by Bliss Carter
Big Sexy
Mercy Springs Heroes Series Book 1
Bliss Carter
Copyright © 2020 Bliss Carter
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you want to share it with other people, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.
Cover design by Bliss Carter
Edited by Bliss Carter
Manufactured in the USA
For Cade and Kresley...
"It wasn't love at first sight. It took a full five minutes."
~Lucille Ball~
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Epigraph
Introduction
Prologue
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
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Epilogue
About The Author
Follow Bliss Carter
Introduction
Mercy Springs is a sweet, southern town in Georgia that is full of secrets, sass, laugh out loud moments and unique towns folk that you will love. In this first installment (Book 1) of the Mercy Springs Heroes Series, we meet our heroine Kresley and hero Cade, who don't start things off on the right foot when meeting for the first time. But soon sparks fly between then, murder happens, and Cade is introduced to the crazy world of the Anderson girls and Grace.
Kresley Anderson - a fiery red head who can slay someone with her sarcastic mouth and woo them with her southern charm. Kresley is next to the oldest member of the Anderson sisters, a group of four amazing, feisty, southern women. Along with their best friend Grace, they deal with life one sarcastic moment at a time. Kresley works as a wedding planner in her family’s event planning business, which caters to both small town folks and the big city of Atlanta. Yet she hasn't found her own version of Prince Charming to walk down the aisle toward. She isn’t really looking anyway. Her life is full of loving sisters, an amazing best friend, and work. She thought she had a full life, although boring, and didn’t think she was interested in a man sharing her time and energy. Then an ex-boyfriend dies at her business’ back door and life brings dark and dangerous looking Detective Cade Grantham to her rescue. But being a true red head, Kresley can't give up her feisty nature and truly plans to give Cade a run for his money.
Detective Cade Grantham - aka Big Sexy, a nickname given to him by Kresley’s sisters, has moved to Mercy Springs to escape from the highly stressful life he was living as a law enforcement officer in the larger city of Nashville. He needed a change for his stress level, but wasn’t in the market to change his status on social media from single to in a relationship. Then Kresley abruptly came into his life and now he can’t think of anything but her, in his bed, and in his heart. But can Kresley and Cade overcome the obstacles this southern town and their own internal issues, have put in their way? And can Cade protect Kresley when it matters the most?
*Big Sexy is the first book in the Mercy Springs Heroes Series. Each book is a stand-lone story, with no cliff hanger and a HEA.
Prologue
He was in serious denial. He knew it was a totally horrible idea. But knowing it and accepting it were two different things altogether. Maybe his brother Braxton was right. But don’t tell Mr. Captain that. He’d never let his big brother live that shit down. Ever. Maybe a fresh start outside of his hometown of Mercy Springs was what he needed. Get away from the past and especially the present. Claudia. Lord. What a mess. Why didn't he notice how much of an ice queen she was when they were dating? He didn't have an answer. He just needed to get away from the small-town gossips, where everyone knows your business and they don’t mind speaking their opinion. Even when you didn’t ask for it. He stops and snorts at that thought. He never asks for anyone else’s opinion on who, what or how he does things. Because ultimately, it’s only important what he wants and needs. That’s it. And what he wanted was freedom. Freedom to choose what he wants to do with his life and who he wants to “do” it with. Yeah, he meant “do” like you’re thinking.
He knew he could be an ass. Some called him a sexist pig. He didn't deny it. But he would be kicking himself if he didn't at least try to grab back what he lost. Braxton told him to give it up, let it go and move on. But he couldn't move on without attempting the impossible. And the impossible was named Kresley Anderson. His sweet, red haired, first love. Red hair that was so many different shades twisted into flowing curls down her back that it often reminded him of a river of flames. Eyes so green that they made him think of fresh, summer grass still wet with morning dew. And lips. Hell, just like sweet berries, her lips were ripe, plump and delectable. Lips that you just want to smother in kisses and nibble on forever. She had three smokin’ hot sisters, as well as that blonde feme fatale Grace. He’d done his fair share of looking at all of them over the years, with Grace being the recent addition. He never acted on his impulse to try to score with any of them, or hell, all of them at once. What? He’s a guy. A man’s brain drifts that way sometimes. Go ahead, call him a pervy perv if you want, it doesn’t make it less true how attractive that whole family was.
Driving through the streets of Mercy Springs, he couldn't help but think back to his high school days. Everything was so much simpler back then. No worries beyond who to take to prom and what he and his buddies were going to do on the weekend. He and Kresley would hang out, go to the movies or ride around the town square, sipping on her favorite milkshake, banana pudding. They weren’t worried about the future beyond that moment. Too bad it ended so harshly and abruptly. And it was all his fault. Becoming an adult, with adult decisions and daily reminders of youth becoming a faint memory, well, it sucked. Being an adult sucked.
