by L. J. Dee
Either way, ‘We’ll see’ could only mean one thing. He obviously thought I was easy pickings as I tried to straighten myself up and get my head into gear.
“I’m pretty certain we won’t,” I shot back in an effort to redress the power balance, although I was rather hoping we would. He didn’t seem bothered, just chuckling; a low deep gravelly sound that only added to his sexiness. I decided to ditch the retorts; I was fighting a losing battle. Besides he was the only human life I’d seen for miles that might help me with directions to the Hunter estate.
Do you know where Greenfield Hall is?” I asked, licking my lips as he pierced my gaze, clearly misreading my gesture. It was an anatomical need to get some lubrication before my damn mouth dried up altogether.
“Come here,” he said, beckoning me closer as my traitorous feet seemed to move of their own accord and my breathing sped up. I wasn’t sure what he was about to do, but there was only one thing I wanted. Where the hell had that thought just come from? This wasn’t me; it wasn’t how I behaved. It was the way those women who followed Brad Johnson into the bathroom behaved. I’d always looked down on them for belittling their value, following him like he was the pied piper of pussy or something, dropping their dress as quickly as their morals for a quick romp with someone who, in ten minutes, wouldn’t remember their name. Right now, if I wasn’t careful, I could be that woman. The killer gaze was evaporating my senses.
‘Get your shit together, girl’.
He was only centimetres away as he turned and pointed. I didn’t follow his finger, just staring vacantly at that incredible face, flushing as he frowned at me and I eventually looked across the fields.
“Can you see that huge house, beyond the trees?” he asked as I nodded.
“The one with the ornamental carvings below the roof?” I replied, solely in an effort for something to say.
“Yeah, the one we can actually see,” he said as his eyes twinkled with humour and I realised he was mocking me. It was the only house in sight and my comment had been an entirely moot point. I was being ridiculously uncool; and cool was my middle fucking name.
“You need to take the next left and follow the road. You’ll see the entrance in a mile and a half,” he said and this time he was looking at me just as intently as I was looking at him. I’d never felt so off balance.
“Thank you,” I mumbled, breaking the gaze and moving backwards into safer territory. I followed my better judgement, turning to leave before I completely lost the plot. This ‘Carpe Diem’ shit was dangerous.
“I’ll see you, Chastity,” he winked, rolling out my name sweetly across his tongue as my heart flipped in my chest. I took a deep breath, regaining my senses with every foot of distance I put between us and glanced back as I left the churchyard. He was still watching me. Luckily I hadn’t totally morphed into my sister and tripped over my own feet. I exhaled loudly as I climbed back into the car, unable to recall the directions he’d given me to the house. Left? Did he say left? I took a left.
Every car was heading in the opposite direction to me and I guessed it was all over. Jess would probably go thermonuclear, but it wasn’t as if I’d actually had fun today; except for the incident in the graveyard. That had been incredible. I wondered if I’d share it, imagining how hilarious my sister would find it that I hadn’t got his name and number after the lectures I’d given her. That’s what I’d been kicking myself about when I finally found the Hunter estate. I drove the beaten up Ford along the gravel driveway, parking next to the impressive ornate circular fountain that dominated the front of the incredible house. Wow, this really was something.
I walked through the grand stone front entrance, a huge arched doorway with carved pillars at either side, trying to focus my attention on the reason I was here instead of the amazing architecture, smiling at Lucas. He was kissing the cheeks of a sweet looking, grey haired lady and seemed to be in charge of waving everyone off, eventually shutting the door and leaning back against the wall for a second as he sighed deeply. He looked exhausted.
My sister was hovering behind him, looking me up and down and distinctly unhappy with my tardiness.
“Where the hell have you been?” she scalded, marching into the kitchen followed by Lucas as I stepped forward to give him a hug, completely ignoring her.
