by K. A. Linde
Copyright © 2017 by K.A. Linde
All rights reserved.
Visit my website at www.kalinde.com
Cover Designer: Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations.
Photographer: Eric Battershell Photography
Editor and Interior Designer: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1635760996
To Staci Hart,
for allowing me to accidentally fictionalize you.
Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Epilogue
Note from the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Author
One
Julia
“Don’t try to blame this shit on me. Just face it, Julia,” Trevor spat, “You’ll never be happy.”
“Fuck you,” I spat as I slammed the door shut in Trevor’s face as the nasty words he’d uttered cut through me like a knife.
Not because he was wrong, but because he was right.
I couldn’t be happy—not with him or anyone. Not with my past looming over my shoulder. The truth was a guy like Trevor couldn’t handle the real Julia Banner.
My phone started ringing from the other side of the room. With a sigh, I picked it up and saw Heidi was calling.
“So, did you do it?” she asked when I answered.
I sighed. “Yeah. He hates me.”
“Psh. Trevor from accounting couldn’t hate a fly. He’s hurt. He’ll get over it.”
“I don’t know. We were together for a year. Our anniversary was this weekend. I can’t believe I just broke up with him. I’m kind of the worst.”
Heidi snorted. “It was long overdue. You and I both know that.”
Of course, she was right. Because Trevor had been this perfect, normal, nice guy. He was the guy who came over to your place to do your laundry while you were with your friends and filled up your gas tank when he noticed you were running low and called your mom to chat every Thursday. Or he would have done that last one…if he’d thought my parents were alive.
And I was the opposite. It had been nice, but it hadn’t been right.
“So,” Heidi muttered, “want to go get fucked up to feel better about it?”
“Yes. Yes, I do.”
Heidi laughed. “That’s my girl.”
“Flips?” I asked.
It was the local bar that we always went to. By anyone else’s standards, it was kind of a dump. But Heidi adored the place.
“Actually…we’re all heading to Ransom Canyon for Memorial Day weekend. Lake, boats, barbeque—the trifecta. You in?”
“And how exactly am I going to get laid from this plan?”
“Well, there will be a lot of alcohol,” Heidi said.
“And?”
“And…a lot of hot, eligible men.”
I rolled my eyes. “Like who?”
“Landon and the Wrights all invited a bunch of people to come hang out. I know your…issues with Austin, so I didn’t mention it before. But I don’t think that should stop you now.”
I groaned. “Austin Wright is the biggest alcoholic jackass on this side of the planet! You know how he treated me when we were together.”
“True,” she added. “But…it was a year and a half ago when you were together. And, since you slapped the shit out of him last fall, he’s kind of avoided you like the plague, which means, you should be fine.”
“Heidi!”
“Just get your ass over here and bring a bathing suit. I want to see those tattoos you’re sporting. I won’t take no for an answer.”
And then she unceremoniously hung up on me. I glanced down at it with a sigh. Maybe Heidi was right, and I just needed some girl time.
I stripped out of my work attire and into a pair of cutoff jean shorts and a black Queen tank top. I piled my recently dyed dark red hair up into a messy bun on the top of my head and admired the shaved undercut. I filled up my travel tote with enough clothes for a week away from home. Now, I just needed my favorite olive-green bomber jacket. Not that May in Lubbock, Texas, was cold by any stretch of the imagination, but the dusty, windy, and flat place I had called home for almost two years now got cool on summer nights. But the jacket was nowhere to be found. I tore my apartment apart, looking for it. I swore I’d left it hanging in my closet, but nope, no luck. Must have left it at work or in the car or something.
I finally added a black Beatles sweatshirt I’d picked up at a thrift store to the bag and headed over to Heidi’s place where she lived with Landon Wright. They’d gotten together last year, and they were totally crazy in love. They’d gotten engaged practically right away, and they now lived together in a brand-new house that they’d had built together.
Landon was packing up his Jeep when I pulled up in my black Tahoe. He waved as I parked.
“Hey, Julia. I’m glad to see that Heidi convinced you to come with us.”
I hopped out of the car and moved my bag into the trunk. “Yeah. She’s persuasive all right. Told me to get my ass over here and hung up on me.”
Landon laughed congenially. He had the goddamn Wright good looks—dark hair, penetrating dark eyes, perfect smile, and so tall that you could climb the fuckers.
“That sounds like my fiancée.”
“I swear you say it just because you like the sound of it.”
He grinned, not at all sheepish. “Can’t blame me.”
“Not in the least.”
Heidi appeared then in tiny white cutoffs and her hot-pink bathing suit top. She had a huge floppy hat on her head, her long blonde hair falling to her waist, and sunglasses to cover her entire face. “I’m so fucking ready!”