He drove by the local ice cream place and decided to go through the small drive thru. Banana pudding milkshakes weren't his thing, but he knew Kresley still loved them, according to his sources, and he wanted to win a few points before tackling the hard subject he was going to bring up. He checked out the employee handing him the shake. She was pretty, but way too young. Nice body, nice hair, great smile, but he wasn't into jailbait. Well, not now, anyway. He had an important woman to see and wasn't about to screw anything up until he had his answer. He winked at the pretty girl with the pretty blue eyes, just in case. He was a lady’s man, for goodness sake. Can't mess up the reputation.
Banana pudding milkshake in hand, he turned into the small alley behind his destination. Good. The car was still here, which meant s
he was still at work, but she was alone. He didn’t see her sisters’ cars anywhere. He knew Francie sometimes drove her Harley around town, but he didn’t see that either. He had been here earlier today, but for way different circumstances. Thank God he had shut that down. Smartest decision he ever made. He shuddered at the memory of an earlier phone call he made. Some would call him chicken-shit for not doing it in person. Oh well. If only people came to him with a gigantic label that said, don't interact with me due to high levels of crazy. He snorted at his own whit, while unfolding himself from his '69 Mustang. This same car got him a date long ago with the red-haired woman with curves so pronounced that they could make a man go deaf, dumb and blind. He figured driving his vintage mustang tonight might bring him some luck. A few tugs at his black hair over his forehead, a collar adjustment, and Drake Harris was ready to make an impression. Trying to think positive, he thought of how excited she would be to see him standing there.
As he walked across the small alley, Drake thought he heard a muffled sound, but dismissed it quickly. With milkshake in hand, he held his fist up to knock on the back door. He hoped she heard the knock, knowing Kresley’s office was more towards the front of the building. Had he known that he was about to die, he probably would not have passed up the opportunity of nailing the jailbait earlier at the Ice Cream Spot. He would probably still be there, buttering up the cute girl to hang out with him after her shift.
They say your life can flash before your eyes in that moment before death, in an instant movie clip of every memory you have, every person that has been important to you. To Drake's disappoint, this didn't happen for him. As he felt the whoosh of air at the back of his head and the blinding, numbing pain, he had one, mundane, irritating thought. Don't drop the milkshake. But he did. Son of a bitch! Then blackness took him.
∞∞∞
A dark figure, gloved hands resting at their sides, breathed heavily, assessing everything around them. The metal pipe, with blood glistening on the end, was resting next to the shadow’s leg. What a douche. Good riddance. He was honestly asking for it. Had been for years. Abruptly hearing noises from a street over, the shadow quickly eased into hiding, waiting and watching. The red-head would come out soon enough and then all bets were off. She was next. You can’t run from me, bitch.
Chapter One
Kresley Anderson was ready to explode. Southern women and rage did not mix well together, especially if you add the fact that she was a bona fide red head with an Irish ancestry. Grace was going to get an earful in the morning if she didn't have a good reason for trying to organize Kresley's well thought out disorganization. Picking up her smartphone, Kresley punched Grace's contact picture, maybe a little too hard. Putting the phone on speaker, she stared down at that silly smirk that Grace presented in her latest online profile. Kresley couldn't help but smile a little at the tiara on top of Grace's petite head of blond waves. What an epic birthday party that night was.
It was three years ago and her stomach still rolled at the thought of the massive hang over she had for two days after. She never could handle any type of alcohol and now she knew to just never touch the stuff again. Grace still hadn’t shown her all the pics she took to use as blackmail in the future. Kresley shuddered at what exactly those pics showed. Hopefully none with her sitting on the lap of the firefighter stripper that Grace had hired to entertain everyone. She had a vague recollection of how absolutely uncomfortable she had been sitting there, but did it to shut her sisters and Grace up. The poor stripper, who had hit on her the whole night, made the mistake of trying to show him her hose. After dodging him for several hours, Kresley finally put her foot in it, literally. Poor guy never did find that hose the rest of the night. Kresley wondered if he was able to have children. Shrugging off thoughts of infertile strippers, she waited for Grace to pick up.
Ring. Ring. Ring. "If she doesn't answer that phone, I promise I'm going to take that blond hair and...”, Kresley began to mutter. At that moment Grace decided to answer in her usual sing-song voice that she only used for work.
"This is Grace. How can I help you this evening?"
"Grace, why in the world do you answer the phone like that when you know it's me", Kresley asked irritably. “You sound like a phone sex operator”.
