Double Dare: April Fools' For Love (6 page)
Read Double Dare: April Fools' For Love Online
Authors: Jodi Redford
At the ripe age of seven, Jodi Redford penned her first epic, complete with stick-figure illustrations. Sadly, her drawing skills haven’t improved much, but her love of fantasy worlds never went away. These days she writes about fairies, ghosts and other supernatural creatures, only with considerably more heat.
She has won numerous contests, including The Golden Pen and Launching a Star.
When not writing or working the day job, she enjoys gardening and way too many reality-television shows.
Currently residing in Michigan with her husband and overgrown lapdog, she is a member of RWA national and Greater Detroit Romance Writers of America.
She loves to hear from readers. You can email her at
[email protected]
and visit her online at
www.jodiredford.com
.
Jodi is also on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/jodi.redford.3
and Twitter
https://twitter.com/jodiredford
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Thieves of Aurion
Coming Soon:
Dylan (Sons of Dusty Walker)
Bad Boys Do It Better
Triple Knockout
Best April Fools joke ever—falling in love.
Biting Serendipity
© 2015 Mary Hughes
Part of the April Fools For Love collection
Biting Love Short Bites
, Book 4
Serendipity “Sera” Braun wears glasses and a bun to teach during the day, but at night, she adds a breast-plumping vest and dirndl for her job hoisting beer steins at Nieman’s. The big, leather-vest-and-earringed Viking bouncer? He’s bedsheets waiting to get sweaty, but all he does is scowl at her. She’s trying to keep her geriatric stripper of a granny from breaking a hip, but it’s hard when she keeps getting distracted by that sexy, smoky baritone.
Thorvald Thorsson is bitingly lonely—every vampire around him is mating. But his ex-fiancée rejected him as a killjoy (her exact words were
he ate rules and s*** misery
), so it’s high time Fun Thor comes out to play. No way he’d pair up with the cute but too-serious little schoolmarm who waits tables at the bar.
Sera bridles the wicked, delicious things she’d like to do with the muscular Viking, suppressing herself until she’s a volcano about to blow. Then they are thrown together in a prank war, and all his potent masculinity is focused on her. He makes her burn to let loose, but how can she and still be responsible for Granny and set a good example?
Warning: A terribly lonely vampire, a conflicted schoolmarm with a caged wild side, nosy roommates and the female version of a bromance, not to mention scorching sex, swearing with the **** filled in, a whole town full of busybodies—and the best April Fools joke ever.
http://www.amazon.com/Biting-Serendipity-April-Fools-Short-ebook/dp/B00VDRUE14
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Biting Serendipity:
My boss Camille leaned against the open door of the women’s restroom, tapping one impatient foot.
We hustled into the narrow, tiled room smelling of pine disinfectant and lime-and-coconut foaming soap.
Shutting the door, she came right to the point. “Our motto is Sexy And Fun. In the spirit of Fun, I’ve entered Nieman’s into the annual citywide April Fools’ Day competition.”
“That’s nice,” Thor said in a tone of voice that I’d use for snaking hair-clogged drains.
“Nice,” I echoed feebly.
April First in Meiers Corners was like New Years Eve in the rest of the world. Tons of people went out, did things they’d never do the rest of the year, and made utter asses out of themselves. The more sober townsfolk cringed at the antics and stayed home. But enough pranksters would be out, trying to get their video into the haloed winner’s circle, that I’d planned to call in sick to work and lock myself in my bedroom with a good book until it was all over.
“I’m so glad you think it’s nice, because I’ve entered the you two.” She jabbed an index finger at me and Thor.
That finger could have been an icicle, jabbing me in the gut. “No. No way. That competition is for the most outrageous prankster. That’s not me.” Me, outrageous? These days, I colored so much within the lines, I felt weird smudging my eyeliner.
“Not me, either.” Thor flashed palms like stop signs. “Camille, I tried before and…let’s just say it didn’t work out.” Somehow, he made “Didn’t-work-out” sound like “Ti-tan-ic”.
