TWIST
By Kylie Scott
A Dive Bar Novel
From New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott
comes the second sizzling stand-alone novel in the Dive Bar series!
When his younger brother loses interest in online
dating, hot bearded bartender Joe Collins only intends to log into his account
and shut it down. Until he reads about her.
Alex Parks is funny, fascinating, and pretty much
everything he's been looking for in a woman—except that she lives across the
country. Soon they're emailing up a storm and telling each other their deepest,
darkest secrets...except the one that really matters.
When Alex pays Joe a surprise visit, however, they
both discover that when it comes to love, it's always better with a twist.
EXCERPT
I watched the streetlights cast shadows
on the angle of his cheekbone, the furrow of his brow.
Strange how his manly beauty had grown on me, redefining or rather
stretching my usual boundaries.
Perhaps some people’s allure came from
the inside out. A good thing. Their ways and their words did the wooing instead
of their physical appeal. Not to diss Joe’s impressive physique. As nice as a pretty face was, though, the
personality, the person beneath the skin, should matter more. Anything
else was pretty shallow and unlikely to last. Guess that
was the difference between my scratching an itch with a stranger and
the way this man had me tied up in knots. And not even
neat, sea-worthy knots. I’m talking, haven’t washed or
brushed your hair in forever and there’s a big old mess back there. Shit.
At the bar, he’d flirted with me. Full-on
flirted with me, his supposed platonic friend who was not his
type. No way did I know what to do. Normally Valerie would
be first on my hit list of people to call. But she’d just tell me to
jump him, regardless of what else was going on, or any possible consequences. Plus, with him beside me it would be kind of uncool.
But a couple of whisky
sours or no, I was pretty certain I
hadn’t imagined his interest. As Mom had always said, however, best to
be sure.
“What are the renovating plans for
tomorrow?” I asked.
“Rip out the old fittings and prepare the
space for new.” I nodded.
“So we’ll be doing some
pounding and screwing?”
“Ah, yeah.” The man cast me a look out of
the corner of his
eye. “Sound okay?”
“Absolutely. Can’t wait to get my hands
back on that big hard
hammer.”
“Great,” he said, throwing me another
questioning look. I gave a nice bland smile. Yeah, pal. Two could play at the
what-the-fuck-is-going-on flirting game. I turned in my seat, all
the better to face him.
“Did you want to bang, Joe?”
“What did you say?” Wide eyes flashed my
way.
“Like I did on that wall today. That was
fun,” I said with all due sincerity.
“Will we be doing more of
that?”
A pause. “Sure.”
“Awesome.”
Another quizzical look.
“Something wrong?” I inquired politely.
“No.” His Adam’s apple dipped as he
swallowed hard, shifting in his seat, gaze decidedly unsure. The
poor fool couldn’t begin to understand the crazy he’d unleashed with
his little taunt. Get rough with the man? My starved libido was
well beyond the rough-and-tumble stage. No more hiding or
denying, sticking to the sidelines of life. It was my time
to step forward and be brave. When it came to Joe Collins, I was
more than ready to say yes.
“I just . . .” he started. “Never mind.”
Neither of us spoke as he pulled into a
parking space a short walk down from the hotel. I leaned over,
placing my hand on his denim-covered thigh. The muscle tensed
beneath my fingers. Shame on me for straying a little close
to his loins.
“Thanks so much for tonight, Joe. I’m so glad
we decided to be friends. Because you, sir, make a great
friend.”
“Right. Good.” A frown. “How much did you
have to drink again?”
“Not nearly enough. Quick, let’s get to
my hotel room so I can have more!” I threw open my door.
“Okay.”
Hands stuffed in his pockets, he
followed me inside, lingering a step or two behind. Guess he
didn’t like it when people’s moods got all mixed up and
mercurial either. Funny, that. I nodded to the dude at the front desk
and pressed the button on the elevator. It opened immediately.
Mirrors and old-timey looking wooden framing decorated the small space.
We both leaned against the back wall as it slowly
ascended.
“Yeah, sure can’t wait to do some
banging, and pounding, and screwing around with you, Joe.” I smiled.
“Sound good?”
He just gave me a dry look from his
superior height. All confusion gone from his handsome face. Confined
spaces only made him seem bigger, even more imposing than
usual. No way, no day, however, was I crawling back into my
shell or turning into a shadow. We’d agreed to work on our
issues, so fine, I was putting it out there. Still, my bravado was fading, I could
barely meet his eyes. The man affected me in all the ways.
“It’s hard, no pun intended this time,
because sometimes it feels like you want to be just friends,”
I said. “But then other times you flirt with me and I honestly don’t
know what’s going on. No huge surprise there, I know. Social
awkwardness is my jam. But I thought I mostly understood where you
were coming from.”
A ding from the elevator and the doors
opened at our stop. I walked out, his bearded hotness following
slowly behind, stalking me almost. For certain his usual cool,
easy-going-guy persona was
missing in action. The man radiated
tension, intensity, even. And if he didn’t, I definitely did.
Inside the hotel room I went for mood lighting,
only turning on the table and bedside lamps. I rubbed
sweaty hands against the sides of my pants.
“What you said back at
the bar about me getting rough with you, however. Now, that almost
sounded like a dare.”
“Did it?”
“It did.”
Arms hanging loose at his sides, he just
watched me, saying nothing. Jerk.
“So tell me.” I stood at the foot of the
bed, facing him. Every part of me was wired, wide awake. “What’s
going on, Joe?”
His shoulders rose and fell on a deep
breath. “I realized something tonight.”
“What?”
“That I was falling into old habits.
Doing what was easy instead of doing what I wanted.”
“Huh?”
“It was just before you spilled ice on
that guy’s pants.”
“Sure. I can see how you’d be seduced by
my smooth moves,” I said, voice filled with much doubt. My
insides were ready to spontaneously combust. I swear I could
feel sweat breaking out all
over me, the man was just that hot. Also,
my nerves were on high alert. One corner of his lips tipped up.
“You
know how you said you weren’t jealous?”
“Yes?”
“Well, I was.”
Wow. I had nothing.
“This is the part where you’re supposed to
admit you were jealous too,” he supplied.
“I didn’t think it needed to be said. I’m
not that good a liar.”
“True,” he said. “Anyway, I made the pass
at you and then I was leaving it up to you to figure out
what you want. To be brave and make the next move.”
Softly, I laughed and shook my head. Men
were such idiots.
“Make the first move? This isn’t a game.
As I said last time the subject of sex came up, previous hurt feelings,
etc. It’s going to get complicated.”
“Yeah, probably,” he said, voice deeper
than I’d ever heard it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kylie is a New
York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance
Writer of the year, 2013 & 2014, by the Australian Romance Writer’s
Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages.
She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based
in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes
and never dithers around on the internet.
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