Home > Not Without Your Love (The Boys of Jackson Harbor #7)(3)

Not Without Your Love (The Boys of Jackson Harbor #7)(3)
Author: Lexi Ryan

“If you say so.” Colton and his friends are all equal owners in Heartbreak Bay Adventures, but while I know the other guys might appreciate me more than he does, Colton could make a hell of a case against me if he wanted.

Because you can’t seem to get your shit together and you sabotage everything good in your life, the old familiar voice in my head reminds me. I slam the door on that bitch, take a deep breath, and focus on my work.

I click through emails, clearing out the spam and forwarding the messages that Colton or his business partners need to handle to their respective addresses.

“You look tired,” Amelia says, watching me work. There’s so much worry in her voice that I can’t be offended. “Another late night writing papers?”

I nod, my attention half on an email inquiry about weddings on the lake. “At least this one was interesting. The correlation of abstinence-only education and college dropout rates among women. I could’ve aced it, but the student was aiming for a B.”

“If they’re paying so much for a paper, don’t they want an A?”

I shake my head. “The perfect paper makes instructors suspicious.”

Amelia makes a sour face. “I hated writing papers in school. You couldn’t pay me to write someone else’s essay.”

“It’s not so bad.” I have more issues with the ethics of my side hustle than I do with the work itself. I have a teaching degree, for goodness’ sake. I believe students should write their own damn papers, not use their trust funds to pay a desperate single mom two hundred bucks a pop to crank them out for them. But ethical high ground is a lot easier to stand on when your nine-to-five pays the bills. “And it’s something I can do from home while Jacks sleeps. Win-win.”

“I still think you’re paying too much for that tiny room,” she says. “Wasn’t the whole point of renting a room from June that it’d be a small fraction of the cost of your own place?”

“It still is. Even after her rent hikes.” I’ve lived there less than six months, and she’s already raised the price for my room twice. The dark side of living without a lease. It’s overpriced, but so is everything in Jackson Harbor, and at least our place is safe until I can find something better for me and Jacks.

“But it’s temporary, right?” Amelia asks, worry pulling at her fine features. “You’re saving money to get a place of your own where you can have some privacy for once?”

I frown at the computer, unwilling to meet my friend’s eyes and let her see how stuck I am. “That’s the plan.”

“Thank God. You need to be able to bring a guy home and get yourself a little something for once.”

I scoff. “I wouldn’t know what to do with a guy in my bedroom. I’m in such a dry spell that even my vibrator has abandonment issues. Hell, at this point I’d settle for fifteen minutes alone to get reacquainted with her.”

Crosley emerges from the garage that’s tucked behind the reception area. He’s drying his hands on a shop towel, but streaks of motor oil are smeared across his forearms. He props the swinging door open with a jean-clad hip. “Reacquainted with who?”

“It’s with whom,” Amelia tells her brother.

Crosley rolls his eyes at his sister, and I bite back a smile. I’ve always liked Amelia and Crosley, but I might feel a special connection to them because, like me and Nic, they’re twins. “Reacquainted with whom?” He draws the words out with a fake British accent.

“No one,” I say at the same time as Amelia says, “Her vibrator.”

“Thanks for respecting my privacy, Mele,” I mutter.

Crosley wipes his cheek on his shoulder, grinning. “Your vibrator is a her?”

Amelia props her hands on her hips and glares at her brother. “Why are you still lurking?”

“I work here.” He turns to me. “Explain, please?”

“Variable speeds means she’s adaptable. She always gets the job done and never asks for anything in return?” I turn up my palms. “Obviously female.”

Crosley cringes. “Damn. What kind of lame-ass man gave you that impression?”

“All of them,” Amelia and I say in unison.

“That’s tragic,” he mutters.

“And you’re not part of this conversation, so go away,” Amelia says, shooting him a glare before turning her attention back to me. “You need more than a vibrator. You need a man. Or a woman, if you’re into that.” It’s officially been so long since I’ve seen any action that Amelia, one of my best friends, isn’t even sure of my sexual preference. Maybe she has a point. “But, you know, actual human lovin’.”

“And when would I find time for this? Between bath time and writing freshman comp essays for cheating college kids?”

Folding his arms, Crosley rocks on his heels and looks back and forth between us, clearly not intending to leave anytime soon. “I could swing by about then,” he says.

“Ew, Cros. Stop.” Amelia elbows her brother in the side, and he doubles over, laughing.

“I think I’ll pass on screwing my boss,” I say, winking at him, because as equal owner of HBA, he’s my boss as much as Colton is. We all know he’s just joking anyway, but if casual hookups were still part of my life, I might’ve had to consider taking him up on it.

Crosley’s a hottie—tall and strong, with big hands and an excellent sense of humor. He’s got the jaw line of a Greek god and intense brown eyes, but it’s the unexpected cuteness of his curly hair that somehow pushes his hotness over the edge.

Alas, the last time I tried to do casual, I ended up with my dress around my hips and Colton’s dirty words in my ear, his hands cupping and kneading my breasts until I shattered in the best orgasm I’d had in . . . ever.

All things considered, it wouldn’t have scared me off casual hookups—if he hadn’t ruined it.

“You work too much,” Amelia whines, pulling my thoughts out of my secret memory. “Please tell me you’re still coming out with us tonight.”

“Where?” Crosley asks.

“Girls’ night,” Amelia tells her brother. “We’re finally getting Veronica out of the house.”

He grins. “Girls’ night?” He shifts his deep brown eyes to me. “Will Star be there?”

“It’s her birthday,” I say, ignoring Amelia’s pointed glare in her brother’s direction.

“I’ll be there,” Crosley says with a broad grin. Despite his playful flirting with me and every other single female in town, his crush on our friend Star is the worst-kept secret in Jackson Harbor, which is saying something.

“You’re not invited,” Amelia says. “Stay away from my friends.”

“You’ll put in a good word for me, won’t you, Veronica?”

“Every chance I get.” I wink at him, but we both know nothing’s going to happen. Star is a single mom like me, but unlike me, her kid’s thirteen. Last I checked, she’s not interested in bringing anyone into her daughter’s life.

“So . . .” Amelia says, pressing her hands together. “Please say you got a sitter and can come. Don’t make me beg, V.”

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