“Your parents didn’t visit you?”
“No, they did—of course. And so did some of my friends—sometimes. But hearing you as I lay there, I longed for you to be my friend. To care about me, and take care of me like you were your brother.”
“My brother died.”
Hunter’s jaw muscles flicker a moment. He winces. “I’m sorry,” he says huskily.
Slowly I nod, not able to say anything since for a moment a stab of pain slices through my heart. I swallow and quickly change the subject, so I don’t burst into tears. “You were at the hospital?”
His answer is a slow nod. “I had cancer I was fighting. The treatments they gave me made me fat and bloated and all my hair fell out—I was not a pretty sight. But one day you came into my room as a clown, and you did that handkerchief gag I did for Tommy—I was too weak to do anything but stare at you all glassy eyed. I couldn’t even say anything—not a word. But you were so nice, and you tied a balloon to my bedpost and drew a clown face on it—and I’d thought maybe I had dreamed you, but when I woke up, the balloon was still there—smiling at me.
“And once I saw you in the hospital hallway when you were talking to a nurse. I was laying in my hospital bed and you saw me through my open doorway. Your eyes went on me distractedly as the nurse was chatting with you. When you saw me, your eyes got all kind and sympathetic and you gave me a tiny wave. I waved back—well, I tried. I must have looked really pathetic, because you came in and talked with me, and even though I was too weak to say much, you sat there—visiting with me like you had all the time in the world for me. And you read to me. You picked up the book I couldn’t actually see anymore, and you started reading it to me, all sweet and soothing. I sat there glassy eyed. I was on drugs, okay?—but you were like this bright shiny angel to me, sitting there reading to me as I fought going back to sleep—I tried so hard not to. But I did, I fell asleep with your voice filling my drugged-up crazy dreams. Then the next day I kept hoping you’d come back—and you did! My heart practically exploded with happiness when I saw you come through the door. I taught you to play chess—when you first got there, I was so happy to see you, I had enough energy to do that—to see and teach, and carry on a conversation. But then I fell asleep in the game … and you never came back.”
“My—my brother died.”
He nods. “I know that now.”
He sees my eyes welling up again and quickly changes the subject. “But my brother is alive and needs someone to watch over him. So I had my mom choose you. Because I knew what a kind, caring person you are to someone who’s sick.”
I give him a withering look, “He has broken legs.”
Hunter shrugs, “He needs care.”
He tilts his head. “You’re very caring.”
Warm tingles rush through me.
I quickly change the subject, because, apparently, I’m not mature enough to handle compliments from Hunter. Compliments from Hunter make me feel like I’m going to explode. I quickly gush out words—any. “So, that’s how you convinced your mom to hire me?”
Hunter looks up at the ceiling, like he doesn’t want to say. “Sort of. That and your awful aunt helped. My mom and I had heard the way your aunt was talking about you at your dance lesson—yet I had told my mom how you really were. I know my mom can seem intimidating. But she’s really kind of a mushy kitten at heart—she just hides it well. Really well. But it’s there. And she didn’t like the way your aunt was treating you. She also didn’t like the way I was all gaga over you—but her kitten heart won out. It always does. But just don’t count on it—because if she knows you’re counting on it she’ll cast-off her heart and draw her sword—my mom is a warrior—but a soft kitten one, as long as you don’t count on it.”
***************
End of peek.
Hope you liked it.
Jane’s Air is available now.
Right now it only costs a dollar.
(Or you can read it for free if you have Unlimited.)
Next in this book is the prequel to the novel, The Stranger Inside. It’s called: Jeremy’s Kiss.
The author’s newest books are:
*When You Noticed Me
*Jane’s Air
*True Love’s (Hot) Kiss
*Please Love Me Back
*Heartbreaker Hanson
*Even When I Sleep
They are each a dollar (or you can read them for free if you have unlimited).
