Born to Be Wild: Welcome to Paradise, Book 3 by Elle Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page A

you know that lives around here,” he clarified. “Nate’s closest neighbor is old Britt Jansen, and she whips out her shotgun if anyone so much as steps onto her property. Unless you’ve been hanging with Cooper Grady—he lives half a mile east of here, so—” He halted when Lexie’s cheeks turned redder.
    Unable to stop himself, Jake laughed. “No fucking way. You and Cooper? That’s…”
    Lexie’s lips tightened. “It’s none of your business, that’s what.”
    He sipped his beer, then set down the bottle, unable to contain his amusement. “You and Coop, huh? Whatcha doing, slumming it? Taking a walk on the wild side?”
    Lexie stiffened.
    “Or let me guess, you decided to stick it to your uppity parents by letting Cooper stick you .”
    Lexie flinched as if he’d struck her. Without answering, she shoved the container of sugar into the leather purse slung over her shoulder and took a step to the door. “Sorry to bother you,” she said quietly. “I’ll be out of your hair now. Don’t worry, I won’t pay you a repeat visit.”
    “Lexie.”
    She stopped in the doorway. “What?”
    I didn’t mean to put that hurt look on your face.
    But he couldn’t voice the words. Evidently there was a lot more to Lexie Price than he’d ever imagined, but the two of them weren’t friends, and he couldn’t bring himself to act like it.
    “Let me walk you out,” he said with a sigh.
    He trailed after her, unable to stop his mind from conjuring up the image of Lexie in the arms of tough guy Cooper Grady. Coop worked on Owen’s construction crew, but although Jake didn’t know the man too well, he did know of him. Cooper had a reputation for sleeping around and being kind of an asshole. Which made him the last man Jake pictured Lexie getting involved with.
    “Can we…keep this entire thing to ourselves?” Lexie asked when they reached the front hall. “Pretend I was never here.”
    He stepped forward to open the door for her. “Whatever you want, sweet—” His words died when he spotted Bree on his porch, her fist poised to knock.
    A smile stretched over his mouth just as a frown marred hers. Bree’s head moved from him to Lexie, then back to him. “Guess this is a bad time,” she said in a tight voice.

Chapter Four
    Bree felt like a total idiot as she stood there on the porch facing off with Jake and Lexie. Neither of them looked guilty, or worse, sported that we-just-had-sex glow, but what else would Lexie be doing all the way out here?
    The blast of jealousy that hit her was annoying as hell, but she couldn’t help it. She and Lexie Price weren’t friends, nor were they the enemies they’d once been in high school, but the idea of Lexie in Jake’s bed made her blood boil. It also surprised the hell out of her, since Jake had never been Lexie’s biggest fan.
    In the doorway, Lexie looked equally surprised to see her . “Bree?” she said in perplexity, that regal neck stretching as she tilted her head to the side.
    “Hey, Lexie. How’ve you been?”
    The blonde still looked mystified. “Good. You?”
    “Can’t complain.” Bree’s gaze drifted to Jake, who was watching her with twinkling gray eyes. “I’ll come back another time,” she told him, somewhat stiffly.
    “Naah, it’s cool. Lexie was just leaving.”
    “Yep,” Lexie agreed, stepping onto the porch.
    Bree’s eyes narrowed when she realized the other woman was wearing white Adidas. Since when did the ice princess wear sneakers ?
    “Jake,” Lexie added, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder, “I’d like to say it’s been fun, but it wasn’t. As usual.” She descended the porch steps. “See you later, Bree.”
    Bree frowned as she watched the other woman veer off toward the cluster of trees on the edge of the property and disappear into the woods. Where on earth was she going? Though come to think of it, Bree didn’t see Lexie’s shiny BMW parked in the driveway.
    She turned back to Jake, eyes narrowed.