Before You: Sex on the Beach Read online

  So I showered, and got dressed in comfortable clothes for the trip, tossed the rest of my belongings into the suitcase, and headed downstairs in time to meet the others.

  Ty wasn’t in the lobby. I hadn’t expected him to be, but I’d hoped.

  And he wasn’t at the airport, either. Nor did he call. We got on the plane to Chicago without me having heard a word from him.

  The others left me mostly alone. They could tell something was wrong. And Quinn wasn’t happy, either. She—sweet, loving Quinn, with an almost infinite capacity for seeing the best in people—refused to forgive James—Ivy League Dude—for lying to her about the bet. She must have fallen for him even harder than I’d realized, to be so hurt.

  Mackenzie was happier. She and Austin had worked things out, and were making plans for the summer. There was talk about him moving to Chicago, or about Mackenzie transferring to Miami to be closer to him. I didn’t want to lose one of my best friends, but I was happy she was happy, since it was nice that one of us was.

  And anyway, there was a chance it wouldn’t last. Austin was staying in Key West, and summer was still a long way off, so things could change.

  Pardon my cynicism, but I was in a bad mood.

  I had been looking forward to losing my virginity. I’d made sure I’d done it with a guy I liked. I’d done everything right. I wasn’t supposed to be miserable.

  As the plane circled over Chicago and the lake—smaller and less blue than the Gulf of Mexico—I tried to tell myself that it was OK that I’d slept with a guy I’d never see again. People did it all the time. It was no big deal. But as we headed for the runway, and the plane jerked as the landing gear engaged and the wheels popped out of the fuselage, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it.

  THINGS WENT back to usual the next week. Classes, assignments, hours in the library, more hours on the computer pounding the keys. Exams were coming up.

  My life didn’t change much. As one week slipped into the next, and April became May, I stopped thinking about Ty every minute, and stopped waiting for the phone to ring. He didn’t have my number, so why would it?

  And the fact that I no longer had ‘virgin’ tattooed across my forehead didn’t change anything, either. I guess maybe the problem hadn’t been the invisible tattoo, after all, because nobody paid me any more attention now than they had before I’d had sex.

  I wrote an article about what happened in Key West for the school newspaper, and thought about switching my major from English to journalism.

  With just a year to go until graduation, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense, I guess, but I’d chosen to major in English Lit as an excuse to spend most of my time with my nose in a book. After living a little—even if it had been scary living—I thought maybe it was time to look a little farther outside myself.

  A couple of girls came up to me after the article ran and told me I had helped them be more careful, so that was nice. And as Ty had told me once, it felt good to feel like maybe I’d made a difference.

  I was on my way across the quad from the library one afternoon in late May when I saw a guy coming toward me. Medium height, hair somewhere between dark blond and light brown, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

  There wasn’t anything unusual about that. The University of Chicago was full of guys of medium height, with dark blond or light brown hair, dressed in jeans and T-shirts. I was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt myself, and so was practically everyone around me.

  There was something about this guy, though...

  My heart started picking up speed as I moved closer to him. Was it...?

  He was looking around, hands in his pockets, and hadn’t seen me yet. A couple of girls walking in front of me passed him, and looked back over their shoulders with appreciative smiles.

  When he got closer, I saw that the T-shirt—dark blue—said FBI in large letters. I had to get all the way up in front of him to read the small letters below: Female Body Inspector.

  By then, the question of whether it was Ty had already been answered.

  He stopped in front of me. “Hi.”

  He looked a little nervous, like maybe he wasn’t entirely sure of his reception.

  I smiled. “Nice shirt.”

  He glanced down at it, and back up at me. “Thanks.”

  “Wanna inspect my body?”

  “Yeah,” Ty said, and reached for me.

  Want More Sex on the Beach?

  BEYOND ME

  By Jennifer Probst

  CAN FUN IN THE SUN TURN INTO LASTING LOVE?

  Spring break in Key West with my besties was supposed to be casual fun. But I never expected to meet him. Sex and frolic? Yes! A relationship? No. But his hot blue eyes and confident manner drew me in. And when he let me see the man behind the mask, I fell hard, foolishly believing there could be a future for us. Of course, I never considered our relationship might be based on lies...or that his betrayal could rock my foundation and make me question everything I believed in…

  OR WILL A LIFE BUILT ON LIES RUIN EVERYTHING?

  The moment I saw her I knew I had to have her. She hooked me with her cool eyes and don’t-touch-me attitude. I had it all—money, social status, and looks. I could get any girl I wanted...until her. When my friends challenged me with a bet to get her into bed by the end of the week, I couldn’t pass it up. But sex wasn’t supposed to turn into love. She wasn’t supposed to change me, push me, and make me want more for myself. She wasn’t supposed to wreck me in all ways. And now, if I can’t turn my lies into truth, I just might lose her forever...

  Buy here

  BETWEEN US

  By Jen McLaughlin

  I’m just a girl…

  I’m a famous country star who’s spent her life cultivating a good girl persona to avoid bad press, but I’ve reached my limit. I’m going away for spring break with my two best friends from college, and we’ve vowed to spend the vacation seeking out fun in the sun—along with some hot, no-strings-attached sex. The only thing I needed was the perfect guy, and then I met Austin Murphy. He might be totally wrong for me, but the tattooed bad boy is hard to resist. When I’m in his arms, everything just feels right.

  And I’m just a guy…

  I’m just a bartender who lives in Key West, stuck in an endless cycle of boredom. But then Mackenzie Forbes, America’s Sweetheart herself, comes up to me and looks at me with those bright green eyes…and everything changes. She acts like she’s just a normal girl and I’m just a normal guy, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. My past isn’t pretty, you know. I did what I had to do to survive, and she’d run if she learned the truth about my darkness. But with her, I’m finally realizing what it’s like to be alive. To laugh, live, and be happy.

  All good things must come to an end...

  Buy here

  Read other books by Jenna Bennett

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jenna Bennett writes the Do It Yourself home renovation mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime and the Cutthroat Business mysteries for her own gratification. She also writes a variety of romance for a change of pace. For more information, please visit her website.

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  Before You

  A Sex on the Beach novella

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2014 Bente Gallagher

  All rights reserved.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be re
produced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.

  Photograph: Sergey P.

  Cover design: Sarah Hansen, OkayCreations.com

  Interior design: E.M. Tippetts Book Designs

  ISBN: 978-0-9899434-6-8

  Magpie Ink

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Other Books by Jenna Bennett

  Letter to Reader

  Praise for Trilogy

  Preview

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  Want More Sex on the Beach?

  About the Author

  About the Designer

  Copyright Notice