Pulled
Under
(Kill Devil Hills, #3)
By Sarah Darlington
Synopsis
man-child. noun.
: a grown man who
is very immature, therefor considered a man-child
manwhore. noun.
: a promiscuous man
who has no regard for his sexual partners or the emotional value of his
relationships
Rhett Morgan
couldn't have been more wrong for me. The guy drank beer in the shower, for
crying out loud. He had no prospects for the future, had slept with half the
women in our beach town of Kill Devil Hills, and had no desire to change his
manwhore ways.
And when Ben
Turner, the guy I had loved from afar for the past four years, died and I
couldn't get over his death, I desperately needed a distraction. A distraction
like Rhett. So I used him for a one-night stand. Because, after all, that's the
only thing a guy like Rhett is good for...right?
***New Adult Romance. This novel is the third
book in the Kill Devil Hills series, however it can be read as a standalone.
Recommended for 18+
Buy Now
***FREE on Kindle Unlimited!***
$0.99 for release day!
You’re
Invited!
Excerpt
Sucking in a breath, I took him in. Rhett was
good-looking in the completely opposite way of Ben. Ben had been handsome in a
clean-cut, manicured way. Then there was Rhett…who looked like he could have
been a construction worker or a firefighter…or maybe a male stripper dressed up
as a construction worker or a firefighter. He was lean, muscular, tan, rugged,
and the very sight of him, even from a distance, brought heat to my cheeks.
Not to mention, the man was like catnip. The bar
area was packed with hungry felines on the prowl. He moved fast, making drinks,
smiling at the women he served, and embodying every frat-boy (minus the frat)
image I could conjure in my mind. The memory of him from when I was sixteen
wasn’t something easily forgotten, and a tingle touched my lips as my mind
replayed the kiss we’d once shared.
Still…he wasn’t Ben.
Sadness washed over me like a bucket of ice
water. I shook off the feeling. Rhett had made me feel better once before, and
I had no reason to doubt the same thing couldn’t work for me a second time. The
only difference now was, I wanted to take it to the next level. I wanted to
give up my virginity to him…tonight. No point in saving myself for someone who
wasn’t alive anymore.
“Holy shit,” I said aloud. Breaking my eyes away
from Rhett, I brought my attention back to the table and to my drink. Feeling
like I was buried ten feet deep in teenage hormones, grief, and God knows what
else, I removed the straw, as it was only slowing me down, and I finished the
remainder of my drink in a giant swallow. The alcohol burned going down, and I
grimaced. “That man is not for the faint of heart,” I mumbled to myself as I
set down a now empty glass. “And neither is my plan for him tonight.”
Kimberly sighed. “The teacher in me probably
should warn you that this is a bad idea,” she said, shaking her head. “But the
girlfriend in me is going to do the opposite.” She leaned closer and her face
turned very sincere. “You deserve this—to be young and stupid and go for
something you want. All we have is the present moment. The past is gone, and
the future isn’t guaranteed. So have a little fun. Knock that boy off his
feet.”
For the first time in a long time, I laughed.
“He’s not going to remember me.”
She shrugged. “So what. Make a new memory.”
Convinced, though I’d made up my mind hours
before coming here tonight, I stood up ready to go talk to Rhett, ready for whatever to
happen.
Kimberly’s eyes went wide. “Yes,” she whispered.
“You can do this.”
“I need to know something,” I said, lingering by
the table. “Are you sure you’re okay with this? I kind of got the impression
that you might have liked Rhett when you went to high school with him. I could
find someone else—”
“No. Rhett is perfect for this. Sure, I had a
crush on him like everyone else in high school, but that was ages ago. I’m with
Cody now. I love Cody. I don’t need a man-child like Rhett, that’s for damn
certain.” She smirked at me. “But you go get your man-child, honey.
He should be fun for one night.”
“Fine.” Laughing, I left Kimberly. I’d lied to
her a second ago. If she’d said no about Rhett than I wouldn’t be attempting
this with someone random. Only Rhett would do.
Feeling surprisingly confident, I approached the
bar. I wore a short beach dress that buttoned in the front and showed off my
long legs. My platinum hair was curled in big waves, beauty pageant worthy, and
it fell just past my shoulders. I’d even broken out the high heels for this. No
matter who I was on the inside, outwardly I wasn’t the nerdy girl with glasses
anymore.
There was exactly one open seat. Setting my
purse on top of the bar, I sat down. I unbuttoned one more button on my cotton
dress and waited to be noticed. Rhett’s back was to me so he wasn’t noticing
anything.
Five minutes passed and nothing happened. I
unbuttoned another button, but changed my mind and redid it when the older man
sitting beside me started staring at my chest and winking at me between sips of
his whiskey.
Oh God. My confidence began to falter.
