Never Ever

Never Ever

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© L.P. Maxa All Rights Reserved

Cover Design by Melonie Simmons from eBookindiecovers

“A good friend knows all your stories. A best friend helped you write them.”

                            -Unknown

Chapter One:

Livi

“Are you going to tell them?”

I shook my head, “Nope.”

“You need to tell them.”

I rolled my eyes, “Yes Kate, I’m aware that I need to tell my very best friends that I’m getting divorced.”

“You should have told them right when it happened.”

I sighed, this was getting exasperating. “I was a little busy, you know. I was doing all those pesky things like kicking Patrick out, finding a lawyer, and convincing my mom that I did not need to move in with her. By the time I had a moment of peace, this trip was only a month away. Girls Trip is for drinking and debauchery, not divorce talk.”

“Well, you found the time to tell me.”

“No, I didn’t. You just happened to be on the phone with me when I walked in and caught the man I’ve been married to for the last five years nailing his brand new assistant. You found out by default.” I looked over at one of my favorite people in the world. Her big brown eyes were so full of love and support. I knew she was right. But I was in no way shape or form about to ruin our yearly girls trip with my soon-to-be divorce. The 4 of us took one trip a year together, one. And I wasn’t about to spend the next three days doing anything other than drinking, dancing, and laughing with my friends. “Leave me alone. I’m about to take my anti-anxiety drops so I can make it through this damn flight. I swear I miss the old days when we were broke college kids and couldn’t afford to fly anywhere.” I put two drops of the holistic calming meds under my tongue, ignoring Kate’s laughter. She knew I hated to fly, they all knew I hated to fly. But here I was, yet again, on a flying death trap.

Kate suddenly started to shake my shoulder, “Livi look! Is that our pilot? I swear I saw that guy at the bar this morning when we were drinking breakfast.”

“Stop. It.” I narrowed my eyes trying to determine if she was kidding or not.

“I’m serious.” She was smiling though, she had to be joking.

“Serious pain in my ass. Now leave me alone, you aren’t funny.” I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing. Within a few minutes I started to feel a little woozy, like I’d drank half a bottle of wine. Hmmm…this was a nice way to fly.

“Livi? Livi.”

I opened my eyes when I heard my name. “What now? Did you see our flight attendant doing lines in the bathroom?”

“We just landed, we’re here.”

I looked past her out the window, amazed that we were on the tarmac. “Really? I slept through the whole flight?”

Kate started digging around in her purse, grabbing her phone and turning it on. “Yeah, lame ass. You’re terrible company.”

“Sorry. Either I was tired or those are some bad ass holistic meds my yoga instructor gave me.” I felt so alive and refreshed, I never felt this good after drinking a bottle of wine. I needed to send her a thank you note. We waited until it was our turn to get off the plane, which seemed to take an eternity. When we rounded the corner towards baggage claim, I stopped short and put my arm out to get Kate’s attention. “Uh, Kate? Why is there a handsome man holding a sign with our names on it? Are we being
Punk’d
?” The sign holder was more than handsome, he was like handsome times infinity. He was very studious-boy-next-door looking with short blonde hair and kind green eyes that were darting all around the airport, searching for…us apparently.

Kate snorted, “What is this 2003? No one gets
Punk’d
anymore.” She gave him a very appreciative once over. “Baily probably hired drivers so we wouldn’t have too many cars at the lake house. Let’s head to baggage claim, our bags should be there by now.”

I let Kate walk off to grab our bags, she was stronger than me anyways. I went to talk to tall dark and handsome with the sign, I was too intrigued to wait. “Excuse me, um, sir? I’m Livi. Of Livi and Kate.” I pointed to his sign, “Who sent you to get us?”

He dropped it down by his side and gave me an easy smile. “Your friend Baily hired us.”

“Us?” I smiled back, I had no choice his voice had an adorable southern edge to it, we
were
in Georgia after all.

