Can't Shake You

by Molly McLain

  Blurb: Can’t Shake You

  Lovers to friends to lovers...could it get any more complicated?

  One thing Carissa Brandt knows: spontaneity always get her in trouble. Still, she’s gone and jumped head first into an impulsive summer renovation project with her fingers crossed. When her contractor turns out to be a cheat, it seems her only lifeline is the proffered hand of Josh Hudson—the sexy Marine who left her aching for more than their single night together three years ago.

  Josh has two hard and fast rules: never mix business with pleasure and don’t look twice at women his friends have dated, much less loved. It makes life in a small town simple—or it would, if he wasn’t harboring a secret with the potential to destroy his good name and the reputation of a woman he can’t get out of his head.

  When Carissa finds herself in a bind, Josh’s integrity—both personal and professional—won’t let her fail. Will working together finally extinguish the attraction lingering between them? Or will the smoldering embers of their passionate rendezvous ignite all over again and set aflame the friendships they cherish the most?

  Warning: This book contains a hella-sexy, inked up hero, a spunky heroine who isn’t afraid to speak her mind, smokin’ hot sex, and enough swearing to make your momma blush. For readers 18+.

  Chapter One

  Drywall fasteners were not the kind of screws Carissa Brandt should’ve been thinking about on the first official Saturday night of the summer.

  In fact, she needed to get her head back in the game and fast. She’d come out tonight with a goal and it didn’t involve compiling her hardware store pick-up list. Heck, she’d even splurged on sexy new undergarments to fuel her nerve and wake her inner sex kitten.

  To find a lion for her lioness, however...

  “Got something special planned tonight?” Her best friend Maddie, tonight’s hostess, detached herself from a cluster of backyard party-goers and joined Carissa near the makeshift bar.

  “What makes you think that?” She shot the other woman an innocent grin and claimed a seat at a tall, wrought iron patio table near the edge of the veranda.

  Maddie chuckled and climbed into the opposite chair. “Oh, I don’t know. It could be the I-need-to-get-laid look in your eyes. Or the thong you’ve got on.”

  Busted. “You know I never make those kinds of plans,” Carissa replied in an intentionally stuffy tone, like that of the proper guidance counselor she spent three quarters of the year portraying. But leaning in close and speaking for Maddie’s ears only, she added, “Though if an opportunity should present itself, far be it from me to let it pass.”

  Her friend let out a whoop of approval that had several nearby guests glancing curiously in their direction. “My girl’s finally back! Too bad it’s only taken a year.”

  Carissa swatted at Maddie’s arm and shushed her, envying the free-spirited sparkle that danced in her eyes. “No reminder necessary, believe me. My body lets me know what a disappointment my sex life is every time I break out my vibrator. And don’t get too excited, because I’m just testing the waters. Dangling my line, so to speak.”

  Of course, snagging a bite would be something akin to catching a minnow with a whale in the almost too-small town of River Bend, Nebraska. Or anywhere in the greater Cameron County area for that matter. But if Carissa intended to make this place her permanent home, she had to at least try.

  Her friend broke into a ridiculous, seated happy dance, then went Royal Guard serious as a couple of her teenage neighbors strolled by the table in itty-bitty, barely-there bikinis, rivulets of water streaming from their pool-dampened hair.

  “Great party, Maddie,” one of the girls called out, her grin all bubble gum and sunshine. “And I love that dress, Ms. Brandt. Totally hot. Victoria’s Secret, right?”

  Carissa’s cheeks flamed to about a gazillion degrees, and she bit her lips together to contain her second bout of embarrassment in as many minutes.

  I’ve just been made to blush by an incoming freshman.

  She managed to give the girls a polite smile and a finger wave, but as soon as they ambled out of earshot, she let out a mortified groan. “I might as well just tattoo ‘desperate’ across my forehead.”

  Maddie’s expression softened only marginally. “Relax, chica. For one, you’re gorgeous. It’s about damn time you put away those pencil skirts and cardigan sweaters, and showed off that smokin’ body. Two, you’re on summer vacation. Pretty sure that gives you a free pass to be as hot and sexy as you wanna be for the next two and a half months.”