The bar was chaos, with only two bartenders
working, and they both struggled to keep up with their demand. Rhett moved more
quickly than the girl working, but he worked the opposite end from where I sat
and had yet to even glance in my direction. I realized I was crazy-pants for
thinking I could just walk over here and he'd suddenly see me, remember me, and
we'd have some magical repeat moment of the one we had shared years ago.
Yeah, not happening.
Another woman already had Rhett’s undivided
attention. Brunette. Older than me. Ruby red lips with a leopard print bikini
on under a sheer cover up. She was, without a doubt, a sure thing. Between
every drink he poured, he'd return to her for a brief moment of flirting. I
couldn't hear what they were saying, but the chemistry between them was enough
to let me know that I had a better chance at winning the lottery tonight than
ending up in his bed.
“What can I get ya, babe? Piña Coladas are on
special tonight—three dollars.”
It took me a moment to realize someone was
speaking to me. I had Rhett blinders on and had completely missed the woman
bartender who waited impatiently for me to acknowledge her. My eyes focused on
her name tag—Luce. When I finally realized how incredibly rude I was being, she
had already started walking away from me, shaking her head and huffing under
her breath.
"Rhett," she hollered, as she motioned
towards me. “Your customer.”
Oh shit!
At her words, Rhett glanced over his shoulder in
my direction. He looked right through me as he called out, “One moment,” before
returning to his brunette.
I wanted to run from the bar. My stomach felt
queasy, and that vodka tonic threatened to come back up. “This was a stupid
idea," I murmured to myself.
Rhett took his sweet-ass time finishing his
conversation with the brunette before making his way toward me. It took him so
damn long that by the time he came for my drink order, I no longer felt quite
so nervous.
“Hello there, princess. What can I get for you?"
he asked, smiling and cocking an eyebrow at me, charm oozing out of him. “Piña
Coladas are on special tonight,” he told me, rubbing a hand over his closely
shaved head and speaking fast. It was clear, even if he did it with a smile on
his face, he was trying to hurry me into making a decision. “You look like a
Piña Colada kind of girl. How ‘bout I get you one of those?”
He had a very nice smile, which he clearly used
to his advantage. He did, after all, work for tips. But whether his charm and
that smile were real or fake, they pissed me off. I was too much of a cynic,
something I knew I’d picked up by being raised by my very straight-forward,
realist of a brother, to put up with his bullshit.
“What the hell?” I snapped, my frustrations
pouring out of me. “Do you all have a giant premade batch of Piña Colada that
you need to sell before the end of the night? Because I happen to hate
coconut.” I didn’t actually hate coconut. “Fifty percent of people
hate coconut.”I made up that statistic. “If you’re going to offer
something that half the population hates, you should at least have a second
drink option on special as an alternative, otherwise you’re discriminating.
Besides, do I look twenty-one? I’m eighteen—learn how to card.”
“Shit. You’re a cop.”
“No, I’m not a cop. I don’t even want a drink.”
I started rummaging around in my purse for nothing in particular because I
needed something to do with my hands. I was beyond annoyed and, frankly, a
little hurt. “Can we pretend this conversation never happened? I would much
rather keep my glorified memories intact. And—”
I stopped talking and digging when his fingers
gently touched the underside of my chin. Swallowing, I looked up from my bag. Why
the hell was he touching me?
“I know you," he whispered, the color
draining from his face.
"No you don't," I said pulling away
from his touch and standing from my seat.
"Yes, I do. You've changed, but those green
eyes I haven’t forgotten.”
Everything slowed down. I stood there with my
bag slung over my shoulder and my feet frozen to the floor. The noise of the
chaotic bar faded into the background. He stared at me, and I stared at him. He
recognized me, and with that recognition his whole demeanor changed. Sincerity,
I suppose, was the difference I suddenly saw in him.
“You came back," he said after a moment,
smiling.
This smile, I could tell, was genuine.
Other Novels in the Kill
Devil Hills Series
#1 Kill Devil Hills
Noah is determined to escape his past and keep his life under control. Then he saves the life of his best friend’s little sister, Georgina Turner — who is battling her own demons. He can't get her out of his head, even if Georgina tears down the emotional walls he so carefully built.
**FREE on Kindle Unlimited**
Ellie Turner is a lesbian. She knows who she is, loves who she is, and couldn’t care less what the rest of the world thinks of her. Then television star Nate West comes along. All thick muscle and alpha-male testosterone. When Ellie meets him on an airplane, he ignites something inside her she never knew existed.
**FREE on Kindle Unlimited**
Meet Sarah Darlington
Sarah Darlington, a
New Adult and contemporary romance author, resides in Virginia with her
husband, three-year old, and one more little one on the way. Best known for her
Kill Devil Hills Series, she's also a former flight attendant, with a degree in
school counseling, and harbors a huge passion for traveling. She's especially
set on visiting all 50 states.
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