“Yes ma’am. Baily hired two of us for the weekend. We’re y’alls butlers.”

“Oh wow. She really did it.” Every girl’s trip we joked about hiring some hot man candy to wait on us hand and foot. And every year, we never actually go through with it. I glanced behind me as Kate struggled her way to us. The butler man handed me the sign and went to help her.

“Who did what? What did I miss while I was wrestling
all
of our luggage? Thanks for the help by the way.” Kate blew her bangs out of her face and shot me a dirty look.

My eyes darted to our new friend, he’d gotten on his cell phone but I whispered all the same, “Baily hired us hot man butlers for the weekend.”

“Shut. Up.”

“I will not. That’s what southern charm over there said. He said she hired
two
of them.” Please God let the other one be just as gorgeous and just as southern. Not that southern men were in short supply where we were from, we lived in Texas. But let me tell you, there is difference between the south and the deep south. And the Deep South, was my weakness.

When the sign man walked back over to us Kate stuck out her hand, “I’m Kate. It’s nice to meet you.”

He shifted my bag to his other arm so he could shake her hand, “Cole. Nice to meet you. Both of you. My buddy is just pulling the truck around to pick us up.” He gestured in front of him, indicating that we should go ahead.

When we got to the curb a big black suburban drove up. The back hatch opened flooding our space with cool air. It was hot and humid as hell outside. Cole loaded our bags inside and the opened the back door for us and we climbed in, me first then Kate. After our adorable new friend Cole got into the passenger seat and shut the door, the SUV pulled away from the curb. Between the tinting of the windows and the overhang of the airport terminal blocking the sun, it was extremely dark in the car. I couldn’t really see the person driving, and believe me, I was trying.

Cole turned in his seat to introduce us. “Kate, Livi, this is Taylor. Taylor, Kate and Livi.”

Taylor’s voice floated back to us, “It’s nice to meet you ladies. Are y’all excited for your girl’s weekend?”

Ah, thank goodness, another sweet southern drawl. Now, hopefully his looks matched his buddy’s too. Wouldn’t that just be the icing on the cake of this girl’s trip? Hot southern guys making my drinks. I could look
and
touch. Not that I would, I was a little old for weekend flings and my divorce wasn’t even finale yet. I kept glancing in the rearview mirror hoping that I would catch a glimpse of the mysterious Taylor, but it was still too dark in the car. I’d forgot he asked us a question, too distracted by the smooth sound of his voice. Luckily Kate answered and saved me from looking like a total spaz, “Are you kidding? A whole weekend where the only person I need to be responsible for is myself? I look forward to this all year.”

Cole and Taylor both chuckled. I wondered if that was part of their job. Humoring the women, because like I said, Kate’s not that funny. We eventually got out from under the overhang and the inside of the car brightened considerably. I was 100 percent unprepared for what I saw when I looked in the review mirror. Taylor was core clenching hot. He had the palest blue eyes I’d ever seen, set in a face more than lightly kissed by Georgia summers. With dirty blonde hair that was curling out from under a faded Georgia Bulldogs baseball cap that he wore backwards. From what I could see of his hands on the wheel, his arms were full of muscle and definition. But not in a gross beefy way, in an easy I bale hay in free time way. My insides melted. He was that gorgeous. When I finally tore my eyes away from his body and looked back in the rear view mirror, he was staring right at me. He caught me checking him out. I should have been embarrassed, but I wasn’t. I held his gaze, it was intense. Where the hell did bold Livi come from? He was the first one to look away. Probably a good thing considering he was driving, but I instantly felt the loss.

Taylor cleared his throat, “So, are all of y’all married?”

I answered quickly and without thinking, “Oh, I’m not married.” Kate jabbed me in the side. “Ouch.” I turned to her, whispering, “What? I’m not.”

Kate whispered back to me, “If you don’t want anyone to know you’re getting divorced, then maybe you shouldn’t tell people that you aren’t married.” She shook her head and answered Taylor, “The rest of us are all married.”

