Chasing Brynn (A Tempting Novel Book 2) Read online

  Chasing Brynn

  Angela Corbett

  Contents

  Chasing Brynn

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Books by Angela Corbett

  Thank you, From Angela Corbett

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2016 by Angela Corbett

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  Cover design by Wicked By Design

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  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published in the United States of America by Midnight Sands Publishing, Utah

  For my best friend, editor, and my person: Dr. Ashley Argyle.

  * * *

  At first I thought I couldn’t continue without you…

  Now I know I have to continue for you.

  * * *

  In loving memory

  Ashley Argyle, Ph.D.

  November 29, 1979 - November 18, 2014

  * * *

  Owner of Inktip Editing

  * * *

  English Literature Professor

  Salt Lake Community College

  Denver University

  Colorado Women’s College

  Metropolitan State University of Denver

  City University, London

  University of Alaska, Fairbanks

  October

  “So, do you like him?” A pretty brunette in a white long-sleeved sweater, jeans, and teal scarf cupped her warm mug of coffee as she asked the question to her equally beautiful blond friend.

  “Yeah, a lot,” the blond answered. She had cheekbones that I’d commit serious crimes for.

  The two girls sitting at the table next to mine, in my direct line of sight, had been discussing their dating lives for a while. Thanks to the close quarters of the tiny coffee shop, our tables were inches apart and their entire conversation was being broadcast to everyone around them. I had discovered the blond was named Michelle, and the brunette, Lisa. I tried to tune them out, concentrating on my own guy issues.

  It had come to this. I was staking out local stores.

  For a man.

  I sighed, staring into my non-fat Chai latte, the pretty foam heart design starting to fade as I moved the cup. What was wrong with me? I didn’t do this. I wasn’t one of those crazy girls who fell for a guy and started obsessing. I moved from guy to guy, looking for the one who had the best skills.

  Then, I’d had an encounter with him.

  Some people saunter into your life with pleasantries and little fanfare. Others come in with totalitarian authority, taking up all of the air in the room until you want to beg them for oxygen. He was the latter. Passion had swirled between us like a firestorm. He’d held my gaze like he owned me. And then he’d walked away without another word. I had no clue who he was; I didn’t even know his name.

  I’d been wondering about him for days, hoping I’d run into him somewhere again. It had almost become an obsession—one I’d been rather annoyed with. I don’t obsess about guys. Ever. I’d learned my lesson about giving my heart to someone years ago, and didn’t need to take a refresher course. In my opinion, relationships are wasted energy. Guys are good for one thing: sex. And lots of it. I was used to getting exactly what I wanted from them. This guy was different, though. He hadn’t chased me, and it irked me to no end. I was determined to have another chance meeting with the mystery man, and get him out of my system for good so I could focus my attention on other things.

  The girls’ conversation stirred me out of my self-analysis. “There’s just one problem,” Michelle said. “He has size issues.”

  A line formed between Lisa’s brows. “How small are we talking here?”

  Michelle wrinkled her nose as she stirred her latte. “Baby carrots. Even that might be generous.”

  “Ouch,” Lisa said, making a sympathetic face. “Are you sure he’s not a grower?”

  Michelle frowned, resigned. “Baby carrots is the grown size.”

  “Ohhhh,” Lisa said, stretching the word out. “Might be best to end things now.”

  Michelle took a deep breath. “That’s what I was thinking.” She took a bite of her cookie and leaned back in her chair, her shoulders slumping in resignation. “What about you? How are things going with Jeff?”

  Lisa gave a hefty sigh. “He’s nice…it’s just…he’s not really interested in anything physical. It’s kind of giving me a complex.”

  My eyes widened at that, and Michelle looked just as stunned as I felt. “What do you mean? You’re gorgeous!”

  Lisa pushed some food around on her plate with her fork. “I feel like he only wants me for my mind.”

  Mind, huh? That one was new. But I understood what it was like to only be wanted for certain reasons, and not the ones you wanted to be desired for. There was a time when I’d been in a similar position, and I’d hated it. It had changed my whole life.

  “Seriously?” Michelle asked, dumbfounded. “Your mind? Not your ass? Because you have a stellar ass!”

  Lisa nodded slowly in disappointed acceptance. “I mean, I’m glad he thinks I’m smart, but he basically told me I’m the only girl he’s ever met who could compete with him intellectually, and he wants to focus our time together on that.”

  I almost laughed out loud. I didn’t know the dude they were referring to, but he obviously had a serious ego and could use some relationship tutoring and probably a good kick to the kiwis. Michelle voiced it for me, “What a dick wagon! Tell that mind masturbator he can get his brain off with someone else! You deserve someone who wants you for everything you are, and makes you feel like the most important person in the world!”

  I looked down, trying to hide my smile. I liked Michelle. I liked her a lot.

