The BFD (A Big Deal Romantic Comedy Book 1) Read online

  “That’s such a healthy outlook, Roar. Damn,” Mara said, and I realized I must’ve said that all out loud.

  “If I go home, can you cover?” I asked.

  “Of course. Go. Don’t worry about anything here. I got it.”

  I don’t remember driving home. I don’t remember going up to my apartment. And I don’t remember crawling in bed.

  What I do remember is waking up crying and my room was dark.

  A week went by. Then two.

  “I’m doing fine,” I said to Mom over the phone. “Yeah, I will. Okay, love you too. Bye.”

  This had become a daily occurrence since my family had found out about my breakup. The funny thing was, they hadn’t even known I’d been seeing someone in the first place. But, yeah, every day, someone called. Mrs. L even got involved and the phone tree rotation continued.

  Yippee.

  The good thing is, no one mentioned his name. They were upbeat and “just checking in,” and that was fine. It was nice to have a support system.

  And everything had gone great until she walked in the bakery.

  I really think there should be a “Dun dun dun!” there, don’t you?

  Anyway, there I was, working away when I heard a woman say, “Excuse me, but are you Rori?”

  I looked up to see the female version of Calder and I sucked in a breath.

  “I’m sorry to bother you at work, but do you have a minute?” she asked.

  Wiping my hands on my apron, I said, “Sure,” and walked out from behind the counter. “Would you like some coffee?” I asked.

  “I’d love some,” she said and when I turned to go back and get her a cup, she said, “but I’ve already had my six cups today.”

  I turned back and walked to a table with her.

  “I’m Carson Seeley, by the way,” she said, holding her hand out.

  “Rori Flannigan,” I said shaking her hand.

  We sat and she pushed a stray lock of dark hair off her forehead. “I’m sure you’ve figured out I’m Calder’s sister.” I nodded. “My brother is such a dumbass! I could kick his stupid ass all the way to the White House!”

  Wow. She didn’t pull any punches.

  “Sorry. I’m really mad at him right now as you can tell.”

  “I see that,” I said with a chuckle.

  “I don’t have much time because the neighbor is watching my kids, so I’m just gonna say it, okay? Rori, I think you fucked up.”

  I jerked my head back in surprise. “Excuse me?”

  “That didn’t come out right. Let me try again.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “What I mean is, my brother is very confused. He talked to me several weeks ago about you.”

  Huh. “He did?” I asked.

  “Yes. It was the day he bought cinnamon rolls from you,” she added.

  The day of the night we’d finally had sex. Yay.

  “He was asking me about love and marriage and how do you know a person’s the one. He was so confused. And you know what happened the next day after you had sex?”

  My eyes got big at and I flinched that she knew about it.

  “Sorry. Calder was so upset, he showed up and just started rambling. Anyway, I’m here to tell you what happened hoping you might be able to fix things.”

  “Um, he broke up with me, so if anyone should do the fixing—” I began when she interrupted.

  “He was scared, Rori. And I know you probably were too, but you have to know that my brother is kinda weird. I mean, he’s been like this since he was little. So competitive and doesn’t stray from whatever goal he sets in front of him. And he had this five-year plan where he didn’t want to get married until he turned thirty-two.”

  I stared at her.

  “I know! See? You think it’s weird too! I told him you can’t schedule love, but like I said, he gets so fixed on things that he can’t even see around it.”

  Boy, she was a fast talker. And loud. And I guessed her neighbor really hadn’t given her much time.

  “I know I’m rambling but you have to hear me out, please! He’s miserable without you, Rori. When he came to the house the day after you had sex…”

  Oh, my God. If she said that one more time I was gonna leave because she was talking so loudly, people were looking at us funny. Ergh.

