Hooked

by Christine Manzari

  “Will you stay here with me?” Cat asked. I could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

  “You’re stuck with me now,” I promised. “I don’t have to be at work any time soon.”

  Her answer was a grateful smile. “I still can’t believe you quit your job.”

  “The job meant nothing to me, but you mean everything. I won’t let you go through this alone. No matter how long you need to be here, I’ll be with you.”

  “And after?” Cat’s eyes were full of doubt, like she expected me to leave at any moment.

  I ran my fingers along the edge of her jaw and she leaned into my touch, closing her eyes. “I’ll still want to be with you. Tell me what to do to prove to you that I’m in this for the long haul,” I said. “What do you need me to say? What do I need to do? I’ve been fighting my way into your heart since the first night I saw you on Venice Beach, but you’re the one that has to let me in. You have to trust me.”

  Cat’s eyes searched mine, looking for the truth in my words. Her arms were crossed over her body, her hands gripping her arms tightly. Fearless, ferocious, Ms. Unafraid was gone and in her place was a girl clutching her trust to her chest as if it was made of glass. I reached up and cupped Cat’s face in my hands and pressed an innocent kiss to her trembling lips.

  “I love you, Cat.” The words were out before I could even think about how she might react. Once they were said, I half expected her to run out the door without looking back. Or tell me to go home again.

  She didn’t do either. Her eyes widened in surprise and then her head cocked to the side in curiosity. A smile stole across her lips as if she couldn’t hold it back. “You love me?”

  “I’ve discovered it’s impossible not to,” I admitted.

  “That’s my line.” She smirked.

  I pulled her to me, settling her between my legs with her back to my chest. She leaned her head back onto my shoulder and I brought my lips to her ear. “Like I told you in the stable at my parent’s house, you own me.” I placed my hand over her heart. “And you might not admit it, but this is mine, too.”

  Cat didn’t confirm or deny what I said, she merely turned her face just enough to give me a chaste kiss on the lips before laying her head back against my chest again. We fell asleep with her heart beating under the touch of my fingertips and my lips still whispering promises in her ear.

  ***

  “Mom.” Cat sat up suddenly, pushing away from the couch and crossing to her mother’s bedside. It was still dark outside, but we’d left the lights on in the room and I could clearly see the pain on Cat’s face as she held her mother’s hand. Her fingertips grazed across Anita’s forehead as if she were brushing hair back from her mother’s face. Anita took a faltering, shuddering breath and I realized what had woken Cat up. Up until that moment, the steady stream of Anita’s weak breathing had gone quiet. Even in her sleep, Cat was tuned into her mother and had heard the breathing start to fade away.

  “It’s okay, Mom. You can let go.” Tears were streaming down her face as she encouraged her mother to finally rest.

  Anita took another shallow breath and I quickly went to the other side of the bed so I could hold her other hand. Her fingers were lifeless and cold, but the grateful smile Cat flashed at me was warm. She might not be ready to tell me she loved me, but I could see the emotion was there even if words weren’t. Cat leaned down and kissed her mother’s cheek as another breath barely passed through Anita’s lips.

  “I love you, Mom. You don’t have to worry about me, I’m going to be fine.”

  I gently squeezed the small fragile hand I held in mine while Cat and I stood next to her mom in silence.

  Anita’s next breath never came.

  — CAT —

  37. BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER

  “We’re supposed to be celebrating your birthday. Why am I the one wearing the blindfold?” I asked. Huck was shuffling me out of the car and down what I assumed was a sidewalk. I had no idea where we were.

  It was the first day of May. It had been three months since my mother’s death, and true to his promises, Huck had been with me every step of the way—good days and bad. There had been a lot of bad days. I knew I could have survived without him, but I was glad I didn’t have to. It was strange for me to be able to admit I was weak and scared sometimes, and it was stranger still to trust someone as completely as I trusted Huck. I was amazed that once I let him into my heart, I felt so much more complete, so much stronger. He made the pain and sadness bearable, but even more importantly, he made the rest of life perfect and memorable.

