by Adele Niles
Table of Contents
Never Again, Maybe
Copyright
About This Book
No Regrets
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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
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Also by Adele Niles
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Never Again, Maybe
No Regrets Ink Series
Book 4
Copyright
First Edition, September 2019
Copyright © 2019 by Adele Niles
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and situations are the product of the author's imagination.
All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written consent from the author.
License
This book is available exclusively on Amazon.com. If you found this book for free or from a site other than an Amazon.com country specific website it means the author was not compensated for this book and you have likely obtained this book through an unapproved distribution channel.
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Chapter One
Garrett
I leaned in close and kissed her, slow and gentle.
Her name was Bailey, and she was gorgeous.
Long brown hair, big brown eyes, a natural-looking tan. A perfect smile with a cute little gap in her front teeth. A spray of freckles across her nose. She spent a lot of time outside, it looked like. She wasn’t wearing a lot of make-up, and she was dressed in jeans and a flannel over a lacy camisole. She wore work boots instead of heels.
My kind of girl. No-fuss, a little rugged, and with brown eyes.
I’d walked into this bar instead of The Republic on a whim, and now I was glad for it. I wouldn’t have met her if I’d gone to my usual drinking spot.
She eased back from the kiss, looking up at me. Her eyes were a little hazy.
I imagined mine were, too.
We’d both been drinking hard all night. I knew I was a mess, and she had been going drink for drink with me since eight o’clock.
She smiled, then bit her lower lip almost shyly. “Do you wanna get out of here?”
This wasn’t like me.
I wasn’t the type of guy who took a different girl home every night. Hell, I hadn’t had a hookup like this in months.
But it had been a shit day, and this gorgeous woman was asking me to leave with her. And I wanted to. I wanted to get laid, finish off the day on a high note. And I wanted to make her feel good, too.
I wanted to do this.
So I nodded, wiping my palms on my jeans.
Bailey smiled. She turned to talk to her friend for a moment; I paid for my drinks, and we both stood up. Bailey said goodnight to her friend—Jessie? Julie? I couldn’t remember her name.
And then she turned to me and smiled. “Let’s take a Lyft? I’m not sure I’m up for a drive right now.”
“Sure. I’ll pay.”
I called the car. We kissed again while we waited for it to arrive, and even more on the ride back to her apartment.
This wasn’t like me.
But I was so excited, I could barely concentrate.
Or maybe that was the beers and the shots.
The car stopped outside a cute little house on the west side of town. Bailey got out, turning to look at me.
“C’mon,” she said, waving her hand toward me.
I smiled, following her.
The house was cute. It looked like the kind of place where a bunch of girls lived together. It was beautifully decorated and smelled good. I started to take my shoes off in the living room, but Bailey looked back, laughing.
“Bring them to my room. I don’t want my roommate to be mad.”
I nodded and picked them up, grinning as I followed her down the hall.
She opened the door to one of the rooms and went inside. I followed.
The room was packed with boxes.
The bed stood in the middle of the room, up against one wall. A dresser was in a corner, small boxes resting on the surface. The open closet looked almost empty.
I didn’t know if she was coming or going.
But I didn’t have time to ask.
She was on me as soon as the door closed, pulling me into a hard kiss.
I groaned, wrapping my arms around her.
Bailey walked me back toward the bed, pushing me down on to it. She climbed on top of me, straddling my hips.
I was already hard.
She looked down at me and smiled. “You’ve got a condom, right?”
I nodded.
“Good.”
And she leaned down to kiss me again.
Chapter Two
Bailey
Twelve Hours Earlier
Moving back to Richland was a step I hadn’t planned on. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be traveling still, exploring the country.
Unfortunately, the money had run out completely, and this was all I could come up with.
I unloaded the last box from the back of my truck and carried it inside. Jackie was in the kitchen. When I closed the door, she turned to me and smiled, holding up two glasses of iced tea.
Sweetened, I assumed. The right way to drink it.
“Is that the last one?” she asked.
“It is. I’m all moved in.” I put the box on the coffee table and smiled at her. “Thank you. For letting me crash here for a while.”
“Of course!” Jackie laughed. “I was so excited to get your call. It’s gonna be good to have a lot of time to catch up and reconnect.”
I smiled. Jackie had been my best friend growing up, and I knew I could call her when I reached the point of desperation. She was one of the sweetest, kindest people I’d ever met, the sort who would open her house up to a complete stranger in need.
Letting in an old friend was a no-brainer.
