SURF: A Second Chance Enemies To Lovers Bad-Boy Romance Read online

  SURF: A Second Chance Enemies To Lovers Bad-Boy Romance

  Maggie Marr

  Happily Ever After Inc

  Copyright © 2019 by Maggie Marr

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Also by Maggie Marr

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  Also by Maggie Marr

  Wonderful Love

  Two Hour Romance

  Built

  Bliss

  Bump

  Surf

  HUGE: A Full Length Romance

  Boy Toy

  The Glamour Series

  Hard Glamour

  Broken Glamour

  Fast Glamour

  Easy Glamour

  Luxe Glamour

  Impossible Glamour

  Vicious Glamour

  Eligible Billionaires: The Travati Brothers

  A Forever Love

  A Billionaire for Christmas

  A Convenient Arrangement

  A Forbidden Love

  Eligible Billionaires Bundle The Travati Brothers

  Hollywood Girls Club Series

  Hollywood Girls Club

  Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club

  Hollywood Hit

  Hollywood Girls Club Bundle 1-3

  Eligible Billionaires Series

  Can’t Buy Me Love

  One Night For Love

  A Christmas Billionaire

  Last Call For Love

  Running From Love

  Eligible Billionaires Bundle 1-5

  Powder Springs Series

  Courting Trouble

  The Christmas Wish

  Candy Cane Lane

  1

  Emma

  “You want me to fly to America and audit my ex-boyfriend’s branch of Bliss Boards?”

  “Well when you put it like that,” Brett says, “it doesn’t sound very good.”

  “You’ve got a house in LA. You fly back to Los Angeles and do it,” I say.

  A toddler wails in the background and soon a second one joins in the mix. “Emma, do you hear that?” Brett asks. “That’s why I can’t go. Torrey has a giant presentation for a client and I…well, I haven’t showered in close to four days.”

  I smile. Not exactly the life I expected my older brother to be living when we were big-wave riding in the Pacific.

  “Leanne can take care of operations while you’re gone,” Brett says.

  I press my lips together and slide my gaze out my interior office window to the hallway. Leanne smiles at her assistant and heads out wearing a Bliss wet suit ready to try out our latest surfboard.

  “I’d be tempted,” I say and stare out my office window at the sun shining off Sydney harbor, “if what you’re asking didn’t include me having to deal with Jack.”

  “Oh come on sis, that was two years ago. Surely you’re over that entire affair,” Brett says. “I know he is.”

  My heart hammers in my chest. Jack is over it? Over me? Ha! As if. “Oh really?”

  “He seems…different somehow.”

  “A big wave accident will do that to a man,” I say. I can practically see Brett cringing at my words.

  “Don’t remind me,” Brett says. “Don’t make me order you to go.”

  “As if you could. Part of my renegotiation was that I have autonomy. So butt out, Bretty.”

  “You’re quite funny when you’re mad. I seem to have a thing for strong-willed women who like to tell me when I’m wrong.”

  I hear the smile in Brett’s voice and then another voice in the background.

  “Is that your sister?” Torrey’s voice sounds as though she’s next to Brett. “Would you tell her to hurry up and get on a plane and get over to LA?”

  Brett doesn’t bother to cover the phone and I know he does that for my benefit.

  “Hear that?” he asks.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I say, already knowing what I have to do.

  “You love Los Angeles,” he says, “and you love me. You can stay at our place. It’s right on the water.”

  I tug on my ponytail. I’ve got Bliss Boards Australia running like a well-oiled machine. It’s the LA branch in Venice beach that’s giving me and big bro fits. That’s why I was a tiny bit thankful when Brett and Torrey decided they were going to buy a place in LA. My hope was that having Brett in LA would force Jack to get the Venice Beach Board Shop in order. That didn’t happen and now Brett, Torrey, and the twins are back in Sydney for who knows how long?

  “You let him slide on everything,” I mumble into the phone.

  “There’s a reason for that,” Brett says, parroting my words back to me.

  Now it’s my turn to cringe. Guilt careens around my chest. There are actually multiple reasons. One of which is me. I hear a tiny giggle in the background.

  “Ooh, is that Hazel or Lily? She’s much sweeter than her Daddy. She’d never ask her Auntie Emma to fly to America to set Jack straight.”

  “It’s not like you two still carry a torch for each other, is it?”

  Heat pummels my chest. “Of course not!” I sputter. A complete and utter lie, but I’m not about to let my big brother and Jack’s best friend know that yes, I do in fact still have a very bad case of the ‘what-if’s’ and ‘why-nots’ where Jack Easton is concerned.

  “Look, I know it’s not ideal, but I can’t go and the audit has to be done. Besides, I think Jack’s a bit scared of you. If you tell him what he needs to do, he might listen. When I do it, he laughs.”

  “Well that hasn’t changed,” I say.

  “So you’ll do it?”

  One of my nieces giggles in the background.

  “Extra week of vacation and you pay for my visit to Mesqual for an entire week,” I say.

