Casual Affair (Timid Souls Book 2) (12 page)
Read Casual Affair (Timid Souls Book 2) Online
Authors: Melanie Munton
That will teach him to work me up in front of people.
He glared at me, frustration emanating from his crouched position, and I had to mentally applaud myself for my ability to tie him into knots.
“That southern drawl of yours is going to kill me,” he growled at me. “You shouldn’t say things like that with such an accent. It’s dangerous.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Ditto,
mate
.”
He chuckled and rolled his eyes as he took a drink from our bottle of water and then passed it to me.
“You lied, by the way. You’ve totally done this before,” I hissed at him.
He and his buddies were acting like a special ops unit for crying out loud. The commands they gave each other and even the hand signals they were using spoke of a group who had definitely done stuff like this more than once.
He smirked at me, a look on him that was too damn sexy it wasn’t even fair. Not when I couldn’t do anything about the growing need to suddenly take him inside me, right here in this damn field.
“I wasn’t lying, but did I mention that we all played a lot of video games at university?” he asked, gesturing to the group of men around us.
“Let me guess. A lot of Halo and Call of Duty?”
“You got it, luv.”
He landed a quick peck on my lips before he scooted over to his friends to work on our strategy for how to take down the only other team left on the field.
We had managed to obliterate the other three teams and only lose two players in the process. It didn’t matter if the only prize for the victors was epic bragging rights; my competitive side would not let me lose.
“I never thought I’d see the day that Beatrice Paxton was all googly-eyed over a man,” came Felicity’s voice from beside me.
She knew I hated being called by my full name. “Those are sex eyes you’re seein’. Not googly eyes.”
She groaned. “Spare me.”
I just smiled back. “You asked for it.” Then, something occurred to me out of nowhere. “Now that you bring it up, shouldn’t you be gettin’ all googly-eyed yourself by now?”
Her head turned in my direction, confusion written all over her face. “What are you talkin’ about?”
My laugh was maniacal. Torturing her was too fun and too easy. “Our deal. The night of the debate. You said that when I became a one-man woman you would ask out Gabe Wexler. Well,” I said, waving my hand over at Zane, “there’s only one man over there that I want. So, when is that date goin’ to be?”
She snorted and stood up, dusting herself off. It was a good thing that she was so short because otherwise she’d be giving the other team a decent target to shoot at.
“That wasn’t for real, Bea. We were just jokin’.”
“I wasn’t jokin’. And I bet if we called Gwen right now, she’d say the same thing. So, how about it, Sis?”
She wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I’m not doin’ it.”
“Oh, come on. You too scared to ask him out?” And just like when we were kids, I did the one thing that I knew would annoy her beyond all reason. “
Felicity and Gabe sittin’ in a tree. K-I-S-S—
”
I heard three quick poofs of air and too late realized what had just happened as I looked down at the vest covering my chest.
There were three large red paint stains on my black vest.
She shot me!
Knowing that it would take me out of the game.
I looked back up at her, mouth ajar, in total disbelief. She had the nerve to have the sweetest, most deceptively angelic smile on her face as she blew out a relieved breath, her shoulders slumping, like shooting me had somehow made her feel better.
“Well, I guess you’re right, Bea. A deal is a deal.”
As soon as she saw the murderous look in my eyes, hers widened in horror. She released a sharp squeal and took off at a sprint in the opposite direction. I sprung to my feet and dashed after her.
“Yeah, you better run, Shortstack! There’s no mercy for traitors!”
As soon as we hit the clearing of the field, it was utter chaos. We were both attacked with yellow paint from the other team, pellets flying at us in all directions. I could barely see through the yellow and red-tainted warzone, as all I could focus on was hitting Felicity as many times as I could.
All of a sudden, we heard a long string of manly war cries coming from the direction of the shelter we were just at, breaking through the clearing.
“I’m coming, Bea!” Zane yelled over the pandemonium, all Braveheart-like.
I won’t lie, it was hot.
“Damn,” I muttered under my breath, watching him shoot our enemies with surprising accuracy.
“Oh my God, stop with the sex eyes!” Felicity shouted and shot me twice in the leg, the sting of the pellets making me hiss.
“Go out with Gabe!” I yelled back, getting her once in the arm and once on her shoulder.
“Never!”
