Sweet Trouble Read Free

afraid of anything and I’m sure she’d face the challenge of Nicholas McKinley head-on, not get worried and panicky like me. Sydney’s fearless.
    She arches a brow and looks away, fixing her gaze on me. I practically can see the bossy lecture poised on the tip of her tongue.
    “Yup, Bailey. That one looks like trouble, all right. I’d say that bad boy’s too much for you to handle.”
    “For sure,” I agree without hesitation.
    Any other woman saying that to me would make me think she was trying to hurt my feelings. Not Sydney. She knows all about my dating history, which is not much, granted, but she knows it all. And she has a lot of experience… a LOT. So I listen when she gives advice.
    She’s got this martial arts analogy she likes to use. She says everyone has their own colored belt, and that your best chance to succeed is to go into the ring with someone wearing the same color as you. She says I need to find another white belt to spar with and then work my way up. After a few drinks, she’ll start to pull together all sorts of strange parallels that only make sense to her, and she’ll proudly proclaim her status as a red belt.
    “He looks like he’s in his thirties… early thirties.”
    I rap my knuckles on the table to pull her back to reality. “Can you please stop staring?”
    She waves her hand dismissively. “He’s already seen you. I’ve caught him looking at you at least three times. You did something to make him mad.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    Music starts playing, and it’s so loud we can hardly converse anymore. I’m trying to decide how long I have to stay without making it seem like I’m bailing on her. I just want to get out of here. He didn’t look at me, but something tells me he knows I’m here, and he’s just biding his time. The guy is scary.
    My imagination stirs with disturbing ideas that have bothered me since I met him, but there are other ideas too. Where his big, rough hands skim over my breasts, cupping them and teasing my nipples. I’m horrified by how fast I get aroused when I think of lying beneath his powerful body. I’m sure it would be rough and devastating.
    Black belt sex. Not a good idea, not for me anyway. If Sydney could see what I was thinking she would point out that beginners have no business trying to tackle the advanced belts.
    Some cowboy ambles over and asks Sydney to dance and she gives me an apologetic look.
    “I’m fine,” I say, waving her away.
    A couple of guys come to ask me to dance and I shake my head, telling them I’m waiting on a friend. Why they’re asking me I can’t figure out. Pressed into the furthest corner of the booth, I’m doing my best to give off a “leave me alone” vibe.
    Outside the storm rages. Flashes of lightning illuminate the parking lot. It’s full of pick-up trucks. Thunder shakes the building and I wonder how long this storm is going to last. I finally have time off and now the weather has to start storming?
    Sydney comes back to the table with her cowboy. He’s tall and handsome and Sydney seems to be pretty into him. Before long the two of them are staring into each other’s eyes. Good. This is perfect.
    “I need to run to the lady’s room,” I say.
    “Okay, fine,” Sydney says.
    Which is code for ‘I like this guy’. If she’d said she wanted to come with me, it would have meant the guy was a no-go.
    Crossing the bar, I head the toward the restrooms. At this point, I don’t care if Mr. McKinley sees me because I’m going to be leaving in five minutes, even if I have to drive home through this torrential wrath of God. I’ll be home in ten minutes, fifteen tops. If I’m lucky, Susanna saved me some ice cream.

Chapter Three
    Nick
    Blue Eyes looks a tad different out of her scrubs. Her honey blonde hair almost reaches her ass. I hadn’t noticed that the other day because she had her hair pulled back in a ponytail.
    Two mother-fuckers asked her to dance already. I’m not happy there’s a