Red Hot Lovers: 18 Contemporary Romance Books of Love, Passion, and Sexy Heroes by Your Favorite Top-Selling Authors

by Milly Taiden

  “I’m going for a smoke,” Pancakes called, hurrying out of the room.

  Everly sat down at the edge of the stage. She knew she was more than capable of singing her heart out, but her heart just wasn’t in it today. She’d lost count of how many times she hoped Vinnie would walk through the doors. She was used to seeing Vinnie watch her as she sang. She missed him.

  Luke took a seat next to Everly. He knew her moods all too well. She’d been having a hard time and he genuinely felt bad for her.

  “What’s wrong, love?” he asked, in his usual hushed tone. Luke was a wise kid—young and full of promise. Everly had learned over the time they worked together that he was from a wealthy family and he had a more-than-sufficient trust fund. He didn’t need to work at all, but he chose to. He’s just that kind of guy.

  “Just an off day. How are you?” she asked.

  Luke kept squirming around, running his hands up and down his legs. She made him very nervous.

  “I’m fine, the usual. Do you want to call it a day?” he asked.“No, let’s get this over with. And then I’ll go home and try and get some rest,” she insisted.

  She knew Luke would never tell Mages to call it a day. Mages called the shots for Vintage Luv.

  Mages came bounding back in the room, whipped his sticks above his head, and whacked them together.

  “1, 2, 3, 4!” he yelled.

  Attacking the drums with the style of a crazed man, his face was full of intensity as he played. Everly and Luke quickly assembled in their spots. Everly’s voice overpowered the beat of the drums. She gripped the microphone with her hands, closing her eyes as she sang out in the empty club as her body swayed back and forth to the beat of the music.

  Mark came into the room and listened. The song had caught his attention and took him away from his work. He shook a small package in the air for Everly to see. It had just been delivered and he didn’t want her to miss it. He hoped it was a gift from Vinnie—anything to put a smile on her face. The girl was miserable without him.

  ***

  “Great job, Mrs. Marshall. Keep your arm straight, Mrs. Rigs,” Vinnie instructed, making his way past the plethora of women. Thursday was his busiest day. That’s when all the cougars came out to play. He beamed his pearly whites, making sure to lay it on thick. He’d been dancing since he could walk and the studio was his bread and butter. It didn’t take him long to realize the dancing gave him an ‘in’ with the women. Women loved a man with great dance moves and he knew he could get them to do just about anything he’d ask of them.

  Seeing Janelle walk in the studio caused Vinnie’s thoughts to drift back to the here and now and his dance lesson with Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Rigs. He looked to see if her fiancé had come with her. He was nowhere to be seen. Vinnie realized he was delighted to see her.

  She found him immediately, her eyes lighting up as she watched him from across the room. He gave her a wave with a sly smile, remembering what they’d done the night before. He loved that she turned out to be wilder than he would have imagined.

  “You look nice,” he said. The soft scent of her perfume filled his nose as he kissed her on the cheek. He touched her hair that she’d styled in a slicked-back bun, letting a few curls fall here and there. The light eye shadow and the sheer lip gloss added to her elegance.

  “You better get back to your class before they all fire you,” she said, poking him in the side. She went and took her place on the side of Mrs. Marshall.

  “I want everyone to take a partner and practice some simple lifts,” he said loudly, giving his guys the cue to match up with one of the eager ladies.

  Before any one of them could protest not having him as their partner, he made his way to Janelle, tapping her on the shoulder.

  “Shall we?” he asked, his hand stretched out for hers.

  “Out of the entire class, you choose me?” she asked, as the music started playing.

  “You really thought I’d let you dance alone? Kind of hard to do a lift without a partner. Where’s that fiancé of yours?” She rested her head against his chest as they moved around the room doing a simple two-step routine.

  “I allowed him to sit this one out,” she breathed, enjoying the closeness.

  “Hey, what are you doing later?” Vinnie asked.

  He didn’t know where he was trying to take this. He just knew he wanted her company. She was so different from the chaos and complication that Everly brought into their relationship. He truly believed she enjoyed his company as well.

  “I don’t know, just going home. Why?” she asked as she lifted her head to look at him. He spun her around, letting her fall back into his arm.

  “Thought we could grab some coffee or drinks after.” He swallowed as she stared up at him, beaming that beautiful smile back at him.

  “I suppose that would be just fine. Harmless enough, right?” she asked, winking at him.

  Ethan

  Ethan was glad when the hiking excursion came to a quick end. Who hiked in the middle of a snowfall anyway?

  He tried to act as casual as possible as he made his way through the gym locker room—the same gym where Quinn swore she’d seen the same kind of keys. He looked around to make sure no one saw him and quickly shoved the key into the first locker. It failed, so he moved to the next one and then the next one.

  “There must be fifty lockers here,” he grumbled to himself, yanking the key out and going to the next.

  It was clear his mother had hidden something and he was determined to find it. At the end of the row, he took a deep breath hoping it was the one.

