Dirty Mind (Nashville Outlaws #2) Read online

  Dirty Mind

  Book Two in the Nashville Outlaws Series

  Cheryl Douglas

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Coming 2020…

  Heaven & Hell

  Prologue

  About the Author

  Other Books by 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]

  Dirty Mind © 2019 Cheryl Douglas

  Chapter 1

  Dade

  Ugh. Just when I thought I’d hit rock bottom I found new reasons to hate myself. This morning I was an uninvited guest in a house that wasn’t mine, sleeping in a bed I’d shattered during the rowdiest sex of my life, after a few too many, with a woman who was so… off limits.

  I cracked an eye open and looked up, way up, at the headboard that should have been attached to the vintage bed that had collapsed during round two, when I’d been taking her from behind. What the hell was wrong with me?

  I was supposed to be the best man at my good friends’ wedding. Making sure their needs were my top priority. Instead I’d cornered the bride’s sister in the kitchen after all the guests left… and shifted the focus to her needs.

  “Guess we did that, huh?” Charli wrinkled her pert little nose before twisting her lips from side to side. “Well, I don’t think we’ll be able to get it fixed, but maybe we can find a replacement before Knox and Cece get back from their honeymoon? I think they said something about spending a few days here before they went home.”

  The mention of my friends turned my stomach as I threw my arm over my eyes. How the hell was I gonna explain to one of my best friends that I’d not only banged his sister-in-law, but I’d also broken the freakin’ bed in the process?

  “I don’t believe this,” I muttered.

  I was lying on a mattress on the floor, next to a woman I’d been fantasizing about for months, and the only thing I could think about was how to piece shit back together again. Not the bed. I knew I could throw enough money at that problem. But no amount of money could fix the mess going on inside of me. The hateful self-talk, churning gut, spinning head, and confusion.

  “What?” Charli asked, rolling on her side, as she propped her head in her hand. “You don’t believe what? That we did the deed or broke the bed?”

  Why’d she have to be the best sex of my life? I’d had a few too many drinks when I came on to her, but there wasn’t enough booze in the state to obliterate my memories of the things we did.

  It started with a hot kiss on the dance floor in front of all of her relatives, including her over-protective biker daddy, who looked like he was ready to take a hit out on me by the end of the night. If I’d just let it end there, with the kiss, I wouldn’t feel like I was sinking in quicksand right now.

  But my mistakes were always loud and brazen, the kind that made the rest of the world sit up and take notice. And why should this one be any different?

  “Hey,” she said, touching my arm. “It’s no big deal, Dade. We’ll get the bed fixed and forget this thing ever happened. You don’t have to act like it’s the end of the world.”

  To her it may be no big deal, but I knew where a harmless one-night stand could lead. I was like a drug addict when it came to beautiful women. That’s why I’d gone into exile after my two divorces and one failed engagement. I couldn’t keep doing this… letting my dick do my thinking for me.

  I looked into her pretty green eyes, wishing like hell I didn’t have to hurt her. None of this was her fault. It was all on me. I should have had more self-control than to take her to bed last night, but when I started pulling the pins out of her strawberry blonde hair, watching it spill in waves down her creamy back, I was past the point of no return. I had to have her. And nothing short of her saying no would have stopped me.

  “Charli,” I sighed. “You’re a beautiful woman, obviously, but—”

  “I’m not your type,” she said, raising her hand. “It’s okay, I get it. You don’t owe me an explanation.” A wide smile made her dimples pop, but I could tell it was fake. “I’ve seen the women you go for—classy, sophisticated—and that’s not me.” She smirked. “Truth is, I wouldn’t know one designer logo from another.”

  I didn’t know why she thought that would be a deterrent. I loved that she didn’t care about shit like that. I didn’t either. The women I’d been with in the past though, they were all about the bling.

  I brushed a lock of hair off her face and… damn… her fair skin was like silk. So addictive I let my calloused hand trail down her shoulder and arm, linking my fingers through hers. I was supposed to be putting distance between us, not trying to draw her closer, but I’d never played by the rules, not even my own.

  “You know I’m attracted to you,” I whispered, shifting closer. “Hell, I couldn’t take my eyes off you when we first met at the hospital.” I brushed my lips over her shoulder, watching her skin turn pink from the scruff on my jaw. “And every time we’ve been together since, it’s been… torture.”

  She tipped her head back to look me in the eye. “Really?”

  Her eyes were so soft, so trusting. It made me want to shut out the rest of the world, to forget about all the opportunists who’d ever want a piece of me, and just get lost in her for a while. “I don’t know if your sister ever told you this, but I saw you at one of my concerts.”

  She smiled. “You actually remember seeing me?”

