Fireworks: A Holiday Bad Boy Romance

FIREWORKS

By
Claire Adams

This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright
© 2015 Claire Adams

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Chapter
1

Cora

"Finally. Thanks for staying behind
with me. I though the funeral was going to be more difficult than it was."
Emily turned around and smiled. "I'm glad I have you."

"You stayed with me while I wrapped
up that issue I had with my science credits, and I stayed to help you get
through Mimi's death. We're best friends. It's what we do."

"I guess. Remind me to give the other
two hell for leaving without us a few weeks ago."

I tugged on the zipper of my suitcase and
glanced up. "I'm glad they did. I'd rather they get to the lake house
early and clean up the spider webs for us."

"I guess, but I'm sure Cindy already
has several guys helping do anything she wants. I swear the girl sold her soul
to the devil to attract any man she wants." Emily moved over to my bed and
pushed down on the top of my suitcase. My best friend since grade school was
far too pretty to cover herself up the way she did. I glanced over and let my
eyes run over her baggy t-shirt and loose shorts.

"She's just friendly, cute, and looks
innocent. Unlike us." I snorted and tugged hard on the zipper.
"You're bringing something other than your baggy clothes, right? You have
a hot body under all of that, you know?"

"This again?" She gave me a
sideways glance. Her dark hair was pulled up in a loose ponytail, her face free
of makeup.

"I'll always plague you about this.
You're never going to find a guy when you don't look like you want to." I
moved back and bent over, tying my tennis shoes and admiring her shapely legs.
"And, I know you want a boyfriend."

"I do, but I'm not getting him with
nothing more than physical attraction between us, Cora. I've seen how well
that's worked out for both you and Cindy. Guys who are head-over-heels for a
hot girl are everywhere. And no offense, but it would seem that it's not just
the first hot girl they meet that steals their attention. It's every hot girl.
How long am I going to entertain a guy that thinks with his dick instead of his
brain?"

I nodded and stood up. "I get
it."

There hadn't been too many times in my
life that I could recall having a boyfriend who didn't sleep around while we
were dating. Brandon James was the most recent, and thanks to him, I'd sworn
off guys for a while — and blonds forever.

"Hey." She reached out and
touched my shoulder. "I didn't mean to insinuate anything. I just don't
want a guy who's interested in the size of my boobs and not my personality, nor
my intelligence."

"Good luck with that." I walked
to the kitchen table and picked up the brochure from Emily's grandmother's
funeral. "The service was beautiful. I'm proud of you for speaking at it.
I know that had to be hard."

I turned to smile at her as countless
memories of our summers at her Mimi's house raced over me.

"She would have been disappointed if
I didn’t. I'm sure the silly old goat would have haunted me." The smirk
that lifted her mouth didn't take away from the sadness around her eyes, but it
was a start toward healing.

"This is true, and she would have
haunted me for not supporting you." I laughed and grabbed my sunglasses
and keys. "We ready?"

"Yep. I just need to run to the
restroom. Get the snacks out of the cabinet that I picked up for us. It's
cheaper to buy in bulk." She turned and walked out of the room as I rolled
my eyes.

After grabbing the treats, I did a quick
sweep through the apartment and let out a sigh. "Four years of my
life...over."

Graduation had been a few weeks before,
and I was now a grown up — or was supposed to be.

"Are you talking to yourself
again?" Emily snagged the keys from me. "I want to drive the Beamer.
My parents aren't rich, and I'm almost out of time to live vicariously through
you and yours."

"Don't say that." I picked up
the bag of snacks and walked into the living room. "You and I are going to
be in each other’s lives forever."

"You really think so?" She
glanced over her shoulder as she popped the handle to her suitcase.

"I know so. We've been friends since
grade school. Why would that change now? We're finally free." I grabbed my
bag and walked to the door. "You sure your brother is going to take good
care of this place?"

"Yes. For the millionth time. He's
just like me. Conservative, timid, and a clean freak." She shrugged and
opened the door, moving out into the hall. "Besides, he needs to check out
the campus, and this is a great way to do it. We're stuck in this damn lease
until September, thanks to you."

"Always my fault." I paused to
lock the door as a warm breeze blew through the open-air hallway.

"It usually is and you know it."
She chuckled.

"If it makes you feel better to blame
me, then fine. I'll take it." I tugged at the shoulder of her shirt and
shook my head. "I'm getting you in a bikini this summer."

