Blown Away
Authors: Cheryl Douglas
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #series, #next generation, #nashville nights, #cheryl douglas, #country music, #billionaire
Book Eight in the
Nashville Nights Next Generation Series
Cheryl Douglas
Copyright © by Cheryl
Douglas
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved. No
part of this book may be reproduced, including photocopying,
graphic, electronic, mechanical, taping, recording, sharing, or by
any information retrieval system without the express written
permission of the author and / or publisher. Exceptions include
brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Persons, places and
other entities represented in this book are deemed to be
fictitious. They are not intended to represent actual places or
entities currently or previously in existence or any person living
or dead. This work is the product of the author’s imagination.
Any and all inquiries
to the author of this book should be directed to:
[email protected]
Blown Away © 2013
Cheryl Douglas
Smashwords
License agreement
This ebook is
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 ebook
with another person, please purchase any additional copy for each
reader. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it
was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to
Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting
the hard work of this author.
Family Tree
Turners
Trey and
Sierra Turner -
Nashville Nights, Book One, Shameless
Jared and
Elaine Turner - Trey’s parents
Alisa
Turner
- Next Generation, Book One, High Stakes
Coopers
Josh and
Lexi Cooper
- Nashville Nights, Book Two, Fearless
Jay and
Victoria
- Josh and Ashley’s son and daughter-in-law /
Nashville Nights, Book Seven, Hopeless
Mike and
Tori Cooper
- Josh and Ashley’s son and daughter-in-law /
Nashville Nights, Book Eight, Careless
Aiden
Cooper –
Josh and Lexi’s son / Next Generation, Book Two, Trade
Off
Brianna
Cooper –
Josh and Lexi’s daughter / Next Generation, Book
Three, Game On
Ava Cooper
–
Jay and Victoria’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Eight,
Blown Away
Spencers
Luc and
Marisa Spencer
– Nashville Nights, Book Three, Ruthless
Nikki
Spencer
– Luc’s daughter / Nashville Nights, Book Five,
Relentless
Ryan
Spencer
– Luc and Marisa’s son / Next Generation, Book Three,
Game On
Evan
Spencer –
Luc and Marisa’s son / Next Generation, Book Four,
Burn Out
McCalls
Ty and
Avery McCall –
Nashville Nights, Book Four, Reckless
Anna McCall
–
Ty and Avery’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Five, Fast
Track
Nick McCall
–
Ty and Avery’s son / Next Generation, Book Six, Time Out
J.T. McCall
–
J.T. and Derek’s brother / Nashville Nights, Book Five,
Relentless
Nikki
Spencer – McCall –
J.T.’s wife / Nashville Nights, Book Five,
Relentless
Lauren
McCall -
J.T. and Nikki’s daughter / Next Generation, Book
Seven, Face Value
Derek
McCall –
J.T. and Derek’s brother / Nashville Nights, Book Six,
Heartless
Ashley
McCall –
Derek’s wife, Jay and Mike Cooper’s mother / Nashville
Nights, Book Six, Heartless
–Blown Away
Ava Cooper
owns a successful dating service. Her life`s work is to connect
people and hope they`ll fall in love, but she isn`t looking for her
soul mate. On the contrary, she`s a busy professional with a full
life. She has a great family, friends, and a cute little dog who
follows her wherever she goes. When she gets a private message from
a man who`s intrigued by her profile, she`s knows her assistant,
Tara, is to blame. Tara`s determined to help her boss find a man,
apparently against her will. But Ava isn’t taking the bait.
When Brent
Armstrong`s brother emails him a link to a dating website, he
assumes he’s just giving him grief again, but when Ava`s picture
appeared on his screen, he can’t breathe. He knows that woman. He
tries to get her out of his head, but when that doesn’t work, he
decides to swallow his pride and send her a private message, hoping
she`ll remember him. When she doesn’t respond, he has a choice to
make. Should he let it go, or give her a friendly reminder of the
night she rocked his world?
Ten Years Earlier
Ava Cooper was cursing
body shots and bad ideas when she stumbled into her best friend’s
bedroom. She’d vowed she would leave her problems behind, but she
hadn’t intended to go so far. She was a good girl, a smart girl.
Good girls didn’t drink too much, kiss random strangers, and
proposition sexy men.
What if he took
her up on her offer? She glanced at the door. Why hadn’t Tara been
smart enough to install a lock? Because she hadn’t needed one. She
was too smart to get herself into a mess like this. The
Jack-and-Jill bathroom gave Ava an escape route, but before she
could stumble across the room and lock herself in it, the bedroom
door inched open.
