Tempted (Tempted #1) Read online

  Tempted

  By Heather Doltrice

  Chapter 1

  There is absolutely nothing hotter than Georgia in June. And today was no different. I walked down Main Street to meet my best friend at our favorite coffee shop, Jitterbug. As I strode through the door, my friend Maddie waved me over to the table.

  “Emma, over here!” she chimed in that chirpy voice of hers.

  I walked over to the table and took a seat. The place was nearly empty, which didn’t surprise me. In the three or so months since my Aunt Laura opened this place, it hadn’t exactly lit Lake View on fire. This was a sleepy place, the kind of town where people drank coffee from their kitchen stovetops and not from designer shops that imported beans from Brazil.

  “I ordered you a mocha something or other,” Maddie said, waving toward the large paper cup sitting across the table from her.

  “Thanks,” I answered, grabbed the cup and took a swig. It was chalky and not nearly sweet enough, but it was warm. So I gulped it down and kept a smile on my face.

  I had always been more of an iced coffee type person, but it was nice of Maddie to order it, and I didn’t want to seem ungrateful.

  “So,” I said, setting the cup down. “You wanted to talk to me about something?”

  Maddie shuffled uncomfortably and I knew, from the look on her face, that whatever this was, was going to be a doozy. “My letter from Brown came today.”

  “Well, what did it say?” I asked. Our dream-well, one of them- had always been to attend Brown together when the time came.

  She bit her lip and took a deep breath. I already knew what she was going to say.

  “See, Ems,” she started.

  “Just say it,” I answered, wanting to rip the band aid off.

  “I didn’t get in.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t like her. Making friends had always been so much easier for her. My parents didn’t allow much socializing. That’s why I couldn’t wait to leave Lakeview, Georgia behind. I would finally be free. But now I was having second thoughts, could I do it without Maddie?

  “Ems, you are going to get in and you are going to be fine. I know what’s going on in that head of yours.” She said as she looked at me like she could read my thoughts.

  “Hey, did you hear about that party tonight?” I asked very quickly, trying to change the subject.

  Maddie shot me a questioning look but went along with it. “The party at the old field?’

  I nodded and avoided making eye contact with her.

  “Emma, you know that’s not your scene and besides your parents would never allow it. “She told me as she played with her necklace. It was a thin sliver chain, with a small angel wing pendant. She never took it off.

  I knew she was right. I’d never stepped foot onto the old ‘make out field’. “I know but what if I didn’t tell them.”

  “Who are you and what have you done with the real Emma Everly?” she said with a look of pure and utter shock on her face.

  “I’m serious, Mads. This might be my last summer home and I never got to experience the normal high school scene.” What I didn’t add was that it also might be my last summer with her.

  “Alright, we’ll go but only to show you that it’s not where girls like you belong.” She said as she got up from her seat and tossed her coffee cup in the trash.

  “Like me?” I asked, brows arched. “You’re starting to sound like my dad.”

  “Ugh,” she said. “In that case, I take it back.”

  “I’ll text you when I’m ready for you to pick me up”

  “Sounds good. Bye, Ems.” She said as she hugged me goodbye.

  “Bye, see you tonight”

  <>

  I grew up right down the street from where the coffee shop sat. So the walk home was not very long. But I intentionally made it longer, trying to the get the courage to lie to my parents for the first time in 18 years.

  Five minutes later, I was standing on the wraparound porch of my family’s red brick house. We lived in one of the biggest houses in town. Both of my parents came from money, but I didn’t care about any of that. Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the door. The cool air condition hit my face and my mother greeted with a kiss on the cheek like always. “Hey honey, so what did Maddie have to tell you?”

  “She didn’t get in to Brown. Her letter came today.” I said as I fought back the tears.

  “Oh honey, I’m so sorry. I know you girls were so excited about going to college together. But speaking of letters……”

  I looked up at her. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your letter got here today while you were at Jitter Bug’s.” She studied my face as she handed me the envelope.

  I reached for it and walked over to the plush cream leather couch.

  “Patrick, come down here. Emma is about to open her letter from Brown.” My mom called to my father.

  He walked out of the kitchen and took a seat on the big chair facing me.

  Instantly, the pressure of the whole world seemed to lay itself square on my shoulders

  I stared down at the envelope in my hands, the one that determined my whole life and my only chance at freedom.

  “Emma, what are you waiting for?” My father asked impatiently. “Open it.”

  Very slowly, I peeled at the envelope. Dread filled me and one thought settled on my mind.

  I should be more excited about this.

  Chapter 2

  What if I got in? How would I do it without Maddie? What if the letter said I was rejected? How would I deal with my parents’ disappointment? I craved the freedom but I wasn’t not sure if I was brave enough to be free.

  My mother grabbed the paper out of my hands and read it for me.

  “YOU GOT IN!” she screamed, jumping up and down.

  My father looked at me, pride evident in his blue eyes. “Well done, kid”

  “Thank you, father,” I said, but felt a shudder run down my back. That was ridiculous.

