Walking the Line (9 page)

This time, it was my turn for a kiss. Smack
on the mouth.

“Get a room,” Kye muttered, but he actually
grinned. “See you at the bar for drinks in an hour?”

I nodded. “Just in time for you to read
Harriet a story before bed.”

Kye rolled his eyes. “All that kid does is
sleep and crap.”

I elbowed him. “And you love her for it.”

“Yeah, I do,” Kye said, a faraway look in his
eyes, and I was grateful our friend could at least find joy in our
baby girl. “See you soon.”

Ellie snuggled into me as we watched Kye walk
away. “I’m still worried.”

“Me too, but all we can do is be there for
him.” I slid an arm around her waist and hugged her tighter.

“He’s on some weird self-destruction kick…”
Ellie’s concern echoed mine.

“Maybe we should get him to babysit Harriet
more often? That girl’s enough to melt any guy’s heart.”

Ellie glance up at me, radiating pure joy as
she usually did at the mention of our precious girl. “How did I get
so lucky?”

As I swooped in for a kiss, I said, “We got
lucky, babe. Really lucky.”

She smiled against my mouth. “Next you’ll be
telling me you’ve got a stack of four-leaf-clovers stashed away and
a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow.”

“My luck’s right here,” I said, hugging her
tightly, and intending to never let go. “Let’s go see our
girl.”

Ellie didn’t have to be asked twice.

Keen to read Kye’s story?
CROSSING THE LINE
is out now .

Laying it all on the line for love…

Mia Cresswell is tired of being good.

Achieving geek status at college doesn’t
equate with fun. So when she heads home to her dad’s tennis academy
in Santa Monica on spring break, she’s determined to be bad. And
hot Aussie tennis star Kye Sheldon is just the guy to help her do
it.

However, Kye’s troubled past continues to dog
him and attending the Cresswell Tennis Academy is his last chance
at the big time. He can’t afford to screw up…by screwing the boss’s
daughter.

But Mia and Kye’s relationship is much more
than a vacation fling.

Will it be game, set, match, when the truth
is revealed?

Or will Mia and Kye have a real shot at love
all?

TOWING THE LINE, Dani’s story, out now.

I need a new start. Anonymity. In a country
where no one will know me, and the havoc I create. Not all the
rumors about me are true. But I made one mistake too many in LA and
attending an Australian college for a few semesters is the perfect
solution.

I plan on avoiding guys. But the part-time
tutor and sexy Aussie artist Ashton? Has me re-evaluating the
wisdom of being a reformed bad girl. Ash is aloof, dedicated,
serious, and I must corrupt him. So I seduce him. Not expecting to
fall in love for the first time. And the last.

Because Ash has high standards and when he
learns the truth about me, he’ll join the long list of people in my
life pretending I don’t exist.

BLURRING THE LINE, Annabelle’s story, out
now.

Annabelle Cleary travels half way around
the world...to fall in love with the boy next door all over
again
.

Completing her degree at a college in Denver
may just be the most exciting thing this small town girl has ever
done. Until she discovers her new mentor is Joel Goodes, the guy
who once rocked her world.

Joel isn’t a keeper. He’ll break her heart
again. But Annabelle can’t resist the sexy Aussie at his
devastating best and soon they’re indulging in an all-too-brief
fling.

Annabelle wants it all: career, relationship
and kids, in the hometown she’s always loved. The same town that
holds nothing but bad memories for Joel.

When they return to Australia, will it be a
homecoming they’ll never forget?

WALKING THE LINE (prequel to the World Apart
series)

CROSSING THE LINE

TOWING THE LINE

BLURRING THE LINE

Available to purchase as a boxed set also: A
WORLD APART series.

If you enjoyed this series, check out Nicola
Marsh’s other contemporary romance series, Bombshells:

BEFORE (prequel, FREE)

BRASH

BLUSH

BOLD

USA TODAY bestselling and multi-award winning
author Nicola Marsh writes flirty fiction with flair for adults and
riveting, spooky stories for teens.

