Pick Your Poison (The Heart's Desire Series Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  TAP OUT

  By Hilary Storm

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  DOUBLE TAKE

  By S.E. Hall

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  ALL IN

  By Hilary Storm

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  BODY CHECKED

  By S.E. Hall

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Stalk SE Hall Here

  Books by S.E. Hall

  Books by Hilary Storm

  Stalk Hilary Here

  TAP OUT

  By Hilary Storm

  Copyright 2017 Hilary Storm

  All rights are reserved to the author. No part of this ebook may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, character, places and incidents are either 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.

  Chapter One

  Kinsley

  I should’ve known traveling to New Orleans with Mollie was a terrible idea the second she mentioned it. She’s just coming out of a three-year relationship and to say she’s ready to make up for lost time is a drastic understatement. Her ridiculous pouty lip when she asked me to ‘disappear’ just made me realize how low she’s willing to go to forget the giant asshole who once again fucked her over.

  This empty stairwell should terrify me, but after all the crazy from tonight… I welcome the quiet. I even slip off my heels to avoid having to listen to the echo as I make my way to the roof top. Maybe I’ll be able to enjoy the city even more if I simply people watch and imagine the insanity of their night being more memorable than mine.

  I prop open the door with a rock, remembering that the owner told us the door locks and would require a key to get back in. Since Mollie has the only set of keys, I’m extra careful to make sure I’m not locked up here for the night.

  The rooftop is beautiful and obviously well taken care of by someone. Plants and string lighting give off the sense of privacy, yet with a potential party feel. I’m instantly wishing I had a place this serene to go at home.

  Yelling and laughter interrupt my thoughts and send me searching for an opening on the railing to find the source of the noise coming from below. A group of people are slowly making their way down to Bourbon Street, all of them already sloppy drunk and acting hysterical. I’m not sure why I’m jealous of them, but I am. I don’t see a single worry on any of their faces and it’s apparent that any stress they may’ve had before they came here, isn’t on their mind tonight.

  Glancing down at my phone, I see that it’s just barely after midnight. “Jesus, Kinsley… you sure know how to party.”

  “She talks to herself.” A deep voice to my right startles me and almost makes me scream… not that anyone would know how to locate a screamer up here. Holding my phone against my chest, I search for the source behind the reason my adrenaline is out of control, only to find zero relief.

  The soft lit silhouette of a shirtless man sprawled out on a lounge chair quickly becomes my focus. “Oh… sorry. I didn’t notice you there.” He relaxes even more, putting his hands behind his head while he stares at me, making me feel extremely awkward.

  “I’ll let you make it up to me.” A bolt of nervous energy rushes through my body as I think about what he means. I’m not normally this weird when it comes to men. I’m going to blame the unusual night for my overly cautious reaction to him.

  “I… I have to get back.” I begin to recoil and tiptoe backwards and attempt to dial 911 as I respond.

  “You do realize that if I wanted to hurt you, it would already be done.” His words take me by surprise and I find myself staring at him when he resumes his resting position with his hands behind his head. The lights add a glow to his bare chest, allowing me to see some ink, but not enough for me to make out what kind of art he has on full display.

  “What?” My tone is harsh as I try to figure out what he meant by that.

  “Relax. I was just going to invite you to sit with me.” I should be worried, but for some reason I’m not. He has a very calm aura surrounding him and that’s something I take notice of right away.

  “Uh… sit with you?” Kinsley… snap the hell out of it.

  “That is… if you have time. I do remember you mentioning something about being a party animal.” He sits up and slides another lounge chair a little closer to his, opening it up as the metal scrapes across the concrete flooring.

  “Very funny.” I don’t move any closer to him, still not sure if I want to entertain the idea of sitting with this guy.

  “You know I could make a phone call and bring the party to you, if that’s what you really want.” He holds up his phone like he’s about to dial someone just before I stop him.

  “No… I’m actually enjoying the silence.”

  “You can sit with me… I promise not to touch you. In fact, I can’t.”

  “Oh… you have a girlfriend?” I ask the obvious question, expecting him to tell me he does.

  “Nope.”

  “A wife?”

  “Nope…”

  “You gay?” Because in my experience, any man this hot is either taken or gay.

  “Fuck no.” That got a rise out of him and made me smile.

  “Did you swear off women or something?”

  “Something like that.” I step closer, left with very little choice but to accept his offer. My other options, even though they sound intriguing, are much more terrifying as I hear another loud group of people walking by on the street below. Maybe spending some time with a guy that looks like pure sex will make me not want to kill Mollie for ditching me.