  “Dinner is almost ready. So stay put.” My mother said as she made her way into the kitchen, leaving me alone with my father in the living room.

  “I’m very proud of you, sweetheart. You should call Preston and let him know you got accepted. He will be thrilled. I know he was putting a lot of stock in you two being in the same place for the next few years.”

  I knew he was going to say that. Preston Carpenter was the son of the Lakeview’s Mayor and neither he nor my father made any bones about letting us know that they thought we’d be perfect together. How great wa that? An arranged marriage to someone I couldn’t stand.

  “I will.” I replied quietly, hoping he changed the subject.

  “Dinner is ready!” My mom, Elizabeth, called from the dining room.

  I exhaled and hopped up from my seat before my father had a chance to say anything else about Preston.

  Pulling out my chair, I got settled while my mom brought the last of the severing bowls to the table.

  I placed the meatloaf and mashed potatoes on my plate. I wasn’t hungry at all, so I just nibbled at my food hoping that they didn’t notice.

  “So...” I began. “Is it okay if I go see a movie with Maddie?”

  “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be,” my mother said as she looked at my father to see what his response was.

  “As long as you don’t stay out too late.” My dad replied

  I was afraid, but they seemed to believe me. So I might have been better at this lying thing than I thought.

  When everyone was finished eating, I helped my mom gather up the dishes. Once they are washed and put away, I excused myself to get ready.

  I closed the door behind me and took a look around my room. It was
lavender and still looked like I was five years old.

  I rummaged through my closest and- not to any surprise- everything looked the same. I never realized I had so many sun dresses and cardigans. I really needed to start buying different stuff. I settled on a white dress with red flowers all over it and I paired it with a red cardigan. Shocker, right? I decided to braid the front of my hair and left the rest hanging in loose waves.

  I looked in the mirror and put on some lip gloss and a dab of mascara. Grabbing my phone off of the nightstand, I sent Maddie a quick text, letting her know I was ready to go. I slipped on my rust colored cowboy boots and was out the door.

  “I hope I don’t chicken out before she gets here.” I said to myself before I walked down the stairs.

  I heard my parents laughing on the porch, so I decided to join them until Maddie arrived.

  My mother patted the chair beside her. “Sit down honey.”

  I followed her instructions, hoping she couldn’t tell I was sweating bullets. I had no experience in lying to my parents, I never had reason too. Rules are meant to be followed. That’s what my parents always told me, at least. So that’s what I did. Look where that got me.

  “What time will you be home?” My father asked with his best friend, the Bible, in his hand.

  “Um… probably around 10:30 or 11:00. It’s a late feature.”

  As if on cue, Maddie rounded the corner in her White Jeep Wrangler. I kissed my mom and dad goodbye.

  “I’ll see you guys tonight.” I said as I ran towards Maddie’s car.

  “Love you honey.” My mom called after me.

  We drove with the windows down and the music up, something my parents would never approve of, since they were basically the killjoy parents from Footloose without Kevin Bacon to talk sense into them. But at that moment I didn’t care. I just wanted to feel alive.

  We pulled up to the old field. As I looked around at all people there, I suddenly felt out of place. I shrugged off my cardigan, hoping that would make me blend in more. But guess what? It didn’t.

  “Emma Everly, is that you? What are you doing at a party?” Marilyn Martin screamed.

  I stare at her, stunned because she hadn’t spoken a word to me since we were in middle school, where she promptly declared herself too cool for me.

  “I thought I would come see what all the fuss was about.” I answered her, trying to seem confident.

  She stared behind me and I could tell something else had her attention. I turned around to see what a ‘cool girl’ like her would find so interesting.

  A black 1976 mustang Gt pulled up and Roman Charles stepped out of the muscle car.

  He was criminally handsome, which made sense give that-if you listened to half the talk around town- he was a criminal.

  Roman started walking in the opposite direction of me with this little Brother, Ethan Charles, in tow. He was a two years younger but every bit as handsome. He walked over to where his friends were and joined the conversation. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.

  “Your staring, Ems.” Maddie said as she tried to get my attention.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.” I turned around to face her. Though, when I caught sight of her, I realized that I had been biting my lip, which totally undercut my believability.

  “Girls like you don’t end up with guys like him. Trust me.”

  “I know that,” I answered. “And maybe that’s because girls like me don’t want to.”

  “Whatever,” Marilyn scoffed, turning away.

  Roman Charles was trouble, with a capital t. He was the boy your mother warned you about and the one that kept your father awake at night. He literally lived on the wrong side of the tracks. He was bad, but I had never seen something so bad look so good.

  “Emma, do you want something to drink?” Maddie asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

  “Yeah, I’m parched. Thank Mads.”

  “Double vodka, obviously,” she quipped.

  “Obviously,” I answered. We both knew I had never touched alcohol in my life.

  “I will be right back. Stay here.”

  I watched Maddie walk towards a big silver truck that had the bed of it filled with various drinks. She stopped, mingling with a few people from our class. Knowing how scatterbrained she was, would probably be gone for a while.