“I’m really sorry for your loss, Lucas, and I’m sorry I’m late. I got lost, almost died, went to the wrong funeral and killed a ferret,” I smiled, squeezing him tight as Jess glowered at me over his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Sis,” I said, moving to hug her too. “The sat nav broke and I’ve been driving around Surrey for hours. There was no one around to ask for directions, and the life and death thing shook me up,” I said as Lucas laughed.
“Don’t worry about the ferret, they’re nasty little fuckers and I’ve never met one that didn’t bite.”
I gawped as the gorgeous man I recognised from the smoking hot video on MTV strode into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out a beer. Charlie bounded up to me, throwing his arms around me and kissing my cheeks. “I’m sorry about your Dad, Charlie, and sorry I missed the service,” I said as he pulled back, smiling down at me broadly.
“No big deal, babe, you’re here now.”
“Have I missed the party too?” I asked as Jess threw me a nasty glare, Lucas frowned and Charlie laughed whole heartedly.
“I told you, Chas, it’s not a party and yeah, it’s finished. Everyone left just before you got here,” he said as the beautiful specimen of Tyler Hunter sidled casually towards us, swigging his beer and looking me over.
“Jesus, you lot hit the genetic lottery, didn’t you?” I laughed as Charlie chuckled and Tyler raised his eyebrows. They were lucky they hadn’t accidentally cremated Silus’ body, surrounding him with that level of heat. I bit back that observation just in time.
“Will you tone it down, Sis, the boys have just buried their father,” Jess said as I smiled apologetically.
“Sorry, I forgot where I was for a second.” I stared at the sexy young rocker, then at Charlie and then at Lucas. It wasn’t easy for a girl to keep her head around this much hotness and the glance to my sister told her as much. She’d been here a few days and I wondered how the hell she managed it. Falling into bed with Lucas at night had to help I thought, casting another quick glance at Charlie.
“Chas,” I said, reaching out my hand to Tyler as he shook it, offering a tight smile and I could tell from the redness that rimmed his eyes that today had affected him deeply.
“I’m glad you’re here, Chas. You are probably the only person who could make me smile today,” Charlie said as I smiled back, holding him in another lingering hug and wondering whether this weekend might be the time that Charlie finally decided he wanted more than a fast fuck. I’d always hated funerals and already considered stranger sex in a graveyard today which was absolutely unheard of. Maybe Charlie might suddenly decide that a relationship would be more fulfilling after all. Despite the sizzling sexual chemistry and the undeniable attraction, I wouldn’t cross that line until I had some guarantees. Our friendship was too unique to risk for anything less.
“Always on hand to brighten your day,” I smiled as he tucked his arm around my waist, kissing me in an affectionate gesture that sent a shiver of warmth running through me.
“So where did you get to?” Lucas asked as I sighed.
“Well I ended up in Little Prenton instead of Little Preston. I found a graveyard, but they were burying someone called Deidre,” I said as Charlie smiled. “It took me a while to realise, but there was way too much polyester going on and not a sniff of Armani. You should have seen the looks I got when I tried to sneak off. I had to pretend I was overcome with emotion, but I don’t have much experience of that. I sounded more like a pig having an orgasm,” I said as Charlie laughed hard.
“What does that sound like?” Tyler smiled in amusement as I snivelled and sucked in loud deep breaths, peppering my virtual sobs with the occa
sional grunt and high pitched squeal. If it sounded as bad then as it did now, I wasn’t surprised everyone was staring.
“Eventually I found the right one, and I was hoping I could make the burial part, but you’d all left,” I said, my face lighting up as I thought about my little encounter with the hot gravedigger.
“What’s that look?” asked Jess who had clearly noticed the sparkle in my eyes as Charlie watched me with some amusement.
“What look?” I pursed my lips and tried not to smile, but I was fooling no one, least of all my sister.
“That look! The one right there, that’s lighting up your whole face.” She was pointing at me as I flushed, biting my lip to stifle my grin and I wondered whether telling them at this particular moment would be inappropriate.
