Pistol Whipped E-Book

Ashley Bostock

• Herausgeber: Ashley Bostock
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

She’d known him for forever…
Gabriella Crawford has been best friends with Logan since the 2nd grade, but that’s all they’d ever been…friends. Suddenly after 20 years, Gabbie starts to notice Logan in a different light. But sex has never been something Gabbie thought was great and it’s certainly not something worth risking a friendship over. Or is it?

He’d never really seen her until now…
Logan Reeves should not be looking at his best friend’s breasts. Not even when he sees her modeling lingerie. But try as he might to stay in the ‘friend zone’ Logan can’t stop fantasizing about Gabbie. And when a business trip forces them to sleep in the same bed, all bets are off. Especially once Logan finds out Gabbie needs to be shown how good sex can be…

But is it too late?
Incredible sex might not be enough to keep these two together. Not when old secrets from the past and new career opportunities threaten to rip Logan and Gabbie apart forever.

Leseprobe

Pistol Whipped

A Love on Target Novel

Ashley Bostock

Copyright © 2015 by Ashley Bostock

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 book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are being used fictitiously. Any references to such are entirely coincidental and are used for merely the telling of a fictional story.

There is always that one person in your life that believes in you, no matter what you do. That someone who has no problem letting you know when they’re unhappy or pleased beyond belief. That one person you never want to letdown, no matter what.

Grandma, I dedicate this book to you.

Contents

Not to Miss!

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

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Irresistible Billionaires

Not to Miss!

Also by Ashley Bostock

About the Author

Not to Miss!

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Chapter One

The smell of fresh paint immediately hit Logan’s nostrils as he walked into Lolita’s. Gabriella was at it again. What was she painting now? Couldn’t she learn to leave well enough alone? He followed the scent like a dog, to the back room of her store and found her on her knees, wearing shorts that were too short for work, with her paintbrush in hand, painting yet another oak chair. He walked over to her iPhone and turned down the music.

“Cinderella, how many chairs are you going to keep painting?”

“I needed another chair. Those pink garters I bought a week ago have all sold out already and people are asking for them non-stop.”

“So, what does that have to do with another chair?”

“Logan! Duh! The chair they were displayed on clearly wasn’t enough so when my shipment comes in today, I can lay those garters on that chair and once this baby dries, I am going to lay the new matching stockings and panties on this chair.”

Logan ran his hand through his chestnut hair that got lighter every time he was out in the sun. He leaned up against one of her worktables and absent-mindedly began caressing the tiniest pair of panties he’d ever seen that were lying next to him.

They were red. His favorite color. They were made out of mesh lining making the entire front of the panties see-through.

Also, his favorite.

No panties at all would be his preference but for whatever reason, ladies seemed to love wearing them, so see-through panties would be the next best thing. Every time he came in here and helped Gabriella, he was astonished by how much money people, mostly women, were willing to pay for this crap. The red panties he was currently fingering cost…twenty-eight dollars! They were made of the flimsiest material; he could literally rip them off in one fell swoop.

“Quit touching my panties.”

Logan tensed at her command. They were technically ‘her’ panties, but they weren’t her panties.

At least he didn’t think.

He supposed she could be wearing these exact same panties underneath those short shorts of hers. He rubbed his hand over his eyes. Why had he even begun to wonder what little Cinderella was wearing underneath her clothes? They had been friends since second grade and he never once considered—present time excluded—what she might wear down there.

Well, there was that one time when they had just graduated high school and he was helping her out of her gown, and underneath she had worn this yellow sundress and somehow the zipper had managed to get stuck on the gown…or the gown got stuck in the zipper? Either way, to this day, he still never understood how that could happen. But he was the only one inside her house and he was designated with the task of helping her get the gown unstuck.

He had been nervous. He could feel some kind of tension in the room, which was crazy because it was just Gabriella—his nearest and dearest friend since grade school. He managed to unzip her dress and the zipper had gone down low enough that he could see the dimples in her lower back as well as the pale-yellow thong she had been wearing.

In a whisper she had threatened him. “Don’t look at my panties.”

