Something Wild: A Reckless and Real Prequel Novella

C
opyright
© 2014 by Lexi Ryan

A
ll rights reserved
. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from the author except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

T
his book is
a work of fiction. Any resemblance to institutions or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

C
over © 2014 Sarah Hansen
, Okay Creations

F
or Lexi’s Midnight Readers
.

Sharing my writing with you is a guaranteed bright spot in my day. Thank you!

A
s always
, I thank my family first. Brian, thank you for the time, encouragement, and patience you give to this crazy career of mine. For sending me to the “satellite office” to work when the kids won’t leave me alone, for listening to my endless out-of-context plot concerns, and for proving day after day that happily-ever-after exists outside my head. You and the kids are my world.

My friends and family, who celebrate my successes as their own, cheer me on every step of the way, and pimp my books out to every literate adult they meet. I am humbled by your enthusiasm and grateful to have built a life surrounded by such amazing people. I hope you know how grateful I am to have you in my life.

To everyone who provided me feedback on and cheers for Liz and Sam’s story along the way—especially Adrienne Hogan, Mira Lynn Kelley, Heather Carver, Karen Newman, and Samantha Leighton—you’re all awesome. To Lexi’s Midnight Readers who were ready for this story back when it was only a kernel of an idea, thank you. You remind me daily why I love this job so much!

Thank you to the team that helped me package this book and promote it. Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations designed my beautiful cover, and if I have my way she will do many, many more for me. Rhonda Helms and Lauren McKellar, thank you for the insightful line edits, and Arran McNicol at Editing720 for proof reading. Thanks to my PA, Chris, who does her best to keep me organized, even when we’re juggling fifteen tasks at once. A shout-out to Julie of AToMR for your work to promote my books, and to all of the bloggers and reviewers who help her do it. Amazing. Every one of you.

To my agent, Dan Mandel, and my foreign rights agent, Stefanie Diaz, for getting my books into the hands of readers all over the world. Thank you for being part of my team.

Thank you a hundred times over to my NWBs—Sawyer Bennett, Lauren Blakely, Violet Duke, Jessie Evans, Melody Grace, Monica Murphy, and Kendall Ryan. I’m sure you were ready to strangle me when I was trying to figure out how to approach this series and tell the story in the best way possible. Thank you for always giving it to me straight and handing me the brown paper bag when I’m panicking.

To all my writer friends on Twitter, Facebook, and my various writer loops, thank you for your support and inspiration. I must say, ours is the coolest water cooler in the entire workforce.

And last but certainly not least, thank you to my fans. To those who read the other New Hope books and wanted more, to those who’ve declared you’d gladly read my grocery lists, to those who are new to my books, and to those who have been with me from the very beginning, thank you. I appreciate each and every one of you. I couldn’t do this without you and wouldn’t want to. Thank you for buying my books and telling your friends about them. Thank you for asking me to write more. You’re the best!

~Lexi

“
Y
ou need a good guy
. A long-term guy. One who does dates and romance and emotional strings…I’m just an asshole who wants to tie you up, make you come, and walk away.”

S
amuel Bradshaw is
a man with a reputation—the kind of reputation that should have me running the other way. Instead, it has me searching for the shortest distance to his bed. I won’t be the starry-eyed girl who thinks she can change a man like Sam, and despite what he thinks, forever is not what I need. I need the things he makes me feel, the way he turns me on, and the promise of pleasure in his eyes. I need SOMETHING WILD.

**
A
uthor’s Note
: This is a prequel to the full-length romance novel SOMETHING RECKLESS.**

W
hen I look
up from the message, I catch Lizzy Thompson watching me from her table not five feet from mine. Another woman might blush.
Liz
winks.

She’s in red heels and one of those short, tight dresses that’s scientifically engineered to make a man’s jaw drop. Her legs are crossed and on full display from where she’s propped on a stool.

I lift an eyebrow, questioning, and she shrugs.

Brady’s is buzzing with activity tonight. The seats at the bar are crowded with men trying to escape their women for the night, and men trying to find a woman to take home are surrounding the pool tables. I’m somewhere in between, at a table with a beer and a few empty shot glasses. I’m not in the mood to socialize, but going home and being left alone with my thoughts sounds even worse.

