by Tonya Brooks
Desire Had A Name
By Tonya Brooks
Copyright 2014 Tonya Brooks
Amazon Edition
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please do so. In return, I would appreciate it if you would leave me a review on one of the links at the end of the book. Thank you for reading.
Praise for Desire Had A Name
DESIRE HAD A NAME, a sweeping, fiery tale of a young and passionate love that seems doomed from the start. Harley was a great heroine: feisty, independent and blunt. She deserved Matthew, the kind of hero every woman wants. He was fierce in everything he did, from his loving to his fighting. He was protective and biting with everyone else, but gentle and tender with his woman. Sigh. I'm melting again just thinking of him. Their moments together were magical. DESIRE HAD A NAME was gripping and engaging. I read it assiduously and am definitely looking forward to reading about the rest of the Baker bad boys! ~ Sawyer Belle, The Romance Reviews
Acknowledgements
For Gina, you are, have been and will always be my big sister and the best friend I could ever ask for. Thank you for believing in me and demanding I write, write, write. I’ve bounced all of my ideas off of you, including the good, the bad and the what the hell were you thinking, and you loved them all. You are my biggest fan and I could not do this without you.
And my wonderful husband, Billy. Thank you for your encouragement, your unwavering patience with my writing obsession, and most of all, for loving me. You are my inspiration.
AUTHORS NOTE
The Bad Baker Boys is a series of books written about four brothers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each book is a standalone and can be read separately, but to get the full story I strongly suggest you read them in order. The Welcome To Lakeside series of novellas features their friends and families and also serves as prequels to the brothers stories.
Table of Contents
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 One
Thursday, May 23, 2013
When the service bell rang, Matt Baker sighed in resignation and maneuvered the creeper he was lying on out from beneath the car. It never failed; he thought as he rose lithely to his feet and wiped his hands on a grease rag. Every time he was under a car, someone always pulled into the full service lane. If his son didn’t enjoy pumping gas when he came for visits, he would hire someone to do it full time.
He had only taken a few steps toward the open door of the bay, when a human torpedo flew inside and launched at him with a joyous shout, “Dad!”
“Jed!” Matt laughed in delight as he caught his son, lifting him completely off the ground in a bear hug. “I wasn't expecting you until Sunday. Why didn't you tell me you were coming when we talked last night?”
“Mom thought you'd like the surprise,” the boy grinned as he returned the embrace.
“Your mom was right,” he readily agreed and looked his son over with pride when he set him back on his feet. Jed was growing up so fast it was almost frightening. At twelve years old, he was already over five feet tall and his shoulders were beginning to broaden. “You're growing like a weed.”
“Mom says I'm gonna be as big as you before long.” Jed informed his father proudly.
“I think she's right about that, too.” Matt grinned and hauled his son back to him for another hug. God how he loved the boy. Being separated from him for most of the year was harder than hell and he lived for the time they could spend together. “I missed you, Champ.”
“Missed you too, Dad,” the boy admitted cheerfully.
Matt looked up as a woman stepped into the bay, sunlight surrounding her in a golden aura, and the breath froze in his lungs. His response to her was instantaneous and surprisingly fierce. Raw heat filled him, white hot in its intensity. Undeniable and insistent. Unexpected and unexplained. Damn, she was beautiful, he realized as his obsidian gaze raked her from head to toe and started back up again slowly.
Absolutely, flawlessly beautiful.
Her feet were encased in fancy little sandals covered in jewels and her toenails were painted a sexy scarlet red. White linen slacks showed off her long length of leg and he almost groaned at the thought of them wrapped around him. A sleeveless sapphire blue silk blouse hugged her breasts, merely hinting at what lay beneath, but he knew they'd fit his hands perfectly. A mane of shimmering blonde hair lay over shoulders tanned a deep, rich gold that his hands ached to touch every glorious inch of.
A pair of designer sunglasses hid her eyes from view, but Matt would bet his last dime that they were blue. He'd always been a fool for a blue eyed blonde, but his bodies overwhelming response to this one left him completely stunned, with good reason. Only one woman had ever had the ability to arouse desire like this in him. Raw, aching desire that he hadn't felt in twelve long years.
“Hello, Matthew,” she said coolly and pushed the sunglasses on top of her head.
Matthew. Only one person had ever dared call him that. Only one. The only woman who could arouse him instantly and make him lose all semblance of control. The only woman he'd ever wanted more than life itself. The one woman he could never have.
“Harley?” He asked incredulously as his stunned gaze met the familiar sapphire blue eyes that still haunted his dreams. For an instant, time stood still. Suddenly he was nineteen again, reliving the fateful evening when he had discovered that desire had a name...
Chapter Two
Friday, August 21, 1998
Matt Baker was standing on the sidelines, shouting his encouragement along with his two youngest siblings and several hundred avid spectators. The Warriors would win the first game of the season if they could score one more touchdown. He watched with bated breath as his younger brother threw the football with unfailing accuracy directly into the receiver’s hands.
