower. "I never said I had your brains."
She tilted her chin just the right amount to bring her lips within millimeters of his. "But you do have my heart."
"And you've got mine, Sweets." He claimed her lush mouth, not only for tonight but for tomorrow and every trouble-filled tomorrow after that.
Isaac
Nothing tasted like home quite as much a breakfast burger from The Hamburger Shack. It was a half a pound of hamburger wrapped in bacon, topped with an egg and square of crispy hash browns and sandwiched between to thick slabs of Texas toast. His mouth was salivating as soon as the waitress dropped off his plate. Tamara looked doubtful.
"You're going to have a heart attack before we even get back to Fort Worth," she said, shaking her head.
"Totally worth it." He reached out to double fist it, but his phone buzzed on the table.
MARKO: Everything OK with ur sis?
ISAAC: Y
MARKO: Then get ur ass back here. New assignment.
He glanced down at the breakfast burger, already regretting leaving his phone on.
ISAAC: Why don't you take it?
MARKO: Working on something with Elisa.
ISAAC: Besides striking out with her?
MARKO: Ur so ducking funny.
He snorted.
ISAAC: Ducking? Maybe your clumsy fingers are the problem. I can give tips. Do you require guidance?
MARKO:
ISAAC: Emojis? You're so cute. What's next, a sparkly unicorn tattoo?
MARKO: Fuck off and get back here.
Tamara was already halfway through whatever horrible and healthy thing she'd managed to find at The Hamburger Shack. His burger was still untouched. What a sin.
ISAAC: Right after breakfast.
MARKO: Eat in the car.
Isaac snapped a picture of the burger and hit send.
MARKO: Carry on and grab me one of those to go.
ISAAC: Only if you say pretty please.
MARKO:
Isaac laughed and set his phone down before flagging the waitress.
"Everything okay?" Tamara asked, her tone was light but he could see the fierceness just below her icy exterior.
That was his girl, ready to do battle for those she considered hers. God, he loved her. And if he kept his foot hard on the gas on the rental since the helicopter was in use by other B-Squad members, he could probably get her back to Fort Worth, naked and satisfied, before anyone else on the team knew they'd gotten home. Anytime spent between her sweet thighs was always the best part of his day and was definitely worth the speeding ticket.
"Yeah, new assignment."
"What's the B-Squad up to next?" Tamara asked, excitement sparking in her blue eyes.
"Got me." Isaac shrugged and picked up his breakfast burger. "But I bet it'll be fun as hell.”
Thank you so much for reading Trouble, I hope you loved Drew and Leah as much as I did. And if you’re curious about the B-Squad, check out the entire series. Drew and Leah’s story is part of the fun and sexy Bad Boy Homecoming series. Each book is a complete stand alone but we hope you’ll go through each of the romances to see your favorite characters make special appearances and see just how the reunion went down. Each book carries at least one of our favorite tropes as well as a few high school flashbacks that make us smile and shake our heads. If you enjoyed the book, we’d love if you could please leave a review to show us how much. Reviews help authors every day and we totally appreciate it.
Thank you for coming to the Bad Boy Homecoming reunion and we hope you’ll not only find a romance you love, but a few authors as well. And be sure to subscribe to my newsletter www.averyflynn.com/newsletter for all my latest book news!
xoxo, Avery
Dropout by Carrie Ann Ryan
Trouble by Avery Flynn
Prom Queen by Katee Robert
Honor by Kennedy Layne
Rock Star Stacey Kennedy
Want more Bad Boy Homecoming? Read on to check out the next romance in our sexy reunion stand alone series!
Also by Avery Flynn
The B-Squad Series
Bulletproof
Brazen (B-Squad 1)
Bang (B-Squad 2)
Blade (B-Squad 2.5) - Coming in the Hot on Ice: A Hockey Romance Anthology in March 2017
The Killer Style Series
High-Heeled Wonder (Killer Style 1)
This Year’s Black (Killer Style 2)
Make Me Up (Killer Style 3)
Designed For Murder (Killer Style 4)
The Laytons Series
Dangerous Kiss (Laytons 1)
Dangerous Flirt (Laytons 2)
Dangerous Tease (Laytons 3)
The Retreat Series
Dodging Temptation (The Retreat Book 1)
The Sweet Salvation Brewery Series
Enemies on Tap (Sweet Salvation Brewery 1)
Hollywood on Tap (Sweet Salvation Brewery 2)
Trouble on Tap (Sweet Salvation Brewery 3)
Novellas
Hot Dare (Dare to Love)
Daring Ink (Dare to Love)
Betting the Billionaire
Jax and the Beanstalk Zombies (Fairy True 1)
Big Bad Red (Fairy True 2)
About Avery Flynn
Award-winning romance author Avery Flynn has three slightly-wild children, loves a hockey-addicted husband and is desperately hoping someone invents the coffee IV drip.
