The Rules Of Attraction Read online

  The Rules Of Attraction

  Khardine Gray

  Bliss Romance

  Contents

  This is a Hawwwt Read

  Don’t fight Attraction…

  The Rules…

  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

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  Thank You

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Khardine Gray

  Copyright © 2018 The Rules Of Attraction

  by Khardine Gray

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design © 2018 by Cover Couture

  Cover Model: Drew Truckle

  Photography by Eric D. Battershell

  This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  The author asserts that all characters and situations depicted in this work of fiction are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations.

  It is intended for mature readers. All characters are 18+ years of age and all sexual acts are consensual.

  This is a Hawwwt Read

  Hello Gorgeous,

  The Rules of Attraction is a full-length standalone novel.

  It’s a super-hot, super steamy read that I hope you’ll enjoy.

  Beware you may need ice.

  Enjoy xx

  Don’t fight Attraction…

  Don’t fight Attraction

  Those were the words Alex spoke to capture me at hello.

  I’d never met a man like this before.

  Sexy as hell, hot like sin.

  A man who came with his own rules.

  He looked at me like he wanted to devour me, made my heart pound, and my soul shiver with need.

  Attraction.

  That’s what he called the insane chemistry that sparked between us.

  He tempted me to explore and play by the rules.

  After the disaster of my last relationship I should have run a mile from the gorgeous, godlike man who called me angel.

  But …I allowed him to tempt me.

  Just for one night I decided to escape life.

  I never thought I’d see him again.

  Attraction, however, had other things in mind for us, and I started a game it wanted me to finish.

  It turns out the god-like man is my new boss…

  I’m not sure how many more shocks my life can take.

  It would be a mistake to fall for this man.

  So I try not to.

  But he wants to own me.

  He wants to make me his.

  He wants us to get lost in each other and escape life together.

  Lost, until the scorching heat from attraction burns out.

  The call of desire is too strong.

  I should say no but I can’t resist the irresistible …

  The Rules…

  The Rules Of Attraction

  (according to Alex Sullivan)

  1. Don’t fight attraction, do what it tells you.

  2.Never give up when you find an equal.

  3.You can’t resist the irresistible.

  4. Decide the pace: fast or slow.

  5. Nothing else matters when you’re together.

  6. Get lost in each other until you burn out.

  7. Opposites don’t just attract, they belong together.

  Beware: you have to play the game if Attraction chooses you…

  Chapter 1

  Summer

  What the hell kind of day was this?

  I thought I’d managed to escape the shit, but no, it followed me all the way to Chicago.

  Tom was marrying Becca.

  My stomach plummeted again just at the thought, and I felt sick.

  Tom.

  The man I’d spent eleven years of my life with was marrying my best friend.

  My hands were still shaking, had been for the last few hours.

  It was the immediate reaction on finding the satin textured, cream colored envelope sitting on the floor of my flea-bag apartment when I got back in from grocery shopping.

  The envelope contained their wedding invitation inviting me to attend the glorious union of Tom Underhill and Rebecca Kennedy at two PM on Saturday the fourteenth of September.

  I’d dropped the envelope, ran to the toilet as bile rose right up into my throat and threw up everything I’d had since fourth grade.

  Then I must have lost my mind as I left the said flea-bag apartment and went walking, and somehow ended up here at The Hideaway, a night club.

  It was eight o’clock.

  I should have been at home prepping to start my new job tomorrow, not here.

  I wasn’t even dressed up. The blue summer dress I wore was more fitting for a quick trip to the supermarket or a walk in the park. Definitely not for mingling with the Tuesday night partygoers at a sassy club.

  And my stomach still felt queasy.

  It was so stupid. This reaction. I shouldn’t have felt like this.

  Tom hadn’t been mine for a long time, but what gripped me was the hurt I felt. The hurt and despair from the rejection.

  Four months ago when Tom and Becca told me they were together, and had been for a while, I dealt with it.

  At that time, Tom and I had been on a break for eight months and I’d just buried my father.

  I thought the break was Tom’s way of helping me while I needed to care for my father during the time he needed me most. I thought we’d simply get back together at some point because we’d been together for so long.

  But he had no intention to do that.

  He’d acted like he’d done me a favor.

