Losing It

Dean Maddox spent high school pushing all my buttons. Seven years later, we're working together. So much has changed, but he's the same arrogant jerk with the same penchant for teasing me senselessly. I still want to slap the cocky smirk from his face. And tear off his clothes. And kiss him like the ship is going down. I hate him. I want him. I can't...no, I will stop thinking about him. 

Everyone says opposites attract. And they must be right, because there’s no logical reason why I’m so drawn to Colin Fitzgerald. I don’t usually go for tattoo-covered, video-gaming, hockey-playing nerd-jocks who think I’m flighty and superficial. His narrow view of me is the first strike against him. It doesn’t help that he’s buddy-buddy with my brother. And that his best friend has a crush on me. And that I just moved in with them. Oh, did I not mention we’re roommates?

Still a virgin at 21, Meg Smart walks a straight and narrow path. She aces her classes, excels at her part-time job, and carefully avoids trouble - no drinks, no drugs, and especially no boyfriends. Rock star Miles Webb doesn't do "boyfriend". He skips over intimacy and love in favor of easy distraction - a beautiful woman under him, screaming his name. Meg is drawn to the pain in Miles' gorgeous, tortured voice. But the man she hears on the radio is nothing like the player she meets at a mutual friend's house party.

Violet Valentine has had enough of tattooed bad boys for one lifetime. Sure, nice guys don't set her on fire the way her ex Ethan did. They don't have his piercing blue eyes, or his bright smile, or his skilled hands. They don't serenade her with her favorite songs. Or make her laugh until her sides ache. Or make her feel so good she could die. None of that matters. Ethan isn't breaking her heart again. No one is.

It's supposed to be fun without strings, but resisting her is so damn hard. I'm good in bed, and I know what I want. So when a curvy grad student catches my eye, I do what I do best. I take her home. I kiss her hard. I - well, a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell. I don't expect to want more. But I do. Iris is smart, sweet, and innocent as hell. I need her as often as possible. We strike up an arrangement. There are three rules. All fun. No strings. No falling in love. But then I've never been very good at following rules.  

He’s my best friend’s older brother, off limits and incredibly tempting. I shouldn’t peak into Brendon’s sketchbook, even if the tattoo artist is as brooding and stoic as the day is long. I can’t help myself. I peel it open, run my fingers along the paper, soak up every ounce of him. His drawings are as beautiful and bold as his dark eyes and his cocky smile. Only, there, on the third page - that’s no tattoo mockup. That’s me. Naked. Ready. Waiting in his bed.

It all started with a sexy selfie. Texted to the wrong number. Oops. Not my finest moment - but I have nothing to be ashamed of. She thought I was no better, and I quote, than the knuckle-dragging douchebags she was never dating again. It was a stupid dare from a girl I’d met online, but since she’d given me a fake number, I didn’t feel bad that my interests were suddenly focused elsewhere - on the fiery and sharp-tongued Peyton that I found myself sparring with over text. The following day, my case of mistaken identity came back to bite me in the banana.

Leighton is my best friend. My subordinate. My girlfriend. That's the story we're selling. To our co-workers. To our friends. To everyone who's anticipating the breakdown of the year at my ex's wedding. It's a terrible idea. Then Leighton slides her hands into my hair and presses her berry lips to mine. And all that wrong fades to right. I stop pretending. I forget the woman who broke my heart. I forget our rules. I forget I'll be lost without her. I kiss her back like I'll never get enough. I won't. But I can't risk losing my best friend. Even if she's the woman who might finally unlock my heart.

Imagine this. You're ready to leave after a one-night stand, and you're figuring out how to - shock horror - leave your number and ask him to be your fake boyfriend for your sister's wedding this weekend. When he wakes up. Well, that happened to me. And over coffee and omelets, I found myself a date. Which was how I ended up arriving at the wedding with a guy I knew nothing about.

After my brother’s death, I was drowning. Delilah was my life raft. We were opposites, the outspoken art student and the brooding athlete. She was passionate where I was apathetic, bright where I was dark, soft where I was hard. For two years, we had everything. The kind of love that only exists in fairy tales. Then she left and took my heart with her. I tried to heal. To throw myself into medical school. To forget her. I thought I did. Until today. Those blue eyes, that sweet smile, the soft curves--that's my Delilah. As soon as I hear her laugh, I know. She's what’s missing from my life. I have three days to get her back. God, I hope I'm as charming as I used to be.