Fight For It E-Book

Mary E. Thompson

• Herausgeber: BluEyed Press
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Jenny Owens feels like she’s looking for something. She wants more from her life, but she’s not greedy. She just wants her boyfriend to like in the same zip code, or even the same area code, her job to match her skills and desires, and her home to be something of her own instead of her parents’.
It’s not much, is it?
Jenny is floundering. She is a happy person by nature, but she feels like her four years of college were a waste every time she goes into work as a waitress, the same job she held before going off to college. Add to that her boyfriend is always so busy with school, and his friends, that she rarely sees him.
And she’s not even sure she cares anymore.
When Jenny gets a flat tire at 3 am one night, her entire world changes.
Logan Campbell liked his life. He had a thriving business that made him happy, friends he could count on, and the occasional woman to keep his bed warm if he was in the mood.
But when he stops to help the car stranded, he realizes his life isn’t all he thought is was.
Logan and Jenny share an incredible night filled with passion, compatibility, and the best sex of their lives. Logan walks away from the experience knowing he can’t let her go. Until she admits she has a boyfriend.
Logan broods and snaps at everyone in sight while Jenny tries desperately to forget about him. But Jenny can’t stop thinking about Logan, and the way he seemed to know her body better than anyone else ever had.
When they keep getting thrown together, either by their own inability to avoid each other or outside forces, they have to decide if what they have is worth the fight. Or if they should cut their losses and go.

Leseprobe

Fight For It

Better In Bed

Mary E Thompson

Fight For It

Better In Bed, book three

Copyright © 2014 Mary E Thompson

Cover Copyright © 2020 Mary E Thompson

Cover Photo from Website, depositphotos © pressmaster

Published by BluEyed Press

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, businesses, locations, and events are either products of the author’s creative imagination or are used in a fictitious sense. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

ISBN: 978-0-9899954-7-4

Created with Vellum

Contents

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

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

About the Author

1

Jenny Owens ran across the snow covered lawn to her Subaru Legacy hatchback. She pulled the door open and slid inside, reminding herself not to slam the door and wake up the whole street.

She turned the key and heard the engine purr to life and immediately cranked the heat on. She blew a deep breath into her hands, trying to warm them while her car was heating up. She peered through the dark to see if her windshield was covered in snow or ice and dared to run her wipers across the surface. The telltale sound of ice scraping made her curse.

Jenny reached into her backseat and grabbed her snow brush. She took a deep breath and opened the door again. Jumping back and forth in her sneakers she lectured herself for not wearing boots.

And gloves.

Shit it was cold outside. Jenny pushed the scraper across her windshield, praying it was working. It would be easier if she could turn on a light, but she promised her parents she wouldn’t. And she didn’t want to wake them up. They already weren’t happy she was going out at 3 am.

When Jenny didn’t feel anymore resistance of ice scraping off she jumped back into her car and slammed the door behind her. “Shit,” she said aloud. She sat silently, looking at the house. When no lights came on she figured she was safe and started to back out of the driveway.

Once on the road Jenny turned her headlights on and steered south. She passed by her sister, Lizzy Greenwood’s, house and her boss, Cat Hawkins’s, house as she left the neighborhood. Jenny loved her hometown of River Pointe, New York. When she graduated college she didn’t hesitate about moving home from Syracuse. But almost a year later she wondered if she should have been more willing to branch out.

Jenny drove down the streets she learned to drive on. The roads that were as familiar to her as her own home. But she’d been feeling restless lately. It didn’t help that her parents were forcing her to live by their rules instead of treating her like the twenty-three year old woman she was.

Her boyfriend, Matt Hampton, wasn’t helping matters either. Since she’d moved back home she’d only seen him a handful of times. He was finishing up grad school in the spring, but he hadn’t talked about their future. Jenny kept telling herself they would be together when he was out of school, but Matt hadn’t actually said that.

Jenny finally made it out of River Pointe and onto the road to Niagara Falls. It was quiet, as she expected. She knew there wouldn’t be many people out, but the stores would be busy. They always were on Black Friday.

Jenny ran through her list in her head. She didn’t have that many people to buy for, but since she was staying with her parents she also didn’t have many expenses. She wanted to spoil her niece and nephew for Christmas. At eight years old and sixteen months they were fun to shop for.

Jenny also added her parents, Lizzy and her husband, Aaron, to her list. Plus, her boss, and Lizzy’s best friend, Cat, Cat’s husband, Ryder, and his daughter Kylie. Cat was pregnant and Jenny wanted to get something great for the baby.