  My mother planned her funeral to take place at the Gallery. I wasn’t the sort of person to use the word ‘lovely,’ but Anita Durand’s funeral was quite lovely. It was actually more of a party, which was definitely my mother’s style. All of the art installations had been removed from the Gallery and stored carefully away while photos from my mother’s life had been enlarged, framed, and put on display. Friends, family, clients, colleagues . . . it seemed everyone my mother had ever met came to pay their respects. It was almost intimidating to see how many lives she had touched, but also invigorating to have so many people attend to show their love and support. Her funeral was my chance to honor the wonderful, full life she’d lived in the short time she’d been given, and I spent the entire time with a smile on my face.

  Over the last three months, I was constantly surprised to find that I wasn’t so much grieving her death as I was celebrating her life. Sure, I missed her and I knew the gaping hole that her death left in my heart would never truly heal, but I grieved plenty in the months leading up to the day my mother took her last breath. Even though I was devastated she was gone, I was relieved she wasn’t suffering anymore. I missed her, but I wasn’t broken like I thought I’d be.

  A couple days after the funeral, I moved back into my apartment with Jay. Huck and I spent every night together, splitting our time between his place and mine, but technically Jay was still my roommate. I sold the huge house my mother owned in Beverly Hills. It was a gorgeous home, but not really my style and I had no plans to ever live there so it made no sense to keep it. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the money, but I was considering using some of it to buy office space for the graphic design business I’d started. William Stone Media had offered me my job back, and Holly had asked again if I’d be interested in leading an in-office design team for Legend Records, but I declined both offers. I decided I wanted to be in charge of myself. I didn’t want any choices in my life to be dictated by an employee handbook. I started freelancing as a graphic designer, and I already had plenty of work to keep me busy.

  Huck didn’t go back to William Stone Media either. An hour ago we were at Huck’s opening night for his first show at Durand Gallery. It was a huge success, thanks to Brodi, who first noticed Huck’s ability to uniquely capture the charm and beauty of Venice Beach in photos. I don’t know how many of Huck’s pieces sold, but Brodi was busy all night, and Huck spent a lot of time shaking hands and speaking with interested buyers. He was following his dream of becoming a photographer, and I was beyond happy for him. I was ecstatic for us, for the freedom our new choices allowed us as professionals and as a couple.

  Now the show was over and my plans for a night of naked birthday boy debauchery were being derailed by a blindfold and the promise of a mysterious surprise. And Huck hadn’t answered my question.

  I cleared my throat. “I think you have this backwards, why am I wearing the blindfold? It’s your birthday.”

  “Exactly. It’s my birthday, I get to make the rules. It’s the one day that I get to be in charge and boss you around,” Huck answered as he playfully smacked my ass.

  A laugh escaped me. “You’re only in charge because I’m allowing it. Just so you know, I had plans to seduce you tonight. It involved lots of nakedness,” I taunted. “And the ugly chair,” I added.

  I heard Huck’s breath catch. “I love nakedness and the ugly chair,” he groaned.


  “It’s not too late to turn back,” I said, reaching for the blindfold. He slapped my hand away.

  “Don’t try to distract me, woman. It’s my day and I’m calling the shots.” He was holding my elbow and when we came to a stop, he dropped his hand away and I could hear him fumbling with a set of keys, followed by the sound of a door opening. Huck gently took my elbow again and guided me inside the mystery place before pulling the blindfold off.

  It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did I could see that we were in a large, two story room with industrial pipes and beams stretching across the ceiling. The walls were exposed brick and on the far side of the room, a set of stairs led up to a loft area that covered half of the space. Large windows across from the loft filled one wall from floor to ceiling. In the day time, it would fill the room with tons of light, but now the sky outside was dark and secretive, broken up only by a few lights from surrounding buildings and streetlights.