  “Come on, come on. This place reeks,” he muttered. He put the key in the lock and turned it. It opened! He threw his fist in the air and danced a silent jig. For once in her life, Quinn had been right about something. Now all he had to do was find out what was so important in this locker. He opened the door, finding a black gym bag resting neatly at the bottom of the locker.

  He quickly snagged the bag off the bottom and made a break for the door.

  His skin cooled off right away when he hit the night air. It had been like a sauna in there. He was excited to get to the truck so he could start digging in the bag for answers.

  “Ok, let’s see what’s in here,” he said, starting up the truck so he could run the heater while he sat there going through the mystery bag.

  Ethan prayed that whatever he found, it would be something that would provide him with the answers he so desperately needed. He unzipped the bag and dove right in. He was shocked to find a handgun, a small envelope, and a flash drive. He tore into the envelope to find two new bank cards. His mom’s name was on one and the name of the man in prison for her murder was on the other. He kept digging in the bag to find two passports. He touched his mother’s face on the one passport; the one with Sam’s picture he shoved back in the bag.

  “They were planning to leave…she was going to take off with him,” he said out loud. He was shocked to think his mom would actually have the nerve to leave his dad. What was it about this Sam guy that had his mom so willing to give up her life with Dad and leave?Ethan put the truck in gear, sliding the contents underneath the truck’s seat. He’d check out that flash drive when he got back to the dorm.

  As his truck sped down the highway, a black car came barreling toward him. He turned the wheel at the last minute, able to dodge the car by just inches.

  “Are you blind?!” he yelled, pounding the dashboard. He honked his horn wildly and sped up. He tried his hardest to catch up to the Aston Martin that had nearly crashed into him. The windows were dark and he couldn’t see who was inside. He wanted to get the license plate number but the car was long gone before he had the opportunity. He suddenly came to a screeching halt as he slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting the stopped traffic in front of him.

  Dad

  Ned woke up to Gray licking his face. He rolled over and groaned as he tried to fill his lungs with air. His head was a pounding mess and he wondered how long he
’d been on the floor. Pulling himself to his feet, he staggered forward to see the complete disarray throughout his house. It looked like a tornado had blown through—more than once. He shook his head in disbelief as he walked across the floor of paper, busted and shattered pieces of his dining room table, grandfather clock, and every other imaginable thing—even shoes and tennis rackets had been torn apart. Parts of his staircase had been pried loose leaving gaping holes. Broken pictures and mirrors had been smashed throughout and the glass cracked underneath the weight of his feet as he walked across the room to shut the door. A small layer of snow had made its way in while he lay there unconscious. Somebody wanted something from his family and they were willing to go to extremes—even inflicting bodily harm—to get it. He was grateful to be alive but he had no intention of hanging around any longer.

  “Come on, boy,” he said, whistling to Gray. He held on tight to the railing as he made his way upstairs to pack his clothes. He was going to get away as far as possible. He held tight to the railing making his way upstairs to pack his clothes. He was going to get far away from Ohio.

  Outside of Ned’s house lay a package, almost completely covered in snow. Mrs. Winston, a young woman who’d just moved into the neighborhood, stood on the porch dusting the snow off the package. She was only trying to be kind as she lightly knocked on the door.

  “I’ll take that,” a deep voice from behind her said. She jumped, clutching her hands to her chest.

  “You really shouldn’t sneak up on people like that,” she said to the gargantuan man staring down at her. She was a dainty woman, hardly five feet tall, and with one quick movement, he grabbed her and snapped her neck. Dragging her across the porch, he let her body drop into the bushes and kicked the papers that had gathered around over her body. He tucked the small package under his arm and descended the stairs in one quick motion, as snow quickly covered the enormous boot tracks.

  Everly and Vinnie

  It was the end of another practice for Everly and her band, and now she was alone at her condo, the soft lull of classical music filling the air. The fire from the fireplace illuminated the dark room. She sat Indian style on her comforter looking at the package she held in her hands. She wondered what could be inside and started shaking it in one direction and then another. She finally couldn’t take it any longer and slit the tape with her fingernail so she could open the box. Inside the box she found a beautiful silver locket along with a letter from her mom. It pained her to see her mom’s handwriting..

  Sniffling as she opened the letter, she would have never imagined what she was about to read.

  ***

  “I really shouldn’t have had those last two glasses of champagne,” Janelle said, hiccupping.

  Vinnie kept his hand at her waist helping her into his condo. She had insisted on coming back to the condo with him. She was very drunk and it was too late in the night to go home and face her fiancé.

  “You really shouldn’t have,” he said. But I’m glad you did, he thought to himself.

  “Vinnie, this place is gorgeous. I can’t believe you live in such a swanky place,” she gushed.

  He let go of her and watched her admire the artwork on his walls and touch the iron statues that sat at the bottom of the staircase.

  “Really nice,” she said again.

  “Thank you,” he replied.

  He had no idea what he was doing; he’d gotten himself in a real mess here. He knew her fiancé was probably at home wondering where she was. Knowing how men thought, Vince figured he had probably figured out already that she was unfaithful. His life was messy enough. This was the last thing he needed.

