Sultry

by Lexi Buchanan

  Sultry

  Bad Boy Rockers #3

  By Lexi Buchanan

  Sultry Copyright © 2014 Lexi Buchanan

  All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

  Published by HFCA Publishing House

  http://www.lexibuchanan.net

  Cover Models: Assad Shalhoub and Riley Ferguson

  Image Copyright: Fotographer Eric Battershell

  Cover Designer: Robin Harper, Wicked by Design

  Editor: Sirena Van Schaik

  BETA Readers: Emma Clifton, Heidy Bendana, Kristy Louise Garbutt, Nadine Winningham

  This book is a written act of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9927335-3-7

  Other books by Lexi Buchanan

  Bad Boy Rockers

  Sizzle

  Spicy

  Sultry

  Savor (2015)

  McKenzie Brothers

  Seduce

  The Wedding (Novella)

  Rapture

  Delight

  Entice (2014)

  Cherished (2015)

  Jackson Hole

  From This Moment

  When we Meet

  New Beginning (2015)

  Holiday Season

  Kissing Under the Mistletoe

  Lawful

  Gia 0.5 (Novella)

  Hunter (2015)

  Julian (2015)

  Fighter

  Fighter (2015)

  Relentless (2015)

  Standalone

  Elijah (2014)

  Table of Contents

  Prologue One

  Prologue Two

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Epilogue

  Prologue of Savor

  Chapter One Savor

  Prologue One

  Mara

  Watching my brother leave with his girl makes me want to pack my bags and follow him—anything other than staying here with him. I’ve been in love with him for as long as I can remember. Yeah, I had a schoolgirl crush on him, but my feelings have grown into something more—into love. My heart breaks every time he says something that I don’t want to hear. Like he doesn’t want me here, well, that is something I know already without him shouting it at me. I mean he’s been the most un-hospitable person ever.

  Turning up on his doorstep in tears, you’d think that he’d have hugged me, but not Donovan. He’d clenched his jaw, opened the door wider so I could enter and then asked “What have you done now, Mara?” because it was me. I’d needed a hug and I’d needed someone to listen to me, but he wasn’t willing to do either.

  Ever since I turned sixteen he’s kept his distance and always stays well out of my way when he comes home with the guys and visits with Reece. It hurts. It hurts a lot.

  Out of the three musketeers, Donovan is the most laid back, but not with me. With me, he acts like I have the plague or something.

  Since the door shut behind my brother, Donovan’s been standing across the room alternatively glaring at me and looking out of the window.

  My bedroom is calling because all I want to do is lock myself away and cry. He’s never going to look at me the way I want him to. I can’t stay here anymore. I’ve only been here a few days, but I can’t stay here and watch him be with someone else. It’ll hurt too much. And he’s made it clear that he doesn’t want me and never will.

  A tear escapes as I quickly get to my feet and make for my room.

  “Mara…”

  I stop with my hand on the door handle refusing to look back at him. “What?”

  Goose bumps form on my arms as I feel him walk up behind me, a breath away from touching me. It’s difficult to breathe with him being so close. I rest my forehead against the door as Donovan surrounds me with his heat, resting his forearms at either side of my head causing his chest to rest softly against my back.

  “Mara… I’m going to move out.” He clears his throat. “I’ve already found somewhere so I’ll be leaving in about a week.”

  My breath catches in my throat because I wasn’t expecting him to say that.

  “It’s not right, us both living here together without Reece being here. People will get the wrong idea… Mara, please look at me.”

  Shaking my head, a shiver wracks my body when he nuzzles my hair from my face and breathes on my neck. It feels as though he’s about to kiss me or it might be wishful thinking on my part.

  “I’m too old for you,” he whispers so close to my ear that lightening shoots straight to my core and my nipples pucker, desperate for his touch. “Mara,” he trails along my neck with his lips, “are you listening to me?” He nips my earlobe with his teeth as his hand lands on my hip.

  “Mmm,” I reply, breathless.

  Releasing the handle, I place both my hands on the door in front of me and push back slightly, making full body contact with Donovan, who sounds as though the air has just left his body. He’s solid against me. Rock hard and I don’t just mean his abs.

  The hand on my hip slides around and he splays his fingers against my belly, which is fluttering with butterflies. His other hand covers mine on the door as our fingers entwine. I’ve never felt so hot, wet, aching and aroused.

  Donovan drops his head to the curve of my neck and breathes—heavily. “You’re killing me.”

  He briefly presses me closer to him before letting me go, albeit reluctantly.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t do this. It won’t happen again,” he apologizes and then I hear his bedroom door slam shut.

  My tears start to flow from my eyes as I slowly push my way into my bedroom and closing the door behind me, I lie across the bed and cry.