Summary of TRUE LOVE’S (HOT) KISS:
DUNCAN PRINCE:
The girl I’m in love with—beautiful Aurora—she actually woke from her coma. She did it as I kissed her. Wild, right? But she doesn’t know that it was me that was her prince and woke her. Because she’d been in a friggin’ coma at the time. And I’d been crying. As soon as she woke, her family swamped her in enraptured amazement and I took off. Not just because I was bawling my eyes out—but for other reasons more pressing. It’s complicated. So is my love for Aurora. So, I guess it’s better she doesn’t know I’m her prince. But man, I wish she did.
AURORA:
Duncan Prince, the boy of my dreams, avoids me like I’m the plague. I don’t know what happened. He used to say I was his everything. Now he seems to want me to be his nothing—to disappear. I don’t understand what has happened to the first boyfriend I ever had. Why did he stop being my prince, and instead turn into my magic act?—you know, where I mysteriously make the boy disappear?
A note from the author, Melanie Marks
I hope you liked the story
There will be more to their romance in the future.
Check my website often as I am always writing new books. So keep checking for updates.
If you would like to receive email notifications of my newest books, or would like to get in contact with me, email me at:
MelanieMarksA (at) Comcast.net
I’m always writing new books
My website is:
ByMelanieMarks.com
Check there often as I’m always writing new books
Note from the author, Melanie Marks: I often get asked by readers “Which book should I read next?” Almost all of my books are standalone stories. Most of them involve teammates from high school hockey players all on the same team and can be read in any order. However, if you haven’t read my book, His Kiss, I would recommend reading that to start with, but there is really no need; just the star of that book, Griffin Piper, is in a lot of my other books (and also, readers like that book a lot).
(Note: Be sure to use Melanie Marks’ name when searching for her books, and that the books are by Melanie Marks.)
Popular books by Melanie Marks:
His Kiss
Fall For Me
Slumber Party Wars
Jane’s Air
When You Noticed Me
True Love’s (Hot) Kiss
Please Love Me Back
Even When I Sleep
Heartbreaker Hanson
Want To Hate You… Too Bad I Love You
The Tough Boy’s Tender Kiss
My Brother’s Best Friend
The New Boy
Smokin’ Hot (Accidental) Kiss
Beck Bait
(Right now each book only costs a dollar)
(Or you can read them for free if you have Unlimited)
Note: you need to put “Melanie Marks” into the search with the title to find the books in the store.
Note: there are a lot more books by Melanie Marks than on any list.
Check her website: ByMelanieMarks.com
Contact her at: MelanieMarksA (at) Comcast.net
Melanie Marks newest books are:
Jane’s Air
When You Noticed Me
True Love’s (Hot) Kiss
Please Love Me Back
They are each a dollar
Or you can read them for free if you have unlimited
Note: Right now the book Beck Bait is included as a bonus story in Melanie Marks’ book, Even When
I Sleep.
Summary of
Beck Bait
When the guy you thought you hated becomes the boy you can’t stop thinking about (in a steamy, breathless, heart-pounding way)—and you find out HE might be feeling that way about you too (and maybe always did) you might, possibly become “Beck Bait.” Well … if your stalker/tormentor/heart-throb is named Beck. And the whole freaking SCHOOL seems to know he likes you (if he really does).
My name is Alyssa—but Beck never calls me that. He calls me “Rocky” … because I threw rocks at him. (To be fair, we were only eight at the time.) (And they were small rocks.) Now we’re in high school. These days, I’d like to throw something else at him—me. Oh wait, everyone at school is already doing that! I’m their ‘Beck Bait.’ (I just want to kiss him.)
Summary of
Even When I Sleep
I stood fixated, watching her play the drums—the drums I taught her to play. Maaan. I stepped back, feeling like I was falling. Falling right back in love with her, like I never left. I didn’t want that. I needed to keep my distance from her. I had to.
But I didn’t want to. ***Darius
CAMMY: my best friend, Darius, stopped talking to me four years ago. No explanation. No goodbye. He just changed schools and never talked to me again. But suddenly the beautiful boy is back in my life. Can I trust him with my heart? Four years ago he broke it. Now I have the perfect boyfriend, and I’ve heard all the rumors about Darius’s many, MANY girlfriends. Only secretly I’ve always loved Darius. Even now. Even in my sleep.