She was a reader before she was a writer and hopes to always be both. She loves to write about smartass alpha heroes who are as good with a quip as they are with their *ahem* other God-given talents. Her heroines are feisty, fierce and fantastic. Brainy and brave, these ladies know how to stand on their own two feet and knock the bad guys off theirs.
Find out more about Avery on her website, subscribe to her newsletter, follow her on Twitter and Pinterest, like her on her Facebook page or friend her on her Facebook profile. She’s also on Goodreads and BookLikes.
Join her street team, The Flynnbots, and receive special sneak peeks, prizes and early access to her latest releases!
Also, if you figure out how to send Oreos through the Internet, she’ll be your best friend for life.
Contact her at avery@averyflynn.com. She’d love to hear from you!
Prom Queen
by Katee Robert
“I can’t do it. I won’t.” Jessica Jackson backed around the kitchen table, feeling like seven different kinds of a fool when Brooklyn Jameson followed her, waving the invitation that had caused all of this. “Stop it. You’re being ridiculous.”
“No, you’re being ridiculous.” Brooklyn lunged.
Jessica scrambled back, nearly taking out a chair as she did. The open and airy kitchen felt too small for the first time in the five years she’d lived here. “I’m not going. End of story.” She edged around the corner of the island, not liking the way her friend eyed the counter like it was an obstacle to be overcome.
“I can hear you.” Cora Lander’s voice floated down from her room upstairs.
Brooklyn shot a look at the open balcony and then refocused on Jessica. “You have to go.” She raised her voice. “Cora, tell her she has to go.”
“You have to go.”
Jessica glared and slid back a step, eyeing the French doors that led out to the beach. It would be a perfect escape—if Brooklyn wasn’t standing in the way. “What is this? Why do you care so much if I go to some stupid reunion or not?”
“Oh please.” Brooklyn huffed. “I’m a private detective, remember? Even if I wasn’t, I could detect that you want to go to this damn reunion by the longing looks you’ve been sending this invitation ever since it showed up in February—four freaking months ago. Just suck it up and go.”
She wanted to, but only because she apparently has a masochistic streak a mile wide. Jessica stopped trying to flee and threw her hands up. “You don’t get it. I was a bitch in high school—no, I was the queen bitch. I was so terrible to some of those people. How am I supposed to face them knowing some of the crap I pulled?”
Brooklyn snorted and cocked her head to the side, sending her fall of auburn hair cascading over one shoulder. It was the only part of her that was girlish to the extreme. The rest of her was dressed in layers designed to make people look right through her—even in the heat of Los Angeles’s summer. She rolled her eyes. “It was high school. Everyone was a little shit in high school.”
“Not like me.” Jessica had taken mean girl to a whole new level. She’d been so sure of her place and life—and that she ranked above everyone else. Since the catastrophe that was graduation, she’d more than balanced her karmic debt. She hoped. If there was anything left to pay, going back to face her former victims would do it. “Please don’t make me go.”
Brooklyn narrowed her amber eyes. “This isn’t about you being a dick. This is about him.”
“No, it’s not.” She spoke too quickly and then mentally cursed herself for giving away the truth.
Not that her friends were unaware of her history with Jake Davis. She’d met Cora in her third year in LA, and Brooklyn a couple months later. They’d lived together for five years. These women had seen The Breakdown of 2012, when she’d hit rock bottom so spectacularly that she’d plowed right through it to a whole new low. She’d lost the only acting job she’d been able score in five long years, lost her sorta-boyfriend, and lost her apartment in the space of a week. It was in the midst of that that she’d gotten the drunkest she’d ever been in her entire life and confessed everything.
About how she’d been so crazy in love with Jake the entire time they’d dated in high school. How they’d been each other’s firsts. How they’d planned a perfect future together.
And how she’d dumped him on his ass the first hiccup they had, because she was sure he was going to hold her back from her destiny.
Jessica snorted. Destiny. She’d been a little twat. Knowing that now didn’t mean she was eager to face the one who got away. More like the one I kicked to the curb.
“Oh, good Lord, you have that moony look in your eyes.” Brooklyn made a gagging sound. “Cora, come talk some sense into her!”
Footsteps padded upstairs and then Cora’s head appeared over the balcony. Her dark eyes took in their positions—Jessica still wanting to flee and Brooklyn standing in her way—and huffed out a breath. “You’re going, end of story. If it will make you feel better, you can pretend I forced you.”
Considering Cora could be downright scary when she wanted to be, there was some truth to the statement.