  “Do you like it?” Huck asked, his voice unsure.

  “It’s really cool,” I said, walking toward the center of the room and looking up as I spun around to get a good view. “Not as good as sex in the ugly chair, but cool. What is this place?”

  Huck cleared his throat. “Our studio.”

  My head snapped down and I met his gaze. “Our studio?”

  He shrugged. “I needed a large space for doing indoor photo shoots and this place is in a good location with great natural lighting. I knew you were looking for studio space for your graphic design business, and I thought you could use the loft. I thought this place was perfect . . . for both of us.” He was almost shy as he waited for my reaction. “You could probably even hang some rings from the ceiling,” he added, pointing to the high ceiling as a smile finally pushed away the uncertainty and captured his mouth.

  I walked slowly toward him. “Is this your way of making sure you have access to this body all day long?” I teased. “We’d never get any work done if we were here together. All by ourselves.”

  He reached for my waist, pulling me against him. “We’ll have new desks to test out.”

  “Too bad there aren’t any desks here now,” I said, stepping back from him and reaching behind me to undo the zipper on the back of my dress. I was wearing one of his favorite fuck-me dresses and I’d noticed him mentally undressing me from across the room all night long. His eyes darkened as he watched me peel the dress off and drop it to the floor. I turned and walked to the stairs in only my lingerie and heels, making sure to give just enough sway in the hips for him to appreciate. I looked over my shoulder at him. “Maybe I’ll go check out my office space.”

  My foot hit the bottom stair and I smiled as I heard the sound of Huck’s footsteps as he hurried after me. I’d only made it to the second step when Huck spun me around to face him. His fingers slid up my back, deftly unhooking my bra in one swift movement before he tossed it over the railing. His hands slid down my sides, his fingers gripping the straps of my thong as he slipped the tiny fabric down my legs and tossed it to the side as well.

  “That’s what this place really needed,” he said, bending his head to kiss along my neck. “A birthday suit.” He kissed down my skin in reverence, pausing at the place where my heart was, before continuing his path down my body and capturing my nipple in the warm, wet embrace of his lips.

  “Huck.” I moaned his name, reaching down for his belt buckle. His hands and kisses were soft and controlled, worshipping my body with each sweet touch. I reached inside his pants, palming him. “I want you now. Don’t make me wait for the ugly chair. Please, Huck.”

  His mouth was on my lips, his tongue tangling desperately with mine as if he loved the taste of his name. He lowered me to the stairs, placing his jacket beneath me. I laid back, feeling the hard edges of the steps pressing into my back, but not caring a bit because Huck was over top of me, kneeling between my legs, with a smoldering look that held promises of all the things he would do to me to hear his name again. He wrapped his arm behind my back and lifted my hips against his, the hardness of his body rubbing against my naked skin. I reached between us to get his clothes off and his fingers were between my legs, dipping inside me and dragging slickness around my sensitive flesh. I pushed his pants down just enough and tilted my hips up into him again, feeling the tip of him teasing me, skin on skin.

  “Forever ruined,” he murmured. In one smooth movement he slid all the way into me.

  He was mine and the realization made my heart beat an erratic pace. Huck’s hips began to move, desperately thrusting into me over and over again—our breaths and hands and mouths becoming one. The room was filled with the echoes of my voice deliriously chanting his name. My fingers were sliding down his back, gripping him fiercely as I tried to pull him closer. I could feel the crescendo building and I didn’t want it to be over yet.

  “Not yet, make it last,” I begged.

  Huck’s frantic pace slowed a bit as he allowed his mouth to press kisses to every part of my body he could reach. His hands caressed and touched the places his lips couldn’t.

  I brought my mouth to his ear as he kissed along my shoulder. “Huck?”

  “Yeah?” His tongue and lips moved along my neck, matching the slower rhythm of our bodies.

