Neutral Zone (Love on Thin Ice Book 2) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Amber Lynn

  Copyright © 2018 Amber Lynn

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 1

  People said Nina had a short fuse. Her best friend, Hannah, often pointed out the little things most people brushed off that sent Nina into a rage. Nina thought “rage” was a little harsh, but Hannah’s husband and Nina’s shrink both backed Hannah up on rage being the correct term.

  They all knew at least part of why Nina had what some would consider a bad attitude. Having two parents always at war with each other and walking in on her best friend seconds from being raped while they were in high school had shaped her at a young age. Before the latter incident, she hadn’t been the she-devil people claimed she was. After seeing a guy trying to take advantage of sweet, innocent Hannah, Nina stepped up her game and never let go of the anger that seemed to fester inside of her.

  The aforementioned shrink had become a permanent fixture in Nina’s life when Hannah had momentarily left Nina to navigate daily life without her. Sometimes Nina wondered what it would’ve been like if she’d sought out help before it became a necessity, but she hated dwelling on what could have been. It’d been months since those dark days without Hannah by her side, and Nina liked to think she’d made strides towards becoming a better person.

  Case in point, she was actually thinking about what Hannah and Dr. Barnes would say about the actions Nina fought to take. It’d been almost a year since she’d started seeing Dr. Barnes. Before she’d met Dr. Barnes, she was sure she’d have thrown the man snoring next to her out after ten minutes. The ten minutes was a little generous.

  Nina didn’t have a clock nearby, but she wouldn’t have been surprised if a whole hour had already passed. Chances were it was the fact she just laid there staring at the ceiling that made it feel like so much time had dragged on. Whether an hour had really gone by or not wasn’t the issue.

  The issue was she needed to kick Harry out, and Nina had no experience doing that without being a raging bitch. It wasn’t like any of the people she was trying to impress ever had to know whether or not she politely kicked the guy out of her apartment. However, if she could pull it off, it’d be an example she could relay to the others, and lately, she needed all the examples she could get.

  Things had been off in her life ever since Hannah and Curtis tied the knot. Her mind often went back to that day, when she was introduced to the new bane of her existence, Brady McDonald. The man touched her that day, and although she chastised him to no end about his “unwanted” advances, she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

  There was something about him she couldn’t put her finger on. She wanted to find out what that was, but she’d put things in motion that threw the timing of everything off. Not only that, but there was something inside of her that fought against giving in to him. She had no idea what it was. She just knew keeping her distance was for the best, at least until those things in motion stopped being an issue.

  Shaking her head, she focused back on the problem at hand. After her playthings got off, they usually knew they were supposed to leave, so she could get on with her night. Nina couldn’t fall asleep with other people around her, making it a little inconvenient that Harry passed out almost the second he’d rolled off her. They’d been fooling around for a few days, so Nina assumed he knew the rules.

  If Harry had managed to rock her world, she would’ve maybe considered letting him sleep it off. Between the lack of fulfillment on her side and the snoring, he had to go.

  The new Nina thought it’d be nice to let him have his rest while she tried to think of a pleasant way to kick him out. She was surprised she hadn’t just fallen asleep from all the boring thoughts rolling around in her head about gently waking Harry up and coming up with an excuse for him to leave. The fact that she didn't fall asleep only helped bolster the idea that she couldn't sleep with another person in her bed.

  Screw this.

  “Hey, you need to leave.”

  Nina had to pat herself on the back for only sounding slightly annoyed saying the words. The old Nina would have raised her voice and immediately started throwing things. The empty table to the left side of her was a testament to that latter idea. At one time, she’d kept a crystal vase for flowers from admirers, a hand mirror and a decorative box she’d kept jelly beans in.

  The jelly beans had been a little out of place, but Nina had a killer sweet tooth and liked to have some sugar on hand. One time a guy had made fun of that idea, which was why the jelly beans and the decorative box were no longer on the bare mahogany table next to the bed. The box had been launched across the room at the guy while he frantically tried to get his pants on.

  The incident was probably one of those times when others would say she went into a rage, but Nina would contend it was totally necessary. A guy coming between a woman and sugar was a capital offense.

