Crazy for You Read online

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Rachel Bates

  Excerpt from Can’t Forget You copyright © 2017 by Rachel Bates

  Cover design by Elizabeth Turner. Cover photograph © ArtMarie/Getty Images. Cover copyright © 2017 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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  Forever

  Hachette Book Group

  1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

  forever-romance.com

  twitter.com/foreverromance

  First Edition: March 2017

  Forever is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing. The Forever name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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  ISBNs: 978-1-4555-3756-3 (mass market), 978-1-4555-3757-0 (ebook)

  E3-20170109-DA-NF

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Epilogue

  An Excerpt from Can't Forget You

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ACCLAIM FOR RACHEL LACEY

  Also By Rachel Lacey

  Fall in Love with Forever Romance

  For my wonderful friend and critique partner,

  Annie Rains. So glad to be on this

  amazing journey together!

  Acknowledgments

  Huge thanks to my editor, Alex Logan. I become a better author every time we work together. Also, a big thank-you to the whole Forever team—Lexi Smail, Michelle Cashman, Elizabeth Turner, and everyone else who helped bring this book from my laptop to the shelves. You are the best!

  Thank you to my amazing agent, Sarah Younger. I always say it, but it’s so true—I don’t know what I’d do without you. I am so glad to be a part of the NYLA team.

  Author friends: You guys make my day, every single day! Annie Rains, Tif Marcelo, Sidney Halston, April Hunt, everyone on Team Sarah, and all the many other friends I’ve made along the way—I love you and am so thankful for you all.

  Friends and family: You help make it possible for me to live my dream, and I won’t ever forget it. Thank you for helping to keep me sane and taking the munchkin off my hands when I need to meet a deadline.

  Thank you to Danielle James for your tattoo expertise and to Tif Marcelo for inspiring the “ketchup scene” in Chapter 1. (Yeah, you remember the one. Haha!)

  Also thank you to Vanessa McBride, who donated to animal rescue as part of our Authors for Cats giveaway on National Cat Day in 2015. Vanessa inspired and named Emma’s cat, Smokey.

  And the biggest thank-you of all to all the readers and bloggers who’ve bought, read, reviewed, or otherwise supported me along the way. Everyone who has sent me a photo of my book on the shelves or tweeted me to say hello. It’s the little things, and I appreciate them all more than you could know. xoxoxo

  Chapter One

  Ryan Blake held a bottle of Maker’s 46 in his right hand, a tumbler in his left. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the bottle. It flipped once before landing back in his grip, top down, ready to pour. He filled the tumbler, set a napkin on the bar, and placed it in front of the brunette on the other side. “Bourbon, neat.”

  “You’re good.” She picked up the glass and tipped it in his direction. “Not what I was expecting in this little bar in the middle of nowhere.”

  “I try,” he said with the friendly, semi-flirtatious smile he always used on single ladies seated at his bar. She wasn’t wrong. The usual clientele at The Drunken Bear had little use for fancy liquor or bartending tricks, but the trio in front of him were tourists looking for a good time, and he’d see that they had one.

  “You were just about to tell me about this tattoo.” She placed her hand on his biceps, fingering the eagle he’d had inked there after he flew this coop ten years ago.

  “That’s right.” He shifted backward so that her hand slipped to the countertop. He encouraged flirting—it led to better tips and made the night more interesting—but this chick was getting a bit too friendly, considering the diamond band on her left ring finger. “This one was for spreading my wings. Thought I’d fly far away, and yet, here I am back in Haven.”

  “You’re from here then?” one of the other women asked, shamelessly ogling the tattoos on his arms while giving him an eyeful of cleavage.

  “Born and raised. Moved around a lot, but I can’t seem to shake this place. It’s in my blood.” Once upon a time, he’d been hell bent on getting as far away from this sleepy North Carolina mountain town as possible. Spent the better part of a decade drifting from place to place, taking with him only what he could carry on his bike. Funny how things came full circle. He picked up an empty pilsner glass another patron had left behind.

  “Ryan?”

  He turned at the familiar voice to find Emma Rush standing there, one hip propped against the bar, and he damn near dropped the glass. Emma’s trademark ponytail and jogging pants were nowhere in sight. Tonight, her blond hair cascaded over her shoulders in shiny waves, her blue eyes sparkled at him from behind a tasteful—yet sexy—amount of makeup, and her red top was tucked into a pair of jeans that fit her like a glove. He swallowed past the sudden dryness in his throat. “Hey, Em. What brings you out tonight?”

  “Girls’ night,” she said with a smile, gesturing to her friend Mandy, who stood by the door talking on her cell phone. Emma slid onto an empty barstool. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

  “I’m still here a few nights a week.” His new business venture—Off-the-Grid Adventures, an extreme outdoor sporting facility he’d opened with his good buddies Ethan Hunter and Mark Dalton six months ago—was finally bringing in enough income that he soon wouldn’t need to bartend to pay his rent. “What can I get you?”