  If only. Life hadn’t been that simple in years. Since college probably. And even then she’d never been the kind of girl to throw caution the wind and flaunt what God gave her when she was looking to catch the attention of a man. Always the practical one. The patient one. The one who rarely indulged or reached out and simply took what she pleased.

  This whole going after what she wanted thing—namely toe-curling sex—was going to be a serious effort in dancing outside her personal boundaries.

  She’d done it once before, so it was there, buried somewhere inside of her. It was just a matter of baiting the right kind of man.

  “Oh no, no.” Maddie waved a hand in front of her face. “No overthinking. Just go with the flow. Roll with the punches. Or in the hay preferably. Just...let loose already. You deserve it more than anyone I know.”

  Carissa gave a solitary nod, her confidence flaring briefly. “I do, and hopefully I’ll have enough time to pull it off.” And there was still work to be done on the nerve part, too. “This house is sucking the life out of me and we’re only a week into the renovations.”

  “Hold up—wasn’t the purpose of hiring a contractor so you could avoid giving up your summer?”

  “Flipping doesn’t work that way, Mads. Especially with Alex on the job. At the rate he’s burning through my capital, I’ll be lucky to come out ahead at all, let alone bank any profit.” She lifted a shoulder and pressed her lips into a tolerant smile, because what else could she do?

  “Mmm-hmm.” Maddie’s narrow-eyed expression was one Carissa had been treated to several times since she’d purchased the fixer-upper. And her friend’s next words were just as familiar. Predictable even. “Josh would’ve guaranteed you came out ahead. You know he would have, even if Hudson Contracting doesn’t do small potatoes jobs anymore.”

  Carissa shot her friend a ‘no way’ glare and gave her head a sharp shake. Strands of hair slipped from her messy up-do and she pushed them back behind her ear, her fingers toying with her earring in an attempt to appear as unaffected as possible. “We’ve been over this before. I would never ask him to stoop to the level of my little flip.”

  For more reasons than Maddie or anyone else in town would ever know.

  “Speak of the devil.” Maddie’s gaze swept across the lawn and halted at a point on the opposite side of the pool.

  Carissa followed the cue, glancing to where a group of men had gathered around the built-in barbecue, exchanging handshakes, back slaps and fist bumps with the summer kickoff party’s newest arrival—the owner and CEO of west-central Nebraska’s most up and coming commercial and high-end residential development company.

  Josh Hudson was also Maddie’s soon-to-be brother-in-law. And the man most likely to creep into Carissa’s imagination, late at night, when more than twelve months without actual sex got the best of her.

  In the distance, Josh grinned that sexy, crooked smile of his and laughed out loud at something his brother—Maddie’s fiancé, Dan—said. The deep, husky sound echoed across the yard, sending a rush of thrill bumps zipping down Carissa’s spine. She tried not to notice how the black cotton of his Led Zeppelin t-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders as he reciprocated the older, slightly sho
rter man’s greeting. She also tried not to stare at his spiky, dark hair or the collage of colorful tattoos decorating his thick forearms, but God, she was a sucker for hot ink and ripped arms. The two together were a wicked aphrodisiac and, more frequently than she’d ever admit, the mere sight of Josh’s stellar body left her squirming in her panties.

  She brought her drink to her lips, shocked to find the bottle nearly empty.

  Thank goodness she was drinking from the non-alcoholic cooler tonight. Though maybe she ought to rethink that decision, considering her current state of mind and Josh’s perpetual state of yumminess.

  “Ah, crap, it’s after seven already—I’ve gotta get the DJ started.” Maddie hurried off her stool, oblivious to Carissa’s melting resolve. Making a show of fluffing her jet-black bob, her friend gave a dramatic sigh. “Such a glamorous life I lead, as the almost-wife of the Cameron County D.A.”

  “The Real Housewives ain’t got nothin’ on you, babe.”

