Certified Disaster (Beautiful Mess Book 2)
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Authors: Jennifer Preston
Certified Disaster
Beautiful Mess #2
by
Jennifer Preston
Copyright
2014 Jennifer Preston
Kindle
Edition
All
Rights Reserved
This
publication is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other
applicable international, federal, state, and local laws, and all rights are
reserved, including resale rights: you are not allowed to give, copy, scan,
distribute or sell this book to anyone else.
Cover
art by Mayhem Cover Creations
Editing
by Jenny Hamilton
This
book is dedicated to all of you
who
fell in love with Bri and Cole
and
demanded more of their story.
It
wouldn
’t have been written without you!
“It
is rarely a lack of love that forces two hearts apart, but other obstacles.”
-Robin
LaFevers,
Mortal Heart
There had been many times in the
past couple of months that Cole had cursed himself for agreeing to take things
slowly. Well, to be completely honest, he cursed himself every day, especially
on days like today.
Bri was lounging next to him on her
beach towel, wearing that damn white bikini that was manufactured specifically
to drive the male population crazy. And Cole was in no way immune. Her auburn
hair was loosely braided and hanging over her shoulder, her golden brown eyes
were hidden behind her sunglasses. A soft breeze ruffled the pages of the book
she was reading, and the warm sunlight glinted tantalizingly off her skin. Her
glorious body was laid out like a mouth watering
buffet
that he couldn’t touch. He was a starving man, but he could only look, ogle,
and drool. For about the five-hundredth time that day, he mentally smacked
himself upside the head for ever agreeing to this.
Part of him still couldn’t quite
believe this was real, that she was actually here, lying next to him. He
smiled to himself, and his mind drifted back to that night she had walked back
into his life.
He had finally accepted the fact
that he’d have to figure out how to live without her, to find some way to go on
with his life; not that he had been happy about it. Quite the opposite, in
fact. He had been completely and utterly miserable, and not even playing
basketball for Duke could rouse him from his depression. And then one day, Bri
had appeared at a random party
, looking
hot as all hell,
and said the words he’d dreamt of hearing, but had been sure he never would.
She loved him.
Loved
him! Any autonomy he had
managed to gain while they’d been apart went completely out the window, and he
was hers, completely, utterly, and totally. She could’ve asked him to bark
like a dog and he would’ve happily complied. Which was the only reason that
could possibly explain why he had accepted his current frustrating predicament.
“Cole,” Bri had said as he walked
her home from his room that night. “I think we should take things slowly.”
Things had gotten pretty heated
between them earlier, and it had taken everything in him
not
to take her
to back to his bed and give her the greatest make up sex in the history of
make-up sex. But he’d known she wasn’t ready for that yet, so he held back and
contented himself with everything of her that he could have. Not that it had
been easy.
“
Bri, I don
’t
know if I can,” he answered, giving her a desire-laden
look. He
was rewarded by the blush that rushed into her cheeks as she smiled. That
blush, that he loved, added with those swollen, just kissed lips, was a damn good
look on her.
“I know,” she replied softly. “
I don
’t know if I can either.” She gave him a heated glance,
and he about took her right there. “But, things are different now. I’ve
changed, you’ve changed, everything around us had changed. We aren’t the same
people we were when we were together before, and I think we need some time
to... I don’t know, get to know each other again or something. Plus, our lives
are so different now, and with basketball, and dance, and school starting in a
few weeks, I just think we need some time to adjust before we...” she trailed
off.
“Before we what?”
“Before we add the complication of
sex on top of everything else. I know it’s a lot to ask, but can you do this
for me? Can you wait for me?” She turned her large, pleading eyes on him and
almost melted him into putty. She had no idea the power she had over him.
But, he also realized that he needed
to take just a bit of that power back, for his own sake.
“Okay Bri, we’ll do this your way.
We’ll take it slow. But,” he stopped and turned her to face him. “You need to
understand something. I let you call all the shots before, because you were so
skittish I was afraid I’d scare you off. So I let you dictate what happened
between us. I’m not going to do that anymore. If this is going to work, we
need to have an equal partnership. I can’t just automatically defer to you
because I’m afraid you’ll freak out and run off. We need to be able to talk
through things, even the bad stuff, and make decisions together. I need to
know that you are in this for the long haul, however long that may be.” He
finished with his heart pounding. He hadn’t meant to lay it all out like that,
basically giving her an ultimatum, but there it was. He was a little worried
about how she’d react.
