Breathless Night

  Table of Contents

  Breathless Night

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Ninteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Acknowledgements

  Breathless Night

  Copyright © 2014 by K. Aybara. All rights reserved.

  First Edition

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior express permission of the author except as provided by USA Copyright Law. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

  This book is a work of fiction and does not represent any individual, living or dead. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Book cover designed by Sofie Hartley

  Professionally Edited by Anna Coy of AGC Editing and Services.

  Formatted by Cassy Roop of Pink Ink Designs.

  Published in the United States of America.

  Giana,

  Without you, this book wouldn’t exist. Since it is my story, I’ll take all the good reviews, but I’m blaming you for all the bad ones. Thanks girl!

  Walking through the small exterior dining area, I saw my friend Ashley from high school. We decided to meet for coffee to catch up since she just got into town this morning. I wasn’t sure if she would recognize me or not, but as soon as she looked up, she jumped out of her seat and ran to meet me halfway. I’m almost knocked down as she tackled me to give me a hug.

  “Cailyn! Ohmigod, it is so good to see you, girl. It has been way too long! We have so much to catch up on. You have got to tell me all about this guy.”

  I faked gasping for air, speaking in a wheezed voice, “It’s good to see you too, Ashley.” She caught on and released her bear hug.

  “Sorry, guess I got a little excited. I haven’t been home since high school, so I haven’t seen anyone. You just got to be the lucky one that I saw first. Can you believe it has already been three years?”

  Walking back over to the table where she had been seated before her mad dash towards me, I noticed that in her haste, she knocked over a chair, pushed a waiter out of her way, and almost made someone spill their iced coffee. Neither one of us noticed in the excitement, but the others around us most certainly did.

  “Umm, Ashley, why don’t we find somewhere else to go? For some strange reason, I don’t think we are going to get the best service here.”

  As she looked around at the evil glares she was receiving, Ashley agreed. “Yeah, you may be right. Hey, is that fro-yo place still up the street? That place always had the best cheesecake fro-yo, and this time of day there shouldn’t be kids running around screaming, so we should be able to catch up.”

  “Fro-Yo-Yo? Yep, it’s still there, and they have the cutest little dividers for the cups now in case you don’t want to mix your stuff. And the spoons, they are so freakin’ cute!”

  “Just let me grab my purse and we can get away from all these hateful stares. You would think that none of these people had ever been away from their BFF for a few years.”

  Ashley grabbed her stuff and we hurried out of there before someone decided to do more than just mean mug us. We decided to walk the few blocks up the street since it was such a beautiful spring day. “So, Ashley, what’s new in your life? Do you have anyone special?”

  “Oh, no you don’t! You are not changing the subject on me before the conversation even starts. You are going to tell me all about this Luke fella. I need details.”

  “Well, it is a little bit of fate I guess you could say. I was driving home from classes one evening and got a flat tire. Daddy wasn’t off work yet, so there I sit on the side of the road waiting and trying to figure out what to do.”

  “Oooo, so he was your knight in shining armor? That is so sweet.”

  “Well, knight, maybe, but it was more of a rust bucket than shining armor. I have to admit; when he got out of his car, I locked the doors. He didn’t look like the helpful Good Samaritan, but more like the guy that would be standing on the side of the road with a ‘Will Work for Food’ sign or something. I was downright scared.”

  “Cailyn, are we still talking about Luke? The supposed love of your life, can’t live without him, hopelessly in love… All that stuff you were blabbering about but wouldn’t tell me more about on the phone?”

  Pulling the door open and holding it for her, we walked into the frozen yogurt shop and we were greeted by the girl behind the counter. “That is exactly why I couldn’t tell you on the phone. I know it’s strange, it’s so unbelievable. That is why I wanted to see your face when I told you.”

  We walked over to the wall of heavenly bliss, commonly referred to as fro-yo. We each grabbed a container and put our too cute dividers in them. Ashley went straight for her cheesecake, and then put a little chocolate, peanut butter, and cotton candy in the other portions of her cup. I went for the cheesecake also. What girl wasn’t going to enjoy some cheesecake when the opportunity presented itself? Then I grabbed a little cake batter and some orange.

  “Now, where was I? Oh, creepy guy walking up to the car, looked like he hadn’t showered in a month, and I was scared to death. He knocked on the window and motioned for me to roll it down just a little. I don’t even think it justified as a crack, but I rolled it down enough to maybe slip a piece of paper through.”

  Picking out toppings was always one of the best parts. A little graham cracker to go with the cheesecake, cake pieces for the cake batter, sprinkles for the orange. Maybe I would throw a couple gummy bears in there too. “He was very polite and asked if I needed help. I think he could see the fear in my eyes. He tried to calm me down, reminding me that we were on a very public road; there was plenty of traffic and all that good stuff. He even told me that he would step to the back of the car and I could stay up by the front if I wanted to while he changed the tire.