  Maddie laughed and, with a pageant-worthy twist of her hand, turned away. Over her shoulder, she called back, “Forget about the flip and the kiddos tonight. Let your hair down. Have some fun.”

  Carissa stuck her thumb in the air, but as soon as Maddie disappeared into the crowd, she sagged back against the chair and blew out a breath.

  Chances of making much progress on her rekindled goal were slim to none now that he was there, because not only was he hot with a capital H, he was also one of the reasons she’d taken so long to get to the point of wanting to date again.

  Damn, the man cramped her style. He was her ex-boyfriend’s best friend, for Pete’s sake. Given their respective relationships to Maddie and Dan, they saw a lot of each other and, on every occasion, she ended up feeling guilty as hell for fantasizing about things she had no business even considering.

  One taste wasn’t enough.

  It had to stop. That’s all there was to it. Especially if she hoped to have any luck transitioning back to the land of the sexually gratified. Three years was far too long to let a guy monopolize her libido. And, as a grown woman, surely she could tame her attraction to a mere mortal of a man.

  Even if he was built like a Greek god.

  Pulling in a deep breath, she straightened her back and shook off the musing. A beer would be phenomenal right now, but the night was still young and her apartment was on the other side of town. Also? Her family could do without another drunken jailbird to add to its dysfunction. It was probably best on all accounts if she steered clear of the real liquor.

  Another distraction was in order. Preferably sooner than later.

  “Looks like you could use another drink.”

  Like she’d rubbed a magic lantern, said distraction materialized at her side.

  Carissa glanced up from her empty lemonade to see a familiar and rather handsome face grinning down at her. Not quite as sexy as Josh’s, but tempting nonetheless.

  I can work with that.

  “Tony.” She greeted the athletic, shaggy haired man, with a bright smile that mirrored his own. He leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek, and then stepped away to retrieve them each a fresh drink.

  “You look gorgeous as always,” he said as he returned, grabbed the chair Maddie had vacated and pulled it around the table, so that when he sat, his commendable bicep bumped against her shoulder.

  Promising.

  “Which makes me question why you’re hiding way the hell over here in the corner.” He shifted forward on his elbows and twisted toward her, his words slightly slurred. It was in that moment, paired with his cloudy-eyed focus on her chest, she realized he was drunk. Not quite wasted, but easily headed in that direction if he didn’t slow up on the alcohol.

  Buzz kill.

  “Oh, you know. Just pondering world peace and global warming. Everyday stuff, really.” She winked and Tony laughed.

  “Beautiful and funny. My kind of combo.” He bowed in again, awkwardly close this time. Like maybe he was trying to see down her dress. Or maybe he was just sliding off his stool.

  “I don’t know about you, but I could go for a cheeseburger and potato salad combo right now. Have you eaten yet?” she asked, unable to muzzle her natural caretaker or the demons of her past.

  When Tony shook his head, she angled hers toward the spread of food set up along Maddie and Dan’s patio. “Care to have dinner with me?”

  He arched an eyebrow and slid his gaze to her cleavage again. “Can we call it a date?”

  Not quite what she had in mind for her first date in over a year and certainly not one that would garner him a better view of her boobs. But beggars couldn’t be choosers, and Tony was the first man in a long time to look at her with any amount of interest in his eyes.

  Damn small town loyalty.

  While nothing more than conversation was going to happen tonight, spending a little time with Tony would be good practice. Baby steps and all that. And she’d feel way better about him getting behind the wheel if he got some food in his belly and sobered up.

  She gave him her best smile. “Why not?”

  ***

  “Hot damn. Looks like your foreman’s aiming his cock a little higher than usual tonight.”

  Halfway through a hefty swallow of Budweiser, Josh nearly choked at his older brother’s uncharacteristic choice of words. A few drinks in and Dan had apparently swapped his typical attorney vocabulary for that of a partially intoxicated Nebraskan redneck.

  But as the meaning of his brother’s words sank in, Josh gave a wry grunt. Tony Dunn had no business aiming his dick anywhere these days, but leave it to his friend to keep trying.

