Taken By the Bad Boy

Chapter One

Mae Blake felt her heart pounding as she watched Caleb Dowd walk into her shop. Last night had been a giant mistake, and she couldn’t even blame it on alcohol. She only had one drink—one freaking drink—and she had done the walk of shame that very morning.

She had quickly washed the night away, and then came down to open the shop, while not really thinking about what it all meant to be opening. She had snuck out of Caleb’s house last night.

It was still surreal to her that she had lost her virginity last night, at thirty years old. Yeah, she knew it was a little crazy to still be a virgin at that age, but it was just something that had been out of her control. Or at least, until last night.

The whole night was like a dream to her. She didn’t know how she made it to Caleb’s home, and of course how they then had sex. Lots and lots of sex. He’d been so incredibly sweet and kind, and it had been one of the best nights of her life.

Then, reality had set in, because it had just been sex, hadn’t it?

Mae didn’t stay at the front desk, and quickly moved between the stacks of books, all while peeking through to see if Caleb had taken the hint and left. It was a little after ten, and so far, she didn’t have any customers. She was all alone. This was so stupid, sneaking around her own bookstore.

“Mae, I know you’re in here,” Caleb said.

Why did his voice have to sound so good?

She stayed quiet, because maybe if she was silent, he’d get the hint and just leave.

Of course, there was no such luck, and she heard him moving between the stacks.

Spending all her life in this bookstore, helping her grandfather, she knew exactly where she was going, but somehow, Caleb seemed to know as well.

Before she realized what was happening, she had been pressed up into a corner with no way of escaping.

Caleb wrapped an arm around her waist, and pressed her hands above her head. “I finally caught you,” he said.

“What are you doing?”

He tutted. “You know, I don’t like when a date sneaks out without even a backward glance.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking a—” She didn’t even get to finish as Caleb took possession of her lips, and all thought fled her mind.

Mae wasn’t going to kiss him, however, his kisses were so damn addictive, and there was no way she could say no. Kissing him back was the only option, especially as he ran his tongue across her bottom lip, and she moaned.

Caleb let her go and sunk his fingers into her hair with one hand, and with the other, he ran his hand down and grabbed her ass, making her moan. She felt the hard ridge of his cock as it pressed against her core. There was just no thought left for her. She belonged to him in that moment.

Even as reality set in, she tried to think of reasons not to kiss this man.

The resident bad boy. He didn’t have the best reputation, and it kind of scared her.

All the women wanted to date him, including the married ones.

He was every woman’s wet dream, and there had been rumors about him helping wives cheat on their husbands.

Caleb broke the kiss and she pulled away from him.

“You can’t do that,” she said.

“I can’t? Are you going to tell me you didn’t want my kiss?”

Mae had never been a liar, and she was not going to start now. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Well, Mae, I find it hard to believe you snuck out on me.” He gave a little tut.

“I didn’t sneak out.”

“You did the walk of shame, and I had a whole breakfast planned. Coffee, some baked goods, that kind of thing.”

Why would he say this to her?

“I, uh, I didn’t think you’d want to wake up with me still there,” she said.

Also, she had been terrified. She didn’t exactly know what the protocol was for the morning after the night before. Did he expect her to leave? Did he even want to see her the next morning? It was all a little hazy. She was never the woman waking up the next morning against a man.

Caleb reached out and stroked a curl behind her ear. “If I didn’t want to wake up next to you, Mae, I wouldn’t have taken you home.” And with that he kissed her on the nose.

The sound of her doorbell pulled her attention away.

She did not want her private life to be the focus of gossip, but she had a feeling that was exactly what it was going to be.

Halloween Point was a small town that tended to thrive most of the year by all the Halloween activities.

It was a tourist town, a beautiful, sweet, idealistic town.

She had grown up there with her grandparents after her parents died in a car accident. She was the only one left.

“You owe me a breakfast, Mae Blake, and trust me, I will make sure to come and get it.” With that, he kissed her on the tip of the nose, and then she watched as he walked out of the shop.

Her customer happened to be her best friend, Emily Watts, who gave Caleb a nod of the head, acting all cool. Mae stepped out of the stacks, and her lips had to be showing that she had just been kissed. They still felt swollen to her.

“Oh, my God, you are going to tell me if the rumors about you going home with Caleb last night are true!”

Already, gossip had traveled fast.

****

“You look way too happy to be my friend,” Pete said.

Caleb turned to his friend and fellow tattoo artist, and shrugged. “I’m good.” He was trying to figure Mae out.

