ONE LAST CHASE***Fantastic!That was the last word Charleigh heard from her brother and boss, Tripp, after her presentation before him and Kayden Braxton, the COO, and co-founder. She’d been working her ass off for the past three years at Braxton and Wrylee Associates as an associate architect, and she just spent four weeks on her desk to make a good impression. She deserved more than just the word fantastic. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t even get a good job from him. It was not that she was fishing for compliments. This time, she wasn’t sure if he meant it because she didn’t get a lot of it from Tripp. She didn’t care about it anymore for as long as he would keep to his promise.“Are you ready for your promotion?” Tripp Wrylee asked. Charleigh said silently, “Been born ready.”“Great. Your flight will be tomorrow. Do your best, Charleigh. Don’t come back until you impress the client.”She stopped placing her things back into her tote bag and finally lifted her gaze
Charleigh took a deep breath before stepping out of the Inn where she’d be staying for a few days. This was her only chance to prove to herself and her brother that she belonged in this industry. Tripp might have tricked her to be in this town, knowing that she wouldn’t say no to the promotion and that her job was also at stake here if she screwed this up. She thought it would be best for her to learn to stand on her own without her brother by her side or being labeled as Tripp Wrylee’s sister.Meeting her ex didn’t even make her feel edgy. Why would it? The only thing that mattered to her right now was how to impress the mayor—not her ex.She wished Kayden was just throwing his cosmic punchline joke that day. How could she forget how Dax Easton broke her heart in front of the most romantic landscape he designed? Instead of proposing to her, he did to another woman. It was still fresh to her, and she only cried for days until she realized he didn’t deserve her tears.The air was no
Charleigh took a deep breath to push the thoughts forming in her head because she definitely had a lot of things to think about this man. She might be a workaholic, but she had a fair share of hook-ups and would definitely put this man on her list. She had zero interest in dating, though. But thinking beneath him, she would never say to fool around a little bit while doing her job in this town.“You’re not from around here, are you?” the hot dog walker said, catching back her attention.“That obvious, huh? Just visiting Hopes Spring.” She smiled at him.“I see.” He nodded, understanding brewing in his eyes. “I would have met you already if you were from around here. Small town, as they say, news travels fast.”And I would have known what was underneath that white shirt and sweatpants if I were also from around here. Charleigh held that thought. Instead, she said, “You have a lovely dog.”“A proud owner.” His unbelievably red lips spread into a full grin. Was he flirting with her?Oh,
That was not a part of his plan.Bryce questioned himself again. He was just caught off guard by the beautiful woman petting Lotus. He kept telling himself before he climbed up his truck.Or more likely, he was so mesmerized that his pulse shot into the stratosphere until he realized it was too late to take it back—he was already inviting Charleigh for a drink and even hoping she would show up. He was preoccupied throughout his ride, thinking about what Charleigh was wearing that night.His wife might have been gone years ago, but he still never wanted to get into a relationship pretty soon because he had priorities—to raise his child and to manage Clarity Cakeshop. Right now, his small business was at stake for building renovation. Then, suddenly, he was inviting and entertaining a stranger in the bar. Which was not totally like Bryce Chase.Charleigh was sitting next to him, and Bryce couldn’t even take his eyes off the brunette. He could feel his racing heartbeat every time she smi
“Because it’s not hard for you to get their attention. I get it. You’re hot and—”Instinctively, Bryce pressed his finger on her soft red lips to stop her from talking. He felt the softness and the wetness against his skin, and he had to swallow hard to hold the temptation of replacing his finger with his lips to feel and taste if what he thought earlier was right.“That’s not what I mean.” He was assuming a lot, but their attractions didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. It went both ways.“It’s alright, Bryce. I’ll call a cab.”His heart sunk to see the disappointment in her eyes.What she didn’t know was how hard it was for Bryce to control the urge, and it took all his strength, his willpower, and self-control not to press her against the truck.The thought of them sweating, panting, and screaming their names as they reached the high level of ecstasy in the hotel room had the fire simmered inside him with so much anticipation. And these desperate and mortifying needs he
It’d been years since he broke her heart. Seeing him seemingly happy and successful in life had put Charleigh at ease.It was not that she didn’t cry for countless days, but because of the fact that he betrayed her, she hadn’t found an answer as to why he did not tell her that he was seeing someone else. There was no closure between them.Charleigh was not interested in finding that answer anymore, though, not right now. She moved on and was happy being single.The moment she walked inside the conference room, she smiled confidently. When her gaze landed on Dax, she didn’t feel the sparks between them anymore. There was no racing of heart just like how she felt toward Bryce.Why was she comparing?She couldn’t get him out of her head even before she went to bed. She could still taste the beer on her tongue, feel the scorching touch of his callus hands on her skin, and the ache between her thighs as his massive erection pressed against her core. She was even tempted to say hi to her fi
