Fearless Read online

  Izzy took off her coat and draped it on the back of her chair. “I thought Jack would be here tonight. When he stopped in at Sweet Stuff with the kids he said he had a sitter.”

  “The sitter fell through…again.” Austin shook his head with a sad smile.

  “What’s the matter with Jack?” Evie asked. “I’d love to meet him.”

  I took her hand. “And I’d love for him to meet you. His wife passed away a year and a half ago, leaving him as a suddenly single dad. Their three kids aren’t adjusting well, and it’s been a real shitshow ever since. If he doesn’t get those kids under control, he’ll run out of sitters.”

  Izzy’s jaw dropped. “Considering the circumstances, I’m surprised they’ve done as well as they have. Cut the man some slack.”

  Conversation moved on and as my friends chatted, I watched Evie. Her smile. Her laugh. The intelligence sparkling in her eyes. She was sweet and warm. A fire, burning slowly but fiercely.

  The more I thought about what her ex-boyfriend stole from her, the more pissed off I got. What kind of garbage, piece of trash, egomaniac did something like that? How could he live with himself, knowing the only reason anyone knew his name was because he manipulated someone who thought he loved her? An innocent whose only sin was placing her trust—and love—in the wrong man.

  But more than that, how could anyone do something like that to Evie? I’d never met a person more deserving of all the good things in the world. How could anyone take advantage of someone so kind? So genuine? So—

  “What’s going on there, big guy?” Jude leaned in, claiming my attention. “You look like you wanna deck someone.”

  I released the tension in my hands and conjured a smile. “I definitely want to hit someone. I heard this story the other day. A wrong that needs to be righted. And it keeps making me madder by the minute.”

  “Oh, boy.” Jude hooted. “Here we go. Captain White Knight has found another cause.” He waggled his eyebrows and sat forward. “Please. Fill us in. We’re all ears.”

  As much as I loved his irreverence most nights, on this one he could very much fuck off. “This cause is a good one.”

  “Aren’t they all?” Austin sat back, beer in hand. “Right until they aren’t anymore.”

  Izzy patted my arm. “Come on, guys. Give his hero complex a break. He can’t help it.”

  I didn’t need a break. I needed everyone to understand what happened to Evie so they could get on board and start solving this problem with me. That dickhead Stephens needed taken down, and Evie? She needed…lifted up? Put back together? I didn’t know what she needed but I was determined to find out and had no doubt our friends would rise to the occasion.

  “Imagine this.” I scrubbed a hand over my mouth. “A talented woman works her butt off to create something amazing. Something that would absolutely change her life and launch her career when it got noticed.” Evie’s eyes widened in a warning, but I barreled forward. “Now imagine someone she trusts steals that thing and claims it’s his, then leaves her in the dust of the fame he creates off her blood, sweat, and tears.”

  Austin made an appraising face. “Sounds like the plot to one of your books. If it’s not, it should be, ‘cause I’d read that.”

  “You mean you’d wait for it to become a movie.” Jude smirked.

  “I mean read it, asshat. Especially if the woman goes all psycho and gets epic revenge on that douchebag. Slowly. And with much deliberation.”

  “It’s not fiction.” I ran a hand through my hair. “It’s what happened to Evie.” With the fire of injustice spurring me on, I spewed the entire story to my friends. They were properly indignant, right up until the moment Evie pushed her chair back from the table and covered her face with her hands.

  My words trailed off.

  When she looked up, her eyes swam with pain and betrayal. “I…” She closed her mouth and shook her head. “You know what? I think I’m gonna go.” She stood and marched for the door.

  My friends stared at me, all the indignation they’d aimed at Jerkface Stephens now targeting me. Jude gestured toward the exit. “Go after her, asshole.”

  The rest of the crew bobbed their heads in agreement.

  With a sigh, I pushed back from the table and jogged out of the bar. When I stepped into the crisp evening air, I found Evie striding down the sidewalk, hands shoved in her coat pockets as she stared at her feet, the wind fluttering her hair around her face.