  “What are you thinking over there? Where’s that gorgeous smile of yours?” she asked, coming up to him. She grabbed hold of his wrist and stared up at his blank expression.

  “You’re going to get yourself into a lot of trouble,” he said, looking down at her.

  “Brad trusts me. Let’s sit down and talk. Tell me about your life,” she pushed.

  “But I don’t trust me, sweetheart,” he sighed. “What do you want to know?”

  “You seem sad. She really hurt you, didn’t she?” she asked, as she sat down on the sofa.

  “Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it to be in love. I don’t like to see a man like you get hurt so bad,” she said. He had no intention of discussing Everly with her.

  Vinnie listened to Janelle’s intoxicated babblings and it pulled him right in. He wanted to hear more. He lay back on the couch letting Janelle make herself comfortable in his arms.

  “I want to hear more about your silly American thoughts on love,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Oh, you think they’re silly, huh? What is love to you then?” she asked, pulling her hair down. He ran his hands through it smoothing it out as she kept talking.

  “I have yet to figure that one out. I am a man who knows just what he wants, and for some reason the one person I wanted found a way to slip right away from me,” he said, faking a laugh.

  Janelle smiled and closed her eyes as his thick Russian accent lulled her to sleep. While his heart thudded softly in her ear, Vinnie was content to just hold this angelic girl in his arms. He leaned his head back against the soft cushion. He closed his eyes and drifted off into a calming sleep. He’d not slept so trouble free in days. He’d been spending every waking minute thinking of Everly, so it was nice to be able to forget—if only for just a little while.

  Dad

  Ned was doing his best to stay awake as he drove down the long empty expressway. The family dog sat next to him in his old pickup. The distress showed all over his face, as he headed out of Ohio, unsure of where he was headed. His plan was to drive until an idea hit him.

  “Just you and me, Gray,” he whispered to the old dog.

  He promised himself that as soon as he made it a safe distance away, he’d call each of the kids to let them know he was okay. He didn’t want any of them to fear the worst. Who was he kidding? There was a slim chance of that happening; he doubted they’d be worried at all. They were involved in their own lives and would probably never know if he was missing or not. Maybe he shouldn’t say anything to anyone. So until he could make up his mind where he was going, he’d keep the kids out of it.

  The Letters

  Everly was still rereading the letter that was draped across her legs. She was astonished at all her mom had to say.

  Everly,

  My oldest child, how I loved you since the moment you were placed in my arms. I know you will be the one to take my death the hardest.

  But I want you to know that you can make it through anything, my sweet girl.

  I am sure by now you are all through your grieving and what probably felt like the worst is now a dull ache.

  Am I right?

  I know you can move on, and I don’t want you to forget about me. But I also don’t want to ruin what a wonderful life you have in store for you.

  You probably will never have answers to why I left you guys so soon, and I’m sure you’re incredibly angry. But we all have to take responsibility for our actions. And I knew that the actions I chose were going to lead me one of two ways. The first could turn out magical in that I have found my true soul mate. The hope of living the rest of my life in the allure of love and happiness. Or, I could regret that I took a chance at all. Well, we see how it all turned out, right?

  Sam was the love of my life and I know it hurts to hear that. But I loved him more than I ever loved Ned. Sam and I had a long history and we finally gave in, knowing it was too much to bear to live separate lives. Sure, we both knew we were taking the chance of a horrible outcome, but Everly, if I have learned anything in my years, it’s this one thing: When you know where your heart belongs, you will do anything to make sure it’s where it’s supposed to be. Love, I have learned, is the one thing that knows no boundaries and it’s the most effortless and satisfying part of our lives.

  The one thing I tried to instill in all of my child
ren was to love with all you’ve got. And be who you feel you were meant to be, express your gifts, your talents. Sometimes put yourself first and never regret anything that you choose to do in life, because at one time it mattered.

  Furthermore, Everly Anne, I want you to remember what matters most if you start to dwell on my death. And never give up on the people that mean the most to you…like Vinnie. I know a good man when I see one—Vinnie is one for sure. I realize he is conceited and sees himself as God’s gift to women. For as much as he is into himself, he is into you wholeheartedly. Please don’t throw him away.

  Love, Mom

  p.s.

  I know you’re wondering what the locket is for, and whether Sam would really harm me. Sam would never harm a single hair on my head. And the locket, you will find that it has all the answers. If you sense that something is ever not right, know that my heart can save you all from true harm. And for heaven’s sake steer clear of anyone by the name of Evelyn.

  Folding the letter carefully, she pulled an old shoebox from underneath her bed. It held lots of photographs and old love letters perfectly tied with pink silk ribbons. Untying a stack, she added her mother’s letter to the pile. Everly didn’t know everything, but she was happy to have this letter from her mother.

  She turned the bed down, slipping under the comforter. She snapped the lamp off and lay down with a smile on her face. The fire in the fireplace had died to a dull glow, illuminating her face as she slipped off into sleep.

  ***

  He was gone. Adrian had kissed her goodbye before leaving on his flight to go home to Ohio. Charley was lonely and pained; she’d enjoyed their time together immensely.