Bayou Stix Series: Bayou Stix Limited Edition Box Set (70 page)

He swoops down and captures my mouth and our tongues dance for a bit as he rubs against me. I’m about two seconds from demanding he fuck me before we leave. Until Erik calls through the door, “No time for you two rabbits to bump monkeys. Get your asses out here. We’re leaving in five.”

Micah groans and throws a pillow at the door. “Dammit, Erik!”

We can hear the laughter in the hallway as Erik, Alec, and Jessie taunt us, until Blue cuts in. “What are you assholes, five years old? Get the hell away from the doorway. Bunch of pervs!”

Jessie’s response is muffled, but we can hear it and the love in his voice for Blue is evident. “Aw, woman, we were just fucking with them. No need to call us names! Besides, you like when I’m a perv.”

Laughing with them, Micah gets up and pulls me with him. Patting my ass, he pushes me towards the bathroom. “We’ll finish this later. Go make sure your hair is the way you want it, so I don’t get screamed at.”

Arching my brow, I act cross. “Oh, shut up.” Then, squeezing my boobs together, I lick my lips and point to him and then my crotch. “I want a rain check. I’m horny now and since you’re making me wait, you owe me.”

Adjusting his crotch, he throws his head back and laughs. “You are a hot mess, Bradi St. James. But, damned if I don’t love you and all of your crazy, too. Oh, you’ll get it. You’re getting it forever.”

Chuckling, I head into the bathroom with the smile that stays on my face thanks to that gorgeous man out there in the bedroom. Things have not been easy these past seven years and I’ve certainly fucked up, but that man is my soul mate, and I’m never letting him go.

Erik

We’re at the House of Blues in New Orleans and the place is packed. Bradi has been jabbering about this band, Devil’s Lair, for months now. They finally played a show close enough for us to catch and Jessie called a friend and got us tickets. Bayou Stix is looking for a new act for the arena tour starting up this spring and Bradi says these guys are not to be missed. So, here we are.

Jude and Lexi are on their honeymoon. Dade has taken off for a two week vacation on some Caribbean island. Jessie and Blue are planning on spending a bit of time here since they just bought a town house in the Quarter as a retreat. Cruz and Liam are driving in to catch the show and should be here any minute.

We have a large table and everyone is kind of doing their own thing for a minute. Bradi is sitting on Micah’s lap with her arms around his neck. Blue and Jessie are leaning into each other, having an animated conversation, and every now and again, one of them will just lean in and kiss the other. Who would have thought Jessie, the manwhore, would ever be tamed?! Alec and I are making our own plans since he’ll officially be moving into my house with me now that Lexi and Jude are married and she’s settled at his mansion.

The past few months have been insane, but they’ve proven to all of us at this table that things happen for a reason.

Alec touches my face and breaks me out of my inner musings. “Hey there. Where were you?”

Smiling at him with all of the love I have clearly visible in my eyes, I answer him. “Nowhere. I’m right here. Right where I was meant to be. Just reflecting on how crazy life can be.”

Alec smiles back and takes my hand. They’re resting on the table top for the world to see, but I don’t care. I want everyone to know the love I have for this man. He’s my world. He’s my present and he’s my future. He winks at me. “Ain’t life grand?!”

We look over and Bradi and Micah are both looking at us with huge smiles. Our drinks arrive and we all pick them up. Jessie slaps his hands on the table and everyone jumps. We laugh. Then he looks around the table and says, “A toast. To friends. To lovers. To being in love. To living life. We are the blessed ones. Especially all of you fuckers, since I’m in your life. Now cheers!”

We laugh and clink glasses and I say, “I’ll drink to that!”

The Rembrandts – I’ll Be There For You [Theme From FRIENDS]

Blake Shelton – God Gave Me You

The Meters – Mardi Gras Mambo

Fall Out Boy – The Mighty Fall

Luke Bryan – I Don’t Want This Night to End

Lady Antebellum – When You Got A Good Thing

Daughtry – Feels Like The First Time

Miley Cyrus – Party In The U.S.A.

Bobby Bare – Marie Laveau

Jason Aldean – Why

Cassadee Pope – Wasting All These Tears

Flo Rida – Wild Ones – feat. Sia

Gavin DeGraw – In Love With A Girl

Rascal Flatts – Easy

Maroon 5 – Harder To Breathe

Avril Lavigne – Complicated

Florida Georgia Line – Stay

The Charlie Daniels Band – The Devil Went Down To Georgia

Luke Bryan – Goodbye Girl

OneRepublic – What You Wanted

Daughtry – Breakdown

Flo Rida – Low – feat T-Pain

Lady Antebellum – Need You Now

Kelly Clarkson – Catch My Breath

The Fray – Trust Me

P!nk – Just Give Me a Reason

Otis Redding – Stand By Me

Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble

Trapt – Made Of Glass

Jay Sean – Down

Puddle Of Mudd – Blurry

Christina Aguilera – Your Body

Rihanna – S&M

Third Eye Blind – How’s It Going To Be

Playlist can be found on Spotify.

First of all I want to thank everyone who had joined me on this amazing journey. It’s been an amazing ride thus far and I pray that things only get better.

