Birthday Suit
Page 1
Contents
Also By Lauren Blakely
Prologue
1. Leo
2. Lulu
3. Leo
4. Lulu
5. Leo
6. Leo
7. Lulu
8. Leo
9. Lulu
10. Leo
11. Leo
12. Lulu
13. Lulu
14. Lulu
15. Leo
16. Lulu
17. Leo
18. Lulu
19. Lulu
20. Leo
21. Leo
22. Leo
23. Lulu
24. Lulu
25. Lulu
26. Lulu
27. Leo
28. Lulu
29. Leo
30. Lulu
31. Leo
32. Lulu
33. Leo
34. Lulu
35. Leo
36. Lulu
37. Leo
38. Tripp
39. Lulu
40. Lulu
Epilogue
Also by Lauren Blakely
Contact
Copyright © 2019 by Lauren Blakely
LaurenBlakely.com
Cover Design by © Helen Williams, photo by Wander Aguilar
First Edition Book
* * *
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. This ebook is licensed for your personal use only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
Also By Lauren Blakely
Big Rock Series
* * *
Big Rock
Mister O
Well Hung
Full Package
Joy Ride
Hard Wood
* * *
One Love Series dual-POV Standalones
The Sexy One
The Only One
The Hot One
* * *
Sports Romance
Most Valuable Playboy
Most Likely to Score
* * *
Standalones
* * *
The Knocked Up Plan
Stud Finder
The V Card
Wanderlust
Come As You Are
Part-Time Lover
The Real Deal
Unbreak My Heart
Far Too Tempting
21 Stolen Kisses
Playing With Her Heart
Out of Bounds
Unzipped
Birthday Suit (2019)
Best Laid Plans (2019)
The Feel Good Factor (2019)
* * *
The Heartbreakers Series
Once Upon a Real Good Time
Once Upon a Sure Thing
Once Upon a Wild Fling
* * *
The Caught Up in Love Series
Caught Up In Us
Pretending He’s Mine
Trophy Husband
* * *
Stars In Their Eyes Duet
My Charming Rival
My Sexy Rival
* * *
The No Regrets Series
The Thrill of It
The Start of Us
Every Second With You
* * *
The Seductive Nights Series
First Night (Julia and Clay, prequel novella)
Night After Night (Julia and Clay, book one)
After This Night (Julia and Clay, book two)
One More Night (Julia and Clay, book three)
A Wildly Seductive Night (Julia and Clay novella, book 3.5)
* * *
The Joy Delivered Duet
Nights With Him (A standalone novel about Michelle and Jack)
Forbidden Nights (A standalone novel about Nate and Casey)
* * *
The Sinful Nights Series
Sweet Sinful Nights
Sinful Desire
Sinful Longing
Sinful Love
* * *
The Fighting Fire Series
Burn For Me (Smith and Jamie)
Melt for Him (Megan and Becker)
Consumed By You (Travis and Cara)
* * *
The Jewel Series
A two-book sexy contemporary romance series
The Sapphire Affair
The Sapphire Heist
This story is dedicated to Jeanne Blum and Elizabeth Mantia
Prologue
Leo
* * *
Let’s get one thing out of the way real fast. Regret is a waste of time. I don’t believe in it—never have, never will. I try to live my life without that useless emotion.
You know those articles where the journalist asks old people what they would have done differently, and they list all sorts of stuff—be a better friend, call your mom, tell the woman you love her? You don’t want to be that person.
There’s a simple way to avoid it.
Do the good shit now.
Say yes to that crazy job offer, ask out the girl who’s out of your league, climb the mountain and kiss the sky.
You’ll thank yourself later.
But the flip side of that kind of life is this: you need some rules. A few basic guidelines to follow to navigate the potholes.
Over the years I’ve assembled my top picks. Some from experience, some from listening to others.
Allow me to share my hard-won wisdom.
* * *
1. If you have to sniff the food in your fridge to decide if you can eat it, just toss it. You’ll be glad you did tomorrow.