  Doing me a favor would have been to end things properly with me and not crush me with news of being with Becca.

  Back then I didn’t have the strength to accept the truth for what it was. That they’d been seeing each other behind my back for God knew how long. Or, that while I was at my lowest going through all manner of shit the man I loved was screwing my best friend.

  For the last four months I’d gone through the motions of trying to pick up the pieces of my life, and bereave my father.

  Like a shell, I felt hollow inside and the person who used to be me was lost in the void somewhere.

  Today though… the bubble popped.
It snapped like someone stuck it with a sharp pin and landed me on my ass that was already at rock bottom.

  Today was when I actually woke up, and reality slapped me with all the emotions I’d suppressed.

  The loss of my father had displaced time around me and I had no grasp of anything until today when I held the wedding invite and life as it was stared me in the face.

  Tom was getting married to Becca, my father was dead, I was broke, in debt and in Chicago waiting to start a new job that was several downgrades from the career I worked my ass off for.

  That was my life summed up in a nutshell and it sucked.

  I hated it.

  Worse yet, I hated that I couldn’t have seen Tom for who he was. Becca too.

  I hated that I allowed them to get to me now, and that I’d allowed them to damage the little strength I had.

  All I should have had on my mind was healing my broken heart from the loss of my dear father, and getting back into the career I loved.

  Just those two things, nothing else.

  I didn’t need confirmation of how much Tom loved Becca.

  “Would you like some more water?” The bartender asked.

  I turned my attention to him and blinked.

  Water.

  My brain was in a state of tumult.

  I was going to need something a lot stronger than that.

  What I needed was an escape from the torment that had filled my mind. I needed an escape from life.

  My attention was drawn to a pretty blonde woman in a bubblegum pink dress who laughed out loud. She sat on the opposite side of the bar with a man who seemed to be dazzling her with sauciness. They’d been there since before I came in, which was well over an hour now.

  The woman looked happy and carefree.

  I didn’t know when I would feel happy again, but maybe I could do carefree.

  “Can I have what she’s having?” I asked motioning towards her with my chin.

  The bartender chuckled and nodded, allowing one of his dreadlocks to fall over his eye. I’d seen him take a pink colored cocktail over to her in one of those tall glasses with lemon on the side and blue syrup drizzled around the rim. It looked cool.

  “That’s a real strong drink sweetheart, do you think you can handle it?”

  “Yes.” I said firmly. Maybe a little too firm, but damn it to hell yes I wanted a strong drink and yes I could handle it.

  The smile on his face grew. “Okay I’ll mix one up for you.”

  Minutes later I had my drink before me. It was called Angels on Sex.

  No wonder the woman ordered it.

  “Go easy on it. Sipping is best to start.” He advised.

  “Thanks, I’m sure I’ll be fine.” I picked up the glass and instead of the sip I was advised to take, I took a huge gulp.

  Immediately, I grimaced at the sharp, searing taste of vodka contrasted with sugar syrup strawberries.

  It sent a hot shiver through my whole body as it hit the back of my throat, making my skin burn and tingle.

  Damn the stuff was seriously strong. Maybe I should have sipped and taken it easy as advised, especially since I normally kept drinking to a minimum.

  But screw it. I needed this.

  Once the tingling and burning feeling left, a sense of calm spread over my brain, having an effect similar to taking a painkiller and feeling it starting to work.

  I practically downed the rest of the drink, and Jesus it felt like I’d overdosed on pure happy.

  I had to close my eyes, squeezing them shut at the sensational intensity. When I opened them again I saw the bartender standing before me with a glass of water.

  “Drink this it will help balance things out.” He smirked.

  “Thank you.” I took the glass from him and sipped on the water.

  The balance he spoke of came along with the buzz I was going for.

  “Better?” He asked.

  “Yes, could I have another one of those drinks.”

  “Sure, but make sure you drink the water.” He winked at me as he sauntered away.

  I loosened my ponytail, allowing my platinum blonde locks to tumble down my shoulders and spill down to the center of my back.

  I could see my reflection from the mirror behind the drink rack that I looked better, and more fitting to the setting.

  When the bartender came back I noticed he gave me that once over look most guys did when I let my hair down. It was a look I’d grown accustomed to ignoring because I was with Tom.

