Tackled by the Girl Next Door
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Authors: Susan Scott Shelley,Veronica Forand
Tags: #Contemporary, #Best Friends
Thank you for purchasing this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Tackled
by the
Girl Next Door
by
Susan Scott Shelley and Veronica Forand
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Tackled by the Girl Next Door
COPYRIGHT © 2014 by Susan Scott Shelley and Veronica Forand
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Cover Art by
Kim Mendoza
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
PO Box 708
Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708
Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com
Publishing History
First Champagne Rose Edition, 2014
Digital ISBN 978-1-62830-456-5
Published in the United States of America
Dedications
For my husband, my forever hero.
Thank you for encouraging me to chase my dreams.
~Susan
~*~
For Jim, my husband and best friend.
Your passion and dedication to both work and family
is inspiring.
~Veronica
Chapter One
Saturday
Jacket collar turned up against the chill, Samantha O’Brien inhaled the crisp air and raked more leaves into the large pile by her side. Her brother’s chore, but with his friends lounging on her couch and sprawled over her rug, Kevin’s promise of “later” was as empty as the beer cans littering her kitchen table. His hostility toward her role as his guardian had only intensified since he’d gone away to college and begun to ignore every request she’d given him.
College kids had to blow off some steam after midterms, but only two weeks into being twenty-one, Kevin was overdoing it.
Music blaring from the open door competed with the voices of the four guys walking from the house and into the front yard.
Kevin swaggered toward her. “Sam, I’ll be back in a few. I need to take a drive to the liquor store.”
God, more alcohol?
Lips briefly pressing together, Sam gripped the rake. “You’re not in any condition to drive.”
“I’m fine.” With keys dangling from his fingers, he lumbered closer. Three of his football teammates flanked his sides.
“No way.” She tossed the rake aside, snatched the keys, and stuffed them into her jacket’s inside pocket.
“Hey, what the hell?” Kevin’s hand reached for the keys, then formed a fist. Built like a linebacker, he towered over her—a large, imposing giant. He’d inherited her share of height along with his.
“I said no.” She craned her neck to keep their gazes connected.
His eyes narrowed. “You can’t tell me what to do. I’m not a kid anymore. Hand ’em over.”
Enough
. She pointed toward the street. “Party’s over. Everybody needs to walk home now.”
“You can’t kick my friends out of here.”
“I can, and I did.” Heat spiked through her limbs and tightened her stomach. Being ten years older and the person who paid all the bills and Kevin’s tuition, she not only had the right, but the responsibility to shut the party down. After all, he was the only reason she’d abandoned her dream career at a wealth management firm in New York City, returned home, and settled for a job with the local accounting company.
Kevin wrapped his hand around her elbow. “Give me my keys.”
She jerked her arm away, and her nail scraped her neck. “Damn it. Kev, back off.”
A kid as tall and wide as a refrigerator stood at her back. “Come on, Sam, lighten up.”
She glared at him before she focused on her brother. “The keys are to
my
car, and you’re not allowed to drive it right now. Go inside and drink some water or coffee to sober up.”
Large, meaty hands grabbed her arms from behind and manacled her wrists. “Don’t be such a killjoy, sweetie.”
She twisted against the iron grip. Her pulse pounded like a jackhammer in her chest. “Go home, all of you.”
Kevin grabbed her jacket. His knuckles whitened, and he tugged her toward him, knocking her off balance.
His aggression sent tremors up her spine. With adrenaline coursing through her system, she kicked out. Her knee connected with his thigh. “Get
off
me.”
“Let her go.” A deep, rich baritone barked out the order. Large hands gripped the collar of Kevin’s coat and pulled him away.
Jason Black, Sam’s best friend and six feet four inches of chiseled perfection, filled her view, blocking her from Kevin, and facing down the goon holding her wrists. His leather jacket outlined shoulders as wide as cinder blocks. Hazel eyes sparked a warning at the group of guys huddled around them. “Go home. Now.”
Sam wrapped her freed arms around her middle and stepped closer to her impromptu bodyguard. Her heartbeat thudded, hard and strong. How had things spiraled so far out of control?
Jason’s hand rested on her shoulder. The solid weight ensured protection and set off the familiar stirring in her heart that had developed since he’d returned home. Probably a one-sided stirring. He’d never noticed her as anything other than a friend.
Kevin jammed his hands in his pockets. The mutinous look on his face abated as he studied Jason’s fighting stance. “Fine. We’ll walk to the store. Sam, you’re nothing but a downer. I can’t wait until the Thanksgiving break’s over. I want out of this house.” Calling for his friends to follow, he stomped across the lawn, cutting through her pile, scattering the leaves.
Anger wrestled with hurt, and tears needled her eyes. She bit the inside of her cheek until the urge to cry dissipated.
“You okay?” Jason pulled her closer. Concern softened the hard angles of his face.
Clearing her throat, she nodded. “Thanks for coming over.”
“I was pulling in my driveway when I heard you yell.” He patted her shoulder. “You look like you’re freezing. I’ll take care of the leaves.”
“No. I’ll finish out here. Or start over, I guess.” The cold wind tousled his dark hair as the sky deepened from orange to indigo. An espresso-colored lock hung in his eyes.