  “Untapped amber ale, please.” She watched while he filled a frosted mug. “Thanks.”

  “My pleasure.”

  She lifted the mug to her lips and took a long drink. “Damn, that’s good,” she said with a happy sigh, setting it on the bar.

  “Always been more of a pilsner guy myself.” He tried not to stare as she licked froth
from her upper lip.

  “Hi, Ryan.” Mandy stepped up to the bar beside Emma.

  He leaned back, tearing his gaze from Emma’s lips. “Hi.”

  Emma turned to her friend with a smile. “Ready to get a table?”

  “Yep,” Mandy said.

  “Have fun, ladies.”

  “We will.” With a wave, Emma walked off after her friend, and damn, those jeans cupped her ass like perfection. No doubt about it, Emma looked hot tonight. And his thoughts were way out of line. He’d promised Derek he’d look out for his little sister, not drool all over her.

  “Your girlfriend?” the brunette at the bar asked, eyebrows raised as she sipped her bourbon.

  Ryan cleared his throat and dragged his eyes away from Emma. “Just a friend.”

  “Mm-hmm.” The brunette gave him a look that said she didn’t believe him.

  He turned to check on his patrons at the other end of the bar, but his attention was once again diverted by Emma—or rather, the preppy-looking businessman she was talking to now. Ryan couldn’t make out their conversation, but the guy wore an irritatingly smug smile, and Emma didn’t look at all happy to have bumped into him.

  Ryan moved down the bar, chatting and pouring drinks as he went, all the while keeping an eye on Emma. She was deep in conversation with the businessman, although the guy seemed to be doing most of the talking. Emma smiled and nodded. She glanced up and met Ryan’s gaze, rolling her eyes at him with a smile while her companion kept on talking.

  Next thing Ryan knew, the guy had slung an arm around her shoulders, gesturing wildly with his free hand while Emma subtly edged away from him.

  Ryan was around the bar and across the room before he’d even realized what he was doing. “Everything okay over here?”

  Emma shrugged out from under the guy’s arm, but her smile wasn’t nearly as warm or genuine as the one she’d given Ryan a few moments ago. “Yep.”

  “We’re fine,” Obnoxious Dude answered. “Who are you?”

  “Ryan Blake. And you are?”

  “Tristan Farrell.”

  “Tristan and I are…old friends,” Emma said.

  By old friends, Ryan assumed she meant former flames. And since she clearly wasn’t enjoying his company, it was time for Tristan to leave. Ryan crossed his arms over his chest and stared him down, waiting for the loser to get the message. It didn’t take long.

  Tristan backed up, his eyes darting toward the front door. “Well, it was great seeing you, Emma. Take care.”

  “You, too.” She watched as Tristan left the bar then turned to Ryan. “Forgot how much I dislike that guy.”

  “He hassling you?”

  Her eyes rounded. “No! Just talking my ear off, really. Sorry to distract you from your duties at the bar.”

  “No problem.” Keeping an eye on his patrons was part of the job, although he was probably feeling more protective of Emma right now than the situation called for.

  “Right, well…looks like my table is ready.” She waved over her shoulder as she walked away.

  Ryan headed back behind the bar, turning his attention to the trio of tourists and their mostly empty cocktails. “Any of you ladies ready for a fresh drink?”

  As it turned out, they all were. While he mixed their cocktails, he allowed his gaze to roam over to Emma’s table. She was deep in conversation with her friends Gabby, Carly, and Mandy, all of whom he knew, none of whom made his gut tighten the way it did every time he looked at Emma tonight.

  He had no idea where this had come from, but he had to get over it, pronto. Emma wasn’t interested in a player like him, and even if she were, she was off limits. He’d made a promise to her brother when Derek went off to war, and Ryan had no intention of breaking it.

  * * *

  Emma Rush polished off her beer and set it on the table with a thunk. Was that her third, or her fourth? Didn’t matter. She was on the fun side of tipsy and loving it. They didn’t usually come to The Drunken Bear for girls’ night, but with plenty of local beer on tap, rock music playing, and one of her favorite people tending bar, she was totally in favor of coming here again.

  “Hottie at ten o’clock,” Mandy said, tipping her beer in the direction of the bar, where an African American man sat on the first barstool, sipping from a frosty mug of beer. Yeah, he was hot, but Emma’s gaze shifted past him to the bartender. Ryan was by far the sexiest man in the room, as far as she was concerned.

  “He’s hot,” Gabby agreed, “but he’s no Ethan.”

  “Or Sam,” Carly added with a smile.

  “Hush, you two,” Emma said. “You don’t have to rub it in that you both have sexy men warming your beds at night.”

  “You should go over and talk to him.” Mandy nudged her shoulder. “He’s delicious, and he looks very clean-cut.”

  Emma frowned. “Who says I like my men clean-cut?”

