Lusting After Layla Read online

  Table of Contents

  Free Book!

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Lusting After Layla

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Thank you for reading!

  Sneak Peek of Mad About Matt

  Other Books by Theresa

  Become a Townie

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

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  COPYRIGHT

  All rights reserved.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author except where permitted by law.

  Published by Theresa Paolo

  Copyright March 2019

  Edited by CookieLynn Publishing Services

  Cover Design by Amanda Walker PA and Design Services

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious.

  Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Dedicated to Vampire Diaries,

  You were always there when I needed a break.

  Chapter 1

  5 years ago

  After a year of drifting from state to state, town to town, Declan Dwyer finally found a place to settle. Red Maple Falls was as small-town America as one could get and the perfect place to hide outside of the witness protection program. He doubted the authorities gave two shits about him. If he wound up dead, he’d just be one less thug they’d have to worry about.

  He still couldn’t believe he was able to walk away without serving any time, but his freedom didn’t come without sacrifice. He ratted out the only family he ever knew in exchange. That was the ultimate betrayal where he came from. He was free for now, but he was forever tied to his past and while Red Maple Falls was his safe haven at the moment, there would come a day when his safe little bubble would pop and he’d be lucky if he came out the other side alive.

  It was a thought that would remain in the back of his mind, but for today he was safe, and he was officially a proprietor of his very own pub.

  Calhoun’s was a pipe dream and someone like him didn’t deserve to have their dreams come to fruition, but he needed to make an honest living in order to support himself and get back on the road one day.

  The place cost him next to nothing compared to what he would have paid back in California. He had money he’d been stocking away over the years, and when he drove past this place on his bike, the for sale sign hanging crooked in the window, it was as if the universe was throwing him a bone.

  He had a plan. Get Calhoun’s up and running, hire a manager who could run the place, and he would only pop in to collect the money and pay the bills.

  He knew he couldn’t put down roots. The minute he did, it would ultimately be his death sentence. He might not have had much to live for, but he was still grateful for every breath, especially when so many times he thought he’d be taking his last.

  The door opened and his body froze, his heart raced, and all his senses went into high alert. He wasn’t open yet, not till tomorrow. He assumed the whole town knew that after he plastered signs on a bulletin board at the grocery store and in the town paper.

  Had his past already found him? Maybe one of them managed to get out and track him down. He had a gun behind the bar. All he needed to do was dive to the floor and stay low. He could make it. He hadn’t survived this long without being scrappy.

  He bent his knees, ready to make the dive when a woman walked through the door. She was dressed in purple scrubs, her brown hair haphazardly thrown in a bun with wisps falling around her face. She moved with purpose, a light purple and blue scarf hanging from her neck. The fringe bounced against her chest.

  “Hi, I’ll take a cup of coffee,” she said as she sat down at the bar.

  His tongue froze, and he wondered where this woman came from. She seemed to have dropped out of the damn sky. Was she a rouse to butter him up and get him to go outside where he’d be taken out for good?

  He hesitated then moved slowly to the bar. “We uh… don’t actually open until tomorrow.”

  She glanced up at him, and he nearly stumbled back at the most gorgeous eyes he’d ever seen in his life. They were crystal blue with the slightest hint of gray, like two balls of glass perfectly placed on her face.

  Her lush lips fell into a sexy O, and her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. “I am so sorry,” she said. “I saw the light on as I drove by and just assumed.”

  He shrugged, refusing to make eye contact. With eyes like that and lips like those, he could see himself falling into bed with this woman, and that was the last thing he needed. He had to stick to his plan. Absolutely no roots or attachments allowed.

  “Sorry,” he said. She sighed, and damn if that didn’t tug at something deep inside him. “You know what? It’s fine.” What the hell was he doing? It was not fine. He needed her to leave now so he could lock the place up until the official opening tomorrow when there’d hopefully be a large turnout. But his resolve went to the wayside and he made eye contact with her. He immediately noticed the dark bags beneath her lids, the tension pulling across her shoulders and surrounding her lips.

  Beneath the beauty was a woman who held the world on her shoulders, and all she needed was a cup of coffee. He could give her that much.

  He turned the coffeepot on and dumped the grounds into a filter.

  “You don’t have to. I can just go home.”

  He finally looked at her—really looked at her. He spotted a single freckle on her cheek and a curve to her bottom lip that made him think of all the things he’d like that lip to do. He could see something in her that reminded him of himself, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. She seemed like someone who had experienced a lot in her short life. Probably not nearly as messed up as him, but she definitely had skeletons in her closet. Most of all, she looked at him and didn’t once linger on his scar like everyone else he’d met.