“Nothing,” I lied as Charlie shook his head.
“It can’t be as bad as bursting into someone’s burial and moaning like some strange, horny hog. Come on, Chas, tell us what happened,” he grinned as I took a deep breath. It probably wasn’t a good idea, but might shock Charlie into action if nothing else. Maybe it wouldn’t. However it went I was desperate to share it with someone.
“I met a man by the grave,” I said, noticing the slight frown on Charlie’s brow as Jess urged me to continue. “He was stunning and he started talking to me. I was absolutely speechless.” Jess stared open mouthed and even Lucas was smiling.
“You were left speechless? Jesus Christ, Chas, that must be a first,” he laughed, looking at Charlie who wasn’t amused.
“Were you hit by the thunderbolt?” Jess asked excitedly as I shook my head.
“I don’t know about a thunderbolt, but I was definitely smacked by the sex stick.” Everyone laughed except Charlie. I glanced at the floor as guilt pricked my gut. I was supposed to be here cheering Charlie up, not bringing him down, and the last thing I’d intended was to hurt him.
I had never seen my sister so animated and she wasn’t about to leave it there. “I knew it would happen one day. Now you know how it feels. What’s his name?” she asked as I rolled my eyes. She was silent for a second, until a broad grin spread slowly across her face. “You didn’t get it, did you?” she laughed, with more than a small element of triumph in her voice as I shook my head. She was smirking now, and I really couldn’t blame her after the lectures I’d delivered on this very subject.
“Tell us what he looked like. If he’s local we might know him,” Lucas said, almost reading my mind. Digging graves must be thirsty work. He definitely looked like the kind of man who’d like a beer, as the thought of him extracting that glorious body from a sweat covered T-shirt and wrapping those full, soft lips around a moulded brown bottle flashed into my mind. Perhaps I could drag everyone down to the pub later to see if I could find him. The prospect of never seeing that incredible face again was pretty depressing. I cast a quick glance at Charlie, all of a sudden quite awkward and wondering whether I shouldn’t be sharing this after all. Hell, it was too late now.
“He was tall and muscular with dark skin; really tanned like he spent a lot of time outdoors. It’s strange, but he was so captivating that I can’t really remember the exact details, except his eyes. His eyes were extraordinary, the most vibrant blue and he looked...” I stopped, glancing up as the kitchen door flew open. I stood there for a second, immobilised; open mouthed and staring hard as everyone followed my gaze to the figure in the doorway.
“He looked exactly like that,” I whispered. Jess glanced at me with a stunned expression on her face as the deafening shouts of “Roman” echoed through the room. Tyler flung his arms around the handsome stranger, almost knocking him stumbling backwards into the hall.
“You came,” he gasped as Roman looked at Lucas, then Charlie until his eyes settled finally on me, a small smirk curving the side of his mouth.
“We thought you weren’t coming,” Lucas smiled, moving to hug his brother, patting him hard on the back and pulling away as Roman shifted his gaze to Charlie and the smirk was gone.
“Charlie?” he said as Charlie looked away, and Roman’s dark brows pinched together as he glanced across at Lucas. The tense atmosphere was broken by Tyler, who looked relieved and happy.
“I knew you’d come back.”
“I needed to check for myself that the bastard was actually dead,” he smiled at Tyler as Charlie glared at him, every muscle tensing in his body, hands balled into giant fists.
“Let’s take this through to the study,” Lucas announced firmly, ushering Tyler and Roman out of the kitchen as Charlie followed behind, looking furious and not remotely happy to see his prodigal brother. Jess grabbed my elbow.
“Roman is your thunderbolt?” she gasped, eyeing me intently as a nervous laugh escaped my lips.
“It would appear so, Sis,” I whispered as she shook her head in disbelief. She wasn’t alone. Oh my God. I had no clue what was coming next, how this thing might pan out or what the weekend would bring. The only thing I was certain of; that I wanted to know more about Roman Hunter.