But the way it had sounded hadn’t sounded like a real threat. Her voice was really breathy and quiet. He had managed to get the gown out of the zipper’s teeth and zip her dress back up before he had stormed out of her bedroom. That had been the only time he had ever considered doing anything to Gabriella that had gone far beyond friendship.

“I’m kidding. You know that, right? Don’t look so serious, Logan.”

He was brought out of his trance by Gabriella’s soft laugh.

“I was just thinking about something else,” he told her truthfully.

“Do you like those panties?” She nodded to the red ones in his hands. “That’s just a sample. Then I can decide if I will order more or not.”

Without thinking, he asked, “Who samples them?”

She tilted her head and looked at him like he was an idiot, her eyes wide. “Who do you think?”

Visions of Gabriella prancing around in these skimpy panties came to mind. Her curves. Her tits. He forcefully set them back down on the table and shook his head.

“So, do you need any help, then?” He cleared his throat. “With any painting or anything?”

Gabriella laughed. “Come hold this for me, please? What has gotten into you lately? Ever since the trouble with the credit union, you haven’t been acting like yourself. Is it still bothering you? Is there anything you want me to do to help you get through this?”

Again, her and the barely-there red panties.

He shook his head, hard. “I’ll be fine. Lucy and I are going out to dinner tonight to that new restaurant by the mall. Have you tried it?”

“No. Brandi and I want to but haven’t found time yet. Are you and Lucy finally an item?” She bent lower, painting along the lower rim of the chair as Logan held the back, tilting it just enough for her to reach. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and she balanced on her paint-splattered shoes, deep in thought. She wore her grubby clothes to paint. Her denim cutoffs paired with a pink V-neck shirt.

“No, we aren’t an item. We are still just seeing each other. We are free to date whomever we want. No strings attached.”

Gabriella rolled her eyes. “Is that what you think she wants?”

“No. She wants to be exclusive but I’m just not feeling it yet. Anyway, what about you and what’s his name? Are you guys “together” together?”

“His name is Cody and things have potential but so far, I’m much too busy for a relationship.”

Logan wasn’t sure what his problem with Gabriella was lately. He’d been around her more than any other female in his entire life aside from his mother. She was his nearest and dearest friend. They had laughed and cried together. Had gone through break-ups together. Had experienced college and everything thereafter together. And here he was unable to stop himself from looking down her V-neck shirt at her voluptuous tits that he had no business looking at. Especially when all she had asked from him—a friend—was a helping hand.

Logan let out a groan as he closed his eyes, trying to get the image of Gabriella’s creamy white skin out of his head. This couldn’t go on much longer. There was no way he could be around her and let his imagination run wild—what was it doing? He was appalled with himself. He had never thought of Gabbie as his sister—ever. But he had never, ever looked at her the way he was right now. Sure, he appreciated her silky auburn hair, her stunning green eyes, all of the freckles that lined the bridge of her nose and her curvy body, but he hadn’t ever appreciated them.

Not like he had been lately.

As he sat there holding her chair, trying to look anywhere but down at her and at the curves inside her blouse—because that is where his gaze kept going—he pondered when his sudden attraction began. He thought about the last few times they had been together hanging out and for the life of him, he couldn’t think of a single moment that stood out.

Besides, he wasn’t sure it was full-blown attraction anyway. He didn’t know what it was. All he knew was that he had begun to see Gabbie in a new light, had suddenly begun to appreciate the curves of her hips as well as the curves of her breasts. He started noticing the flecks of brown in her green eyes and the way her hair would go from straight to wavy to curly all in a day’s worth of hard work.

He looked around at haphazard boxes and a few lacy items that lay in the back room. A strappy bra—with straps that circled her breasts and nipples—that didn’t actually cover the nipple part, was strapped around a mannequin. She wore the lingerie she sold.

As good of friends as they were, he never dared ask her what she wore for undergarments. If he had to guess, he would bet his last dollar that she wore this stuff just like all the women who came here because she loved what she did and Gabbie couldn’t sell something she didn’t love herself. He knew her well enough to know that was how she rolled.