  “He told me that some of the guys at the fieldhouse were ragging on him about you. Well, not you in particular because they didn’t know about you, but they were teasing him about sleeping with you. They didn’t know it was you. They just knew he was sleeping with someone. And he was already on the fence about things because he always does stupid shit like that and talks himself out of stuff, and their comments just pushed him over the edge. God, I guess I shouldn’t have had those six cups of coffee in a row, huh?” she said chuckling.

  I finally cut to the chase. “What is it you want, Carson?”

  “I want you to find him and tell him you love him. You do love him, right?”

  “Uh…”

  “You have to! I know you do! So find him and tell him you love him. Beat the hell out of him if you have to because I know he loves you too, he just doesn’t quite know it yet, you know?”

  I was gonna have to take a nap after this. Damn.

  She looked at the clock on the wall. “He’s home right now, and if you could go to him and tell him what I told you, I know you’d fix things!”

  “Let me get this straight. You want me to go to his house and tell him that he loves me, right?”

  “Right! That’s all you have to do!”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Carson, but he broke up with me. If he wanted me, he’d come get me.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Rori!” She sat and looked at me for a moment. “Do you love him?”

  Oh, gosh.

  “Do you?” she asked again.

  I nodded. “I do.”

  “Then go get him! I know he’s the one who broke things off, but if this story were reversed and you broke up with him, I know he’d come after you. I know it! I mean, I read all these romance books, my husband loves it, by the way, but in every single one of them, the man hunts down the woman and tells her how it’s gonna be. Isn’t it time for the woman to do that to the man?”

  I stared at her because this was all just crazy.

  “I know I sound crazy.”

  She read my mind. Eek!

  She went on. “But this is the twenty-first century and we’re strong, independent women who go after what we want, right? And if you want my brother, I say go get him, girl!”

  “Yeah, go get him!” Mara said from behind me.

  I turned and looked at her. “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Long enough. Mara Lewis,” she said, leaning over me and holding out her hand for Carson to shake.

  “Nice to meet you, Mara.” Carson’s eyes came back to mine. “What do you say?”

  I twisted my mouth in thought. “This is pretty risky. What if I do all this and he still turns me down?”

  She shrugged. “Then you’ll know for sure. I know he sprung the breakup shit on you and you’ve had questions, so it would at least give you closure?”

  It was a stretch, but she was right. “Does he have a fax at home?”

  She gave me the number and standing said, “I have to get back. But you’re gonna do it?”

  I nodded and stood too. “I’ll try. I either end up with The BFD in my life or I become The BFD of my own life, right?” I looked at Mara. “That was cheesy as hell and you let me say it.”

  They both laughed then Carson grabbed me in a hug.

  “Please do this. I love my brother and want him to be happy, but sometimes he needs a swift kick in the balls to make him see straight.” At the look on my face she said, “Yep. I had to do it a few times until he finally learned. It’ll be metaphorical now, though.”

  “Yeah,” I drawled.

  “Thank you again! It was so nice meeting both of you! Good luck!”


  “Wow,” Mara said after she left.

  “I know,” I muttered just as Carson came running back in.

  “Take this! It’s the remote to his gate. ‘Kay, bye!” and out she went.

  Mara looked at me. “We doing this?”

  “We?” I asked hopefully.

  “Of course, we. I wouldn’t let you do this alone. Besides, if you beat the shit out of him, I wanna watch ‘cause he definitely deserves it.”

  Chapter 19

  I sat at the island playing solitaire. With real cards. Do people still use non-computerized cards anymore? Anyway, that’s when my fax machine started whirring.

  I went into my office and picked up the paper that’d come through to see this:

  “What the fuck?” I mumbled when just then the front door doorbell rang.

  The only people who could get past my gate were my family and Jack and they always came in the back door, so why one of them was at the front door, I had no idea.

  When it rang again, I said, “I’m coming! Jesus! Hold your fuckin’ horses!”

  After unlocking and yanking the door open, I stared in shock.

  Rori.

  I rubbed my eyes thinking maybe playing with real cards had made me go cross-eyed or some shit, but when I looked again, she was still there.

