One Last Kiss: A Second Chance Romance Read online

  ONE LAST KISS

  A SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE

  Contents

  ONE LAST KISS: A SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE

  Prologue

  Ten Years Later

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  ONE LAST CHANCE: A BAD BOY ROMANCE

  BE MY FIRST: A BILLIONAIRE AND VIRGIN ROMANCE

  MORE STEAMY ROMANCE BY LAUREN WOOD

  LAUREN WOOD SNEAK PEEKS

  Exclusive Steamy Romance: “BACHELOR STATUS” A HOT Never Before Published Full Length Novel!

  I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE!

  I would like to personally thank you for choosing to read my book and open your heart to my words. I am grateful to have you on board!

  I appreciate feedbacks; feel free to write me at [email protected].

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  Love,

  Lauren Wood

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  As a thank you, I’ve included an exclusive full-length, never before published romance: Bachelor Status, as a bonus. Enjoy!!

  Copyright © 2018 by Lauren Wood

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction , the literary perceptions and insights are based on life experiences and conclusions drawn from research, all names, characters, places and specific instances are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. No actual reference to any real person, living or dead, is intended or inferred.

  One Last Kiss – A Second Chance Romance

  Published by Wood Publication, CA

  ONE LAST KISS: A SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE

  Prologue

  Mack

  “I don’t even know you. What makes you think that you can talk me into anything?”

  I smiled at Danny and told her that I was going to talk her into everything.

  “It’s doubtful Mack. I know that you have a reputation in school, but not with me. I’m not like other girls.”

  I’d heard things about her as well and I knew that she was telling the truth. She was not like any other girl that I’d met, namely she wasn’t giving me the time of day. I didn’t usually have to ask more than once.

  “That’s a good thing. I wouldn’t be talking to you if you were.”

  “You sound a bit too sure of yourself Mack. You’re kind of coming across like a jerk.”

  I grinned at her and started to relax. This was the sort of banter that I could get behind. All I could think about was taking her into my arms and kissing her. A bit of her bottom lip was trapped between her teeth and so helped me it made me want her more.

  “Cause I am sure. I know things.”

  “What do you know?”

  “I know that you’re going to help me cut class by pretending to be my mom on the phone and then we are both going to get out of here.”

  She had this look that she didn’t believe me and I was fully prepared to prove her wrong. I knew that there was something in her eyes. She was interested and if I didn’t know any better, the bad boy in me was bringing out the bad girl in her.

  “There is no way that it is going to happen, Mack. You need to find someone else to do that for you.”

  I knew that she would, even as she protested that it wouldn’t happen. She still had that curiosity in her eyes and I wondered if the preppy girl had ever done anything out of the ordinary. She always followed the rules and I wanted her to break them for me.

  I handed her my cell phone and dialed the number for the school. We were standing in the hallway and the bell was a couple of minutes from ringing. I already had too many demerits against me and I couldn’t get anymore. If I had any more unexcused absences, I wasn’t going to graduate and another year in this place wasn’t an option.

  She took the phone, the whole time giving me a dirty look while I just grinned at her. I didn’t want to push it at the moment, but I wanted to point out that I told her so.

  Her voice changed and she sounded like an older fifty year old woman. She was clip with her answers and I couldn’t tell it was her, Danny standing right in front of me, looking at me with daggers in her eyes.

  “You’ve been excused.”

  Danny hung up and I thanked her for the help. “I knew you would be good at a life of crime. I think you are perfect to come to paradise with me.”

  “Well that’s my last little touch with the other side of the law. You’re going to have to find someone else to do your dirty work and to go to paradise with you Mack. I’m not the girl for you.”

  She started to walk away and I stopped her with an arm on her hand.

  “Let me repay you.”

  By the time she’d turned around about to answer, I was pressing my lips against hers, my grip pulling her to me until she yielded from our bodies touching. Her body melted against mine and it was the first time that Danny reacted the way any other girl would.

  She didn’t let me kiss her long though. She pushed back and I relented. Danny’s eyes were glazed when she met mine and the innocence that I’d heard about was staring back at me. It was a temptation that was hard for me to go back for more.

  “Was that my repayment?”

  Danny acted like she wasn’t impressed, but she was. I could tell by the way she was smiling at me now.

  “No, not if that wasn’t enough. I can give you more.”

  I started to move towards her and she stopped me giggling. “Do you think of anything else?”

  “Standing here, next to you? No way.”

  “Buy me some lunch since you’ve interrupted mine and dragged me into your seedy lifestyle.”