  Now I know he isn’t indifferent to me, it’s going to hurt all the more knowing he isn’t willing to do anything about it.

  Prologue Two

  Donovan

  Fuck!

  I slam into my bedroom and just stand in the middle of the room not knowing what the fuck to do with myself. I promised Reece I’d stay away from his sister and what do I go and do? I go and practically pin her to the door with every intention of loving her. Loving her.

  She’s Reece’s baby sister and is a total no. I’ve managed to keep her at a distance for years, but the fact is, she drives me totally insane and only has to look in my direction to give me an erection from hell. She thinks or rather thought that I don’t like her, but the trut
h is I’m fucking obsessed with her. I’m obsessed with an eighteen year old virgin…at least I presume she’s a virgin. I scowl at the thought of anyone else touching her because she belongs with me. Dammit to hell!

  Dropping down on top of my bed, I catch my breath because I’d forgotten about the problem in my jeans, which I refuse to take care of myself. If I took care of it I wouldn’t get the relief that I’d get between her sexy thighs so why settle for second best.

  My erection throbs so rolling over onto my back I hope for some kind of relief while I clear my thoughts of Mara. Sweet Mara.

  Fuck this.

  Jumping up from the bed and grabbing my gym bag, I walk back out into the living area and hunt around for my sneakers, which I kicked off when I’d crashed out on the sofa last night.

  Spotting them under one of the stools at the breakfast bar, I drop my bag and I’m about to reach for them when I spot Mara standing just outside her bedroom door watching me.

  Wondering what the hell is going through her mind as she continues to watch me, I reach down and collect my sneakers, tossing them into my bag.

  She looks lost, which makes my heart drop like lead to my feet. All I want to do is walk over to where she’s standing and wrap her up in my arms and tell her I’m never letting go, but instead, I turn my back on her pretending to look for my keys, which I know are in the dish by the door.

  “Donovan, you can stop ignoring me. I know this is awkward, but it’s only a week, right? We’re both adults so I’m sure we can act like it.” She turns away, but not before I watch her wipe a tear from her face. Making me feel like the biggest jerk around.

  After promising Reece I’d stay away from his little sister three years ago, I’d gone and lead with my heart, earlier and now she can’t even look at me, and I’ve upset her. If she has any of the feelings that I have for her then she’s feeling crushed as though a vice is crushing her heart because that’s how I’m feeling.

  “Mara…”

  “Please Donovan. Let’s just try and forget what happened earlier and move on. I start college on Monday so I’ll make new friends my own age. You don’t have anything to worry about.” She disappears into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

  Make friends my own age. You don’t have anything to worry about.

  Her words have frozen me to the spot as I feel my anger slowly rising. I’ll kill any fucker who so much as looks in her direction and look they will, with her long dark hair, slim curvy figure and legs that seem to go on for miles even though she’s shorter than me. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and the only woman that’s ever taken root in my heart apart from my mother. She’s also the only woman that I can’t be with, and that tears me in two.

  Chapter One

  Four Weeks Later

  Mara

  Standing alone, I’m finding it difficult to enjoy myself despite the pride of seeing my own paintings on display. This particular one I’m standing in front of was a labor of love that took me two weeks to finish. It’s a central piece in my first showing and the whole show is something to celebrate. So why are the butterflies dancing in my belly ruining the celebration for me? I’ve never been so nervous before, and having Harry as my date for the evening isn’t helping. He’s great to talk to as a friend, but that’s all we are—friends. My heart is already spoken for and I’m not sure I’ll ever get it back.

  How cliché is it that I’ve fallen for one of my brother’s best friends? Someone who, up until four weeks ago, I’d thought couldn’t stand me. Someone I thought didn’t want me around. Discovering that he is attracted to me, but refusing to do anything about it breaks my heart, but not as much as seeing him arrive here at the art show with a skinny blonde on his arm.

  Harry is my date tonight, I remind myself again. I shouldn’t really be upset that Donovan has a date, but I am. I want to be the one holding on to his arm. I want to be the one to have his arms around me—his hands touching me.

  Donovan has hardly been around since he moved out of the apartment he shared with my brother, Reece. I’m still living there, and would you believe my bedroom is Donovan’s old one. Reece and Callie are in their room, and because of this I’ve been sleeping a lot with cotton balls in my ears. It kind of makes me sick listening to my brother having sex, but I feel safer in the city when Reece is close by and I don’t fancy my chances on my own. Mom keeps telling me she’s sorry for blaming me over the Dahlia situation and that I can go back home. The thing is I don’t want to go back. Even though it hurts to stay, this is where I need to be.

