Feel the Rush: A Hard Feelings Novel (InterMix) (3 page)

Her mother sighed, the worry and exasperation apparent, even through the phone. “You need a man who has his head on straight, who has a bright future and a clean past. You don’t want any momma drama eith—”

“Mom, have you been watching
Real Housewives
again?” Meagan interrupted. She couldn’t help smiling at the thought of her seventy-year-old mother with a reality TV show addiction.

“Oh you hush. Anyway, you don’t need that. You need a man who is stable and who is settled.”

“And how do you suggest I find this stable man with no momma drama and a promising future?”

“By staying away from those troublemakers who think with the head between their legs.”

Meagan laughed. She could picture her tiny mom sitting at the kitchen table with her feet tucked up in the chair next to her small body, her short silver hair tucked behind her ears—talking about men’s penises. She might be an older mom, but she had spunk, she always had. Even as Meagan was growing up, all her girlfriends would sit at the counter while her mom cooked, or baked, or just drank her coffee, and chatted with her like they were all friends. Everyone envied the relationship Meagan had with her mom. She was the type of mom that you would actually call to come pick your underage ass up from a party when you were drunk and needed a ride. She was type of mom that you would honestly tell when you started having sex so you could get on the Pill. She was always there when Meagan needed her, and more often than not she was there when Meagan’s friends needed her too. She was the kind of mom Meagan hoped she could be someday—if that day ever came.

“Don’t pretend that you don’t get caught up in the fun of it all. I was young once, I remember. I may have only been with your father, but when he was your age he was a pistol in the bedroom.”

“Okay, thank you, Mom, for putting that oh-so-pleasant image in my head.”

“You are a grown woman, nothing to be embarrassed about. You’re almost thirty.”

“Again with the age thing, seriously?”

“All I’m trying to say is you need someone safe.”

Safe?

“But I’m heading to bed now, sweetie.”

“All right, Mom. Love you.”

Meagan hung up the phone, pulled her legs up underneath her, and leaned against the armrest of the couch. “Harry, what would I do without you?” she said as her long-haired black cat climbed onto her lap. “It’s just you, me, and Weasley.” She rubbed the head of the orange tabby that was purring next to her and then tipped back her bottle of wine—again.

***

Dammit, her mom was right. If she wanted to fall in love and have a family before she started sprouting gray hairs and before gravity took ahold of her boobs, she needed to stop screwing around, literally. Her five-year plan was up. There were only so many times she could flip over that damn hourglass and get away with it.

“Oh, please tell me you are not sitting on your couch drinking wine with your cats?”

Meagan turned her head toward the front door as Eva came barging in, kicking off her flip-flops at the door.

“Okay, I won’t tell you.”

“What the hell is your problem? You didn’t need to bail on us just because you got your panties in a bunch.”

Meagan blinked hard. “Do you realize that in one month from today I will be turning thirty? Thirty, Eva.”

“Yes, you will be turning thirty. So what?”

“Easy for you to say, you still have three more years before the threatening thirty comes knocking at your door.”

“Oh my god, you’re acting like you are about to turn to dust or something. What’s going on?”

“My time’s up. My five-year plan is—”

“What five-year plan?” Eva interrupted, sitting down in the chair across from Meagan.

“The five-year plan I had. You know, find Mr. Right, get married, have two-point-five kids, a house, the picket fence, the whole nine yards—all before I hit thirty. So much for that plan.” Meagan pressed the wine bottle to her lips and just as she was tilting it back to let the smooth liquid into her mouth, the bottle was ripped out of her hands.

“Are you kidding me? Let me guess: You’ve been talking to your mom again, haven’t you? You are not going to sit here and wallow in your ridiculous plan that didn’t follow through.”

“Yes, I am going to wallow. Look around, Eva. I live in a shitty apartment by myself with my two cats. I’m single and I’m almost thirty. Top that off with the fact that I just found out that my best friend is moving and I think I’m entitled to some wallowing.”

“You really should have taken that young guy up on his flirting. What you need is sex.”

Meagan threw her head back and laughed. “Mark my words; I’m officially done dating Mr. Sexy, Mr. Bad, and especially Mr. Unavailable. That also includes Mr. Puppy.”

Eva laughed. “Good luck with that, honey. Who does that leave you? Mr. Boring?”

“No, Mr. Safe.”

“Mr. Safe? What the hell does that mean?”

“It means no more guys that just want to fuck me senseless or pick me up at a bar and especially no more guys that will break my heart.”

“So, no more fun?”

