Nex Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  About the Author

  Other Books by Cheryl Douglas

  Coming Soon…

  Nex

  Book Two in the Steel Brothers Series

  Cheryl Douglas

  Copyright © by Cheryl Douglas

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, including photocopying, graphic, electronic, mechanical, taping, recording, sharing, or by any information retrieval system without the express written permission of the author and / or publisher. Exceptions include brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Persons, places and other entities represented in this book are deemed to be fictitious. They are not intended to represent actual places or entities currently or previously in existence or any person living or dead. This work is the product of the author’s imagination.

  Any and all inquiries to the author of this book should be directed to: [email protected]

  Nex © 2015 Cheryl Douglas

  Chapter One

  Nex

  “You’re pathetic,” my brother Seb said, tipping his beer back as he rolled his eyes at me. “She’s made it clear she’s not interested, so why the hell are you still sniffin’ around her?”

  The woman in question was the sexy little waitress at my favorite biker bar. I’d met Jaci a few months back, and she’d been giving me the brush-off ever since. If not for my impenetrable ego, I might have been offended.

  “She never said she’s not interested in me specifically,” I reminded my older brother. “She said she doesn’t wanna get tied down right now.” I grinned. “I never said I’d tie her down, though I sure as hell wouldn’t mind.”

  “She’s in college, isn’t she?” Seb asked, tracking her as she crossed the bar to refill a drink order.

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Too young for you,” he muttered. “Probably too innocent too.”

  I’d gotten to know Jaci pretty well over the last few months. I knew that she’d grown up in a single-parent home after her father died when she was six. Apparently, her mother was a regular church-goer who was convinced sex outside of marriage was a sin.

  “She’s twenty-four,” I said. “Only six years younger than me.”

  Seb shrugged. “Not as bad as I thought. I would have pegged her for a lot younger.”

  Yeah, me too. I’d been relieved to find out fate hadn’t been cruel enough to deliver my fantasy girl in an illegal package. “She took some time off after high school to work full-time and save money for college. Apparently, her mama couldn’t afford to send her and she didn’t want to accumulate a lot of student loans.”

  Seb narrowed his eyes at me. “Since when do you take the time to get to know a girl’s life story?”

  He was right. Most girls drifted in and out of my life in the span of a couple of nights and I was lucky if I remembered their name a week later. “What can I tell you?” I said, watching some mean-looking biker with full sleeves chatting up Jaci. “Just ’cause she keeps shooting me down doesn’t mean I’m ready to give up. Figure if I hang out here long enough and get to know her better, she’ll cave eventually.”

  Seb laughed. “This is good for your ego. You’re used to women throwing themselves at you. It’s nice to see a girl who’s not afraid to make you work for it.”

  I was ashamed to admit he was right. If Jaci had gone home with me the first night we met, I didn’t think I’d be sitting here now, watching her every move. “She’s makin’ me work for it, alright. But that’s okay. It’ll just make the reward that much sweeter.”

  “Could be she’s just not into you,” Seb suggested, grinning. “Ever think of that?”

  “You’re the one who’s used to getting shot down, not me.” We both knew I was just busting his chops. If the Steele brothers shared one trait, it was the ability to attract gorgeous women. “Besides, Jaci’s made it clear she’s not immune.” She once admitted the sparks between us were enough to light her panties on fire, which she claimed was the reason she had to keep her distance.

  “So why won’t she go out with you if she’s so interested?”

  “This is her first real shot at freedom,” I said, reciting the story she’d told me. “I told ya, her mama’s a Bible-banger. Might as well have made her wear a goddamn chastity belt.”

  Seb’s jaw dropped. “You’re not telling me she’s a virgin?”

  I understood my brother’s confusion. With that curvy little body on full display in a short skirt and low-cut tank top, she looked like a naughty cover girl. “Not a virgin, just not very experienced.” I liked that about her. Most of the girls I’d dated used sex to get what they wanted. Jaci wasn’t like that. In fact, I sometimes wondered if she had any idea how sexy she was, despite the fact she clearly spent the better part of her life warding off pigs who made it their mission to get her into bed.

  “Is that what she tells you?” Seb asked, looking amused. “’Cause I’m not buyin’ it. I’ve seen the way she flirts with these guys.”

  So had I, and the more she invaded my thoughts, the more I hated her flirtatious nature. “She’s a waitress, man. She basically works for tips. If the guys like her, they tip more.” I should know—I usually tipped her fifty percent of the bill.

  “So let me get this straight,” Seb said, crossing his arms over his broad chest as he tipped his chair back. “She’s a good girl who’s just trying to get an education? Then why’s she working in a dive like this?”

  I’d asked her that same question. There were a hundred other places she could have worked, but according to her, this was within walking distance of the little house she rented with her three roommates. Since she didn’t have a car, proximity to work was almost as important as flexible hours. This job offered both.