* * *
2. You can tell everything you need to know about a person by how he or she treats the waiter.
* * *
3. Turn down that last tequila shot. Trust me on this one.
* * *
4. If your woman sends you to the store to pick up something, get that something, not another version you think is better. Her version is always the right one.
* * *
5. You can’t put your foot in your mouth if it’s closed.
* * *
6. No dude ever gets in trouble while cleaning the kitchen.
* * *
7. Don’t live to work; work to live.
* * *
8. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.
* * *
9. Don’t get a tattoo that’s longer than your dick.
* * *
10. Men should never wear black jeans.
* * *
That’s my list and I’m sticking to it. Those mantras have served me well. They’ve made me the man I am today—successful, wise, and satisfied.
There’s one more though. An addendum, if you will. The postscript you need to achieve
a life well-lived. This ought to be so damn easy that no one makes this mistake.
Gather close.
Write it down.
Follow this one to the motherfucking letter.
No matter what, don’t fall in love with your best friend’s girl.
Too bad that ship sailed long ago for me.
1
Leo
Real men like chocolate. And they aren’t afraid to show it.
I have no shame over my love for this substance. I love it when it’s dark, when it’s bitter, when it’s semisweet. I love it slathered on ice cream; crafted into truffles, bars, and squares; or filled with nuts, fruit, or liqueur.
But there’s one form I can’t stand.
Chocolate fountains.
We’re talking the hardest of hard limits, especially here at The Big Chocolate Show in the heart of Manhattan.
As I head down the aisle in hot pursuit of the next rising star, I’m transfixed by a guy in the booth a few feet ahead. He has a bushy beard and gnarly hands, and he swipes his index finger through the chocolate stream in front of him.
Then licks said finger.
He wipes the chocolate drops from his beard.
And proceeds to lick that off his fingers too.
Shuddering, I jerk my gaze away from the Finger-Licking Good booth. This is worse than going to see the latest Ed Helms F-bomb laden comedy and getting hit with a preview for a “snowman came to life and eviscerated me with an icicle” flick. I don’t want horror trailers before my adult comedies, nor do I want to see cesspools of chocolate when I’m hunting for the next great chocolatier.
I adjust my cranberry-colored tie and turn into the Heavenly booth, admiring the classy layout, from the simple oak tables to the stone bowls the chocolates lounge in invitingly with silver tongs beside them.
Yes, tongs. Because chocolates should be distributed in public by tongs, not fingers.
With her usual cheery grin, our freckle-faced marketing director waves me over from her spot manning the table. Or womanning the table, as Ginny likes to say. She scans left, then right. Coast is clear. There’s a lull in the booth action. She drops her voice to a clandestine whisper. “Leo, I pilfered some goodies for you.”
“Ginny, you are brilliant and also quite nefarious.”
“I take that as the highest compliment, especially since when I was a little girl growing up in Sydney, I had secret dreams to become a chocolate thief.”
“Glad to see we’re making all your dreams come true.”
She slides a green ceramic plate at me then presses her finger to her lips, her heart-shaped necklace dangling perilously close to the table. “But I don’t want anyone to see you tasting someone else’s chocolate. It would make us look bad.”
I shoot her a look. “It would make us look like we were on a mad hunt for the next rising star to partner with.” As the exec in charge of business development, that’s exactly my role at this show—finding that person.
She waves off my reply. “C’mon. Play along with me.”
“Fine. Fine. Cover me, Ginny. I’m going in.” I glance behind me, like I’m checking for sniper fire.
“You’re all clear. Go for it. I’ve got you.” With a sly backhand move, she wields the tongs—God bless her—and drops a small truffle into my palm. “This is your kind of chocolate.”
“Do tell. What is my kind?” I take the chocolate, half-expecting her to say “bitter,” since she knows me well enough.
But her reply surprises me.
“Spice.”
I arch a brow. “Is that so?”
“Absolutely. You tell it like it is, just like a pepper.”
Laughing, I ask, “Is that what a pepper does?”
“Of course. All good peppers give it to you straight.”
“Then I will give this my true and honest appraisal, as if you’d given me Veritaserum.”
“I love it when you talk Harry Potter.”
“You only forced me to read them.”