  “At that point, I figured as long as he stayed away from me, I’d just sit there while he changed the flat. I didn’t want to sit there for another hour waiting on Daddy to get out of work, so I popped the trunk for him. But he told me I was going to have to get out of the car because it wouldn’t be safe to be in it while he had it on the jack. Something about he thought I would move and make the car fall on him. Maybe if he didn’t look so much like a creeper he wouldn’t have to worry about me wanting to hurt him.”

  We paid for our stuff after Ashley put half a can of whipped cream on hers, and we went to find a spot to sit and talk. “So, at that point, I got out of the car, making sure that he understood I have my pepper spray in my hand, and he just kind of mockingly puts his hands up and backed off. I moved
up to the front of the car and got as far away as I could. He changed the tire trying to make small talk with me as he went, but I couldn’t hear him with all the traffic and being so far away. He finished up, put everything back in the trunk, and closed it. As he started to walk up to me, I raised the pepper spray and he stopped. He moved away and told me that I should be good to get home, but that I needed to get the tire fixed because I couldn’t drive on that spare forever and to have a good day.”

  “Cailyn, this doesn’t make any sense to me at all. Strange creepy dude helped you change your tire. You point pepper spray at him. He leaves, drives away, and yet you are in love with him. Do I need to get you a psych eval?”

  “When I got home, I told Mom all about what happened. As I was finishing up the story, Daddy walked in and heard the end of it. You know him, so overprotective of his girls. He immediately went out there to check and make sure that it was done right, if the tire had something in it or what. He wanted to hear the whole story, so I followed him out there to tell it to him as he checked over everything. He really got a kick out of me pointing the pepper spray at Luke. Daddy looked over the spare first and deemed it to be done right, but when he opened the trunk to look at the tire, he pulled out a piece of paper. I barely got a glance at it, and I saw that it’s Luke’s name and phone number. I started blushing immediately, but Daddy just shoved it in his pocket. He saw the tire had a nail in it so he took the tire and put it in his trunk saying he would get it taken care of for me.”

  “I didn’t dare ask about the piece of paper. After all, I didn’t want it anyway. He was a nice guy and all, but he just wasn’t my type. Later that evening, I heard Daddy on the phone. I wasn’t sure whom he was talking to, but he was being very adamant that he wanted to see them and asked them to stop by. He got off the phone saying that he would see them soon. I didn’t think anything of it until the doorbell rang. I opened the door and there he stood, but this time… It couldn’t be the same guy. I mean, the dirty old rust bucket of a car was sitting behind mine in the drive, but this guy… His eyes were a honey brown, with just a little bit of gold flecked in them… His arms and chest looked like they were going to pop out of his shirt and I could just imagine the abs under it.

  “Daddy walked up behind me and asked if he would like to come in. He politely declined, stating that he was in a bit of a hurry, as he had to get to base. I wasn’t sure what he meant at the time, and since he wouldn’t come in, Daddy stepped out on the porch, closing the door behind him. I heard a muffled voice from Luke about no need to thank him and Daddy insisting that Luke call him next week.”

  “Girl, what is going on here? Creeper turns out to be smokin’ hot once he cleans up, but he still drives a run-down jalopy of a car, and your dad is all buddy-buddy with him? I don’t remember your dad being so open to hot guys knocking on his door.”

  Looking down, I wondered where my fro-yo had gone. How could I have eaten so much of it with all the talking I had been doing? I didn’t even get to enjoy it. “I know, right? Come to find out, Luke was in a hurry because he had to report to the base for his weekend of Reserve duty. He recently left the Army, but he went into the Reserves so that he could still serve. He hadn’t been out of the service long, so that is why he didn’t have a great car. He had just bought the first thing to get him from Point A to Point B while he got settled into civilian life as he called it. You know Daddy has always respected the servicemen of the country, so he invited Luke for dinner the next week to thank him for helping his sweet daughter in her time of need and for serving our country.”

  “Finally, girl. I was starting to wonder if you would ever get to the good stuff or not.”

  “I know what you consider the good stuff, and considering it was dinner with my parents, and you know I have always said that I was going to hold off until my wedding night, you are not getting any good stuff out of this story. Dinner was great though. He was a complete gentleman, kind, sweet, respectful, but there was something about him that gave me a feeling of danger. I don’t know why, but it excited me. I felt like I could open myself up to a whole new world but still feel safe with him. Live dangerously while having him there to protect me.”

  We finished chatting, catching up on other things we had missed over the past several years, and decided that we would chat more in the next few days. She had other friends and family to visit and I needed to get back home and do some cleaning before I made dinner for Luke tonight.