The finger came out again, jab-jab. “Look, Not-Me and Not-Me-Either. I hired extra help to grow my customer base. The winning prank gets played at the award ceremony and covered in the paper—basically, free citywide advertising. So we win, we grow. We
don’t
win, we don’t grow, and I don’t need help.
Capiche?
”
“But why us?” I exchanged another baffled glance with Thor, getting the same combination of zing and reassurance.
“Because you both need to loosen up and show more
Sexy And Fun
. Besides, no one else is available. Consider this incentive to prove to me that you have the right va-voom to be at Nieman’s. Win the April Fools’ Day competition—or you’re fired.”
My insides iced.
Camille sailed out, leaving Thor and me riveted in place, staring after her, shocked like we’d just had cattle prod enemas.
This was a disaster. Me, play a joke? And not just any trick, but a winning prank in a city of master pranksters?
Thor groaned. “It’s March twenty-ninth. How does she expect me to come up with a gag in three days?”
“We don’t stand a chance.” Now I groaned too. Maybe I could’ve done it when I was a kid, but, like Scrooge visited by the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, I’d had a change of heart—although in my case, I’d been visited by the Kangaroo of Karma. Monkeyshines were no longer part of my life.
“We?” Thor said.
Slowly, he and I turned to face each other. I use the phrase “face each other” loosely. With me in my barmaid flats and him in his boots, he stood nearly a foot above me.
But his expression…it wasn’t the usual faint disapproval, but a stunned disbelief—strangely tinged with what almost looked like yearning.
He actually wanted to do this?
Then he gave a sharp shake of the head. “Ridiculous. She couldn’t have designed worse partners.”
That stung. “Hey.”
“I didn’t mean…” His mouth tightened.
I jumped in before he could pound in yet again what a killjoy I was for a little old lady just trying to have some fun. “My mistake. No we about it. Camille only said we had to do this, she didn’t say we had to work together.” My chin jutted.
“Don’t.” Thor growled, low in his throat. “We can work together. All I meant was neither one of us is into pranks.”
“Right.” I heard killjoy.
“Look, I’m just saying I’ve entered this contest before, and I didn’t stand a chance even when I had a
fun
partner.”
“A
fun
partner?” What was I, chopped obligation?
“All I mean is that it takes a sort of daredevil mentality to win. It’s not like either of us has a single adventurous bone in our bodies.”
“Keep talking.” The night had turned sour. “Reinforces just how much you don’t want to work with me.”
He looked away. “I want to work with you.”
His mouth said yes but every other stunning body part underlined no.
“Right. And all the sniping we do has
nothing
to do with our mutual dislike.”
I knew it was a mistake the moment it left my lips.
His gaze swung back. “
Mutual dislike?
” His eyes were like arctic storms. Angry?
Or hurt?
“You know what I mean. You’re always on my case about Granny.”
“Just because I don’t agree with how you treat Ms. Butt doesn’t mean…fuck. Doesn’t matter. Camille ordered us to do this, so we do this.” He jerked one shoulder in a shrug.
The sleeveless T-shirt and leather vest meant what shrugged was bronzed, naked skin, muscles jerking, especially luscious triple-scoop deltoids that I wanted to lick.
Wanted to lick so bad, to keep myself from doing it, I had to run my tongue over my suddenly throbbing lips instead.
His gaze dropped to my mouth and darkened, stormy this time like a steamy tropical squall. “What are you doing?”
“M-me?” Nerves prompted me to lick again. “Just…nothing.”
He leaned closer, his hair swaying forward to frame his chiseled, handsome face. “Nothing?” His pupils dilated to pools of black.
My heart shot into overdrive. Air seemed to have left the small room; contrarily, what there was of it smelled, not of lime and coconut, but leather and male.
Searching my gaze, he reached out and gently cupped my chin. His fingers, warm and slightly rough on my skin, thrilled me down to my toes. His face was so near mine now I could feel the heat of his breath on my skin.
He’s going to kiss me.
My lips parted on quickened breaths. My desire must have shone in my eyes because the saucers of his pupils lit with a red flame. Blood pounded in my ears.
