Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Epilogue
One Wild Night
Khardine Gray
Bliss Romance
Contents
Acknowledgements
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Epilogue
Also by Khardine Gray
About the Author
Acknowledgements
To my dear readers and team of angels. Where would I be without you xx
Copyright
One Wild Night
Copyright © 2017 by Khardine Gray
All rights reserved.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The author asserts that all characters and situations depicted in this work of fiction are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover Design: Megan J. Parker-Squiers
Chapter 1
Look at him posing with his entourage of women.
Look at all the admiring fans and football groupies.
Standing by the grand marble steps that led to the hotel’s entrance, he straightened with pride and displayed his admirable athletic physique. He was an exhibition -- chiseled to perfection, all sleek with the kind of hard muscle you’d expect to see on only the most serious of athletes.
With the inherent strength in his ruggedly handsome face and the bright morning sunlight bouncing off his spiky black hair, he looked like he’d just stepped out of a fantasy. He looked powerful and godlike.
Abi rolled her eyes at the sight and pressed her hands against the cool metal rail that ran along the balcony. It overlooked the main entrance to the hotel, and so she could see all the guests arriving.
She shouldn’t watch him. It wasn’t healthy, but she told herself she was just doing it out of mere curiosity. C
uriosity to see how she’d feel when she saw him again. Curiosity to see if anything had changed for the renowned and cherished LA Gladiators wide receiver, Scott Emmerson.
From where she stood, Abi couldn’t see any changes for the better. He seemed to love attention just as much as ever, and the host of women worshipping him only fueled that.
Irritated by his cool and self-absorbed manner, Abi frowned. How on earth did they know he would be in San Francisco this week?
He was here for Margo’s wedding. Margo is his little sister and Abi’s very best friend. Margo was like a sister to Abi, too, and Abi knew that Margo wanted her wedding to be a private affair and not some publicity opportunity. Abi figured that Scott’s PR company must have purposely announced his presence.
With the new football season only months away, this was the time when the main players did all their media and magazine appearances. Part of it was to build up the hype for the onset of the season, but it was also done to attract more fans -- women fans, specifically. Why else would a guy have to pose shirtless or in his boxers on the beach for Calvin Klein?
It made women want them, and it made men want to be just like them.
And this guy below was one of the most self-centered attention grabbers Abi had ever known; he loved any opportunity to be in the public eye.
How did she know all this? Well, Abi had the unfortunate privilege of dating him for seven years.
Unfortunate privilege.
Those words didn’t make sense together, and probably wouldn’t make sense to anyone if she said them aloud, but they did make sense to Abi.
She was unfortunate because her relationship with him drained her out. Scott was her first love. She had met him in her freshman year of college, just after she had become friends with Margo. She was nineteen, and everything had changed for her in a dramatic way.
Abi’s grandmother had died a few months before she started college, leaving Abi completely alone in the world. Everyone she knew had died. So, not wanting her friend to be by herself for the holidays, Margo invited Abi to her family’s Thanksgiving feast. Abi had been completely charmed by her parents and the kindness they showed her, but when she met Scott – the completely gorgeous, hot older brother – she could have sworn the world had literally stopped.
It was what she called the ‘heart-stopping, mind-stopping syndrome’ that stayed with her for years. He was five years older than her, and having a guy like that show interest in you at that age was one of those memorable moments a girl always remembers.
She thought it was a dream when they got together, and Abi had loved him fiercely.
Scott was one of those guys who oozed confidence -- and quite rightly so because he had the personality and the looks to go with it. He was one of those guys who could hook you -- hook her. Abi was sure that most of the women he’d been with could relate. Scott had captured her with one look that controlled her like she was a mindless puppet.
Things were amazing initially, and everything had moved so fast. She’d liked his charm, and he charmed her into believing that he loved her, too. Maybe he did at one point; she’d never know. What she did know was that things were wonderful until he got signed to the Gladiators and got a taste of fame. With his talents and skills, he progressed very quickly. Everyone loved him, and things changed between him and Abi. With fame came a host of admiring women, and Scott soon he grew bored of Abi.
After that, when he was with her, he was with her in body, but not in mind -- like an empty shell. And, what was worse was she could tell he wanted to be with other women and most likely stayed with her only because she was Margo’s best friend.
Her love for him controlled her, made her think with her heart and never her brain. It made her give her all, but, in the end, she came to the devastating realization that it was just her who was making all the efforts in their relationship.