I smiled at her. “Well, still. Thank you. I promise, as soon as I get a job, I’ll start paying rent for the room.”
Jackie waved her hand. “It’s not that different to have two people here instead of one. Take care of yourself, okay? Get settled. And if you need to buy furniture or anything, handle that before you worry about rent.”
I smiled. “Well… maybe we’ll have to take a trip to Target when I get my first paycheck. There’s a side table there I’m kinda obses
sed with.”
“The one with the glass door? Kind of farmhouse-looking?”
I nodded. “That’s the one.”
Jackie laughed. “I figured. Sounds good. We’ll go get it when you have money.”
We both laughed. Jackie came into the living room and sat down on the couch. I left my box where it was and sat with her. She handed me a glass of tea and I took a long sip.
Sugary-sweet. Perfect.
“So how does it feel to be back in good ol’ Richland?” Jackie asked.
I laughed. “It’s…fine? I mean, it’s not what I had planned for myself, but, you know. It’s the same as ever.”
Jackie nodded. “Isn’t that the truth? Not much changes. All I can tell you is that there’s a new bakery in town and it’s amazing.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Bakeology. It’s not too far from the Beanery. We should go sometime. They have these rum cupcakes that are just the absolute best.”
I laughed. “That sounds great. I’ve never had a rum cupcake.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. But it sounds delicious!”
Jackie chuckled. “I figured you’d have tried everything, traveling around like you’ve done.” She sipped her tea. “I was always a little jealous, seeing you post on Facebook and stuff. All those gorgeous pictures.”
I sighed. “It was fun, but it wasn’t as great as it looked.”
“How could it not be great? You saw so much cool stuff! You were all over the west.”
I smiled. “Yeah, but I was sleeping in my truck. Doing odd jobs for money.”
Jackie made a thoughtful noise. “So maybe it wasn’t glamorous. But it was still cool. Those photos you took at the Grand Canyon are amazing.”
“I’m pretty proud of those.” I smiled at her. “I’m glad you liked them.”
“I loved them.” Jackie paused just for a second. “So, have you seen anyone else since you got back? Your ex?”
I groaned.
Why did she have to bring him up?
“No,” I said, taking another sip of tea. “I haven’t seen him, and I want to keep it that way.”
“Right, right. It wasn’t the cleanest of breakups.”
“Not at all.” I shook my head. “That’s a chapter of my life that can stay closed.”
“Okay, well, that means there’s room for a new guy, yeah?” Jackie grinned, raising her eyebrows.
“No.” I shook my head. “Not at all. I’m staying away from men for now.”
“Why?”
“So I can get my life together. Get back to work, get back on my feet. I gotta start living, you know?”
Jackie nodded. “Yeah, but don’t isolate yourself, Bailey. It’s not good for you.”
“I won’t. I’m super down for, like, a girls’ night or something. I’m just not looking for a man right now.”
“Girls night, huh? Maybe you and I should go out tonight.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yeah. My treat.”
“You sure about that? I can be a pretty hard drinker when I want to be.”
Jackie laughed. “Go crazy. Celebrate having a place to live.”
“Maybe celebrating a new job?”
“A new job?” Jackie gasped. “Where?”
I laughed. “I have an interview at three. At the vet’s office.”
“Really? I didn’t know you wanted to be a vet.”
It was my turn to laugh. “I didn’t do great in college, but I did manage to get an associate’s in veterinary science. I’m definitely qualified to be a vet tech. And I can tell them the story about helping a cow give birth in Middle-of-Nowhere, Arizona.”
“Wait, what?”
I grinned. “It’s a gross story, Jackie. You won’t like it.”
“Okay, but…but did the cow survive? And the baby?”
“Yeah, they survived. Everybody’s happy and healthy. Or at least they were when I finished showering at the ranch and drove away.”
She let out a whistle, shaking her head. “No, thanks. That’s not for me.”
“No? You don’t want to be elbow-deep in a cow’s—”
“Whoa! Okay! No more.” Jackie started to laugh, shaking her head. I laughed with her.
It was good to feel like I was welcome here.
We chatted a little longer while we drank our tea. Jackie told me about the Beanery and about some of her coworkers. She told me about a few businesses that had opened while I was away, but only the bakery sounded like something I wanted to check out.
But finally, I looked at my phone. I needed to shower up and get ready for my interview.
Jackie took the opportunity to look at her phone, too, and stood. “I gotta go get ready for work,” she said. “And you have an interview to get to!”
I nodded. “I do. I have to hunt in these boxes for some nice clothes to wear.”