  I didn’t have to do that anymore.

  “Enjoy.” He smiled with another wink and left me.

  I started on it straightaway. Thankfully since I was used to the taste I went straight to the enjoyment and lapped up the buzz that filled me. Another one of these and I’d be drunk.

  I knew my limit and didn’t want to start my new job tomorrow with a hangover.

  This mellowness was good.

  It numbed that part of my brain that ached from all I’d been through, putting it on pause so I could calm down.

  Calm down enough to entice that carefree vibe I needed right now to escape.

  As the alcohol worked its way into my bloodstream I allowed my thoughts to drift.

  I closed my eyes again, tuning the music out and the people around me.

  Focusing, breathing, focusing, steadying my breath.

  Good… it was working.

  I’d come to Chicago for a fresh start.

  I had more important things to deal with than Tom and Becca. Bigger fish to fry.

  I couldn’t allow them to get to me.

  They were both as bad as each other and bad for me. Tom had been a terrible boyfriend with all his negativity, and criticism, and Becca had always kept me in her shadow. I’d known her practically since birth, and it was always the same. I was second best.

  When they came to tell me they were together –two days after my father’s funeral –that fucking bitch had the audacity to act like I should be happy for them.

  Fuck them.

  Fuck them both, and life too for taking my father.

  Defiance filled me as the buzz danced through my veins.

  I was checking out of reality, just for tonight.

  Tomorrow I’d start again with this job.

  Just for tonight I’d be someone else.

  Not Summer Daniels. The high achieving Miss Goody Two Shoes.

  The music changed to a song I recognized and I opened my eyes. It was Touch Me, one of those songs that could bring out the sexy in me no matter how I felt.

  Up by the bar, the volume had been kept to a low beat so people could enjoy the music and still hold a conversation.

  Just like the cocktail, the chilled beat did something to me, lulling me towards it.

  I was on the second level. I looked down to the main dance floor and saw all the fun everyone was having there and at the three other bars that circled it.

  I wanted that too. Fun. Carefree fun.

  How long had it been since I danced?

  My body moved even before my brain could register that I was moving, and straight down the steps I went allowing the music to envelope me.

  Swirling lights spiraled over me as I took my descent, immersing myself into the vibes.

  The beat pumped through every single fiber of my body.

  I found a good spot where I could move freely. Then I got sucked into the music and allowed it to move me in whatever way it chose.

  Sexy, that’s what I felt like as I ran my hands over my head, down my chest and onwards to my waist. Soon, like everyone I was completely lost in the sounds of smooth sexiness.

  It had been too long since I’d allowed myself a moment to relax, or just to stop and indulge in nothingness. Like now, dancing to the music with no thought other than to enjoy the beat, and enjoy the calmness that had settled over my mind.

  I would have indulged in the temptation to become truly lost if I didn’t suddenly feel the distinct impression of eyes focused on me.
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br />   The club was packed, heaving with people and there were a lot of guys looking at me as I danced, but the magnetism and intensity of the stare was so strong that I had to see where it was coming from.

  When I twirled around I stopped mid sway, locking my gaze with a man standing by the column near the doors that led out to the roof top terrace. The raised platform he stood on allowed him to tower over the people that danced around him.

  It was him…

  He was the one looking at me.

  That was where the heated, penetrated blaze I felt came from, and he was still focusing on me.

  This man was what I would have called deadly handsome and had the kind of gorgeousness you’d see on the Hollywood heart throbs women swooned over. The flashing club lights bounced off his blonde spiky hair and made his light eyes look brighter.

  He was tall, standing over six feet and displayed a body that was all muscle with a mile wide chest that looked toned even from where I stood.

  He oozed style with his black blazer and white button up shirt. The top buttons lay open allowing me to see corded muscle and just make out hints of a tattoo in the flickering lights.

  I didn’t know what impressed me more. The confident, cocky manner in which he stood, or the masterpiece he was.

  And… he was still looking at me, giving me his complete undivided attention, doing something to me that I couldn’t quite describe and hadn’t felt before.

  It was like he paralyzed my mind and spoke to my inner desire. Then as if he knew what he was doing to me, a slow satisfied smile crept up the corners of his sensual mouth making him look sexier.