One Up: Up Series Book 4 Read online

  I nodded. “That’s appreciated.”

  I felt his towel fall at my feet.

  “And, well… now, I’m naked, and that’s a bit awkward.”

  I smiled as he bent over. “I hadn’t noticed.”

  He picked up the towel and covered so quickly, that I only got a smidge of a peek of his semi-hardness.

  Impressive.

  “I need to go get dressed,” he blurted out while wrapping the towel around his hips, “but first, I gotta ask… You are the one who’s agreeing to be my fiancée, right?”

  I nodded, having trouble finding my voice. I cleared my throat. “Yes.”

  He grinned, and my panties damn near disintegrated.

  “Great. I’m Brody, by the way.” He held out his hand, and his towel slipped dangerously low again.

  I giggled. “Kaelyn,” I said, placing my hand into his, feeling the warmth travel up my arm and to the pit of my stomach. His thumb caressed the outside of my hand, causing tingles in my nether regions.

  He let go of my hand, gripped his towel more securely, and slowly backed out of the room, grabbing the doorknob. “Please don’t leave the apartment. Give me two minutes.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re going to begin this relationship by not listening to your almost fiancée? Nice. I said I wasn’t going anywhere. Chill.”

  He smiled.

  “Best birthday gift ever,” he said quietly as he started to close the door.

  “And don’t forget to brush your teeth,” I called, just before it shut.

  He peeked through the opening. “So make that four minutes.”

  Ten

  Brody

  She’s fucking here.

  Not a drunken hallucination.

  Not wishful thinking.

  She was actually here.

  That’s all I could think as I raced around, still affected by the alcohol, trying to get dressed and find my toothbrush, not even questioning how my luggage made it here.

  It was amazing.

  The presence of Kaelyn erased all of the rage from losing my long-term girlfriend, the girl with whom I planned to spend the rest of my life.

  The girl who fucked my best friend behind my back for God knows how long.

  I couldn’t slow down to think about it. It would suck me back down into the dark place.

  She’s fucking here.

  Her presence was a gift. Not sure who sent her, but I silently thanked whoever it was.

  Who would believe that the day I turned twenty-nine would be this crazy?

  After drying off my mouth, I looked at the lucky bastard in the mirror and smiled. I patted my pocket, making sure the ring was still there.

  This day could only get better.

  Game on.

  ***

  As soon as I drew up the courage to open the door, I walked toward the couch. Kaelyn stood, walking toward me. It was a moment… time stood still. It actually stopped.

  I smiled, and she smiled back. We looked in each other’s eyes, connected and drawn to each other, like I was a magnet and she was iron.

  It quite possibly was the best moment of my life… right up until I heard the sex noises.

  “Yeah, they’re really going at it,” Kaelyn giggled.

  “Jacoby told me he’s been working her for a few days.” I smiled down at her, realizing now how small she was. “I guess it paid off.”

  “What? Ruby said she’s been working him for three days. She was going to give up because she was finally convinced he was not interested… or gay, which, sadly, isn’t a first for her.”

  “Jacoby is… strange. He has no clue when it comes to flirting, doing it or recognizing it. Even drunk, I could tell she was into him, but he said he wasn’t sure.”

  A harmonized crescendo of pleasurable sounds erupted from the back bedroom.

  “Now you understand why I wear the headset,” Josh, Jacoby’s roommate, deadpanned. He stood, brushing past us and storming into the kitchen.

  “This is not exactly how I envisioned doing this, but…” I got down on one knee, which made her laugh. Revving up the accent, I asked, “Hey baby, you wanna be my fiancée?”

  She curtsied. “Why, I’d be honored,” she drawled, fanning her face in true Southern Belle form.

  I stood and pulled out the ring, grabbing her left hand. The sudden knot in my throat made it hard to swallow, and I noticed my hand shaking. She reached out and touched my hand with her free one.

  “You have such long, elegant fingers,” she almost whispered, lightly stroking my knuckles as I slipped the ring on her finger.

  The fit was almost perfect.