Leaving him broke the spell and released her mind from the thrall he had over her. It was difficult at first to get her head around it, but she did, and she pushed him out of her mind. It was all made easier by her move from LA to New York. She made an effort to see Margo when she could and spoke to her practically every night. She missed Margo, but being so far away from Scott had been good for her.
It set her life back on track.
She was thirty-two now and hadn’t seen him for almost six years.
The privilege of being with Scott was that it taught her to never give her heart away to anyone like him – someone who took advantage and couldn’t commit –ever again.
She blamed it on her youth. She young when she first got with Scott. She was inexperienced in life and in dealing with men. Her grandmother was very prudish and never spoke about relationships, and her mother and father had died in an accident when she was five. There was really no one to guide her.
But when she left Scott, she found her way, and, now, before she even considered going on
a date, the lucky guy would have to prove he was worth her time. She was single at the moment and had been for a while, but that worked for her. It did get lonely sometimes, but only sometimes. She was busy enough at work and certainly had no time for the dramas of having a relationship.
Seeing him now was weird. Over the last few weeks, as the time grew closer to today, she’d started thinking about him and wondering how it would be when they saw each other. Knowing him, he probably wouldn’t have thought much of it. But she had, and she’d probably spent more time thinking about him than she should have.
They didn’t exactly have an amicable split, but they didn’t have what most people deemed to be a disastrous split, either. Whichever way anyone chose to describe it, the whole thing left her heartbroken, and it took her a while before she could feel like herself again. She didn’t feel the hatred that most people express when they break up, but she wouldn’t exactly roll out the welcome carpet for Scott, either.
Looking down at him now, she didn’t feel anything one way or the other -- except for the mild irritation at him for posing as if everyone should kneel down and worship him.
Abi thought the next few days may be difficult, but she was hopeful that she could avoid having too much contact with Scott.
Abi sighed and rolled her eyes again as she watched Scott turn to his good side so that the paparazzi who’d now gathered could take their best pictures.
“Jesus.” She muttered under her breath and narrowed her eyes at him. “
Look at him standing there like he owns the world,” she thought. Now there were six Barbie-doll-like women trying to get a photo with him. The ones closest to him really took advantage of the moment and snuggled into his chest.
They all laughed as the photographer said something funny.
Then, Scott went back to posing by himself.
He took off his biker jacket, revealing a white T-shirt that highlighted some serious muscle across his wide shoulders, powerful chest, and rigid abs. He flexed an arm to show off the mass of his huge biceps. An image of one of those Levi’s ads came to Abi’s mind as she looked down and focused on his jeans. Just like in the ads, the jeans did a good job of showing off the athletic definition in his legs.
Okay, so she wasn’t entirely immune to a great body. The man was definitely of the Greek god variety. Shame about the personality, though. Men this good-looking should come with some kind of warning label.
Maybe it was that sixth sense that people spoke of, or maybe it was the piercing stare she gave him that made him turn and look up to where she stood.
Their eyes locked and a familiar tingle fluttered through her stomach, resonating from deep within. It was an eccentric blend of anxiety and anticipation that scattered her nerves. She didn’t expect to feel it -- or anything, for that matter -- and she immediately felt the off-balance daze she remembered feeling when she first met him and the world had stopped.
They stared at each other across the distance that separated them. Even from where she was, she could see the rich turquoise color of his eyes. They sparkled as he took her in and continued to stare.
The tingle turned into something more, something that heated her right up; Abi is annoyed by her body’s reaction to him.
His eyes roamed over her even though he was being called and even though two of the “Barbies” were trying to get more pictures with him. Scott didn’t move or respond; he just continued to stare until the moment felt almost awkward. The women looked to where he was looking -- to Abi.
Politely, he lifted his hand and waved. The Abi of the past would have waved back excitedly with a smile, but she wanted to show him the changed woman she was now and mask the effect he’d just had on her. So, she tipped her head and gave him a curt nod of acknowledgment.
She then turned away, not wanting to prolong the moment or the contact, and walked back through the lobby. There was no point encouraging contact even though he was three floors down and several feet away. There was a dinner later where she’d see him, but wouldn’t engage with him. That was how she planned to be for the rest of this trip.
“Abi!” Gale rushed up to her. Abi noted the look of worry on his face, his clamped mouth and the fear in his eyes.