Meagan inhaled deeply. “It . . . can still be . . . fun,” she said haltingly, trying to make the idea sound more appealing, even if she didn’t have a damn clue what she was talking about. “But just because it’s fun doesn’t mean that it has to be reckless. I’m ready to start my forever, Eva.”

“Sooo”—Eva leaned back in the chair and folded her arms across her chest—“Mr. Safe, huh?”

Meagan returned a full, toothy smile. “Yes, find Mr. Safe. That’s the plan.”

“You know what your plan needs?” she said with a little too much perk in her voice for Meagan’s current mood. When Eva started plotting, it usually didn’t end well.

Meagan groaned. “And what’s that?”

“A change in scenery. Come with me.” Eva’s words trailed off in a high-pitched tone, which was definitely not a sound that usually came out of her mouth. It was like the sudden thought had to escape before it passed by, and it came out in an excited screech.

Meagan’s brows darted up toward her hairline and her baby blues rounded even more. “To Benning?”

“Why the hell not? You have nothing tying you down here anymore. Your parents moved to Florida last year, you live in a shitty-ass apartment, you will have no problem finding another nursing job, you’re single, and the topper—I’ll be there.”

“Well damn, don’t sugarcoat it or anything.”

“Okay, I hit below the belt, I’m sorry. But it would be great, Meggy. Come on, come with me. You said you wanted a new plan, why not get a new start?”

That actually wasn’t a bad idea.

Chapter Two

Meagan loved summer nights. It was nine o’clock and only now starting to get dark. The sky was still that dim blue, like it was holding its breath for daylight before the night smothered it. And the Southern air was beautiful—just the right amount of warmth to make it perfect.

Meagan pulled her feet out of the open passenger-side window of Eva’s truck as they pulled into their new apartment building in Columbus, Georgia, and sat back up so she could get a better look. It was a small community, just eight apartment buildings forming a square surrounded by the parking lot. It seemed almost cold, isolated. There was only a small section of grass extending from the buildings to the sidewalk—other than that it was empty, plain, and very unimpressive. But it was nighttime—maybe it would look better during the day. Here’s for hoping.

Eva parked in a couple of parking spots. Luckily she owned an oversized monster of a truck, and it was able to pull Meagan’s little Volkswagen Beetle on a trailer. It would have been complete hell driving the entire nineteen hours in the car by herself, although having complete control of the music would have been nice. If Meagan never had to listen to another country song, it would be too soon—and she didn’t even mind country music, but nineteen hours of straight twang was torture.

Meagan hopped out of the truck to stretch her legs. She brought up her ankle to her butt to stretch out her thighs, which had cramped up somewhere in North Carolina, and the pull she felt in her muscles was delicious.

Eva walked around the front of the truck and stopped in front of Meagan. “So, what do you think?”

“It’s great.”

“Don’t lie to me. I can tell by the complete look of panic on your face that you think it sucks. Well, don’t get your panties in a bunch, princess. The pictures on their website looked great.” That wasn’t completely promising. “I’m meeting the landlord at his apartment to get our key since the office is closed. I’ll be right back.”

“Um, Eva, that sounds a little sketchy,” she said, leaning against the side of the truck. “I’m going to stay here and watch our stuff. If you’re not back in ten minutes, I’m going to assume that you’ve been offed by the landlord and I’m taking the truck and getting the hell out of here.”

Eva tossed Meagan the truck keys. “You wouldn’t come looking for me?”

“Hell no, this feels like the beginning to a cheap horror movie—it would be called
Tenants
. But I will be the smart one that gets away in the end, you will be the stupid one that goes running to the killer in the middle of the night looking for your damn apartment key.” She shook her head and laughed as Eva looked completely amused. “It’s your funeral.”

“You’re such a bitch; I can’t believe you wouldn’t come save me. I’ll remember that!” she shouted as she walked toward the apartment building in front of them.

Meagan smiled and then opened up the door to the truck and grabbed two very noisy crates from the backseat. “Hopefully we will be inside soon so you guys can get out of there,” she said, peeking in to look at her cats, who sounded like they were dying—they really hated those damn things.

Within a few minutes, Eva was jogging back to the truck with a couple of keys dangling from her fingers. “Did the boogeyman come while I was gone?”

“Shut up. Which one’s ours?” she asked, handing Eva a litter box and a container of litter.

“This way.”