  I was more than happy to do just that. I already knew that it was going to go somewhere else. She was going to be mine. I knew that it was going to take a little persistence, but for the right reasons, I could be quite patient.

  We walked out of school and to my car. From that point on we were inseparable.

  Ten Years Later

  Mack

  I flipped the card in my hand and smiled to myself. As soon as I saw it in the mail, my high school logo on it that I’d once had on a Varsity jacket that I’d jacked from one of the football players for a debt, I knew it was about the reunion. It was about time for our reunion and I couldn’t believe that it had been almost ten years since I graduated by the skin on my teeth. Sure enough of what it was, I opened the envelope and smiled to myself. I was thinking of simpler times as Ernest drove me to meet a buyer.

  It was the first time I was meeting Candace and I was anxious as I was for each new venture. This letter was a welcomed distraction as I th
ought of the possibilities of this one night.

  “Are you okay boss?”

  “Yeah, I just got some good news.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, we have a reunion coming up and I’m going to run into my ex there. I haven’t had some of that ass for ten years. I wonder if it will still be as good.”

  “I can’t remember one chick from that long ago. She must have been something special.”

  That was the understatement. Danny had been something else altogether and the more I thought about her, the less I worried about the meeting coming up in a few minutes. It was good to think of something else besides work. It was good to think of Danny again. I didn’t realize until now how much I missed her.

  “Yeah Danny was something special.”

  “Then why did you stop talking? Did you cheat on her or something?”

  Ernest was being chatty and I knew it was from nerves. It appeared that he needed his mind off of it as much as I did.

  “No, it just, hell I don’t know. It just wasn’t working all of a sudden and then she was gone.”

  I thought about what I said and the truth wasn’t all that. It was complicated, but I was ready to push it to the side and see what we could create now. I wanted back in her panties.

  I knew that I wanted there to be something between us again. I could still feel the wetness as she was pleasured. The screams as she came. I missed the intensity that we had for each other. It hadn’t been found with anyone else and this damn card from high school was bringing it all back. It was a month away. It was a long time to wait.

  Ernest stopped and waited for instructions on what to do next.

  “Just drive around a four block square and I will be out soon. Stay close the first couple of minutes to two block squares.”

  He agreed and I got out. I didn’t like Ernest opening the doors for me in this situation. It would make him an instant target. He was my driver, not my bodyguard.

  I walked up to the bungalow and I could tell that there were several people inside from the shadows in the windows. It threw me off immediately because it was just supposed to be me and a buyer. This woman was obviously nervous and I found out just how much so when I knocked and I was pulled in by thick fingers, catching me off guard. Two guys with guns started to frisk me and I was affronted with their touch.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  “Just checking for wires and things, weapons. You know as a woman I have to be more careful.”

  The black-haired Caroline was not at all what I’d expected. She couldn’t have been more than thirty and she had a pretty face. Usually I dealt with old men with too much money looking for an outlet that they could dump it in without paying taxes on the cash.

  “I didn’t sign up for that. Get your goons or I’m out of here.”

  “For someone with so much experience and recommendations, I can’t believe that this is new to you.”

  “It is. I won’t work with someone if this is how it’s going to go.”

  Caroline smiled and nodded to the two men that were manhandling me. “Very well, let’s see what you have for me Mack. I hear good things.”

  If this is how she acted with good news, I would hate to see how it was with bad news.

  “I have pictures. You pick out what looks good to you and I will have some of my guys bring them to you.”

  “Some of your guys?”

  “You don’t think I have it with me, do you?”

  “Well it would fit if you wanted it to.”

  Caroline was interested in jewelry, namely a diamond that I was recently pressed upon to sell. It was one of a kind, like many of the larger ones I dealt with were and it had a beautiful yellow hue. It was worth millions, but we both knew that she was going to get a bit of a deal because of its origins. I didn’t know much about Caroline or her wealth, but with three of my clients vouching for her, I was going out on a limb.

  She flipped through the book and found her prize.

  “I want that Mack.”

  I told her the price that I had in mind and she didn’t even flinch. I’d started a little high because I figured she would try to haggle me down, but she didn’t and I was left with a much higher price tag.

  “Good, when can I have it?”

  She was anxious and I told her I could have it to her very soon, as soon as I had money.

  The amount was quickly bagged up and if I wasn’t so experienced in this, I would have been amazed at the amount of money I was handling. It was a lot of cash and I noticed that she had a little more there. It meant I could have asked for more and she would have gone for it. That was my biggest mistake and I was kicking myself for not upping the price more.

  “Now, when do I get my diamond?”