Then she thought about Matt, of course. He promised to visit her for Christmas. Her parents always left right after Christmas for Florida until the spring so Jenny was alone. It was the perfect time for Matt to visit.

Jenny also wanted to get something for her best friend, Erika Grey, and maybe even something for herself.

Her mental tally said it would be twelve people plus whatever she found for herself. She knew shopping on Black Friday would be a great way to load up on great gifts and not end up broke.

Jenny merged onto the expressway to work toward Niagara Falls Boulevard. Her first stop was going to be Kohl’s, followed by Target, and then maybe Best Buy if she hadn’t found anything for Matt at the other stores. Maybe Aaron and Ryder too.

Jenny sang along with the radio, pretending she was Katy Perry. She was psyched Cat had given her the day off so she could shop, but she still wished someone was going to meet her there. She tried, but no one wanted to go out shopping. Not that she blamed them. Usually Jenny avoided Black Friday like the plague, but she felt it was something she had to do once. Even if she hated it.

The deserted road swallowed up Jenny’s lights as she drove. She checked that she’d locked the doors and kept her eyes scanning the road for deer. As she got closer and closer to her exit she finally felt herself relaxing. Soon she’d be surrounded by a bunch of people and wouldn’t worry about the roads or the darkness.

“Shit! Shit, shit, shit!” Jenny screamed into the empty space around her. She fought the wheel and righted her car, careening wildly across the road. Her tires gripped the icy road and finally began to slow.

She muscled the car over to the side of the road, panicking. Her heart pounded in her chest, trying to escape and run from the wreckage she was sure her car had become in those few seconds. Jenny released her white-knuckled hands from the steering wheel and forced herself to breath. She looked around inside the car and realized not much was out of place. Her purse sat on the seat next to her like it was asking her, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ The radio pounded in the background and the heat still blasted through her car. It couldn’t be that bad.

Jenny checked the road for lights coming toward her. She was swamped in darkness so she pulled the handle and stepped into the night, cell phone in hand. She activated her flashlight app and started making a tour of her car. Anxiety gripped her as she tried to think of the possible scenarios that would have sent her car flying wildly across the road. And the noise. The boom. What caused that?

When she got to the front passenger side she saw it. Her beloved Subaru Legacy Hatchback sunk into the frozen ground on the side of the road. And it wasn’t because of the soft ground. Her tire was flat. And not just flat, but completely pancaked.

Jenny kicked it. Now what? she wondered.

Walking back around her car Jenny climbed into the driver’s seat and locked her doors. “This is the last time I will ever go shopping on Black Friday,” she mumbled to herself. Jenny scrolled through her contact list and tried to figure out who she could call.

Lizzy would be sleeping, like everyone else. She knew her sister would come, or send Aaron, but Jenny didn’t want to risk waking up the kids. Cat was the same, but Jenny knew Cat had started having trouble sleeping over the last few weeks and wasn’t willing to risk interrupting what might be her one good night’s sleep.

Erika was up, Jenny knew that. But she was out shopping with her mom, 45 minutes away in Orchard Park, on the other side of Buffalo. Even if she did call her, she would never hear the end of ruining their annual Black Friday shopping trip. Matt wouldn’t be any help and Jenny knew better than to call her parents. They would never stop lecturing her.

At the end of her contact list she went back up to the top, hoping she’d missed someone. “This is not happening,” she said. “There has to be someone I can call at three in the morning to come pick me up!”

A knock on the window made Jenny scream. She jumped back, ready to attack whoever was outside her car with her cell phone and the scraper she had somewhere. “I can help you,” a voice came through the window.

2

Jenny looked up. Her headlights were shining on a tow truck that had backed in front of her car. How in the world did she miss that? She cracked her window and said, “Who are you?”

“I’m Logan Campbell. I have a tow truck here and I can tow you to my shop and fix your tire then get you on your way. Here’s my card,” he said as he slid a card through the slit in the window.

Jenny reached up and took the card, her warm fingers barely brushing against his cold ones. The shock that ran up her arm startled her, but she shook it off as a temperature difference. She couldn’t be attracted to a man she hadn’t even laid eyes on yet.

Jenny turned the card over and studied it. It was well designed, definitely professional. It read Campbell’s Custom Cars with his name under it along with an address and phone number.

With a shaky hand, because it really didn’t matter if he was lying, she was stranded and wouldn’t make it far if she had to run from him, Jenny pulled out her phone. She dialed the cell phone number listed on the card and heard a phone ring outside her car.

