Okay, so here we go! I hope you love it!
One
Laney
Four years ago, Summer
“Come on, Laney. You gotta
live a little. You’ll be eighteen in a few weeks and then you’ll be leaving for
college. This is the last fair you’ll ever attend as an adolescent. Don’t you
want this summer to be memorable?”
“Yes, but that does not include getting busted for drinking under age.” My best
friend, Tori, gives me that look that says I’m hopeless. “What?” I ask
defensively. “Daddy would kill me.”
“I thought preacher’s kids
were supposed to be wild as hell?”
“I can be wild,” I tell her,
avoiding her disbelieving blue eyes. “I just don’t want to be wild right now.”
“Then when? When are you gonna
do something? Anything? You won’t make it a single
semester away at college if you don’t learn some of this worldly stuff now,
Laney.”
I chew the inside of my lip. I
do feel ill-prepared for college. But the thing is, I
don’t want to do wild things. All I’ve ever really
wanted out of life is to find the perfect man to sweep me off my feet, get
married, have a family, and live happily ever after. And I don’t have to get
wild to achieve any of those things.
Looking at Tori’s expression,
however, makes me feel like some kind of freak for not wanting to break the
rules. At least a little. But she doesn’t understand my dreams. No one does,
really. Except my mother. She was the same way when she was my age, and she
found everything she wanted in life when she met my father.
“Come on, Laney. Just this
once.”
“Why? What is the big deal
about getting it here? Getting it now?”
“Because I want to get it from him.”
“Why?” I ask again. “What’s
the big deal?”
“I’ve had a crush on him for
years, that’s what the big deal is. He went off to college and I haven’t seen
him since. But now he’s here. And I need a wing woman.” When I don’t
immediately relent, she presses. “Pleeease. For meee.”
I sigh. I have to give Tori
credit for being one seriously gifted manipulator. It’s a wonder I’m not wild as a buck. She talks me into doing things I don’t
want to do all the time. It’s just that, so far, they’ve
been fairly innocent. Being the preacher’s daughter and living with such strict
parents makes it hard for me to get into too much
trouble. Tori ought to be happy about that. If it weren’t for the restrictions
being my friend has placed indirectly on her, she’d probably be a pregnant,
drug-addicted criminal by now.
But she’s not. Partly because
of me and my “taming” influence. And it’s those stark differences in our
personalities that make us such good friends. We balance each other perfectly. She
keeps me on my toes. I keep her out of Juvie.
“Fine,” I growl. “Come on. But
so help me, if he tells on us, I’m blaming you.”
Tori squeals and bounces up
and down, her ample boobs threatening to overcome the extremely low neckline of
her shirt.
“Why don’t you just go over
and do that in front of him a couple of times? I’m sure he’d give you anything
you want.”
“That’ll come later,” Tori
says, ruffling her blond bangs and waggling her eyebrows.
I roll my eyes as we start off
across the fairgrounds. As we near the farm truck where the shirtless guy is
unloading crates, I ask Tori again, “Now who did you say he is?”
“Jake Theopolis.”
“Theopolis? As in the peach
orchard Theopolises?”
“Yep, that’s his family.”
“Why don’t I remember him?”
“Because your hormones slept
through your freshman year. He was a senior. Jenna Theopolis’s older brother.
Played baseball. Dated pretty much all the hot girls. “
“Except for you,” I add before
she can.
She grins and elbows me in the
ribs. “Except for me.”
“And you’re sure he won’t try
to get us into trouble?”
“I’m positive. He was a bad
boy. I’m sure there’s nothing we could think of that he hasn’t done ten times
over.” We stop a few feet behind him, and I hear Tori whisper, “Good God, look
at him.”
So I do.
I can see why Tori would find
him appealing. His tanned skin is glistening in the hot Carolina sun. The well-defined muscles in his
chest and shoulders ripple as he picks up a crate from the back of the truck,
and his washboard abs contract as he swivels to set it on the ground. His worn
blue jeans hang low on his narrow hips, giving us an almost-indecent look at
the way the thin trail of hair that leads away from his navel disappears into
the waistband.