“Come on, Sam, don’t make me fight you for the rake.” His smile could charm a genie from a bottle. She couldn’t deny him anything when he flashed her that full-on grin.
“If you insist.” Hands shaky, she passed him the rake. “You might get a blister, though.”
“Not using my hands for much else anymore. I don’t think a few blisters will slow me down.” His dry tone tugged a smile onto her face. Sporadic visits, some short, some long, had punctuated his many long absences as he chased around the country after a pigskin. The past few months of seeing him on a daily basis showed her how much she missed him when he was gone.
“I guess I’ll get started on cleaning up Kevin’s party mess inside.” Her breath hitched. She turned toward the house, but his hand caught hers and halted her progress.
“He’s lucky to have you.” Jason’s voice softened, and his warm fingers sent currents of heat tingling through her.
“Kevin may not think he’s so lucky, but he’s stuck with me.” She wouldn’t break down, not in front of Jason. He’d been through enough without the added bother of having to comfort her again. Sam pasted a smile on her face and hurried inside, curling her fingers into her palm to trap the heat remaining from his touch.
Chapter Two
Sunday
A perfect autumn Sunday in Pennsylvania meant apple picking and football games. For Jason Black, it meant hiding out in Sam’s house away from his father’s pressure to tie up his old life in Los Angeles and make concrete plans for the future. He carried two large cups of coffee and a dozen donuts up to her front door. After shifting the balance of the cups from side to side, he opened the door and entered. He’d followed this ritual every Sunday since his return to Glynneath in September.
“Sam? You home?”
“I’ll be down in a minute. Take off your shoes so you don’t mess up my carpet.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He pulled off his shoes and left them by the front door. Her two bedroom house was smaller than the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. His parents’ house stood next door, a four bedroom mostly uninhabited colonial, but size alone didn’t matter as much as comfort and fit. And Sam’s home fit Jason’s needs perfectly. The warm yellow walls and denim couch made it a sanctuary for a newly retired football player.
He placed the coffee and the donuts on the table and then reclined across the couch in front of the 72-inch HD TV he’d bought for her so he didn’t miss a play on the screen. She’d been so angry at him when he had her box TV carted away, but he refused to watch the games on the puny thing she called a television. She finally gave in when he’d promised to donate another to the local children’s hospital.
Sam hopped down the stairs in the same way she’d always arrived in the living room, skipping over the bottom two steps. She flopped onto the couch next to him, landing at his feet. Dressed in baggy sweatpants and a Penn State sweatshirt, she tapped his shin until he made more room for her. He shifted his legs next to the coffee on the table. And sighed. This place was better than home.
“Thanks for breakfast. Someday, I’ll make you some pancakes or something.” She leaned back into the pillows and stretched her legs next to his. Her darkened eyes showed the strain of the night before.
“You always make lunch, so we’re even. You okay after last night?”
“Embarrassed, but physically fine.” Her brown hair pulled into a ponytail revealed a scratch on the side of her neck. Not physically fine.
The thought of her being manhandled by a bunch of overgrown adolescents sent his blood boiling, but he held his temper. She didn’t need to handle another angry male in her house.
Ten months after her husband had died in Iraq, her mother had died in a car accident. Her mother’s death forced her to give up a job she loved and move home to help her brother finish high school and pay for his college. The little shit didn’t deserve her as a sister. “Is he home?”
“No. I’m sure he’s sleeping off the alcohol at a friend’s house. I hope so.”
The memories of her wide-eyed expression and her shaky voice trying to hold onto some dignity as the group of college boys knocked into her would forever be tattooed on his soul. How could anyone harm someone like Sam? She was the nicest person he knew.
He’d have a talk with Kevin when he returned, and Kevin may not like the tone of the conversation. “Good thing he left. If he or one of his homeboys ever lays a hand on you again, I swear, their balls will be shoved so far down their throats, they’ll pass for ovaries.”
She rolled her eyes and snorted. “Thanks for the image.”
Her smiling face helped him relax. He handed her coffee to her. “Extra light, two sugars.”
“I’m impressed you always remember.” She reached for a chocolate-frosted donut. “I don’t understand how Brittney could give you up for a loser famous for being a loser.”
“Don’t trash Brittney. She’s a sweet kid.”
“You amaze me. Two days after you’re permanently sidelined with a knee injury, she dumps you for a reality television star, and you call her a sweet kid.”
She took a bite of the donut, and chocolate covered her top lip. Not the most graceful eater, she bit into the donut again and ended up with frosting on her chin as well. Jason shook his head and wiped it off with his finger. He licked the chocolate off his finger and took another sip of coffee.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Don’t worry about Brittney. My heart came out of the relationship in one piece. I wasn’t looking for forever when we dated, and neither was she.”
“I could never be so blasé about someone I slept with.”
Jason didn’t try to explain it to her. She’d never understand. She was the settle down and raise a family type of woman. Hell, she’d probably have had a handful of kids by now if Alex hadn’t been gunned down by an insurgent Iraqi at age twenty-five. What a waste. They’d made a great couple.