Denying The Bad Boy (Tattooed and Pierced #2) Read Free Page A

shut
behind him he saw Racer still leaning against the banister.
    “What?” Alex all but growled,
annoyed with himself and now Racer and his smug-ass smirk.
    Racer shook his head and pushed away from the
stairs.
    “Nothing. I
just want to say that if you think you’re going to get an easy piece of ass
from Mary, you should just give up right now.”
    “Fuck you, Racer.” Alex shook his head, knowing his
roommate was right, but not wanting to hear it regardless.
    “I ain’t trying to be a cockblock , but Mary is a good girl, and she really doesn’t
need the likes of you or me.”
    Although he considered Racer a good friend, Alex
didn’t miss the subtle warning in his words. He cared about the girl, that was
clear, and he also knew the reputation Alex had. He couldn’t get pissed at him
for being interested in her.
    “I can admit when a girl is too good for me, and she
is too good for me.” With that said Alex walked past Racer and headed down the
hall to his room where he proceeded to pass out.

Chapter
Two
     
    Alex was right. There were a lot of drunks out, but
Mary didn’t really expect anything less. This was OSU territory, and it was a
Saturday and only midnight. She had to really stay alert or there would be no question
that she’d end up hitting an intoxicated pedestrian. Who would have thought she
would have literally bumped into Alex Sheppard? They ran in totally different
circles, were polar opposites in every way, yet she had stood so close to him
they breathed the same air, and she could feel his body heat seeping right into
her.
    Oh, she had known who he was as soon as she looked
into his hazel eyes, saw that they were more green than brown, and forced herself to not act like a hormonal teenager. Okay, so she
may only be twenty-one, but being that close to him, smelling that spicy,
expensive cologne he wore, and thinking about all the times she saw him but he
had clearly not seen her, made her realize she needed to control herself. He
was gorgeous and had a hard, muscular body that made her feel wholly feminine,
but he was so not her type. For one thing he slept with far too many girls,
probably didn’t know half their names, and she considered him a bad boy in the
worst kind of way. Just thinking about the time she had seen him coming in from
football practice in nothing but a pair of loose fitting shorts had her body
heating all over again. He had been sweaty and slightly red from running or
tackling perhaps, but his body was hard and defined, corded and tensed, and the
tattoo that started on his left bicep and covered his entire back in swirling
dark patterns had instantly made her wet.
    Then some busty blonde had bounced up to him, her
boobs barely restrained in her workout clothes, giggling and muttering things
far too quiet for Mary to hear, and that had been the end of that. Alex had
wrapped his arm around her waist, and the two of them had disappeared in the
locker room. Of course he hadn’t even noticed Mary standing there watching him
like a freak, and that was okay because she didn’t need a guy like Alex
Sheppard in her life. He was too dangerous and experienced for her, and
besides, there was no doubt he would break her heart, whether it was
intentional or not. Mary could see herself falling for him easily.
    Tutoring on the side had given Mary an opportunity
to earn her own money and meet a plethora of interesting individuals. Despite
her family being wealthy, Mary wanted to do things by herself, to support
herself. She took out student loans to pay for her schooling, and bought her own
food and other supplies she needed to survive. When she wasn’t tutoring she
worked a few hours on the weekends at a coffee shop right off campus property.
She was exhausted the majority of the time, but it was a hell of a lot better
than depending on her parents to fund her way.
    Her family came from old money, or so her mother
liked to call it, and because of that there had always been a