Against All Odds Choices (2ndt in a series of contemporary romance books for Kindle)

Against All Odds: Choices

Sarah
Amerson

PUBLISHED BY:

Copyright © 2013

SarahAmerson.com

All
rights reserved.

No
part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means,
electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and
publisher of this book.

This
is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product
of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

Have
you read the 1
^st
book in the series?

Against
All Odds Crossroad
http://www.amazon.com/Against-All-Odds-Crossroad-ebook/dp/B00DP5B2UO

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:
Taking a Plunge

Chapter 2:
Life in The Hamptons

Chapter 3:
Old Meets New

Chapter 4:
Truths and Confessions

Imagine
Dragons was playing on the radio on this lazy Saturday afternoon. The apartment
was quiet and peaceful, with soft music as a background to add some sort of
effect to this eventful chapter of my life.

With my eyes
closed, I sighed and laid my head on the couch.

It was hard to
imagine that my unexpected encounter with the City's famous Leonardo Russo
happened only last night. Honestly, it felt like it was a lifetime ago. Things
became from simple to complicated in a span of little time. Who would've
thought?

 “Tough luck,”
commented Sarah, who was sitting beside me.

I just told
her everything because I was too mind-blown last night to do so. After my
conversation with Leo, I just went straight to my room and hit the sack. I
hoped so bad that it was all just some bad dream.

But no, it
wasn't. I really had a one-night-stand with one of New York City's most wanted
bachelors. Not to mention, he was the sole heir of a multinational corporation.
To make things worse, he was also the son of a Mob Boss.

A week ago, I
only had my sister, my job, and the bills to think about. Now – thanks to my
raging hormones that didn't realize I wasn't a teenager anymore – I had to
think about a man who made me weak in the knees, too. Figuratively and literally.

“So the guy
you slept with last week is
the
Leo Russo?” Sarah added in a question.
Her facial expression screamed of shocked disbelief.

I nodded
without opening my eyes.

“Bridget,” she
whispered. “He's Leo fucking Russo! He's practically a walking example of
everything you stand against to. Wow, how freaking ironic is that?”

“I know. Don't
rub it in.”

She snorted.
“Well, he surely rubbed himself in you.”

At that, I
opened my eyes to glare at her. I completely ignored the fact that I could feel
my cheeks heat up from what she said.

“You're not
helping at all,” I told her, getting up and heading to the kitchen to make
myself a sandwich.

“I didn't
realize you needed help,” she muttered.

I swung around
and faced Sarah, who didn't move from the couch.

“I need help
to get rid of this –” I paused to exasperatedly gesture on my body. “– this
attraction I have for him. I need it to go away and be gone!”

“You wouldn't
like to hear the solution for that, babe,” said Sarah a-matter-of-factly,
flipping her ridiculously shiny red hair while she rolled her green eyes.

I put my hand
on my hip and raised an eyebrow.

“Try me.”

“All right,
fine,” she shrugged, standing up. “The only way to get rid of that desire is to
satisfy it with the object of your arousal. There you go. That's your
solution.”

I stared at
her, letting the words sink in me. When the realization hit, it was like a ton
of bricks thrown at me.

“You're not
seriously telling me that I have to sleep with Leo again, are you?” I asked
incredulously, fearing her answer.

She smiled
weakly. “As much as I hate to break it to you . . .”

Oh, no.

“That's . . .”

Please, no.

“That's
exactly what I'm telling you, Bri.”

I wasn't as
eager to go to
Rusty's
for work as I was used to on weekends. My mind
was too preoccupied for me to be able to focus on making the orders right and
keeping drunk men happy. I tried to keep my head on what I was doing at the
moment as much as possible, but the thought of Leo just kept coming back.

The part of me
that wanted to see him again was starting to question the reasons why I didn't
want to in the first place.

It was
frustrating as heck.

“Bri!”

My head
whipped around at the sound of my name. Then, I sighed in relief when I saw a
wavy brown head with a friendly face. I walked over to the other end of the
counter where he was at in order to greet him.

“Hey, George,”
I grinned broadly.

It was always
nice to see a familiar face, other than the regulars who hung out at the bar to
pass the time. At least, I went to high school with George. He was also Sarah's
ex-boyfriend. Thankfully, we all remained friends so everything was cool.

“I thought you
went to graduate school or something,” I said.

“Yeah,” he
smiled. “Harvard. Typical, huh?”

“No, not
really,” I laughed.

I didn't know
much about his family, but I knew enough to know that they were loaded.
Probably not as wealthy as a particular person I didn't want to think about
right now, though.

“So what are
you doing around here? Does Sarah even know you're in town?”

He shook his
head. “Nah, I'm not around for long,” he breathed out. “Just had to get back to
take care of a family thing.”

I nodded.
“Well, what do you want to drink? It's on the house.”

“You don't
have to do that.”

“For old
times' sake,” I offered, wiggling my eyebrows.

He laughed.
“Okay, just a Corona. Thanks.”

“No prob.”

I gave him a
smile before turning to get his order. When I returned to give him his beer, I
had a tingling feeling that someone was looking at me. My eyes wandered around
the bar briefly and caught a pair of steel blue eyes staring back.

Crap. Leo was
here. In the bar. Right now.

I swiftly
looked away and handed George his bottle.

“How's
Ariana?” he asked. “Is she doing well at her school in the Upper East Side?”

I inwardly
felt grateful to him for the distraction.

“Yeah, she is,”
I confirmed proudly, completely ignoring the fact that I could still feel Leo's
eyes on me. “She's still a part of the scholarship program they're offering.”

“That's nice.
I'm happy for you guys.”

There was
genuine sincerity in his voice that made my heart melt. Old friends knew what I
had been through – what my sister and I had been through. It was nice to hear
that other people could see a big improvement in our lives.