She has published 53 contemporary romances
with Harlequin, Entangled Publishing and indie, and sold over 6
million copies worldwide. Her first mainstream romance BUSTED IN
BOLLYWOOD was nominated for Romantic Book of the Year 2012. Her
first indie romance, CRAZY LOVE, was a 2012 ARRA finalist. Her
debut young adult novel, a supernatural thriller BANISH, released
with Harlequin Teen August 2013, and her YA urban fantasy SCION OF
THE SUN won a National Readers’ Choice Award 2014 for Best YA
novel.

She’s also a Waldenbooks, Bookscan and Barnes
& Noble bestseller, a 2013 RBY (Romantic Book of the Year) and
National Readers’ Choice Award winner, and a multi-finalist for a
number of awards including the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice
Award, HOLT Medallion, Booksellers’ Best, Golden Quill, Laurel
Wreath, More than Magic and has also won several CataRomance
Reviewers’ Choice Awards.

A physiotherapist for thirteen years, she now
adores writing full time, raising her two little heroes, sharing
fine food with family and friends, and her favorite, curling up
with a good book!

She loves connecting with readers online:

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/NicolaMarsh

Facebook:

http://facebook.com/NicolaMarshAuthor

Blog:

http://www.nicolamarsh.blogspot.com

Newsletter:

[email protected]

Chapter 1

MIA

“You should do him.” My BFF Dani pointed to a
six-four dork in a custom-made suit sucking up to my dad next to
the trophy cabinet. “Big hands. Big feet.”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t actually believe
that crap, do you?”

Dani sniggered. “Considering the amount of
first hand research I’ve done, I think I’m a fairly good
judge.”

I hated how Dani did that, perpetuating the
slut label she’d copped at high school. Dani liked to date. A lot.
That didn’t equate to sleeping around. But the fact she was blonde,
gorgeous and had a great rack meant jealous girls had been happy to
spread rumors. What made me madder? Rather than defend herself, she
played up to it.

“Why do you still do that when we left high
school three years ago?”

She ignored my question and tapped my nose.
“Almost forgot. Big nose equals big dick too.”

As usual, I didn’t push her on an issue she
knew bugged the hell out of me. I swatted away her finger. “He’s
not my type.”

“Is anyone your type?” She grabbed two
champagne flutes from a passing waiter and handed me one. “You’ve
been here an hour and I haven’t seen you scope out a single
guy.”

No great surprise. I returned home to my
dad’s place, the legendary Cresswell Tennis Academy in Santa
Monica, every spring break, and not once had I found a guy remotely
‘scope-worthy’. Egotistical sport junkies weren’t my thing.

“That’s because I’m so damn happy to see you
again.” I slid my arm around her waist and hugged tight. “I’ve
missed you, sweetie.”

“You’re such a sap,” she said, returning my
semi-hug before easing away to down her champagne. “Let’s get drunk
and pick up the cutest guys here for a night of raunchy fun.”

Another thing that pissed me off about Dani.
We hadn’t seen each other since last spring break, and our first
night together she’d rather hook up with some anonymous guy than
hang out with me.

I would’ve preferred to stay in tonight,
watching corny old DVDs and eating ice cream from the tub while we
caught up on gossip. Instead, Dani had arrived at my villa an hour
ago, demanding I attend this lame party my dad was throwing for the
new academy peeps.

I hated my dad’s parties at the academy. Wall
to wall tennis jocks whose egos matched their oversized racket
collection, my dad’s boring friends, and the general hangers-on who
thought my dad walked on water because he’d won a record number of
Grand Slams. Minimal food, maximum alcohol and requisite fake
schmoozing. Country club exclusivity with an overload of
testosterone.

But I couldn’t say no to Dani. She was the
only thing I missed about Santa Monica—discounting Dad—and we could
hang out at some boring party for a while before doing our catch up
over a Cookies’n’Cream tub later.

“That’s an oxymoron. Cute guys here and
raunchy fun.” I glanced around, not seeing a single guy I’d give my
phone number to let alone allow to touch me.

Dani’s wide-eyed fake innocence didn’t fool
me for a second. “You sure you’re not still a virgin?”

I snorted. “You know I lost my virginity to
Andy in high school.”