  “That’s highway robbery,” Brett says. “Do you know how much that’ll cost?”

  “That’s the deal. I go to LA and deal with the mess you refuse to clean up and you send me to Mesquale after. Sounds pretty fair to me.” I wonder just exactly how desperate big brother really is…

  “Done,” Brett says.

  Yikes! Pretty damn desperate. The LA store must be in bad shape.

  “I’ll have my office send you all the latest numbers and reports for you to review on your flight.”

  “My flight?

  “You leave tonight,” Brett says.

  “You seem pretty sure of yourself, booking me on a flight to LA before we spoke.”

  “One of us was going either way. I just hoped I could convince you to be the one.” There’s a smile in Brett’s voice. “Thanks, Em. I—”

  One of the twins wails in the background. “I have to go,” he says.

  “No worries. I’ll report in soon. And book my suite at Mesquale.”

  “Suite?!”

  “Do you want to go to LA tonight?”

  “Suite it is.” He hangs up.

  I turn toward my desk and look at the papers scattered across the top. Must get those in order before I leave. Although Kelly, Derek and Leanne should be fine without me in the office. I walk to
my desk and pull open the left drawer.

  My heart careens in my chest.

  Jack and Brett and my twenty-one-year old self stare up at me from one of two photos I keep in that drawer. They remind me how Bliss Boards started and why. All three of us with bright white teeth and smiles, the ocean spreading out behind us, and a brilliant future ahead of us. I lift the photo. That was a brilliant day. Tahiti. Waves. Sun. Surf. Sand. For the three of us, the very best life offered.

  Joy mixed with longing pulses through me. Behind that photo is another picture of me and Jack. Alone. Maui. I wear a Lei and his lips are pressed to my cheek, my hand is pressed to my lips. A smile lights up my face.

  Have I even once been that happy since that day?

  My chest tightens. My teeth press to my bottom lip. I close my eyes. Deep breath.

  No. No I haven’t.

  What the hell happened?

  So much. Too much.

  I lift the photo of Jack and me. We were so in love. My lips press into a tight line. That was then, this is now. I have a life and Jack has a life too. I’m going to LA to audit the board shop, fix the problems, and come back to Sydney.

  That’s it. Nothing more.

  The smiling girl getting the kiss from the man I loved stares up from the photo.

  Yeah, I don’t even believe my own lie.

  2

  Jack

  “How were the waves today Mr. Easton?”

  “Matt, please call me Jack.” I toss a smile at the ‘new guy’ behind the front desk. “You’re maken’ me feel ancient, and I’m not even old.”

  “Sorry.” He powers up the computer and the music kicks on. I walk across the cement floor toward the counter leaving footprints behind me. “The waves were awesome. I left my board around back. You think you could give it a once-over for me today?”

  “No problem,” Matt says. “After we suit up the kids for summer camp, okay?”

  “Perfect.” I walk through the shop to the stairs that lead to Bliss Boards North American headquarters. Pretty handy setup for a guy who loves to surf. I pad up the stairs and take a quick right and head down the hall. It’s nearly seven a.m. and the place, aside from Matt downstairs, who works waaaay too much in my opinion, is deserted. I round the corner and head into my office and straight into the attached bathroom. The perks to being Bliss Board’s president of the North America division are all the surfboards I want, an office in a building right off the ocean, and an executive bathroom with a shower. I use all three perks daily. Inside the bathroom I strip, turn on the hot water extra hot, and duck beneath the shower.

  Even with a wetsuit the Pacific is friggin’ cold. I love to surf, but I also love my extra hot shower after I’m done. “Oh yeah,” I say. The Pacific may be my second home, but that bitch is cold even in June.

  I finish. Turn off the water. Slide open the shower door and reach for my towel. I grab air. I rub my hand over my eyes.

  Fuck.

  No towel.

  Sometimes the cleaning staff takes my towel at night. Damn.

  I walk out of the shower and open the bathroom cabinet. Are you kidding me? How are there no towels in my bathroom? I spin. Not even a washcloth? Water drips down my legs and again I’m leaving jumbo wet footprints on the floor.

  There’s a towel in my bag. I always carry an extra. I reach for my crumpled board shorts. Wet and cold. Worse than putting on a wet swimsuit.

  It’s still early. I open my bathroom door and scan my office. My bag lies on the couch beside my desk. Office door closed? Check. Window blinds to the rest of the office closed? Check. Still before eight a.m.? Check. I bolt across my office buck-ass naked.

  Damn it’s cold.

  My fingers curl around the handle of my gym bag and I turn back toward the privacy of my executive bathroom when—

  “Jack, I wondered if we might discuss these numbers, I’ve just landed but…”

  Fuck. I know that voice. I close my eyes.

  Emma.

  Emma Wilson.

  The COO of Bliss Board’s and technically my boss.

  And my former girlfriend.

  I stop. I turn.

