Down to You

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

(NOT appropriate for younger readers)

The scorching tale of one girl, two brothers
and a love triangle…that’s not.

Olivia Townsend is nothing special. She’s
just a girl working her way through college so she can return home
to help her father run his business. She’s determined not to be the
second woman in his life to abandon him, even if it means putting
her own life on hold. To Olivia, it’s clear what she must do. Plain
and simple. Black and white.

But clear becomes complicated when she meets
Cash and Nash Davenport. They’re brothers. Twins.

Cash is everything she’s always
wanted
in a guy. He’s a dangerous, sexy bad boy who wants her in his bed
at any cost. He turns her insides to mush and, with just one kiss,
makes her forget why he’s no good for her.

Nash is everything she’s ever
needed
in a guy. He’s successful, responsible and intensely passionate.
But he’s taken. Very taken, by none other than Marissa, Liv’s rich,
beautiful cousin. That doesn’t stop Olivia from melting every time
he looks at her, though. With just one touch, he makes her forget
why they can never be together.

Black and white turns to shades of gray when
Olivia discovers the boys are hiding something, something that
should make her run as far and as fast as she can. But it’s too
late to run. Olivia’s already involved. And in love. With both of
them.

Both brothers make her heart tremble. Both
brothers set her body on fire.

She wants them both.

And they want her.

How will she ever choose between them?

DEDICATION

To my husband

You’ve loved and supported me through this
entire crazy journey, and you’ve celebrated the most amazing times
of my life with me. Thank you for hanging around. I’m glad you
decided to keep me.

To Courtney Cole

My crit partner and one of the best friends a
girl could ask for. I love you, chica, and I want you to move next
door. Get right on that. Thanks.

To the Indie Hellcats

Without your late-night input, this project
wouldn’t have its gorgeous face. Your love and support is
unfailing, amazing and humbling. I am forever grateful to Georgia
Cates for bringing me into your midst.

I love you all.

And, as always, most of all
to my
God
.

You’re everything. That is all.

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012, M. Leighton

Cover photo by Coka

www.shutterstock.com

http://mleightonbooks.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. Except as permitted
under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication
may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any
means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the
prior permission of the author.

This ebook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you
are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not
purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase
your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this
author.

This book is a work of fiction. Any
resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or
occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and storylines
are products of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously.

CHAPTER ONE- Olivia

My head is spinning lightly, but happily. I
can’t even remember the name of the drinks Shawna keeps ordering
for us. I just know they’re delicious. And potent as hell! Wow!

“When’s the stripper coming? I’m ready to get
my freak on!” Ginger shouts. She’s the crazy, outspoken,
cougar-of-a-bartender we work with at Tad’s Sports Bar and Grill in
Salt Springs, Georgia. She’s wild enough in her natural
environment, but stick her in a strange new place in a city like
Atlanta and she morphs into a full blown tiger.
Rawr!

She looks at me and grins. Her bottle-blond
hair looks urine-yellow in the low light and her pale blue eyes are
twinkling devilishly.

I’m instantly suspicious.

“What?” I ask dazedly.

“I talked to the manager ahead of time. He’s
gonna make sure Shawna has to help the stripper get out of those
pesky clothes he’ll be wearing.” She giggles maniacally. I can’t
help but laugh. She’s a mess.

“Ryan would kill her if she stripped another
man’s clothes off, bachelorette party or not!”

“He’ll never know. What stays in the VIP room
happens in the VIP room,” she slurs.

“Don’t you mean what
happens
in the
VIP room
stays
in the VIP room?”

“That’s what I said.”

I snicker. “Oh, okay.”

I giggle as I watch her take another sip of
her neurotoxic drink. I opt for my water instead. Somebody has to
remain semi-lucid. Might as well be me. Tonight is all about Shawna
anyway. I want to send her off into married life with the best
party possible. I doubt that includes her having to carry me home
or clean vomit off her shoes.

A knock at the door to the private room has
us all turning our heads in that direction. The girls immediately
start laughing and hollering and cat-calling.

Dear God, I hope it’s the stripper and not a
cop or something!

The door opens and in walks the most
incredibly handsome guy I think I’ve ever seen. He looks like he’s
in his early twenties, really tall, and built like a football
player—wide chest and shoulders, thick arms and legs, tiny waist in
between. He’s dressed in solid black from head to toe. But it’s his
face that’s most impressive.

Sweet hell, he’s effin’ gorgeous!

His short hair is dark blond and his face is
chiseled perfection. I can’t tell what color his eyes are as he
scans the room, but I can see that they’re dark. He’s just opened
his mouth to speak when his gaze finally makes its way to me. His
eyes click to a stop on mine and he stares.

I’m completely mesmerized. As I look into
them, I still can’t determine a color, but the orbs look nearly
black. Even in the light spilling through the door behind him, they
look like pools of ink. Just barely, he cocks his head to the side
as he watches me.

It makes me nervous. And excited. I don’t
know why. I have no reason to be nervous
or
excited. But I
am. He makes me feel twitchy. Squirmy. Warm.

We’re still staring at each other when Ginger
gets up and drags him further into the room, flinging the door shut
behind him.

“All right, Shawna. Come kick your single
life to the curb the right way!”