Meagan picked up the crates and followed Eva down the walkway in between the two buildings that were in front of them. When they got to the back side of the buildings it was like they were in a completely different world. It was absolutely beautiful. It was set up like a courtyard, with a stone fountain surrounded by a circular stone walkway placed in the center of the enormous grounds. The lawn was beautiful, professionally landscaped to perfection. It was the middle of June, and flowers were blooming everywhere, and there was a handful of surprisingly mature trees throughout. There was a huge pool at the far side of the courtyard, complete with a diving board and a twirly slide—and yes, the twirly slide got her the most excited. When she looked at the backs of the buildings, there were small patios and decks that faced the courtyard.

“This is amazing, Eva.”

“No shit,” she murmured, slightly surprised as well. “This is even better than the website led on. Now I’m dying to see the inside. We should be this one right over here.” She walked to the building to the right of the fountain, stuck her key into the patio door of apartment 2C, and pushed it open.

Meagan was more than pleasantly surprised when she walked in. Actually, that was putting it mildly. Going off the opinion she had from looking at the outside of the building, she was completely prepared for molded carpet, broken cabinets, crusty bathrooms, and maybe even one of those chalk outlines of a dead body on the kitchen floor.

Instead, she saw beautiful hardwood floors—okay, so they were probably laminate floors, but they sure as hell were better than nasty carpet—stainless-steel appliances, beautiful mocha-colored cabinets, and the bathrooms—there were three! This place made her old apartment look like a college dorm room, which actually wasn’t too far off from the truth, to be honest. This apartment was clean and spacious with a huge eat-in kitchen and a separate dining room. The bedrooms were large with walk-in closets and each one had their own bathroom.

“So what do you think?” Eva asked, looking around the large, open living room.

“I’m thinking this is a hell of a lot better than my old apartment.”

“We’re splitting the rent, roomie. You can afford a big-girl apartment now.”

“Point taken. In that case, I’m glad I left all the planning to you. This is perfect.”

Eva headed toward the front door, which Meagan assumed led to the outside of the apartment building. “I’m not gonna say, ‘I told you so’. . . well, yep . . . I am . . . ‘I told you so’. I’m gonna go grab a couple boxes.”

Meagan rolled her eyes. “Okay, I will be out to help in a minute. I’m going to let Harry and Weasley out and get their litter box set up real quick.”

“Okay,” Eva said before shutting the door behind her.

Meagan opened up the crate. You would have thought they got bit in the ass by the way they bolted out. Meagan laughed. “Not too bad, huh?”

Meagan stepped back and looked around her new home. Sure, there was nothing filling it yet, and there probably wouldn’t be anything for another couple of weeks until the movers got there, but oddly enough it already felt like a place she could settle in to. She still had slight reservations about packing up her entire life and moving, all within a matter of weeks, but just being here eased those up a little bit. Moving without any plan was probably the most irresponsible thing she had ever done, but if she wanted to change, if she wanted to find her forever, why not get a fresh start? She swept her eyes around the empty apartment again. This was it—her fresh start.

“Hey, Meggy, grab the door for me, will ya?” she heard Eva holler from the living room as she walked out of the laundry room.

Meagan hurried to Eva, who had her hands full of boxes stacked one on top of the other. That little shit was strong. “Seriously, I’m about to drop. . . .”

The top box fell from her hands. Luckily the army was moving most of their stuff and all they had packed with them were mostly clothes, but the sound of the box hitting the hard floor scared the crap out of Harry and he bolted out the patio door.

“Shit!”

Meagan ran after him. This was great, they had been here a total of ten minutes and her cat was already lost. Looking for a black cat at nighttime was difficult, add the fact that they were in a new place and the cat had just been spooked to the equation, and Meagan knew it was going to be hard to find him.

“Here, kitty, kitty, kitty,” she said over and over as she frantically searched the courtyard. As she was coming up to the fountain she heard a deathly screech, one that could only be her cat, followed by a bark that more resembled thunder.

Great.

There was a dog—no, this wasn’t a dog, it looked more like a bear—barking at one of the larger trees in the courtyard. Meagan ran to the tree and sure enough, Harry was halfway up, hissing like a trooper at the devil dog below.

“Dammit,” she said under her breath. “Go. Shoo. Get out of here. Get the hell out of here, Cujo.”

“Actually, his name’s Tiny,” a low Southern voice said from behind her, making her spine stiffen and her pulse accelerate.

***

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the blonde said as she turned around and saw Reed standing there. He grabbed ahold of his dog’s leash, which was trailing behind him, and hooked it around his wrist.

“I’m sorry, he caught me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting him to take off like that. He’s harmless.”

“Yeah, tell that to my cat,” she said, looking up in the tree to where a black cat crouched, hissing at Tiny.

