New Release...Dating Trouble, by Anna Katmore.
Trouble
has never looked so hot…
Sue
wants Ethan, and Chris wants Sue.
Drawn
to Ethan and intrigued by Chris, Susan Miller finds herself caught between
identical twin brothers at her school. When both of them start wooing her at
the same time, she only has to take her pick. Right? Wrong! Ethan is reluctant
to kiss her, and Chris wants her for the completely wrong reasons.
Nothing
like his obliging and sweet brother, Chris Donovan has trouble written all over
him. He changes girls like other guys change t-shirts,
and the next trophy on his little list is Susan. That’s the last thing she
wants, yet she finds herself responding to all the goodnight texts and other
cheeky messages Chris sends. The guy has a way of getting under her skin like
no one ever has before.
How
long will it be until Susan falls for his smooth charm and gets herself into
more trouble than she can possibly handle? And where does that leave Ethan?
Excerpt
I opened the message and read: Not like a geek.
Who in the world was supposed to
make sense of that? Was there something missing? Scratching my head, I typed: What? And sent it off.
While waiting for his
explanation, I keyed in a quick update about tonight for Simone, but also added
Sam and Lisa to the receiver line. As soon as that text had gone out, my phone
started to ring. My first thought was that one of the girls had been really
quick to read my text and wanted to talk about it, but checking the display, it
said that a certain Arrogant dick had
dialed my number.
What in the world— “Chris, why
are you calling me?” I groaned into the phone. But I’d probably run right into
that one when I decided to respond to his text.
“To wish you a pleasant night
and to answer your question,” Chris replied with a chuckle.
An irritated sigh escaped me.
“Does your brother know that you’re talking to me?”
“No. He just came in…too soon
after he drove you home, if you ask me.” He added with a tease in his voice,
“Does that mean he, once again, didn’t kiss you?”
Teeth clenched, I snarled, “None
of your business.”
“Come on, it’s a simple yes or
no question.” An amused laugh drifted through the line. “I’ll sleep a lot
better if I know the answer.”
What did I care if he slept
well? “Why don’t you ask him yourself if you want to know so badly?”
“Okay… Since you told me to…”
There was a pause and the sound of a door opening which added ten extra degrees
to my blood. He wasn’t really going to— “Hey, Ethan!” Chris called out, cutting
my thought short. “Did you kiss Susan tonight?”
“No. Why?” The answer came from
far away. My heart sank with Ethan’s flat voice. Then a door banged shut
somewhere in Chris’s house.
“Ethan said no,” he rubbed it
in, as if I hadn’t heard the news myself. “I wonder why he didn’t.” His voice
had adopted a thoughtful edge that was one hundred percent fake. “Could it be
that he’s just not interested?”
Much as his suggestion stung, I
was wondering it myself. But it was too early to give up hope just yet. Third time’s a charm, the saying chanted
in my mind as I said to Chris, “FYI, he asked me on another date.”
“Aw, playing video games again?
Is that really your idea of a successful date?”
“We’re going to the movies.” And might play some video games before that,
but I didn’t mention it. “Your idea
of a successful date is probably coming out of your room with bed hair and a
messy shirt.”
Chris waited a second. There was
an unmistakable smirk in his tone when he purred in my ear, “I knew you noticed
that.” His voice became even lower and a quantum more seductive. “Did it bother
you?”
“Why the hell would it?”
“Because, for one,” Chris didn’t
hesitate a beat to explain, “I look exactly like my brother and, from what I
can tell, you’re totally into him. Means you’re totally into me, too. And two,
only one out of us seems to be dying to snatch a kiss from you these days.”
His explanation, or whatever the
heck that was, sent my thoughts into complete chaos. It was silent enough to
hear a pin drop in my room.
“You stopped breathing, Sue.”
There was, for once, not the slightest edge of teasing in his tone. Rather
astonishment. But that faded away quickly and a chuckle carried through the
line. “I guess that means you agree with me on both points.”
Did I? The likeness of the twins
was striking and not something one could overlook. Since I thought Ethan was
the cutest boy in the world, it would make sense to assume I thought the same
about Chris. Except that Chris was lacking charm, manners, courtesy, and my
fabulous taste in music. Although his singing “Stay” had stroked a sense of
admiration awake in me.
“Chris, tell me one thing,” I
whispered, not at all sure if I really wanted an answer. “You had the most beautiful
girl in your room this afternoon. Why do you want to kiss me?”
“Because Lauren, like most other
girls, is an easy catch.” After telling me this in the most nonchalant way, he
made a dramatic pause. “You, on the other hand, challenged me today—and in
front of my friends, too.”
“So you want me because you
can’t have me?”
“Who says I can’t have you?”
“I do.”
“Oh, okay. So yes, then I
definitely want you.”
His logic made me laugh, but
there was more frustration than humor ringing in it. “You need to understand
that I could never kiss a guy without having true feelings for him…which I
don’t have for you, Chris.”
“Really?” His voice went up like
he was scrunching up his face. “I’ve kissed more than twenty girls the past few
months, and it was lots of fun. But not one of them made me feel anything. Well, other than—”
“Stop it!” I shouted, squeezing
my eyes shut. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“Okay, okay,” he laughed.
“Anyway, there’s another reason why I want you.”
“What’s that?”
“You looked way hot in that dress today. Definitely not like a geek, which
should answer your question to begin with.” I thought he couldn’t sound any more
seductive than that, but a moment later, he proved me wrong, as his voice
dropped another notch and picked up a layer of heat. “If I’d been the one
driving you home tonight, I would have kissed you. And you would have liked
it.”
Chills ran down my back and arms
like a melting scoop of ice cream. Not unpleasant, but awkward, anyway.
“Sleep tight, sweetness,” he
breathed and hung up.
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