LUST - A Bad Boy Romance Read online

  Adam’s eyes drifted closed and Mason sat there for a moment watching him sleep. He loved when he got to tell stories of his father. It made it feel like his memories were still alive and happy.

  When he should have been angry at his father for abandoning him when he needed him as a teen, and even more so for abandoning Adam when he was just a baby, he couldn’t be mad. He knew why he’d left and the truth was that he’d have left his mother too if he hadn’t been so afraid to leave Adam alone. The only thing he’d wished was that his dad had taken them too.

  Closing the door, Mason crept past his mother’s room. She was snoring, probably passed out drunk, and it seemed pretty obvious why Adam had been up so late. Fleetingly he wondered if his mother had fed him dinner, but it was too late to ask now, he’d just make sure that he had a good breakfast in the morning.

  Every muscle ached as he hit his spring poked bed. Handling as many houses as he was, was exhausting and truthfully he had probably overdone his commitments. But he needed the money, there wasn‘t a choice. His mother’s lack of ability to provide a decent life for Adam was something he knew he had to take control of.

  While she may lay all day with the bottle in her hands, Adam needed food, clothes, and someone who was conscious. For the hundredth time since he filled his summer schedule, he lay on his bed in the dark calculating the money he was going to make.

  It would be easy for him to just take a handful of cash and take off for somewhere better and that would be his plan eventually. But he couldn’t be selfish—he needed to take Adam too. So the amount of money he’d need before he could break free from the hell they were living in would be much higher.

  It’s why he was working his body to death every single day and why he’d overloaded himself with clients. The more he worked, the more money he made and the faster he could get away. That night he fell asleep dreaming of all the cities and towns he could go to. Once he had the money, he’d finally be free from everything that weighed him down and he could live any life he chose.

  ***

  When he pulled up to the Roman’s house the following day, he couldn’t decide if he was hoping or dreading seeing Kelsey again. On the one hand, she was incredibly sexy and he didn‘t mind the view, but on the other hand, she seemed like a complete brat which really took her hotness level down several pegs.

  It wasn’t like she was the worst of these women that he’d ever worked for, but she was the hottest. It was a shame really, to take such a gorgeous body and put such a bad attitude inside.

  Getting out of his pickup truck, where it was hard to decide if the color was still red from paint or from rust, he decided that he really didn’t want to see her. Better not to tease himself. It would be like looking at a gorgeous slice of cake, but knowing that the inside tasted bitter.

  The best plan was to avoid the pool area until the evening when he knew that even if she was home, she’d be inside. Putting his earbuds in his ears, he cranked his music up loud and got on the riding mower. The people in these houses always had a lot of land, but they always had a riding mower for him to use. It was a luxury he wished he could afford on his own.

  Riding the mower in the hot sun with his music on was his favorite part of the job. He was basically getting paid to listen to music and think about whatever he wanted. Most often he thought about what he wanted out of his life, what he planned to do once he blew out of town.

  He‘d have enough saved up that he could afford to get he and his brother set up, but he’d need to find a job right away. Around The Vines and his part of town, his name was known, so when odd jobs came up for people, they’d give him a call and he’d take care of it. He could do anything from fix an engine to a refrigerator, he would shovel driveways and sidewalks, and he’d go get groceries for the older people who couldn’t leave their homes.

  Truthfully, he really hoped to find a job as a mechanic. It would have been great if he could have found one already, but every shop in town was privately owned and had about two people on staff. But the money would be good and he could even get some health insurance.

  He wanted desperately to climb out of the depths he was in and see life from a better view. Even more than that, he wanted to give Adam a life that he never had a chance to have so that when he graduated from high school he could go to college and make something of himself.

  The back of the house took him about an hour and a half to do, and he was sweating in the sweltering sun before he made it to the front of the house. But he needed some water so he rode the mower over to the side of the house and turned it off. Digging into his bag, he pulled out a water bottle and started to drink greedily. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a car pull into the horseshoe driveway. Once stopped, a driver hurried from the front seat toward the back and opened the door. Princess stepped out of the back, her long legs in her short skirt were glistening as the sun hit her smooth chocolate skin.

  With a flick of her long hair, she sashayed herself up the driveway, plenty of expensive looking shopping bags in her hands. Though she was wearing her shades again, he could feel her eyes quickly take him in, but she immediately tried to cover her interest in him. Mason, however, made no such attempt as his eyes stayed trained on her. It wasn’t his fault that she looked like a goddess in her mini blue dress and he was getting a distinct feeling that she knew it and maybe even wanted him to be staring after her. Well, he thought, two could certainly play that game.

  Chapter2

  He was watching her like she was his last meal and Kelsey had to admit she didn’t mind it. In fact, she made sure that she purposely walked with the perfect air of confidence and swinging of the hips to make him take notice. Something about the way he’d laughed at her had driven her crazy and she wanted him to be staring at her for good reasons instead of embarrassing ones.

  It wasn’t as if she actually should care what he thought of her and she certainly wouldn’t admit to herself that she did, even the littlest bit, but it did feel good that his gaze was burning into her as she strode past him.

