The XOXO New Adult Collection
16 New Adult stories by 16 of your favorite authors
Table of Contents
Title Page
The XOXO New Adult Collection
My Unexpected Forever | Heidi McLaughlin
For Everly
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
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
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Tattooed Dots | By Kimberly Knight
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 NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
EPILOGUE
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
OTHER BOOKS BY KIMBERLY KNIGHT
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NEANDERTHAL SEEKS HUMAN
CHAPTER 1
Chapter One—Francesca
Chapter Two—Cade
Chapter Three—Francesca
Chapter Four—Cade
Chapter Five-Francesca
Chapter Six-Cade
Chapter 7-Francesca
Chapter Eight-Cade
Chapter Nine-Francesca
Chapter Ten-Cade
Chapter Eleven-Francesca
Chapter Twelve-Cade
Chapter Thirteen-Francesca
Chapter Fourteen-Cade
Chapter Fifteen-Francesca
Chapter Sixteen-Cade
Chapter Seventeen-Francesca
Chapter Eighteen-Cade
Chapter Nineteen-Francesca
Chapter Twenty-Cade
Chapter Twenty-One-Francesca
Chapter Twenty-Two-Cade
Chapter Twenty-Three-Francesca
Chapter Twenty-Four-Cade
Chapter Twenty-Five-Francesca
Chapter Twenty-Six-Cade
Chapter Twenty-Seven-Francesca
Chapter Twenty-Eight-Cade
Chapter Twenty-Nine-Francesca
Cade’s First Month of Rehab | Chapter Thirty-Cade
Chapter Thirty-One-Francesca
Cade’s Second Month of Rehab | Chapter Thirty-Two-Cade
Chapter Thirty-Three-Francesca
Cade’s Third Month of Rehab | Chapter Thirty-Four-Cade
Chapter Thirty-Five-Francesca
Grand Opening | Chapter Thirty-Six-Cade
Chapter Thirty-Seven-Francesca
Breakdown | by | Amanda Lance
Do Anything by | Wendy Owens
RESIST ME | A.O. Peart
Chapter One | ETHAN
Chapter Two | ETHAN
Chapter Three | GLORIA
Chapter Four | ETHAN
Chapter Five | ETHAN
Chapter Six | GLORIA
Chapter Seven | ETHAN
Chapter Eight | GLORIA
Chapter Nine | GLORIA/LISBETH
Chapter Ten | ETHAN
Chapter Eleven | ETHAN
Chapter Twelve | LISBETH
Chapter Thirteen | ETHAN
Chapter Fourteen | LISBETH
Chapter Fifteen | ETHAN
Chapter Sixteen | LISBETH
Chapter Seventeen | ETHAN
Chapter Eighteen | LISBETH
Chapter Nineteen | ETHAN
Chapter Twenty | ETHAN
Chapter Twenty One | ETHAN
Chapter Twenty Two | LISBETH
Chapter Twenty Three | ETHAN
Chapter Twenty Four | LISBETH
Chapter Twenty Five | LISBETH
Chapter Twenty Six | ETHAN
Chapter Twenty Seven | LISBETH
Chapter Twenty Eight | ETHAN
Chapter Twenty Nine | LISBETH
Chapter Thirty | ETHAN
THE END
OTHER BOOKS BY A.O. PEART
THE MAN TEST
CHAPTER ONE | Love and Las Vegas
AMANDA AKSEL
A RISK WORTH TAKING | By | HEATHER HILDENBRAND
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 Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ford
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Epilogue
About the Author
Unintentional Virgin | By | A.J. Bennett
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 21
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
ALSO BY A.J. BENNETT
The Fall of Sky | ~Part One~ | A Serial Novella | By | Alexia Purdy
Liked the book?