“Logan? Logan Anthony Reeves?”

Bringing him out of his daze, he looked down at Gabriella, trying hard to be a gentleman and keep his eyes on hers. “What?”

She wriggled her nose at him for about the millionth time since they’ve known each other. “Are you sure nothing is bothering you? You know you can tell me, right?”

Not this. He could never tell her this. Who knew what her reaction would be? She could very well threaten him with her handgun. He shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine. I was just thinking about things going on at work. That’s all. Have you been to the shooting range lately?”

Her eyebrows rose and she shrugged her shoulder. “Okay. I won’t ask anymore. You can set the chair down. Thanks. Oh, and yeah, Brandi and I went two days ago. They have these hot pink paper targets now. It was fun.”

She stood up and began putting away her paint supplies. She took her brush to the sink and began rinsing it off. Logan put the lid on her paint can and set the empty cup she had filled with paint into the sink, watching the turquoise color the water as it swirled down the drain.

“What are you doing tonight? Going to the shooting range?” He teased. For a woman who’d gone through the trouble of getting a license to carry a concealed weapon, she took it pretty seriously. He was sure there were people out there who got one and never learned to shoot, but not Gabriella.

“No, I’m not. Why? What are you doing?”

“Do you and Brandi want to come with us tonight? You can be my buffer.”

“Did you just roll your eyes? Logan, if you don’t like her, why are you wasting your time with her? Why are you wasting her time?” She looked at him pointedly.

“I’m not wasting anyone’s time. We’re enjoying each other’s company. She just…wants me too much sometimes. You know what? Forget it. Why are we talking about this?”

“She wants you too much? Really? Is that what guys really think when women want attention? All we want is attention and reciprocity, Logan. Since I’m your best bud you should know all of this already. I can’t believe you think that.” She swatted at his arm. “That is terrible. Poor Lucy.”

“Not poor Lucy. Seriously. She calls and sends me texts all of the time, sends me pictures you don’t want to see—trust me. It’s not giving her attention that bothers me, it’s that she is so desperate sometimes.”

“Logan! Then ditch her. Don’t be the guy that strings her along only to break her heart. That’s not you.”

“I’m not stringing her along, Cinderella. She knows exactly what I want. And right now, she gives it to me.”

Gabriella’s eyes popped open. “Are you talking about sex? Oh gosh, I should have known.” She stepped away from the sink and looked at him. He suppressed his grin as she rolled her eyes, “that sex was all this was about.”

His hand came out and in his age-old gesture, he squeezed her cheek. “Don’t tell me you and Brody haven’t had sex yet and that’s not what your relationship is about. Not even a little? He, too, is a guy, Gabbie.”

Her cheeks went to a light pink and she threw her head back. “It’s Cody, first of all, even though I refer to him as ‘the chef’ sometimes, and second of all, well, we haven’t really gotten to that point yet.” She bent her head down, clearly embarrassed. “Close, but not close enough. I just…he just…well, there hasn’t been an opportunity.”

Now he felt like a major butthead. She was obviously bothered by the fact that Cody wasn’t interested in her enough to want to initiate sex. He had rubbed it in her face like everyone wanted it. Which made him wonder exactly why this guy wasn’t into it? Gabbie was quite breathtaking and she oozed sex appeal, whether she knew it or not. Come to think of it, Logan wasn’t sure which bothered him more: the fact that the guy didn’t want to sleep with her or the fact that the guy could be sleeping with her if he so chose. Logan let that thought drift away and responded truthfully. “Don’t worry, he will. He will find the opportunity. Guaran-fucking-teed.”

As he watched Gabriella finish cleaning up, he couldn’t help but wonder whom this guy was. Did he not see a good thing when it was standing right in front of him? More importantly, and Logan tried to ignore this thought, but could the chef’s loss ever be Logan’s gain? Would Logan ever have enough balls to find out?