  And yes, even though she promised she wouldn’t, she did happen to glance in his direction as well. She didn’t mind what she saw at all. His white cutoff shirt was clinging to his sweaty skin and she could see the outlines of his defined muscles. He drank his bottle of water in large, needy gulps and even that small act sent shivers through her. But it was necessary to keep her composure, so that’s exactly what she did.

  As she stepped into her cool front foyer, she slid up her glasses and felt satisfied with his reaction. She couldn’t imagine he’d be thinking of the fool she’d made of herself anymore when he thought of her, not that he was thinking about her. She rolled her eyes at her own ridiculousness and started to head up to her bedroom.

  “There you are!” she heard her mother exclaim. “I had no idea where you were, but Jason is going to be here any minute for your tennis lesson so you need to get changed!”

  Kelsey had forgotten that her tennis lesson was that day. She’d been so focused on making Mason drool over her that she’d completely forgotten her long-standing lesson date. Quickly she took the stairs and changed into her tennis outfit, choosing her tennis skirt and fitted tank top. She always tried to look nice for Jason. Not only was he a major tennis pro, but he was also very good-looking even if he was too old for her, she always liked to impress him.

  “You need to pay more attention to your back swing,” he told her.

  Kelsey had no idea what was wrong with her, but she just couldn’t seem to focus. Normally she was much better than she was displaying and it was almost embarrassing how much Jason was getting frustrated with her.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she confessed.

  Jason’s frustration dissolved a little at her apology. “It’s okay, let’s just go through this again.”

  Jason went through the steps and Kelsey followed along, modeling his moves. But she became distracted again when she saw Mason come into the backyard
with a set of long scissors. She had no idea what they were called, but she’d seen the landscapers in the past use them to cut the edges of the bushes around the yard. This time he didn’t even take a glimpse of her in her tiny outfit and for some reason that burned her.

  “Do you think you could show me the form? I just don’t feel like I’m getting it.” Kelsey used the cutest voice she could muster and gave Jason a flirty, confused look. No guy could ever resist a damsel in distress and she would counting on Jason being the same way.

  True to her expectations, Jason put down his own racket and came toward her. He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. Kelsey glanced over toward Mason, who wasn’t paying her the slightest bit of attention. She needed to lay it on thicker so she bubbled out a giggle.

  “Sorry, that tickles,” she flirted. Part of her felt badly for using Jason this way, but she also knew that he was a guy who never said no to a woman’s attention, so she didn’t let it get to her that much.

  She risked another quick glance in Mason’s direction, and this time she saw that he had taken notice of her. But instead of the interest or intrigue that she was hoping to see, she saw something else. Amusement. He was smiling at her in a way that one would smile at a child. How could that be? Where did he find the nerve to look down on her? She was the one who should be looking down on him! Furthermore, why was she letting him get to her this way? Frustrated, she broke away from Jason’s arms.

  “I’m sorry, I’m just not feeling tennis today. I will see you next week.” She grabbed her racket and left the tennis court behind. Jason was used to Kelsey doing what she pleased when she pleased, so he didn’t think much of it and began packing his things.

  Kelsey stormed off toward the pool area again where they kept a fully-stocked bar. Getting out a bottle of sparkling water, she sat hard onto the bar stool and took a cooling drink.

  “You might not want to take tennis up as a career. You’re not very good at it.”

  His deep voice startled her and she whirled around on her bar stool. She felt triumphant in the fact that he had been noticing her. But she couldn’t let on that she was pleased with his confession so she went for insulted instead.

  “Why were you watching me practice?” she asked. Her tone was sufficiently snotty just as she’d hoped.

  But he just gave her that cocky grin again, the one that equally frustrated and excited her. “Because you wanted me to.”

  Kelsey shot up off of her stool and stood face to face with him. “I absolutely did not! What would ever give you the impression?”

  Mason rolled his gorgeous green eyes as if annoyed, but his smile widened. “Please, as if I don’t know you’re strutting your stuff around here to impress me. If you want my body, all you have to do is ask.” His voice has dropped to something low and sexy.

  It took Kelsey everything she had to keep the desire from her mind, and the giveaway of her face.

  “Trust me, I don’t want you.” She spat out her words, but she could feel her body betraying her as she spoke. Thank goodness she’d never had a desire to be an actress. But she needed to cover up the fact that he’d basically nailed her thoughts on the head and tried to step around him to get into the house. But Mason sidestepped with her and blocked her way.

  “You rich girls are all the same.” His voice came out smooth, but with anger coloring it.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means every single one of you lusts after me, watches me, and flirts with me all summer, yet not one of you would ever lower yourself to do anything about it.”

  Kelsey felt embarrassment creep through her. She knew she had probably been a little obvious but she hadn’t imagined she’d been this bad. And the fact that the other women acted like that too made her feel something else. Jealousy? It couldn‘t be, so she pushed through matching his anger with her own.

  “I’m absolutely not lusting after you. Just because you want something that is far beyond your means doesn’t mean you have to blame it on me. I can’t help it that you can’t reach my status.”

