All the Right Things (Love in LA)
All the Right Things
Copyright © 2014 Audrey Harte
Published by Audrey Harte
Cover art © by Christopher Neil
Interior Design by Angela McLaurin, Fictional Formats
https://www.facebook.com/FictionalFormats
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any print or electronic form without permission
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The subject matter is not appropriate for minors. Please note this novel contains profanity, explicit sexual situations, and alcohol consumption.
In
Love in All the Wrong Places
, Annie tried her hand at online dating, but it brought her nothing but a broken heart. This girl can't seem to catch a break in the dating world! While wondering what went wrong once again, she met an attractive, funny and sincere hip hop dancer in the parking lot at work. But just as Casey expressed interest in taking her out, he had to leave town to tour the country with an up and coming pop star. Annie was willing to wait for him to return, but then she received an apologetic text from Nate, the last guy she met on Craigslist.
Join Annie on her adventures in
All the Right Things
as she makes some of the biggest decisions of her life. While she thoroughly enjoyed the time she spent with Nate and is still attracted to him, he screwed her and then ditched her at the bar without a word. Will Annie accept Nate’s explanation and his heartfelt apology and give him a second chance or will she kick him to the curb? Or will Casey’s charm and determination to show her how a real man should treat a lady win her over? Or will both of these guys be left in the dust when someone from her past reappears?
To every girl who has chased a dream. Those who dream strive to be better people. Don’t ever stop dreaming and always believe in yourself. You can do
anything
you put your mind to, if you want it badly enough.
Nate:
Annie, I need to talk to you. I’m so sorry and I want to explain everything if you’ll listen to me. I can’t excuse what I did, but I did have a very good reason for it, and I miss you and I want to see you and tell you everything. Please say you’ll hear me out.
Annie stared at her cell phone with a perplexed expression as she re-read the message from Nate for the tenth time. Her mind was racing as she drove back to the valley after having coffee with Casey. Sure, she’d secretly hoped he would call and explain, but hadn’t really expected him to. Annie wasn’t convinced he could say anything to make her forgive what he had done, but she had to admit a morbid curiosity to know what kind of excuse he would offer for fucking her in the bathroom of a karaoke bar and then leaving without a word.
Instead of heading to her apartment when she got home, she found herself at Alex’s door, knocking insistently until he opened it. Her neighbor and BFF took one look at her face, and without a word, stepped back to usher her inside. She made a beeline for his kitchen and got a glass to pour herself some wine from the recently opened bottle sitting on his counter, drinking it all in a few big gulps. Wincing as the chilled wine gave her a bit of brain freeze, she set the glass down and poured herself some more.
“Bad day?” Alex asked with a raised eyebrow as he sat down on a bar stool, reaching over to extract the bottle from her hand and pour the remaining wine into his glass.
“Not exactly… I mean, it was a pretty great day, all in all. I met up for coffee with Casey after work again, and that was good. The down side was when he told me that he’s going on tour tomorrow for a few weeks. He’s relieving an injured back-up dancer for some new pop star.”
“Cool for him, not so cool for you?”
Annie laughed. “It’s fine—I mean, yeah, I’m a little bummed that we were just starting to get to know each other, and now I won’t see him for at least three weeks, but he wants to take me out sometime when he gets back. And with the track record I’ve had lately, I think it’s a good thing if we can just talk for a few weeks and get to know each other before anything gets physical between us.”
“That’s probably smart.”
“Yeah… so then I’m driving home when I get a text message from Nate.”
“Say what?” Alex’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and Annie just nodded, her eyes widening slightly as she raised her glass and drained it again.
“I know, right?”
“I think this calls for more wine,” Alex said as he left his seat to retrieve another bottle of Pinot Grigio
from the fridge, taking a quick moment to pop the cork. After refilling both their glasses, he slid her glass over and took a long sip from his own. “By the way, I see that you got your hair did!”
“Oh, yeah—after work yesterday.” Annie reached up to run her fingers through the short bob. It would take some getting used to.
“I can’t believe you cut off so much; it’s super short! What made you decide to do that? Not that it doesn’t look
great
—it’s totally chic on you.”
“Thanks, sweetie… I dunno… I just feel like I’m going through a change right now and trying to start fresh with my love life, which—as you know—has been a total disaster lately. Well, not just lately.”
Alex nodded. “You do have the world’s worst luck with men.”
“Ha, you’re telling me.”
“Not that my luck is any better in the men department.”
“I can still ask Casey to find you some men in tights,” Annie said with a snicker as she grinned innocently at him. Alex looked like he was about to make a smart remark, but just then the doorbell rang, interrupting him. Looking a little embarrassed, she stood up and started to apologize. “I’m so sorry… I just barged in here. If you’re expecting company, I can totally leave.”
“Stay right where you are; it’s just the pizza guy,” Alex said as he got up from his bar stool and reached into his back pocket for his wallet, making his way to the front door. After paying the delivery guy and shutting the door again, he set the pizza box down on the counter and opened the lid.
When she saw what kind it was, she clapped her hands happily. “Mmm, pepperoni, pineapple and green peppers—my favorite. See, this is why we’re friends. You have great taste in pizza.”
Alex laughed. “Dig in… I can’t eat the whole thing myself. At least my taste in pizza is better than my taste in men.”
He didn’t have to offer twice. Annie took the plate he offered her and grabbed a slice, then swore as she immediately dropped the piece back into the box.
“Holy shit, that’s hot!” she exclaimed, sucking on her fingers.
“Uh yeah, don’t burn yourself, sweetie.”
After waiting another minute to let it cool, she tried to pick up the piece again and successfully transferred it to her plate before gingerly biting into the hot, cheesy goodness. “Mmm, that’s good.”
“So, back to the text message from Nate,” Alex said around a mouthful of pizza.
Groaning, Annie rolled her eyes and didn’t respond for a moment, taking another bite of her pizza and chewing it slowly before she finally responded. “Right. Well, he texted back and apologized for ditching me the other night—said he had a good explanation, that he missed me and wanted to see me again.”
“Huh, interesting. So are you going to meet up with him?”
“Part of me wants to believe that he really did have a good reason, but part of me doubts that I can trust him again. Besides, I see some real potential with Casey. And I’m pretty sure that neither one of them is going to be down with me dating both of them at the same time, not that I would. But I do want to know what his reason was.”
“Me too.”
“Ugh, why do men have to be such dicks sometimes?” she huffed.
“Hey now,” Alex protested.
“Why do
straight
men have to be such dicks sometimes?” she corrected, smiling at him.
“Beats me, but I want to hear all about it after you see Nate. I’ll be waiting with a fresh bottle.”
“What? You think I should have him come over right now?” Annie looked at him incredulously.
“No time like the present, sweetie.”
“No! Are you crazy? I need time to mentally prepare for this meeting.”
Alex shook his head at her. “You’re stalling, Mami.”
“I’m not stalling. I just—I just need a night to think it through.”
“What do you need to think through? You just want to hear what his excuse is for now, right? Doesn’t mean you have to make a decision right away whether or not you believe him.”