  Lisa’s face brightened at Michelle’s compliments, and the validation that she was better than mind-masturbator-Jeff had made her feel. It seemed like all of the reinforcement she needed. “You’re right. I do deserve better.”

  “Give me your phone,” Michelle said, grabbing it from across the table. “We’ll text him a middle finger emoji right now.”

  Lisa and Michelle both laughed as they sent the text. “At least my problem is easy to solve,” Lisa said, picking up her coffee. “I can dump the asshat. But you really like your guy, and can’t do anything about the carrot problem.”

  Michelle frowned, nodding at the same time. “There’s chemistry, but I don’t think it will last when the sex is bad. I’ll probably break it off soon.”

  I groaned inwardly, wishing I could lean o
ver and become part of their conversation. Yeah, big dicks were great. I was a huge fan of them myself—HUGE. I had even made them the topic of my Master’s thesis until Syd suggested I go with something more academic, and I’d changed the title to Sex in the Modern World. I thought that In Search of Schlong was a much more entertaining subject line, however, and I felt confident that particular thesis would have garnered a lot more reads.

  The point was: if the guy was a good guy, and the chemistry was present, there were plenty of ways for dudes to compensate for their shortcomings…whatever those may be. A guy who understood passion, desire, foreplay, and wasn’t afraid of experimenting; those men were special. All men needed to be that enlightened. Likewise, women needed to know what to look for in a partner, and how to communicate their needs and desires. Men needed to know how to anticipate those needs and desires as much as possible to turn up the passion. Why weren’t women and men being taught this information? I wanted to drag my chair right over to Michelle and Lisa’s table and tell them exactly what their sex education classes hadn’t. But barging in on a conversation I wasn’t supposed to hear in the first place probably wouldn’t be appreciated, nor would my opinion on baby carrots.

  As I sat there listening to the girls dissect their relationship problems and talk about other guys they were interested in, an idea popped into my head. I grabbed a piece of paper and pen from my bag, and started jotting down my thoughts. Before long, I had three pages full, and that was just off the top of my head.

  I smiled as I took another sip of my latte, and pulled my laptop out of my bag. If there was one thing I was an expert in, it was sex. And if I could help make it better for the population of Easton State University, Winchester, Colorado, and the general public, I would. I opened my laptop, and my sex advice blog, Mistress A, was born.

  January

  Tips and Tits: The Word from Mistress A

  Shiver Me Balls! Let’s Talk About Dick Mittens

  Yes. They’re an actual thing. And I’m not talking about the Urban Dictionary definition. Tiny pieces of yarn, lovingly crocheted—probably by someone’s grandma, to keep a dude’s balls toasty warm. I had several reactions when I saw this. Fascination. Confusion. A slight tinge of horror when I thought of grandma. I was curious though…was this a real problem for the male population? Were frosty balls an actual situation requiring special accessories? After a poll of several dick owners, I can tell you that yes, nut sacks do, in fact, get chilly…especially when the nut owners go commando. However, I feel this situation can be easily remedied without the use of a twenty dollar ball snuggler, and the loss of grandma’s innocence. So here’s the deal, dudes: when my boobs are cold, I don’t order nipple gloves. I put on a shirt. I’d advise you to do the same with pants.

  My phone buzzed on the table next to my laptop. Sydney’s name scrolled across the screen. She’d been my roommate for years, and my best friend even longer. She was my constant, my soul mate, and knew me better than any other person on the planet. I tapped on the screen to open the text.

  How was your date last night?

  Syd had always been interested in my dating life, but seemed even more so since she’d met the love of her life, Jackson West—master mechanic with blue eyes the color of Bora Bora, and panty-dropping everything else. He was a catch. She knew it, and totally deserved to be as sickeningly happy as she was. She also knew I had no interest in relationships, so I wasn’t sure why she kept asking me about my lack of them lately. Maybe she wanted me to be as grossly adorable as she and Jax were. I wasn’t interested.

  I typed out a quick response.

  Research was uneventful. I’m still pissed you bailed on my Big Dick road trip.

  I’d found an article that listed men’s average dick sizes by state. I wanted to check them out for accuracy—research, of course. But Syd had already found everything she was looking for, and wasn’t interested in accompanying me on my quest. She was not a very good Sam to my Frodo in that sense.

  That trip would have been a waste of time. You should be thanking me. And for getting you to change the title of your Master’s thesis.

  I narrowed my eyes, annoyed that I’d listened to reason and agreed to change it.

  You got me to change the name. Penis size is still a very BIG chapter!

  Haha. I’ll be there in five. And I’m bringing friends.