He’d been shocked to see her enter the bar last night. Moments before, he planned on finishing his beer and heading home. Seeing Mae had changed his plans as he was more focused on figuring out how to win her over.

Mae Blake was somewhat of an enigma. He was not used to doing all the chasing, but Mae was special, and he discovered that last night.

He’d always known she was special, but when he slid inside her that very first time, he’d never been so shocked to discover her virginity.

It had completely surprised him. And yet, he had known in that moment there was never going to be another woman for him.

Pete put down the newspaper he’d been looking through and stared at him. “Does this have anything to do with you and a certain rumor about a bookstore owner?”

This made him stop. “What?”

His friend smirked. “You can’t live in Halloween Point and not have people knowing your every move. I do believe someone mentioned the walk of shame. Admittedly, they didn’t call it that. They just said Mae was seen coming out of your house wearing exactly the same clothes as the night before.”

Caleb pressed the tips of his fingers to his eyes. This is not what he wanted to deal with. Mae had already snuck out of his home.

“You told them to shut their fucking mouths, right?”

Pete laughed.

“It’s the town gossip channel, Caleb. Besides, you start causing trouble, and you become the topic of conversation, so no, I won’t be telling anyone to shut their fucking mouth.” Pete folded up his paper. “You want to talk about it?”

“Fuck, no.”

He made his way over to the coffee machine.

This was an odd feeling for him. Most of the time, he was the one escaping from women’s beds, or kicking them out of his own when he had enough.

Taking a long sip of his drink, he tried not to think about Mae.

About how good she had felt. The red-stained sheets after he took her virginity. The pain flashing in her eyes.

“Dude, what’s wrong? You look troubled?” Pete asked.

“It’s nothing.”

“You’re not denying Mae being at your place, or doing the fated walk of shame, but there’s a smirk. You want to tell me what is going on?”

Caleb ran his fingers through his hair while at the same time taking a long sip of coffee.

“Why does a woman just sneak out like that? Isn’t it supposed to be rude or some shit?”

“Holy crap, you’re actually pissed off.”

“I’m not pissed, and stop reading too much into this.” Caleb frowned.

Pete laughed. “Is it me, or is the town bad boy and bed hopper upset about a woman?”

Caleb glared at his friend. “You’re fired.”

“You can’t fire me, I’m part owner.”

“Fuck off,” Caleb said.

They had gone into this business together. Both of them having a love of ink, and also wanting to be a safe and reliable place for people to come, from far and wide, to get some ink.

There had been a time where Caleb wanted to venture into the big city, but Pete had stayed at Halloween Point and married his childhood sweetheart, Emily. Emily also happened to be Mae’s best friend.

“Is Emily over there right now?” Caleb asked. He hadn’t paid attention to who entered the store.

Pete laughed and pulled out his cell phone. “Yep, my wife is. They’re enjoying a cup of coffee, as Mae opens up the shop before heading to work.”

Emily worked at the bakery. It was one of the reasons Mae had expanded her bookstore to include a coffee shop service, as well as offering small treats. They were the closest of friends.

He and Pete were just a few years older than Mae and Emily, but he remembered her.

Mae had been a bookworm, and Emily had been into heavy metal, dying her hair black and wearing lots of band t-shirts.

They were like chalk and cheese, and yet they had somehow made a friendship that lasted a long time.

Caleb couldn’t believe he was doing this, but he wanted to know more. He wanted all the details of what Emily was getting out of Mae.

“Ask her what they’re talking about,” Caleb said. He had another hour before his first client.

“Dude, seriously? You want me to ask my wife about her friend?”

“I want you to ask her what they’re talking about.”

Pete looked at him, and then shook his head. “So, Mae is more than just an easy fuck?”

“Don’t call her that,” Caleb said.

“It’s what you call all the others.”

“Look, it has been a long time since I’ve been with anyone else, okay.

” He didn’t like to admit it, but for a long time, he’d been into Mae.

In fact, back at high school, he had found her so adorable.

The way she had to keep pushing her glasses up her nose, and she constantly had her head in a book.

He figured it was because her grandfather owned the bookstore.

She never hung out with guys. It was always Mae and Emily. She’d been Emily’s maid of honor at the wedding, and he had to dance with her, and it had been amazing.

He’d tried to put every feeling he had for Mae at the back of his mind, but that had been next to impossible. She was everywhere, and he didn’t want to ever stop thinking about her.

And now, he couldn’t get her out of his mind.