Charleigh’s brow rose at Dax’s inquisitive tone. “Chase?”“My assistant said you were talking to him when she approached you.”“Oh, Bryce. I happened to bump into his dog yesterday.”Dax turned around. “You know my office number. Call me if you change your mind.” Wow! Sure, he was the mayor, but his position did not shake her.Something was off with the way he mentioned Chase or Bryce, though, but there was no way she would satisfy her curiosity. Bryce already hated her, judging by how he just disappeared without bidding goodbye.She couldn’t just stick her nose into his life because he almost gave her an orgasm in the alley.Gah, her dream was over.“I’ll let you know. Thanks for inviting me.”***Charleigh crossed the road toward the Clarity Cakeshop. She wanted to ask the cashier if she knew about Bryce. Of course, everyone knew about him, aside from the fact that he was the one who suggested this cake shop to her yesterday. This was a small town after all.When he sent her to the
Bryce was struggling.Charleigh was right. She was just doing her job. He was an asshole for putting all the blame on poor Charleigh. He should be blaming Dax and not her because she had nothing to do with losing his shop.He’d known it since the mayor bought the building years ago.Bryce knew he should start packing his things and counting the days his shop left because, apparently his brother-in-law didn’t give a damn about him, and all he did was put his life in hell. He tried searching for a place, but he couldn’t find that would meet his tight budget. He may find one, but it was too far from the town.Dax was still blaming Bryce for the death of his sister, for impregnating her at a young age, for taking her bright future away, and for marrying a poor guy like him while their future was uncertain. But Dax did not have the right to blame him for taking care of Clary.Bryce knew that Dax would do everything to take Clary away from him. Now that his daughter was in grade school, Dax
Tripp’s angry voice echoed in the forest. There was no ounce of hesitation in him.Ari stopped to a halt, eyes widening in shock as she turned to look at Tripp. She saw the look in her husband’s eyes reflected possession and determination to claim her, and that terrified her as if his words could break her.“Tripp, don’t!” She wanted to stop whatever Tripp was planning, but he ignored the warning and let his self-control slip off in him.“I know I don’t fit to be the man you imagined for Ari. I know I’m not the right candidate she would be marrying, or whoever would fit into her life that you had carefully planned out for her. But too late for that, Teagan. She has been mine for three years. I was just a stupid guy with a huge ego, ambitious, and over-confident back then. So I left her, and that was the biggest mistake of my life. But yeah, maybe if I stayed with her that day, I had nothing to support her, for my family, and we would end up hating each other. So maybe staying away fro
Tripp froze beside Ari. So did she, sucking a breath.One moment he was in the middle of something, the next thing, they were interrupted. The fact that Tripp was having a hard-on after he finger-fucked his wife, he was finding it hard to believe that Teagan found them.He also felt that he was just caught in a compromising position even though he knew there was nothing wrong with what he did. And by the tone of Teagan calling Ari, Tripp knew something was not right. How did he find them anyway?Tripp was enraged about something he couldn’t understand. Maybe his possessiveness or overprotectiveness over Ari. He was sure it had nothing to do with the interruption—it was probably from how Teagan called his daughter.“Fix your clothes, baby.” He squeezed his eyes shut and took a long deep breath. His anger and his hard-on were not helping.“Let me talk to my father.” A wave of panic and nervousness washed over her.“No. We’ll do it together.” Tripp offered his hand and lifted Ari to her
Having a hard time processing the gratitude, Ari drank her wine in a gulp.“I don’t deserve the kindness you give to me,” Tripp continued. “What I deserve is resentment from you, Ari. Please, tell me if I am doing this wrong. If you want me to change. I’ll do everything for you, for us.”“You talk too much.” She knelt, cupped his head, and kissed him hard, wet, and wild. Her tongue was forcefully seeking an entrance.When Tripp didn’t give it to her, she tugged his bottom lip until he opened for her with a groan. She knew Tripp wanted to say more, but she wanted him to stop—he’d been trying too hard for them to make this work, and he deserved a reward of some sort.And she had to stop him because if she didn’t, she might end up blurting out the words at the tip of her tongue right now.She was the kind of woman who thought before she put it into action, but with Tripp, her mind was busy thinking how good she would feel underneath him, on top of him, against him, behind him, in all ang