But then Tori’s words come
back to me and I’m immediately turned off. She said he’s a bad boy. And I’m not
interested in bad boys. They don’t figure into my plans. At all. In any way. That’s
why I don’t have to worry about being attracted to him.
Even though he’s hot as
blazes.
Tori clears her throat as we
move closer. “Hi, Jake.”
Jake’s dark head turns toward
us as he pauses in his work to wipe his brow. He looks first at Tori. “Hi,” he
replies around the toothpick stuck in one corner of his mouth. His voice is low
and hoarse. His smile is polite and I think to myself that he’s handsome
enough, but nothing to warrant Tori’s insistence on talking to him.
But then he looks over at me.
Even with him squinting in the
bright sun, his eyes steal my breath. Set in his tan face and framed by his
black hair and black lashes, they’re striking. The amber color is like honey,
honey I feel all the way down in my stomach—warm and gooey.
“Hi,” he says again, one side
of his mouth curling up into a cocky grin.
For some reason, I can’t think
of one single thing to say. Not even a casual greeting, one that I would give a
perfect stranger. I stare at him for several long seconds until, finally, he
chuckles and turns back to Tori.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Uh, she’s just shy.”
“Shy?” he asks, turning his
attention back to me. I almost wish he hadn’t. My belly is still full of hot
liquid and I’m starting to feel breathless. “Hmmm, I don’t meet shy girls very
often.”
From the corner of my eye, I
see Tori wave her hand dismissively. “Eh, she’ll loosen up in a minute. In
fact, that’s sort of why we’re here.”
Jake glances back to Tori,
releasing me from the prison of his strange eyes. I take a slow, deep breath to
settle my swimming head.
“Oh, I’ve gotta hear this,” he
says, leaning back against the tailgate and crossing his arms over his chest. I
can’t help but notice how his biceps bulge with the action.
Tori steps closer to him and
whispers, “We were sort of hoping you’d sell us a bottle of that peach wine.
You know, on the down low.”
He looks from Tori to me and
back again before he bends to pick up one bottle. “One of these? To loosen her
up?”
“Yep. It’s sure to do the
trick.”
His golden eyes return to me
as he slowly straightens to his full height. “I don’t believe you. I don’t
think she’ll drink it.” His gaze drops to my mouth and then on down my neck and
chest, to my stomach and my bare legs. I wonder what he’s seeing—just the light
green strapless sundress that sets off my tan? Or is he imagining what’s
underneath? What’s underneath my clothes? Underneath my skin? “I think she
looks like a good girl. And good girls don’t drink.”
The fact that he so accurately
pegged me stirs up my temper for some reason. Immediately defensive, I pull in
my stomach, puff out my chest, and jack up my chin. “What? I’m just some
simple, one-dimensional country girl? Is that it?”
He shrugs, his eyes never
leaving mine. “Am I wrong?”
“Yes,” I declare defiantly,
even though it’s an outright lie. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
One raven brow shoots up in
challenge. “Oh yeah? Prove it.”
Too proud to back down, I
reach out and snatch the bottle from his fingers, unscrew the lid and tip it
back, taking one long gulp.
It’s just local, homemade wine
from his daddy’s peach orchard, but that doesn’t mean the alcohol doesn’t sting
the throat of someone who’s not used to drinking.
As I lower the bottle and swallow
what’s left in my mouth, my eyes water with the effort not to sputter. Jake
watches me until my cheeks are no longer full of the wine.
“Satisfied?” I ask, shoving
the bottle into the center of his broad chest.
“I’ll be damned,” he says
softly.
Ignoring the way his voice
makes my stomach clench, I reach for Tori’s hand. “Come on. We have to get back
for our shift in the booth.”
Tossing my hair, I turn and
stomp off with as much dignity as I can muster. Tori is reluctant, but when I
tug, she follows along.
“What the hell are you doing? You
just totally screwed that up for me. Not to mention that you left the wine.”
“We don’t need that jerk’s
wine.”
“Uh, yeah, we do. And what’s
this about the shift at the booth? We aren’t supposed to be there for another forty
minutes.”