The only thing that saved her ass was the fact that our team still ended up winning, with only two of our guys left, Zane being one.
The day ended with a body covered in welts, my bed full of Zane, and Felicity on the phone with Gabe.
I impressed even myself with my powers of persuasion on that last one.
I loved winning.
##
Unexpected Love (Timid Souls #3),
Felicity and Gabe’s story
,
comes out
July 27, 2016
!!
Also, coming soon from Melanie Munton…
Playing for Kinley (Cruz Brothers #1)
Coming June 2016
More by Melanie Munton:
Timid Souls novellas:
Possession and Politics Trilogy:
and
Send me an email at:
Also follow me on:
As always, to my husband, Sean, you continue to be that rock, that support system that keeps me going and never lets me get discouraged. I will never be able to thank you for all that you do for us. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in life
To my entire family back home—Mom, Dad, Tymon, Kim, Taylor, Oliver, and all of my grandparents—I couldn’t ask for more unwavering love and encouragement than you’ve all shown and given me from the beginning. Throughout this first year, you’ve been nothing but the steadfast, positive support system that I have needed, and I can’t begin to tell you how much it has meant to me. Having you all behind me, having faith in me and uplifting me every step of the way, makes all of this worth it.
To all of my other family and friends from Cabool to Carthage, from Springfield to St. James to Steelville and everywhere else in between, thank you all so much for your love and support throughout the years. You’ve all been a huge inspiration to me and this journey I’m now embarking on and you continue to be as I move forward. The memories you’ve all given me will always serve as a reminder of what an amazing support system I have and the fact that I have some of the best people in the world in my corner.
To L.J. at Mayhem Cover Creations, thank you so much for working with me on the cover designs! You have been spectacularly awesome from the very first day I contacted you, and you’ve alleviated so much of my stress, so I just can’t thank you enough! You’re pretty much amazing and I look forward to future covers.
Last but certainly not least, I have to thank all of my readers. To everyone who went out and purchased my books, whether you know me personally or you just saw the blurbs online and thought they sounded like a good read, THANK YOU SO FREAKING MUCH! It really is a fantastic feeling to know that I have people out there reading my work, and I want nothing more than for you to love it and want to come back for more. I’m putting so much work into these projects, and I hope that you’ll stay with me as I share these worlds and the lives of the characters that I love so much with you. It’s sure to be a scary, crazy and sometimes stressful trip, but I know that continuing to have your support as a reader will be all of the motivation I need to give each and every story all that I’ve got! You guys are amazing!
Melanie Munton is an up-and-coming romance author who favors contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and romantic comedies above all other sub-genres. She loves writing stories about characters who struggle to rise above the obstacles that plague them but who eventually find their victory and salvation in the person they fall in love with.
Possession and Politics
was her first full-length novel trilogy, which will be followed by her second full-length series, the three-part
Cruz Brothers
, the first of which will be released June 2016. The first installment of her five-part novellas series,
Timid Souls
, was released in April 2016 and will be followed by the subsequent four volumes throughout 2016.
Melanie was born and raised in a small rural town in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks. She earned her degree in Anthropology from Missouri State University, where she met her husband, Sean. Four years and a semester abroad later, they married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony near her hometown. They decided to make a fresh start and moved to North Carolina in late 2014, where she realized her passion for writing. Although she had always been a fan of any and all fiction, especially romance, she finally decided to write down all the stories that had been floating around in her head, thus beginning her writing career.
One of Melanie’s favorite things to do is travel with her husband. She backpacked parts of Western Europe and spent a semester studying abroad in Spain during her college years and can’t wait to go back. Melanie and Sean love to go on road trips together and have an entire list of archaeological sites all over the world that they plan on visiting throughout their lives.
She has a horrible addiction to pasta and could eat it for every meal if she wasn’t worried about the carbs. She considers cream soda to be the most delicious beverage ever put on this earth. And it’s rare to ever find her without some sort of candy stowed away in her purse or in her snack basket. Whether it’s Sprees, Nerds, Hot Tamales, or any form of chocolate, she most assuredly has a bag of it and has threatened the lives of those who have gotten too close to her stash, even her husband.
Above all else, she cherishes her relationships with all of her family, friends, and God. She lives for the precious moments when she gets to see all of them and wishes everyone could get together more often.