  She was looking at me expectantly and I took the money in the case. I reached into my pocket and handed her the ring that she was looking for.

  “You kept this in your pocket? Do you know how much this is worth?”

  I lifted up the case a bit to let her know that I did. I found it rather funny that her guys hadn’t found it before, but they were looking for wires and guns, not a little ring in the inside pocket.

  “You’ll be in touch if you come across anything else that I might like?”

  I told her that I would. The transaction had gone pretty smooth, save for the beginning and I could foresee us working together in the future. She had a certain smile that I knew well. Maybe I would be calling her for more than pretty little stones in the future.

  Ernest picked me up not far from the place and I heaved a sigh of relief. If I didn’t get stopped in the next five minutes, I would consider the sale a good one. But that next five minutes felt like thirty. It was the worst part of the job, but the most necessary.

  “How’d it go?”

  “Good, but let’s keep our eyes peeled for a tail, yeah?”

  “You got it boss.”

  Chapter 1

  Danielle

  “You’ve got to be crazy if you think that I’m going to that thing tonight. You wouldn’t catch me dead at one of those.”

  Mariss didn’t get it and she was not going without me, so she told me that I was going to have to give her a better reason than that.

  “And why is that? Isn’t there anyone there that you wonder about? I mean, gosh it’s been ten years. I would like to see how everyone is doing and I hope that Mindy and her band of rejects are all fat and divorced.”

  “You don’t want to bring that karma down on you. What if they look amazing?”

  Mariss agreed. Her thin face wasn’t smiling when she thought of that. I knew that she’d gotten the invitation a month ago and was just now mentioning it. She knew that I didn’t want to go, but I also knew that she’d been eating carrot sticks and celery for a month in preparation. I didn’t want to go, but I knew that I would for her. I was just going to give her a hard time about it because it was so damn fun and I was still a little reluctant to go to such an event.

  “They won’t. I’ve been doing a little recon.”

  I rolled my eyes at her and told her that she was taking it far too seriously. “High school only matters when you are going through it. At the end of the day, it’s just a few years before your real life begins.”

  “Can you not philosophize this? I want to have fun, wear a pretty dress, drink some free booze and check out some of the guys I used to date and see how they are doing. Don’t you want to see anyone again? I know that you and Mack were hot and heavy a long time ago. Don’t you wonder what ever happened to him after graduation?”

  I hadn’t thought about Mack in a long time. A very long time. He was the man I dated my senior year of high school, but as the year neared its end, it was clear that we weren’t going to make it past graduation. I’d broken up with him because it seemed like the best thing to do at the time. I wanted to leave it copasetic, but he hadn’t taken it so well when it came down to it. There had been a fight and a lot of things had been said. The last t
hing I’d said to him was that I hoped I never saw him again. For ten years that had been true and I hadn’t.

  “Not really. Besides, I doubt he will even be there. You know that he was never one to go to those kinds of functions. He was always too cool for all of that. The way he was getting in trouble back then, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was in jail or something by now. I mean can you imagine what Mack is into now? It’d probably something illegal. I don’t think he will even be there, so that’s not even an option.”

  My friend and roommate grinned and pushed her black hair back off of her face. “It’s good to know that you haven’t thought about him at all.”

  I shut my mouth because I didn’t want to say anymore. It would have been a lie to say that I hadn’t thought about him through the years. I’d learned after we broke up that whatever had been between us was something special. It wasn’t like anything else that I had encountered with any other man. There had always been something about Mack and now that I was in the real world and had been dating for a decade, I knew that I was most likely never going to find a man to please me like he had again. That was a hard thing to grasp and accept, but he wouldn’t be at the reunion, so it wasn’t even worth thinking about.

  “I have through the years, but it doesn’t do me any good. I wouldn’t know what to say to Mack if I saw him again. I can’t imagine that we would have anything in common and he probably got married and had kids. He was more into that sort of thing that you would have thought. He was a tough guy in front of everyone, but we used to sit up for hours talking about our life together after graduation and he’d wanted all of those things. I can’t see anything good coming from going to that reunion or seeing Mack again. What if he brought his wife?”

  “If you didn’t care, it wouldn’t matter.”

  Mariss had me there, but I wasn’t going to give it to her. I knew that if she was encouraged, it just made it worse. I first saw that invitation in the mail and my mind had played through all of the scenarios that I could come up with if I went and saw Mack. The one I liked least was where he was married and had a beautiful wife. Or that he wouldn’t even remember me. I hated the idea that he still occupied a place in my mind and I may not in his.