“Excuse me,” his smooth voice said through the crack and he turned from her car to walk toward the front.

“Campbell,” he said into the phone.

Jenny instantly felt foolish, but she knew she had to test it. “Okay, I believe you. Thank you for stopping to help me.”

He turned to look at her from the front of the car. Her headlights highlighted his body, but she couldn’t make out his face. He was big, she could tell that. Definitely taller than she was, maybe by eight or ten inches. He was wearing a heavy coat against the cold, but still looked trim, although that could have been Jenny’s imagination. His knit hat covered his hair and a thick hood came up over top of that.

“Are you going to get out of the car?” he teased her through the phone. “I’m not allowed to tow you unless you get out.”

Jenny nodded even though she knew he couldn’t see her. She took a deep breath and hung up the phone, not bothering with formalities like saying goodbye. She took a quick picture of his card and texted it to Erika saying her car broke down and to call the police with the contact info of the guy on the card if Jenny ended up missing.

She wanted to pretend it wasn’t a big deal, but she knew it was better to be safe than sorry. She was a twenty-three year old woman alone at three in the morning with a strange man. She needed to make sure he wasn’t going to kidnap her.

Finally Jenny unlocked the doors and turned off her car. She opened the door and stepped out, finally meeting Logan’s eyes. And holy shit what eyes they were.

Logan’s crystal gaze met hers and she instantly felt like the cold air had been replaced with the summer heat. Her body warmed from the inside out when she looked at him, from his sparkling blue eyes to his snow-tipped eyelashes. His nose had a hitch in it that made her wonder if it’d been broken, but it added to his appeal. His lips were soft and damp, like he’d just applied a fresh coat of Chapstick before he stepped out of the truck. His slanted smile reminded her of the look a movie star gives his leading lady right before he carries her off to bed.

And the heat pooling between her legs said she wouldn’t mind a bit if he did the same.

“I texted your contact information to my friend in case I end up missing.”

Jenny thought it would wipe the smile from his face, but instead it got bigger, and she sunk further. When he smiled his eyes lit up and his whole face came alive. “You’re a smart woman. But you’re not going to end up missing. You can trust me.”

And for some reason Jenny knew she could. He reached for her keys and she handed them over without hesitation. “Why don’t you sit in my truck? It’s warm.”

“Aren’t you worried I’m going to drive off?” Jenny asked. Her brows knitted together in concern. She’d never been so trusting as to let someone in her car, at least not a complete stranger.

Logan shook his head, “I trust you.”

Jenny narrowed her eyes at him which only made him laugh. She was wrong. If she thought his smile was beautiful it had nothing on his laugh. The sound echoed in the silence of the early morning and Jenny found herself smiling with him. She couldn’t help it, he was infectious.

And every word was making her tingle at the idea of being close to him for the next hour or so.

Logan took her hand and guided her over the soft shoulder to the passenger side of the truck. Jenny noticed the same logo and company name that were on his business card and felt her body relax the rest of the way. Something about Logan let her know he was exactly who he said, but Jenny wasn’t used to feeling so comfortable with someone after just meeting them.

The truck was higher than Jenny expected and Logan offered to help her get into it. His strong hands gripped her sides from behind and lifted her quickly and easily until her feet were even with the floorboard inside the truck. Jenny grabbed the ‘oh shit’ handle just inside the door and steadied herself as best she could with his hands burning through her clothes. God what she would do to strip away their clothes and have his hands pressed against her naked body.

Logan removed his hands and Jenny settled into the seat. She turned to look at him with the interior light shining on his face. He was even better looking than she thought when she was studying him outside. Her breath caught when he reached up and slid a strand of hair back from her face.

“I’ll be done in a few minutes and I’ll get you on your way as soon as I can.”

Jenny nodded and watched as Logan closed the door then retreated to the back of the truck again. She inhaled deeply as her body relaxed and her heartbeat picked up. The truck smelled like him. It overwhelmed her, filling her lungs and her body with Logan. She’d only gotten a hint of it outside in the fresh air, but closed in his truck… Jenny thought she might come right there.

She forced herself to look around the truck. It was clean, which surprised her. There wasn’t any trash or even dirt in the cab. It could have been straight from the dealership if it weren’t for the intoxicating aroma of musk, heat, and hot as hell man.

“It’s definitely been too long since I’ve gotten laid,” Jenny muttered to herself. She and Matt had been dating for years, but since she moved back to River Pointe they’d barely seen each other. Matt promised he would visit for Christmas. At that moment Jenny wasn’t sure if she cared. She’d never wanted to jump Matt after just inhaling him. Lately sex had become something she felt like they should be doing since they were dating, but hell, it’d been tolerable at best.

