Lipstick Kisses : A Sexy, Standalone Contemporary Romance (26 page)

Sloane

“How’s it going with Justin?” Emily asks once I sit down at the dining table with my bowl of cereal this morning.

“Okay, I guess,” I reply.

“That doesn’t sound good,” she says.

“Lately, he keeps getting these text messages from some girl named Alexis. He works with her.”

“Do you think something’s going on between them?”

“I have no idea.”

“You sound so down about it.”

“I should’ve seen this coming. Justin warned me from the beginning, before we even started something, that his attention wanes after a couple of months. That’s about how long we’ve been together now. I should have seen the writing on the wall and heeded his warning.”

“I’m sorry. We knew he was a player from the beginning. Look at the guy.”

“I know, I know. I should never have let this start. You know how I feel about him.”

“Your heart is all in, I know. You’ve been in love with him forever.”

“I’d better just cut him loose now, let him go do his thing.”

“What?”

“Yeah, why prolong the inevitable?”

“Are you sure? Maybe you’re jumping to conclusions, and nothing is going on between him and this other girl.”

“I suppose that’s possible.”

“He’d better not ever cheat on you. He should have the decency to break it off if he does want to see someone else.”

“I totally agree. That’s why I may just give him an out before he tries to do it behind my back.”

“So are you going to confront him about it?”

“I don’t know how I’m going to do it. All I know is that I’m unsure about where I stand with him, and it’s killing me. I’d rather know one way or the other, you know?”

“Has he been his usual attentive self? Honestly, when I see him around you, he seems to really care about you.”

“He has, just those texts are bugging me.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“I’ll figure it out, one way or another.”

Justin

I’m having dinner at Sloane’s apartment tonight, and I hear my cell alert me to text.

“Who’s the text from?” Sloane asks.

“Alexis from work,” I answer after I see her name flash across the screen.

“A fan of yours, no doubt.”

I don’t respond, because Sloane called it. She gets quiet.

She clears the dishes after dinner.

We head for the sofa and flip through the stations until we find something to watch.

“I’m letting you off the hook with me,” she finally says.

“What?”

“You go ahead, have your dalliance with this woman from work. She obviously wants you. I’m fine with it.”

I don’t believe what I just heard.

“What are you talking about?”

“Look, Justin, I knew going into this—two months, tops, and your eyes would wander. I’m totally cool with it. You gave me fair warning from the beginning.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

Didn’t know it would be this easy to continue doing what I want. You know I hate being tied down. I usually won’t let myself be, and just like that, Sloane is willing to cut me loose.

“Is this what you want?”

“I’m good either way. I’ll let you decide.”

I sit here, dumbfounded, while she gets up and leaves me sitting on the sofa to putter around in the kitchen.

Sloane, Alexis, Sloane, Alexis plays in my mind.

Is a roll in the sheets with Alexis worth losing Sloane?

I suppose I won’t really know until I try it.

Take Alexis for the proverbial test drive.

Sloane is so unbelievably cool, another reason I love her.

Justin, you don’t love her. You care about her, but you don’t love her.

“You sure you’d be good with it?”

“Yes.”

*****

Sloane

Justin leaves, and I managed to hold it together until after he walked out my front door.

Luckily, Emily isn’t home to witness my breakdown.

I crawl into bed and cry myself to sleep as gut-wrenching sobs wrack my body.

My memory takes me back to years ago.

When I was a girl, maybe twelve years old—that was the first time I laid eyes on the fifteen-year-old Justin Harlow. He was already a stud at fifteen.

My new friend, Kylie Harlow, invited me over to her house after school one day.

I remember the first time I saw him was in the kitchen of their house. Kylie and I were eating cookies and drinking milk, like the juveniles we were, and in saunters the cutest boy I’d ever laid eyes on. My heart actually fluttered in my chest at the sight of him. I can still remember that feeling. He was so incredibly gorgeous—dirty blonde hair, hazel eyes, and those lips of his.

He barely noticed me as he went rummaging through the refrigerator looking for something to eat.

Even at fifteen, Justin already had a body like a man. He had a weight set in the garage, and I would steal glimpses of him lifting without his shirt on. I would swoon every time.

When I think back, he never took a second glance at me.

My crush was so one-sided it wasn’t funny, but you remember how you were as a silly schoolgirl, the hormones.

We all were dying to have a boyfriend.

Gain some ‘experience’. But it never happened for me during high school.

Sure, I had loads of guy friends, but I never felt a spark or an attraction for any of them, not like I felt for the unattainable Justin Harlow.

He was God’s gift to women, or girls, even back then.

Once we got into high school, while I was a freshman, he was a senior dating the hottest cheerleader, of course.

I would watch him from afar and dream of what it would be like to have his arm draped across my shoulders like it was wrapped around his blonde girlfriend.

Then he graduated from high school and set off to an Ivy League college.

Where else would the perfect Justin Harlow go?

I remember it all like it was yesterday.

Now I lie here in my bed, crying my eyes out.

And I made it that easy for him to walk away, and he took the opportunity.