"I'll wear one with you guys, but
it's not happening in public. My boobs are too big, and they don't talk back."
She smirked.

"They don't talk back? What the hell
does that mean?" I paused by the only elevator in our apartment complex,
preparing for a long wait as per usual.

"Guys talk to my chest when I wear
normal clothes. My boobs don't talk back. I need to get a shirt made that says
that."

"I almost feel giddy for the man that
actually catches your eye and means enough to pull your clothes off for. He's
going to feel like he just uncovered buried treasure." I laughed as she
pushed at me.

"You're jealous."

"Of course, I am. You're insanely hot
and yet you hide yourself behind all those clothes. It makes no sense to me,
but I support whatever makes you comfortable." I got into the elevator to
find it empty. The apocalypse must have been coming; it was usually packed with
people, most of whom were frat boys who didn't seem to think personal space
existed.

"No, you don't, but whatever. Your
peer pressure might work on Cindy and Dedra, but I'm immune to it. I've been
fighting it my whole life."

I let out a soft gasp. "Me? Peer
pressuring someone? Next, you'll be calling me bossy."

"You? Never." She rolled her
eyes and held the door for me.

"I can't help it, and you know it.
You've met my father, right? If he wants his way, all else be damned." I
tugged my suitcase out into the hallway and nodded at a hot guy walking toward
us. I turned my head to check him out as he passed, only to find him doing the
same.

"I thought you swore off men." Emily
bumped her suitcase against mine.

"Just blonds. He had brown
hair." I winked and moved down the sidewalk, letting out a groan.
"Why is Arizona so hot during the summer?"

"At least it's dry heat." Her
tone was pinched.

"Alright, what's up?" I popped
the trunk and lugged my bag into the back of the car. My parents had outdone
themselves with my new BMW for graduation, and where I wanted to think it was
for doing a great job, I knew better. Nothing came from my father without
strings attached. It was an incentive to keep going. My business degree was
great and a good start, but pre-law was next. No matter how much I abhorred the
idea of it.

"Nothing. I'm just worried about
you." She lugged her bag into the back. Her shirt pulled tight, and I
could make out her curves. She was perfect, and yet her jacked up sense of self-preservation
left her hiding all the time.

She
hides behind clothes, and I hide behind false importance.

"Don't worry about me, Emily. I'm
good. Brandon is in the rear view mirror — long gone." I shrugged and
closed the trunk. "Let's stop talking about the past and start living in
the future."

"How about we live in the
present?" She glanced at me over the top of the car. "You sure you're
good with me driving."

"Yep. You wreck it and you get to
talk to my dad."

"Oh, hell no." She tossed the
keys over the top of the hood, and I jumped up to catch them.

"I was kidding." I watched her
as she walked around the car.

"Yeah, well, just in case you're not.
I'm not looking for any reason to talk to your dad. He's the only guy in the
world I think has the ability to make someone feel stupid before even entering
the room he's in."

I moved around to the driver's side door
and opened it, getting in and buckling up. "You should try living with
him. College has been a dream come true." Nostalgia rolled over me as I
glanced up the road to see the signs for Arizona State. "I love this
place. I'm going to miss it."

"Not me. I'm going to start my
masters in the fall and before I know it, I'll be teaching in the science
department. I'm never leaving." She settled in before turning around to
look in the back seat.

"Lucky." I turned to see what
she was up to before starting the car. "The snacks are in the back of the
car."

"Why? That's not gonna help us when
we're starving in ten minutes." She got out and moved to the back as I popped
the trunk.

I was leaving behind a lot of good
memories from college, as well as some not so good memories. I wanted to be
excited about the future, but it was hard. It wasn't my future, but one my
parents were still working to control.

A summer on Lake Havasu would do me some
good, even if my parents highly disapproved of such a waste of time. Avoiding
their phone calls was getting trickier, but I was still managing, somehow.

"Got 'em." She got into the car
and tossed the bag in the back. "Let's go. I want to get there and let my
hair down."

I reached over and tugged at her ponytail.
"Let it down now. I'll roll the windows down, and we can let this hot ass
air blow through our hair."

"No thanks. I'd rather breathe, but
thank you." She pulled out her phone and leaned back. "Do you really
think I might find someone to hang out with this summer?"

"You're hanging out with us." I
pulled out of the parking lot and gave her a quick sideways glance. "Are
you talking about a guy?"

She popped me in the arm. "Of course,
I'm talking about a guy."