Touched Read online

  Table of Contents

  Tempted - Chapter 1

  Tempted - Chapter 2

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  About the Author

  Sneak Peek

  THORNTON BROTHERS

  BOOK ONE

  TOUCHED

  by Sabre Rose

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR

  Published by Sabre Rose

  © 2017 Sabre Rose

  Kindle Edition

  This book is a work of fiction.

  Any resemblance to actual events, any person living or deceased is entirely coincidental. Any references to real places or events are used fictitiously. All characters and storylines are products of the author’s imagination. It has been edited to UK English standards.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, re-sold, or transmitted electronically or otherwise, without express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright.

  For more information about the author visit:

  www.sabreroseauthor.com

  Table of Contents

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

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  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

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  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  About the Author

  Sneak Peek

  Tempted - Chapter 1

  Tempted - Chapter 2

  1

  GABE

  My alarm went off and I fumbled under the sheets until I felt the smooth surface of my phone, swiping to stop the incessant ringing. It was early, too early, despite the sun being high in the sky. My head throbbed and the swell of the waterbed brought waves of nausea. It took a while for the memories to wade through the murkiness of my brain, but finally, flashbacks of the night before hit me with a vengeance.

  The boss was going to kill me.

  Ten minutes passed as I lay with my head buried beneath the covers before my alarm went off again, screaming that I needed to get ready for work. Swiping it silent, I forced my eyes to focus on the too bright screen. Two missed calls. Was Tyler ever going to give up?

  Tossing the covers off the bed, I lay in a pool of sun streaming in through the open curtains. It was warm. It was comfortable. And all I wanted to do was close my blurred eyes and fall back into that blissful state where my head didn’t pound, my mouth wasn’t dry and the memory of the night before didn’t exist.

  Yesterday was the two-year anniversary. It was why Tyler was calling. It was why I drank three-quarters of a bottle of vodka by myself.

  It was also why I ended up fucking Kate, something I promised the boss I wouldn’t do. She was sick of losing staff. But despite never promising any of them anything, they threw themselves at me. And yet, I was the one branded a player. A man-whore. An arsehole. And I had only just turned twenty-one.

  My phone rang and I stared at the screen in disgust. Tyler. Again. When were my family going to get it through their heads that I was done with them?

  Bracing myself, I knew I may as well get it over and done with. “What?” I answered.

  “Can you talk?” my brother asked.

  “I answered, didn’t I?”

  “I thought you’d be at work.”

  “My shift starts soon. What do you want?”

  “Are you coming this weekend?”

  Sitting up, I shielded my eyes from the glare of the sun. “Is Jake home?”

  “Not until the end of the year.”

  “I told you the only reason I’d come home was to see Jake.”

  “Dad is expecting you,” he said.

  “Dad can kiss my arse.”

  Tyler let out a deep sigh. “It’s the two-year anniversary.” He said it quietly, but his voice held the hint of a threat.

  A knot of emotion caught in my throat. I wanted to yell at him and ask how the fuck could I ever forget, but instead, I took a deep breath and forced myself to sound calm. “And?” I replied.

  “For fuck’s sake, Gabe. Can’t you just get over yourself for one minute? His death affected us all, not just you.”

  I took another deep breath, pushing away the memories. “Anything else?” Dragging myself out of bed, I started sorting through the mess of clothes lying on the floor.

  I expected a lecture on how I was letting the family down. How my lack of attendance at family gatherings was an embarrassment to Dad. How I needed to get my shit together. But instead, Tyler, the fucking perfect son, just sighed again.

  "No one blames you, Gabe."

  There were so many things I could have said, so many other people who could share in the blame, but I knew there was no point in bringing up any of it. Clark was gone. Nothing could bring him back.

  I let silence be my answer.

  Tyler tried again. “It would mean a lot to Dad if you came.”

  “It would mean a lot to me if you left me alone.”

  “I can’t do that. We are family.”

  “Fuck family.”

  I hung up.

  For nearly two years I had avoided them. That wasn’t about to change.

  With only minutes before I was due to start my shift at the café, I dragged myself through the shower, ran a brush through my hair and stumbled out the door, pulling a t-shirt over my head that clung to my still-damp skin.

  The boss was there to greet me when I walked in five minutes late. I was improving. Flashing her my most winning smile, I hoped to avoid a scolding. It must have worked as she merely narrowed her eyes and tapped the skin of her wrist.

  Jordan, the new girl, came out from the storeroom and smiled at me shyly. When she started a couple of weeks ago, the boss warned me I wasn’t allowed anywhere near her. I didn’t bother to explain that it didn’t matter if I went near her or not, rejection in any form meant they ended up hating me. Then leaving.

  The cafe was busy and I spent most of my time at the coffee machine, trying not to let the gurgling of the steamer or the clinking of cups drill into my thumping head. My stomach churned from the mere scent of food so Jordan took any orders to the tables.