  “She’s working in a dive like this ’cause she needs the money,” I said, glaring at him. I hated that he was calling Jaci’s character into question. He didn’t know her like I did. “Not everybody makes a few mil a year, asshole.”

  Seb was the king of classic car restoration, and he’d taken to restoring some of the rarest cars in the world and reselling them, making him a wealthy man in the process. Not to mention his latest TV gig. I couldn’t turn on the tube without seeing his smug mug staring back at me.

  “I get that,” he said, raising a hand. “I just can’t help but think she’s stringing you along, making you feel sorry for her so you won’t hesitate when she eventually hits you up for a loan.”

  Seb wasn’t the only one at this table making a boatload of money, but I wasn’t stupid. I didn’t give it away to every pretty girl who asked. “She’s not like that. She believes in working hard and paying her own way. Like I said, she didn’t even want to take out student loans for school. It took her five years, but she managed to save up enough for tuition. She works here to pay for her living expenses, books, and spending money.”

  “She like to party?”

  That was the one thing that didn’t sit well with me. She wasn’t promiscuous or indiscriminate, but if there was a party, Jaci’s roommates talked her into going. She claimed she’d worked hard and deserved to enjoy her first taste of freedom—the college experien
ce, as she put it. But I’d been to college. I knew how crazy those parties could get.

  “Yeah, you could say that.”

  Seb’s lips twisted, and I knew he wasn’t trying very hard to keep a straight face. “Good for her. You only live once, right?”

  I scowled as I caught some dirty old biker running his hand up the back of her tanned thigh. If it got any higher, I was going to have to lay him out in front of his brothers, which I knew would result in trouble I didn’t need.

  “I’m trying to convince her she doesn’t need to party to have a good time.”

  Seb coughed on a mouthful of beer, covering his mouth so he didn’t spew it across the table. “That… coming from you?”

  Sure, I liked to have a good time, but my safety had never been an issue. Jaci was a beautiful young woman who routinely went out with girlfriends who drank as much as she did, making them all vulnerable to sick freaks who liked to target women who couldn’t defend themselves.

  “I can take care of myself. She can’t.”

  “Is that why this has become your second home the last few months?” Seb asked. “Because you feel the need to look out for her?”

  “Someone has to. Why not me?”

  “Ryker says you’ve actually been coming into work on time lately. Does that mean you haven’t had too many late nights?”

  I hadn’t had the desire to party as much since I met Jaci. At least not parties for two with the opposite sex. “I get out.” I gestured to our favorite dimly lit dive. “Case in point.”

  “When was the last time you got laid?” he asked, looking so smug I wanted to reach across the table and knock out those pearly whites.

  “Unlike you, I can get laid any time I want to.”

  “Prove it.” He gestured to my cell phone, which was sitting on the table between us. “Pick up the phone and make a date right now. Get her to meet you at your place in say, an hour.”

  “I don’t have to prove anything to you,” I said, reaching for my beer.

  “Face it,” he said, sneering at me. “You’re too obsessed with this one to think about anyone else.”

  “Obsessed?” I laughed, trying to deny his claim held a ring of truth. “Man, you’ve been watchin’ too many chick flicks. I’m intrigued, that’s all.”

  “Oh yeah? Then why are you here almost every night, even though she keeps shooting you down?”

  “I’ve only asked her out a couple of times.” I flirted; she flirted back. We’d kissed a couple of times, after I’d cornered her in the hallway, but she still continued to insist she wasn’t looking to hook up with a guy like me, whatever the hell that meant.

  “I say you keep your distance for a while,” Seb said, raising two fingers at Jaci to indicate we were ready for another round. “Maybe if you keep her guessing, she’ll take the bait.”

  He might be on to something, but it was tough to imagine a day without my Jaci fix. “I’ll handle it,” I said before draining my bottle. “My own way. I sure as hell don’t need advice from the man who taught me how to be a player.”

  Seb grimaced. “Maybe I did you a disservice.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He lifted a shoulder before tipping back his own bottle and dropping it on the table with a loud thump. “Sometimes I think I’m gettin’ too old for this shit, ya know?”

  “What’s that mean? You want what Ryker has?”

  Our oldest brother had been married for years, and he had a couple of teenage boys who meant everything to him. Even though Ryker and his wife, Mac, had gone through a brief separation recently, I’d never known two people more perfect for each other.

  “I don’t know, maybe.” Seb glanced around the bar, filled with bikers and their old ladies. “Being alone gets old after a while.”

  “Since when do you spend time alone?” He ran a successful business and had his pick of beautiful and willing women to take home at night.

  “Since I got tired of the games.” He swiped a hand over his face. “I’ll be turning thirty-three next month, kid. Being single, different woman every night is great when you’re twenty-three, but it’s not so much fun in your thirties. Am I right?”

  I’d been thinking the same thing lately. “Maybe.”

  “But if you’re looking to settle down, you best look elsewhere,” Seb said. “You said yourself Jaci got a late start. She’s got a lot of crazy left in her.”