  “Can I come in?” she hollered through the storm door.

  “Oh, yeah,” I said, unlocking it and letting her in. “What’re you doing here?”

  “Can we sit down somewhere?” she asked.

  I led her into the family room where she sat on the sofa and I sat in the chair across from it, still shocked that she was here.

  “How have you been?” she asked.

  I shrugged.

  “I want you to know I’m here because Carson asked me to come,” she announced.

  “Carson? Why?” I asked narrowing my eyes. “Is she okay?”

  “Well, she was running on six cups of coffee, but I think she’s fine, but what she said was all pretty fast,” she chuckled, “but what I got from it was she wanted me to come here and fix things with you.”

  “Fix things?”

  “Look, I’m just gonna be blunt like your sister was and ask you flat out. Do you love me?”

  Fuck.

  When I stayed silent for too long, she stood and said, “I guess I got my answer,” and she turned to go.

  “Wait.” My heart was pounding a million miles an hour as I rose from the chair, but I couldn’t let her leave. “Rori, wait!” I said more forcefully and when she turned to me, I saw she had tears running down her beautiful face. Damn it. I didn’t want her to hurt anymore. Stepping to her and holding her face in my hands, I wiped her tears with my thumbs. “Yes.” I said. “I love you.”

  She frowned. “Are you just saying that to get me to stop crying?”

  “Partly, yeah.” At her hurt look I clarified quickly, “Because I love you and I don’t want to see you hurting.”

  “I love you too,” she said through her sniffles.

  “God, I fucking missed you,” I said, still holding her beautiful face in my hands, not wanting to lose contact with her for fear this wasn’t real. “You’re really here, right?”

  “Carson suggested I kick you in the balls, so I can do that to prove I’m really here,” she said with a giggle.

  “Complaint for being an asshole, huh?”

  “It was a cheap ploy,” she said.

  I narrowed my eyes. “A ploy?”

  “To get you to go out with me,” she echoed the words I’d said to her about the papers I’d had sent to her what seemed like years ago.

  “We’re repeating history, now, are we? Well, I really wanna kiss you, but you’re not gonna slap me afterward, are you?”

  “It’s a chance you’ll have to take,” she said with a smirk.

  I crashed my lips to hers, not knowing exactly how much I’d missed her until then.

  I had taken a chance with her and I was so glad I had, five-year plan be damned.

  Like Carson said, you can’t schedule love.

  But I could schedule other things, so I led her to my bedroom.

  The End

  Are you kidding me? That’s the line you’re gonna end this with? That’s embarrassing, Calder. People are gonna think we only got back together for the sex! God.

  It is why we got back together. Or at least why I did because you’re pretty fucking spectacular at it. Ow! Why’d you just pinch my nipple?

  Because I can. You need to straighten up and finish this right…or I’ll pinch you again.

  All right, all right. Chill woman. So, that was my story…

  Mine too!

  And as you can see from the blurb I wrote…

  I wrote it.

  Okay, you wrote it. Anyway, as you can see from the blurb, I dropped the lawsuit and Rori ended up begging me to make her mine.

  Wow.

  What? You did. You came to my house and cried and said, “I love you, Calder!” which pretty much translates as, “Please make me yours!” And being the nice guy I am, I did.

  Yep, that’s exactly how it happened, Captain Delusional. You do realize they just read how it happened.

  And they know I’m right.

  Whatever. Well, thank you all for reading our love story. I’m so glad you came!

  I’ll be glad to make you come once we get outta here.

  You’re incorrigible.

  And you’re beautiful.

  I love you. Let’s go.

  …

  …

  You guys heard that, right? Told ya she wants me to make her mine. Wait. What am I still doing here? My woman’s waiting to be with me. Because who wouldn’t want to be with me?

  I’m The BFD!

  Chapter 1 from Bigger than the Sky (Serenity Point, Book 1) Coming Up!