  Her quiet words and that caress would have done me in, but when she looked up at me through her lashes? My stomach felt like I was falling off a cliff.

  And my cock took notice and stood at attention.

  I reached up and held the back of her neck, pulling her closer, rubbing my thumb across her lips. They were velvety soft, and she opened them slightly, expectant.

  I leaned in slowly, wanting to take my time. Her eyes fluttered closed, and I felt her ragged breath on my lips, and this moment, right here, outdid the other, for I knew… I felt it in my blood, that this kiss was going to be epic.

  A striking of a match to start a raging fire.

  The back bedroom door flew open, startling us both. Our heads jerked in unison to see Jacoby and Ruby tumble out of the room. She pulled her skirt down and smoothed her shirt, and he had a dazed, just fucked look.

  “So, hey,” Ruby said, a little too enthusiastically, “what’d we miss?”

  Josh entered, carrying a bag of barbecue pork rinds and a grape soda. “He asked her to be his fiancée, and they were about to kiss. You ruined their moment.” He stopped and looked at me. “Dude, I can’t say I know much about women, but even I know it’s kind of a douche move to ask a woman to marry me while my friends are loudly having sex in the other room.” He resumed his position on the couch and grabbed his controller. “Very uncool.”

  He put back on his headset, blocking us out again.

  I looked at Kaelyn. “I can do better if you need it.”

  She shook her head, looking a bit panicked. “No, this was perfect for our situation.” After walking over to grab her bag on the floor, then back to me. She turned to the room. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  I noticed she was breathing heavy and fidgety, so I grabbed her hand and touched her chin, tilting her head up to meet my eyes.

  “You don’t have to do this.”

  Her face seemed to relax. “No, I’m good.” Smiling nervously, she added, “I agreed to help you.”

  I smiled. “Let’s go then.”

  ***

  “Dude, didn’t you tell me that was your grandmother’s ring?” Jacoby whispered, as Ruby and Kaelyn walked ahead of us, having their own whispered conversation.

  I shrugged. “Yeah, so?”

  “You just gave it to a perfect stranger.”

  “Keyword: perfect.”

  I watched her wrap her arms around herself and rub her arms. It was a little after 7:00 and already very chilly.

  He stared at me. “Are you still drunk?”

  “Only a little buzz left. And I’m hoping she won’t be a stranger after today.” As I took off my long-sleeved shirt, I added. “I really like her.”

  “You’re delusional if you think you have a shot with –”

  I tuned him out as I sped up my steps and placed my shirt around Kaelyn’s shoulders.

  “You looked cold,” I said close to her ear, keeping my hands on her shoulders. Her eyes locked on mine over her shoulder, and they shined at me like they did on the plane, like I was her savior.

  I saw Ruby watch the exchange out of the corner of my eye. “Damn, girl,” she muttered, right before she hung back to walk with Jacoby.

  Placing my hands in my pockets, I moved to her side where we walked in silence.

  After a few minutes, she turned to me. “Thank you for your shirt.
Are you sure you don’t need it back?”

  I smiled and shook my head.

  As we continued walking the two blocks to my place, a feeling overwhelmed me. I’m not sure what it was to even be able to define it.

  Uncertainty?

  Insecurity?

  Reproach?

  Guilt?

  Mortification?

  I don’t know. This suddenly didn’t feel right.

  Could I really use this beautiful girl next to me to punish Heather for a situation I didn’t quite understand? I liked her. Wasn’t this a sleazy move?

  But speaking of sleazy, why would Heather, sweet, seemingly loyal Heather, cheat on me?

  What if it wasn’t Heather in that room with Kyle? I never saw her face. It’s possible that I could have been so blinded by rage that I missed something obvious, like who he was actually fucking?

  Right. Someone with her voice, wearing her shoes.

  But this whole idea… it just seemed, I don’t know, harsh maybe?

  Yet the thought of stopping the charade made me feel, well, not right either.

  I wish it was clear what happened to my phone. If ever I needed my Flow app, it was now.