“Don’t you wanna join me?” Her eyes lingered on the growing dark brown stubble of her husband. After they made love three days ago, she couldn’t help herself not to feel it against her fingertips. When she told him she liked the roughness against her skin, he kept it unshaven.He was an eye candy in his shorts. He might have felt Ari staring at him. His strong jaw locked hard, became more prominent from her angle. His mouth was pressed in a determined line as he chopped the bell pepper expertly like a chef.She knew Tripp used to control even when they made love. He liked to dominate and was always successful with little to no effort. Was there a time that Tripp had ever lost his control? She didn’t have to know for as long as he would lose control of her. She didn’t mind at all.“Are you just gonna stare at me?” His brow arched, reaching his hairline. His smile was meaningful—as if he just read her thoughts. “I thought you wanted to go to the dock.”“I’m going. Are you sure you don’t
“Thank me later.” Charleigh kissed her on the cheek. “Open your trunk.”Tripp left to take the things he brought with Charleigh. When he came back with the duffel, Ari was already in the car. Once he was done, he went to the passenger’s seat.Ari’s hands were on the steering wheel as if she was about to say something but held the thought. Her emotion was making her weep, and she did not want to cry like an idiot.“You okay?” Tripp asked, still confused when Ari kept silent in her seat. “Look, if this is a bad idea, we can drive home. Forget this thing happened. I’m totally cool with it.”Ari looked at him for a few seconds before she cupped his head and kissed him like she always wanted. She drunk in the surprised gasp slipped from Tripp’s lips. His mouth opened to welcome her, and she devoured him, slipped her tongue, and tasted every corner of his mouth. His taste and coffee exploded in her tongue and she wished it would last.Tripp groaned and moaned as she sucked his bottom lip an
“You scared the heck out of me.” Shell-shocked, she stared at Spencer with wide eyes, her palm on her chest.With the look on Spencer throwing at her, she didn’t have to be surprised—it was like everything was slowly clicking into its places. Spencer looked assertive as if she knew more than what she saw. She heard everything. She figured it out all by herself.Ari’s secret was over. Now she was in deep trouble.“Spence,” she said breathlessly, her heart still pounding.“I can’t say that I’m surprised.” She looked upset as she leaned against the locker. Her eyes filled with judgment.“I can explain.” She held Spencer’s arm.“Don’t tell me crap that this is not what it looks like, Ari because this is exactly what it looks like. Are you even planning on telling me?”“Of course, I was planning to—”“But, he told you not to tell any soul, right? Because for him, everything is just a game, a deal. You’re his pawn, and you know that. Yet you’re falling for his crap.”Her eyes widened again.
Despite a lot of patients coming tonight from food poisoning at the birthday party going wrong, Ari was in a good mood to work long hours.The ER staff awwed with wide eyes that confused Ari before she heard a male voice behind her asking her name.“And that’s me. The Miss Arizona.” She laughed at herself before she turned around, giving the same reaction as her friends. “Wow! Where are you?” She managed to joke as she searched for the guy calling her name. She could not see anyone behind the huge bouquet of different flowers in red.The guy pushed the bouquet into her. “This is for you, miss.”Ari managed to hug the flowers, her back hitting the counter as air emptied her lungs because the bouquet weighed like twenty-five kilograms. Now she couldn’t see the face of the man. “Are you sure this is mine? There are probably twenty Arizona Sky in this town, you know.”“That’s for you, ma’am. The only Arizona Sky I am sure I know of is in Grand Canyon,” the delivery guy scoffed. “And this
“Wow.” Ari stopped in the middle of her small dining room, scanning the surroundings as if she were brought to the five-star restaurant. “Did you ever rest?”Tripp had his way of making his marriage work even though his dinner date offer was turned down more than twice. Charleigh was at his disposal when he asked for help with the groceries.After two hours, he was cooking a simple lobster bisque, a side salad, and of course, Brice’s famous raspberry chocolate cupcakes.“Have a seat, beautiful.” He ushered her to the chair.“How did you make this possible?”“I have some help. Charleigh did me a solid.” He kissed the top of her head once she was seated.“I should change to something nice.” She suddenly felt shy with the candlelit, flower arrangement, and now that Tripp started to play jazz on his phone.“I’d rather have you naked for my dessert.” He smirked. “Your clothes are just fine. I just want to have dinner with you even though we have to spend it at home.”The words naked and de
FuckHe was quicker on his feet, licking the juices around his mouth. “Does your dad have a key to your house?” Why did he have to ask? He didn’t know. He felt that they didn’t have privacy anywhere they went, even in her own home.“Stay here. Close the water and don’t move. Don’t make a noise,” she warned him. The panic in her voice was obvious. She quickly grabbed the towel from the rack and wrapped it around her body.She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Before she could get out of the shower, Tripp cupped her face and kissed her hard, plunging his tongue into her mouth, swirled inside, and invaded to let her taste herself.Ari squirmed as her taste flooded her tastebud. She felt the hot liquid pooling between her thighs and she had to let go of a shuddering breath to ignore the ache.“Relax. You can’t hide this look from your father, Ari.” He gave her a quick kiss on her lips one more time before he let her go.“Thanks. You’re helping me a lot. And I bet I just stroked you