  “I love you,” I heard myself say.

  Huck stopped kissing me, stopped moving, the silence of the enormous room broken only by our shuddering breaths. He told me he loved me all the time, but it was the first time I’d ever said the words to him. It was me handing over the last piece of my heart to him and he knew it.

  He looked up and then leaned forward to kiss the tip of my nose. “Best birthday gift ever.” His voice was low and gravely, full of emotion. Holding onto me, Huck spun us around so that he could sit on the step while I straddled him. I grabbed the railing on either side of us as he held onto my hips, slowly pushing up into me, beginning our rhythm again. Our bodies were slick and perfect in every movement, nothing between our skin, nothing between our hearts. His hands roamed up my sides, cupping my breasts as we rocked into each other.

  “I love you,” I repeated the words. They were barely more than a whisper.

  “I fucking love you, too,” he said, raining kisses on my neck.

  I smiled wickedly and started rolling my hips into him a little more quickly, using the railing so I could lift myself up and push down on him with more control. “Well, I love fucking you,” I retorted. “Huck,” I added, drawing his name out.

  That was all it took. His hands were on my hips anchoring me to him as his body thrust up into mine, driving us both into a frenzy of rough kisses and grasping fingers.

  “Oh God.” I moaned as I felt myself start to shatter into a thousand pieces of pleasure. I felt Huck shudder as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me down onto him, both of us finding release. His lips met mine again and we kissed as we crashed into the oblivion of total contentment.

  “I. Love. You. Huck.” I accentuated each word with a simple kiss to his lips.

  “I knew you did,” he replied

  “You’re too cocky. I take it back.” I bit his shoulder in retaliation and he grinned.

  “Too late, you already said it.”

  We indulged in another lingering kiss.

  “So, is this a yes?” he asked. “Do you want to share office space with me, Cate Maverick?”

  “This is a big yes. I want to share everything with you, Will Stone. I’m hooked.”

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I loved every moment of writing this book and there are so many people to thank for helping make Hooked possible. Whether reading, editing, or just cheerleading for me, their support has meant more than I can ever say.

  Johnny Manzari . . . you will always be the first person on the list because you’re the most important. You’re my foundation, my inspiration, and my happiness. I’m so lucky that you believe in me and support my dream. I love you.

  To Johnny, Alex and Chloe, my adorably brill
iant kids, thank you for sharing my love of books and thinking that a trip to the book store on a Friday night is the most fun ever. I love that you make your own books just like mommy and I hope one day you’re able to follow your dreams and spend every day of your lives doing the things you love.

  Many thanks to my beta readers: Laura Ward (author of Not Yet and Past Heaven), Laurie Marin, Amber Hodgson, Dani Fisher, Bekky Levesque, and Dina Justice, for taking the time to read the first draft of Hooked and for giving me valuable feedback. Laura, I look forward to experiencing many years of success with you as we write books together. It has been wonderful to share this journey with you and I’m so grateful that Bekky introduced us.

  From the bottom of my heart I want to thank my generous friend, Rich Sanidad, who took the time out of his busy life to thoroughly edit my manuscript. Thank you for your brilliant red pen and insanely good advice. It was amazing to have a guy’s perspective for my first romance novel, and I know it’s better because of you.

  There are so many special bloggers out there to thank. Book bloggers really are such an important part of a book’s success and I appreciate the hell out of all of you. I’d like to specifically thank Gladys from nerdgirlofficial.com and Ethan from oneguysguidetogoodreads.blogspot.com for all of the help and support you’ve given me in the last few months.

  I can’t have a proper acknowledgment section without thanking the two people who created the weird little monster that I am today. Mom and Dad, thank you for being the kind of parents that let me believe I could do anything (no matter how weird or crazy that thing was) and for always being there (no matter how far you had to travel to support me). You let me know it was okay to be different and I’m forever thankful for the beautiful, unconditional love you’ve always given me.