“Yeah! Way to go, Mark!” He shouted proudly and then grimaced when the opposition slammed the receiver into the mud at the thirty yard line.
Since there were only seconds left on the clock, the hometown crowd was beginning to get rowdy and voiced their disapproval loudly. Football was a big deal in Lakeside. Most of the population had shown up for the game and were lining the fence and jamming the bleachers of the stadium. Their boys had won the state championship last year, so expectations were running high for another great season.
The pressure his younger brother was under should have been staggering, but Mark looked as confident and poised as if he had hours instead of seconds left to play. His confidence wasn't entirely due to arrogance though. The puppy had led the Warriors to the playoffs last year and was the best damn quarterback anyone in this town had ever seen. If anybody could find a way to score, Mark could.
“Hey, Matt,” fifteen year old Luke Baker said with a devilish grin as he elbowed their younger brother, John to get his attention as well. “Cheryl Peter's just spotted you and she's headed this way.”
Matt's head swung around and he saw the bane of his existence making her way through the crowd toward him. “Sonuvabitch,” he muttered in complete disgust. “Ride home with Pop. I'm outta here,” he instructed the boys and began to push his way through the crowd in the opposite direction
.
Behaving in a manner in complete contradiction to his nature, Matt darted beneath the bleachers to hide and moved as stealthily as a cat into the shadowy interior. A moment later, he saw Cheryl stop beside the bleachers and peer into the darkness, looking for him as intently as a bird dog seeking its prey. He literally held his breath until she moved on around to the back side, and even then he didn't move until she had disappeared completely from view.
Exhaling harshly, he cursed himself crudely for ever getting tangled up with the crazy woman in the first place. Hell, he'd only gone out with her once and now he couldn't get rid of her. She followed him everywhere he went, called him constantly and had even started a fight with his date last week. The woman was freakin' nuts.
She was also the police chief's daughter and her father didn't need another reason to dislike Matt. The chief harassed him enough about the hot rod he drove like it was. Matt had done everything he could think of to let her down gently, but she just wouldn't take a hint and leave him alone. He had resorted to hiding from her to prevent the inevitable confrontation.
Looking back over his shoulder to make sure Cheryl wasn't sneaking up behind him, he moved silently through the steel framework of the bleachers. Debating whether or not he should try and stay for the end of the game, or just get the hell out of there while he had the chance, he nearly walked right into a couple locked in a passionate clench. About to retrace his steps without disturbing them, Matt realized the female wasn't a willing participant.
The couple was standing close enough to the light coming in from the edge of the bleachers that he recognized the teenage boy easily enough. Charlie Simms was a bully who liked to push people around. The idiot had already tried it with Mark and gotten his ass kicked for the effort. There was no way in hell he was gonna walk away and let him molest some defenseless girl.
~~~~
“You bit me!” Charlie yowled in pain.
“Damn you, let go!” Harley Abbot demanded furiously, her clenched fists pressing ineffectually against his chest in an effort to put some distance between them. He was holding her so tightly that she couldn't punch him or even get her knee between his legs. Everyone was watching the game so no one had seen Charlie grab her and drag her under the bleachers, but sooner or later she knew it would make the rounds of the gossip grapevine. That alone was reason enough to kick his ass when she finally got loose.
“You should've said you wanted to play rough,” he said with a nasty smile.
His fist tightened in the neck of her shirt, the arm around her waist lifting her up on tiptoe and off balance. Charlie had known he'd have a hell of fight on his hands when he grabbed her, but the chance of nailing Harley was too good to pass up, and worth getting bit over. Before he could kiss her again, he was snatched roughly backward by his collar.
“What the hell?” Charlie yelped and twisted his neck around to see who had hold of him
“Let the lady go, Simms.” Matt growled as he resisted the urge to shake the teenager and settled for lifting him off of his feet with one hand.
Harley looked up at the handsome man who had come to her rescue and froze in place. She was so shocked to see the baddest bad boy in town that she didn’t know how to react.
Charlie had recognized him as well and did not want to tangle with one of the bad Baker boys again. Harley wasn't worth that kind of trouble, no matter how good she looked. Embarrassed at being manhandled in front of the girl and too stupid to know better, he whined petulantly, “She ain't no lady. She's just a two bit whore like her mama.”
No one was more shocked than Matt when the defenseless girl punched her attacker square in the face. He released him in surprise and Charlie hit the ground hard, his clenched fist ripping her shirt down the front as he fell. Before either man could react, she launched herself atop Simms like a bullet, punching anything within reach while the wimp howled in pain.
Matt's first instinct was to protect the girl before Charlie could strike back. Grasping her around the waist, he hauled her bodily off of the teenager as she struggled with surprising strength to get free. Damn, she was a wild one. He placed both arms around her to hold her without hurting her, pinning her arms to her sides, but that didn't stop her from kicking and stomping her prey.