  Thinking about the jelly beans reminded Nina she needed to find a new dish and replenish her supply. If she had some close by, the snoring might not have been so bad. Nina scoffed. Nothing would’ve made her want Harry to stick around in the dimly lit room with her silk sheets all pulled to his side of the bed.

  A stale scent of sweat hung in the air. Since Nina hadn’t broken a sweat during the subpar sex, the smell wasn’t coming from her. She needed to get Harry out the door and light a few candles, maybe even dig around to see if she had any air freshener hiding in the apartment.

  Sadly, her words had done nothing to stop the snoring. Nina hadn’t heard a chainsaw outside of a TV show or movie, which were more than likely engineered sounds, but she doubted even ten of them competed with the noise co
ming out of Harry.

  You’d have to take those ten chainsaws and combine them with the same number of jackhammers and three dozen sirens to get to the level of noise filling the room. At least that was Nina’s modest assumption.

  “I said, get the fuck out,” Nina yelled as she used both hands to push on the middle of Harry’s back.

  The only good thing about Harry was that his body was firm in all the right places. That was a given. Nina didn’t mess around with guys who didn’t match her physique. Harry wasn’t the best-looking guy she’d been with, but most women would be jealous that she had him in her bed.

  Lucky for those jealous women, Harry was in the market for a new bed buddy. Hopefully, they were ready for some lackluster sex.

  Nina’s push wasn’t enough to get Harry out of bed, but it got him to groan and roll over. He rubbed his eyes for a second and groaned again. He didn't even groan manly, which was something Nina would have to add to her pre-sex checklist. If a guy didn't sound like a grizzly bear, he wasn't worth her time.

  “What?” He smacked his lips a few times, probably trying to counteract what had to be a dry mouth from all the snoring. “If you’re looking for round two, I need at least an hour sleep.”

  He moved his head around on the pillow until he supposedly found a comfortable spot. The content sigh that escaped him seemed to indicate he wasn’t planning on going anywhere.

  She always seemed to pick idiots to screw around with. They generally made life easier, since they needed someone to run their lives for them, and Nina excelled at that. When it came to showing them the door, though, it always took more work than she wanted to expend.

  If she didn’t enjoy the attention, and every once in a while find pleasure with sex, she would’ve become a nun. The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

  “What part of get the fuck out don’t you understand?”

  Nina rolled her eyes as she got out of bed. He hadn’t made any moves towards her, but the thought of him touching her again caused her stomach to churn. If there was any doubt in her mind that their fling was over, the nausea erased it.

  “Come on, Nina. It’s early. Just let me stay the night. I promise you’ll enjoy waking up next to me in the morning.”

  “Yeah, about as much as having my teeth pulled,” Nina said as she grabbed her robe off her closet door and turned around to scowl at the man in her bed.

  The only thing he had going for him was the fact that he looked good wrapped in her deep purple sheets. That fact alone wasn’t going to get him anywhere, but it was worth at least a small footnote in their relationship.

  Wrapping her robe around her thin, but toned, body, Nina tied the sash and waited a second to see if Harry had anything else to say. She still held on to a little hope that he’d put the pieces together and get his ass up, but the man didn’t move. The daggers she sent out of her ice blue eyes in his direction clearly weren’t doing their job.

  “You’ve got twenty seconds to get out of here before I call the cops and tell them I came home to find you sniffing my underwear and jacking off on my bed.”

  Twenty seconds was more than generous, given that she’d already spent more than a minute trying to wake him up. She didn’t care whether his clothes were on as she slammed the door behind him, only that he was on the other side of that door.

  “What?” he stuttered as he finally showed signs of life.

  It wasn’t as lively as she wanted him, but at least he showed a little hustle as he scrambled to sit up. His hands went to his face as he tried to clear the sleep from his eyes.

  Nina didn’t actively count, but to make sure he knew she wasn’t playing around, she walked across the room and grabbed her phone from the top of her dresser. She planned on using it after he left, so no matter what his next moves were, it wasn’t a wasted effort on her part.

  “What are you talking about, Nina? Did you really just say you’d call the cops on me?”

  As soon as the words were out of his mouth and he saw the phone in her hand, Nina could see the light bulb go off above his head as he scrambled to get out of the bed. She watched with a slight smile on her face as he rushed to pick up his things from the floor.

