All First Chapter Samples

“Okay, what do you think? Is this too much or just a bit naughty? Sometimes when the guys get excited it’s hard to tell.” Looking at Matthew’s photo on the dresser, I sighed. “I know. It’s too late to back out now.”

Opening night of the club was probably not the best time to be having an existential crisis, but there I was anyway.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the picture frame that held his photo and sat down on the bed. I had almost an hour before Dakota and Tristan were supposed to pick me up, but I had a feeling they weren’t going to wait that long. Dakota had been texting me all day, asking me variations on the same question…are you doing okay?

The answer might be no or it might be yes; I just wasn’t sure anymore.

“We’ve had mini-scenes when Dakota gets a wild hair up his ass and decides we need to try something ridiculous, but this is going to be a full scene at the club.” Every once in a while, when I talked to Matthew I knew what he would say, but in that moment, I couldn’t feel anything except nerves.

“This really isn’t a good idea. We don’t surprise people with photos and lingerie.” Talking to myself earned me a few odd looks from the people walking by, but I really didn’t care. I had better things to worry about than their opinions on my mental health—like how Spencer was going to react to the pictures Devin wanted.

To play devil’s advocate, I thought Spencer would love the chance to be in the pictures, but he’d made it very clear to Eli he wasn’t ready to do it.

Maybe he just wasn’t ready for Eli?

That had been my logic as well as Devin’s when he’d brought up the idea, but now I wasn’t so sure. Talking a nervous sub or model through a shoot was my specialty, but this didn’t feel like the same thing. Consent was the big issue—and a weekend of complete submission might not qualify if Spencer had sunk deeply into the role.

It was going to come down to how he reacted when I got there.

Somehow the whole situation had gotten completely out of hand and I was blaming it on the troublemaker being fully clothed.

Clearly, I had an unexplored kink for suit porn and it was getting me in trouble. He was much more distracting in a fancy suit than I’d ever imagined but that was probably because I’d only seen him half-naked and in heels up until this point.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Conner.” For one thing, Cyrus was my friend and didn’t see me in the naked and doing stuff together category, and for another, I’d never explained about the weird kink thing. “He’s not—”

“You know, maybe it would’ve been better if we’d let them have quality time with you first.” Why had I thought coming to the airport with him would be a good idea?

Donovan snorted, making faces at Sam who was wiggling in her baby seat, on the floor between his feet. “Now you think that’s a good idea?”

He might’ve had a point…especially since we were in the airport waiting for their plane to land.

“They’re running late.” Kind of. “We might have time to drop Sam and me off at the house.”

Theoretically, if traffic wasn’t bad and we could fly.

Rolling his eyes, he wiggled his head to make Sam laugh. “Your brother is crazy if he thinks I’m going to show up without the two of you. Grandma Ann would kill me.”

I’d have laughed…but he was probably right.

She was just a little bit excited to see Sam…and me.

Her newest son.

Son-in-law would’ve been a better way to label me, but I had a feeling that would’ve given Donovan a heart attack.

“You know, if we don’t survive, the first thing you need to do in the afterlife is apologize to Grandpa Donovan for complaining about his name.” She paused and the phone line went quiet. I knew she was waiting for me to laugh, so I snorted and did my best not to snivel like a kid.

It would’ve been a good joke if we hadn’t been staring the apocalypse right in the face.

“God, Mom.” Doctors always seemed to have a terrible sense of humor. “Can we not plan the afterlife when the zombie apocalypse just started?”

She had the nerve to scoff and I could almost see her rolling her eyes. “Zombies would require some kind of virus. This is an impending tsunami, and you have close to eight hours before it hits. That’s not impending. Don’t be dramatic.”

I barked out a laugh. Her insanity was just too much, which was her point to begin with. “Cat Five hurricane hovering just off the coast and now the Canary Islands explodes. I think that’s a good lead-up to zombies.”

Because what else could happen next?

“I have sexy news and weird news.” Sitting down across from Leander, I ignored his sigh. “Which do you want first?”

Cocking his head, he frowned. “Isn’t it supposed to be good news and bad news?”

“Yes, but that didn’t work in this situation, so I fixed it.” Sometimes words just needed to be more flexible.

Leander’s sigh came back. “What did you do?”