Jackie smiled. “You’ve got this, though. They’re gonna be so happy to have you.”
“I hope so.” I smiled back.
Jackie grabbed her purse from beside the table. “Well! Good luck, okay? I get off at nine tonight. We’ll go out and have some drinks.”
“Sounds good, Jackie. Thank you.”
She headed out, closing the door behind her.
I took a deep breath and went to get ready.
I wanted this to be a good day. I wanted it to be a good start to my return to Richland.
Chapter Three
Garret
Twelve Hours Earlier
I woke up in a fucking fantastic mood.
I kept it rolling, too; cooked myself breakfast, stopped off for coffee on my way to No Regrets. My schedule for the day was full, and I was excited about it.
I was really starting to take off.
The shop was full of great artists. Benny and Bradley, the owners of the shop, were some of the best artists I’d ever worked with. Logan, too—he did incredible work, especially with photorealistic animals. And Ryker, he was incredible.
Hence why the four of them were now co-owners of the two shops.
Benny and Logan ran our new location across the river in Ohio. Bradley and Ryker stayed at the home shop, in Richland. I kinda bounced between locations as needed, but was usually at the main location.
Which was fine by me. I liked Richland. I liked the clients at the home location. I liked being close to Bakeology and the Beanery and The Republic.
But I didn’t always like working with Ryker.
And today was going to be one of those days where he just got under my skin.
He was at the front desk with Zoe when I walked in. He looked up, grinning at me in that overconfident way he always smiled. “Good, you’re here. We need to talk about your schedule for today.”
I raised my eyebrows, sipping my coffee. “What about it?”
“You’re packed. Back to back.”
“That’s good, right? A lot of business coming in.”
“Yeah, but my schedule’s lighter. I figured you’d need some downtime, so I took a couple of your clients.”
I blinked.
No.
“What do you mean, you took them?”
He shrugged. “You’ve got two people who haven’t even done consultations yet. There’s no reason why I can’t take over.”
“Yeah, but…they’re my clients.”
“They’re new. I looked them up in the system and they don’t have profiles. Technically, they’re nobody’s clients.”
I frowned. This was a dick move on his part. He had to see that, right? “But they chose me for a reason.”
“Probably because you’re the cheapest artist in the shop.”
Cheapest?
Maybe I was the newest, but Benny and Bradley had hired me for a reason. They didn’t waste time on people who didn’t have any skill.
I put my coffee cup on the counter. “No. You’re not taking my clients.”
Zoe, dressed in a black vinyl dress with her hair fresh
ly dyed a bright teal, gave me a nervous smile. “Uh…Ryker already had me call the clients and ask if they’d be comfortable changing artists.”
I looked back at Ryker. “Are you shitting me?”
“What’s the problem, huh?” He shrugged. “You should be thanking me. I made sure you get a lunch break today.”
“I need the money, not a lunch break! I’m still trying to build my client base, Ryker!”
Why did he have to be like this? He did this all the time—undermined people, went behind their backs, and tried to frame it as a favor. But it was never a favor; it was always about himself, making himself look good.
Ryker just shrugged. “It’s already been done, dude. Sorry.”
“How about you ask next time?”
“I’m the boss. I don’t have to ask.”
“Ryker.”
We both looked toward Bradley, who was at his station, cleaning it for the day. He frowned at us both, but it lingered on Ryker.
“Don’t steal clients, man. You know better than that.”
“I’m doing him a favor. Jesus.” Ryker shook his head. He gave me a cold look, then moved out from behind the counter toward the back.
I shook my head, reaching for my coffee cup.
Zoe gave me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Garrett. I didn’t know he hadn’t talked to you. I just, y’know, assumed.”
I snorted. “Yeah, well. A good coworker would’ve checked in before changing shit up.”
“Watch it,” Ryker snapped, looking over his shoulder.
“Ryker. Garrett.” Bradley’s voice sounded almost commanding. He didn’t want anyone to forget that he was at the top of the food chain here. “Both of you. Knock it off.”
I went silently, stalking to my station—thankfully beside Bradley now, not Ryker.
Bradley leaned over the half-wall. “Hey. I’ll talk to Ryker later, okay? Let this one go. It’s not gonna happen again.”
I looked up at him. “You sure about that? Because he kinda just does whatever he fucking wants.”
“I’m sure. I won’t let it happen.” He reached out, patting my shoulder. Like a big brother. But that made sense; he’d been a great big brother to Kenzie, and she and I were close in age. I didn’t mind if Bradley treated me like a kid brother.