  “That’s good, because I’ve sworn off men too.” I pretend that I’m not interested as I sit next to him and spread out to match his silhouette.

  “You a lesbian?” I should’ve known that question was coming. I deserve it.

  “Not yet, although I have considered testing out that life style if I have to deal with another dick in my life.” Before I can finish
saying what I was trying to say… he flips the back of my chair level, sending me flat on my back before he climbs over me. My breath catches with him this close and it takes every ounce of self-control not to reach up and draw my nails over his back to persuade him to lower his body on top of mine.

  “You saying you don’t prefer dick?”

  “Uh… no. I actually like it.” Andddd my mind goes wild with all the things I should be saying as the words I want to say clash against all logic, creating absolute insanity. So, I chose to say nothing else.

  He smells clean. Like fresh out of the shower clean. My eyes are pulled to his shoulders, watching them flex as he lowers himself just slightly before he pushes himself up again. His repetitive movement inflating the already wound up craving of an actual man to touch me in all the right ways. It’s been a bit since I’ve had any true relief in the sex department. That would require one to actually leave her apartment and do something besides work.

  He slams me back to reality when he allows his hips to drop, grinding into mine and allowing me to feel the growing bulge just under the thin material of a pair of athletic shorts. The thickness of his cock slides up my thigh and over my pelvic bone before he closes his eyes with a sharp exhale. He lowers his face to mine, breathing against my cheek while his hips continue to flex, sending us both into an alternative reality of what we thought would happen up here tonight.

  He lets out a small moan before he allows his full weight to blanket me with the heat of his body. If you would’ve asked me if I’d do something like this twenty minutes before now, I would’ve told you no, but now I’m coming apart from the inside out, hoping he’ll move this to the next level and blow my mind.

  His grip on the chair beside my head shifts as he raises his body in a push up once again. “Take out my cock.” Holy shit. A tiny glimpse of how stupid this is flashes through my mind and before I can acknowledge it, he’s coercing me again. “Reach in and grip it with your tiny fucking hands. Slide those silky fingers around it and then tell me you’re thinking about pussy when you do.” His deep whisper sends a spike of desperation through my body, giving me the strength and courage to do exactly what he says. Who am I to deny my curiosity what it wants?

  “You said there’d be no touching.”

  “No, I said I wouldn’t touch you. Good thing you didn’t make that promise.” With my eyes drawn to his, I slide a single hand between us until it’s under the elastic of his shorts. The tip is wet with proof that he’s turned on by all of this. I wrap my fingers around the width, noticing the multiple twitches under my grip. “Fuck.” He rolls his head back, extending his arms straight and allowing as much space as he can between us.

  I slowly slide my hand up and over the tip, before I return to gripping and moving up and down the length of his still growing cock, using his own moisture as lube. Jesus, how big can he possibly get?

  “What’s your name?” His question surprises me.

  “Kinsley.” I’m still moving my hand over him when I slide the other one into his shorts and let my finger nails slide over his tight ass.

  “Fuck.” He closes his eyes, before he drops to hover over me once again. “Kinsley what?” His breath hits my lips… so temptingly close to kissing me, but so fucking far away at the same time.

  “Kinsley Cooper.”

  “Come to the Smoothie King Event Center tomorrow night. Will Call will have two tickets for you.” He pushes up and steps over me before he tucks his cock back into his shorts. The quick glimpse he allows me to see will only torture me the rest of the night if he’s going to leave me here like I think he’s about to.

  “Why would I go there?”

  “Because after I win my fight, I’m going to fuck you senseless.” He’s a fighter. Damnit… that just made him even sexier. He slides a hoodie over his shoulders, zipping it up before he turns to leave me alone, still feeling the heavy weight of what just happened between us. Every nerve in my body is on edge and begging for him to come back and continue the connection we had.

  I hear the door hit the rock before I allow my eyes to take in the star littered sky. I send a single silent wish up for him to come back and finish where he left off, but I know that isn’t going to happen.

  Looking over the edge, I watch him jog down the road, away from me and toward the quietest part of town where everything seems to be darker than if he would’ve ran in any other direction.

  He has a fight tomorrow. That would explain why he was up here alone instead of out to party like the rest of the city. I’m sure it’s part of his training process to stay away from all the crazy before a fight, but I’m only assuming.

  I’ve never met a fighter, in fact, I really don’t like to watch people hit each other, so I’m not sure how this whole fight thing will go tomorrow night. But I do know one thing… there’s no way in hell I’m missing it.