  I caught up to her halfway down the block. “Evie…” I put a hand on her shoulder and she shrugged it off.

  I reached for her again. “Evie. Listen. I’m sorry...”

  She paused but wouldn’t look at me. “That was not your story to tell.” She spoke so quietly, the wind nearly stole her words.

  “Maybe your story needs telling—”

  Evie turned, slowly letting her gaze find mine. “But that’s not your choice, Alex. It’s mine. I’m incredibly private. Until tonight, two people knew what Drew did to me. Two.” She stared with watery eyes until the weight of the revelation smacked me in the side of the head.

  “And I’m one of them.”

  She glared at the sidewalk, shifting away from me. “I trusted you with that information and you just tossed it out there like it doesn’t mean anything.”

  “But don’t you see? It doesn’t mean anything…”

  Evie’s jaw dropped. She blinked in surprise before she whirled, her feet clicking a sharp staccato against the ground. I caught up to her and grabbed her wrist. “Hear me out, please. It doesn’t mean anything…about you. About who you are. It says a shit ton about what a creep that guy is, not you. That’s all I’m trying to say.”

  Her gray eyes swam with unshed tears. “It says I’m naïve. I’m gullible. I’m an idiot who can’t tell real love from fake….”

  “That’s not what I thought when you told me the story. I guarantee Izzy, Austin, and Jude weren’t thinking that, either. You were taken advantage of by a dickhead. An asshole who couldn’t cut it on his own. A failure of a human being, Evie. That’s what Drew Stephens is. I want to help you heal so we can take that imposter down. Darkness can’t survive in the light. You need to bring all of this out in the open to process it.”

  Evie huffed a laugh. “You sound like Amelia.”

  “Then Amelia must give good advice.” I took her hands. “I didn’t mean to share your secret without your permission. I honestly thought talking about it was the right choice, especially with those three. They’re ridiculous most of the time, but they’re also really smart. I mean, they do hang out with me, after all.”

  Evie stayed silent, but at least she didn’t pull her hands from mine.

  “I don’t want you to be very, very mad at me.” I leaned down, desperate to meet her eyes, hoping she caught the callback to the night I was drunk.

  Her smile said she did. “I am very, very mad at you. I also forgive you. But Alex? This is the second time I’m forgiving you for doing something presumptive and selfish. I’m not comfortable sharing that much of myself with people, but if I do, it needs to be on my terms. Not yours. That kind of stuff…I’m better off if I hold onto it myself.”

  “I’m genuinely sorry. It never occurred to me that you wouldn’t want our friends to know.” I cupped her face, caressing her cheeks with my thumbs. “But, and I’m just putting this out there, you don’t have to hold it all by yourself now. I’d be honored to help carry it.”

  “Thank you.” Her words were soft, like she had to will them past her lips. “Now, will you please kiss me? I need to feel something other than confused right now and when your mouth is on mine, everything in the world comes into focus.”

  “Funny…” I leaned closer. “I feel the same way.”

  My lips crashed into hers, my tongue sweeping into her mouth as I wrapped my arms around her and pressed her body to mine. Her curves melted into me, inviting me to take more, to go further, to touch, touch, touch every inch of her right there on the frigid sidewalk
outside Cheers ‘n Beers.

  The hitch in her breath nearly broke me. I needed skin. Contact. I needed more than a boob falling out of a tank top and a hot as hell silhouette behind a closed curtain. My fingers slipped under her shirt, grazing her ribs…

  “Geeze, you two. Get a room.”

  I pressed my forehead to Evie’s. “Now is not the time, Jude. Can’t you see I’m apologizing?” I shooed him back toward the bar as I wrapped an arm around Evie and tucked her against me. Her need for privacy on the matter didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but it was important to her. From that point forward, what was important to her, would be important to me—even if I didn’t completely understand why.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Evie

  The night passed in a blur. After Alex spilled the Drew story to his friends and we practically set the street on fire with his apology, we went back into Cheers ‘n Beers to finish the evening with a little drinking and a lot of laughing. Having the tragedy that was the theft of my book out in the open didn’t change the way anyone treated me. Or the way they looked at me. In fact, it almost felt like I had three more people in my corner. Like maybe Alex was right…Drew stealing my book didn’t say anything about me. It did, however, say loads about him.