  Great.

  I turned around and collided with someone. Feeling ice cold liquid cover my sun dress, I looked down at the mess, and sighed. It was ruined. And not to mention, I reeked of alcohol. I looked up only to come face to face with Roman.

  “Did I get a little on you, Emma?”

  Wait, Roman Charles knew my name. Of course, he knew my name. We’ve had every class together since kindergarten.

  “That’s o-okay.”

  “It’s not okay, look at your dress. I think I have an extra shirt in my car.” He pointed to my white sundress.

  I looked at him like he was crazy because why would I need one of his shirts. I looked down and realized my thin white sundress was now see through. Good thing I decided to wear bra with the little cartoon hearts on it.

  Very mature Emma. This night just keeps getting better.

  He held out his hand for me to take it and me being the idiot I am, I just stared at it.

  He laughed “I’m just trying to help you.”

  “Helping me would have been not ensuring that I was practically naked in front of the entire school,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “You’ve got a weird definition of naked,” he said with arched brows. “Though, if you’re feeling a little exposed, like I said, I’ve got a shirt in my car.”

  “How do I know this isn’t just some scheme of yours? For all I know you go around throwing drinks on every girl here, trying to get them out of their clothes.”

  “Yeah. Maybe,” he conceded. “Though it doesn’t change the fact that you still need a shirt.”

  Well, he had me there.

  “How am I going to walk over to your car with practically nothing on? What if it gets back to my dad? He’s the preacher you know. Ah, of course you know that. I’m sorry for rambling. I’m just really nervous, not that you make me nervous. I mean… I’ll just shut up now.” I look down kicking the ground because I’m mortified. I’ve just made a complete fool of myself and to top it off my dress is see through.

  He smirked at me and lifted me over his shoulder. Is he really carrying me to his car? This is going to be all over the town by tomorrow morning, even the mail man will know this. I don’t think his hand was supposed to be there. Crap.

  “Could you please remove your hand from my thigh?” I asked him.

  “Sure,” he answered, and moved it to my ass.

  “Really?” I scoffed.

  “Whatever you say, princess.” I could hear the grin in his voice as he moved his hand harmlessly to my leg, bracing me.

  I looked up to see if everyone was staring at us and of course they were. I mean the local bad boy carrying the preacher’s daughter over his shoulder to his car at a party where she was never supposed to be.

  We reached his car and he popped his trunk. Sliding me right to the ground, he gave me a wink.

  Ugh. I’d have hated it if it didn’t secretly make me tingle.

  Reaching into this trunk, he grabbed a flannel shirt. He tossed me the shirt and I quickly buttoned it. Roman watched me the whole time. I knew this was going to be trouble but, for some reason, I was totally okay with that.

  Chapter 3

  We walked away from the party and we were the only two people in sight.

  What am I thinking?

  “No offense, but why are you at this party?”

  “To be honest, I really don’t know. I just needed to get my mind off some stuff, I guess.” I answered, but couldn’t make eye contact. He had these blue eyes that cut right through me and I didn’t know if I could handle it. Lord knows more than a few girls had fallen victim to them in the past.

>   “Sorry about carrying you over my shoulder without any warning back there. I guess your boyfriend won’t be too happy about that.” He grinned.

  I looked at him “Boyfriend? What boyfriend?”

  He looked very confused “That Preston idiot.”

  I couldn’t hold back my laughter, I even snorted.

  “That Preston idiot is definitely not my boyfriend. We’re just friends. Wait. Scratch that, we’re not even friends.” I reassured him. “Though, if you did think he was my boyfriend, calling him an idiot wouldn’t have been very nice.”

  “Guess I’m not very nice then.” He shrugged. “Though you could have fooled me. Every time I see you, he’s always hanging around.”

  “Don’t remind me.” I muttered.

  He started to laugh, shaking his head as he chuckled. But there was something in those bright blue eyes that told me he wasn’t laughing at my comment.

  I looked up at him. “What’s so funny?”

  “I’m sorry but it’s just so odd to see you at a party. I’m still trying to get used to Emma Everly sitting in front of me at a field party and wearing my shirt. And not to mention you’re out past 9:30. I don’t know. Something tells me you’re about to turn into a pumpkin or something.”

  “The shirt was under protest,” I said. “And you don’t know anything about me.”

  “I know everything about you,” he answered.

  My brows arched. “Really?” I shook my head. “I’m not the fragile little girl that everybody thinks I am.”

  “Your middle name is Anne. Your favorite color is purple, any shade. You only drink iced coffee. Your favorite time of year is Halloween, because you get to be somebody else. You only read romance novels, it’s like your Kindle is attached to hand. Did you hear me say fragile, Princess?” He smirked at me. “Oh, and for some reason, you’re always watching me. Can’t forget that.”

  “I don’t watch you. Wait, how do you know all that?”

  “Because I watch you too.”

  Ridiculously, my heart pumped a little faster.

  Okay…a lot faster.

  I was too shocked to think straight. This is so crazy. Why would he have been watching me?