“Thanks,” I
replied. “It means a lot, G-man.”

He burst out
laughing. Hysterically, I might add.

“Holy shit,”
he managed to say through his laughs. “No one has called me that in a long
time. I can't believe you still remember that.”

“Duh.” I
rolled my eyes, smiling at how amused I made him.

On the corner
of my eye, I saw movement from a black silhouette. It wasn't rocket science to
know whose black suit and tie were walking towards the counter and directly
towards me.

Dang it. Can't
Leo wait until I've come up with a reason not to talk to him?

Apparently, he
couldn't. Because he was now right beside George, the counter serving as the
only barrier between us. And he was staring straight at me.

I didn't look
at Leo, and pretended to be busy cleaning the glasses on my side of the
counter. It wasn't until I heard George speak that I looked up.

“You look
familiar,” he commented, studying Leo.

Leo nodded in
quick greeting to him. “Probably,” he merely said. Then, he turned his eyes to
me.

There was a
mixture of emotions I saw in them. It was as though he was amused at my attempt
of indifferent expression, but at the same time he was serious that he seemed
like he really meant business.

“We need to
talk,” he told me in an urgent tone.

I frowned. “We
talked last night.”

“Unfortunately,
you walked away before we got to finish it.”

“I thought the
conversation was over,” I shrugged nonchalantly, even though I knew he was
right. I left before we got the chance to settle things, leaving the matter
unresolved. Before Leo could respond, I added, “Look, I'm working.”

He gazed at me
for a moment, before nodding once and reaching a hand to his pocket. He pulled
out his wallet, then a hundred-dollar bill.

“Here,” he
said, placing the money on the counter. “JD on the rocks. Oh, and a Budweiser
for the big guy,” he added, nodding to the other end of the bar.

There, sitting
with his intimidating quietness, was Marco. Of course, he'd be here. He was
Leo's bodyguard, after all.

I took the
money and went on to get their orders. Marco didn't say anything when I put the
bottle of beer in front of him. He just gave me a tight nod and carried on
watching the crowd.

Leo was a
different case, though.

When I gave
him his drink, the same drink we had when we first met, flashes of our first
night together came crashing down on me. The part of me that badly wanted him
questioned again the reasons why I wouldn't let him devour me like that night.

I kept saying
that he wasn't good for me. I kept telling myself that he lived a life that was
everything I was against to. I kept reminding myself that no good would ever
come out if I gave this thing we had – whatever it was – a chance.

And yet . . .

He haven't
done or shown a single thing that made me run to the opposite direction. In
fact, he had shown me nothing but sweetness and thoughtfulness. Yes, he might
have came off a little controlling occasionally. But honestly, I wouldn't be
attracted to someone who I could easily dominate. I wanted someone who could
protect me and make me feel safe, control me in a way that wasn't overbearing.
Basically, I wanted someone who could match up to me.

As much I
didn't like to admit it, those traits were in Leo.

I guess that's
why I'm so afraid to get close to him after that first night. Because I know
that if I see him again, there's a big possibility I'll fall for him.

'What's wrong
with falling for him?'
a part of me asked.

'Because,'
I answered
myself,
'I don't want to get involved with his other life. I've had enough
of their kind in this lifetime.'

The blocks of
ice in the glass rattled as Leo took a drink, bringing me back to reality. My
eyes instantly found his face. He was still clean-shaven, and his black hair
still contrasted his pale skin. His broad and defined jaw lines never failed to
impress me. He acquired such smooth features to someone who looked quite manly.

He looks so
neatly handsome that it actually hurts a little to think I can never have him.
Oh, my God. How pathetic am I to think like that?

“Yo, Bri,”
said George.

I almost
jumped in surprise. I forgot he was there.

“Yeah?” I
asked.

George took a
last gulp of his beer, and stood up.

“I gotta
bounce,” he declared, reaching over the counter for a brief hug. I
automatically leaned closer to receive it, fairly aware that Leo's eyes were on
us. “Thanks for the beer. Send my regards to Ariana and Sarah. Take care, you
hear?” he added, pulling away and looking me in the eye to show me he was
serious.

I guessed he
was talking about my psycho ex-boyfriend. He knew all about it, see.

“I will,” I
told him, smiling reassuringly. “Now you go be a kick-ass lawyer.”

He laughed.
“Someday.” With that, he made a move to leave. He paused behind Leo, staring at
him for a moment like he was still trying to identify where he'd seen him
before. Giving up, he headed for the door and left.

“So let's
finish that discussion we had last night,” said Leo.

I looked at
him. Inwardly, I wondered if he didn't feel a tiny bit jealous. Wasn't he
wondering who George was in my life? Or maybe he simply didn't care?

Hold on, why
did I want him to be jealous? Geez.

“Leo,” I
started, but I didn't know how to end the sentence so I just shook my head.

“So your dad
was a cop,” he stated when I didn't speak, “and mine is . . . a businessman, to
say the least. But you failed to tell me why exactly that's a big deal.”

“I told you,”
I sighed, my brows furrowed. “I don't want drama in my life – and I don't want
to live a dangerous one, too. I've had enough of that. Plus, we have very
different beliefs. I don't approve of everything that you claim to love last
night. And I don't want to be caught up in that sort of thing in any way.”

Leo didn't
speak for a moment. We just stared back at each other, not breaking
eye-contact. I hoped he understood what I was trying to say. It was harder to
explain than I thought.

If truth be
told, I expected Leo to nod and accept what I just said. I expected him to be
serious. Out of everything, I did not expect him to smile his sexy crooked
smile as if I just said some kind of solution to our raging dilemma.

“You do want
me, don't you?” he queried in a low voice.