Flanked

Studs in Spurs: Garret

“Smart, sassy and intensely sexy” RT Book Reviews

It's a marriage of convenience neither wants to end . . .

Garret James doesn’t need a woman tying him down. Not when the number of buckle bunny notches on his belt and his position in the pro bull riding standings are both on the rise. But just when he learns he’s close to blowing out his bad shoulder, Silver Jordan roars into his life straddling a Harley with her long, leather-clad legs and offering him the health insurance coverage he needs for his operation.

Hell, he might not mind being tied to one woman, if that woman was Silver. There’s two problems however—one, she’s his friend Aaron’s sister and two, this union they’d promised would be temporary and only on paper ends up in the bedroom, making their marriage feel all too real.

HEAT ADVISORY: Some like it hot and some don't. FLANKED, on the steamy side, should satisfy both kinds of readers. The standalone titles in the Studs in Spurs series span from smoking hot to just a bit sexy. Read the heat warning for each and decide which are for you!

Flanked was originally released by Samhain Publishing under the same title. This is a reissue, reedited and recovered but without any substantial additions or changes to the story.

Excerpt:

After grabbing a nice steak and a few beers with the guys Thursday night, Garret dropped his bag on the floor of the hotel room. It landed with a thud as he glanced around him.

One hotel room was pretty much like another. Some were a little bigger. Some had cool kitchenettes and fridges to keep their beer and soda cold. This one did not.

Its claim to fame seemed to be the free buffet breakfast in the lobby and the ugly-as-hell bedspreads on the two double beds in his and Skeeter’s room. They could win top prize in a hideous décor contest.

He sighed. At least the breakfast would save them the time, effort and money of going out to get food in the morning. Free flowing coffee in the lobby was definitely a plus. Particularly the morning after a night out.

“Stop that.”

Garret looked up to see Aaron standing in the doorway that connected their adjoining rooms. “Stop what?”

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“Throwing your shit down onto the floor, huffing and puffing and making a face while looking around the room like I made you stay in some shithole.” Aaron scowled.

“Well, if the four of us were all splitting a room like we usually do, we could’ve stayed in that nicer hotel down the street. The one with the suites and the good bar in the lobby. But they only had one room left and we needed three and it’s pretty pricey.”

“It wouldn’t be the four of us in only one room anyway. Remember? Chase needed his own room because his girl is coming for the weekend.”

“Still would’ve been three of us.” Garret shot Aaron an unhappy look.

Aaron rolled his eyes. “I told you, it’s only for this weekend. Next week, when my sister’s not there, we can all cram into one room again if it’ll keep you happy and you’ll quit your bitching.”

Garret rolled his eyes and hoped his annoyance wasn’t lost on Aaron.

Aaron shook his head and turned back toward his room, slamming the connecting door shut behind him.

Skeeter, who’d been silently watching the exchange, unzipped his duffle bag but didn’t comment.

“You got anything to say about this shit?” It would be nice if at least his roommate agreed with him.

“Nope.” The younger rider shook his head. He moved the sheer curtain and glanced out the window next to him.

“Fine.” Garret blew out a loud breath as Skeeter let the drapes drop into place and went back to digging around in his bag.

Garret unzipped his own bag and rooted around until he found his shaving case with his toothbrush and toothpaste in it. He should brush his teeth before they went out drinking, just in case he got lucky. He brought the small black bag into the bathroom.

Running his hand over his chin, he glanced into the mirror. Should he shave before they went out barhopping tonight?

Women usually liked his stubble and his made him look a little older. At twenty-three, with a baby face that routinely got him carded at bars and when he tried to buy liquor, older was a good thing. But his scruff was getting a little scraggly looking.

Maybe he shouldn’t bother worrying what he looked like and avoid girls tonight altogether. He was still feeling a little gun shy after his recent encounter with Marci and Greg.

Besides, he knew from being here last year, and from their trip to the restaurant tonight, this town wasn’t all that promising as far as chicks anyway.

Yeah, there’d be plenty of women at the arena who’d come to watch the competition, but that was tomorrow.

Tonight, with Aaron’s sister hanging around them, chances of hooking up with a hot townie wasn’t looking too good, even if they did happen to stumble on one.