  MAN, IT HAD BEEN AGES since I had been to Shot in the Dark, the local bar from my younger days. I could remember when I would be here all night, just about every night of the week. I think the regulars thought I lived in the back or something since I was here more than they were. Walking through the door, I could smell the stale beer, see the stains on the floor, and the music was just as crappy as ever. Chuck was behind the bar as always. I think he was the only person that had spent more time in this joint than I had, but hell, he owned the place and literally did live in the back.

  I sat down and without saying a word, Chuck slid me a Jameson on the rocks. “How’s it going, man? Things still get as crazy in here as they used to?”

  A smirk crossed Chuck’s face, “Not since you stopped coming in. After all, you were the reason most of the stuff got crazy around here.”

  “I didn’t start that much stuff, but I guess I did finish a lot of it.”

  “Man, you know I always liked you, and that’s why I did my best to keep the cops out of it, or at least got you out of here before they showed up. But that last time, man, that was just too much. You know they had my place shut down for a week?”

  “A week? I had no clue man, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. After that all went down, I enlisted. Got my shit straightened out.”

  “I heard that it took them a while to get through that thick skull of yours and get you in line. I wish I would have been there to help them.”

  “So when do the guys usually come rolling in? I talked with Zane and he wanted me to meet them up here.”

  Chuck started wiping down the bar, going back to doing what he was doing before I showed up. “They should be rolling in here soon.” About that time, I was bombarded with fake punches and a headlock.

  From the door, I heard Breck, “Look who decided to finally come around again, sitting here like he owns the joint.”

  Turning around to look at Breck, I saw him standing in the doorway, arms crossed. After all these years, he still didn’t look too happy with me. I guess I couldn’t blame him. From what I heard, he ended up in the hospital for some stitches, and then spent the night in the drunk tank downtown. Jill ended up leaving him, and I came out of it with just a few bruises.

  “Breck, that was a rough night for all of us. I’m sorry about what happened. No one wanted it to go down like that.”

  “What, Luke, you mean you didn’t want Jill to leave me? Cause it sure as hell seemed like you did. Why else would you be fucking her every damn day? You know, I may not have found out if you hadn’t pulled her into some of that crazy shit you were into. I mean really, I thought that stuff was just in porn and shit. When she started asking me about doing some of it, I knew you were the only one crazy enough to think about it. Then it was just a matter of why had she been talking to you about sex.”

  Jeremy stepped from beside me to between Breck and me. “Guys, chill. We all agreed this is in the past, that we were going to let it go.”

  Breck started to step toward me, “Chill, Jeremy, I’m over it. Hell, Jill was a psycho bitch anyway.” Reaching out a hand towards me, I grasped it to shake and he pulled me in for a quick bro-hug. “Luke and me, we’re cool. I just had to razz him a little.” Looking me straight in the eyes, he added before letting go of my hand, his grip tightened a little, “But I do want a rematch.”

  “Hey, I’ve got my head on straight now. I’m not gonna just duke it out with you like we used to. I’ve got more important things to worry about these days than just trying to figure out which one o
f us has the bigger balls.”

  About that time, I heard Tucker laughing. “Really, I never would have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. Luke has been tamed, and he’s got his panties all bunched up over a girl. The guy that hopped from one bed to another three times a day, had every girl’s number in this place, and they all knew it, but didn’t care. I never knew what spell you held over them and still do. Do you know how many of them had to go change their panties when they heard you were back and stopping in tonight? Why do you think we had you meet us so early? By the end of the night, I doubt we will be able to get past the wall of hot babes surrounding you.”

  “Whoa, no, they can’t be all up over me like that. I’ve got Cailyn. Man, I don’t need them climbing all over me and shit. I can’t go home like that. Cailyn would be pissed if I came home smelling like a dozen different perfumes, lipstick stains… I gotta get out of here before then.”

  “Ryan, can you believe this? This Cailyn chick has got to be one hell of a keeper when it comes to the sack. How many girls do you think Luke has taken out of here, and none of them ever got him to settle down? Now this one is better than all of them?”

  Ryan was just shaking his head. “Luke, it isn’t going to be pretty if these girls find out that you decided to settle down. They are used to fighting over you and hell, from what I hear, even sharing you, but you went and found one outside of them and she got you to settle down. I don’t know if I should leave or sit back and sell tickets for the show.”

  “Tucker, you need to watch your damn mouth and show a little respect. This is the woman I love. She is beautiful, intelligent, funny… She has this little smirk that she does when she doesn’t think I see her staring at me working out.”

  Zane finally decided to put his two cents in on the matter, “Luke, I love you like a brother. Wait, we are brothers. Okay, I love you like a friend that loves you like a brother, and not like real brothers that hate each other and pretend to love each other. But seriously, you turned into a real pansy. What the fuck? Is she really that good in bed?”