  Mandy pressed a finger to her lips then laughed. “I’m thinking back on the last few guys you’ve dated—Daniel the high school teacher, Tristan the accountant…”

  Emma scrunched her nose. “Please don’t remind me.”

  Gabby’s lips curved in amusement. “There are worse things than dating clean-cut guys, Emma.”

  “I bumped into Tristan here earlier,” Emma told them. “I seriously can’t believe I ever dated that guy.” He’d done nothing but brag about a promotion he’d gotten at work, hadn’t even asked how she was doing.

  Carly leaned forward. “Why? What did he do?”

  “Nothing really. He’s just so self-absorbed and ridiculous.” She took a fortifying gulp of her beer. “But here’s the thing that really bugs me. I had kind of forgotten about it until I saw him again tonight. Remember back when I was dating him, I told you guys that I had decided to break up with him because he was so boring?”

  They all nodded.

  Emma felt a flush creep into her cheeks. “Well, the truth is, he dumped me before I had the chance to dump him. And he basically told me I was boring. He said I was too predictable and never wanted to do anything fun.”

  “Well, obviously he doesn’t know you very well,” Gabby said with scorn in her voice, “because you’re lots of fun. I mean, you got me to sign up for an obstacle course race when I was deathly afraid of heights. That was pretty much the opposite of boring.”

  Emma smiled wanly. “Well, the world’s most boring guy thinks I’m a dud, which means—”

  “You need to start dating more exciting guys,” Mandy finished for her. “You should shake things up, go outside your comfort zone.”

  “You did tell me last summer you were ready to try something new,” Gabby said.

  “Yeah, I wanted to quit being such a goody-two-shoes. Obviously, I haven’t put in enough effort.” Emma took another sip of her beer. “But you know what? I think it’s time to step up my game.”

  “So, what naughty things did you have in mind?” Mandy asked.

  An image flashed through her head of kissing Ryan on the back of his motorcycle. “I want a hot fling with someone un-boring. I want the opposite of clean-cut. I’ve never dated a bad boy. Maybe it’s time to find out what the fuss is all about.”

  Mandy clapped her on the back. “Now we’re talking. What else?”

  “Well, since I probably have no shot at bagging a guy like that, I’ve also been thinking about getting a tattoo.”

  “Tattoos are cool,” Carly said. “And speaking from experience, I think you should get the tattoo and the bad boy.”

  “I agree,” Gabby said.

  “Definitely both. We’ll help,” Mandy said. “And if you’re serious about this, let’s talk about sexing you up a bit, too.”

  “Sexing me up?” Emma giggled.

  “You look really cute tonight. I know you can dress casually for work, but this is the look you should be going for. We should go shopping!” Mandy’s expression brightened at the idea.

  “Ooh, I want to come,” Carly said. “Let’s plan a shopping day. We could go to t
he outlet mall in Blowing Rock.”

  Emma sipped from her beer, feeling excitement stir inside her. “Yeah, that sounds fun. Okay, so we’ll freshen up my wardrobe. Then how do I get the hot guy?”

  Mandy gave her a wicked smile. “That part will be easy. Leave it to me.”

  “Um…okay, I think.” Emma laughed.

  “We can start right now, in fact.” Mandy was eyeing a group of men at the bar. Dressed in flannel shirts, worn jeans, and boots, they were obviously locals enjoying a few beers after work, some kind of outdoorsy work by the look of them. They were a boisterous group, with lots of laughter and back slaps being exchanged. “I dare you to go ask one of those guys out.”

  “Are you kidding?” Emma shook her head. “No way.”

  “They’re not exactly bad boys, but this is a good way to get your feet wet.” Mandy reached for the bottle of ketchup on their table, dabbed some on her finger, and smeared it on Emma’s cheek. “Here’s the plan: You’re going to walk over to the bar and take that empty seat next to the group of lumbersexuals. Order a drink. Look sexy. First guy to wipe the ketchup off your cheek is the one you’re going to flirt with. Your mission is to get him to ask for your number. Deal?”

  On the other side of the table, Carly and Gabby were practically bouncing with excitement.

  “No way,” Emma repeated, even as a little thrill of excitement raced through her.

  Mandy gave her a friendly nudge. “We’ll be right here for moral support.”

  “What if the guy who wipes the ketchup off my cheek is a loser? Or ugly?”

  “Then give him a fake number. But you have to flirt with him until he asks for it. That’s the dare. Go on. Be unpredictable. It’ll be fun.”

  Emma drained her beer and stood from the table. “If this goes south, it’s all your fault.”

  Mandy gave her a friendly shove in the direction of the bar. “Good luck, my friend. Go charm their socks off.”

  Emma walked toward the group of guys. They were good-looking, for the most part. Definitely rowdy. She slid onto the empty barstool and glanced around for Ryan because she was definitely going to need another beer to pull this off.