Crushed and abandoned, she falls into the arms of Bodhi’s handsome best friend and surfing buddy Cooper Houston—who is more than happy to keep her warm at night.
A year later, Bodhi returns unexpectedly. He’s shocked to find Ivy and Cooper engaged, and he can’t handle it.
Will Bodhi, Cooper, or Ivy come out on top (or middle…or bottom)?
How far will they be compelled by their urges?
If you’ve read Ariella Talix’s #1 bestselling book Just Curious, you’ll be happy to hear a bit more about Willa, Jackson, and Casey again in this book. Reading their story first isn’t crucial for your enjoyment of this one.
Suitable for adult readers only. (Psst! There’s a lot of sex and some naughty language). *Warning* possible triggers due to sensitive topics.
Compelling Urges
By Ariella Talix
Cooper Houston glared at the piece of paper he’d found propped up next to the cold,
empty coffeemaker. He grabbed it and wadded it up in his hand angrily. It was a letter
from Bodhi, his roommate and best friend in the world—or at least he had been Cooper’s
best friend.
The wad had been a good-bye message to him and to Ivy, who still lay asleep in
Bodhi’s bed, blissfully unaware that the floor had just dropped out from under them.
Cooper thought better of his actions and smoothed out the letter. It was, after all,
addressed to both of them, and he had no right to deprive Ivy the dubious pleasure of
reading it. He placed it on the counter again.
“What a miserable jerk,” he muttered as he stomped down the hall. Cooper had
been out allnightenjoying the company of a lovely lady. Mindy? Mandy? Hewasn’t sure,
but it didn’t matter anyway. He came home hoping for a cup of coffee and a quick chat
with Bodhi before heading to his office. As usual, Ivy was sleeping in. She didn’t work in
her gallery on Mondays and often went back to her apartment after Bodhi left for work.
Cooper had a bad habit of seeking the company of anonymous women. They
provided him with a temporary distraction from his true desire, which was so impossible
and shocking that he could barely admit it to himself.
When Ivy had first appeared on Bodhi’s arm and began keeping company with
him, Cooper burned with jealousy. Ivy seemed so perfect in every way, and he wondered
routinely if Bodhi appreciated her…
But the jealousy ran deeper than that. It wasn’t just that he wanted Ivy for himself.
He wanted Bodhi, too. It confused him no end, so he trolled for women and sought relief
in meaningless hook-ups. The relief was only fleeting.
After showering and changing into fresh clothes, Cooper realized the house was
still quiet; Ivy wasn’t up yet. Figuring she may need some moral support for what she
was about to discover, he steeled himself and knocked lightly on Bodhi’s bedroom door.
No answer. He tried again and waited. Still nothing. So, he opened the door and
discovered Ivy spread out in Bodhi’s bed on her stomach, sound asleep. Her black
cascade of hair covered most of her bare back, but the sheet was pulled down enough to
reveal the cute dimples just above her round bottom. My god, she’s exquisite, he thought
to himself for the umpteenth time. How could Bodhi up and leave someone so fine and
so sweet? He also couldn’t stomach that Bodhi had left him, and the pain was like a knife
to the gut.
“Ivy?” he asked softly. Still no response. He could hear her light snores as she
slept on. Cooper sat down on the edge of the bed and gently lay his hand in the middle
of her golden, tanned back. She felt like warm silk. “Ivy? Wake up. I need to talk to
you.”
Blinking, Ivy dragged herself up slowly. Cooper got an eyeful of her bodacious
tatas before she realized who was there and just how naked she was. With an
embarrassed gasp, she snatched up the sheet to cover herself. “What’s going on,
Cooper? Why are you in here? What time is it? Why aren’t you dressed for work?”
Cooper’s brows knit and his jaw flexed before he blurted, “Bodhi’s gone. He left
us.”
“What? What do you mean he left us?” Ivy’s dark brown eyes went huge.
“Maybe you should put on some clothes for this. I’ll be in the kitchen. He left us a
note.” Cooper strode from the room thinking that his office was the last place he wanted
to be this morning, but home wasn’t a lot better.
***
Ivy kept a few things at Bodhi’s place. When she opened the closet to grab something,
she found that Cooper was right: Bodhi’s clothes were all gone. Every last piece.
A throbbing pain in her head reminded Ivy how much she and Bodhi had drunk the
night before. Or anyway, she had assumed he was as drunk as she was… now, thinking
more carefully, she remembered Bodhi filling her glass over and over with tequila, and
she remembered him telling her to take a shot for this reason, then take a shot for that
reason, but she didn’t remember him actually drinking much at all. The rat! She also had
a hazy recollection of doing a silly striptease for Bodhi… and that was it. Did he get her
drunk so he could secretly pack and sneak away? Apparently so. Seething with anger,
she jerked on her clothes.