  It felt like a gut-punch the first time I saw her. She’d been front and center with a few of her girlfriends, singing the words to every one of my songs, her arms in the air, her taut little body swaying back and forth, her hand reaching for mine, and I didn’t disappoint. Our hands touched and I felt like I’d been shocked.

  “You were wearing short denim shorts, cowboy boots, a straw TK cowboy hat, and this tight lime green tank top.”

  She slapped my chest, grinning. “Ohmigod, I can’t believe you remember what I was wearing!”

  I couldn’t believe it either. A woman had never stood out to me like that at a concert, before or since. “I even had my stage manager try to track you down after the show, but you were already gone.”

  Her jaw dropped as I closed my hand around the one she still had planted on my chest. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah.”

  Her long hair was spilling over her shoulders, covering her near-naked breasts, and I knew if I didn’t get off this mattress soon I’d be repeating last night’s mistake, but tearing myself away from her was proving a lot harder than I thought.

  “When Knox showed me a pic of you on his phone and I realiz
ed you were Cece’s sister…” I shook my head. “I couldn’t believe it. What are the odds?”

  She smiled before dropping her head. “Okay, so since it’s confession time, I have one.”

  “I’m listening.”

  I loved the way she blushed when she got nervous or embarrassed. I’d spent enough time with her to know she wasn’t shy. She was bold, and she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, but there was an underlying sweetness, a girl who still wanted to be liked.

  “So, you’re kind of my celebrity crush.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, your sister might have mentioned something about that.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Damn Cece. Of course she did. Did she also tell you I had my bedroom plastered with posters of you when I was teenager?”

  Ugh. She was killing me with her cuteness. How the hell was this girl still single? “No, she didn’t.” But I wanted to hear more. “Plastered, huh? Like wallpapered? My face everywhere?” I grinned as I moved closer, because how the hell could I not? This little rocket was a magnet and I was steel. “Did you get off thinking about me?” I whispered in her ear.

  She bit my earlobe before soothing it with her tongue. “Only every night.”

  I rolled on to my back, my heart racing. “Damn. I can’t do this.” I scrubbed my face with my palm, trying to clear my head. “You’re too dangerous, Charli.”

  “Dangerous how?” Her tone was playful and flirty, like she knew she was getting to me and she was loving it. She linked her leg through mine. “Like you might want a repeat of last night?”

  “That was a mistake, baby.” Her smile slipped and I hated myself a little more for not being more sensitive. She just confessed she’d been crushing on me a long time and I blurted out that sleeping with her was a mistake? What the hell was wrong with me? “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean—”

  “Yes, you did.” She sat up, reaching for the dress she’d been wearing for her sister’s wedding. “And it’s okay. You have no reason to feel guilty, Dade. You were just speaking your mind.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “No buts.” She reached for her bra, fastening it while glancing out the window. “We’re both single, consenting adults. We got caught up in the moment last night, that’s all.” She slipped the dress over her head and stood once she was fully clothed. “No hard feelings, believe me.”

  “Charli, wait.” My heart was thrashing my chest when I sat up. Shit. I didn’t want it to end like this. With her feelings being hurt, feeling like a mistake or regret. I grabbed her hand. “I think you’re incredible, and last night was—”

  “One more item I can cross off my bucket list.” Her dimples made another appearance, as she withdrew her hand from mine and snagged her purse. “So, you may think it was a mistake, but I’m all about living in the moment and seizing opportunities, so I can’t see it that way.”

  She dropped a key in my hand. “What’s this?”

  “So you can lock up when you leave.” She stepped into her heels. “Don’t worry about the bed. I’ll take care of it. The key’s a spare, so you can just give it back to Knox whenever you see him.”

  “Charli.” She was already walking toward the door and I was getting this crazy tightening in my chest that made it hard to find words.

  “Yeah?” she asked, turning to face me.

  I didn’t see a trace of anger or bitterness. No remorse or regret. Not even hurt. Her expression was light, almost happy, maybe because I really had just been an item to cross off her bucket list. Nothing more. And that made me feel like shit. And resent her just a bit, for not wanting me to be more.

  “Never mind.”

  She waved before walking out of the room. “I’ll see ya around, Dade.”

  A couple of friends had flown to the wedding with me, on my private jet, so as much as I wanted a little peace and quiet to process what happened with Charli, I wasn’t gonna get it.

  My buddies, Reed and Archer, were kicking back and scrolling their phones when Archer started laughing. “Have you seen this?” he asked, flashing his phone at me. “Someone at the wedding must have caught you in a liplock with Charli and posted it online.”

  “You’re shittin’ me.” I snagged the phone and groaned when I saw the pic. We looked like we were hot and heavy. Her hands in my hair. Mine on her ass. No wonder her old man was shooting daggers at me the rest of the night. “Ugh. Charli’s tagged in this too.”