When Charlie finally scrambled to his feet and ran from the bleachers, she shouted curses and dire threats after him for insulting her mother. Fortunately the home team had just scored the winning touchdown and the roar of the crowd drowned out her tirade. Just as quickly as it had begun, her struggles ceased, and she hung limply in his arms.
That was when Matt recognized the heat that had consumed him the moment he'd touched her. Raw desire, fierce and intense, unexpected and unexplained filled his entire body. His hold on her loosened, automatically becoming gentler. He slowly lowered her feet to the ground and just stood there holding her in a lover’s embrace, his heart hammering in his chest. He was too stunned by the overwhelming need to know what to think, too stunned to know how to react.
His instincts told him to turn her around and show her how she should be kissed, with infinite tenderness and gentle hunger. To teach her that a man should give instead of take, to show her that passion could be tempered and desire could be tamed. He wanted to take his time and lavish her lips with patience and the sweet, hot heat flowing through him.
But his rational side told him that was a bad idea. First of all, he didn't even know who she was, this fiery tempered girl who had stirred his blood without even trying. Most importantly, he had no idea how she'd react, and he damn sure didn't want to get her riled up like Simms had. Matt had been shocked when she had attacked the boy, and even more so when she began to kick his ass. Simms had to outweigh her by at least fifty pounds and she’d sent him running with his tail between his legs.
Not that he could blame her. Matt would have beaten the hell out of Simms if he'd been in her place, but he sure as hell hadn't expected that kind of reaction from a woman. He was seriously impressed at the way she'd handled herself, too. She'd fought like a man instead of scratching and pulling hair like females usually did. She was tough, he'd give her that. And it seemed she had a hell of a temper as well.
Harley was tough alright, on the outside. The good citizens of Lakeside were responsible for that. They never let her forget that she’d been born a bastard and because of that, she'd been in more fights than she cared to remember. She had learned early on how to hold her own, and she never backed down from a fight, especially when someone insulted her mom.
But on the inside she was just a vulnerable teenage girl who began to tremble in reaction and all she wanted to do was cry. Not because Charlie had assaulted her and insulted her mom, she was used to crap like that. Her emotions were a jumbled mess because not only had Matthew Baker been willing to protect her, but now he was holding her as if she were precious to him. No one had ever treated her like that before.
Matt realized that she was shaking like a leaf so he reluctantly released her and asked in genuine concern, “Are you alright?”
“I'm fine,” she choked out hoarsely and fought back the tears while trying to hold her shirt in place with hands that trembled.
Dear lord, she didn't want to have to face him. Her rescuer might not know her from Adam, but she knew exactly who he was. God, the first time she meets the most gorgeous guy alive, she'd lost her temper and behaved like the hellion the gossips claimed she was. Could it get any worse?
He stared at her bowed head and wondered who she was, but as yet, she hadn't looked up at him. Then he realized that she was holding her shirt together. The damn thing was practically ripped in half. Ah, hell. This was bad. Especially since the jubilant crowd was beginning to move out of the bleachers and toward the parking lot. He knew firsthand how rampant small town gossip could be and he doubted she wanted everyone speculating about what had happened.
“It's probably not a good idea to let anybody see you like this,” he suggested as he took her gently by th
e arm and pulled her deeper into the darkness where they wouldn't be seen.
Her skin was soft and smooth beneath his hand, her arm delicate yet firm. Much like her body had felt in his arms. At the sensual reminder, the sultry summer night suddenly became suffocatingly hot. He pulled the shirt over his head and handed it to her in a chivalrous gesture. “Put this on,” he offered somewhat huskily. “Your boyfriend likes to play rough.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Harley denied in a subdued tone as she shoved her arms through the sleeves and forced her aching hands to pull the T-shirt over her head. His shirt was way too big and hung to her thighs, but at least it hid the damage. It also smelled like his cologne and she greedily inhaled the scent. Lord, he smelled as good as he looked.
“Glad to hear it,” Matt assured her seriously. His father had taught him and his brothers to treat women with respect. If there was one thing he could not abide, it was a man who abused women and it seemed Simms fit that category. Somebody needed to teach him how to treat a lady, he thought grimly.
“Thanks for rescuing me.” Harley said softly and had to fight the tears again.
His kindness at loaning her his shirt and making sure no one saw that hers had been torn half off was almost more than she could bear. She could only imagine the rumors that would have caused. People didn't need a reason to gossip in Lakeside, and God help the person foolish enough to give them an excuse. They already gossiped about her enough and she sure as hell wasn't going to give them a reason if she could prevent it.
“I don't think you needed any help,” he said in approval. “You kicked his ass.”
She couldn't prevent a smile because it sounded as if he was proud of her. She peeped up at him from between her lashes and admitted, “He deserved it,”