Chapter Two

Gabriella grew up poor. Her mother and father could never hold a job for longer than three months, at best. Mostly, it was her father who would get some fly-by-night job and work long enough to earn a few paychecks—at least enough to spend the evenings at the bar. Her mother mostly stayed at home with Gabriella and her younger sister, Genevieve. She was the Queen of finding every government subsidy, scholarship, etcetera, to apply for and get for the family. That had been her full-time job. In Gabriella’s mind, the time she had spent scamming the system, she could have used to find an actual job. It wasn’t like her mother was ill or unable to physically hold a job.

Many times Gabriella crawled through Logan’s bedroom window to eat at his house because her family had no food. Big sister that she was, and wonderful people Logan and his family had been to her, she had always brought home something for her sister. Hidden, of course, because if her parents knew she had food they would take it for themselves.

Her mother and father’s off-again and on-again relationship made it easy for Gabriella’s mom to receive government aid because she always checked the ‘single’ box. There were times in her life where her mom was gone for a few weeks and times where her dad was gone for a few weeks.

Moments where Gabriella had no clue if social services was going to come and take her and her sister away. There were plenty of times in her childhood, that she had actually prayed for that to happen. At least then, there would be someone to count on. Gabriella hated her childhood. She was never physically abused by anyone, but she had experienced her fair share of emotional turmoil where her family life was concerned.

Seeking an outlet to avoid home, she had done the only thing she knew to do – she had gone to school and applied herself to her studies, above and beyond the call of duty. She didn’t do anything half-assed. She knew the only way she and her sister would ever be free of that life was to not follow in her parents’ footsteps, and to Gabriella that had meant excelling at school.

She eventually earned an academic scholarship to college and earned a master’s degree in Business with a special emphasis in Marketing and Finance. College had been a breeze for Gabriella and thank God she had Logan to lean on. Without Logan by her side all of these years, who knew what she would have done. There were so many times in her life where having Logan around had changed her life for the better. He had single-handedly pulled her out of the darkest corners of her life—unbeknownst to him in some cases. He had been a true friend. Often times, more often than she had done for him, he went above and beyond the call of friendship. He was, then and now, the best friend she could ever ask for.

She had her girlfriends, too. Her closest friend, aside from Logan, was Brandi Parker. She met Brandi in college, where they had been roommates. Brandi had come from out of state, so it had been Gabriella that introduced her to Amber and Marilyn. Now, the four of them were four peas-in-a-pod. They did all of the things normal girlfriends did together—shop, shoot guns, gossip, and, even though Marilyn was married, and Amber wasn’t too far from being married, they still found time to be together.

Last year, Marilyn and Amber had been lucky enough to fall in love—with Marilyn getting married on Christmas Eve. She and Blake were “due” in August with their first child. Amber and Gage were still in the beginning of their relationship and as far as she knew, Gage hadn’t asked Amber to marry him, or bear his children for that matter…yet.

Gabriella worked her way up the ranks in one of those national lingerie companies and after five years, she had been granted the position of Buyer for the company and she had absolutely loved it. It was her one and only job she had gotten out of college and it was the sole reason she wanted to open her own lingerie store. She had a vision and wanted to market her store in a certain way that she couldn’t do at her previous job.

She unlocked the glass door to Lolita’s and walked inside. The pride in her heart swelled every time she came here. Although she was biased—because she had done it herself—she was always amazed by the beauty of what Lolita’s was on the inside. She had painted the inside of the entire store herself…well, not all by herself. Logan had helped her tremendously.

They both had spent almost two weeks painting all of the walls sea-foam green and then all of the baseboards and trim around the doors antique white. It was breathtaking. The chandeliers afforded enough lighting to see well but they weren’t bright bulbs. The dressers and tables were painted with the same antique white and she had used the mint color to paint all of the chairs and nightstands. Where she could, she used both color combinations on a piece of furniture. For something to accent the two colors, she had painted a magenta table that sat in the center of the room.

Her goal was to create a look that gave patrons the feeling that they were inside their bedrooms getting dressed for their most special night out. She knew from experience what it was like to get ready in anticipation of that date where that particular man might see what you were wearing underneath your clothes. The thought, that as a woman, you prepared in advance, hoping that he would want to find out what you were wearing underneath and he would take his sweet time savoring all there was to behold.

