Love in All the Wrong Places

by Audrey Harte

  “Oh…well, that’s cool. How long does it last?”

  “Well the tour itself lasts a few months, but I’m just filling in for a dancer who was injured and won’t be able to perform for a few weeks. Then once he’s back, I’m coming back home to L.A.”

  “Wow, well, um…thanks for the coffee again. Are you ever going to let me pay?”

  “Probably not. Hey, let me get your number.”

  Annie’s heart stopped for a moment. Was he really asking for her number?

  “You do have one?” he asked, gesturing at her with his cell phone.

  “Uhh yeah.” She grabbed his phone and created a new contact, entering her number in it. On impulse she quickly took a picture of herself as he laughed and she saved it to her profile so that it would come up on his caller ID anytime she called or texted him. “There,” she said, handing his phone back to him.

  “Cool, thanks.” He pressed the call button on his phone and her phone buzzed in her purse. Pulling it out, she glanced at it as he hung up. “There, now you have my number, too. Oh, and here,” he said as he took her phone out of her hand and snapped a picture of himself smirking before handing it back to her.

  “Thanks.” As she slipped her phone back into her purse, she knew she’d be staring at his picture on her phone non-stop until she was able to see him again.

  “Maybe you should call me while I’m on tour.”

  “Um, sure. When would be a good time?”

  “You can try me any time after nine at night, your time. If I don’t answer, leave me a message and I’ll call you back when I get a chance.”

  “Okay.”

  Casey reached out and gave her a tight hug and then a quick kiss on the cheek, completely surprising her and catching her off-guard. Great…she was done for…he was like the world’s best hugger. “I’d like to see more of you when I get back into town. What do you think about that?”

  “Okay,” she said again, her entire vocabulary seeming to have deserted her in her moment of need.

  “Okay, cool,” he said, grinning at her. “So when I get back, I was hoping I could maybe take you out dancing.”

  Thrilled to her toes, Annie finally shook herself out of her stupor and found her voice again. “Yeah, Mr. Professional Dancer. It’d be cool to see you in action, but isn’t that like, taking work home with you or something?”

  “Nah, I can never get enough dancing.”

  “Really? That’s cool. Maybe you’ll be able to keep up with me then. Whenever I leave a club, I’m never tired – I could keep dancing forever until my feet fall off.”

  “I know the feeling.” Shuffling his feet, he adjusted the bag on his shoulder and cleared his throat. “Cool, so it’s like…so then, it’s a date?” He was practically stuttering as he tripped over his words, all of a sudden seeming really shy and awkward.

  She couldn’t believe her ears. Guys this hot and sweet just did not randomly run into her and want to get to know her better and then ask her out on dates. “Um, sure.”

  Relieved, he smiled almost shyly and then seemed to be gearing himself up to do the next thing that happened. Dropping his duffel bag, he took a step towards her and raised his hand to her mouth, tracing her bottom lip with his finger. Staring at her lips for a long moment, he finally dipped his head and kissed her. It was a brief, but sweet kiss and then he was stepping back and picking up his duffel bag again.

  “Sorry, I had to do that…been wanting to ever since I handed your lip gloss back to you.”

  Gaping at him, Annie found herself at a loss for words once again.

  ~ . ~ . ~ . ~

  After she said goodbye to Casey, Annie walked back to her car in a daze, trying to make sense of what just happened. With all the bad luck she’d been having with men lately, it seemed weird to have someone genuinely showing real interest in her and not immediately trying to get into her pants. Maybe it was a good thing he was going to be out of town for the next few weeks. It would give them a chance to talk more and get to know each other, and she was really looking forward to that.

  As she was getting ready to pull onto the freeway and head home, her phone buzzed with a text message. Smiling, she glanced at it, half expecting and half hoping to see a text from Casey, but it wasn’t from him. It was from Nate.

  Nate: Annie, I need to talk to you. I’m so sorry and I want to explain everything if you’ll listen to me. I can’t excuse what I did, but I did have a very good reason for it and I miss you and I want to see you and tell you everything. Please say you’ll hear me out.