Her jaw drops. “There was no forcing. That was love. That was only love I forced on you.”
“And several thousand pages of reading too.”
“That you adored.”
“I did,” I concede, since wizard battles rock, then I sniff the chocolate. It tickles my nose with a little hint of fire. I pop it in my mouth, the sharp, peppery taste tangoing over my tongue. “That’s a helluva kick.”
She pumps her fist. “I knew you were a spice. I have others for you to try too. But first, have you found our next rising star for our fabulous boss? She’s damn eager since the first partnership went so well.”
“No one who’s wowed me enough with his or her artisanal creations. Who does this deliciousness belong to?”
“I’m not telling you yet. You need to taste the others first.” She grabs another small square, placing it in my palm. “Try this one now. But smell it first.”
“As if I’d do anything but sniff it.” I draw a deep inhale, letting it fill my mind with . . . a most familiar scent.
Dark chocolate. A touch of vanilla. A little bit of coconut.
And like that, I’m thinking of her.
A woman who smelled like chocolate. I imagine she’d taste like chocolate too. I’ve wondered about her far too much for my own good.
As the memory of her scent floods my mind, I can see her face, her cheekbones, her mismatched eyes—one green, one blue. Or as she liked to say, one green, one not so green.
An impish smile.
She was bright, bold, and a little crazy in all the good ways.
She’d convince you to dance on the rooftop, climb the fence at Gramercy Park, and order the hottest dish on the menu even though you wouldn’t taste anything for days afterward. You only live once, she’d say. And when it came to chocolate, her favorite assessment was, “It’s so good it should be criminal.” Then she’d add, “But thank God it’s not.”
“Is it so good it’s criminal?”
At the sound of that voice, I snap to attention.
Am I hearing things? I spin around. Maybe I’m seeing a mirage.
Here she is now. The woman herself, in the flesh.
“Not that chocolate being illegal would ever stop you from eating it,” I say, since you can’t greet Lulu Diamond with a “Hello, how the hell are you?” or “It’s been forever.” Lulu must be greeted in medias res, and then you simply must keep up with her.
My eyes rake over her, drinking in the sight. She always looked like she’d ridden in astride a rainbow-colored unicorn while fireworks rained down on all of us.
Today is no different.
She’s decked out in an orange dress with sapphire-blue heels, and her Sarah Jessica Parker curls are piled high in a bun. She used to tell us she was mistaken for the actress, circa the Sex and The City years.
She gestures to the chocolates. “Nothing would ever stop me from eating my favorite treats.” Lulu glances at Ginny, meeting her eyes then pointing to me. “Also, you nailed it. Leo’s totally a spice.”
Ginny pats herself on the back. “Knew it.”
“But he’s also a coconut, don’t you think?”
“Is that so?” Ginny jumps right into it, like she went to the Lulu school of How to Talk to Strangers.
“You heard our entire conversation?” I cut in.
“It was either listen in or cover your eyes with my hands and shout boo!” Lulu says.
“But that sounds exactly your style.”
“You have me on that one.” Lulu extends a hand to Ginny. “Lulu Diamond. I love your necklace, and you have the best hair.”
Ginny pats her red locks, her smile blazing as Lulu does what Lulu does—makes you feel like the center of the fucking world.
“Ginny Perretti. And you’re hired. For anything and everything.”
Just like that, Lulu is making best friends with whomever she meets. The woman I’ve known since that fated day ten years ago flashes a grin at my friend and colleague. “Excellen
t. I’ll be there tomorrow morning at nine a.m. on the dot.”
As a group of chocolate connoisseurs heads into the Heavenly booth, Ginny trains her attention on them. Lulu looks at me then smiles again. It’s the warmest grin I’ve ever seen, and with it, her boldness momentarily melts away. It’s replaced by something else entirely—a sweetness, a tenderness. She has that in her, too, in spades. “How the hell are you?”
At last, we can greet each other like normal people as we drop the rat-a-tat banter.
“I’m . . .” My voice trails off as I consider all the ways to answer her. Busy? Focused? Alone? Ambitious? Determined? Kicking unholy ass? Lonely? Escaping from the world? “I’m all good.”