He gave his razor stubble one more glance in the mirror. Eh, what the hell. He should clean up for the television cameras tomorrow anyway. His sponsor had given him and his scruff kind of a dirty look at the last autograph session.

Gotta keep the sponsors happy. Nowadays just staying on a bull for eight seconds wasn’t enough. There were ads and photo shoots and signings and all sorts of other publicity shit.

Garret turned on the hot water and let it run, fishing out his razor and shaving cream while he waited. He’d just wet and lathered up his face when he heard the muted sound of a knock and voices coming from Aaron’s room next door.

Skeeter glanced at the closed connecting door from the bed where he was surfing television channels. “Sounds like Aaron’s sister is here.”

“Good. That means we can go back out instead of waiting around in the room for her to get here.” Garret shaved a swath of foam and facial hair off and rinsed the blades.

“You ever meet her?” Skeeter asked.

“Nope.”

“It’ll be interesting to see what she’s like.”

Garret let out a laugh. “If you say so.”

“Aren’t you curious?” Skeeter frowned up at him.

“Nope.” Garret already knew enough. She was Aaron’s sister and she was a schoolteacher. She probably wore those ugly holiday-themed sweaters and corrected people’s grammar.

It’s may I, not can I.

Enough said.

“Why not? You’re the one who doesn’t stop checking out the girls in the stands until you’re actually in the chute and taking your wrap, then you finally concentrate on the bull.”

“That’s not true.” Garret shot Skeeter an unhappy look.

“It’s damn near close enough to the truth and you’re trying to tell me you don’t give a shit that there’s going to be a smoking-hot girl staying right in that room next door and hanging out with us all weekend?”

“I don’t give a crap because bull riders’ sisters are off limits.” Besides, who said Aaron’s sister would be hot? Garret seriously doubted it.

“That’s bull shit. I’ve seen riders date, hell even marry other guys’ sisters.”

“Yeah, I know. It happens, but that’s just looking for trouble if you ask me. But hey, you do whatever the hell you want, kid.” In his opinion, Skeeter should feel free to go after Aaron’s sister if he wanted. Garret would enjoy the show.

A deep frown knit Skeeter’s brow. “Will you stop calling me kid?”

“Luke calls you kid all the time.”

“Luke’s in his thirties. He’s old. He can call me kid. You’re only like, what? Three years older than I am?”

“Three and a half years older and I’ve been riding pro for many years now which means I know way more about this shit than you do.”

“Whatever.” Skeeter rolled his eyes.

Having proved his point, Garret went back to finishing shaving so they could get the hell out of this room and start searching for some chicks who weren’t related to one of them.

As he splashed hot water over his face and throat, what Skeeter had said bothered Garret. While wiping his wet face with a towel, he glanced at Skeeter. “And what makes you think she’s hot anyway?”

“I thought you didn’t care?” Skeeter raised a brow.

“I don’t. Just wondering why you said that, is all.” He noticed the satisfied expression on Skeeter’s face and backpedaled. “Never mind. You’re right. I don’t care.”

“I know because Aaron told me his sister bought a motorcycle and a hot-as-blazes girl drove up on that Harley out in the parking lot about a minute before there was a knock on his door.” Skeeter hooked a thumb at the window next to his bed and looked even more cocky than before.

“Well, Sherlock, with all your sleuthing, let me ask you this, how can you tell she was hot from all the way up here on the third floor?”

“Dude, she literally stopped traffic in the parking lot. One of the Aussies jumped the curb with his truck trying to look at her while pulling in.”

“Maybe Aussies are just bad drivers.”

Skeeter laughed. “Fine. Think whatever you want. If you’re not interested, that just means I have a better chance with her.”

“Fine.” Garret shook his head.

Kids. Skeeter would learn his lesson one day.

A knock on the door interrupted Garret’s lecture to Skeeter, but he was basically done anyway.

“You guys dressed?” Aaron’s voice came through the door.

“Yup. Come on in.” Skeeter jumped up from the bed and actually wet his hand with his tongue and ran it over his hair.

Garret shook his head and waited for the door to open to see what, or rather who, had Skeeter acting like this.

He didn’t have long to wait. Aaron and—holy crap—his hot-as-hell sister were in the doorway the next moment and Garret understood why the Aussies had run off the road when they got a look at her.