Jenny needed bed-breaking, soul-shaking sex. Sex that threatened to tear your body apart just before you came in a glorious explosion of lust. Sex that she was certain Logan would be great at.

She closed her eyes and let herself indulge in a fantasy about the man about to tow her car. A little fantasy wouldn’t hurt.

Jenny was just getting to the good part when the door of the cab opened and the cold air from outside blasted over her, cooling her down from the heat she was envisioning with the man climbing in the truck.

And then he smiled at her.

The heat rushed back over Jenny like a fever. She fanned her face to try to calm down the heated thoughts he brought on and considered rolling down her window.

Concern covered his face and he said, “Hey, are you okay? I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe. I promise, I won’t even touch you.”

“Too bad,” Jenny said before she could stop herself. She quickly clamped a hand over her mouth and turned away, but not before she saw a smirk light up Logan’s beautiful face.

Logan slid the truck into gear and pulled back onto the road with Jenny’s car rolling behind them. He drove carefully, slowly, through the thickening snow. Jenny knew her morning of shopping was not going to happen, but she was pretty sure she’d gotten a quick upgrade of her day by spending it with Logan instead.

“What’s your name?”

Jenny looked over at him. She couldn’t believe she’d been picturing the man naked and hadn’t even bothered to tell him her name. “I’m Jenny. Jenny Owens. Sorry, I didn’t think.”

“It’s okay, Jenny Owens. It’s a little bit of a strange situation.” She nodded and smiled at his assessment. “So what were you doing out this time of day? You’re not drunk so I know you weren’t out drinking.”

Jenny flashed him a questioning look to which he replied, “I didn’t smell alcohol on you and your eyes aren’t glassy. You are very alert, well, except for when I pulled up and you didn’t notice me for a few minutes.”

A smile toyed with her lips as she considered his assessment. He was picking on her. And for some reason she liked it. “No, I wasn’t out drinking. I was trying to go Black Friday shopping.”

Logan groaned, “Oh, don’t tell me you’re one of those! You look so normal and now you tell me you’d beat up another woman for a pair of shoes.”

Jenny giggled in the seat. She actually giggled. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d giggled. “Actually it’s the first time I’ve gone. My friend was telling me about it and got me excited. Of course now I’m wondering what the hell I was thinking.”

“Do you need to call your friend?”

Jenny shook her head. Recognition dawned on Logan and he smiled. “The friend you texted my card? Yeah, she knows not to expect you.”

Jenny giggled again thinking about her insanity about not trusting Logan. After only a few minutes in the truck she knew he was a good guy. The kind of guy she’d never have to worry about disappointing her.

Logan pulled off the Thruway and steered through some back roads before he pulled into the driveway of his shop. Jenny looked up at the same logo and Campbell’s Custom Cars in big blue letters above the large matching blue roll-up doors. Her body released the last of the tension she’d been holding when the door in front of them lifted and she saw a standard garage. She noticed Logan watching her and took advantage of the chance to pick at him. “So this is where you’re going to hide my body?”

Logan flashed her a devious smile that told her exactly what he’d like to do with her body and said, “Only if you beg me.”

3

Her spine tingled at his words, like they jumped from his mouth and ran up and down her spine, tickling her in a delicious way. A few of those words must have jumped into her panties because the tingles were spreading between her legs too.

Logan jumped from the truck as soon as it was parked and focused on getting her car down so he could change the tire. Jenny climbed out after taking a few steadying breaths, not that it worked when she was still breathing in him.

Jenny didn’t know where to stand or what to do. Logan was concentrating on her car and she felt foolish standing by and watching him like she didn’t trust him. The truth was she wouldn’t know if he was doing something right or not if her life depended on it. She was helpless when it came to cars, only really able to pump gas. After that her skills came in the form of finding a mechanic who could take care of the car for her.

With the car lowered to the ground, Logan stepped up to a control panel. Jenny watched him press buttons and lifted her car in the air between them. With the physical barrier Jenny finally started breathing normally.

Until Logan called out, “Why don’t you come over here and help me?”

Jenny hesitated, unsure if she wanted to be that close to him and wanting to be that close at the same time. She walked around the end of her car until she saw him waiting patiently for her on the other side. He nodded his head at her and smiled as she trudged closer. “Oh, come on. I’m not that bad am I? I took a shower before I went out. I bet some of those shoppers you were planning to snuggle up to smell worse than me.”