ROMAN. Book 2 in The Hunter Brothers Series – AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON
**
CHARLIE: BOOK #3 THE HUNTER BROTHERS SERIES
Scarlett Everett is determined that one day Charlie will return the chest crushing love she harbours for him. She lives for him, breathes for him, prepared to take down anyone that stands in the way of their future – including family.
Beautiful and smart, cunning and manipulative, Scarlett is used to winning battles in business. But this is personal. This is war.
As Tyler’s star continues to rise, Roman returns with an unexpected guest, and Lucas settles into life with Jess, they are unprepared for the chaos about to be unleashed, reaching every aspect of their lives and their relationships. Trust is thrown into doubt and loyalties tested to their limits, when the charismatic playboy of the Hunter family is caught between the women that dominate his life.
The one he wants, but can’t have and the one he has every night; addicting his body with her sinful brand of sexuality that suffocates his senses.
‘Have you ever faced the excruciating brutality of pure heartbreak; the kind that takes you and shakes you; rams it’s fist in your gut and its knife through your chest, relentlessly ripping at your soul with its unforgiving claws? It’s an existence that ends each morning as you open your eyes, soaking in the light for that swift, fleeting moment before you realise that he’s gone and all that’s waiting is another bleak and endless day with nothing but pain and anger to get you through.
I have lived that once. I could not survive it twice.
I love him, he broke me, and now he’s back. Back in my bed and the heart that he shattered and I will do whatever it takes to keep it that way. I am what I’ve become; harder, stronger and fiercely determined. I am not the woman he knew before, but a product of the experiences that changed me forever, leaving their dark and indelible scars on my soul.
Charlie is mine. God help anyone that tries to get in our way.’
Prepare for the battle of the bitches.
CHARLIE
BOOK #3 THE HUNTER BROTHERS SERIES
Coming August 2014
If you enjoyed Lucas, or have any questions or comments about the book, please leave a review on Amazon or email me at [email protected].
Check out more from erotic romance novels from LJ Dee;
KING
By L J Dee
King. He wore the name well. Marketing royalty, inherently arrogant with a supreme confidence that could only come with an inflated sense of self worth. Infuriatingly gorgeous, worshipped by his devoted band of subjects and the bane of my professional life. God I hated Jason King.
Charlotte Smith is at the peak of her profession and on the verge of realising a long harboured dream. Few people know what she’s endured just to get here and one in particular seems determined to stop her.
When beautiful and brilliant CEO playboy Jason King strides into her life, Charlotte’s world is thrown into absolut
e turmoil as his need for control and her steely resolve collide with an intense passion she just didn’t envisage. Pulled further into the dark desires of the handsome enemy who stirs her so deeply, she knows she has to protect the heart that beats within her. A heart that has never known love.
What happens when the man you loathe becomes the man you can’t live without?
King is a full length novel depicting adult scenes including BDSM, and is recommended for over 18’s
**
Utterly Sluttily
(A funny erotic romance novel)
By L.J. Dee
Everything happens for a reason.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Bo!!*cks.
At least that’s what I thought as I boarded the plane - miserable, humiliated and absolutely furious. I’d always done what was expected of me, followed the rules and been a good girl. School, work, the apartment, the almost-husband and where had it got me?
Here...a place where no sane individual would want to dwell.
I’d heard every cliché in those last few hours and I wasn’t about to become a walking one. Lao-Tzu once said that ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’ and this was my journey. According the screen on the back of the seat it was 4255 miles and it started with a complimentary eye mask and two miniature bottles of airline house white, but the principal was the same.
It was simple. I had two options. Cry into my ‘something old’; a Victorian lace handkerchief that had belonged to my grandmother, or start something new. So with the theme from Rocky playing in my head, I drew on the wisdom of that old Chinese philosopher and decided on the latter.