My broken heart is nobody’s fault but my own, all because of my inability to resist Justin Harlow.

My heart will never be the same.

I’ll never be the same since I let Justin into my heart, my body and my soul.

Justin

Alexis and I are working late together tonight.

We’re in my office when she gets up and walks to the door. She quietly closes it.

She turns to face me with a look of pure seduction on her pretty face.

“What are you doing?” I ask as I stand, remaining behind my desk.

“I want you, Justin Harlow,” she says breathily, pressing her tight, curvaceous body against mine.

“This isn’t a good idea. We work together,” I say, desperately trying to resist temptation.

“Oh, come on. That never stopped anybody,” Alexis says, lightly biting my ear lobe, her warm breath tantalizing me.

Then her hand lands on my crotch.

Damn, this woman is aggressive.

She knows what she wants, and it’s me.

“Sit down, big boy,” she says seductively as she pushes my chest while staring deep into my eyes.

She undoes my belt, and I can’t find my words to stop her, stop this.

I’m hard as a rock. I’m a hot-blooded man, aren’t I?

God, she looks up at me just as her lips wrap around my stiff shaft.

“Ahh,” I groan as she takes me in.

I can’t believe Alexis Cavanaugh, Miss Sophistication, is down on her knees before me, sucking me hard.

I’ve got to stop this now.

“Mmm,” she moans, and the vibration reverberates straight to my balls.

She’s good at this. It feels too good.

“Alexis, we can’t,” I manage to say.

Who the hell just said that?

“We just did, and we’re going to do a lot more,” she says, standing up and wiping the corners of her mouth.

“No. Really, we can’t.”

“What’s with you? Do you know how many men would love to be in your shoes right now? I chose you, Justin Harlow, and I will let you have me,” she says confidently.

“Believe me, it’s not that I don’t want you.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Come now, you can do better than that. What is it? Do you have a girlfriend? I don’t care if you do,” she says.

“Not exactly.”

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t know,” I say again.

I stand and tuck myself back into my pants and buckle up.

“You’re serious?” she asks woundedly.

“I’m afraid so. I have a pressing matter I need to attend to.”

After I get Alexis out of my office, I drive straight over to Sloane’s apartment.

I pull up in front of her building, and I can see her bedroom light is on.

Is ten thirty too late to make a social call?

Too bad. I know she’s still up, and I need to see her.

I need to talk to her.

I knock on the door.

“Who is it?” she asks.

“It’s me, Justin.”

“Hey Justin, what brings you over at this hour?” she says, opening the door.

“I needed to see you. I need to talk to you,” I say, stepping into her apartment.

“I’m studying with Bryce right now.”

“Where is he, I don’t see him.”

“He’s in my room.”

“You’re studying in your bedroom?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?”

Fuck, I don’t like the sound of that one bit.

“I need to talk to you privately,” I say just as Bryce comes walking out of her bedroom like he belongs there.

I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me.

“Go ahead, talk,” Sloane says.

“Never mind.”

I turn and walk out the front door and head to my car.

“Hey, Justin.” I hear behind me.

I turn around and see that it’s Bryce.

“I planned on being around to pick up the pieces after you dumped Sloane. We both knew it was just a matter of time before you moved on. I knew, you knew, and so did she. You were just playing with her. She was your flavor of the month. It was just a conquest thing for you. That’s how guys like you operate. She was heartbroken like I suspected would happen all along. Why did you even touch her? I’m sure there are countless women, more experienced women, more your type out there. So why did you have to go and mess with her, mess with her heart? She’s my friend, and I care about her—more than you ever will. Don’t come around here anymore,” Bryce tells me in no uncertain terms.

He doesn’t give me a chance to answer. He just turns and walks back into Sloane’s apartment, and maybe into her heart.

I stand there feeling so small, like such an asshole.

Everything Bryce said is true.

Why didn’t I stop myself?

I’ve made a mess of everything.

I hurt the girl I’m beginning to realize I care about—really care about.

Do I try and make it up to her, or should I just move on?

Alexis is a beautiful woman, and we do have so much in common.

Then why don’t I want her like I want Sloane?

My dear, precious Sloane.

I blew it.

I should leave her alone, let her find a better man, not a chump like me.

Bryce is eager to fill my shoes. He made that loud and clear.

To say my first night without Sloane was a disaster would be an understatement.

~To Be Continued~

~Just Love Me 2~

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Continue Reading Justin and Sloane’s Love Story

Just Love Me - Book 2

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Justin

I see Sloane again after all these years and the attraction is undeniable.

Now that I’ve had a taste of her, I want more.

She gives herself to me physically, because I’m good.

But she will no longer give me her heart.

I want to own her, make her mine.

The problem is, she’s not cooperating.

Sloane

I was invisible to him.

At twelve years old, I was just his annoying kid sister’s best friend.

Fast forward ten years later and Mr. God’s Gift to Women decides he wants me.

We start something beautiful, then in a moment it’s over.

He wants me back.

But do I let him break my heart again?

Just Love Me - Book 2

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