The vampire was staring at me.
Insanely, that turned me on. I tightened toes in my ballerina flats and lifted toward him.
The moment crystallized between us. His red gaze was tethered to mine, the hand that so gently held my face was crowned by a hint of talon, and when his lips parted, fang tips were revealed.
Vampire, human. I was prey. Yet I was also something precious. My lids slid shut in anticipation.
His mouth captured mine.
When the Lights Go Out
An April Fools For Love Story
© 2015 Roxy Mews
Named after the date of her conception, April Prime was used to hiding away and avoiding the world on April Fools’ Day. Or at the very least, avoiding her parents who tended to celebrate the holiday very differently from the rest of the world.
This year would be different. This year she closed on a home, and was taking control of her life. A few hiccups had her headed to an office supply store in search of moving supplies. Crashing through a bathroom door, she stumbled on a bit more than she expected when mister tall, dark, and indisposed was already using the facilities.
Taylor James was stuck being the brunt of yet another round of April Fools’ pranks. One of them being a change of the bathroom door signs. He went to work knowing he’d have to navigate a mine field. What he didn’t expect was a woman bursting in on him only to send his head spinning.
Despite the scenery, April is ready to make a red-faced retreat. That’s when a car crash knocks out the power to everything inside the store, including the electronic locks.
By the glow of the emergency flood light the two realize they may be stuck for a long while. April and Taylor could wait out the inconvenience in silence, or they could capture a moment together, and just maybe find something special when the lights go out.
Warning: Sex in the dark may lead to orgasms and head injury.
http://www.amazon.com/When-Lights-Go-Out-April-ebook/dp/B00VGOPCUM
Enjoy the following excerpt from
When the Lights Go Out:
“Want to know why I hate April Fools’ Day?” she asked.
“If you can top being glued to the toilet seat and getting assaulted by a bucket of bouncy balls before coffee, have at it.”
“My parents conceived me on April Fools’ Day.”
“Why do you know that?” He couldn’t imagine having knowledge of his conception from his own parents.
“They named me after it.” She sighed. “My first name’s April, all right? It’s their favorite funny story. They told it to everyone. Every date I took home. Every friend I invited over. And mind you, my very first birthday sleepover they told all the girls in my second grade class, that they had sex on this very night eight years and nine months ago.”
“Thinking of your parents having sex every time someone says your name? Okay, you win.” Taylor couldn’t stop laughing. “I do know your first name now. Wonder if I’ll get your last name out of you before we’re rescued.”
“Not a chance, mister. You’re not getting any more out of me. We’re having an intimate conversation between strangers.”
He heard some crinkling.
“What is that?” he asked the blackness. Her mother had slipped two things under that door. One was food, the other… He opened his eyes further to try and process.
“I got hungry,” she said around a bite of the granola bar. “Don’t worry. I’ll share.”
Taylor wasn’t sure what she was sharing, but he damn sure wasn’t thinking about food when her hand crept higher.
Without his sight, the touch had every nerve in his body going off like a strobe light in the darkness. The hand that touched him was small, but definitely not shy. She pressed at the midpoint of his thigh as she shifted her weight and adjusted, so her knees were no longer touching his.
She pressed the half empty wrapper against his abdomen. She walked her fingers up his chest. His heart pounded as her digits tickled his nipple while they slid past.
He would have said something, but he wasn’t sure the sounds he made would be at all appropriate, and they might’ve been past that point now anyway. Her fingers continued up his neck and then traced along the line of his jaw. Even though it made no difference in the amount of light, Taylor felt his eyes close. He kept silent and he felt his face go lax with pleasure. Whether he should or not, he enjoyed her touch. For once he wasn’t worried about if the woman was marriage material or if she would be able to put up with his schedule. He wasn’t thinking about any of that. In the dark, he didn’t even have to worry about how she was reacting, because he couldn’t see. It was all about how she made him feel, and he felt alive.
Then her fingers found his lips. His suddenly dry lips. Without thinking, his tongue darted out to wet them, but he ended up licking her finger instead.
“Oh.”