Ready to Love
by Franca Storm
A Damaged Hearts Novel #1
Publication Date: August 10, 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Purchase on Amazon
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I storm into
the campus pub and scan through the crowds searching for her frantically. After
scaring off that shithead, Greg, yesterday and taking Nicki back to my place
she’d fallen asleep on the couch. When I woke up the next morning, she was
gone. I figured she went back to her apartment to get away from me. We’re still
in that stupid fight after all. But when I’d knocked on her door a couple of
hours ago, she didn’t answer. And I freaked out. Greg’s still out there. It had
taken me ages and dozens of text messages to everyone I know on campus to
finally locate her.
My entire
body tenses and anger flares up within me as I spot her. Fucking hell. She’s
dressed to kill. Damn. The black skirt she’s wearing barely covers her ass and
her white top is no better. It’s so low cut that I can see the tops of her red
lacy bra. Mmm…lace. At least she’s wearing her leather jacket so that’s
something, I guess. Don’t get me wrong, she looks so fucking hot, but looking
like that in front of other men is not flying with me. That’s for my eyes only.
Christ, Nicki! She’s sitting up at the bar with two preppy assholes all
over her. They’re flirting. One of them has their hand on her right thigh. The
other is playing with her hair. I can tell right away by her wild gestures that
she’s been drinking. Hell, no.
I storm over
there.
“Let’s go,”
I command, ignoring the guys and eyeing her right in front of me.
“Hey, man.
We’re in the middle of something here,” one of the guys, with way too much gel
in his hair tells me.
“Yeah, I can
see what you’re in the middle of. Now, back the fuck off.”
“No, John!”
Nicki cries. “We’re having fun. Go away.”
“Get your
ass off that stool now,” I growl at her.
“No,” she
says, pouting at me like a little kid who’s just about to get her candy taken
away for bad behavior.
“Nicki, last
chance,” I warn.
The guys
move to say something, but I cut them off by snarling, “She’s mine.”
They
obviously see the wild look in my eyes, because they hold up their hands and
back away. Yeah, they know what’s good for them.
“I’m
not…yours,” Nicki tells me, slurring her words. “You’re every girl’s.
Not just mine.”
“Yes I
fucking am. If you’d just listen to me instead of being so stubborn, you’d get
that!”
She shakes
her head and turns back to grab her beer on the bar top.
That’s it! I lunge at her and grab her waist. She squeals as
I throw her over my shoulder and carry her out of the bar in a fireman lift. I
ignore her slurred protests to put her down.
By the time
I have her buckled into my truck and start the engine, she’s calmed down a bit.
I pull out of the parking lot and head back to the apartment.
“That was
fucking stupid, Nicki. Greg’s still out there. What if he found you in
this state instead of me?”
“He’s going
to anyway, John. Better that I’m drunk than sober for it. Maybe I won’t
remember it this time.”
“What?”
Her voice is
barely above a whisper as she says, “When he rapes me.”
Her words
rip right through me and before I can stop myself, I’m making a dangerous sharp
turn and pulling the truck off the road. I bring it to a rough stop and cut the
engine. Nicki gasps in surprise. I unbuckle my seatbelt and rush out of the
truck around to the passenger side. I haul open the door and command, “Get
out.”
She’s too
shocked to argue and I watch her struggle with her seatbelt in her drunken
state before she finally manages it. She stumbles as she gets out.
As soon as
she’s out, I push her against the side of the truck, my hands holding her arms
hostage beside her.
“Listen to
me. I stopped him last time around, okay? What makes you think I’d let him do
anything to you this time around? He’s not fucking touching you! You got me? No
man is gonna lay his hands on you, but me!”
She shakes
her head back and forth. Tears spill down her cheeks. “I’m scared.”
“You’re
stronger now. No one can hurt you now.”
“I…I don’t
know.”
I shake her.
“You do know! You do!”
It takes a
while, but she finally nods slowly and bites her lip. “Okay.”
“Tell me
what you need to put you at ease.”
“I…will
you…train me?”
“Train you?
You already know how to fight.”
“The guys
always hold back with me. I don’t want you to. Will you…do that?”
Shit.
Looking at her right now is like we’ve been transported back four years. She’s
that scared little girl again. Seeing Greg has reduced her to that. “Yeah, I’ll
do it.” Whatever she needs to push away the fear that the asshole sparks within
her. That’s not the Nicki I know. She’s stronger than that.
“Why did you
come for me tonight? We’re not talking.”
About Franca Storm
Franca was born in Surrey, England and currently lives in Niagara Falls, Canada with her husband and their labrador, Rocky. She is a long-time lover of erotica and romance novels, especially those with sexy-as-sin alpha males. She decided to try her hand at writing her own and writing romance is now her obsession and the perfect way to put her dirty mind to good use! Her writing spans many different sub-genres of romance: contemporary, biker romance, paranormal romance, new adult, romantic erotica and romance suspense. She’s got a ton of stories to tell and many more works up her sleeve.
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