She clobbered me on sight, planting a kiss on my cheek.
“You’re insane,” I told her.
“And you are wearing too many clothes.”
“Don’t say that around Emery. She might get jealous,” I said about Heidi’s long-time best friend.
“Can I watch?” Landon asked from where he was standing with his arms crossed, eyeing us.
“You can join in,” Heidi said with a wink. Then, she smacked my ass and hopped into the front seat.
I climbed into the back, and once Landon was in the driver’s seat, we were off and away.
It was only a twenty-minute drive to Ransom Canyon, and
Heidi kept me from brooding too much about my recent breakup. Not that I was actually upset about leaving Trevor. I was more upset that he was right. I liked uncomplicated fun. Preferably with a lot of mind-blowing sex.
“So, who all did you say would be here?” I asked again.
“Um…” Heidi trailed off.
Landon shot her a look of frustration. “My family mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“Heidi and Emery and her sister, Kimber, and her husband, Noah, and their two kids will also be there.”
“And?” I added.
“And Patrick,” Landon said, adding Austin’s best friend as an afterthought.
“What happened to all the hot, eligible bachelors, Heidi?”
She chewed on her bottom lip, and her big blue eyes searched my face. “About that—”
“Oh, you’re such a bitch.”
Great. I was going to be the only single girl there who wasn’t related to the Wright family. And the two single guys there were totally off-limits. Just perfect.
Heidi laughed and just shrugged. Clearly, this had all been part of her evil plan. The little witch.
Landon parked his Jeep next to a giant truck, which I vaguely recalled belonging to the eldest Wright sibling, Jensen.
Landon waved us off when we tried to help. “Go on and check out the lake. I’ve got this.”
“Thanks, Landon,” I said.
Heidi kissed his cheek, grabbed my hand, and dashed down the hill to the dock below. Ransom Canyon was a town of only about a thousand people, but the lake filled up all summer. And it was busiest on Fourth of July and Memorial Day. As in…today. Boats were everywhere with parties happening all up and down the lake. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a loss after all.
We skipped to a stop when we got to the end of the dock, and Heidi laughed before peeling her shorts off.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Taking a swim. Come with me, lover.”
“Uh, no. I do not have a swimsuit on.”
“That’s no fun.” She handed me her floppy hat, tied up her blonde hair, and then cannonballed into the water, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
I laughed as she splashed water up on me and took a step back. “You’re crazy!”
“Oh my God, get in! The water is amazing!”
“No chance in hell. I have to change first.”
Heidi pouted as she treaded water. “You’re missing out. Emery would do it.”
“Don’t care. You can’t goad me into this.”
“Aw, I just want you to have some fun. Since you finally ditched Mr. Boring.”
“He was not boring.”
Heidi rolled her eyes and ducked underwater. “He was so boring,” she said when she came up for air. “My girl is fire and passion and tattoos and top-shelf whiskey.”
“You must be thinking of someone else,” I teased.
“Come on. Show me those tattoos!”
“Later! When I have a freaking swimsuit on. Unless you are just dying to see my thong.”
Heidi raised an eyebrow. “I bet everyone here would die to see your thong.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Would you rather talk about Trevor?”
I shook my head. “Let’s go back to my thong.”
“Did someone say thong?” a voice called from behind me on the deck.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and then exhaled slowly. Exactly what I didn’t want to deal with. I turned and came face-to-face with Austin fucking Wright.
He looked…fucking gorgeous. His almost-black hair was sharp on the sides but longer in the front. He had haunted dark eyes and a smile like a razor blade. His cheekbones were hollow and jawline chiseled out of marble. And he was fucking shirtless.
His swim trunks rode low on his hips, revealing the carefully maintained six-pack and the sexy V. I didn’t know how he managed it with the amount of alcohol in his system, but he was cut as fuck. Bulging biceps and ripped pecs with a half-sleeve bleeding into his chest. Ink that I had touched every inch of.
I shook myself out of my reverie. Fuck.
“Shocking that you showed up right when we were talking about my underwear,” I muttered.
“Good to see you, too, babe,” Austin said with a grin.
“Wish I could say the same.”
Patrick trailed behind him with a dopey smile on his face, carrying a six-pack of beer. They both looked loaded. But Austin always held his alcohol better than everyone else. Probably because his tolerance was through the roof, considering he drank all the time.
“What’s up, Julia?” Patrick said.
“Y’all coming in?” Heidi called from the water.
“Hell yes!” Patrick dropped the beer at the edge of the dock, then ran and jumped into the water, next to Heidi.