Jessica wasn’t backing down this time. “You don’t get it.”
“Wrong. Out of all of us, I know all about having to face down your past on a daily basis. I manage. You will, too.”
Okay, maybe you do get it. Jessica gritted her teeth. It didn’t matter. It was apples and oranges. “Y’all cannot seriously expect me to go face the firing squad. I’m willing to eat my humble pie when the situation calls for it, but this is just too much. I don’t have anything resembling a boyfriend. I am almost thirty years old and have two roommates. I haven’t accomplished jack all that I said I would when I blew out of town with two middle fingers in the air.”
Cora smiled, her teeth perfectly white and straight against her blood red lips. “I thought your therapist said facing down your past was an important part of your journey.”
“I have faced down my past. I’m reformed. That doesn’t mean I want to be thrown to the wolves so I can play a damn martyr.”
Brooklyn laughed, her long brown hair swinging in its ponytail. “A martyr. You have such an inflated opinion of yourself.”
“Shut it.” She turned a pleading look at Cora. “Let’s just pretend this never happened, okay?”
Cora’s expression turned contemplative. “You know what your problem is? It isn’t going back to Catfish Creek. It’s going back alone.”
Something like hope blossomed in Jessica’s chest. She’d seen both her parents and her brother quite a few times over the last ten years, but she’d never been brave enough to cross the town lines. Though she was mostly too proud—even now—to admit it, she missed at least some parts of Catfish Creek. “You have an idea.”
“I have a brilliant idea. Come on.”
Jessica headed for the stairs, Brooklyn hot on her heels. She found Cora back in her bedroom at the desk she’d set up for when she needed to work from home. It was just as light and airy as the rest of the house, the big windows overlooking the beach giving the space plenty of natural light, and the seafoam green walls and white furniture gave the space a restful feeling.
Though Jessica wasn’t feeling particularly restful at the moment. One look at Cora’s laptop had her shaking her head. “No way.”
“One of my clients used the company, and they’re perfectly respectable.” Cora scrolled down, giving them an eyeful of the classy website that offered all manner of dates. Jessica caught sight of one package that included having a beautiful man show up to a residence and clean for the allotted time.
“You have got to be kidding me. Escorts?”
“That’s illegal in both California and Texas. No, the sex isn’t included—it’s strictly forbidden. You can’t even kiss them.” Cora touched the screen. “There we go. This is the package Hilary went with. She had a wedding and didn’t feel like dealing with people gossiping about her cheating ex-husband, so she took a date. He charmed everyone and kept them distracted from unfortunate lines of questions, which freed her up to have a good time. That’s exactly what you need.”
It sounded too good to be true. Jessica leaned forward, scanning the package Cora had brought up. She would put in her information and her basic requests—everything from looks to background—and once it was all agreed upon, her date would meet her locally and play his role for the duration of the trip. They limited these to three days, but she wouldn’t need much more than that. Get in, attend the reunion, get out.
Then she noticed the price. “Oh, hell, no. I can’t afford that!”
Cora rotated her chair around and considered her with unblinking dark eyes. “You need this, Jess. You need to go face him—and everyone else—so you can actually move on. All the therapy and self-help books in the world won’t mean a damn thing if you can’t take this step.”
Jake. It all came back to Jake.
The rest of her graduating class weren’t terrible people or anything, but she didn’t feel the loss over not being in contact with them. Jake was just this gaping hole in her chest. Oh, it had scabbed over in the years since she’d seen him, but the boyfriends she’d had since then couldn’t hold a candle against the phantom of Jake.
She’d never be able to have a lasting relationship if she didn’t put him firmly in the past where he belonged, and she couldn’t do that until
they have a very painful and much-needed conversation.
For me, at least. He’s moved on with his life.
One night a couple years ago, driven by Brooklyn egging her on and just enough tequila to drown out common sense, she’d searched him out on Facebook. His profile was only half private, so she was able to see a few pictures of him, but nothing else. He had looked even better at twenty-six than he had at eighteen, and that he still had his annual fishing trip with the boys, but she had no idea if he was married or had kids.
The thought made her sick to her stomach.
She pressed a hand there, as if the pain was a physical thing she could combat. “I don’t know.”
“Too late.”
Jessica spun to face Brooklyn so fast, she almost fell on her ass. “What did you say?”
Her friend didn’t look up from her phone. “You’re booked. It’s paid for. You can assist me on a couple stakeouts to pay me back.”
She grabbed the phone from Brooklyn’s hand and read with dawning horror. All American guy, blond, painfully hot. Needs to be able to deal with the fact that I was a bitch in high school and so most of these people are going to hate me and be dicks. “Are you kidding me?”