Reed laughed. “Ah, makes sense now. He saw something he liked.” And Reed saw something he liked as well. This woman had curves that could make a man dizzy, and the thin cotton pants left little to his imagination on the way her hips gave way to her luscious ass. He had to keep himself from staring—and it was a hard task to do.

“Well, any possible way you could put him inside? I’ve got to try to get my cat down before he climbs up any higher.” She tucked a piece of her blond hair behind her ears as she gave him an annoyed glance.

“Yeah, hold on and I’ll help you.” He jogged back to his apartment and let Tiny inside. Rescuing a cat out of a tree, now that’s not how he saw the start of his Friday night going.

“I haven’t seen you around. You just move in?” Reed asked as he jogged back to her. She traveled her eyes over him, and at first he thought she might be checking him out, which—he wasn’t going to lie—turned him on, but then she lifted her gaze and sent him another annoyed look, her blond eyebrows creasing over her round eyes as she frowned.

“Yes. We just got here, as in, like, fifteen minutes ago, and I’ve already managed to lose my cat—this better not be a sign.”

“A sign? Eh, if anything it’s a good sign. You got to meet your next-door neighbor on the first night you were here, and it just so happens that this awesome new neighbor of yours is a pro at climbing trees.” Reed slipped off his flip-flops and flashed her a megawatt smile that caused her golden cheeks to tint a shade of pink.

“That’s good, I don’t do heights and I was coming up short on ideas to get him down.”

“You don’t do heights? Ah, I think you just broke my heart a little bit there. . . . I’m sorry, what’s your name?”

Those eyebrows of hers danced up again and those pretty blue eyes seemed to enjoy narrowing into a glare. “I’m Meagan,” she said, although it might have been more like a hiss—he was new to the female species acting like this around him, so he couldn’t be sure.

“So, Meagan, what do you have against heights?” he asked as he jumped up and grabbed onto the lowest branch so he was dangling from the tree in front of her.

Her eyes followed to where his hands gripped the branch. “Oh, pretty much everything. The way I feel like I’m going to throw up as I start getting higher, and then there is the big fear of falling to my death that gets me a little, oh, I don’t know, terrified.”

Reed let a low laugh escape from his chest before he swung his legs up and wrapped them around the branch, pulling himself into a sitting position. “See, everything you just explained right there—that’s why I love it.” He stood up and jumped to the neighboring branch. The second his feet left the tree an audible gasp left Meagan’s mouth. He couldn’t help but smirk at her sweet reaction. “Did I happen to mention that I’m a pro at climbing trees?”

“You might have mentioned that, yes. But you never mentioned that you were a complete lunatic. You could have missed that branch and fallen, or what if it didn’t support your weight? Do you want me to have to witness a suicide on my first night here? Because that’s what it would be, suicide!” she hollered up at him.

Reed reached up and grabbed onto the branch above him and pulled himself up. He was almost to the cat.

Smiling to himself and ignoring her little rant he continued. “So, Meagan, what brings you to our nice little community here?”

“Small talk? Really? I’m kind of having a panic attack down here watching you. Think we can save the chitchat until you are back on the ground?”

Oh, he liked her. She was funny with just the right amount of sweet to make her sarcasm adorable.

“I’m a good multitasker too.” He could hear the soft sigh curl from her lips and he could almost bet that an eye roll went right along with it.

“I moved here with my friend Eva, she’s stationed at Benning. We just got here from Fort Drum.”

Reed was just about there. He stepped his right foot over to the next branch and pushed himself up just enough until he could reach the cat. He slid his forearm under the cat, gaining more than a couple of puncture wounds as it dug its claws into his skin, and pressed it against his chest. Getting down was always much faster. He weaved his body in and out of the branches until he was low enough to hand the cat over to Meagan. She wrapped her hands around the cat and clutched him against her. Lucky bastard.

Reed jumped down from the tree and landed in front of Meagan. “So your friend’s a soldier, huh?” he said, slipping his sandals back on.

“Yep.”

“I am too. I’m the captain of Charlie Company 507th Parachute Regiment.”

“Ah, airborne. That would explain the insane lack of fear of heights.” Her smile extended a little more, but it didn’t quiet reach her eyes—not the way he was sure it could.

“What do you say you put that little guy up and come on over for a drink? I’m afraid all I’ve got is beer, though.” There was something about her, something about that smile that had his mind working in overdrive. She intrigued him, that was for damn sure, and he wasn’t ready to say good night.

“Beer’s good, but I’m gonna pass. I’ve got lots of unpacking to do. Thanks for saving my cat.” She smiled again, the corners of her pouty lips barely tilting upward, and started to walk away. He got the impression that she was blowing him off.