Logan found that moment to send her a message. I’m free today. I’m coming over. She smiled. That was fine by her, she could always put him to work. Since it was Saturday, she was open. Logan, however, was off during the weekend and aside from Lucy—who he was careful not to get too close to—he had his family. There was always a small part of her that envied Logan’s big Sunday family dinners. She had been a part of them for as long as she could remember. Her Sundays for the past twenty years had been mostly filled with real family dinners. Laughing, playing board games, cooking and cleaning the kitchen, had been the most normal thing she had experienced as Logan’s best friend. His mother, Donna, was the closest thing she had ever had to a real mother. A mother who listened to her, showed affection, gave her advice and went with her to check out her dorm room and meet her roommate—all opposite qualities of Tammy Crawford. Donna Stokes, as she had been remarried for the past eighteen years, had done far more motherly things in Gabbie’s life than Tammy ever had.

Thank God for Gabbie’s sake, she and her sister had been fortunate enough to have their parents move to Alabama. Their father, Robert, sober enough to follow work out there one summer while she was in college, hadn’t ever cared to come back. She hardly spoke to either one of her parents so she assumed her mother was living with…or without…Robert and still living off the system or doing whatever it was she could in order to survive. Whatever could mean a multitude of things and she didn’t want to know, nor did she care, what those things could be. Whatever. Gabriella tried to live as far removed from them as she possibly could.

Her sister, however, was far more generous. Genevieve, five years younger than Gabbie, still spoke with their mother. Not too frequently, but enough to know the going-ons in their lives. Many times, Gen had spoken of going down to Alabama to see their parents, pleading for Gabbie to go with her, but Gabbie had adamantly refused each and every request. It had finally gotten to the point that Gabbie had to threaten their sisterly relationship with her, that if she hounded her any more about them, Gabbie would not spend time with her. She respected Gen’s decision to remain connected—her sister needed to respect Gabbie’s to remain estranged.

“Hello, are you in here, Cinderella? Why don’t you have any of the lights on?” Logan reached over and flipped on the dimmer switch just inside the door, lighting up one of the chandeliers in the front of the store.

“I’m here. Just was thinking, I guess. Don’t you have anything better to do on your day off than hang out with the likes of me?” Gabriella loved teasing him. In all honesty, she loved having him around. She wanted him around. There was no other place she would rather he spend his day off than hanging out with her.

His bright open-mouthed smile always made her heart skip. She was more than lucky to have him in her life. His happy-go-lucky personality and the way he could make her feel good about herself, never ceased to amaze her. He was wearing his favorite t-shirt, which she knew because he had gotten it on a road-trip a few summers ago. The two of them had gone to New Mexico. The shirt read: FBI: Female Body Inspector.

Every time she saw him in it, she rolled her eyes and revisited the fun weekend they had together going down there. He had bought her a shirt—One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor! —only after she had imbibed on too much tequila one evening. Needless to say, it wasn’t her favorite shirt and she was pretty sure it was shoved into the back corner of one of her drawers at home.

Logan set his briefcase down near her POS system and released a breath. “Come on, you know I love your company. Besides, you and I both know I don’t have anything else better to do. I have a couple files to work on, but besides that, I am at your service.”

“Great. You can help me sort out some of these panties and help me tie the tags around them. I have some garter belts and a few more bras that need tagged too. But if you have too much to do,” she waved at his briefcase, “that’s okay too.”

Logan leaned toward Gabriella’s face and smiled. His eyes were bright and happy. They twinkled. “Gabbie, the files I have aren’t anything that have to be done right away. Besides, we have all day…unless you are going to see Brody.” He laughed and held his hand up before she could respond. “I’m sorry. Cody.”

Why did Logan have a problem with her chef? He intentionally kept messing up his name. “First of all, no, I am not seeing my chef this weekend and second of all, why do you insist on calling him by the wrong name? It’s not that hard! Cody. C-O-D-Y, do you get that? It’s as if you don’t like him and you’ve only met him, what? Three times?”