But, to his vast relief, Bri had put
her arms around his neck and pulled him into her. “I’m in this for the long
haul. We’re in this together, and I have no intention of running off, ever.” She
smiled beautifully at him, and Cole’s heart filled with so much love and joy he
thought he’d burst. Then she slowly pulled his lips down to hers, and they
sealed their promise with a kiss.
And now they were here together,
enjoying a warm, late September day on the shores of Falls Lake. His gorgeous
girlfriend, whom he loved more than he ever thought possible, lay beside him,
tempting him like she probably didn’t even realize, and all he could do was
gawk.
“I can feel you staring,” she
smiled, not taking her eyes off her book.
“If you’d let me, you’d be able to
feel more than just my stare,” he shamelessly taunted her. Turnabout was fair
play, after all.
“Yes, but then I wouldn’t hold all
the power anymore.” She turned to look at him, and her grin turned into a
cocky smirk.
His
cocky smirk. She’d taken his signature move,
perfected it, and made it her own. And now she was using it against him. She
was so going to pay for that.
“Oh really?” he cocked an eyebrow at
her. “You think you hold all the power?”
“I think it’s a proven fact by this
point.” Her eyes sparkled.
Cole pulled
her
sunglasses
from her face, and then let his eyes rove slowly and
deliberately up her body before meeting her eyes with a promise of everything
he wanted to do to her. He saw the small shiver that raced through her, saw
the hitch in her breath. The smirk fell from her face as her lips parted in
anticipation. He leaned in close, just millimeters from her mouth, and could
feel her quickened breath.
“Thought so,” he whispered smugly,
and then captured her perfect lips. He rolled her under him and kissed her
senseless. When he felt she’d had enough he pulled back.
Bri sat up, her fabulous chest
heaving as she tried to catch her breath, and gave him an indignant glare. “That
was hardly fair,” she pouted.
“Who has all the power now?” He
leaned back with a smirk, trying to look unaffected. He didn’t want her
knowing how much her kiss had gotten to him, too.
“Hmm,” she grunted, and stood up. “We’ll
see.” She strutted down towards the water, her perfect rear end swaying
teasingly in that skimpy, skimpy suit.
And just like that, the ball was
back in her court.
As it always would be.
Suddenly needing to cool himself
off, Cole jumped up and followed Bri down to the water. Coming up behind her,
he grabbed a handful of that perfect butt, eliciting a squeal from her, before
diving into the blessedly cold water. He heard her laugh as he came up,
shaking water from his black hair. With a wicked gleam in his eye, he ran over
to her and wrapped her up with his soaking wet body.
“Ah!”
she shrieke
d,
trying to pull away from him. “You’re freezing!”
“I figured I wasn’t the only one who
needed a little cooling off.” He rubbed his wet face alongside hers. “So,
what’s your schedule like this week?”
“I have practice on Tuesday and
Thursday night, and the football game on Friday. And I have my study group on
Wednesday night for my Biology class. What about you?”
Trying to find time to spend
together between their constantly alternating, and often conflicting schedules
had not been easy.
“I’ve got practice Monday,
Wednesday, and Thursday.” Bri’s face fell, and he quickly added, “But I can
still meet you for lunch on Tuesday and Thursday.”
“And maybe you could get a front row
seat in my section while I cheer on Friday?” she asked hopefully. The dance
team was also required to help cheer at the games, as well as dancing during
time outs and half times.
“Already done,” he smiled at her. “You’re
just lucky I have connections at the ticket office.”
“By connections you mean a girl who’s
hot for your bod and will do whatever you ask, hoping you’
ll
finally
ask her out?” She raised her eyebrow.
“What?” he replied innocently. “I
can’t help it that many,
many
girls find m
e
irresistible. I am a fine specimen of a man after all.” Bri elbowed him in
the ribs, and he laughed. “But you know better than to think that you have
anything to worry about.” He leaned in and kissed her. “
Besides,
Melanie knows there’s no one for me but you. It all works out.”