I sighed, dammit. She was right. “Uh, guys? I’m not married, honestly I’m getting divorced. But I don’t really want the other girls to know that yet. So, just forget I said I wasn’t. Okay?”

Cole quickly nodded his head, “No problem.”

Taylor caught my eye in the rearview mirror, “Oh, I won’t forget. I won’t say anything to your friends, but I won’t forget.”

I held his gaze a second time. When he broke away to look at the road I leaned over and stage whispered to Kate, “Is he hitting on me? It’s been so long since someone hit on me, I can’t tell.”

“Yes he is, he’s eye fucking you too. And don’t even think about it.” Kate gave me her most stern mom look. It never worked on her son Finn, and it wasn’t going to work on me. She turned her attention back to the front seat, “So. How in the world did y’all happen to become male butlers?”

It was Cole that replied, “For most of us it’s just a part time gig. Something interesting to do to put ourselves through school. I’m a couple semesters away from graduating law school and Taylor is graduating next month. It beats waiting tables or stripping.”

I chimed in, “Is it fun? I mean, are people ever super bossy and bitchy?”

“Nah. Ninety percent of the time its women like you and your friends. Just looking for a fun weekend.” Cole got his phone out again, I saw that he pulled up his maps app. Baily found us this beautiful house on Lake Hartwell. It was supposed to be just a few miles from this quaint little tourist town in southern Georgia. All the pictures she sent us online looked so tranquil. When we first started this yearly tradition we would look for places to party. Sun, shots, and swinging from the chandeliers. Now, we just looked for places off the beaten path to relax and recharge. And apparently, places with enough room for two personal butlers. Baily was a barrel of fun, and she was too rich for her own good. It didn’t surprise me at all that she hired men to be at our beck and call all weekend. We talked about it every year. How amazing it would be to have gorgeous men bring us drinks and drive us around. A fun time with hot men, without being hit on every two seconds, or getting into trouble with our husbands. Huh, guess I didn’t really have to worry about that now. Lucky me. I peeked over at Taylor’s profile, holy hell, he was extremely good looking. I wondered what I looked like after a three hour flight where I slept like the dead. Probably not great. [vk.com/newreleasebooks]

Chapter Two:

Taylor

She was beautiful. Livi was honestly one of the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. And in my line of work, I’d seen my fair share of women. Old women, young women, flirty women, rich women, a lot of plastic women. There was something innocent about Livi though, something wholesome. Which just made me want to get her all dirty. She had blonde hair the color of honey that fell down her back in these no fuss looking waves and stunning dark green eyes. Her small little nose had a light dusting of freckles and her skin was smooth and flawless. Her lips, my God, her lips. I wanted to suck on them until they were red and swollen. Since I didn’t want to be too obvious, I didn’t turn around in my seat to check out her body. But, thankfully, we were going to be at a lake for three days. I was sure I’d get a chance to see her in a swim suit. Or naked? I’d just shoot for seeing her naked. I mean, dream big, right? To top it all off, she was the only girl on this trip not married. It was like a summer miracle. We weren’t supposed to hit on the women we were working for, let alone bone them. But this was my last butler job, ever. I was graduating with a degree in sociology in three weeks. Then it was off to the real world, the boring world, the world my father built. I glanced in the rearview mirror again. Livi was laughing at something Cole had just said. It irritated me that he’d been the one to make her laugh like that. Her head was thrown back and her neck looked so damn kissable. I wanted to make her laugh like that. Cole wasn’t even that funny. Damn, now I was irritated at myself for even giving a shit who made that chick laugh.

“Tay, are you listening to me?”

“Huh? What?” I glanced over at Cole, he looked pissed.

He shook his head and mumbled under his breath, “Stop thinking with your dick man. She’s not for you.” And then louder he said, “We take a right up there where that wooden sign is. You see it?”