  I passed the phone back to Archer, who was one of my song writing partners. “I couldn’t even look. Tell me it’s flying under the radar.”

  Archer snorted. “If you call a few thousand comments and almost a hundred thousand likes flying under the radar.”

  I swore under my breath as I curled my hand into a fist. “I hate social media.” I hated people sometimes too. Especially losers who got all up in other people’s business because they had nothing better to do. “Who the hell posted that? It better not be someone we know.” I hated to think after the year I’d had, one of my friend’s would kick me while I was down.

  “No one I recognize.” He clicked on his phone and showed it to Reed. “You know her?”

  “I met her last night.” Reed tipped his water bottle back. “I think it was one of the cousins or a friend of Cece’s from high school maybe.”

  In other words, someone with no skin in the game, just like I suspected. I was tempted to text Charli and ask if she’d seen it, but of course she had, she’d been tagged in it, and that girl was glued to her phone.

  I didn’t want the paparazzi to come after her, but given the way they’d been stalking me since my last breakup, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were camped out on her doorstep when she got home, fishing for a comment about our relationship.

  I tipped my head back against the leather headrest and sighed. “I really don’t need this today.”

  “What’s eatin’ you?” Reed asked, kicking my booted foot across the aisle. “So they caught you making out with a beautiful woman. It’s not like Charli’s married or engaged.” He frowned. “Is she? I’ve only met her a couple times, but—”

  “She’s single.” If she had been married my life would have been a hell of a lot simpler. I’d have slept in a hotel bed last night, where I belonged, and I wouldn’t be able to taste her every time I licked my lips.

  “How the hell is a girl like that still single?” Archer asked, still scrolling his phone. “I mean, seriously, look at her.”

  His screen was full of Charli.

  I swallowed to coat my dry throat and curled my hands into fists. I’d never been addicted to drugs or alcohol, but I didn’t see how it could be much worse than this. My chest was burning. My head was pounding, and my fingers were itching to pull up her damn contact and beg her to meet me at my place as soon as our plane touched down in Nashville.

  That was the hell of knowing we were living in the same city now. The temptation just got stronger. And logistics got easier.

  “Maybe she doesn’t do commitment,” Reed said, shrugging. “Not all girls are looking for that little gold band.” He grinned. “Some just like to have fun. And Charli strikes me as a girl who knows how to have fun.”

  I wanted to punch one of my closest friends in the face for making a comment about a girl I’d called a mistake. I should probably have a shrink on speed dial to keep my crazy under control.

  “She does at that,” Archer said, chuckling. “Did you see her in that dress?” He whistled under his breath. “Those tits, on that tiny little frame—”

  “Shut. Up.” I glared at him, letting him know I wasn’t messing around. “Charli is off limits, you got me?” I meant the subject of Charli was off limits, but if they thought she was off limits because I’d already staked my claim, I wasn’t gonna correct them.

  Archer threw his hands up, laughing. “Relax, man. I was just playin’. I know you’re into her.”

  Reed rolled his tongue in his cheek. “So, uh, you gonna tell us what happened last night? Y’all were
the last two at the house after the party broke up. You can’t tell me you didn’t score.”

  “Are you deaf?” I asked, smacking my own ear. “I said the girl’s off limits. I don’t wanna hear her name again.” Not that I wouldn’t be thinking about her plenty.

  “Whatever.” Reed rolled his eyes as he looked at Archer. “Hey, I saw that cute little brunette that opened for Dade chattin’ you up last night. What was that about?”

  “She wants me to work on her debut album with her.” He pulled a face. “I don’t collaborate with newbies. They’re more trouble than they’re worth. They think they have to ‘brand’ themselves a certain way,” he said, making air quotes around the word. “Bullshit. These kids need to focus on writing or finding great songs, then worry about the rest.”

  The girl he was talking about, Sky, was crazy talented. I’d gotten to know her well when she toured with me, and she told me she’d kill to work with Archer on her debut album. “I think you should give her a chance,” I told him. “She’s a sweetheart.”

  “A sweetheart,” he mimicked. “Yeah, that’s another problem. I don’t do sweet. Or young. Or inexperienced.”

  “We’re not tellin’ you to bang her, asshole,” I snapped. “Just write a few songs with her. Help the girl out.” I always tried to go to bat for people who’d proven themselves, and Sky worked her butt off while she was on the road with me. But she needed someone like Archer, who’d been inducted to the hall of fame, to hold her hand on this one.

  “Why should I?” he asked, looking sullen as he slipped his phone back in his pocket. “I’ve got artists linin’ up to work with me. Real professionals. Not spoiled little girls who think they can sneak in the back door ‘cause they got a pretty face and decent voice.”