Wicked Tease: A Bad Boy Next Door Novella Read online

  Wicked Tease

  A Bad Boy Next Door Romance

  Aubrey Irons

  Contents

  Wicked Tease

  Author’s Note

  Mailing List

  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

  Additional Content

  Also by Aubrey Irons

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  Bloodlines: Sneak Peek

  Bloodlines: A Dark Saints Novel

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Begging for Bad Boys

  Cockney: A British Stepbrother Romance

  Author’s Note:

  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

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Also by Aubrey Irons

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  She thinks I’ve got a filthy mouth and a wicked tongue. She’s about to learn how right she is.

  COLE:

  I came to college for two reasons: hot girls and free beer.

  That is, until I bumped into her – the last girl I ever expected to see again.

  There was never any good reason for there to be anything between uptight, innocent, Senator’s-daughter Addison Tanner and me – me the tattooed, punk-rock motorcycle kid from the wrong side of the tracks. Way back, we may have been friends, but that’s before life got in the way.

  That’s before the night she kissed me, freaked, and slammed a door in my face.

  Because the thing is, Addison Tanner thinks she’s immune to my charm.

  I’ve got one night to show her just how wrong she is.

  ADDISON:

  College is really for two things: studying hard, and making professional connections.

  Or at least, that’s why I’m here, and why I came to this party at a professor’s house tonight. I certainly didn’t think it would be as wild as it is, but a little fun won’t kill me, right?

  But that’s before I run into the devil himself.

  Cole Grady. Once upon a time, we used to be friends, but that’s before we both grew up. That’s before the boy I knew turned into the crude-talking man with the dangerously alluring glint in his eye and the reputation that scares me as much as it draws me in…

  That’s before the night he kissed me and then left me in the dust.

  Now we’re trapped at this dumb party, but I can survive one night of being cooped at a function with Cole Grady, right? Even if that smug, filthy-mouthed pr*ck thinks he can tease me until I break.

  The thing is, he might be right.

  Copyright © 2016 Aubrey Irons

  Cover Design: CoverLuv

  Photographer: Allan Spiers

  Cover Model: Johnny Kane

  Formatting: Vellum

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, organizations, actual events or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademark status of products referred to in this book and acknowledges that trademarks have been used without permission.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations used for review purposes.

  This book is intended for mature, adult audiences only. It contains sexually explicit and graphic scenes and language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please do not continue reading this book of you are under the age of 18 or are offended by content of this nature.

  All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older and are in no way blood relations. All acts of a sexual nature are completely consensual.

  Author’s Note

  Wicked Tease is a novella that was previously released as part of the Wicked Ways Bad Boy Collection in October, 2016. If you previously purchased that collection, you already own this story.

  Mailing List

  Join the mailing list for ARC opportunities, author giveaways, and new release news. Zero spam.

  http://eepurl.com/bu3-3P

  Chapter 1

  Addison

  “What are you doing here?”

  It’s way less of a question and way more of an accusation, but there he is, grinning at me in that obnoxious way he does. It’s that grin that makes it pretty damn clear I have zero chance of getting under his skin or shaking him in any way.

  Like he does to me.

  Endlessly.

  Cole Grady, who I should have never seen again after that whole - well, after high school. After high school when I came here to Louisiana State University and he was supposed to…I don’t even know.

  Literally go or do anything but follow me here, that’s what.

  “I asked, what are you doing here?” I say again, this time more of a genuine question. What in the world is Cole Grady doing at a Halloween party hosted at the mansion owned by our English professor?

  He shrugs as he brings the red solo cup to his lips. He takes a large gulp of the contents, pulling it away and then crudely licking the foam off of his upper lip.

  His perfectly formed, sinfully enticing lips.

  “Free beer and your charming attitude as ever, princess.”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  “What, princess?”

  “Yeah, that.”

  Cole grins, the smile stretching across his flawless, defined cheekbones - that chin with just the right amount of scruff. He pushes a hand through that thick dark hair of his. “Sorry, Addy.”

  “Yeah, not that either.”

  He rolls his dark brown eyes as he leans back against the fold out table with the small “kegerator” perched on it, as if putting beer in a smaller keg and putting it on a table with a ghost and candy corn tablecloth takes away some of that college trashiness.

  “I can’t call you by your name now?” He cocks a brow. “Is this one of those college things? Are you going to start smoking a ton of weed and change your name to ‘Purple’ now or something?”