  I wasn’t trying to prevent her from getting a little crazy. I just wanted it to be with me.

  “Here you go, boys,” Jaci said, setting the bottles down between us as she collected the empties. “Can I get you anything else?”

  Our eyes locked, and I knew she was thinking about what had gone down between us last night. Our second kiss. It happened in the hallway. She was on her way into the ladies’ room while I was coming out of the men’s room. We nearly collided, and when my hands circled her waist to steady her, I had to steal a taste of those tempting cherry lips. She opened without hesitation, just as she had the first time I kissed her a few weeks ago, and I knew no matter how immune she claimed to be, I was definitely wearing her down.

  “What time do you get off?” I asked, glancing at my Rolex.

  Last call would be in a few minutes, and I wanted to make sure her roommate planned to pick her up. I hated the thought of her walking home alone, and she claimed cabs were a waste of money.

  “About an hour,” she said, smiling to include Seb. “And let me tell ya, I’m countin’ the minutes tonight. I’m dead on my feet.”

  My eyes landed on the pretty pink toes peeping out of her five-inch sandals. “I give a great foot massage.”

  Her hand came down on my shoulder, making my whole body stir. “I’ll just bet you do, sweetie.”

  “Jade coming to pick you up?” I asked, referring to her roommate.

  “No, the girls are all at some party tonight,” she said, blowing her side-swept light-blond bangs out of her eyes. “I would’ve gone, but I got stuck covering Kelly’s shift when she called in sick.”

  I knew she’d be here tonight because I texted to make sure before Seb and I decided where to meet for beers. “I’ll wait around, take you home.”

  Her blue eyes widened before she said, “Oh, you don’t have to do that, Nex.”

  “Why? You got another ride lined up?” If I found out some other guy had beat me to it, I’d be pissed.

  “No, but—”

  “Good, it’s settled then. I’ll wait.”

  She huffed before finally breaking into a smile. “Since I know you better than to think you’ll take no for an answer, I’ll just say thank you.”

  My lips tipped up as I reached for her free hand, bringing it to my lips. “You’re more than welcome, beautiful.”

  Seb waited until she walked away before he shook his head. “You sure you haven’t tapped that? I felt like a goddamn voyeur watching you two.”

  The connection was palpable. Every time she was around, I felt the force of it surging through my body. “Only a matter of time before we hook up,” I said, grinning as I reached for my second beer. Since I was driving, that was my self-imposed limit.

  “That’s all you’re looking for with her?” Seb asked, crossing his arms on the table as he leaned in. “A hookup? You sure as hell are working hard if that’s all you’re after.”

  “No, I want more than that.” I didn’t know how much more, since I’d been so focused on getting her to agree to a first date. I hadn’t thought about what might happen when she finally said yes.

  “How much more?”

  “I don’t know yet,” I said, trying not to sound defensive.

  Seb chuckled. “I hate to remind you, but of all of us, you are the absolute worst when it comes to relationships.”

  Just because I hadn’t met anyone who appealed to me didn’t mean I wouldn’t be ready to put down roots if I met the right girl. “Maybe Jaci’ll be the one to make an honest man of me.”

  “Or maybe she’ll be the
one to destroy you.” Looking somber, Seb said, “It happens to the best of us, man. You think you’ve found the one, then she bails like you meant nothing to her.”

  Seb had had a thing with a woman who worked for him a few years ago. Just when it seemed like it was getting serious, she left town with no explanation. “I don’t think Jaci’s going anywhere. She’s got a lot of school ahead of her before she gets that degree.”

  “I just don’t wanna see you get in over your head. She’s told you she’s not ready for anything with you right now. Maybe you should just let it go, forget about her.”

  I’d been trying to do that ever since we met, but I felt like a chronic dieter trying to break a sugar addiction. Every day presented a new challenge. “Easier said than done.”

  “So what? You try to be her friend?”

  That was a new approach for me, but I’d learned being her friend was better than not being in her life at all. “Why do you say it like that’s the worst thing that could happen?”

  Seb rubbed his hands over his face, looking suddenly exhausted. “Look, I know you’re new to this whole dance, but the last thing you want is to wind up in the friend zone.”

  I couldn’t imagine that ever happening to me. I wasn’t the sweet, sensitive type girls liked to confide in about their troubles. I was usually the one causing the trouble, the one they were complaining to their friends about. “I’m not worried.”

  “Maybe you should be.” Seb sighed. “Either make your move or back off. Don’t let her make a fool of you, Nex.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? No woman has ever or will ever make a fool of me.”

  “You say that now. Wait ’til she tells you she’s out with the girls and you find out she’s been bangin’ some other guy.”

  “When did you get so cynical?”

  He stood up, peeling a few bills off a roll he kept in his pocket. “When life kicked me in the teeth a few too many times.” He gripped my shoulder as he walked past. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”