  “What’s wrong?” Kaelyn asked, wrapping her hands around my forearm.

  I looked at her face, and the concern I saw warmed me… well, that and she was touching me, lightly stroking my skin. Her touch was dangerous.

  “Well… um…” I stuttered, taking a deep breath to calm myself. “I seem to be missing my phone.”

  “Yeah. You killed it in a drunken rage,” she smiled. “Remind me not to piss you off when you’re drunk.”

  Images of me stomping on it hazily flashed in my brain.

  “Right.” Covering my face with my hand, I cringed at the memory. “At least Jacoby stopped me when I tried to flush the ring.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m gonna have to get a new phone tomorrow. The ring isn’t so easy to replace.”

  She tightened her grip on my arm and laid her head on my shoulder.

  “Yeah, it would have sucked to lose your grandmother’s ring.”

  God, she smelled good.

  I wanted just to wrap my arms around her and keep her there.

  We rounded the corner to the side entrance to my apartment and stopped. I looked at the doorway, unclear how to proceed.

  “Is this your place?” Kaelyn asked. “Wow, it’s nice.”

  “What do we do, Brody,” Ruby asked.

  I still was unsure I really wanted to go through with this.

  “Why don’t we go upstairs and see if she’s even here, Dude,” Jacoby offered. “Then you can go from there. I can text Ruby when you’re ready.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.” I turned to Kaelyn. “Will y’all be okay while we do this?”

  She glanced nervously at Ruby, but she smiled at me. “Yes. We’ll be fine.”

  Why didn’t I believe that?

  Eleven

  Kaelyn

  “What is up with you?” Ruby asked, nudging me with her elbow.

  “I’m just not sure this is –”

  “Oh, no,” she pressed. “You can’t back out of this. I came up with the perfect plan, and you are not going to ruin it with your overthinking.” She grabbed my arm. “C’mon, there’s a bar right around the corner. We can at least warm up in there.”

  I let her pull me around to the bar because, frankly, I was freezing.

  The Lit Pub wasn’t here when I went to college; I would have remembered. Back then, we knew all the bars in the Quarter.

  When we entered, I took a deep inhale. There was nothing like that new book smell. A bar and a bookstore in one… now that was a clever idea.

  And then I got the name. Double clever.

  Bookstores were a dying breed, so I was glad that someone figured out a way to make one relevant. I could see so many possibilities for a place like this. I wondered who did their marketing.

  Ruby walked up to the bar, but I meandered over to the book side, eyeing the author’s works carefully displayed in the center of the store. I smiled. Obviously, the owner liked this author.

  A girl in a flowery dress headed toward me. With her pale skin and short, black hair, she had a real Snow White vibe going on, right down to the red bow around her head. She was wringing her hands and seemed anguished, like she was trying to keep from crying.

  Don’t ask if she is upset because she lost her dwarfs.

  Do. Not. Ask.

  “Oh my goodness, are you okay?” I asked, smiling about what I didn’t ask.

  She startled and focused on me, smiling tightly, no evidence of recognition on her face.

  Thank God.

  “Yeah,” she nodded. “Just worrying about a guy, so if you could get my mind off him, it’d be great. Can I help you find something?” She nodded to the display. “If you like paranormal romance, Justine LeBeauxxx is my favorite. Her Voodoo Nephilim series is so good. And they’re set right here in New Orleans.”

  I grinned. “I know.”

  “Oh, so you’re familiar with her work? We just love her books around here, and I try to get her new fans whenever I can.”

  “This place is so cool,” Ruby gushed as she joined us. “There’s a spotlight on a boob behind the bar, and hey, aren’t those your mom’s books?” she waved toward the display.

  Snow looked back and forth between Ruby and me.

  “Wait a minute,” the employee shouted, “your mother is Justine Fucking LeBeauxxx?”

  “Shhh,” I could feel my face redden. “Yeah, she is.”

  I wasn’t embarrassed per se, but what twenty-five-year-old woman who is occasionally in the spotlight readily admits to an unforgiving, judgmental media that her mother writes paranormal, pansexual, softcore-BDSM erotica with a pretty hefty side of fetish kink?