  “The coffee’s already brewing,” he said. “Might as well take your scarf off and stay a bit.”

  A smile cracked at the corner of her mouth. She unraveled the knitted scarf and placed it on the bar beside her. “Thank you. It’s been a long day, and I needed a minute before I went home.”

  “Most people go home to relax,” he said, wondering if she had an asshole boyfriend waiting for her. She didn’t have a ring on her finger, so he didn’t think she was married.

  “I’m not most people,” she said. “Far from, actually.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. He should’ve kept his mouth shut, but she’d sparked a curiosity inside him.

  “Are you a nurse?” he asked, eyeing the slight dip in her purple scrubs.

  “I am at the nursing home. I just got off a double. My third one th
is week.”

  “That’s a lot of hours.” He didn’t know much about a nurse’s schedule, but he knew double shifts in that field were no joke.

  “When you have bills to pay, it never seems like enough.”

  The coffee finished brewing, and he poured it into a mug he had just stocked earlier that day and slid it across the bar. “I have milk in the back fridge.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” She took the mug in her hand and brought it to her lips. A smile curved, and she closed her eyes again as she took a big whiff. She moaned, and he tried to ignore the erotic undertones to that single sound. Her lips puckered, and she blew on the hot liquid, giving him no choice but to look away.

  Everything she did was sexy, and he could only imagine how amazing she’d look out of those scrubs. Thoughts of those scrubs spread across his bedroom floor popped into his mind, but he quickly pushed them away. No roots, he reminded himself.

  “You make a good cup of coffee. Nice and strong, the way I like it.” Her words and tone made the statement much more erotic than he was sure she intended. He focused on his plan, reminding himself once again that getting involved with someone was the last thing he needed. Not only did he not plan on staying, but he wouldn’t drag an innocent into the web of his life. It wasn’t fair to them.

  She placed the mug on the bar, and he glanced at her hands.

  “I know you said you’re not like most people,” he said. “But shouldn’t you be going home to sleep instead of drinking coffee in some pub?”

  “You would think so.” She took another long, moan-filled sip. “But my sister, whom I love dearly despite the fact that I want to strangle her on a daily basis, is driving me insane.”

  “You live with your sister?’

  “I’m her guardian… or at least I was. She’s nineteen now, so technically I’m not, but she lives under my roof. I still do her laundry and listen to her complain daily about not being able to afford college and how her life is ruined because she’ll never be able to find a job in this forsaken town. Like it’s my fault.”

  “Send her here,” he said, before his brain could interject. Not only was it a bad idea, but she sounded like an absolute nightmare.

  “Are you hiring?”

  “I could use a waitress.” His brain was stunned into silence—the only explanation for the words coming out of his mouth.

  She closed her eyes again, but this time when she opened them, it was as if some of that weight pulling her down had lifted. He did that for her, and he felt good about it.

  “She will be here first thing tomorrow. What time will you be here? Because I can guarantee she will be at that door waiting for you.”

  “I officially open at noon, so if she wants to stop by… Let’s say eleven.”

  “I am so happy I could kiss you.” The words fell from her mouth, and she didn’t even seem to be embarrassed by them. He wondered what she would have done if he leaned across the bar and accepted her offer. What would she taste like and would she know how to work that bottom lip to the best of its abilities? Maybe he would have jumped all over that offer a couple years ago, in his other life, but he wasn’t looking to impress anyone or live up to a legacy he was never cut out for in the first place. “Does she need to bring anything? A resume?”

  He shook his head. “If you think she can hack it then I trust you.”

  “You don’t even know me.”

  “No, but I’m a good judge of character.” In his old life, it was what kept him alive until he was fooled by the one person he trusted most. Maybe his judge of character wasn’t as good as he suspected. If it was, he wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.

  But she seemed completely harmless, and he was going to go with his intuition on this one.

  She smiled. “Who should my sister ask to speak with?”

  “Declan,” he said.

  “Declan,” she repeated, and he’d never liked the sound of his name as much as he did in that moment. “I’m Layla. It’s really nice to meet you.” She held out her hand, and he hesitated, but he was being ridiculous. His hand engulfed hers, her soft skin the opposite of the rough callouses on his own. Their eyes locked, and he held onto her longer than he meant to as a sense of euphoria came over him.

  This felt so right, yet he knew nothing good could come of it, but he couldn’t make himself let go. Layla didn’t seem to mind, although he detected the slightest of shivers from her.