“Then we’ll go early. It’s
just a kissing booth, for Pete’s sake. It won’t kill you to work another forty
minutes. In fact, you’ll probably like it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
she asks indignantly.
I pause in my mad trudging to
look at her. I shake my head to clear it. I don’t know how that Jake guy
managed to get under my skin so quickly, but he did.
“Sorry, Tori. I didn’t mean
anything by it. I’m just aggravated.”
“I can see that. But why? What
did he ever do to you?”
“I don’t know. Nothing, I
suppose. I just hate it when people assume the worst about me.”
“Assuming you’re a good girl
is not a bad thing.”
“He sure made it seem like it
was.” I start walking again and look back at Tori until she catches up. “Besides,
weren’t you just fussing at me for not living a little?”
“Yes, but this is not really
what I had in mind.”
I smile and loop my arm
through hers, hoping for a quick reconciliation so we can leave the topic of
Jake behind. “Be careful what you ask for then, right?”
She sighs. “I guess.”
“Now then, let’s go.”
Twenty minutes later, I’m
regretting my rash decision. I’ve kissed the cheek of every pimple-faced boy in
town. Tori has jumped in front of me to take all the cute guys that have come. Not
that I have a problem with that. I guess I owe her since I messed up her plans
for Jake. Besides, I’m not interested in any of the boys from Greenfield . The only reason I’m working the
booth at all is to raise funds for the church.
I smile politely as I take two
dollars from the next boy in line. He looks like he can’t be a day over twelve.
I bend forward to give his cheek a peck. I press my lips to it and then offer
mine. He kisses it sweetly then looks shyly away. “Thank you for the kiss,” I
say for the hundredth time. I look down as I put the money in my till. When I
glance up, prepared to ask for the next person in line, my heart stops and the
words die on my tongue.
Standing in front of me,
smiling like he knows I can’t breathe, is Jake Theopolis. He’s wearing a T-shirt
now, a blue one that fits snugly over his wide shoulders. His pecs shift
beneath the material as he digs in the front pocket of his jeans. I see him
toss a ten dollar bill onto the counter in front of me. Confused, my eyes
flicker back up to his. The bright, liquid orbs are intent on mine.
“I came for the peaches,” he
says quietly. He reaches up to take the toothpick from between his lips. I
watch, spellbound, as his face gets closer and closer. “I need a taste before I
go,” he whispers, his sweet cinnamon breath fanning my lips.
And then his mouth is brushing
mine. I don’t even think to resist. In fact, I don’t think at all. I only feel.
His lips are soft against mine
and he smells like soap and clean sweat. His touch is featherlight until he
tilts his head to the side and deepens the kiss. I feel his tongue trace the
crease of my lips until I part them to let him in. In long, leisurely strokes,
his tongue licks at mine, like he’s savoring the flavor of it. I savor him
right back, drinking in the hint of cinnamon in his mouth. I lean toward him,
bracing myself on the counter, afraid my legs won’t hold me up much longer.
Finally, he leans back and
looks down into my stunned face. “Mmmm, that’s the sweetest peach I’ve had in a
long time,” he purrs. When he winks at me, I feel a gush of heat pour into my
stomach like hot lava.
Without another word, he turns
and walks away.
Some Like It Wild
How far will a good girl go for
the bad boy she loves?
Laney Holt is a preacher’s daughter. A good girl. Her only goal was to get married, have babies
and live happily ever after, just like her parents. Only that didn’t
happen. With the betrayal of two people
closest to her, Laney’s dreams came crashing down. Now she’s left with an empty
space she doesn’t know how to fill. Until she meets Jake Theopolis, a daredevil
with a death wish who has heartbreaker written all over him.
Jake has no interest in thinking beyond the here and
now. All he wants out of life is the
next rush, the next “feel good” thing to keep his mind off the pain of his
past. His latest rush? Showing Laney
there’s more to life than being a good girl—and that going bad can be so much
fun. Her only concern now is how she can ever hope to satisfy the wild side of
a boy like Jake. She’s looking forward to trying. And so is Jake.
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