Jeremy’s Kiss
By Melanie Marks
Note: Jeremy’s Kiss is the prequel to the author’s novel: The Stranger Inside, which has the same(ish) first chapter as Kissing The Bad Boy. But only the first chapter is the same. It is a completely different story with different characters.
(Jeremy’s Kiss is also offered as a bonus story in the author’s book High School Boys, but this version is longer (though it is still short. It’s about an hour read.)
Note about the book High School Boys: besides Jeremy’s Kiss it also contains the full-length standalone novel: High School Boys, which is about best friends Matt and Nicole in high school.
Summary of the novel High School Boys:
Nicole and Matt have been best friends forever. Sure Nicole has always fantasized about being more than friends, but Matt goes through girlfriends like lightning. So, Nicole figures her heart is safer if they just stay buds. But then—gasp!—one night Matt kisses her. And it’s everything Nicole dreamed it would be—everything—hot, tender, perfect, everything … except now it seems their friendship is ruined. Nicole desperately wants things to go back to the way they were. But the kiss changed everything.
**High School Boys is available now.
**Right now High School Boys also includes the sequel to the author’s book, His Kiss—which is about Ally and Griffin. (Griffin is on the same hockey team as Cade Cole.) (Right now His Kiss is only a dollar.)
Summary of His Kiss:
Ally’s world was totally on track: the right boyfriend, the right school activities, the right plans. But then she is bribed into kissing the school “bad boy.” (Griffin Piper.) Now nothing is right. Nothing! Because all she can think about is … His Kiss.
And now …
Jeremy’s Kiss
I met my stepbrother, Jeremy, at my mom’s wedding. I never even laid eyes on him until then. At the rehearsal right before the “pre-ceremony” Mom was like, “Oh by the way, this is Jeremy, your new brother.”
And there he was, the most gorgeous boy I’d ever seen, with soulful brown eyes and the most amazing, luscious, pink lips that had ever been bestowed upon a boy. They looked so soft and tempting and … perfect. In another life, I would have craved to touch them—with my own lips. Let them linger and press and explore—mmm. But no. Not in this life. His dad was marrying my mom—my mom—who as far as I knew was happily married to my dad until just a few months ago—until she started working with Jeremy’s dad.
So, I don’t think I smiled at Jeremy when I met him. I think I might have growled. But then, Oh! My perspective totally changed. He was placed at the same table as me for the reception dinner. At first he pretty much ignored me, as I was a sulking brat, hating the wedding and everyone at it. To me the wedding meant it was truly the end; the end of my parent’s marriage, the end of my happy life.
Instead of acknowledging my presence, Jeremy talked animatedly with his little cousins and nephews as if I wasn’t there. That is until his older sister, Erica, started complaining about how she was going to have to share her room with me—a fourteen year-old (though I was almost fifteen)—and how I better not touch her things.
I saw Jeremy glance at me then. He was still joking with his cousins, but I could tell he noticed my eyes starting to well up with tears. His lips formed an oh as my lips began to quiver. It wasn’t really that I was hurt by what Erica was saying. I wasn’t that much. Not really. It was the whole situation. Suddenly knowing I was going to have to live with these people—these strangers. And that they didn’t want me anymore than I wanted them.
Jeremy’s eyes stayed locked on me even as his little nephew tugged on his sleeve trying to get his attention.
“Uncle Jeremy.” The boy tugged impatiently. “UNCLE JEREMY!”
For a moment, Jeremy’s eyes flicked distractedly to the little guy. Jeremy cocked an amused eyebrow as the three year-old opened his mouth wide, showing his cool uncle a mouth full of chewed food.
“Nice,” Jeremy chuckled.