"Well first of all, thank you. I didn’t know my voice had the power to seduce even you Kres. Let me know if you figure out how I can use it to find myself a good man one of these days, okay? And I thought you said you lost all sexual interest of any kind after your last failure at dating. What was his name again? Eugene? Whatever possessed you to click on his name on that dating app and agree to go out on a blind-ass date is beyond me. I also answered that way because I know it's you and I know why you're calling and no, I will not apologize for trying to clean up that dump you call a desk. You are a borderline hoarder. Not TV show worthy just yet, but you’re getting closer". Grace sounded both smug, loving and bitchy, all at the same time. God love her, she was perfect for what Kresley needed in her business and personal life as a friend. Real.
Kresley opened her mouth to say something crass and not at all fit for children's ears, when Grace plowed right over her words like they were tissue paper under running water.
"What can't you find?" Grace asked.
"I can't find the Smith-Truett invoice for the flowers. The $24,000 invoice for flowers. What did you do with it?"
Grace gave a heavy sigh over the phone and then began to mumble under her breath. Kresley caught words like Jesus help me and Lord only you can keep me sane, realizing Grace was sending up a prayer for help. "Think for a sec, Kres. I have not had the pleasure, and I use that term loosely, to work any details of Lana Smith's wedding. Thank the Lord. You've kept those wedding plans a secret since you had them sign the contract and you had to sign that NDA. Your Cheeto stained fingers are the only ones who would have touched it. Did you check with Francie or Birdie?"
Kresley growled something under her breath and stated, "No, and no. They don’t do the wedding events so there isn’t a need. Where in the damn-hell would I have left it then?" Feeling totally stressed out, Kres picked up a stress ball and started to squeeze as hard as she could.
"Probably in that trash can you call a car," Grace sweetly chirped. Yeah, sweet, as in saccharine. Kresley sighed, rubbing her head as a headache tried to sneak up on her.
After digging under tablecloth sample boards, Kresley finally located her keys. "I'm keeping you on speakerphone while I walk outside to check my car. That alley always gives me the creeps. Is that okay?", she asked already knowing the answer Grace would give her. Kresley was used to working after everyone else left for the day, but she didn’t venture out to her car by herself unless it was to get in and drive home.
"You don't even need to ask that question. I'm here," Grace stated.
She may speak her mind too much and be too opinionated, but there was one thing Kresley knew for sure about Grace Puckett. She could always be counted on.
Kresley snickered to herself as she recalled the day that she met Grace. She had been interviewing people all day for the assistant position that had opened up abruptly, thanks to her sister, Birdie. Kresley and Birdie’s other two sisters, Francie and Gertie, all shared duties at their family’s event planning business. Kresley did 98% of the weddings and her sisters took on the other types of events that came to their business’ doorstep, like fundraisers, business luncheons, government parties, etc. Birdie was also the main photographer, taking pictures of the weddings as well as the other events when needed. Work was always an eventful day when all four of them graced the building at the same time, along with Grace.
Which is exactly why an assistant for Kres abruptly quit one morning when Birdie sarcastically told her to use less wind tunnel next time that she teased her hair and also told her the 80s were calling and wanted their hair do back. After many tears, cuss words and a flip of the bird finger, the frazzled assistant had marched out the front door and Kres found herself without
an important part of her work life…organization and stress management. Birdie merely shrugged her shoulders at Kresley’s irritation and said that the girl shouldn’t be so sensitive about structured criticism. Birdie always led first with her mouth, then with her brain. She was born with no filter and said exactly what she thought, mostly at the time she thought it. Birdie was sarcastic, sharp as a tack, and didn’t take crap from anyone, man or woman. It was something Kres both admired and cringed daily about. Kresley was also a smart-ass when life called for it, but her temper could get the best of her if she allowed it, so she tried really hard to reign in her words and thought before speaking.
Birdie knew she had messed up later that afternoon when she found herself covered from head to toe in what she calls “Satan’s sparkles”. Kresley had rigged a glitter bomb to go off in Birdie’s car as soon as she sat down inside and closed the door. Kresley will never reveal her secret of how she rigged it to explode on its own, but Birdie swore that she would get her back one day when she least expected it. She was still finding glitter and confetti in places that it shouldn’t be. Glitter was the devil.
Kresley honestly couldn’t stay mad at Birdie though because it brought Grace into their lives. The day of interviews to find a new assistant wasn’t going well at all. And then enter into the mix one Ms. Grace Puckett. Grace was the next to last on Kresley’s list of candidates to interview and she was exhausted by the time Grace arrived. It was like this huge ball of energy had entered the room. Kresley shook her head as she remembered watching Grace walk in, with a box of office essentials in one arm and a potted plant in the other. She introduced herself in a very unique way.
