Bending the Rules by Ali Parker Read Free Book Online Page A

stay with my childhood best friend. I'm pretty sure she has several rooms. Is that okay?"
    "Anything you want. As long as I get to let down my guard and call you mine for a few days." I walked to the kitchen and pulled the roast from the oven. I'd have to let Damon know he was right. The bastard was always right. Sneaking around would suck, but if it meant being close to Dana's warmth... I was all for it.
    The rest of the evening was relaxed and far more enjoyable than I expected. She had to run right after we had dinner thanks to her friend Jackie locking her keys in her car, but we promised each other that we'd make up the night in New York.
    I kissed her several times as we stood by her car and thanked her for giving me a chance. She was young and yet full of grace and forgiveness. There was an agelessness that sat behind her dark eyes that stole my breath.
    It took a good fifteen minutes of me breathing in and out to slow my heart after she left. It wasn't just about lust and the need to drive into her from every angle known to man. It was about the promise of love. She was the kind of woman who could heal my wounds and drive me toward being the man I dreamt of becoming. I wanted to own myself in a way that had others looking up to me, not whispering in the shadows about all of the fucked up mistakes I'd made in my search for love and acceptance.
    I wanted a woman like her to fall deeply in love with me. To worship me in the ways that I planned to worship her, to be proud to be mine for the rest of her life.
    It all seemed like too much to ask for, and yet the hope of such a promise followed me around for the rest of the evening until I finally crashed in bed and let my dreams take over where reality ended.
    Dana would be mine behind locked doors for the time being, and honestly, it was more than I could ask for. I didn't deserve even that. Not after the way I'd lived my life. But I was just greedy enough to be willing to take it.

Chapter 7
    Two Days Later
    Dana
     
     
    Olivia still hadn't returned my call about coming to stay with her in New York for the weekend, which was starting to get on my nerves. I knew she was under a lot of pressure and had been traveling a lot with her job, but still.
    I put the broom up after running it across the kitchen floor in an effort to feel like I was doing something domestic. I hadn't seen Kendal in two days, which was good and bad. He was working to get himself back in the groove of being at the college, and we were playing lovers under cover. The only thing missing was the sex. Damn Jackie for losing her keys. There was no way we'd have ended the night with a few kisses and nothing else if she hadn't jacked everything up.
    "It was for the better," I mumbled and picked up my phone to try Olivia again. My definition of “better” felt rather fucked up at the moment. The best thing would have been spending the night trapped beneath Kendal, letting him take out every torrid emotion he had on my willing body.
    "Hey you! I'm so sorry about not getting back to you. It's been stupid busy up here." Olivia answered the phone and jolted me with the volume of her voice.
    I pulled the phone back. "It's all good. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with me staying at your place this weekend. I thought I would be coming alone like last time, but I'm bringing a friend with me. Is that okay?"
    "It's perfectly fine. I'm still dating Luke though. Are you going to be okay with going out with him for a drink on Friday or Saturday? He's not going to give me the whole weekend to myself."
    "Ugh." I rolled my eyes and pressed my hand to the kitchen counter. "Why are you dating this guy? He's a total cock."
    "Because he's rich, he's great in bed and he's hot as sin." She laughed.
    "That is not the right list for a man that you're looking at marrying, Olivia."
    "Sue me. Life is short and I gave up on real love a long time ago." She paused for a brief second. "Wait. Did you say that you're bringing a