  The moment the words left her mouth she instantly regretted it. She may know the distinction between them, but she didn’t have to put him down because if it. Isn’t that exactly why he’d fired her up so badly? Because he’d been looking down on her? His eyes turned dark and he stepped so close to her she could smell the salty sweat that clung to his body.

  “Listen Princess, just because you think you‘re better than everyone that doesn’t shop where you do doesn’t mean that you actually are. And trust me, if I even dreamed of lowering myself to actually sleep with you, you’d end up begging me for more.”

  He pushed past her, knocking into her shoulder and she fell back onto the stool. She watched him walk away from her and she could practically see the fumes of anger rising from him.

  “Where are you going?” she called after him.

  “Home. Tell your parents they can dock me for half a day.”

  Part of her felt like she should call after him and apologize. She may be a spoiled, high-society brat, and she knew she was, but there was no reason to make him feel badly. She’d never intentionally treated any of the help like that in her life. She’d always tried to be kind and respectful. So why had she let him crawl under her skin like that? Why had she reacted so heatedly?

  She let him stalk off as she sat and let her confusion and guilt take over her. Standing up, she grabbed her bottle of water and headed back into the house. What she was needing was a nice, hot bath, a glass of wine, and to let the tension that he’d caused seep from her body. Starting tomorrow she was going to leave Mason completely alone. No more watching him, no more impressing him, she was even more mortified after what she’d said then she was from falling in the pool.

  It was obvious that Mason could do something to her that was completely primal. She knew nothing about him, but he invaded her thoughts and she imagined that he was right: if she’d give him a chance to get anywhere near her body, he’d be burned into her forever. The best thing she could do was stay far away from him, nothing good could ever come out of anything that might happen between the two of them.

  The following morning, she decided to stay in the house until she felt the coast would be clear and Mason would be gone. She didn’t even venture to take a peek out the window just in case he caught her searching for him. Her embarrassment was far too high to face him. Instead she paced her house, trying to find something to do to keep her mind occupied and away from the thoughts of Mason‘s body.

  By about four o’ clock she decided she couldn‘t stay cooped up any longer. Glancing out the back sliding door she noticed that even if he was still working around the house, he at least wasn‘t anywhere near the pool.

  Quietly she slid open the glass door and scurried to the pool house. The plan was to change quickly and swim a few laps around the pool, just to get out some of her pent up energy. The pool house was a pretty nice space, one that housed bathing suits and towels in dresser drawers, along with the pool supplies nicely hung on walls. The pool house is where they housed floats and beach balls, anything one might need for summer fun with a pool.

  Kelsey opened the dresser drawers and decided on a blue string bikini. She grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it up over her head. She turned her back toward the door and stripped off her underwear. Suddenly a blast of light lit up the pool house and she turned around to find the source. Standing in the open doorway was Mason, his eyes wide as he stared at her naked body.

  “Close the door!” she shrieked in embarrassment.

  Mason quickly obliged and shut the door with him inside of the room. Kelsey scrambled to find something to cover her, but she couldn’t find anything fast enough so as best as she could she covered herself with her hands.

  “I meant with you on the other side of the door! Get out!”

  If she’d thought anything she’d experienced with Mason before was embarrassment, she was mistaken. This was clearly the
most embarrassing this that had ever happened to her and she wanted the nightmare to end. She hadn’t even been able to look at his face because she was afraid to see the way he might be laughing. But she risked a glance, a small one, and her eyes met his. Instead of laughter, she saw something completely unexpected. His green eyes had turned smoldering and she could see pure lust pouring from them.

  *

  Mason hadn’t meant to just barge in on Kelsey like that. He’d really only been meaning to get the pool supplies out. If he’d known she was in there naked….well after seeing her naked, he couldn’t exactly admit that he’d have stayed outside. He had seen her in her tiny bikini just days before which had revealed almost everything, but seeing her with nothing was absolutely stunning.

  Kelsey’s body was perfectly smooth and toned. Apparently the swimming and tennis lessons had paid off because her body was unbelievable. From her tight legs to her stomach with perfectly feminine abs, Mason was mesmerized. Not to mention how perky and round her breasts were. Immediately he wanted to taste her everywhere. He could imagine his mouth on every part of her body and he wanted it worse than he’d wanted any woman before.

  He knew he should have looked away, given her a moment of modesty. Hell, he shouldn‘t have even gone into the pool house, he had just felt so drawn to her it felt like a natural reaction. But there he was, completely lusting after her body, feeling the deepest need for it.

  For a moment he hesitated on what to do next. Should he turn around, walk out the door, hand her something to cover herself with? It was a risk for sure, but he knew for certain that he wasn‘t going to walk away or give her anything to cover up that gorgeous body.

  He took a step forward, knowing that if she took offense to him, it would not only mean he could lose his job with her family, but all through The Vines. But the way she’d been flaunting herself since he’d started working there and the way that she was looking at him in that moment he had a pretty secure feeling that she wasn‘t going to reject any of his advances.