The Bad Boys of Eden (67 page)

Nothing Between Us

Roni Loren

From the New York Times bestselling author of Need You Tonight comes a steamy Loving on the Edge novel that proves watching is only half the fun...

Unlike the heroine of her popular thriller series, Georgia Delaune can't afford to take risks or push sexual boundaries--unless you count spying through her neighbor's bedroom window, and never missing a single move he makes.

Colby Wilkes is more than willing to put on a show for the alluring woman next door. But his dominant side aches to show her the pleasures of submission up close. As a counselor, Colby is sensitive to Georgia's fears. As a Dom at The Ranch, a private BDSM retreat, he's the perfect teacher to unleash her passion.

But just as Georgia lowers her emotional barriers, an unexpected complication arrives: a bad boy musician from Colby's past who adds fuel to her heated imagination. Now, the lonely author has two gorgeous men eager to fulfill every fantasy she's ever written--and one she's never dared to dream....

Excerpt

Georgia swung the door open, finding the hulking mass of Colby Wilkes filling the doorway. He looked nothing like the fresh and spry guy he’d been when he’d left that morning. His hair was disheveled, his eyes a little bloodshot, and his clothes looked like they’d been rained on.

“Hey,” she said tentatively.

He gave her a brief up-and-down glance. “Good, you’re still up. I saw the TV was on and took a chance.”

“Yeah, I was just about to go up to bed.”

Something flickered over his expression at that, but he shifted his weight, bracing his hand on the doorjamb, and the flicker was gone. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry I didn’t stop by tonight like I said I would.”

She shrugged. “It’s okay. I didn’t really know if you were serious anyway.”

He sighed and ran a hand over the back of his head. “I was. But today has been . . . complicated.” He glanced toward his house and the guy leaning against the side of Colby’s truck. “And is still complicated.”

“Everything okay?” she asked, eyeing Colby’s guest.

“I don’t know if it can be defined as okay, but I have things under control. Mostly.”

“Who’s the guy?” she blurted, then cringed when she realized how nosy she sounded. “Sorry, none of my business.”

Colby rubbed his jaw, considering her. “He’s . . . a guy I used to know and who needed a place to crash tonight. Long story.”

The way he said it, the underlining current of regret in his voice, had her curiosity welling, but she kept her questions to herself. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Not really.” His lip curled at the corner. “Having dinner with you tonight would’ve helped. I was looking forward to that. Rain check?”

“Sure, okay.”

“Good. I’ll hold you to that.” He leaned over, cupping her elbow, and panic stiffened her for a second as he entered her space. But all he did was press a light kiss to her cheek.

He smelled faintly of maple syrup, but the rough brush of his beard against her skin sent a current straight downward. She had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from making a sound. He lingered close for a moment, and she swallowed hard. She could turn her head—just a few inches and those lips would be on hers. If she were her old self, she would’ve done it. That girl didn’t cower. That girl took chances.

But that girl wasn’t her. Not anymore.

He pulled back before she could even attempt to get the nerve. He gave her that heartbreaker smile of his, though she could see the tiredness and strain lingering in his eyes, and stepped back onto her porch. The whole exchange had her wanting to reach out, run her hands along his jaw, and offer comfort—possibly of the naked variety. But all she could do was tell him good night and close the door.

When Georgia went upstairs a little while later, she tried to walk past the guest room without stopping in. But it was a siren call she couldn’t shut off. After slipping into her oversized nightshirt, she padded barefoot into the dark guest room. A few lights went on and off in Colby’s house, but eventually he appeared in his bedroom doorway. He shut his door and leaned against it. He ran a hand over his face in a fuck-my-life motion. It was the first time she could remember seeing him look so beat down. He headed into his bathroom. She knew she needed to close the curtains and go to bed, but she remained in her chair, somehow feeling less alone sitting here instead of in her room.

A few minutes later, she was rewarded with the sight of Colby stepping out of his bathroom with only a towel around his hips. His hair was still wet and his skin still damp. She picked up the binoculars. Colby turned off the overhead light, leaving his bedside lamp on, and then he glanced toward her window. Her heart stuttered for a second, but his gaze moved away as quickly as it had come. He undid the towel, exposing a backside that could inspire her to take up sculpting as a hobby, and tossed the towel into a hamper.