  What the hell? Annie was shocked. At this point, she hadn’t expected to hear from Nate again, even though that was all she’d wanted over the past few days. What did it mean and did she want to hear it? What about Casey? She liked him…like really, really liked him. But she had really liked Nate, too, and that night at karaoke had been great until he had walked out — so had the night hanging out with Alex at home and so had been hanging out at the Promenade and pier in Santa Monica.

  Torn and confused, she drove home as she mulled it over. What kind of explanation could Nate possibly offer to completely excuse his actions and following silence? What would happen with Casey if she agreed to see Nate again and he found out? Would he not want to see her again because she was such a gullible idiot? What if she told Nate she wouldn’t see him and then she never heard from Casey again?

  With so many questions running through her mind, Annie knew she had a lot of thinking to do before she made any decisions. She just hoped that in the end, whatever she chose to do was the right decision.

  Don’t miss the sequel to Love in All the Wrong Places,

  coming out in Fall 2013!

  All the Right Things

  Turn to the back for an excerpt of

  Where I Need to Be

  By Kimberly Knight

  Acknowledgements

  First, my heartfelt thanks to Kimberly Knight for inspiring me to start this journey. You motivated me to make my own dream come true and I can never thank you enough for that. Thank you for all the advice, support and encouragement you gave me and for the many hours you spent pimping me out and helping me make my book the best it could be.

  Thank you to my fiancé who has put up with me ignoring him and swearing at the laptop for the past several months while I wrote this book so I could finally say I did it…“I wrote a book!”

  Special thanks to my beta readers: Kimberly Knight, Perri Forrest, Kristy Louise, Sarah Bonner, Belkis Williams, Monica L. Holloway and Caylie McQuaid, who gave freely of their time to help me fine tune my book. I also owe my heartfelt gratitude to all of the totally awesome, super fantastic ladies who participated in my blog tour and helped me promote Love in All the Wrong Places.

  To all my Facebook friends who have supported and encouraged me along the way, thank you for cheering me on late at night when I reached a new word count, answering my random questions like “Do I need to italicize this?”, and for always making me smile and laugh when I need it most.

  Special props and appreciation to you other amazing indie authors who I have just discovered in the past several months. You all inspire me with your talent, drive, determination and sense of community, helping to promote and encourage other indie authors.

  About the Author

  Audrey Harte was born and raised on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii until she and her family moved to Nebraska where she attended junior high, high school and college. During her time in Nebraska, she pursued her love of the arts, acting and singing in several local theater productions as well as writing poems, plays and musicals in her spare time.

  In 1998, she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she now lives with her fiancée. Her main interests are reading (primarily romance, erotica and fantasy, although she has been known to read the occasional thriller), writing (obviously), karaoke (which she used to do much more regularly), finger crocheting blankets and hangers for friends and family (she doesn’t use a hook), watching her favorit
e TV shows (she watches way too many) and hanging out with friends going walking, hiking and kayaking. She is a serious reality TV show addict. Really, she may need an intervention at some point. Before writing started consuming all of her time, she used to play World of Warcraft with Kimberly Knight and various free-to-play Facebook games.

  http://audreyharte.com

  http://www.facebook.com/authoraudreyharte

  http://authoraudreyharte.blogspot.com/

  http://twitter.com/audrey_harte

  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6869140.Audrey_Harte

  Where I Need To Be

  By

  Kimberly Knight

  CHAPTER ONE

  When life hands you lemons, they say to make lemonade. Well, life just handed me a whole lemon tree. Three weeks ago, I felt like nothing in my life could go wrong. I was in Hawaii with my best friend, Ryan Kennedy, her boyfriend, Max, and who I had thought to be the love of my life, Travis.

  Travis and I met almost two years before at a New Year’s Eve party that Ryan invited me to. Her boyfriend had just made partner at his law firm and threw a huge party at his house to celebrate his promotion and ring in the New Year.