  At the end of the night, Alex pulled to a stop in front of his house. “You missed my driveway,” I said, with a laugh. “Did you have more Drunken Sailors than I thought?”

  “I know where I am and I’m not drunk. I thought we’d progress to the sexual harassment portion of the evening.” He killed the engine and opened his door, giving me a smile designed to make my blood boil. “You coming?”

  I sure hope so, especially considering what I felt hiding under those sweats the other night.

  Hoping he couldn’t read the thought through my facial expression, I blinked it away and replied with a hearty, “Sure!” then followed Alex into his house.

  The clatter of nails announced the cavalry as the door swung open. “Well hello, sirs. I missed you, too.” He crouched to greet Morgan and Larry and as he let the dog out to do his business, I started to worry I hadn’t read Alex’s intentions right at all.

  Maybe he didn’t invite me in for drinks and sexiness.

  Maybe his comment about sexual harassment was a joke.

  Maybe this had something to do with work…

  But after Morgan galloped back into the house, Alex took my hand. Pulled me close. Wrapped me in his arms and started swaying, crooning a terrible rendition of “Every Breath You Take.” He spun us in a slow circle as Morgan titled his head back and joined in the song.

  Alex’s eyes, when they met mine, were filled with the warmth of friendship and the heat of lust. “Hold on.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I can do this better.” A few seconds with his phone had the song coming over the house speakers. Morgan and Larry took a seat while Alex drew me back into his embrace and danced me around the living room. His body was supple and strong. His confidence was soothing. He spun me and as I came back to face him, I pressed my lips to his. He stilled, his hands skating up my hips and slipping under my shirt. His touch sent goosebumps shivering along my spine.

  Eager to return the favor, I ran my fingers along the corded muscles in his back. The kiss deepened as our bodies caught fire. Where before we were tender, sweet, the exploration of firsts, now we were driven by urgency. Dissatisfied with the fabric between us, I yanked his shirt over his head, then stood back to admire the swoops and curves of his torso.

  “Where do you find time to work out with your writing schedule?” I trailed my fingers along his pecs, my nails scraping over his nipples.

  His eyes slipped closed and it looked like he wished he could purr. “I’ll tell you when I remember.”

  My shirt found its way to the floor next to his. Alex bent his mouth to my breasts, teasing, sucking, biting and I dropped my head back as the speakers crooned. He gripped my ass, his fingers digging as his curls tickled my neck. Stumbling backwards, he dropped to the couch, his heated gaze blazing into mine.

  I straddled him, slowly lowering my weight onto the erection straining against his pants. Rocking my hips, I gasped as his length rubbed against my core. Alex ground into me, groaning, a guttural sound that set my nerve endings on fire. The friction, the contact, him…my senses overloaded with it all. My hips rocked and rolled, edging pleasure ever closer, ever deeper, sharp with urgency and reckless, tortured abandon.

  A wet nose pushed against my hand and I stilled. Alex laughed as Morgan pressed his snout into our laps. “Way to kill the mood, my friend.”

  Slipping out from underneath me, he stood, then led me up the stairs and into his bed. Without preamble, he took off my bra and dropped it to the floor. My pants went next. Then his. He rolled on a condom, then laid down on the bed and pulled me on top. His thick length slipped inside me, slowly, decadently, as I lowered myself. I rolled my hips as he worshipped my breasts, biting into the soft flesh with a low growl.

  My first orgasm was graceless, a panting, bucking thing that came out of nowhere. I rode him as my body became sunlight, as starbursts exploded along my skin. His hands seared my hips with pleasure, and I called his name to the ceiling. Over and over, again and again, out of control, at the mercy of instinct.