She laughed at that. “As long as it
all works out for me, not her. So, I guess it’s just Friday night this week.
Unless I can come over after practice on Tuesday. We’ll have to see how much
homework I have by that point.”
“Yeah, and I have some more bad
news. Starting in October, we go into season mode. Which means practices five
nights a week until March.”
“What?” Furrows of disappointment
creased her brow. “But then, when will I see you?”
“We’ll just have to make the most of
our weekends,” he smiled sadly, secretly loving that she was
so
upset.
“And then once pre-season starts in December, I’ll be traveling, too. Hey,” her
crestfallen face broke his heart and he pulled her to him. “We’ll get through
this, we’ll make it work. Plus, us not seeing each other will make this whole
taking things slowly a little easier,” he tried to joke. Not that that was
true. Even when she wasn’t around, Bri was taunting him in his thoughts.
“
I just can
’t
wait until next semester when we can at least take a few classes together,” she
sighed. “I guess I should’ve thought about coordinating schedules a little
more when I came up with my plan. Obviously, I didn’t think that through very
well.”
“Ah, your evil master plan,” he
laughed. “
I don
’t know, I’m kind of glad things worked
out the way they did. You showing up at the party that night wouldn’t have
been much of a surprise if you’d called to register for classes together first.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. That
look on your face was so priceless. I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” she
laughed.
“Yeah well, you shocked the hell out
of me.”
“You were so mad, too. I thought
you were going to bite my head off before I could even get a word out.”
“Actually, I wasn’t really mad,” he
confessed. Her head whipped up, shocked. He hadn’t ever admitted that
before. “I just wanted you to think I was angry. I was trying to be tough and
aloof, and not let myself get my hopes up about you being there.”
“
You weren
’t
mad?” She arched an eyebrow at him. “Because you sure pulled off the whole I-can’t-believe-you-had-the-gall-to-show-up-here
act off perfectly.”
“How could I possibly be mad at
you? You looked so good, all I could think about was how much I’d missed your
lips, and your body, and all that soft skin.” He nuzzled her neck. “
I don
’t really think I heard much of what you said that night.
I was a little distracted,” he teased, which earned him another elbow to the
ribs.
“I can’t believe you’ve never told
me this,” Bri shook her head. “I really thought that what I’d said had won you
over.”
“Baby, you already had me. You can’t
win me back when you never lost me in the first place.”
Tears welled up in her eyes.
“I love you,” she said softly. “I’m
so sorry I put you through all of that, that I put
us
through all that.”
“Stop,” he insisted. “Don’t keep
blaming yourself. I screwed up pretty badly, too. But none of that matters
now. We found our way back to each other, that’s enough. Let the past go.”
She nodded, wiping a tear from under
her eye.
“And just so you know, you never
lost me either. Even before I knew it, I was always yours.” She smiled up at
him, and he felt like the luckiest man in the world. What he’d ever done to
deserve this perfect, beautiful creature, he’d never know. But he’d thank his
lucky stars until the day he died that he’d won her heart.
So he leaned down, and kissed the
best thing that had ever happened to him.
Eventually they packed up their
things and headed back to Bri’s Jeep. Cole wasn’t going to lie, having a
girlfriend with her own transportation was awesome. Especially when he had
none. His dad had sold the truck, and Cole had been forced to leave his
Ducati, his baby, behind in California. So it was lucky that at least one of
them had wheels, and they weren’t confined to campus or public transportation.
Bri pulled up in front of Cole’s
dorm and shut off the car.
“Want to come up for a little while?”
he asked, hoping beyond all hope she’d say yes. That bikini was just begging
to become a pile on his floor.
Maybe sensing his thoughts, or
please God, having the exact same thoughts, she smiled sadly at him.
“
I don
’t think
that would be the best idea. I have to get home and work on my English paper
that’s due tomorrow.”
“Come on Bri, please?” he begged
with his saddest puppy dog eyes.
“You are terrible,” she laughed. “One
of these days I’m not going to be able to say no to you.”