  Acknowledgments

  To Franca, Mel & Sam, I know I thank you every single time but I mean it every single time too. You guys are the best of the best of the best! Thank you for always being there for me! It makes my heart so happy to know that I can text/message/email and you all are there in a flash. I love you all TONS! ♥

  To the Harlots & Hellbenders, Oh, how you lovelies never cease to amaze me! To Shannon, Michelle, Gemma & Swess especially, thank you for your endless support & promoting my books! You guys all rock my friggin’ world! ♥ you hard!

  TC Matson, Thank you for always being there when I need you! I lobe you gobs & heaps & tons! You know all this & I’ll text you in a few LOL ♥

  Anne Mercier, Your friendship means the world to me! You are the most generous and sweetest person ever! Knowing I can text/message/call/send smoke signals at any time & you’re there no matter what makes me flove you even more. Love you much! Xo ♥

  To the many bloggers who’ve spread the word about my books, thank you x a kajillion. Know that you are appreciated GOBS!

  To anyone who’s ever emailed/messaged/texted/whatever other medium there is to encourage me or tell me you loved one of my books, THANK YOU! It means the world to me! ♥

  And to the readers, this is all for you. Thank you for making my dreams come true ♥

  About the Author

  USA Today Best Selling author Harper Bentley writes about hot alpha males who love hard. She’s taught high school English forever, and although she’s managed to maintain her sanity regardless of her career choice, jumping into the world of publishing her own books goes to show that she might be closer to the ledge than was previously thought.

  After traveling the nation in her younger years as a military brat, having lived in Alaska, Washington State and California, she now resides in Oklahoma with her teenage daughter, two dogs and one cat, happily writing stories that she hopes her readers will enjoy.

  You can contact her at [email protected], at harperbentleywrites.com, on Facebook or on Twitter @HarperBentley

  Chapter 1

  I’m hearing that submarine warning horn in my ears. You know the one. It goes A-
ooooo-ga! And that shit’s going off in my head over and over. I think it means the sub’s diving, as in, it’s going down. And that’s my warning right now because likely, I’m going down.

  I clutch the sides of my dress and think, I can’t do this!

  But that’s not how today’s supposed to go, is it?

  What I’m supposed to do is walk inside that church, take my bouquet (which is fabulous, by the way) from Cassie, my maid of honor, and walk down the aisle to my handsome fiancé who’s waiting for me in front of the altar.

  But now I stand at the bottom of the church steps and suddenly can’t catch my breath. Papaw takes my hand and I smile at him weakly as he helps me up the first step and the horn suddenly stops.

  Well. That’s weird. Maybe I can do this.

  Second step. Hm. Better. Feeling Papaw’s hand in mine is comforting. All right. I think I’ve got this now. Piece of cake.

  Third step. Oh, no. I start sweating. I can’t be sweating right now, damn it! It’s so unladylike! And I’ll get those crusty, yellowy stains on my dress from my armpits! Gross!

  Fourth step. Shit! I can’t breathe. The panic has a grip on me and no matter what I do to try to calm myself and get it to let me go—closing my eyes, focusing on my breathing, picturing myself getting a full-body massage from some cute guy named Sven—it seems to dig its claws in tighter. Mayday!

  On Deck. A-ooooo-ga! A-ooooo-ga! Ack! I’m going down! I gulp for air trying to fill my lungs but nothing helps. I look at Papaw but I guess my lack of air is making me hallucinate because it’s not him holding my hand and smiling at me but Viper from the movie Top Gun. What the hell?

  Soooo I’m hoping you’ve noticed the Navy theme here? That’s because a Navy SEAL is waiting inside to marry me but all this stuff going on right now is messing with my head.

  Let me give you the low down on the situation. Or is it the down low? Ugh. I’m so not hip. Wait. Do people still say hip anymore? God. See what living with grandparents does to a girl? I’m twenty-five and I talk like I’m twice my age. Jeez. But back to what I was trying to tell you.