The other girls start squealing and cheering
her on. Shawna’s smiling, but shaking her head. “No way! Not this
girl!” The bridesmaids-to-be get more insistent, two of them coming
around to take her by the hands and haul her to her feet.

She leans back, away from them, shaking her
head more vigorously. “No, no, no. I don’t want to. One of y’all do
it.”

She starts wiggling her arms to free herself,
but the girls have a death grip on her thin wrists. When she looks
at me, her wide brown eyes tell me all I need to know. She’s
totally freaked by the idea.

“Liv, help!” I raise my hands in a gesture
that says
what do you want me to do?
She nods toward the
hunk hulking behind Ginger. “You do it!”

“Are you crazy? I’m not stripping a
stripper!”

“Please! You know I’d do it for you.”

And she would. Dammit.

How the hell does the world’s clumsiest shy
girl get wrangled into doing things like this?

As I so often do, I answer myself.

Because she’s a pushover!

Taking a deep breath, I stand and turn toward
the Hot Stripper Guy, purposely jacking my chin up another notch.
He’s still watching me with those smoky coal eyes.

When I take a step toward him, he very slowly
raises one eyebrow.

Heat washes through me.

Must be those dangerous drinks,
I
think
. It has to be.

I feel flushed and a little breathless, but I
take another step anyway.

Hot Stripper Guy backs away from Ginger and
turns to face me fully. He crosses his arms over his chest and
waits, that one brow still raised in curiosity. He’s not going to
make it easy. He’s leaving it all up to me, just like Ginger asked
them to do.

As if on cue, the music that’s been pumping
into the room all night gets louder. It’s a sexy song, heavy on the
bass. It’s mood music for sure. It seems to punctuate every intense
beat of my heart as I get closer and closer to those velvety
eyes.

When I stop in front of him, I have to look
up. My five and a half feet of height is nearly a foot shorter than
his towering frame.

Up close, I see that his eyes are brown.
Dark, dark brown. Nearly black.

Sinful.

I’m lost in wondering why that particular
word would come to mind when the girls start chanting for me to
take his shirt off. Uncertainly, I glance at their excited faces
then back to him. Slowly, he spreads his arms, holding them out to
his sides, away from his body.

One corner of his mouth twitches. His
expression, his body language is rife with challenge.

I realize he doesn’t think I’ll do it. No one
probably does.

And that’s exactly why I will.

Letting the beat of the music relax my tense
muscles, I plaster a smile on my face as I reach forward to tug Hot
Stripper Guy’s shirt from the waistband of his pants.

CHAPTER TWO- Cash

Damn, she’s beautiful!

Between this girl’s black hair, her bright
probably-green eyes, her banging little body and the way she seems
a tiny bit shy, I’m wishing we were alone in this room
together.

Her smile doesn’t leave her lips as she runs
her hands around my waist, untucking my shirt. When it’s free, she
starts to pull it up.

But then she pauses. For a split second, I
see her hesitate. She’s trying not to show that she’s unsure of
herself, of what she’s doing.

I stare down into those liquid eyes. I don’t
want her to stop. I want to feel her hands on my skin. So I taunt
her, hoping to feed the feline that I’d be willing to bet is buried
somewhere down deep.

“Oh, come on. Is that all you got?” I
whisper.

Her eyes bore into mine and I hold my breath,
waiting to see which side will win. In fascination, I watch as the
balance of power shifts and the change is reflected in her eyes.
They get a little brighter, a little feistier. I’ve never actually
seen
someone muster courage. Determination. Something in
this girl refuses to give in, to back down. She’s rising to the
challenge. And it’s hot as hell.

She keeps her eyes on mine as she starts to
pull up my shirt. She leans in closer and I get a whiff of her
perfume. It’s sweet and a little musky. Sexy. Just like her.

She has to plaster her body to mine and
stretch up on her tiptoes to get my shirt over my head. I can feel
her breasts pushing against my chest. I could make the task easier
for her. But I don’t. I like the feel of her rubbing against me.
There’s no way I’m ruining that.

Once she has my shirt off, she backs up and
looks me over. She’s shy about it. That much is obvious. It’s like
she wants to look, but she’s a little embarrassed to, which
actually makes it more of a turn on for some reason. I’m sure every
other eye in the room is watching me, watching
us
, but hers
are the only ones I can feel. They’re like tongues of fire, licking
my skin. They’re searing and tangible. Or at least they feel that
way to me.

I take a deep breath and her eyes drop to my
stomach. Then they flicker down a little further. She stares longer
than she should, but not nearly as long as I want her to.

I start to get hard.

Her eyes widen and her lips fall open just
enough for her tongue to sneak out and wet them. I have to grit my
teeth to keep from pulling her to me and kissing that lush little
mouth of hers.

Then light pours into the room. It’s just
enough to break the spell.

I hear a man’s voice. A very pissed-off man’s
voice.

“Dude, what the hell?” It’s Jason. I know why
he’s angry.

It’s not easy to tear my eyes away from hers.
There’s a shy, reluctant excitement in them that makes me want to
see how far I can push her. But I don’t. Push her, that is.
Instead, I look away, turning my head to glance first at Jason and
then at the room of salivating females. The jig is up.