  “What? No,” I say and glare at him, crossing my arms over my chest. “You can call me Addison, not Addy.”

  “Why not Addy?”

  God he’s infuriating.

  “Because only my friends call me that.”

  “Ooo, burn!” he says and laughs before making a big dramatic puppy-dog look at me. “Are you saying we’re not friends?”

&n
bsp; I snort out a brief laugh.

  “After your little stunt the other week? Yeah, no.”

  A few weeks ago, Cole Grady decided to sit behind me in lecture hall, steal my cell phone out of the pocket of my jacket, turn it up to the highest volume, and then hide it somewhere in the bottom of my bag. He then proceeded to call me exactly six times in a row while I frantically and mortifyingly searched for a phone blaring “Backstreet’s Back” at full volume.

  Needless to say, Professor Butler was not pleased, and somehow I got lumped into being one of the guilty parties after I almost climbed over the back of my chair to try and slap Cole. The result was both of us having to show up during office hours to help sort what must have been six semesters of backlogged lecture notes, on the very night I should have been at the open meet-and-greet for student government.

  Yeah, that little stunt.

  Twelve years of an impeccable school record, and I get my first black mark within a month of starting college, all because of Cole freaking Grady.

  That’s three times now he’s thrown me for a total loop. Three times that he’s shaken my world, and left me rattled and breathless. There’s this most recent incident, getting yelled at in front of an entire lecture hall while my phone plays boyband pop music at full blast. There was the time before, when I showed up to freshman orientation here at LSU and bumped right into the last man on the planet I was expecting to attend four years of college with.

  Oh, and then there was the first time.

  The time Cole Grady kissed me.

  “Still stewing about that, huh?”

  I blink, my face going red.

  “What?”

  He’s become a mind reader.

  “The cell phone thing.”

  Oh, that.

  Cole takes another sip of his drink, and I almost reach out and smack it right out of his hand.

  “Uh, a little,” I hiss, holding up my thumb and pointer finger, glaring at him before turning my gaze to the cup in his hands.

  “You can’t drink that, you know.”

  “Sure I can.”

  “No, you can’t.”

  “Addy, it’s a college Halloween party.”

  “It is not, it’s a faculty-student function,” I say primly. “It’s for networking with faculty and upperclassmen, and getting a firmer grasp on picking a major. It just happens to be on Halloween.” That's what the person who invited me said, anyway.

  Cole gives me a look before nodding his head at a wolf and what has to be Red Riding Hood walking past us. I can feel my face turn the same shade as her skimpy cloak as I notice the wolf’s hand buried up under the back of Red’s skirt. I quickly turn away, only to see Cole grinning smugly at me.

  “Hey, maybe she’s getting to know the Literature and Folklore department.” He laughs. “And hey, he’s definitely getting a grasp on something.”

  I wrinkly my nose. “You’re disgusting.”

  “Just call 'em like I see 'em, princess.”

  “Don’t-”

  I bite my tongue and glare at him instead of finishing. I know what he wants. He wants a reaction, just like he’s always trying to get from me. And I always give it to him, always. Giving Cole Grady the satisfaction or a response to his childish antics is something I’ve somehow done since we were kids. I did it when we were out in the neighborhood and he’d pull my pigtails, or try and put a frog down the back of my dress. Whatever it was, there’d be little Addison Tanner, screaming and wailing and pointing a finger, all while Cole Grady laughed his fool head off.

  And here I am, an adult, in college, and doing the same freaking thing.

  “You know you’re barred from college-sponsored campus events for the next month.”

  Part of our punishment for the cell phone stunt.

  “Well, that would probably apply to the both of us, don’t you think?”

  “I asked permission, what’s your justification?”

  He rolls his eyes. “I remembered that we’re in college, not high school, that we’re adults and not children, and that I pay way too much money to come here to be told I can’t come to functions like this.”

  Cole’s eyes suddenly dip down my front, and I shiver, despite the layers I’m wearing.

  “What on earth are you wearing, by the way?”

  I purse my lips, standing a little taller.

  He arches a brow. “Addy, did you seriously come to your first college Halloween party dressed as a librarian?”

  I sigh. “I’m Margaret Thatcher.”

  He snorts.

  “Margaret Thatcher was-”

  “Yeah, no, I know who she was, princess. I’m just trying to wrap my head around you coming to a college party dressed as the former Prime Minister of England.” He sighs. “I was sort of hoping for sexy nurse or dirty nun or something.”