  My fingers froze on the phone. Friends? What friends? My stomach twisted and I couldn’t tell if I was about to be sick, or excited. Because Syd had one specific friend I was very interested in conducting some research with. Very, very interested. I had met him officially when Syd introduced us in this coffee shop, in November. That’s when I’d finally found out his name: Cade Brett. That was also the day I realized the mystery man I had been looking for since October was actually Cade. I’d had dreams about my mystery man/Cade. Full-on fantasies even. And I didn’t like it. I was the aggressor when it came to relationships. I decided when they started, and I decided when they stopped. I’d given up too much control in the past. Now I was the woman I wanted to be, and I certainly wasn’t going to let a man get in my head and make me see cupcakes, relationship rainbows, and freaking love sparkles.

  When Syd had introduced us, I had also found out that Syd is Cade’s law school study buddy. The news had been shocking to say the least, and not at all what I’d expected given my history with him. He was on track to be a buttoned-up lawyer who surely wanted a white picket fence, cat, dog, and a kid or five. Those things were not on my life plan roster. I don’t do relationships.

  But I’d been thinking about Cade for months. Something had sparked between us from the first time we saw each other in October, and I’d decided he needed to be on my list of research subjects. He’d mentioned how much he loved The Grind, a local Winchester coffee and dessert shop. The name made it sound dirtier than it was, and when I’d first moved here, I might have visited the establishment thinking an entirely different type of grinding was going on. I’d been disappointed—but only until I tasted their coffee.

  I spent a lot of time in coffee shops doing schoolwork and writing content for my blog, but ever since the mention, I’d found myself coming up with reasons to spend even more time at The Grind. I kept telling myself it was only because I wanted to screw Cade and move on. At least, that’s what I hoped the reason was. I didn’t want complicated, and in my experience, problems and relationships went hand-in-hand.

  The door opened and a bluster of cold, January air pushed into the warm building. “Brynn!” I heard the high-pitched squeal of Paige, Courtney’s sweet four-year-old little girl, and turned just in time for her to run into me with all of her force. If hugs could be measured, she had hit me with a knockout. I loved this kid. Courtney was Jax’s sister, and Syd and Jax were a couple, so Syd was practically Paige’s aunt. Syd and Courtney waved as they walked up to the counter to order while I sat with Paige.

  “How’s my favorite girl?” I asked, pulling her onto my lap.

  She gave me a toothy grin. “Good.”

  “What did you do today?” I asked.

  “Colored!” she exclaimed, breathless. She had more excitement for coloring than I’d had about anything…ever.

  “What did you color?”

  “Unicorns!” She reached in her violet bag and pulled out her coloring book, methodically opening pages and showing me her masterpieces. She was actually pretty darn good, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to color in the lines as well as she did.

  We finished going through the coloring book and then she gasped, her eyes bright with excitement as she grabbed her backpack again. She reached her little hands inside, tongue out the side of her mouth as she searched, and then her cheeks pushed up into happy bubbles as she pulled out a She-Ra action figure, holding it up for my inspection. “Look what I got!”

  I glanced up at Courtney, and then Syd, who had finished ordering and were settling into the chairs next to me. “I assume you gave her this?” I asked Syd. Syd loved Sh
e-Ra. She’d even named her dark blue ’69 Camaro after the female princess.

  “Actually, Jax did,” Syd said, smiling at Paige. “But I totally supported the decision.”

  The corners of my mouth lifted. “I’m surprised Jax didn’t get her a Camaro, too.”

  Paige rifled through her little purple backpack and pulled out a small, dark blue Camaro. “It looks just like Syd’s!” she beamed. She rolled it around on the table, then shifted her determined gaze to me. “Mom says I can’t drive Syd’s yet, but when I’m big, I’m going to have one just like it.”

  I laughed, and looked at Syd and Courtney. “She’s going to be a handful.”

  “She already is,” Courtney said, tousling the little girl’s pretty blond curls. “Do you want to go play in the treehouse, Paige?”

  The Grind was in a college town, but there were lots of students who were young and needed a place to take their kids. The Grind had built a special section for kids in the corner of the room, complete with a treehouse that lodged its own jungle gym. It was the busiest coffee shop in town, and that play area was one of the reasons. Never underestimate the appeal of something that entertains children long enough for a parent to have some quiet time.

  “Yes!” Paige said, jumping off my lap. She put her toys back in her bag, handed it to Courtney, and ran over to the treehouse.

  “She’s my favorite,” I said to Courtney.

  Courtney’s face lit up with pride and love as she put the backpack on Paige’s empty chair. “Mine too.”

  “We’re glad you’re here,” Syd said, placing a hand on Courtney’s arm.

  Courtney watched Paige for a few moments in silence, then turned back to Syd and I. “Me too. I came here because I needed to get away, and I missed Jax. Paige missed him too. I didn’t think I’d stay, but I’m glad I did.” She unwrapped the marbled white and dark chocolate brownie she’d bought, and took a bite. “I feel safe here, and I’m lucky to have such kind, loyal friends.”