“Yeah man, I see it.” I steered the glorified mommy mobile the company made us use onto the narrow drive way. The house that stood before us was amazing. I’d been coming to this lake with my family since I was a little boy, but I’d never seen this place before. It was new construction, but built to look old. Looks of worn wood, surrounded by decades old trees. It had a screened in front porch, balconies on the second story and a spectacular view of the lake. Man I loved my life. I was getting paid to spend the whole weekend at a gorgeous house, flirting with a beautiful not married girl. I put the car in park and everyone jumped out. Cole went around, got out a couple bags and he and Kate headed up to the house. I grabbed the rest and waited for Livi to walk up beside me. “So pretty.”

Livi leaned in and grabbed a suitcase, dragging it out of the back and then almost toppling over from the weight of it. “Yeah, Baily has really out done herself this time. This view is incredible.”

I traded her one of the smaller bags I was carrying for the larger one that she was bound to drop on her toe. Or mine. I waited for her to turn and look at me, “I wasn’t talking about the house.”

She rolled her eyes. “Nice line kid.”

“Kid? I’m pretty sure we’re about the same age. And, that wasn’t a line, I think you’re gorgeous. Spend the weekend in bed with me.” Shit. I don’t think I meant to say that last part out loud.

Livi started laughing, so hard that it took her a few minutes to compose herself an answer me. “What? Absolutely not.”

Talk about a bruise to your ego. “Why not?” I had never been turned down that quickly before. No joke. Never.

“Let’s see. Number one.” She shot me a pointed look, “I literally
just
met you. Number two, I’m here on a girl’s weekend. And number three, my friends all still think I’m married and I’m pretty sure doing you in the next room would tip them off. Plus, isn’t that like against your company policy or something.” She started to walk up the worn wooden steps.

I grabbed her hand, pulling her back down a step towards. “I didn’t hear anywhere in your reasons that you didn’t
want
to spend the weekend with me. And this is my last job. I graduate in a few weeks so I don’t care if they fire me.”

She rolled her eyes again, took her hand out of mine and walked the rest of the way up the porch. I could hear her and her friend’s high pitched delight in seeing each other. Girls. You know what I say to my friends when I haven’t seen them in a while?
Hey man, what’s up
. I walked in once all the squealing stopped. “All right ladies. Where do I need to put these bags?”

It was Baily who answered me, she was the one we had been emailing back and forth to set this whole weekend up.  She seemed to be in charge around here. “Well, I was just about to ask everyone how they wanted to do sleeping arrangements. There is one bedroom with a twin size bed, which I claimed for myself since I organized everything.” She paused and gave everyone a glittery smile, “Another bedroom with a king and then a room with a bunk bed that the guys are using. So either all three of you can fit in the king or there is one other bed, it’s a full but it’s on the side porch... It’s screened in and the owner promises me that the fan they have out there keeps it plenty cool at night.”

My eyes immediately darted to Livi. I was mentally pleading with her
, take the outside bed, please take the outside bed
. If she took the outside bed, there’s a good chance I could charm my way into it.

Livi raised her hand, “I’ll take the outside bed.”

Yes! There was a God.

Kate spun and narrowed her eyes on me. Crap, did I fist pump for real or only in my head?

One of the other girls, whose name I couldn’t remember, asked Livi if she was sure about the outside room. Livi nodded, smiling. “Really I don’t mind at all. Maybe I’ll be able to get a little work done in the mornings too.”

Other girl, whose name I really should learn, pointed at Livi, “No ma’am. No work this weekend.” Then she turned and looked at me, “Although, the scenery here is pretty inspiring.”

What did that mean? Was I scenery? I gave a mental shrugged, whatever, wasn’t the first time a girl had called me inspiring. Other girl was platinum blonde, leggy and sassy. I took Livi’s bags out onto the side porch, wearing an enormous smile and placed them under the bed. This was perfect. There was a door that led to the outside, I could easily slip in and out without being noticed. Plus, with that high powered fan, no one would be able to hear her screaming my name.[vk.com/newreleasebooks]