  Travis was an attorney at the firm as well and I would like to say it was love at first sight, but looking back, it was never love. I was instantly attracted to Travis but it had taken us a few dates to actually click. He had short brown hair, green eyes and a sweet, innocent, charming side to him. The side that opened doors for you, pulled out your chair and even cooked and cleaned up after himself. I thought I had met the one. Wrong.

  ”Alright, Spencer Marshall, it is time to get your ass off the couch and start acting like you have a life again,” Ryan said as she came storming into our house stomping on the hardwood floors with her heels. She stopped walking when she reached the couch I was sitting on––the couch which was starting to grow accustomed to my daily and nightly ritual and had formed the perfect indention of my butt. “You have been moping around here for two weeks and I am no longer going to let my best friend waste her life away over a guy.”

  “Go away!” I shouted at her as I stuffed my face with a spoonful of mint chocolate chip ice cream. “I’m fine.” Ryan was right though, I needed to stop moping. My mom always told me that no man was worth my tears. But in all honesty, after dating someone for almost two years, aren't you allowed a few tears and some depression after you walk into his office and find him banging his secretary on his desk? I had just wanted to surprise him and take him to lunch. Didn’t realize he had a surprise for me, too.

  “Tomorrow night I’m going to scope out that new gym Club 24 that opened near my office. My boss is writing a story about it and asked me to use the free two-week membership pass we got to do some research and get the low-down so she can use it in her article for the website.”

  I worked as an Executive Assistant to the CEO of a start-up internet company based out of San Francisco called Better Keep Jogging Baby or better known by our website, www.bkjb.com. Our company was dedicated to providing fitness and nutrition information to the world.

  “Spencer, you better or I will kick your ass when you get home and drag you to the gym with me on Tuesday morning.” Ryan and I met our freshman year of college at UC Santa Cruz nine years ago when we were eighteen. Over the years I’d learned that her threats were really promises. She was not kidding.

  “Alright, alright, I’ll go pack my gym bag…after I finish this bowl of ice cream.” Ryan rolled her eyes at me and I stuck my tongue out at her. I appreciated her support and enthusiasm, but I had never been a morning person and I wasn’t about to start now.

  *~*~*

  My Monday workday dragged on and on, and all I wanted to do was go home, get in my PJs, and watch The Voice. When five o’clock rolled around, I honestly had half a mind to bypass the gym and do exactly that. But I remembered Ryan’s threat, and I sure as shit didn’t want her waking me up at 5:00 a.m. to go to the gym before work. Regardless, it was part of my job, and at least my boss had promised me extra vacation hours for doing this for her.

  Alright, time to get this shit over with. Club 24 was an up and coming chain and I needed a new gym anyway. I used to go to the gym with my ex, Travis, or as Ryan liked to call him now, TravAss. I really hoped that I would never have to see him again, so thankfully this gym opened a little over a month ago and was close to work and home.

  The gym was packed with the usual after-work crowd, but there were two treadmills open next to each other. Claiming one of them for myself, I popped in my iPod ear buds and started to walk briskly for my warm-up. Listening to music while running always seemed to clear my head and right now I needed nothing but to let my mind go numb.

  After running for five minutes, I thought I was going to pass out. I envisioned myself rolling off the treadmill like I had seen a few times on The Biggest Loser. That was all I needed with this packed gym. I slowed the treadmill back down to walk for a few minutes to catch my breath. Shortly after that, I noticed that someone had stepped onto the treadmill next to me.

  I glanced to my right and that’s when I noticed him for the first time. Trying not to get caught staring, I eyed him with my peripheral vision. Always a plus to have eye candy when you’re doing something you really don’t want to do. He was about six feet tall, appeared to be around my age of twenty-seven, had chestnut brown hair that was just long enough to have a messy spiky look, and broad shoulders… and oh wow — a smile that made my heart stop.

  Of course, I was caught staring. Shit.

  I reached for my phone and quickly texted Ryan.