She grabbed some aspirin and went in search of Cooper, who she found making
coffee and telling someone on his phone, “I just wanted to let you know that my schedule
isn’t too bad today so I won’t be in. I need to take a personal day. Yeah. No, I don’t need
help, but thanks for offering.”
Cooper was an attorney in a small private office with his father and older sister.
He took his responsibilities seriously. Ivy couldn’t remember him ever calling out for a
personal day before. He must be just as shaken by Bodhi’s disappearance as she was.
As Cooper finished his call, Ivy reached for the wrinkled piece of paper on the counter.
Dear Ivy and Cooper,
Guess what? I’ve been offered the job of my dreams, and I am leaving today for London, England. Isn’t that great?
They asked me to head up the London branch of the finance firm, and it’s an offer I can’t refuse. This will make my career. I don’t expect I’ll be back.
Sorry I didn’t tell you both sooner, but I didn’t have much time to think about it. They gave me the offer and said it was immediate.
Ivy, I know we haven’t known each other that long, but you are very special to me, and I’ll never forget you. I know, however, that your gallery is important to you, and I wouldn’t have felt right asking you to leave it. I’m sure you’ll find a new boyfriend soon. I wish you success in everything.
Cooper, you’re the best. When I met you during grad school, and we hit it off the way we did, I knew you were destined to be my friend for life. I’ll miss you. You can always come and visit if your busy schedule ever lets up and you have a break. I’ll send an address when I’m settled.
Please stay in the house, Cooper. I paid cash, as you know, so there isn’t any mortgage. If you keep payingthe taxes and maintainthe property, thereis no reason to pay me rent. The house is a great investment, and I don’t have plans to sell it.
Let me know how things are going from time to time. I had to leave my boards. Man, I’ll miss surfing with you. But… duty calls!
Best of luck to both of you.
Cheerio! (Do they really say that?)
Bodhi Monaghan
“Do you think he used his full name because he thought we forgot it already?” Ivy
asked. She was trying to be funny, but her voice cracked as she said it. “What a raging
asshole! I told him I loved him, and this is how he treats me? And what’s this business
about not knowing each other for very long? I can’t believe this; we’ve been dating for
months!” Tears streamed down her face as she stared down at the note.
Cooper wrapped his strong arms around her. Ivy leaned into him and sobbed into
his chest. For a moment, Cooper considered that his clean shirt would likely be covered
in tears and snot when she was done, but he dismissed the concern almost as fast as he
thought of it. What the hell, he thought. I’ll just change again. And honestly… she feels
damn good in my arms.
“Let’s go sit down on the couch, Ivy. Here, let me grab you a cup of coffee.”
“I loved him,” she wept into his chest.
“Did he ever say it back to you?” Cooper asked thoughtlessly.
After a long sniffle, she answered hoarsely, “He usually changed the subject or
said something funny to deflect.”
“Sounds like Bodhi. But up until he pulled this bullshit stunt today, I’d have bet my
life on it that he loved you. He was always talking about you when you weren’t around.”
This brought on a new wave of sobs.
Cooper felt like crying, too, but kept his man card intact by being the comforter
rather than the comforted. How could Bodhi do this? he wondered over and over. The
idea of Bodhi being gone for good gutted him. The fact that he’d been secretive about it
felt like pouring acid into the open wound. And that note… it was so casual. No remorse
or concern. As if they hadn’t mattered to him at all.
Throughouttheday, heand Ivy trashedthememory ofherloverandhis best buddy
over and over in more and more creative ways. They ended up starving by the afternoon
and headed out for a giant Mexican meal in the barrio. It was the best comfort food in the
world. Cooper offered to get them margaritas.
“Oh, ugh. No thanks,” Ivy answered with a shudder. “I may never drink tequila
again.”
***
Cooper was exhausted both mentally and physically after the night of frivolity with
Mindy/Mandy and the subsequent day of drama he’d had with Ivy, so they made it back
to the house fairly early. Ivy had planned to drive her car home from there, but it turned
out she didn’t feel much like being alone. Cooper immediately picked up on her
reluctance to leave and offered to let her stay the night. She agreed without hesitation.
She was used to sleeping in Bodhi’s magnificent bed, but it felt huge, cold, and
lonely now. After tossing and turning for a while, she wandered down the hall to Cooper’s
room. She was tired of crying; she needed a diversion or some more of his company—
something to occupy her thoughts. His door was ajar, so she stepped inside, but once
through the threshold, Ivy found herself hesitating. She wasn’t quite sure what she
wanted from Cooper.
Cooper and Bodhi were both athletic. They’d met each other when they joined a
beach volleyball team during Cooper’s second year of law school and Bodhi’s last year
of grad school. They soon discovered that they were both avid surfers, and they began
to spend more and more time together. Eventually, they became roommates, renting an
apartment together until Bodhi made enough money to buythe Del Mar house where they
now lived—a three-bedroom house on a hillside above the water with a fantastic view of
the ocean. It was convenient to both of their offices, and they were delighted with it. They
each took a bedroom and turned the third into a home gym where they worked out when
the surf was lousy.