Jenny smiled at his joking and moved closer, her apprehension disappearing as Logan started telling her what he was doing.

“Have you ever changed a tire before?” When she shook her head he continued, “Okay, the first thing you need to do is get the weight off the tire. Sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people try to loosen lug nuts only to have the car roll on them. Obviously you won’t have a lift if you’re changing your tire, but you should have a jack in the trunk. I’ll check it before you go. The best situation is to jack it up and then brace it in case the jack fails, but you might not have a brace. If you don’t, never get under your car. If it falls and you’re underneath it could crush you.”

Jenny nodded. Her dad taught her to change a tire before but it’d been a while. Plus, at sixteen all she cared about was getting the keys, not listening to her dad lecture her about safety and smarts on the road.

For some reason she felt like Logan was teaching her because he cared. He wasn’t talking down to her, just helping. Her body heated just a little at the idea of him caring.

“Okay, when you jack up the car, put the jack here.” Logan pointed to an exposed metal frame under the car. “Always jack on metal, not plastic. The metal is stronger, obviously, and the plastic will crumple. Put your brace under a metal piece also, preferably the frame since it runs the length of the car.”

Jenny nodded her understanding. She felt like a fool standing there not saying anything, but she just wanted him to keep talking. His voice had a soothing effect on her, like he was singing her a lullaby.

But the last thing she wanted to do with him was fall asleep.

“Once the car is up you can loosen the lug nuts, working them all loose together, not one at a time. When they’re all loose you take them off then slide the tire out, like this.”

Logan set the lug nuts and lug wrench down on the cart behind him and wrapped his arms around the flat tire. He wiggled it to the end of the bolts before lifting it off, cradling it against himself like a baby. For some reason Jenny was jealous of the tire.

With the old tire on the ground, Logan flashed Jenny a panty-melting smile and said, “See, easy? Now we put the new tire on and tighten the lug nuts again. Then you’re good to go.”

Jenny nearly laughed at how easy he made it seem. When she’d tried changing a tire at sixteen, it took her nearly an hour and she gave up before she even got the tire off. To say it was a disaster would be an understatement. But Logan almost gave her enough confidence to be able to do it herself.

He flashed her another smile as he leaned close to pick up the tire at her feet. The smell of him mixed with the rubber smell of the tire and made her dizzy. Jenny closed her eyes when Logan turned, but not before drooling over his shirt stretching tight across his back as his arms flexed with the lift. Jenny nearly groaned. Even closing her eyes didn’t help. It just let her imagine those arms flexing as he lowered himself over her, right before he slid deep into her body.

When Jenny opened her eyes again Logan was almost finished with the tire. He fitted the lug nuts and tightened them all, his muscles straining with the tension. When he was done, he turned to her and caught her staring at him. He grinned at her then stepped closer.

Jenny sensed the change in the air. Logan lowered the car to the floor with a smile. Jenny knew he wanted her. And she knew he knew she wanted him too. When her car hit the floor Logan dropped the control panel and it swung away from him. Without missing a beat, he wrapped his arm around Jenny and pulled her tight to him.

His mouth was on hers before she could breathe. One hand held her low across the waist to keep her body close to his and his other hand wove through the hair at the nape of her neck, controlling her as he kissed her.

Logan’s kiss was teasing at first. Designed to make her ease into him. His lips caressed hers, tasting her. Jenny tried to resist, but knew it wouldn’t happen. After his second pass over her lips he sucked her lower lip into his mouth and she was gone.

Jenny devoured him with everything she had. Her arms slipped around his neck and she moaned into his mouth as he claimed her. His arms tightened around her, pressing her body against his. Her mouth opened under his and he slid his tongue inside. Their tongues tangled, wrestling for control, and fighting for another taste.

Logan’s hands drifted down to cover Jenny’s ass. He squeezed and kneaded her flesh, eliciting a groan from her. When he lifted her, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. Logan stepped around the cart and headed toward the other end of the shop, his lips dancing between Jenny’s mouth and her neck, tasting, exploring her and drawing mewling sounds from her that made him smile.

A white pickup truck was parked in the furthest bay. The tailgate was down and Logan laid Jenny down in the back. He ran back to his truck and returned with a dark blue blanket, covering himself against the cold air in the shop as he crawled up over Jenny.

The predatory look in his eye shot electricity through her body. She felt like she was already vibrating even though Logan had barely touched her. Jenny could tell she was wet and ready for him, and hoped he was going to make good on the promise in his eyes.