When he turned to the side, her magnified gaze tracked down his profile, tracing along the lines of his nose and jaw, going over his honed biceps and the cut of his hip, and then hovering on the hand he’d just wrapped around his quickly stiffening erection.

A shiver went straight through Georgia. She’d never seen him masturbate. She’d long ago assumed he did it in the shower or something. But tonight it seemed he had other intentions. She couldn’t pull her focus away from that big hand of his stroking upward. She could see the flesh start to broaden in his hand, the head going a darker shade.

But right when she was getting lost in the show, he moved out of the binoculars’ view. She quickly adjusted the focus, unzooming, and gasped when she realized he was looking right at her. She jerked back for a second, that
caught!
feeling racing through her. But of course he couldn’t see her. He was just looking that way. Maybe he was thinking about her? The idea sent warmth stirring low.

She held her hands steady on the binoculars, watching as something flared in his eyes—desire, need, maybe a little loneliness, all of it was in that look. But the moment passed and he turned away, grabbing something from a bedside drawer—a bottle of clear liquid. Without pulling back the covers, he stretched out on his bed and took himself in his lubricated hand, stroking in long, luxuriating motions.

God.
Georgia was going to fucking lose it.

The tip of her tongue touched the center of her lip as she let the desire wake up her body. This hadn’t been her plan when she’d sat down in front of the window. She’d only wanted to see what kind of “friend” Colby had brought home. But now there was no way she’d be able to sit here and watch Colby pleasure himself without relieving the tension building between her thighs.

She kept her focus glued to Colby as she pulled open the drawer in the table that flanked the window and pulled out the small vibrator she’d stowed in there. She slipped her fingers inside her panties. She groaned under her breath at the feel of her touch and how wet she was already. Watching Colby flipped her switch like nothing else, it seemed. She turned the vibrator onto a low setting, which sent a shudder of pleasure up her spine, but she forced her eyes to stay open. Colby had cupped his balls with one hand and was sliding his fist along his shaft with the other. He didn’t look to be in any kind of rush, and Georgia imagined it was her there giving him that slow, sensual pleasure instead—teasing him until he begged for more. She knew he’d feel heavy in her hands and hot. She could only imagine how he’d feel sliding inside her. It’d been so damn long...

The slowly weaved fantasy made her sex clench around the vibrator and her thighs tighten. She wouldn’t last long at this rate. Her heartbeat was already pounding right behind her clit, the demand for release building. Colby looked to be getting closer as well, his movements speeding up and his thighs flexing.

She couldn’t wait for him. Her body seized around the stimulation and orgasm rocketed through her. She panted her way through the hills and valleys of it, tasting sweat on her upper lip. But right as she was drifting down from her quick high, she caught movement at the edge of her view. She swung her binoculars to the left.

Colby’s door had cracked open. A guy stepped a foot inside and his eyes went wide with an
oh, shit
expression as he realized what he’d walked in on. She couldn’t gather much about him beyond that he was relatively young and really surprised before he backed up. Everything was happening too quickly. But Colby hadn’t noticed the intrusion, apparently too lost in his final climb to release. Colby’s guest went to shut the door but then hesitated, leaving a crack where Georgia could only make out half his face in the low light. He seemed frozen there as he stared at the man on the bed. Colby came in a rush, his release landing against his stomach and chest, and the guy hurriedly shut the door before Colby opened his eyes.

Colby was never the wiser. But Georgia knew.

For once, she wasn’t the only Peeping Tom in the neighborhood.

# # #

Ivy In Bloom

Tawny Stokes

After getting out of a bad relationship and dropping out of university, Ivy Watts finagles an invitation to Eden. She expects to laze around and figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life, but what she doesn't expect is to learn a few life lessons from the tall, dark, older handsome man in the penthouse suite.

