Authors: Cassandra Cole
ROMANCE: Military: SEALED BY APACHE (Military Soldier Navy SEAL Romance) (Alpha Male Billionaire Bad Boy Romance Short Stories) (2 page)
LUCKY BOY
A Stepbrother Romance
By
Aubrey James
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Heather Ingram was pissed.
She sat alone at a window table in the café down the street from her office, a tony little establishment that was usually home to the neighborhood hipsters when the afternoon rush didn’t take over completely.
She ignored the stares and smiles thrown her way by the male patrons passing my. She fiddled with her iPhone and did her best to shut them out as she waited for her tea to cool. Every so often she glanced at her watch.
She was supposed to meet Adam, a ritual they had started a few weeks into their relationship and one she could easily do without.
She hated the place and the people who came there. She would have opted for a classier rendezvous point, but Adam liked the place and she knew that compromises were necessary, although she rarely opted to compromise about anything. That was a side of her Adam had yet to see.
They’d met at the bar during a slow night when he had little else to do than serve her drinks and listen to her complain. She had just been promoted to senior manager in her design firm, a position she had fought long and hard for. It had been a celebratory night, one where she should have been surrounded by friends and coworkers, yet she was there alone.
“You can’t make senior manager at my age without stepping on a few toes,” Heather told him as the wine started to kick in. What she didn’t say was that she had stomped on every toe that ever got in her way; and a few that didn’t.
Heather knew how to get what she wanted. A lack of ambition had never been her problem. She would keep climbing up the ladder to the top, no matter what, and everyone in the company knew that and most resented her for it.
She had proven that hard work, determination, talent, and a complete lack of concern for anyone who got in her way guaranteed that she would continue her climb to the top. The big bosses loved her, and that’s all she cared about.
Then she met Adam Preston, a fucking bartender, for Christ sake. And despite the fact that she probably made more in a month than he made in an entire year, there was something about him that made her feel good about herself. If Adam could love her, maybe she wasn’t such a raging bitch after all.
For whatever reason, she felt comfortable being around him. He was one of the few people she felt that she could truly feel vulnerable around without having to worry about her appearance or her demeanor or manners.
He accepted her for who she was and sometimes she wished she could do the same. That was her struggle… Her heart was growing fond of Adam Preston, but her brain screamed, “He’s a fucking bartender, for Christ sake!”
He has potential, she told herself. With enough time and patience, I’ll be able to shape him into the person I know he can be.
Patience, that’s all it would take. And Heather had a lot of patience.
She knew how to push in subtle hints. She knew how to make him feel like whatever change she wanted from him was actually his idea. She knew how to play the game, and she knew how to play it well.
The only person standing in her way was Adam’s stepsister, Sarah, but Heather had no doubt she could deal with the likes of her.
Heather never understood why Sarah was such an integral part of his life. Adam had talked about her plenty, their history well-known to her after she forced herself to listen to every gag-inducing detail.
She could see where her presence in his life had seemed important at one point, but it had been so long ago that it shouldn’t have mattered anymore. It wasn’t like she was a real sibling… She was a fucking stepsister, for Christ sake!
And Heather had grown to hate her and was certain the feeling was mutual.
DIVERSION
An Erotic Romance
By
Aubrey James
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Vanessa leaned back against the headboard. She was wearing the fluffy white robe that had she’d found in the hotel’s cupboard and still felt warm and boneless after having just taken the most deliciously hot bath, complete with complimentary, scented bubbles. Steam rose from the cup of tea she sipped while watching some inane reality show featuring a motley line-up of minor television celebrities.
She found herself wondering if Patrick was still awake, and what- or perhaps
who-
he was doing. Vanessa had to admit that she was a little disappointed with herself for having called their adventure to an end so soon, but she was a grown woman with a job to do, she couldn’t exactly hop into bed with every bloke who made her laugh in a bar.
A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. She set down her cup, drew the robe closed around her naked body and opened the door.
Patrick stood in the doorway with a goofy grin on his lips.
“How did you get back up here?” she asked with a frown, knowing that a key-card was required to use the elevator.
He held up a key-card and wiggled it at her. “Turns out, I have a room on the third floor.”
“I thought your company wouldn’t pay for a room at a decent hotel.” She crossed her arms over her breasts and leaned against the doorframe, biting her bottom lip to keep from smiling.
“I suppose we’ll sort that out when I file my expense report,” he said with a cavalier shrug. He stepped back and let his eyes go up and down her body. “Look at you. You clean up very nicely.”
She hugged the robe around her. She suddenly felt terribly exposed. “I was in the bath for an hour,” she said, brushing a stray hair from her face. “It was heaven. Other than running up your expense account, what have you been doing?”
“I was doing my part to keep the hotel bar in business. They have a lovely selection of cheap Irish whiskey.”
“I’m sure they do.” She eyed him warily for a moment, unsure of his intentions, and, perhaps, of her own. “I told you I wasn’t going to invite you inside my room.”
“Oh, I know,” he said, holding up a hand. “But... perhaps you’d like to come up and see mine?”