  I mean her books were so much more than that, but yeah, that’s the gist.

  Plus, the three x’s at the end of her penname did not indicate her books were exactly wholesome.

  “Oh my God!” She literally jumped up and down. “This is so exciting. Your mother’s books opened a whole new world for me. First of all, she showcased a different side of New Orleans I didn’t even know existed, and secondly, her characters? They feel like my friends, like I know them. I keep expecting them to walk in my store. Oh, and don’t you think Riley Tate could totally play Orpheus? Did she use him as a muse?”

  “That’s a question you’ll have to ask –”

  “Oh My God, could I? Ask her, I mean?” All remnants of the upset girl I found a few minutes ago were gone. She was so animated and cute. “Does she live here? Can you ask her to come do a signing in my bar? Or, holy fuck, maybe a reading?” She clutched her chest. “Oh, she can’t come here. I’d die. Like actually die. Well, I might pee myself first. Then I’d die.” She was talking so fast now, I was having a hard time keeping up. “I follow her Facebook page and am a member of her reader group, and she is so sweet and loving toward her fans. She’s responded to a couple of my comments and even responded to a private message I sent thanking her for making her stories so real and genuine despite the supernatural nature of them.”

  Shit. I shared the time with Mom managing her Facebook pages. That means I could have messaged this girl. I seem to remember a message saying those exact words.

  “She doesn’t live here, but she visited a lot when I was in college. I will talk to her and see if she can set something up through her personal assistant. She loves this city.”

  “Holy shit, that would be so fucking awe –”

  She stopped mid word, seemingly struck by something over my shoulder. She brushed past me and leapt, colliding and wrapping herself around someone.

  “Fuck, I was so worried about you. You were supposed to be home three hours ago.”

  The problem? I recognized who she clung to like a koala.

  Brody.

  This was Brody’s former girlfriend.

  The one who didn’t know about the former pa
rt yet.

  Fuck.

  He pried her off of him and almost dumped her all the way to the ground, but he reached out, grabbing her by the elbow to steady her. That move… well, that considerate move said volumes about the guy he was.

  He walked closer to where Ruby and I stood. I saw the motive on his face. He was going to do this here.

  In public.

  With an audience.

  Granted the audience was the bartender, Jacoby, Ruby, and a couple of blue hairs drinking wine and laughing over what I think might have been a copy of Fifty Shades, but still.

  “Heather, I’d like you to meet…”

  “He saw you,” I blurted. “He took an earlier flight, went into his apartment, and saw you and his friend… together.”

  Her eyes widened, and she gasped, covering her mouth. “No.”

  “Yes, and he got really drunk in a bar, and I just happened to find him there when I met up with my college roommate, Ruby,” I indicated her with my hand, to which she waved, “who came up with this elaborate plot that we would tell you we met in California, fell in love, and became engaged.” I held up my left hand to show her the ring.

  “Is that your –”

  “Grandmother’s ring?” I asked. “Yeah, it is. He was going to give it to you.”

  She turned to look at Brody, tears filling her eyes.

  “He told me how he was going to propose, and damn, girl, you really missed out. He had a whole romantic plan that when he told me about it, it made me want to dry hump him. But now this whole we-got-engaged-behind-your-back plan feels skeevy and wrong, especially since now that I’ve met you, I actually kind of like you. You’re a really sweet girl, you know, for someone who’s a cheater, and you’re a fan of my mom’s and shit.

  “But no matter if you boned his best friend, you don’t deserve a lie or to be hurt that way. I’m sure you two have a perfectly good reason for having sex against the wall in his apartment. Maybe the guy tripped and his penis just happened to land perfectly in your vagina, and it felt so good, you just couldn’t stop. Maybe you were possessed by demons or ghosts or compelled by vampires, or perhaps you became a conduit for my mother’s fucking voodoo Nephilim hybrids. Whatever. All I know is I can’t go through with this. Two wrongs never make a right.”