Standing in the doorway, Ivy admired Cooper’s bare chest and his thick biceps—
a beautifully toned surfer’s body. His hair gleamed with a hundred shades of red and
brown when the sun hit it, but in the moonlight, it just looked soft and inviting. She’d
always harbored a secret crush on Bodhi’s best friend, but of course, she knew enough
to keep that to herself.
Creeping into the room, her toe knocked into one of the shoes Cooper had
carelessly left in the middle of the floor. “Ow!” she exclaimed far more loudly than she
intended. Cooper jolted upright with a startled look on his face. “I’m so sorry, Cooper,”
Ivy said in an unnecessary whisper. She turned to leave and tripped over his other shoe.
“Ow, oh crud.” She started to sniffle again. It was so typical of Cooper to leave his stuff
laying around; she should have been more careful.
Seeing her retreating form, Cooper called out, “Ivy, come back. What’s wrong?
Are you okay?” She turned to look at him, and he could see telltale streaks of tears on
her cheeks glistening in the moonlight. She looked like an angel in her diaphanous
nightgown. “Do you need some company tonight?” He held out a large hand toward her
as if to draw her back to him.
It didn’ttake anymore encouragement than that. She sprinted to the bed, carefully
hopping over the wayward shoes and pounced onto the bed just as Cooper drew down
the covers for her to slide in. It felt perfect to snuggle into Cooper’s broad chest and feel
his warm embrace anchoring her to him.
“I feel like I’ll shatter into a million pieces if you don’t hold me together right now,”
she whispered. “Thank you.”
Cooper chuckled. “Holding you is no hardship, believe me.” In fact, he thought,
holding Ivy did a lot to make him feel like his world was improving. He chanced a few
kisses on the top of her head as she nestled into his bare chest.
And thus, it began. They spent more and more time together over the next days,
weeks, and months, and they went from friends to lovers as naturally as breathing.
Hugging and kisses on the cheek evolved into more and more passionate embraces, and
when they finally had sex the first time, it was as comfortable as it was thrilling. They
found in each other a hunger for going beyond the normal vanilla, and they soon
incorporated toys and games. Sex was never routine for Cooper and Ivy.
They eventually professed their love to one another, and their affection was true
and deep. However, neither admitted that Bodhi’s exit from their lives still left a gaping
wound. They acted as if they were over it, but in truth, it still chafed and burned. Ivy
rarely spoke of him, and Cooper only mentioned him now and then when he got a quick
text from Bodhi. They did invoke his name, however, in a little game they played. It was
meant as an insult… possibly.
Cooper secretly worried that he was the real reason Bodhi left. Had Bodhi gotten
sick of his moony-eyed glances? Did he want to get away from Cooper’s weird fixation
on him? Did he catch sight of his ill-timed boners now and then? Cooper had tried to
hide them, and one time when it was painfully obvious, he’d laughed it off by explaining
he’d been thinking about his last date. Lies. All lies. But the attraction never made any
sense to Cooper; he’d been one hundred percent heterosexual until Bodhi came into his
life. Now…? The confusion was compounded by Bodhi’s abandonment. Cooper’s
solution was to bury his needandthrow himself completely into making Ivy feel cherished.
Bodhi was gone. Ivy was here. Cooper needed to feel complete with that
knowledge, so that’s what he told himself to do.
Ariella Talix is the nom de plume of a bestselling author who lives in America's Heartland. Her goal is to preserve the dignity of family members who would rather not be associated publicly with a woman who writes such scandalous and stimulating novels. She's not going to stop writing them though.
She loves her family, pets, great books, not-so-great books that still entertain, and art.
Born and raised near the beaches of southern California, Ariella Talix traveled the world extensively and then found her true home in the Midwest. She has a second-degree black belt in Karate and has been a professional artist for many years. Her work is displayed in countries all over the world.
A sudden brainstorm prompted the first of her novels, Make Believe, and since then the ideas just keep tumbling out like an avalanche.
Secrets, curiosity, and passion.
Fantasy becomes reality with little encouragement.
Willa Camden, successful author of steamy novels, becomes entwined with Jackson Mitchell, a brilliant billionaire, and his best friend Casey Melrose. Their love is shared equally, and Willa is not always in the middle.
Craving excitement, they embark on international adventures in the style befitting a billionaire.
Cyber threats, blackmail, and theft turn their world upside down. Their careers are jeopardized, and lives are in danger.
Fair warning: They curse a little and have sex a lot, so please don’t be shocked. Join them for a wild ride.
If you’re ready for a book that will have you on the edge of your seat and grabbing for a fan, this story is for you.
(Google gives me a small commission if you click on ads)
interesting
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