  “You would,” I mutter. “And what the hell are you supposed to be, a lumberjack?”

  Cole gives me a look. “That’s what you got from this?” He gestures at his getup - dark jeans, plaid shirt over a waffle-knit shirt and jean jacket on top. For the first time, I notice he’s wearing fingerless leather gloves as well.

  Okay, probably not a lumberjack.

  “It was the plaid.”

  “I’m John Bender.”

  I shrug.

  “Judd Nelson, from The Breakfast Club?”

  “The sports jock guy?”

  “What? No, have you ever even seen the movie? The jock is Emilio Estevez. Bender was the cool guy.”

  “Oh, you mean the fuck-up.”

  “Tanner, you know I love it when you talk dirty like that.” He grins wickedly at me.

  I’m about to respond, but I bite my tongue and shake my head instead.

  This is stupid. This is me doing exactly what he knows I’ll do, which is exactly why he keeps doing it. And I’ll be damned if I sit here at a function like this, wasting my time bantering and bickering back and forth with Cole like we’re children again when I could be off mingling and making inroads into my major.

  “You know what? Enjoy your beer, and enjoy being a crude little cretin, Cole.”

  I spin tightly on my heel, feeling smug as I start to march away.

  “Aww, c’mon!” Cole calls after me. “What, are you really leaving?”

  I smile thinly as I turn to look at him over my shoulder.

  I refuse to let him have this kind of hold on me. I refuse to let the fact that Cole Grady kissed me once and left me breathless and spinning out of control have this sort of power of me. And I am determined to leave the time he turned my whole world upside down in the past, where it belongs.

  “I have a date I need to find.” I smile. “Enjoy your night, Cole.”

  Chapter 2

  Cole

  Shit.

  I can’t say I didn’t expect to see Addison Tanner here, I just wasn’t expecting to-

  Fuck it; never mind. I suppose I’m never expecting to feel the way I do after she and I butt heads like this.

  Tied up. Twisted. Pissed off, turned on, and wanting more. That’s what Addison Tanner does to me, which is why it takes me a second to catch my thoughts before I follow her as she storms out of the room.

  The funny thing is, we were friends once. I suppose you’d never know it from any of the four or five whole times we’ve spoken in the last four years, but back when we were kids, we were close. Before shit went downhill with my parents and before her dad won his first Senate election, I guess you could say we were friends.

  But there was never any good reason for there to be anything between us though. As kids, a lot of those reasons can be overlooked, or just don’t matter. But as we got older, the ocean between us just got to be that much more obvious. As we aged, the reasons why the cultured, uptight, prudish daughter of Senator Edward Tanner wouldn't have anything to do with the troublemaking, tattooed, rough and tumble fuck-up from the other side of the tracks became slightly more pronounced.

  So goofing around as kids slowly
stopped as we got older. Tree forts and throwing rocks at catfish down at the creek after school faded away as they were replaced with advanced private tutoring for her, and a fascination with motorcycles for me. Slowly we drifted apart, and by high school, we were strangers. Strangers with a history, I suppose, but that doesn’t really mean shit at that age.

  Well, it didn’t until the night she kissed me.

  And after that, the whole thing blew up in both of our faces.

  “Hey, Prime Minister, let me get you a drink.”

  She whirls on me, her soft face and crystal blue eyes scrunched up and sour as she glares at me.

  “No, thank you.” She crosses her arms tight across the ridiculous yellowish beige tweed jacket she’s wearing - the one that doesn’t do any favors for that sexy body of hers that I know is honed from volleyball and track underneath it. The whole tragically prudish costume is complete with matching tweed knee-length skirt, pearl necklace, and black pumps.

  Seriously, if she’s wearing the underwear of a politician in her sixties below that getup, it would not surprise me.

  “Honestly, Cole, why are you here?”

  She frowns at the beer I try and pass her way, and I shrug as I take it back. “At LSU, or this party? Because I thought we covered that first one at orientation.”

  “Both? I mean seriously, is it just your goal to follow me around getting under my skin?”

  For the record, I didn’t come to LSU to follow Addison Tanner around. After what happened that night right before graduation?

  Hell, I could have used four years away from her. So I’m not sure which of us had the more stunned look when we literally ran into each other at freshman orientation.

  I had no idea she was coming here. I always thought Ivy Leagues were the only place a girl like Addison Tanner would be headed. But I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that on an election year, Senator Tanner was pretty firm on her going to a state school.