  A couple of hours before the end of my shift, my mates wandered through the door. “I’m taking my break,” I yelled to Mark in the kitchen. A grunt was the only reply I got.

  Checking that no customers were watching, I jumped over the counter and slumped into the seat beside Drew.

  “You good?” he asked.

  “Apart from feeling like someone took a shit in my mouth and a thumping headache, I'm great,” I replied dryly.

  “You drank a lot,” Drew replied.

  As if I wasn’t aware.

  Stefan wiggled his eyebrows. “So," he drew the word
out. "How was she?”

  “Not here,” I warned, glancing around the café before remembering the boss had popped out. “It shouldn’t have happened. It was stupid. I was stupid.”

  “And yet you keep doing it,” Drew said.

  I threw him a withering glare as Stefan nodded over to where Jordan was preparing our drinks, every now and again flicking her eyes over to our table. “What about that one?”

  She was pretty enough. I didn’t really have a type, but if I did, she probably wouldn’t be it. All angles and straight lines, no curves. But then again, I said the same thing about Kate. My type usually depended on my need, and my need depended on my mood, so that could change. The need to laugh, the need to be wanted, the need to forget, they all required a certain type of girl.

  Glancing over at Jordan, I shook my head. “The boss has already got me on warning since the last one walked out. There’s no way I’m going near her.”

  “That’s what you said last night too,” Stefan said, his smirk overtly obvious.

  Kate had come on strong, and at first, I ignored her, but when she caught me at a weak moment, right as I was in the middle of attempting to drown my memories with vodka, well, things happened. She wasn’t impressed when I told her it was a one-off. She didn’t realise they were all one-offs. Now, I just had to hope she didn't tell the boss. Or leave. Maybe I should have played it nice for a few days.

  “Hook me up with this one then, would you?” Stefan said.

  Drew rolled his eyes. “Could you be any cruder?”

  “You’re on your own,” I told Stefan. “I’m staying well away. I need this job.”

  Translation: I needed the money. Supporting myself was harder than I expected. Still, I’d discovered I didn’t need much. A roof over my head, food in my stomach, beer for the fridge, and gas for the jeep.

  Jordan made her way over to our table, tray laden with drinks. She smiled brightly and placed them down, her eyes flicking to mine shyly. I smiled politely and stared at my coffee. She made good coffee.

  “Are you getting up to much tonight, Gabe?” She clasped the empty tray close to her chest.

  Stefan made the most of my hesitation and held out his hand. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Stefan.” She shook it hesitantly as I looked down at the table and tried not to catch her eye. But it felt awkward after a while so I introduced Drew, still barely looking up at her. He didn’t bother shaking her hand. I could tell from the expression on his face his head was still too twisted up in Haleigh to even register another girl. He had just been dumped. Again.

  “Actually,” Stefan piped up when he realised I wasn’t going to answer. “We’re heading for a game of pool after Gabe’s shift. You keen?”

  I shot him a death glare and kicked him under the table.

  Jordan’s eyes flicked to mine. “I’m not that good at pool.”

  “I’ll teach you.” Stefan winked.

  Ignoring his flirting, Jordan turned to me. “Can I hitch a ride with you?”

  She wasn’t as shy as I initially thought. I couldn’t think of a decent excuse while she stared at me all doe-eyed and hopeful. “Sure,” I muttered.

  Hugging the tray closer, she flashed a smile at the others. “Mark will be over with your food shortly.”

  “Thanks,” I groaned to Stefan as soon as she was out of earshot.

  He laughed and sipped his coffee from the spoon. “I’m not too proud to ride on your coattails.”

  Stefan didn’t need to ride on my coattails. He did well enough without dipping his stick into my work environment.

  Mark, the cook, waltzed over with our dinner. Three plates piled high with nachos. They weren’t on the menu. Too pub-like, Mark said, but he made them especially for me and the boys. Didn’t charge us, either. It was something of a tradition for a Wednesday night.

  Mark dumped the plates onto the table and slumped into the empty chair beside me. “Your break is almost up, Casanova.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Casanova?”

  “Jordan was grinning like a Cheshire cat. I’m assuming you had something to do with that?”

  “No, I did not,” I replied grumpily and stared hard at Stefan.

  “Poor Gabe.” Stefan stuck out his bottom lip before stuffing his mouth full of nacho chips and cheese.

  “It would be different if he actually had to try,” Mark said dryly.

  “Hey.” I blinked indignantly. “What are you implying?”

  “I’m implying,” Mark said, helping himself to Drew’s plate, and getting slapped in the process, “if you actually had to put the effort in like the rest of us, your success rate wouldn’t be so high.”

  “So you’re saying I’m just a pretty face?”

  Mark pinched my cheek and grinned. “It’s not just your face.”