I hadn’t told her about the only other time
I’d had sex, with one of my friends at DU. And that had only been
in the last few months. Pitiful, considering I’d been at the
University of Denver for the last few years.

“That pencil dick? Time to find yourself a
real man.”

I stifled a giggle at Dani’s accurate
assessment of Andy’s appendage. “How did you know he was a pencil
dick?”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Babe, I could tell you
the size, girth and prowess of every dickwad’s cock at Dumbass
High.”

And there she went again, pissing me off. I
knew for a fact she didn’t sleep around that much back then. Now? I
wouldn’t know. Sure, Dani was her usual joking self when we Skyped
weekly and emailed a few times a month, but the truth was I had no
idea what my best friend did with her spare time these days. And by
her account, there was a lot of that.

Dani lived off her trust fund. She didn’t
work. She didn’t do charity. And she didn’t let me into her life
anymore. Not like she used to.

Everything changed when she backed out of
college before we were due to start. She never told me why. Gave
some lame-ass excuse about not being interested in going it alone
when she had her family’s money to live off. Which I didn’t believe
for a second, considering Dani was the most independent person I
knew and couldn’t wait to join me at DU.

But I hadn’t pushed because my BFF had looked
seriously fragile at the time, like a Santa Ana wind could blow her
over with the faintest gust. The flu, she’d said. I’d been
terrified it had been something more serious. So I gave her the
space she’d requested to get her shit together and when she finally
Skyped me three months later, the old Dani was back. Irreverent.
Brash. Irrepressible.

I elbowed her. “If you slept with half the
guys you say you have, you wouldn’t be able to walk.”

“Practice makes perfect.” She winked and did
a fair imitation of a wide-stance cowboy swagger.

I laughed and shook my head. “I’ve missed
you.”

“Same here, babe.” She slung an arm around my
shoulder. “But here’s the deal. If you don’t bag the hottest guy
here tonight, I’m going to sign you up with every online dating
site in Cali. And I’ll use that pic of you with the mud mask that
looked like you had shit smeared all over your face.”

“Is that the best you can do?” My snooty
glare failed when I chuckled.

She tapped her bottom lip, pretending to
think. “If that doesn’t do the trick, maybe I’ll get my mom to tell
your dad you’re lonely and would appreciate a fix-up with one of
his tennis protégés—”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Dani’s mom was a
shameless Hollywood socialite who made meddling in people’s lives
an art form. As for my dad, I’d already been subjected to his less
than subtle matchmaking as a teenager, which is why Dani’s threat
held serious fear factor. If those two got together on my behalf? A
nunnery would be the only place I could escape their
machinations.

Dani’s grin was positively evil. “Try
me.”

I crossed my arms and puffed out a huffy
breath. “Fine. I’m going to find the guy least like a tennis jock
and do him tonight.”

Translated: I’d walk up to him, beg him to
play along with me long enough to get my trouble-making BFF off my
case, then escape to my villa on the pretext I was spending the
night with him.

I’d deal with telling Dani the truth in the
morning.

“That’s my girl.” Dani tweaked my nose,
grabbed my shoulders and twirled me in a slow three-sixty. “See
anyone you fancy?”

Yeah, Ryan Gosling on the DVD cover of his
latest movie, but that was back in my villa and unless I played
along I’d be stuck here with Dani doing this all night.

Increasingly tired of Dani’s never-ending
need to hang out with a guy to make a party complete, I glanced
around at the requisite tennis jocks in immaculate sports jackets,
chinos and polo shirts. They chugged bottles of water, trying to
make a good impression on my dad, the coaches and the rest of the
academy crew. A few had potential in the looks department but
they’d be too scared of pissing off my dad to play along with my
lame scheme. No way would they leave with me with my dad looking
on, on the pretense of screwing me or not.

And that’s when I saw him.

The perfect guy.

Well, not
the
perfect guy, but the guy
I knew could come through for me tonight.

He stood in the far corner of the room, away
from the crowd, partially hidden behind the pot-planted palms,
strategically placed to offer some privacy for recalcitrant loners
like him.