He stood there
looking like every woman’s naughty fantasy, and Ava suddenly
remembered why she’d propositioned him. She was nineteen and tired
of being a virgin. The nice boys she usually dated couldn’t fulfill
the fantasies that were starting to keep her awake at night. Only
an older man who promised multiple orgasms with just one
body-tingling glance could properly initiate her into the wonderful
world of sex.
He swept his
chocolate brown eyes over the room as though he half-expected her
bodyguard to jump out of the closet. “I thought you might have
changed your mind.” He treated her to that yummy smirk that made
naïve, young girls like her squirm.
Ava knew him
well… Brent Armstrong was the older brother of one her classmates
and a graduate student pursuing his M.B.A. Ava, and every other
girl she knew, had been salivating over him all year, but they were
just
friends. She never would have found the nerve to try to
seduce him without a little help from her friends, Tara and
Smirnoff.
Tara had been
her best friend since middle school. She always told Ava to live a
little, take chances once in a while, get her head out of her books
and discover the world around her. Ava was determined to take her
friend’s advice tonight. She wanted her first time to be
unforgettable, and Brent practically came with a written
guarantee.
“Why would I
change my mind?” she asked, easing onto the edge of the bed.
Oh
god, am I being too easy? Maybe he likes a challenge.
She
thought about getting up, but since she didn’t trust herself to
walk a straight line, she remained seated and hoped he would join
her.
Brent handed
her a large mug. “Drink.”
She frowned.
Was he trying to ply her with alcohol to wear down her defenses?
Didn’t he realize that was overkill? Short of tearing her clothes
off, she didn’t know what else she could say or do to prove she
wanted this to happen.
“What is it?”
She wrinkled her nose when the familiar aroma assailed her nose.
“You know I don’t drink coffee.” They’d spent enough time together
at the campus café for Brent to know she drank herbal tea.
“You do
tonight.”
Bossy, wasn’t
he? Ava couldn’t decide how she felt about that. She was used to
gentle, respectful men who always deferred to her and her wishes.
Instead of arguing, Ava asked, “Why are you giving me coffee
instead of vodka?”
“Why the hell
would I give you more alcohol?” he asked between gritted teeth.
“That’s clearly the last thing you need.” He crossed the small room
as he ran his hands over his cropped, dark hair.
Ava watched the
muscles in his back bunch under his long-sleeved T-shirt.
Irresistible
. That was the word that came to mind every time
she looked at him. He was tall with broad shoulders, a narrow
waist, and powerful legs. She was willing to bet he could go all
night. Biting her lip, she drank her fill of him. Her eyes made a
feast of traveling up and down his body.
“Quit looking
at me like that,” he growled.
Ava looked up,
startled by his harsh tone, even she was more startled when she was
trapped by his heated gaze. He wanted her as much as she wanted
him, but he was fighting it. Why? “Why don’t you sit down? You’re
making me nervous, pacing like that,” she said.
He faced her,
setting his hands on his hips as he glared at her. “You should be
nervous. What the hell were you thinking, asking me to come up
here?”
Is he
serious?
Apparently so, because there wasn’t a hint of a smile
on his face. “Um, I was thinking we could have some fun.”
Oh
God, did I really just say that?
What kind of girl would he
think she was? The kind who invited some random man into her best
friend’s bedroom to ravage her with dozens of drunk people partying
downstairs.
His pupils grew
larger, the rim of brown almost disappearing. “Were you thinking
you’d like to have a little fun with Smyth too?”
Smyth. The guy
she’d kissed. Her stomach roiled just thinking about his fumbling
hands as he tried to shove his tongue down her throat. “Um,
no.”
“Then why the
hell did you let him kiss you like that? You can’t lead a guy like
him on without consequences, little girl.”
“Who’re you
calling a little girl?” She thrust out her chest to prove her
point. She hadn’t looked like a little girl since the sixth grade
when she was the first one in her class to don a training bra.
“You’re way out
of your league with that guy.”
“I suppose I’m
out of my league with you too?” Ava was pleasantly surprised her
voice didn’t sound as though she’d swallowed a mouthful of cotton
balls. She could handle her booze pretty well for a
lightweight.
Brent rolled
his eyes. “You have no idea, sweetness.” He looked at the mug
clutched tightly between her hands. “Drink up.”
“I said I don’t
drink coffee.”
“And I said I
don’t care.”