Honey Red
Authors: Liz Crowe
Honey Red
by
Liz Crowe
Honey Red
A
Sizzlin’ Book
published by permission of the author
Copyright
©
2012 Liz Crowe
Cover Art Copyright 2012 by Brian Walline
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced
in any form without permission.
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ISBN: 978-0-9859911-6-6
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Other Titles by Liz Crowe
Available from Sizzlin’ Books:
Stewart Realty Series:
Floor Time
Sweat Equity
Closing Costs
Essence of Time
Conditional Offer
Escalation Clause
Standalone Titles:
Vegas Miracle
Paradise Hops
Coming Soon:
Mutual Release (Stuart Realty Book 7)
Man On (Black Jack Gentlemen Book 1)
You can find out more about Liz Crowe and her books
(including a complete backlist) on her website: www.lizcrowe.com
Sizzlin’ Books
is a Division of Tri Destiny Publishing
Find us online at www.tridestinypublishing.com
To Marj
Thanks for all of your support!
Cheers,
Liz
Contents
Chapter One
Ian
The neon signs behind the bar kept blurring no matter how many times Ian blinked to clear his vision. The hot bartender he’d spent the last six months fucking was still ignoring him. Ian observed that man as he filled glasses with beer and wine, laughed, talked and avoided Ian like the plague. Not that Ian blamed him. He took a long, deep breath and attempted to will sobriety into his system.
Yeah, that never worked before either.
He leaned back and tried to refocus by looking at the ceiling fans, but that only made him nauseous. He blinked once, then again, denying the utter steaming pile of shit that was his life. Here he was, surrounded by people who claimed to be his friends—hell, one of them had been his “lover”—and still completely alone. He leaned forward, catching himself before his elbow slipped and he made an embarrassing scene. Sighing, he shoved his empty beer glass away.
No matter how hard he tried to make eye contact with him, the bartender would not oblige. God damn, he missed that kid. He still did not understand what he’d done to make him so angry, to force him away. Well, maybe he did. Twirling the empty glass around, he relived the moment of stupidity that had cost him a perfectly decent relationship. The bar noises ramped up—chatter, laughter, music, ice clinking, louder and louder it got, pressing on his eardrums. Ian didn’t even realize he’d put his head down on the bar until someone touched his shoulder, making him flinch and sit up so fast he got dizzy. When he looked up, it was not the rugged, bearded face of his ex-lover he saw.
“Hey, handsome, quit your moping.”
“Fuck off, Carrie,” he muttered; turning away from the thin, acerbic girl who’d just started working in the pub as sometime hostess, sometime waitress. He’d spent the last year in the quaint, touristy-slash-wealthy town of Beaufort, South Carolina working at the busy waterfront pub. Ostensibly part of a larger brewery based in Charleston, the annoyingly expensive locale had provided Ian with money, drinks, smokes and a semblance of purpose until about twenty-four hours ago, when he had inadvisably picked a fight with his roommate, lover and fellow bartender. The smoking hot guy, with whom Ian had shared his bed for half the past year, had moved out, accusing him of being emotionally distant, and more than a bit of a man-whore—which he was, without a doubt. He’d been caught in bed with his naked self wrapped around the equally nude body of a woman; the same woman sitting beside Ian at the bar, patting his arm. He groaned, put a hand over his eyes and cursed under his breath for being himself and not his successful, flawless-at-everything twin brother, Gavin.
“Jesus H. mother fucking… Ow.” Ian rolled over, encountered flesh, explored it with his hand, and found it female. He gave a mental shrug, while the booze and pot he’d ingested the night before made their presences well known in the form of a killer hangover.
Carrie propped herself up and reached for her cigarettes among the beer and bourbon bottles on the bedside table. She stuck one between her lips, lit it and blew smoke towards the ceiling. Ian watched, still unwilling to admit what he’d done: thrown away an amazing relationship with a guy he was starting to actually care about for this somewhat frightening woman.