  Me: OMFG, I have my very own Gideon Cross at the gym. Hot guy running on the treadmill next to me! :)

  Ryan: Jealous! Don’t tell Max, LOL…I want all the details TONIGHT.

  When I looked into the mirror in front of me, I noticed that my face was bright red. It was either from being exhausted on the treadmill or from being caught checking him out — probably a mixture of the two. After a few minutes of walking, I thought to myself, Alright, you can’t let this guy think you’re that out of shape. I sped back up to what I considered an energetic pace and started jogging again.

  It had been at least a month since I had been to the gym. Before I discovered TravAss having a nooner with his secretary, Misty, we were in Hawaii. What a sad cliché, right? Little did I know that when Travis said he was getting texts from work, he really meant texts from Misty about what she couldn’t wait to do to him when he was back home.

  After another twenty minutes of jogging — and a few covert glances to my right — I couldn’t take anymore. I stopped the treadmill and wiped it down. While backing off the treadmill, I peeked at his ass. What a perfect ass…Yep, my endorphins were flowing now. Taking a few steps towards the locker room, I glanced over my right shoulder to find him staring at me. Holy shit. Our eyes met and he gave me that heart-stopping smile he flashed when he first got on the treadmill. More a smirk than a smile, it still made my heart skip a beat.

  *~*~*

  Ryan was waiting for me when I walked into our house. “I ordered Chinese. It’ll be here in ten. Go shower and then we can veg and you can tell me all about this hottie.”

  ”There isn’t really much to tell.”

  “Anything is better than nothing. I have been with Max for three years. I need to live the single life vicariously through you now.”

  “Gee thanks,” I said, and we both giggled.

  After getting out of the shower, I smelled the aroma of the Chinese takeout Ryan had ordered. Great, I just went to the gym and now I’m going to have a 3000 calorie meal.

  “What’s on the menu tonight?” I asked as I walked into the kitchen and started opening the Chinese take-out boxes on the breakfast bar. Ryan’s parents owned the house and rented it to us. They’d remodeled it for us as a graduation present and the kitchen was one of our favorite rooms. It was spacious and modern with stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops, but its white oak cabinets also gave
it a homey feel.

  “Only our favorites––Kung Pao Chicken, Broccoli Beef, Fried Rice and Cream Cheese Wontons.”

  Yep, that was an easy 3000 calories each. I gave an inward sigh.

  “Alright, spill,” Ryan demanded as she forked a piece of broccoli and bit into it with a crunch.

  I paused to dip a Cream Cheese Wonton in sweet and sour sauce before stuffing it in my mouth. Savoring the creamy filling with a bit of tangy sweetness, I licked my fingers and sighed in contentment. ”Like I said, there isn’t much to say. I went to the gym and there was a total hottie running on the treadmill next to me.”

  “Well, what did he look like?”

  I reached into the cabinet and grabbed a couple of wine glasses for us. Retrieving a bottle of chilled Moscato from the wine fridge, I poured a glass for each of us. I handed one to Ryan and we went to the living room and sat down on the floor by the coffee table. “Well, I’d say he’s about six foot, around our age, with kind of short light brown hair...you know, just how I like them, and a smile…man, that smile makes me melt. I couldn’t stare long enough to get a good look though. I just hope he is there again tomorrow.”

  Ryan continued to quiz me, but as I had told her repeatedly, I had been at the gym for less than an hour and hadn’t even spoken to him. I had just snuck a few glances here and there. Well, hoped I snuck a few glances; I did get caught a few times.

  After polishing off all of the food and watching a two hour episode of The Voice, I was beat. “Alright, I’m going to call it a night. I’ll see you tomorrow when I get home from the gym,” I said as I walked into the kitchen and put our dishes in the dishwasher.

  “Wait, we forgot about our fortunes,” Ryan said, tossing a fortune cookie to me.

  Not only did we sometimes play the lotto numbers on the fortunes, but it was also tradition to add “in bed” at the end and giggle like little girls. “Oh right. What does yours say?” I asked as I cracked mine open.

  “Courtesy is contagious… in bed.”