She’d spent an hour yesterday calming his nerves. Some guys got cold feet before their wedding, but this one was too busy making sure everything was perfect for his bride. He got all worked up yesterday when the hotel placed red roses in Margo’s princess suite instead of pink ones. He said the smell and the ambiance were wrong. Abi didn’t know that red roses smelled different from pink ones and couldn’t see what the problem was because the flowers were out-of-this-world beautiful. Apparently, though, they weren’t good enough for his Margo, who he insisted had to have pink roses.
Gale had the tendency to go completely over the top when it came to Margo. Even this venue, beautiful as the Saylor Hotel was (it was the finest in San Francisco) was insisted on by Gale. This was because Becca Walker, Margo’s favorite singer and absolute idol, had gotten married here. They had to book a year in advance, and he paid for all the guests who were attending to stay here.
“Hey, you okay?” Abi asked, greeting him with a warm smile. She geared herself up for hearing some sort of ridiculousness like she had heard yesterday.
“No. Margo’s not here,” he winced.
“What?” Margo was supposed to arrive last night with everyone else traveling from LA. Abi had a migraine which is why she had come early.
“Are her parents here?”
“Yes.” His bright blue eyes looked sad and even more worried. “They got here just after you went up to your room.”
Margo had planned to travel with her parents. Abi found it strange that not only had she not come, but that Margo didn’t call her either.
“Have you spoken to her?”
“Yes, and no,” Gale replied with a tentative expression on his face.
“What does that mean?” Abi laughed.
“Abi, I did something bad.” He brought his large hands together and clasped them at his chin, then touched the dimple in his cleft.
“What could you possibly have done?” Gale was the most perfect guy ever. He and Margo met in college and they’d been together ever since. They were the description of the perfect couple. She couldn’t even think of him doing something to upset Margo. “Did she find out the roses were red instead of pink?” Abi had to laugh.
The sick look on his face held her attention. “I did something worse than that.”
“Gale, I’m sure she’ll be here. I’ll call and check.” Abi took out her phone from her back jeans pocket.
“No, wait. I should tell you what happened first -- before you speak to her.” He held up his hands.
Abi narrowed her gaze at him and sighed, certain this was going to be one of his crazy tales of overly-ness. He’d probably tell her that he thought Margo was upset because he’d told her the sheets in her room were cotton instead of silk. And, if he did Abi would happily highlight that Margo didn’t care about things like that. She was the humblest woman Abi knew, and Gale honestly didn’t need to be so over-the-top.
“Okay,” she said, just to humor him.
“There was something on my mind. Had been for a very long time. Years. I planned to tell her days ago, before we got here, but she’s been really busy at work. It was important to me to tell her before she got here. I wanted everything to be perfect and memorable as a happy time.”
This sounded serious. Abi shifted her weight from one foot to the next and folded her arms under her breasts.
Gale pulled in a breath and continued. “I had a secret that I needed to get off my chest.”
“What kind of secret?” Abi bit the inside of her lip and tucked a wayward strand of her hair behind her ear.
“The bad kind.” He brought his hand to his beard and shame filled his handsome features and made him look down. When he looked back to her, she saw that this really was serious. She’d never seen him l
ook like that before. “Abi, about ten years ago, Margo and I had a really terrible argument. I thought that was the end of us. We’d just left college and tried to live together as a couple. Anyway, this argument we had made me think we’d broken up. I was angry, and I got drunk, and um…”
Abi dropped her hands to her sides waiting to hear what he had to say. “What did you do, Gale?” her voice sounded more rigid now, unlike the playful tone she’d used previously.
“I slept with someone else.”
Her heart stopped and skipped several beats. Her breath was caught in the walls of her chest. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“What?” Her voice sounded fragile.
“Abi, I don’t really want to say it again. And, it’s embarrassing for me to tell you. I can’t even remember how it happened, but it did, and I’ve lived with that secret for all this time. I couldn’t marry Margo with that on my conscience. She deserved to know, and I think she’s changed her mind. I don’t think she’s coming.”
Well, if she didn’t, Abi would understand why. She drew her brows together and frowned at him. “Gale, why didn’t you tell her this before? This is crazy. You wait until two days before your wedding to tell her something that happened ten years ago!” she huffed.
She was angry and disappointed. Abi instantly thought that if she felt this angry, then how did poor Margo feel?
Gale bowed his head and lifted it up again. “I was scared. I thought I could never mention it, but I had to. Abi, I was young and dumb. I swore to God I would never treat her badly. It was also just that one time. I’m not a cheater.” His eyes glossed over. “She was crying when I told her, but then she sounded fine. I asked her if she still wanted to marry me and she said ‘yes.’ I thought she’d be here by now.”
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