That cheeky smile of his, combined with the accent, was going to be her undoing, she knew this now. Still, she tried to resist. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea. I’m really not dressed to go out.”
His face dropped for a second, then she said, “Oh what the hell..” and swung the door open. He took it for the invitation it was, practically lifting her up off the floor with the sudden strength of his embrace around her waist.
She cupped her hands around his face as they kissed. Patrick kicked the door shut behind them as they moved towards the bed. He pulled the robe off her shoulders, revealing her pale chest and long neck, and latched his mouth to the soft patch of sensitive skin where her jaw met her throat. His teeth grazed her beneath her ear and she couldn’t repress the moan that tore from her throat.
She wiggled out of the towelling robe, letting it fall to the floor, as he drew her naked body against him. He was fully clothed, and she worked a hand between them to start the process of unbuttoning his shirt.
“Eager,” he whispered, his voice harsh with want.
“You have me at a disadvantage,” Vanessa responded, breathless.
She saw the devil dancing in his eyes. He said, “Oh, darling, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
FEAR OF
FLYING
A Tale of Love & Romance
By
Aubrey James
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Eve felt a cool shadow passing over her. She opened her eyes expecting a puff of cloud to be blocking the sun. Instead, Cooper was standing over her, wearing sunglasses and a clean blue polo shirt with khaki shorts and flip-flops. His hair was wet and messy. She could see more of his arms and more of the tattoos peeking out from the sleeves of his shirt.
"You're blocking my sun," she said, feigning anger at him still, although she couldn’t keep the playful lilt from her tone.
"I brought breakfast," he said, bringing a basket of food from behind his back and holding it open for her. “Indian-style crepes, sliced fruit, fresh coconut milk. Hungry?”
As if on cue, Eve's stomach growled loudly.
"That looks incredible," she said eagerly. Cooper dropped to the sand in front of her and dished out the breakfast onto two plates. They ate in comfortable silence and when they finished, they stretched out side by side on the sand, basking in the sun.
Cooper sat up and Eve watched as he pulled the chain he wore around his neck over his head. He undid the clasp and pulled a gold infinity symbol from the chain, placing it between them on the edge of Eve's towel. She looked at him with suspicion.
"What's that?"
"When I was in Iraq, a few months into my tour, I started having nightmares. Pretty bad ones. Cold sweats, everything. I'd dream about my family and friends back home. About people I hadn't seen in years. It was never about the war itself, or about things that happened during my deployment, it was always about people back home." He paused for a minute as if gaining the courage to continue.
"So, three weeks into my second tour, my mom died. Heart attack. My dad was never in the picture, so it was hard. More than hard. After that, the dreams intensified, they magnified..." he reached out and touched the infinity symbol with one finger, pushing it off the towel and into the sand.
"So I started writing about them… to Ashley… my wife."
Eve felt her body grow cold in spite of the sun shining down on them. She tried not to react because she felt there was more to tell, but her stomach felt as if it was ready to give her the breakfast back.
"That..." he said, lifting the infinity ring from the sand, "is two wedding bands fused together."
Eve listened, but didn’t speak. She held her breath, waiting for him to continue.
"I stopped sleeping as much, some nights not sleeping at all. Ashley said she understood... at first. On my third tour, the letters from her were less frequent. Then one day I got a big brown envelope…”
He held out his hands as if to show Eve the size.
"There were divorce papers inside and her wedding band." He held the bound wedding rings up to the sun, examining them as if they'd tell him the reason why his wife wanted a divorce.
"Why?" Eve asked quietly.
"Why did she leave me?" He shrugged. "She told the attorney she was afraid of me.”
"I'm sorry, Cooper," Eve whispered, touching his arm.
"Me too," he said. Eve couldn't tell if he was sorry about his wife leaving him or sorry about the way he'd been acting. She imagined it was probably a little of both.
Cooper slipped the fused rings into his palm and clutched them tightly. Eve thought he was going to slip them back on the chain with his dog tags. Instead, he reared his arm back and threw the rings as far out into the water as he could. They watched as the little gold rings glinted in the sun before disappearing beneath the aqua waves.
"I've never even told Frank that story," Cooper said, "and he's like a father to me."
"I've never slept on a plane before I met you," Eve said after a few moments, still staring at the place where the rings disappeared.
“Why do you think that is?” he asked, his eyebrows lifting, his blue eyes shining.
She said, "You make me feel safe.”
Eve’s gaze came up to find him looking at her with a burning intensity. He slipped one hand into her hair and pulled her toward his face. His lips were soft and warm. His kiss was gentle at first, then more insistent.
Eve lay back and pulled Cooper above her. He gazed into her eyes for a moment, then leaned in slowly and kissed her with an insistence that was almost desperate.
A moan escaped from Eve's lips and she ran her fingers through his hair, pulling him in closer still. Quickly, they were ravishing each other, the full length of Cooper's body pressed against hers. His knee teased her legs apart, and she entwined them up and around his hips. He lowered to run a line of kisses across her jaw and onto her neck, and the tease of his lips across her skin caused Eve to moan again and shiver.