I hope you enjoy this novella as you learn a little more about Erik and Bradi. I completely fell in love with these characters writing Alluring Turmoil, but I had no idea that so many others would feel the same.

This book was by far, my hardest to write to date. I basically took two secondary characters, that I’d never intended to expand on, and created seven years of their life in just thirteen chapters.

Some things were not easy to write and I stepped out of my comfort zone. Situations that are very emotional and that many people feel very passionate about are covered in this novella and I hope you are pleased with the book.

With that being said, if you take nothing else from this novella, take this: People are human. We all make mistakes and sometimes we made choices that we “think” are correct, but are in fact not. We all want to protect ourselves. But the most important thing in life is to be true to YOU. Live your life for you, not for anyone else. If you find someone you love who loves you back and treats you right, hold onto that. It’s a gift.

If you read the book and love it, please remember to leave reviews. We Indie authors count on them.

Thank you and happy reading,

Skye Turner

Book 3 Bayou Stix

By
SKYE TURNER

Alluring Temptation is dedicated to anyone who’s ever had their heart broken, their dreams crushed, or someone tell them they are not worth it.

Here’s to proving them all wrong!

Thank you to my amazing Beta readers: Betsy Whitley,
Cover to Cover Book Blog,
Elaine Kelly,
Elaine’s Love of Books,
Joely Bogan,
Book Worms
, Kia-Lin Klink Holmes,
Miles Apart Books
, Lindsey Lawson,
Daisy Dog Photography and Design
, Noelle Kinberger, Pam Mitcham, Tiffany Tyler,
Tiffany Talks Books
(and my amazing P.A.), and Thomas Noble. Y’all make me feel like a ‘Rock Star’ every single day and I love you oodles and oodles for the love and support and for helping me perfect my baby!

Thank you Kari Ayasha of
Cover to Cover Designs
for always nailing my covers. Especially this time when I decided to be difficult. Thank you for not telling me to take a hike when I hit you with a last minute revision this time! You always create the perfect cover and are also an amazing friend.

Thank you Justin Cardoza for the beautiful cover photography, and thank you to Dusty Daniels for portraying my Liam so well.

EXTRA SPECIAL
thank you to Mandy Hollis for the last minute work and working with me to be my Clove!

Special thanks to my fellow Sinners: A.D. Justice, A.M. Madden, Christine Davidson, LL Collins, Ren Alexader, and Tricia Daniels. You girls are the best and I love our witty conversations about absolutely nothing. You keep me sane and grounded and I love you!

Another extra special shout out goes to my AMAZING Street Team! You ladies are the absolute best and I love that you love me and my characters so much. So, thank you to: Tiffany, Betsy, Bea, Loca, Cheryl, Desiree, Rebecca, Kia, TH, Lindsey, Noelle, Julie, Komi, Lheanne, Ange, Shannon, Joely, Heather, Christine, Amber, Kristin, Tracey, Amy, Andrea, and Elaine.

For my other amazingly supportive author/blogger friends, I thank you for taking the journey with me and your love and support is the cherry on top of this sundae! TH Snyder, Kathy Coopmans, Chelle Bliss, Rebecca Brooke, Glenna Maynard, Alina Man, Joanne Schwehm, and so many more.

I’d also like to thank my READERS! Y’all are the bomb diggity and your messages, FB posts, tweets, etc. make my day every single day. I thank you all for loving my boys and girls!

Lastly, but most importantly, I have to thank my love, James, and our two babies! You three are the most important things in my life and your love, support, and pride in me have me more fulfilled than I ever thought possible. I love you!

Liam

W
hat is that God awful noise?

The ringing of my cell phone wakes me from my deep slumber. Rolling over, I slap around the nightstand and knock the phone to the floor. “Shit! Dammit! Who the hell is calling me? What the hell time is it anyway?”

As my hand finds the phone, I squint at the caller ID.
“Dade”
is on the display. I also notice the time. Seven fricking o-clock in the morning.

Why the hell is this asshole calling me at 7AM?!

Swiping my finger across the screen to answer, I mumble out, “What the hell, dude!?”

Laughter comes through the phone as he answers, “Good morning, sunshine. I didn’t disturb your beauty rest, did I?”

“Hell yes, you did, asshole. What’s up? Why are you calling me at 7AM? Why aren’t you snuggled up with some hottie instead of disturbing me?” I grumble out as I drag my hands down my face to trying to wake up. Damn, I need to shave.

He laughs again. “Who says I’m not? And you live in my house, so I can call whenever I want to. Just checking in. How is everything that way?” His voice gets serious. “Are you being civil to my sister?”

Sighing, I flop back on the bed and stare at the patterns created by the light filtering through the blinds onto the ceiling. “Clove is fine. Give me some credit. She freaks out whenever I walk into a room and when she’s not avoiding me, she’s screaming at me.” I groan. “Why can’t you just call her?!”

He sighs and I can hear him messing with his hair through the phone. “Look, I know she’s kind of different, but she’s had a really rough go of it lately. I’d be there, but I needed this break too, and it was already scheduled. Just try not to rattle her, ok? I’ll be back in eight days. I appreciate you keeping an eye on her until then though, man. I mean it.”