  “The pleasure is mine,” he said when his brain decided to engage. He slowly removed his hand from hers, dragging his thumb across her palm in a last-ditch effort to hold on to the connection. When he finally let go, the slightest blush bloomed on the apple of her cheeks, and he knew he affected her at least a fraction as much as she affected him.

  She wrapped the scarf around her neck. “I should go.”

  “You haven’t finished your coffee.”

  She lifted a shoulder, her head tilting toward it. “I was hoping you might have a to-go cup.”

  His eyebrow arched slightly. “Can’t say I do.”

  “You should invest in some, especially in this town. You’ll thank me later.”

  He had no idea what she meant, but she clearly knew more about the town than he did. “Noted. Tell you what. Take the mug with you.”

  She picked it up. “I was planning on it.”

  “Oh! Just going to pop in here and steal my stuff?”

  “Consider it collateral. If you hire my sister, I’ll be back with the mug.”

  “Why Layla, if I wasn’t mistaken, I’d say you’re holding my mug hostage.”

  She shrugged. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now top me off so I can get on my way.”

  He picked up the coffee pot and filled the mug to the top. “You look really tired. You sure you’re okay to drive?” He had no idea why he even cared, but he couldn’t let her walk out of there without asking.

  She held up the coffee mug. “I’ll be fine.”

  “I’ll see you and the mug tomorrow,” he said. Her sister could show up drunk with an attitude, and he would hire her if it meant he could see Layla again.

  “I hope so.” She gave him a wink and headed out into the night, leaving him questioning his plan.

  Chapter 2

  Present Day

  It was the end of September, the air was starting to cool, and pretty soon the leaf peepers would be filling the bar stools of Calhoun’s. Declan never imagined he would see another September in this town after he officially opened the doors, but somehow it was his fifth, and his favorite time of year.

  He loved the crispness that fall ushered in. It was the perfect weather to cruise the backroads on his bike and appreciate the changing landscape and colorful leaves, signifying another year he survived. The past that had been so deeply engrained in his soul faded a little more with each passing season. It would always be a part of who he was, but he was no longer defined by it.

  Now he was Declan Dwyer, pub owner, bartender, and resident of Red Maple Falls. He knew every single person in this town, and they all accepted him as one of their own. Five years ago, he would have thought that to be a nightmare scenario. He wanted to stay for no more than a year—just enough time to establish his business and find a trustworthy manager, but now he couldn’t envision his life any other way. Somehow, he got sucked into the small-town life, and though he managed to keep one foot in and one foot out, never getting too close to anyone, he couldn’t bring himself to walk away.

  The day he decided not to run was the day he accepted whatever fate the universe had in store for him. It was the best decision he’d ever made. While he kept to himself for the most part and avoided any social events, he was content and happy with this new life he’d carved out for himself, and that was more than he could have ever hoped for.

  He wiped down the bar, taking pride in the cleanliness of Calhoun’s, when the door opened, and Mason Hayes, master brewer and friend, walked in with a keg. Declan tossed the rag down and hurr
ied to help him.

  “Is this what I think it is?” Declan asked.

  “If you think it’s the pumpkin imperial stout then you’re correct.”

  “I’ve been dying to try this.” Declan grabbed one of the handles and helped Mason carry it behind the bar. They put the keg down, and Mason leaned against the bar.

  “You know you can come by the brewery whenever you want.”

  It had always been an open invitation, but while Declan had made the decision to stay in Red Maple Falls, he couldn’t bring himself to fully immerse in town life. He needed to set some boundaries in order to keep the people he had come to care for safe, just in case the universe decided to change his fate. He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to any one of the town’s people because of him.

  “Why don’t you come by for trivia night tonight? We’re down a few players since Brooke left for London, and we could really use you.”

  “You know I can’t.”

  “Because you have to work.” Mason looked at him with a shit eating grin as if to call him on his lame excuse. “You do know you have employees, right? You’re allowed to leave the bar every now and again.”

  That was true for a long time. However, if he went to trivia next thing he knew, he’d be getting invited to other town events, and where did he draw the line? It was better for everyone if he kept his distance, so he blamed work.

  Now with his best waitress gone, and his new waitress unable to balance a tray to save her life, his lameass excuse for once wasn’t an excuse. He really couldn’t take the night off, even if half the town was going to be at Five Leaf Brewery. Calhoun’s sat just on the outskirts of town which brought in people from outside the town border. Many out-of-towners stopped in to grab a beer and a burger, especially in the busy fall season, and he needed to make sure his uncoordinated new waitress didn’t break every glass and dish he owned.

  “It’s easier to make sure everything is running smoothly if I’m here, and without Brooke it’s been a little rough.”

  “Trivia night’s been pretty quiet without her. We miss her.”