  “I’ll have you know I’m a very nice person, thank you very much.” I knocked back the last of my coffee. It was hot and felt like I had swallowed a fireball.

  “Yes, you’ve got a lovely personality, Gabe,” Mark said, rolling his eyes and smirking at the guys.

  His words got to me more than I let on. It was true. Girls often liked me before I even opened my mouth. Sure, they didn’t stop liking me after, but it wasn’t the same thing. I knew that their attraction usually had very little to do with me. It was simply genetics. Not that I was complaining.

  “I’m pretty sure if you went outside your little bubble of adoring girls, the results would change.”

  “I’ve seen him pull women of all sorts, and they’ve never turned him down. It’s sickening really.” Stefan talked with his mouth full and Mark screwed up his nose in disgust.

  “I don’t pull anything.” I pushed my chair back and stood. “Break’s over. I’m going back to work.”

  “All I’m saying is,” Mark said, leaning over to the others, “has he ever been successful when it wasn’t the girl who made the first move?” Mark took a chip from Stefan’s plate and popped it into his mouth. It crunched loudly as he bit down.

  All three of them looked up at me expectantly and I scowled. “I may not have had to try, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t get any girl I wanted. I can be very charming,” I said, trying to distract from the fact that Mark was right. I had never put effort in. Well, not for a while, anyway. There was one girl, but it was complicated.

  “So, you’d be up to a little challenge?”

  I folded my arms. “Name it.”

  “I will pick a woman and you have to woo her.”

  “Woo her?” I snorted.

  “Fine. Fuck her. Is that better?” Mark raised his eyebrows and looked at me blankly.

  “That’s a bit lame, isn’t it? And not all that nice.”

  “So, you’re going to renege on the challenge?” Mark asked.

  “Fine. I’ll ‘woo’ someone.” I felt a little tug of guilt. I’d slept with plenty of girls before but never for a bet. I should’ve told Mark to take a flying leap, but there was something in the way he looked at me, in the way he challenged me, that meant I couldn’t refuse. I’d slept with a few girls who turned out to hate me when it didn’t go any further, what was one more?

  “What’s the bet?”

  “Five hundred,” Mark proposed.

  Money. Shit. The one thing I no longer had much access to. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought it would be more along the lines of doing the dishes for a week or having to walk down the main street buck-naked. “Five hundred is a lot.”

  “If you think you can’t do it…”

  “I never said that.” I knew he was taunting me but I took the bait anyway.

  “Fine.” Mark began to look around the room slowly, weighing his options.

  “Now?” I asked, a little worried at who he would pick. The café wasn’t too full, and there was a good mix of women about, but I had no idea what he had in mind. Knowing Mark, it wasn’t going to be the blonde sitting in the corner who had been eying me up for the last half an hour.

  “That one.�
��

  He nodded to a woman sitting alone at a table, staring down at her phone. She was older than me; late twenties, early thirties maybe. Not that I had anything against older women, I just wasn’t expecting it. She was attractive at least. Long brown hair pulled back into a messy bun and decent curves to her shape. She was dressed plainly in worn jeans and a slightly crumpled shirt. Nothing flashy. Nothing that really made her stand out from the other customers dotted around the café.

  “Easy,” I said, and grinned at Mark.

  “We’ll see.” Mark winked at the others. “Well, off you go.”

  “Now?” I got a sense there was something he wasn’t telling me.

  “Yes, now. She won’t be still sitting there tomorrow. People tend to leave cafés at some point.”

  The three of them watched, smirking, as I tucked my hair behind my ears, and approached her table. She hadn’t noticed me yet. Her eyes were still glued to her phone. I was nervous, but I wasn’t about to let the boys know that. If only she would look up, then I’d be able to better gauge my approach. But just before I got to her, my boss, Peta, flew through the door, all flying hair and shopping bags, and over to the woman at the table.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said, hugging her.

  “I’m used to it,” the woman replied, looking away from her phone and grinning at Peta.

  “Oh, I forgot to mention.” Mark came up behind me as I stood frozen in the middle of the floor, unsure how to proceed. “She’s the boss’s best friend and your new workmate.” He chuckled.

  I turned away from the two women now talking animatedly at the table and looked at Mark determinedly. I wasn’t about to give up. “Give me a week.”

  Mark’s eyebrows lifted. “A week?” He shook his head, amusement tainting his smirk. “Heck, I’ll give you a month. It’s still a safe bet.” He started to walk back to the kitchen, but then turned, rubbing his fingers together greedily and laughing. “You’d better start thinking of some smooth chat-up lines because she starts working here tomorrow.”

  2

  LAUREN

  I was supposed to be preparing for my wedding. Instead, I was starting a new job, a new life. Rather than the nervous flutter of excitement at the thought of walking down the aisle, I was thumbing through the clothes in my wardrobe and trying not to let my eyes slip to the bolt of white lace shoved in the back.