About the Author
Connect with Alexia Purdy:
A Firefighter's Flame
Dedication
Stealing Promises | By Brina Courtney
1 | First Love
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Move | Episode I | By Brina Courtney
1
2
3
The Fireside Series | By Morgan Black
1 | December, 2011
The collection contains these books:
Heidi McLaughlin – My Unexpected Forever
Raine Thomas – For Everly
Bethany Lopez - Indelible
Kimberly Knight – Tattooed Dots
Felicia Tatum – Mangled Hearts
Amanda Lance - Breakdown
Anna Cruise - Maverick
Wendy Owens – Do Anything
AO Peart – Resist Me
Amanda Askel – The Man Test
Heather Hildenbrand – A Risk Worth Taking
AJ Bennett – Unintentional Virgin
Alexia Purdy – The Fall of Sky
Dani Hart – A Firefighter’s Flame
Brina Courtney – Stealing Promises
Morgan Black – Fireside Series
The XOXO New Adult Collection
Published By Laurelis Press
Copyright © 2014 Laurelis Press
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places or events are entirely the work of the author. Any resemblance to actual persons, events, or places is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in piracy of copyrighted materials.
Cover art by Cover Up Designs
My Unexpected Forever
Heidi McLaughlin
CHAPTER 1
Harrison
The music sheet doesn’t make any sense. I’ve been over it a hundred times or more and it’s still all a blur. I know the lyrics and the beat, but everything I put down is a mess. Liam is expecting something from me by the time band practice starts in an hour, and I’m not going to be able to deliver. My mind is consumed with thoughts of love and lust and there isn’t jack shit I can do about it.
I rip my ears buds out and move away from my computer. I can’t do this, not today. Not after seeing her last night. I hate that I can’t tell her how I feel. I hate that when another man looks at her, I feel nothing but murderous rage. I want to be the only one looking at her.
I’m a fool to think she wants me, with my full-sleeved tattoos and rocker lifestyle. I know I can offer her more than those other men. A stable home, financial security and a man who will worship and kiss the ground that she walks on. But I’m not the one you can take home to mom or to the school PTA meetings without being stared at. I know she doesn’t want that. Enough people stare at her now.
I pull out a clean sheet of paper and write down more lyrics. More touchy-feely shit that I wish I could tell her. Instead, I show up almost daily with something to offer her; coffee, lunch, or a free lawn mowing job because I can’t, for the life of me, get it through my head that I’m nothing more than just a friend to her, and that’s all I’ll ever be.
I write down six words before tearing the paper up. I know why Liam tasked me with putting the music down for these songs, but they’re mine. I hadn’t planned on sharing them with the band. I think he’s trying to get back at me for all those things I said about him falling in love when he returned home for his buddy’s funeral. Now that it’s my turn, he’s sitting back and laughing his ass off. I ought to write some heavy shit. The head pounding scream-your-lungs-out shit that I sometimes think about. Either way, we need new songs and we’ve all been taxed with producing something.
But no, that isn’t who we are. We’ve skyrocketed with Liam’s heartfelt ballads and rocking personal stories that make women fall in love with us. They all think we’re tortured souls and in need of companionship. Little do they know that Liam has only written about one woman. Hell, even I didn’t know about it until he upped and left Los Angeles for the quiet, mundane life of Beaumont.
I can’t blame him. I’ve done the same thing. This is the best place to raise Quinn. He’ll go to school with Noah, and when Liam and I have a gig, Josie will take care of him. She’s really filled the role of mother for Quinn and for that, I will forever be thankful to her. That and she gave my best friend a whole new life and we’ve since had a string of number one hits, putting us back at the top of the charts.
Now, if I could just get the one I’m infatuated with to just look in my direction. I’m firmly stuck in the friend category, though, and I don’t know how to get out of it. I’m afraid to tell her how I feel because the look on her face will break me. I know she doesn’t want me the way I want her, and I’d rather be her friend then not have her in my life at all.
I put my ear buds back in to try this one more time. I picture the things I want to do to her. The way I want to hold her. How I want to be the one she comes home to at night. Be the one that she turns to when she needs consoling on the anniversary of her husband’s death. I want to be the one that the twins need when someone dares to break their hearts.