  Chapter Two

  Kinsley

  “Mavick Black vs Drew Johnson, ‘The Fight of the Night’, UFC Fight Night 72 will be tonight at the Smoothie King Event Center. Black, also known as ‘The Dark Assassin’ will fight for the first time since a light heavyweight title loss to champion Beau Jones. Prior to that, Black was undefeated with 12 wins, 8 of them KOs.” I’m reading the newspaper, looking at a front-page picture of the man who sent me spinning last night on the roof top. “So his name is Mavick. Mavick Black.” I sip my coffee and start an internet search, hoping to find out some more information about the man I can’t seem to get out of my head.

  Mollie is still in bed, but at least she let me in before she passed out completely. Luckily this apartment is segregated enough that I can have some privacy, even though the moaning and head board slamming got on my nerves through the night. Most of the irritation was because it wasn’t me making those noises after how worked up I was. Thankfully, I have a pair of earbuds that helped drown out the sounds of sweet ecstasy while I laid there annoyed and alone.

  Tossing the last of my coffee back, I find myself looking at hundreds of pictures with Mavick fighting and only a few of him outside of that. He’s obviously a decent fighter, but it’s the intensity in his eyes that keeps capturing my attention. He has a passion for it and it’s very easy to see the more I creep the internet. I quickly find that it’s easy to find out about Mavick the fighter, but what I want to know more about is the man himself. The man I met on the quiet roof top that had me laughing one second and hot as fuck the next.

  It’s obvious all his social media accounts are handled by some sort of agency or something. They’re all very focused on marketing and the business side of his life. I can’t believe I didn’t even ask him his name last night. His directness silenced me before I had the chance to think clearly. Everything that happened with him was so unlike me and now that I’ve had time to think about it, I’m embarrassed by what I did. I don’t think I can go see his fight tonight; my own humiliation will prevent me from being able to move once I walk in anyway.

  Mollie stumbles into my room, her hair looking thoroughly fucked and out of control. “Shit, what time is it?”

  “Noon.”

  “Damn. Sorry, I suck.” I don’t disagree with her, wanting her to realize this was supposed to be a girl’s trip. But then again, I wouldn’t have had that once in a lifetime encounter on the roof last night if she wouldn’t have been busy with her own memorable night.

  “I’m going to kick that guy to the curb here in a few minutes. What do you want to do today?”

  “I figured I’d go to a museum or something.” I choose to leave out the fight idea for now, not wanting to go into detail about what went down last night. I’ll let her think she was the only one that got any sort of action and it’ll be easier on me today. I’m sure she’d lose her shit if she even thought I talked to a guy, but then again, she’s been so wrapped up in her own lack of attention lately, she hasn’t pointed out mine like she has in the past.

  “I’ll take a shower and lose the dick. Be ready in about thirty minutes?�
�� She looks in my direction, questioning me before she sees that I’m already dressed with makeup on, hair done and my shoes propped on the coffee table in front of me. “Well, it looks like you’re ready now, so I’ll hurry.”

  She rushes off and I listen to her mumble in the bedroom while she works to get the guy out of her bed. He staggers through half naked a few minutes later with all of his stuff in his arms. “Yeah, yeah. It was great and all that, but you have to go. I’ve got shit to do today and you can’t stay here.” Mollie follows him, pushing his back while he moves toward the door.

  He reaches for the door knob and opens it wide without even looking out before he does. A dark black hoodie hiding the same figure from last night stands in the door way. His eyes meet Mollie’s fling at the same time my heart flies into my throat. What the hell is he doing at our apartment. Mollie is the one who rented it, so there’s no way he could’ve known I was in here.

  “Ummmm. Well, hello.” I hear Mollie’s voice just as Mavick steps around the half-naked man to look past her and directly at me.

  “Kinsley.” He drops his head in a single nod before he bolts down the stairs, leaving Mollie with her jaw on the floor while she tries to understand how he knew my name. She slams the door on her guy and storms straight over to me. I hold my hand up to calm the frantic look on her face, not sure what she’s going to say. I can only imagine what she’s thinking; hell, I don’t even know what I’m thinking.

  “Ok… talk. Now.” She sits on the arm of the couch, turned toward me, staring into my eyes with a stern look on her face. I can’t help but laugh at her as her face twists and shows proof of just how many questions she wants to ask me.

  “There’s nothing to talk about. I met him on the roof top last night when you were busy leaving bodily fluids all over this place.” I move to take my coffee cup to the kitchen and do my best to change the subject. “What if we do some ghost tours?”

  “We can do whatever you want when you tell me the rest of the dirt on that hot as fuck guy that knows your name.”