If she looked this hot standing in a cheap hotel room, he could only imagine what she looked like straddling a Harley. Her thighs spread wide. The powerful machine between them.

Garret glanced at Skeeter to make sure the kid wasn’t watching his reaction since he was pretty sure his jaw had dropped when he saw her. He needn’t have worried because Skeeter only had eyes for her.

From the top of her head to the tips of her black biker boots, this chick was so not what Garret had expected.

Her dark hair, cut to frame her heart-shaped face, was tousled and messy, likely from the helmet. It made her appear as if she’d just rolled out of bed, but in a sexy rather than sleepy way.

Then there were the black leather pants that stretched across her wide hips while pinching in at her tiny waist. He mentally willed her to turn around because he was sure the back view in those snug pants would be even better than the front view.

Garret couldn’t see any resemblance between this babe and dorky Aaron, but whatever.

Aaron brought her a step farther into the room. He glanced at his sister. “This is Garret and Skeeter.” Aaron pointed to each in turn. “And this is my sister S—”

“Silver.” She didn’t let Aaron finish. Rather, she took a step forward and extended her hand to Skeeter.

When she could finally get her hand back from Skeeter, who pumped it happily while grinning, she stepped to Garret.

Silver had a good firm grasp to go along with her other firm assets, both front and back—but they were all attached to a fellow rider’s sister. He had to keep that in mind.

Garret stoically kept his gaze off her leather-clad legs and her cleavage peeking out of the top of her shirt and instead noticed her violet-blue eyes, the color so unbelievably intense he frowned. “Are those colored contact lenses?”

“Uh, no. All mine, just like his.” She laughed and hooked a thumb in Aaron’s direction.

“Oh. Yeah. Um, nice to meet you.”

Crap. A girl’s eyes could be his downfall, even without the rest of the package being so enticing.

Garret glanced over and saw Aaron frowning at him, and noticed he did have almost the same color eyes. Funny Garrett had never noticed that before, or how angry Aaron could look when his brows pulled down low and unhappily over his eyes.

Shit, time to change the subject. “Uh, so we all going out now or what?”

Aaron screwed up his mouth. “Maybe. And maybe Silver and I will just hang here. Maybe she’s tired.”

“I’m not tired. I’m up for anything.”

“Great.” Skeeter stepped forward, looking excited at the prospect. “Where are we going?”

Now that Skeeter had a fake ID so he could get into bars that required proof of twenty-one or over, he was always up for a night out. But Garret had a feeling it wasn’t the prospect of going out that had Skeeter excited tonight. It was definitely Silver.

The kid hadn’t taken his eyes off her or stopped smiling since she’d arrived in the room. If Skeeter had been a puppy, his tail would be wagging.

Aaron raised a brow. “Don’t get too excited. Choices around here are pretty slim. It’ll probably be an early night.”

Garret wasn’t sure if the warning tone in Aaron’s voice was for him or Skeeter, or both.

“We’ll find somewhere, I’m sure. I’m just gonna go change. These pants are too hot. Be right back.” Silver turned, waltzing that heart-shaped ass through the door between their bedrooms.

She was right—those pants of hers were hot as fucking hell. When she disappeared from view, Garret could finally wrestle his focus back, though the memory of those rounded leather-clad globes of hers remained.

He realized the room had gone very quiet. He glanced at Skeeter and found him looking dazed. Then he dared a look at Aaron and found his face screwed up into a scowl.

“I’ll go get my keys.” With one more unhappy-looking glance sent in their direction, Aaron turned and went back to his room, slamming the connecting door shut behind him.

Garret looked at Skeeter. “Told ya sisters are off limits. Aaron’s gone all protective and we only just met her.”

“He’ll get over it.” Skeeter shrugged and turned toward his duffle bag. “Maybe I should change clothes before we go out.”

Garret shook his head at Skeeter, knowing exactly why he was reconsidering what he was wearing. That reason was currently in the next room peeling leather off her hot little body.

Meanwhile, as Garret glanced in the mirror at his own shirt and jeans, which had seen better days, he was wondering the same thing as Skeeter.

COLLAPSE
Reviews:on RT Book Reviews:

“Smart, sassy and intensely sexy”