  Donovan might not come around the apartment that often, but I see him in the bar, which isn’t too far away. I’m still underage to drink, but the owner allows me inside because of the guys as long as no one serves me alcohol. It pisses me off though because Donovan always makes time to chat with the groupies that hang around him, but he doesn’t seem to have the time to chat with me—it hurts—a lot.

  Sometimes I spend a lot of time standing in front of my mirror wondering what they have that I don’t. My skin is smooth with even features, and is slightly darker than my normal ivory tone because of my time spent in the sun. My skin tone though brings out the rich greens of my eyes. I’ve been told they are unique and that they have a bright glow about them. But despite everyone commenting on my eyes, my favorite feature is my lips, which are full and plump—kissable.

  Growing up, as soon as I developed an interest in boys, or rather one in particular, I’d practice using my lips by puckering up and kissing my mirror. Myself and Jenny, my best friend, also used to practice on bananas after Jenny had overheard her older brother on the phone gloating to his friend that his girlfriend had given him the best blowjob he’d ever had. Of course we snuck onto the Internet to find out what a blowjob actually was, and the pictures that came up made us both want to hurl—more so when Jenny reminded me that her brother loved getting one. We were fourteen, I think.

  Even though we practiced on bananas back then, I’ve still yet to put my practice into experience. I’m not a nun, but I’ve never wanted to touch anyone’s dick…until Donovan. So I guess you can say I’m saving myself for him, although I’m beginning to suspect I’ll probably die a nun.

  I know I’m desired. Boys my age are always asking me out. They tell me they love my hair, which is thick, curly and floats in waves down my back. But the problem is that they always seemed too young for me. The last boy I tried to go out with came in his jeans after one, hot make out session. He’d been kissing me while grinding against my leg. As he started to slide his fingers through my hair, he’d come. It was damn embarrassing for the both of us. I still can’t look him in the eye.

  But Donovan, he likes my legs. Oh yes, I’ve caught him looking more times than I can count. My legs are long and slim; even toned now that I tend to walk to the college and sometimes run between classes thanks to my bad time management skills. I’ve never caught him looking at my boobs though. Most guys look at them and talk to them, which on the odd occasion have gotten them a heel on their toe or a knee to their junk.

  “Hey, sis,” Reece says, bringing me abruptly back to the present with his words and an arm around my shoulders.

  I inhale and try to pull myself together. I’m supposed to be having fun, not getting lost in the past.

  Slipping my arm around my brother, I snuggle into him; just needing to be held by someone I know loves me.

  “What’s going on Mara? You’ve been looking forward to tonight for the past week.” He kisses me on top of my head.

  “I’m fine really,” I tell him knowing my words aren’t that reassuring. “Just lost in thought.”

  “Mara—”

  “Hey,” Donovan interrupts. “Great work, Mara.”

  Reece keeps his arm around me, but turns so we’re facing Donovan and her. None of us speak—we just stare. My heart flutters in my chest before splitting in half when I watch Donovan smile down at the woman whose hand is wrapped tightly in his.

&
nbsp; Clearing his throat, Reece gives me a quick squeeze before releasing me. His smile is reassuring as Callie walks over to him and he gathers her into his arms. I’m surprised my brother came over to me without her because these days they seem to be joined at the hip.

  “I have something to say,” Reece states.

  Then the rock on Callie’s finger comes into view and Reece gets let off the hook.

  “Oh my God. You’re engaged.” I grab Callie’s hand, bringing it up closer to my eyes. “You’re really engaged?” I ask looking between the two of them.

  “Oh yes.”

  I’ve never seen my brother as sappy as he is when he’s with Callie. In fact, it’s really funny to watch and on a few occasion it’s made me want to hurl, but I’m really pleased for them. I love Callie and she’s really good for my brother.

  “Congratulations,” I offer, pulling Callie out of my brother’s arms and into mine. Tears sting my eyes—a strange mixture of happiness for my brother and sadness that I’ll never experience the same happiness with Donovan. “Thank you for making my brother happy.”

  “He’s made me happy as well,” Callie responds. “I’ve never met anyone like him before, and very soon he really is going to be mine. I can’t wait.” She squeezes me before being pulled into Donovan’s arms.

  No sooner am I free than Reece is standing in front of me wearing a frown on his face. “Mara, you’re worrying me.”

  Reaching up, I wrap my arms around his neck, and kiss him on the cheek, before saying, “I love you, and I’m really happy you’ve gotten your act together. Callie’s good for you.”

  “Yes, she is.” Reece grins and gently releases me before taking his girl back into his arms.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Donovan’s gaze wandering to me.

  He’s watching me, more openly than he normally does. What’s going on with him? It doesn’t last long though because his attention is now on his date. I’ve no idea who she is and I’m not too sure I want to know. If I have her name and more details then it will make him being with someone else more real and I don’t think I can deal with that.