  Flashing blue eyes greet my gaze. Wild, reddish-blond curly hair that’s been willed into submission and carefully straightened. Button nose with…still a dusting of freckles. Her lips, full and unfortunately, still wildly kissable. Her gaze drops to my crotch. “Well, I see some things never change.” She lifts an eyebrow. Her words are nearly as chilly as my ball sack. She purses her lips.

  “Does the cold air always have that effect?”. The corners of her mouth quirk up.

  Standing in my own office buck naked and being laughed at was not on any one of the post-it notes I use to stay organized.

  “Perhaps, come round to my office once you’ve…recovered,” she says.

  “Are you quite finished?”

  “Oh yes.” She turns to the door. “I’ve been quite finished with that business since you deserted me in Phuket. “Without a plane ticket.”

  I cringe. Not one of my better moments but definitely not an admission I’m willing to make.

  “Well, you’re here now,” I say.

  “Yes, yes, I am. I’m here and I’ve been assigned to get this branch of Bliss Boards in order. Seems the entire office isn’t really…well, working. The office. Everything seems a bit small. If you will. The numbers are small. The staff is small. The orders are small.” Her gaze again latches on my cock.

  Heat courses through my chest. I grab my towel from my gym bag and throw it around my waist.

  “I’m a grower not a shower, Emma, or have you forgotten?” No man would ever willingly stand naked in the middle of his office while his ex-girlfriend talks about how small the things are that are in his charge. “Now, if you’ll excuse me while I dress. I can most definitely have this or any other conversation you want to have in approximately five minutes.”

  “That sounds about right,” Emma says. “You never did take long, did you?” She spins on her stilettos. Em traded in her flip-flops after we broke up. “Take your time, I’m not going anywhere. At least not while everything here in the North America office is so small.” She shuts my office door behind her. I grab my bag and haul it into the bathroom. I wipe my hand across the fogged mirror and look into my own eyes.

  “Kind of deserved that, didn’t you Jack?” I say to my reflection.

  Emma has every reason in the world to loathe me and unfortunately, I’m the guy who gave all those reasons to her. Unfortunately for me, she thinks she knows why I left her in Phuket and moved to the States, but she has absolutely no idea, and if I can, I’m going to keep it that way.

  3

  Emma

  Oh. My. God. How is it possible that the first time I see Jack Easton in two years he’s bare-ass naked? Oh, I’ll tell you how it’s possible. It’s possible because he may be the sexiest man alive —sure he’s a complete and utter jerk, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not a sexy jerk. Because he is too sexy for words, that’s how sexy he is.

  Dripping wet. Water rolling down his bare skin. Over the ridges of his muscles. Down his abs and across his belly. And that naked bare ass? I could bounce a quarter of the muscles that flex in that ass.

  Oh my god, the vision of Jack and his naked body and uh…cock…is seared into my memory. Bringing up all those old memories of Jack and swimsuits, and ocean breezes, and cabanas, and kisses, and his giant coc— Stop! Stop. Stop. Stop. I press my hand to my eyes and shake my head. I walk to the office assigned to ‘visiting staff’ which, luckily for me, is right beside Jack’s office.

  NO. No, no, no, Jack Easton is off limits. No matter how sexy. No matter how much history. No matter how hot. I shut the door and spin around. I lean against the office door and close my eyes.

  My nipples are hard and I’m wet. Memories of Jack above me, inside me, kissing me….my body is a traitor. Heat courses through me. Oh my god, I’m starting to pant!

  Got to get this reaction under c
ontrol. I open my eyes. I pull on the bottom edge of my jacket. I’m a professional. I can do this.

  I sit behind my desk and open my laptop. What’s next? What’s next? Focus. Focus. Focus. No, thinking about Jack’s erect cock is not what’s next! I open the folder on my laptop filled with spreadsheets.

  Because is there anything less sexy than a spreadsheet?

  Even for me and I’m an accountant. I stare at numbers, trying to process expenses and cash flow and profit and losses and market share and— muscles, and water, and gorgeous blue eyes the color of the ocean and a smile like sunshine and cheekbones and that v of muscles from his hips to his….

  Fuck!

  Jack. Jack has kidnapped my brain. Not on a surfboard, but naked…just as naked as he was a moment ago. I stroke those lovely quilted muscles that stretch over his abs. I press my lips to his lips and—

  Knock. Knock. Knock.

  I practically jump from my chair.

  My office door opens and there stands Jack — in full color.

  Heat floods my neck and cheeks. Thank god he can’t read my mind.

  He’s nearly as sexy with his clothes on as he is naked. How is that possible?

  His jet black air with a smidge of curls is wet. His jaw decorated with hints of dark stubble—because why not? Sun-kissed cheeks, brilliant blue eyes, and a not an ounce of embarrassment that I just saw him….all of him…naked. His eyes flash with a hint of wickedness. My gaze travels to his hands—those giant gorgeous rough hands that caressed every inch of my skin.

  Without even thinking I smile back. And then I remember we are not a thing…can never be a thing again. Oh, part of me still wants to be a thing with Jack. I drop my gaze to my computer screen.