Then immediately, Jeremy’s gaze fell back to me. Everything inside me wound tight. Confused, I looked away, down at my hands, trying to fight my impending tears, afraid Jeremy was going to laugh at me, though it didn’t seem he was. But he had every right to. I’d been awful to his family, gave his father a dirty look when he had asked me to dance. “No thanks,” I’d said like he’d offered me a can of worms. I knew Jeremy saw that. I saw him glance sideways at me, then to his dad as he sat next to us thumb wrestling with one of his little cousins. So sitting here now, I was afraid Jeremy was going to avenge his father, his whole family—gloat and laugh to Erica that I was about to cry.
I sucked in my breath, waiting for the axe.
But it never fell. Jeremy didn’t say or do those awful things. Instead, he leaned over to me, pressing in close enough that I could feel his warm breath on my cheek and ear. “Don’t listen to Erica,” he whispered.
He leaned in even closer, as though to be certain his sister couldn’t hear. But for a moment he was silent. My breath caught. What was he going to say? Then his gentle, kind words toppled in my ear springing more tears to my eyes. His words were the direct opposite of what his sister had just snarled—the verbatim opposite. “You can have my room—and touch my things. All of them.”
I swallowed, still on the verge of crying. But now for a totally different reason. He was being nice. Why was he doing that?
Jeremy’s concerned brown eyes searched mine, obviously alarmed at my still impending tears. “It’ll be okay,” he promised quickly, his tender voice and eyes begging me not to cry.
Of course, that did it. My welling tears spilled. I shoved them away with the back of my hands. Why oh why was he being so nice to me? I’d been such a witch through the whole wedding. I’d told my mom in the reception line, loud enough so everyone could hear—purposely so they could hear—that I’d rather die than live with his family, then I totally dissed his dad about the dance. Why was he being nice?
Jeremy nervously ran a hand through his hair as he faced my tears. His warm, gorgeous eyes gently probed, as though trying to read my thoughts, see into my soul. He darted a quick glance across the table to make sure no one else (Erica) noticed my welling tears. He seemed to know I’d rather spontaneously combust than let Erica see me cry.
In a whisper, he blurted out, “I have a German Shepherd at home.”
I blinked at the unexpected information. Obviously, he was
trying to occupy my mind—sweetly determined to keep any more tears at bay. But see, that was enough to get them spilling again.
He scrubbed a hand over his face, then asked, “Do you like dogs?”
He was being so kind, trying to act as though there were no tears, no strange outburst, as if we were simply having a friendly getting-to-know-your-table-neighbor conversation, so I nodded, though I’d never been around dogs before in my life. Dad was allergic. But Jeremy’s warm brown eyes stared into mine and seemed hopeful that I liked dogs. I was so grateful for his sweetness and his gentle coaxing attempt to keep me from crying, I would have told him I liked porcupines thrown in my bathwater if I thought it would please him.
He did seem pleased though. He smiled, warm as sunshine.
Still trying to erase my tears, he hurriedly went on to tell me how he got his German Sheppard, Norton. The dog had been a tiny puppy—teensy, tiny. So small his dad and all the workers at the Humane Society tried talking Jeremy out of choosing that particular puppy. But it was Jeremy’s birthday and his father had promised he could have any dog he wanted.
“But Dad sure tried talking me out of choosing Norton,” Jeremy said.
I tilted my head. “Why?”
Jeremy raised his eyebrows, a tiny grin quirking on his lips, apparently pleased that my eyes were round with interest now rather than full of tears.
Jeremy played with my place card on the table, ducking his head to stare at that instead of me. “’Cause they said he was going to die.”
Jeremy gazed up at me again, wetting his lips, making them shiny. It made my eyes focus on them—drink them in as though I was in a desert dying of thirst. I’d gone to an all-girl school my entire life. I’d never once noticed a boy’s lips before, ever. But I noticed his now, big time. They were … beautiful. They looked so soft and pink. I wondered what it would be like to have them press against mine. The thought made me redden. He’s my stepbrother! Wincing with embarrassment, I covered my flaming cheeks with the palms of my hands.
Kissing The Bad Boy Page 13