Imagining a life with her is as easy as breathing. I just have to find a way to make it happen without putting too much pressure on her. I hope that time is my friend and that someday she’ll look in my direction and realize I’m someone she can trust to take care of her. That she’ll know I’d never hurt her or the girls. That she will see me for me and know that Quinn and I would fit perfectly into her life.
I push away from the desk and head to my drums, bringing my laptop with me. I need to pound out some anger and frustration and maybe something will transpire that is usable. I close my eyes and let my sticks guide me. My beat starts off hard and steady. I’m beating the drums in front of me, releasing this pent up energy.
Her face flashes before my eyes, her voice inside my head. I instantly calm down and work out a rhythm. I hit record on my laptop and play the sound through. It’s slow, smooth. Definitely something Liam and I can work on.
Jimmy and Tyler knock on the window, alerting me that they’re here. Tyler is our new soundboard guru and he’s been spending time with Jimmy in Los Angeles for the past week getting to know him. I stop the recording and take off my headphones to open the door for them. When I do, she’s coming down the stairs talking on her cell phone. Her eyes meet mine briefly. I can’t tell you if I’m smiling or not showing any emotion whatsoever, her presence alone makes me turn into a fool. It’s times like this that I’m thankful she works for us. It gives me every conceivable excuse to be near her. It’s so easy to
fake a conversation about music and what gig we have coming up or what our deadlines are. The funny thing is, I know all of this, but act as if I’ve forgotten or can’t find my phone to look it up.
Jimmy, or JD as we call him as he tells us it suits his ‘rock star’ lifestyle, slaps me on the shoulder as he passes. He’s chuckling and muttering something to himself. Liam is trudging down the stairs before I can shut the door and turn on the light to let Katelyn and Josie know we are working.
I hate the way Liam looks in the morning. No, I shouldn’t say that. I’m happy for him. He’s with the one woman he loves and they are happy. Sickeningly happy; he’s paid his dues and deserves this. The pride I see in his eyes when he looks at his son is the same way I am when I look at Quinn. They are the best of us, no matter how much we screw up.
“JD, my man,” Liam says as they man hug. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Linda let me in. Tell me, how much did you have to pay her to leave her cushy job at the hotel to come here to take care of your sorry arse?”
Liam laughs. He made it a few months before he started looking for a housekeeper. He didn’t want Josie having to take to care of the house by herself so he asked his former maid, Linda, to move to Beaumont. He’s in the process of building her a nice little house behind his and he bought her a car.
“Let’s get to work. Katelyn is working on booking some new bars that she heard about, so we need to work out the kinks.” Liam straps his guitar on and starts tuning.
“I worked this out before you guys got here.” I move over the laptop and press play, watching JD and Liam as they listen to the melody. Liam smiles and looks over to the lyrics we’ve been working on. JD moves to the keyboard and hits a few keys and I add in the beat from my drums. Liam signals to Tyler to start recording. He strums his guitar and sings into the microphone as JD and I play along with him.
When I look up, Katelyn is watching me. Not us, but me, before she turns and is out of sight. For one brief moment I have a sliver of hope that she might feel the same way.
CHAPTER 2
Katelyn
I set the phone down, resting my head in my hands. I know I can do this. I just have to convince myself that Liam didn’t make a mistake in hiring me. What was I thinking when I opened my mouth at Christmas, saying I could be their manager? I fear I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, but Liam has confidence in me, even if I’m only booking 4225 West in small bars.
They laugh – the bar owners – when I call to book a gig. They ask if I’m joking, and I assure them that I’m not. I tell them, repeatedly, that the band is trying a different angle, more family friendly and want to give back to the fans that have made them so popular. Still, I can hear the humor in their voices when they agree to a booking and the small fee is figured out. What they don’t understand is that with a bit of advertising, they will clean house at the end of the night. 4225 West isn’t asking for a large percentage; they just want to play and want to do it without the bright lights shining in their faces.