Copyright 2015 Tawny Stokes

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

About The Author

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Chapter One

The last thing I expected as I walked across the Glendale campus to my economics class with a Venti Moccachino in my hand was to be completely humiliated and embarrassed in front of a bunch of strangers. But that was exactly what happened at 10:24 that morning.

It was a gorgeous day and I loathed spending it indoors, but in California almost every day was gorgeous, so it wasn’t like I was never going to have another day like this to spend working on my tan.  I walked quickly across the center quad because as usual I was going to be late for class. It was quite possible that I had set a college record for the amount of tardies in the first year. In high school I had gotten that honor.

I was just about to open the door to the west hall, when I heard my name.

“Hey Ivy.”

I turned to see Derek, my boyfriend of the past three months, strutting up to me. And the boy did strut much like a peacock. The cock of the walk. At six foot two he pulled it off tremendously. I put up with it because he was extremely cute. He even had dimples in his cheeks when he grinned.

His two douchey friends, Brett and Rico, stood off to the side to wait for him. Neither of them liked me much because I didn’t put up with their immature bullshit. I had questioned Derek many times on why he was friends with them.  He never really gave me a definitive answer. Just mumblings about having been friends since high school.

I still had friends from high school, Violet and Dahlia, but they were awesome. Although I hadn’t seen either one of them in a few months. Dahlia was across the country at a design school and Violet was still trying to get her life back together after some horrible shit happened to her. We texted and talked on the phone though.

“Hey baby.” I wrapped a hand around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. I missed him as we hadn’t hooked up the night before like we usually did. He said he had some test to study for. Which I thought weird since I had never seen him study for anything since I’d known him. He was in his second year of aviation, and all I’d ever seen him do is fly more beer and weed into his mouth.

I pulled back and looked him over. He tasted like coffee and the one cigarette he allowed himself every morning in an effort to kick the habit and, surprisingly, cherry lip gloss.  My stomach lurched. I didn’t wear cherry flavored anything.

“Did you study for your test?” I asked, although by the way he was looking at me, I didn’t think he wanted to talk about studying or school.

He took my hand. “We need to talk.”

You have GOT to be kidding me?

“Okay?”

“Look, you are really pretty and stuff, but…”

“Are you breaking up with me?”

He looked down at his feet.

“You’re screwing someone else, aren’t you?”

“It’s not like that, Ivy.”

“What’s it like then? Huh?” I pulled my hand out of his.

Others who mingled around in the quad started to look our way. It was highly possible my voice was a few octaves higher and louder than normal.

“I’m sorry, but it’s just not working for me anymore.”

“What’s not working? The sex we have all the time? The blowjobs you beg me to give you? The time I tied you up and spanked you? Huh? What?”

There were some giggles from the other people in the quad.

“Ivy, don’t be that way.”

“What way? Mad?  Because you stuck your dick in someone else BEFORE you broke up with me. Why on earth would I be mad about that?”

He shook his head and ran a hand through his mop of dark hair. “This is exactly why this ain’t working.”

I raised my eyebrow and tilted my head to say “Go on motherfucker tell me what’s wrong with me. I know you want to.”

“You’re so damn controlling all the time. And bossy. And I can’t do anything without asking for permission.”

“You wanted permission to fuck some other chick?”

“No!” He threw up his hands. “Jesus, you’re so damn irritating.”

“And you’re an asshole.”

“Well whatever.” He took a few steps away. “We’re done.  Your shit is in a box on my porch. Collect it today or it’s going in the garbage.” He walked back to his friends, who were smirking quite openly.

“I’m surprised you had the stones to even do this in person.”

“I told him to just text you,” Rico said. “Since I thought that’s all you’re worth.”

I flipped him the middle finger. “Fuck you Rico. Good thing I didn’t tell him about all the secret texts you were sending me trying to hook up behind his back.”

Derek gave Rico a sidelong look as they walked away.  I knew it wouldn’t amount to much. In his mind, it would be my fault about Rico. That I had somehow encouraged him just by being a girl.

I turned around so I didn’t have to watch him walk away from me. The tears were welling in my eyes, but I really didn’t want to let them go here in public with ten strangers watching with avid interest.