Last week, I’d been complaining that Will’s phone was getting more action than mine, and Liz asked for my number. I
thought
she was joking. Apparently not.

At the time, I would have been all over some dirty sexting with the leggy blonde who’s starred in more than a few of my fantasies. At the time, I had no idea how badly one person could fuck over my world.

But that was last week. Tonight, I’m a different man. I’m changed. Hell, I’m broken.

I can’t tell Liz that. I can’t tell anyone. Because telling would lead to questions I don’t care to answer.

Her lips pull into a subtle pout, and I sigh and type a reply.

I watch her as I wait for my message to go through. She reads it and smirks for a beat before her fingers fly across the screen. Thirty seconds later, my phone buzzes again.

That almost makes me smile.
Almost.
I didn’t think I could smile tonight, but Liz is the most likely candidate to make that happen. She’s one hundred percent no-nonsense. Sure, maybe half the shit she says is for shock value, but it’s usually what everyone else is thinking. I’ve always liked that about her.

I make sure I’m watching when that one goes through, but she doesn’t blanch. Instead, her lips part—fucking beautiful lips, pink and full and perfect. I kissed those lips before, tasted them. It was all I could do to end it there, but I’ve remembered that kiss and thought about a repeat performance a hell of a lot more than once.

She lifts her gaze to mine. Nothing on her face says she’s insulted by my text. Her chest rises and falls and her cheeks flush pink.

No one can tell me I lead women on to get sex. I’ve never needed to. I take women to bed without any promises and make damn sure they don’t regret it. I don’t do commitment or forever, and I don’t hide it.

Her eyes darken, and her tongue darts out to wet her lips.

Fuck. Me.

Standing, I throw some money on the table to cover my tab. I have to get out of here before I take her up on her offer. Demons are clawing their way into my easy life, and using her to escape them would only hurt us both.

“I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing that.”

I tear my gaze off my drink and look up to see Della Bradshaw sliding onto the stool across from me. “Seeing what?”

“You were eye-fucking my brother.” She shudders. “Not exactly what I had in mind when I asked you to figure out what’s wrong with him.”

“He’s hot, Del. All the girls think so. I’m just the only one honest enough to tell you.”

She gags and rolls her eyes. “Well, whatever. Did he tell you what’s going on?”

Della’s boyfriend, Connor, says Sam’s struggling with something, but Sam won’t tell his family what it is. Della asked me to figure it out. Seemed like an obscure request to me—doesn’t everyone have a secret? But I could tell she was worried about him, so I agreed to launch a little investigation. “Not yet, but have patience in my process.”

“I’m starting to think your
process
might involve things I don’t want to think about.”

“Are you worried I’ll break your brother’s heart?”

She snorts. “Try the other way around. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I saw the way you were looking at him.”

“Consider me warned.”

She hoists her purse onto her shoulder and hops off the stool. “Connor’s waiting for me.”

“Tell him I’m sorry I don’t know anything yet.”

She waves away my apology. “He doesn’t know I asked you. I plan on taking
all
the credit when you figure it out.”

I arch a brow. “And what do I get?”

“You get to make
fuck me
eyes at my big brother without me vomiting all over you.”

“Oh, gee, I’ll try to contain my excitement.”

“See you at the wedding tomorrow night?”

“Of course. There’s an open bar to look forward to.” I grin mischievously. “And your brother in a suit.”

She shakes her head. “You’re playing with fire, Lizzy.”

“Tell Connor I said hi,” I call as she leaves.

I can tell them that Sam’s having romantic troubles. Everything about his face tonight says someone broke his heart. But I don’t think that’s specific enough to be of any help, nor does it make any sense. As far as I know, he hasn’t been seeing anyone seriously—and it’s hard to keep a relationship secret in a place as small as New Hope.

I might have ulterior motives for helping dig a little into Sam’s life. I’m pretty sure there’s an unspoken rule for teenage girls that requires them to crush on their friends’ older brothers. For me, that was Della’s brother Sam—right up until he rejected me.

I still can’t believe he walked out the door tonight, disregarding my blatant invitation. I’m in shock, but I can’t be offended. Not when I caught the way his eyes raked over me on his way out. And not when his last text message is making my imagination run wild.

I’m just an asshole who wants to tie you up, make you come, and walk away.