  Intrigued nonetheless, he followed Dan’s perverted stare across the backyard and through the festivities that surrounded them. Any humor he might have initially found in the situation evaporated instantly.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  Dan shrugged. “Mighty fine choice, if I do say so myself. Not that I’d ever admit it again—Maddie’d have my balls in a second.”

  Josh swung a lethal glare at his brother, then begrudgingly returned his focus to where his number one employee was openly trying to woo the panties off a woman classier than his friend would ever be.

  He watched the pair for a long moment, his annoyance escalating, because, on second thought, he did have it on pretty good authority that Carissa Brandt fancied herself the occasional walk on the wild side.

  And if he read the gleam in her whiskey colored eyes correctly, a reckless night was exactly what she was gunning for. She confirmed his suspicion when she moved to stand before Tony, twisting her hips and shaking her peachy little ass to the up-tempo country remix blasting from the DJ’s speakers. She did some kind of spin move, stumbled a bit, and then fell into Tony’s lap, laughing hysterically.

  “Come on, man, it’s not that bad,” Dan spoke up. “I mean, she did slum it with Fletcher for a while. If you think about it, Tony’s actually an improvement.”

  Josh swung a blind, backhanded fist into his brother’s chest, causing him to hunch and wheeze. Not that Dan didn’t have a valid point. Reed Fletcher—preppy, almost-NFL-football-star turned Cameron County building inspector and county womanizer—had sleaze down to a science. He was also Josh’s oldest friend. A fact that had absolutely nothing to do with his sudden urge to pulverize his brother for the smartass remark.

  “What the hell,” Dan groaned, rubbing his chest. “That was uncalled for. I should have you cuffed for battery.”

  “Go ahead. Your friends down at the PD already know what a pussy you are.”

  “Christ, you’re a snarky bitch tonight. Maybe you should take some pointers from Tony and find yourself a piece of ass.”

  It was all Josh could do not to turn and pummel Dan’s nose in. Considering he hadn’t thrown a punch at the guy since he was 15 years old, he knew the urge spoke volumes of the possessiveness he felt toward a woman he had no friggin’ right to feel territorial over.

  “Tony’s not in a good place right now,” he said
, giving only half the truth. “I can’t get into the details, but suffice to say Carissa doesn’t need to get tangled up with him.”

  Dan quirked an eyebrow but didn’t push for more. Thankfully, the two of them had developed a mutual respect for one another over the years, particularly when it came to their work. Josh couldn’t say the same for all of his family members, but at least Dan got him and, in this case, he seemed to respect the line Josh had to draw between his professional and personal relationships.

  Unfortunately he was probably going to have to blur that line himself if this shit between Tony and Carissa didn’t simmer down.

  He hated to do it— No, he should hate to do it, but he couldn’t seem to muster the emotion with any amount of sincerity.

  “Aaand...they’re off.” Dan chuckled behind his beer before he broke into an off-key chorus of bow-chicka, wow-wow.

  Josh shifted his attention back to his lead guy and the woman who’d given him more wood than his junior high stack of Playboys, just in time to see Tony slip his arm around Carissa’s waist and guide her out the yard’s side gate. Presumably toward the front of the house. Possibly to his truck. Probably to his bed.

  Dammit all to hell.

  This whole mess had moved faster than he’d expected and there’d been no time to come up with a tactful plan for intrusion. Which meant he’d have to improvise. The Marine in him was usually prepared for anything, but this? He downed the rest of his beer and slammed the empty bottle down on a nearby table.

  This was a disaster in the making.

  Chapter Two

  Sometimes Carissa despised herself for being such a good girl, because no matter how desperately she tried to be a bad girl—hence the sexy underwear and the flirty dress—she inevitably failed on the follow-through.

  Tony sobered up quite a bit and he’d made it abundantly clear that his interest in her went a lot further than sharing burgers and a couple hours of conversation and dancing. But after the initial thrill of his flirtation wore off, Carissa conceded, somewhat bitterly, that she was really nothing more than a big chicken shit. No amount of Victoria’s Secret lace was going to change that.