She giggled and splashed him back when he surfaced.
“Austin, man, we need something to float our beer!”
“Oh, you’re drunk already and still drinking,” I snarled. “How shocking!”
Austin set his dark eyes on me, and he smiled wickedly. “Heard you broke up with that tool you were seeing.”
“Not that it’s any of your fucking business.”
“Just trying to figure out why you’re still acting like this.”
“Like what?” I demanded even though I knew it was a bad idea.
“Like you’ve got a stick up your ass.”
I narrowed my eyes and clenched my hands into fists.
“And not even the way that you like it either, babe.”
He winked, and I flushed scarlet.
“Why are you such a dick?”
He held his arms wide. “Just your average Prince Charming.”
I snorted. “There’s nothing about you that’s charming.”
“Nothing about me that’s average either.”
Then, he looked at me in a way that made my shorts and thong melt off. That seductive, eye-fucking, take-me-right-now, all-consuming look of desire that had set me on fire and pushed me into his bed the first time. The same smile that said he was bad, bad news, and I was happy to be on the front page.
“Fuck off, Austin.” I turned to leave, smoke pouring out of my ears.
But Austin latched on to my wrist as I tried to break away. “Come with me.”
“What part of fuck off did you not understand?”
“Swimming.”
“What?” I asked, realizing a half-second too late what was about to happen.
He tugged me toward the edge of the dock. I stumbled into him, completely losing my footing. Then, vertigo hit. I felt weightless, suspended in midair for a split second, with Austin’s chest pressed against mine. His smile was magnetic. His lips so fucking inviting. He looked…younger, happier, freer than I’d ever seen him.
Then, we crashed into the water. I came up soaking wet in my fucking street clothes, sputtering for breath. Austin popped to the surface right after me. His hands slid down my sides and twirled me back around to face him. He yanked me tight against his body, and all cognitive thought fled my mind as I felt the press of every inch of him against me.
My body went into hyperdrive, as I imagined all the ways he could touch and lick and caress and pleasure my body. All the ways that mouth could make me come. All the ways his dick could lay claim to my body. And I didn’t pull away.
I leaned in, letting my body take over for once and entirely ignoring my mind. His lips were so close.
So inviting.
So easy to forget.
“Fuck, I love getting you wet, Jules,” he breathed seductively.
And then reality crashed back into place.
Two
Austin
“You motherfucker!” Julia screamed.
She shoved me in the chest, trying to get away from me as fast as she could in the lake. I released her with a laugh.
She just glared at me. “Don’t fucking laugh at me.”
Then, she punched
me in the shoulder. Hard.
“Shit, Jules!”
The girl knew how to fucking punch. Jesus Christ! I hadn’t had the privilege of finding that out the last time we were together. No, the last time she’d just slapped the shit out of me. Two for two.
“Austin, leave her alone,” Heidi said with exasperation in her voice.
“It was just a joke,” I said with a shrug.
Julia splashed water at me in a huff and began to swim back to the dock. I could hear her cursing my name under her breath.
“Seriously, Jules, lighten up a bit,” I said, leaning backward in the water and grinning up at her.
She climbed out of the water, and her eyes were fiery hatred when she whirled back to look at me. I could barely hold her gaze.
Not because she was so angry. Seriously, she needed to chill the fuck out. It was Memorial Day weekend. We were supposed to be having a good time.
But rather because she was dripping wet from head to toe. Her short jean shorts clung to her muscular legs, and the flimsy black tank stuck to her curves like a second skin. I could just envision the black lace bra she was wearing beneath the material, and suddenly, I wasn’t thinking with the right head any longer. Fuck.
God-fucking-damn it, she was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever laid eyes on. There was something feral about her. Something dangerous and dark and predatory. A feeling that radiated from her that said she was a badass bitch, and everyone should beware. She had a fucking do-not-disturb sign plastered to her ample chest. And all of it had only intrigued me more and more every time my drunk ass landed in her office. I’d never admit I’d been doing stupid shit just to get sent to the head of HR.
“You ruined my shoes,” Julia snarled at me before turning on her heel and stalking away from the water. Her feet squelched in her worn slip-on Vans.
Heidi smacked me up the side of the head. “Why do you have to be such a dick?”
“He really can’t help it,” Patrick insisted.
“Thanks, bro.”
I shot him a disdainful look, but he only grinned like a fool. He was eating this up, the shithead.
Heidi hauled herself out of the lake and grabbed her discarded clothing. She was tall and thin and mouthy with eyes that looked straight through a guy. I’d always thought she was fun, and I was glad that she’d loosened Landon up. Even if she was staring down at me right now like she was going to roast me on a spit.
