Hard to Love

Copyright © 2013
Kendall Ryan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes only.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, or any events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.

Cover
i
mage used under license from iStockPhoto.com

Edited by
Tanya
Saari

ISBN:
1481042440

ISBN-13:
978-1481042444

Hard to Love by Kendall Ryan

Cade’s always taken risks…

Cade takes cares of his sick younger sister by doing what he does best
—
cage fighting and starring in adult movies, his newest harebrained moneymaking scheme designed to pay for his sister’s growing medical bills. But when his latest gig finds him admitted to the ER sporting an erection from hell, thanks to the little pill given to him by the director, he can’t get the pretty little nurse who treated him out of his
head,
even though he knows she’s so far out of his league it should be illegal.

 
Alexa’s always played it safe…

Tired of being pigeonholed as the sweet, innocent one, hardworking nursing student Alexa has been looking for ways to break out of her Goody Two-shoes image. When her friend suggests the outlandish idea of losing her virginity to the sexy and sure-to-be-skilled porn star, Alexa is mortified. But then when Cade refuses her proposition, she finds herself pissed off and embarrassed.
 
When she tracks him down to give him a piece of her mind, she isn’t prepared for what she finds. Watching him care for his little sister tugs at her heart, and suddenly it’s no longer just about losing her virginity, but about helping Cade. Because Lord
help
her, she might just be falling for a porn star…

Other Titles by Kendall Ryan

~ Unravel Me

~ Make Me Yours

Praise for Unravel Me

“Dangerous and Seductive,
Unravel
 
Me
will steal your heart, your
 
time and your breath. I loved
Unravel Me
. This book read like a movie, a romantic, erotic thriller, and demanded my attention from the get-go.”

-
The Bookish Babe

“
Unravel Me by Kendall Ryan is a
beautifully written story filled with passion, romance, angst, love, and
mystery. Adult romance fans will go crazy over this novel because it has the perfect combination of story and sex.
”
- Reading, Eating, and Dreaming
“
I really enjoyed Kendall Ryan's writing style; it was smooth and, at times, witty. The
characters were well-developed and the story so intense
that I wasn't ready for it to end. Overall, this is a great book for anyone looking for a distinctly different story line that features some mystery,
crazy hot chemistry
and
a man
who will make you drool!
”
- Lisa's Book Review

Praise for Make Me Yours

“
I give Make Me Yours 5 Golden Stars. It yanked me in every which way. The way Kendall writes the way Cohen and Liz touch and interact is
so sensual, sexual, smoldering
and
downright swoon worthy.
Everything heats up more as you turn the pages.
”
- Lives and Breathes Books
 

“
The
chemistry in Make Me Yours is electric
! Make Me Yours had my
pulse racing
and my
heart aching
, I didn’t know what would happen next! How amazing to feel what the characters in the story you are reading
are
feeling. M
ake Me Yours is a fabulous HOT read, full of story.
You won’t be able to put down.
 
5/5 Stars!
”
- Flirty & Dirty Book Blog
 

“A sexy, passionate and emotional story with funny and lovable characters.
Kendall Ryan's Books are like a breath of fresh air.”

-
Totally Booked Blog

Chapter 1

Cade

Dammit
. I knew a
four-hour erection wasn’t normal.
I shifted uncomfortably in the
cab
of my truck and debated
what to do
. The emergency clinic was open twenty-four hours so that wasn’t the problem. It was embarrassment over
my condition that had me stalling in the parking lot
. But damn,
this
thing was
fucking
painful. I tugged on my jeans, trying to create some room and adjusted my erection
yet
again.

Fuck it.
I was going inside.

I stalked across the
dimly lit
parking lot, trying to walk as normal
ly
as possible, but each step test
ed
my sanity.

When I reached the reception desk, an elderly woman looked up and asked if she could help me
with something
.
I struggled to keep a straight face while I explained my problem. She
thrust
a clipboard of forms
at me
with a dour expression
,
not wanting to hear another word.
I
headed to
the waiting
room
, holding the clipboard in front of my groin
.

T
o make matters worse, Rick
,
the director I’d been working with on
the set
,
came barging into the emergency room
to
join me in the waiting
area,
saying he wasn’t about to let one of his actors go through this alone.
Just fucking
g
reat
.

Once I turned in the
paperwork
, I focused on thinking about anything th
at would
tame
this monster of a hard-on
.
The Chicago Bears, how much I hated hospitals
—
anything
non-sexual
. N
othing help
ed
. It was full
-
on throbbing by the time
they
called me back thirty minutes later.

I had hoped for a male doctor,
so we could handle this man
-
to
-
man,
but as I stepped behind the curtained room and saw a young female nurse
waiting for me
,
all
my hopes went up in smoke.
Rick followed me inside the small room and positioned himself in the corner to observe.
I was
convinced he was here
for the sole purpose of
having
a
good
laugh.

The nurse glanced at me, and
her eyes
wide
ned and
her
breathing hitched
. She looked young, too young
to be a nurse, and
was pretty in an innocent, sweet way that I didn’t normally go for.

“Hello.
Cade
n
Ellis
?” she asked.
Her voice was soft and laced with concern.

It took me a second to respond.
“
Cade
.
”

“Please have a seat.” She gestured to the white-paper-covered ex
a
m table and began flipping through my chart. “
My name’s Alexa.
I’m a nursing student
and I’ll
be assisting the doctor
tonight
.
Do you mind if I ask you a few simple questions before we move on
to the hard stuff
?
” Her eyes shifted nervously to my lap, and I couldn’t help but grin.

“
Sure
.”

She nodded
astutely
. “Fine
,
then. Let’s begin.”
S
he sat down on the rolling stool beside me
and wheeled herself closer
.
“Your weight?”

“Two
-
ten.”

“Height?”

“Six-one.”

She scribbled it down on her file.
“And your age?”

“Twenty-
two
.”
 

She bit back a smile, though I
didn’t really know why
.

Her hair was
somewhere
between blonde and brown, and she had l
arge
blue
eyes
that matched the color of a crystal
-
clear sky
.
She was petite
yet shapely, nicely filling out
her
blue hospital scrubs
,
with
curves in all the right places.
She had a full rosebud mouth and a small upturned nose
, and
even in her work uniform
she looked polished and put together –
giving the impression
she’d been raised to be poised and proper. A
far cry from how I grew up.

She
finished the
forms and
busied
herself with the
medical equipment to check my vitals
.
Even
though
h
er presence
was professional, it
did nothing to help weaken my erection
.
I
n fa
ct, I think
my damn cock
became even harder
just to taunt me.

She placed
a
stethoscope over my heart
and listened
for several moments
before
jott
ing
down a few notes. I watched her work, a smile tugging on my lips.
 

“So, Cade.”
She smiled up at me with straight, white teeth
while she attached a blood-pressure cuff to my bicep
. “What seems to be the problem?
”

Fuck
. She was going to make me say it. “It’s there…” I
tapped
the clipboard she held
.
“
O
n the forms I filled out in the waiting room…”

She looked down, a frown tugging at her mouth. “Yes. I see that. But if you could just please explain… um, how this happened. Is this the first time, you’ve
,
um…experienced this?”

“I’ve never
taken
performance
-
enhancing drugs
before
if that’s what you’re asking.” The words from the overplayed commercial rang through my head.
“
If you have an erection lasting longer than four hours, seek immediate medical
help
.”