I adjusted my purse strap on my shoulder, then instead of going into the school I started back the way I’d came.  There was no point in going to class today. I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate anyway. So I figured a good long cry and forty minutes on the elliptical was in order.  I liked to sweat when I was upset. I was a size 2 because I got upset a lot.  Some girls would be jealous of me because of my figure, but they had no clue how much I suffered emotionally for it. Dahlia and Ivy didn’t really know either.  I had always put on a carefree façade, especially when it came to guys, but deep down I had battle scars all over my heart and soul.

I always picked the wrong ones. Guys who only wanted to know my outsides and not my insides. Any time I ever even hinted that I might be more than my C cup and pouty pink lips, guys got spooked and looked for a way to break up with me. And that way usually involved another girl. It was so typical.

When I returned to my apartment near campus I immediately went into my bedroom. I grabbed an old plastic bag I sometimes used for garbage and opened my closet door. I tore an old chambray shirt from a hanger and shoved it into the bag. It was one of Derek’s. I slept in it sometimes because it had smelled like him, a combination of CK One and man.

Turning, I snatched up the stick of deodorant on my dresser and the spearmint chapstick beside it and tossed both in the bag. Then I made my way to the bathroom and tossed in the razor I had bought him and the toothbrush. I was about to leave when I stopped and faced the toilet.

Angry tears were rolling down my cheeks now. I didn’t want to shed them over him but sometimes a girl just has to have some release. And some pay back.

I reached into the bag and took out the toothbrush. I opened the toilet lid and peered into the bowl. The water wasn’t dirty, I used an automatic cleaner inside the tank, but I hadn’t scrubbed the inside of the bowl in a week or so. Until now.

I crouched and vigorously rubbed the bristles of the toothbrush inside the bowl. I dipped it in the water and scrubbed the stained porcelain. It was stained when I moved in, but still it made me feel better to do it. I scrubbed and scrubbed until my arm was sore and the tears on my cheeks had dried. Satisfied, I straightened then tossed the dirty wet toothbrush into the bag.

In the living room I set the plastic bag on the table and plopped down onto the sofa. I felt a little better. Ruining his toothbrush gave me some joy. It kept the tears at bay for now and sometimes that was all a girl could hope for in a situation like this.

I took out my phone and texted my friends, Dahlia and Violet.

Me:
So, another one bites the dust

I waited a few minutes. I knew Dahlia might be in class but Violet usually answered right away.

Violet:
Why did you break up with this one?

Me:
I didn’t

Violet:
Oh crap babe, I’m sorry. What happened?

Me:
Dumped me for some other chick

Violet:
Douche

Me:
Says I’m a control freak. Can u believe that?

Violet:
Well…

Me:
WTF V! I am not

Violet:
You are kinda

I didn’t text her back. I couldn’t believe she was agreeing with Derek. I mean, she was supposed to be my best friend. Best friends had each other’s back no matter what. I didn’t judge her when she hooked up with weirdo Devon.  Well, I guess maybe I did say a few hurtful things about him even after I’d realized she really did like him and it wasn’t just a brief dive into the dark side.

Violet:
U still there?

Me:
Yes. Just hurt

Violet:
Sorry hun. I wish you were here so I could hug you

Me:
Me too

Violet:
If you want to talk, call me. I’m here

Me:
K

I did want to talk but in person. I hated that I was here, and Violet was there, and Dahlia was all the way across the country. I needed my girls. Especially now.

I set my phone down beside me and looked around at my apartment. It was a decent place. Bigger than what the majority of the students lived in. My parents paid for it, as well as the bills. I was lucky that my parents were wealthy and could afford to pay for my education. This was one of the reasons I had agreed to go to Glendale.  My dad especially wanted me to get a college degree.  He didn’t care what it was in, as long as I got it.  I had tried to argue with him about it, insisting that it would be a huge waste of money, but he was stubborn and was used to getting his way.

But I was stubborn too. And now seemed like the perfect time to prove it.

I got up and went into my bedroom. I grabbed the suitcase from under the bed, opened it and started to pack up my clothes. I was going home.