  When I opened my eyes, I found Alex staring up at me, his gaze singed with lust. “That was so fucking hot.” He rocked his cock deeper, grinning wickedly as I gasped. “And so was that. I like watching you lose yourself.” He thrust again, slowly slicking himself into me, gaining speed, faster, greedy, chasing his own want with such abandon I felt myself falling again, spiraling into ecstasy as pleasure bloomed across his face.

  I finished with him, my head tossed back, his eyes closed as his lips parted. When his gaze finally met mine, he grinned. “I think you just earned a raise.”

  I slapped his chest. “Not funny.”

  “Are you sure? I thought it was and we both know I have a better sense of humor than you.”

  I lifted my hips, then shifted off him, collapsing by his side. “There you go again, thinking you know all the things, when simple stuff eludes you. You know, like don’t break into your neighbor’s house or tell her secrets to your friends.”

  Alex brushed my hair back from my face. “I know that you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I know the more I learn about you, the more I want to know. I know that I’ll do everything in my power to show you how amazing you are.”

  His eyes glistened with truth and mine glistened with sweet tears, which I quickly brushed away as he headed for the bathroom to clean up.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Evie

  The next morning I opened my eyes to find Alex kneeling beside the bed, watching me through his phone. Sunlight filled the room, catching in his curls and twinkling in his eyes. “Wait,” he said. “Don’t move.”

  I jerked my face away from the camera. “What are you doing?”

  “I said don’t move.” Alex shifted and the bed bounced. “That would’ve been the perfect picture,” he said with a sad sigh.

  Something in his statement made me smile, and I peeked over my shoulder to find him grinning. “Why are you taking pictures of me in my sleep?”

  “I figured I’d post it to Greta’s Facebook page so the residents of Wildrose Landing can figure out who won the pot.” Alex shifted again, his phone coming into focus as he set up another shot. “My money’s on Jude.”

  I yanked the covers over my head. “Have you learned nothing? What is it about ‘I’m a private person’ means ‘please share pictures of me sleeping on the internet?’” I risked a peek out of the covers to find Alex crouching beside me, grinning as he closed and locked his phone. “Also, people were betting on when we’d sleep together?”

  “You’re adorable, you know that?”

  “You’re not too bad yourself.” I sat up and returned his grin. “You’re not really going to post those on the internet, are you?” As much
as I wanted to be cool and nonchalant about the whole thing, the thought of my slobbering face squished against a pillow hitting Greta’s feed didn’t exactly make my morning.

  “I’ll definitely be posting these.” When my jaw dropped, Alex laughed. “I’m joking, silly. These are private. If I had my way, no one but me would see you like this ever again. Your post-coital sexiness is mine from this point forward.”

  With his curls crazed from sex and sleeping and a crooked grin sliding across his face, Alex looked downright edible. How was it that someone as normal as me had ended up in this man’s bed? What had I done to deserve the Alexander Prescott looking at me like I was the most precious thing he’d ever laid eyes on? He was a bestseller. Had friends and family who loved him. An entire town who cared about what he was doing and who he was doing it with.

  I was just…me.

  I curled into him. “Have you even seen this Facebook post everyone keeps talking about? I can’t bring myself to look.”

  “Oh, I’ve seen it. And there’s more than one post.” Alex’s fingers flicked across his phone and opened Facebook. He took a quick look, then covered the screen as his brows creased. “You’re not gonna like this.”

  I reached for the phone, but he jerked it away. “Come on, Alex. Let me see.”

  “There’s nothing to see.” He hid the device behind his back, and I lunged for it.

  “Then there’s no reason to hide it from me.”

  Alex pushed me back onto the bed and straddled me. “If I tell you, you promise not to freak out?”

  I shrugged. “I’ll try…”

  Carefully, Alex pulled the device from behind him. “Greta posted a new pic this morning. It’s blurry, probably because she was standing on her front porch and zooming in to see us, but that definitely looks like you coming inside with me last night.”

  “Please tell me you’re kidding.” I snatched the phone from him.