  “Just so it’s on the record, you’re fucking crazy. I’ve had five guys warn me this would happen, but I figured they were just bitter that I was the one in your bed. I mean, stories of breakups including ice being dumped on you is a little out there. I’m not sure if I should feel lucky that you’re just threatening to call the fucking cops. Have you ever considered just telling a guy it’s over?”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s been twenty seconds. Are you gone yet?”

  Harry was already to the bedroom door with his belongings all clutched to his chest. Nina needed to potentially reconsider how big of an idiot he was. He seemed to understand exactly where things stood, which was why she did things the way she did.

  She’d tried the talking route before, and if she had to see another pair of sad puppy dog eyes, she’d stab someone. Ripping the off bandage quickly using her methods seemed like the only path that didn’t lead to her being arrested.

  “Don’t worry, I’m out the door, and I’ve got the message loud and clear, you crazy bitch.”

  She waved off the insult. She’d heard worse and even enjoyed a little name-calling during sex. Maybe if Harry had shown he had some balls before she kicked him out, things would be ending differently. He’d still be leaving, but not for good.

  Nina laughed as she watched him disappear down the hall. Part of her got off on stomping guys’ dreams into the ground. Sending the closest guy away right as she was getting horny was inconvenient, but she kept a few toys handy just in case a breakup was extra stimulating.

  Harry gave up a little too easily for her to get excited. She did have to make a note to tell Mr. June he needed to close his mouth. It’d been two months since she’d pelted Nate with the ice, and clearly, he felt the need to share the tale.

  Her eyes rolled again as she thought about it. She really needed to find a guy who understood she needed great sex and not even the slightest hint of commitment. There were times she thought that was clear, but in the end, the guys either wanted more or she got bored with them, and for the most part, the sex wasn't that great. There always seemed to be something missing. Nina wished she could figure it out, but part of that was on the guy's side of things, and evidently, she didn't fuck guys creative enough.

  Hitting the first number in her speed dial, Nina walked back over to the bed and sat down on her side. She wanted to get comfortable, but the sheets needed to be changed before she considered settling in for the night.

  “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

  The harsh male voice wasn’t the one Nina hoped to hear, but she wasn’t surprised to hear Curtis answering Hannah’s phone. The man ran her best friend’s life.

  “Let me talk to Hannah. I promise to make it quick.”

  A sardonic laugh made it clear he didn’t believe that. Nina did have a meeting at ten, so she honestly planned on keeping the conversation relatively short. She always talked to Hannah after a breakup, and whether Curtis approved of it or not, she intended to keep the tradition alive.

  “I know it’s hard for you to remember, but my wife is eight months pregnant and needs all the sleep she can get. I’m not waking her up at two in the morning because you want to talk about the guy you just kicked out of your apartment.”

  Nina hated wasting her best scowls when no one was around to see them, but she couldn’t help narrowing her eyes at his words. Of course he’d know what the call was about, Hannah didn’t keep a thing from the man, but that didn’t mean he had to jump to conclusions.

  “She’s as big as a house, so it’s kind of hard to forget your spawn are growing inside of her. I only need a few minutes, so just put the phone to her ear.”

  “I don’t think you understand. Hannah is lucky to get four hours of sleep each day right now. There is no way I’m waking her u
p.”

  An initial growl from Nina didn’t make Curtis backpedal his insistence. It worked on most people, but Curtis was a special breed. It took master manipulating and blackmail to get him to consider bending to her will, and even then, it didn’t last forever.

  “You seriously aren’t going to let me talk to her? What if my apartment’s burning down around me and I needed to know if there’s something she left here that she wants me to grab on my way out?”

  Nina’s bottom lip stuck out a little as she pouted. She wanted to prove Mr. High Horse wrong, but he knew too much. Nina had wished Curtis was a normal human since high school, but he had some kind of Nina shield or something that made him immune to her charms.

  “Because, as much as I hate to admit it, I know you, Nina.” Curtis spoke slowly, as if the words pained him. Based on their relationship, they did. “You’re calling a little later than usual, but I know this is just one of those calls where Hannah’s supposed to tell you that you did the right thing breaking up with what’s his name.”

  “Harry,” Nina provided. “I’ll have you know that I tried to be nice about it this time. The man snores like a chainsaw, and I couldn’t take it. If he was just a little quieter, I could’ve made this call at a reasonable hour.”

  “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that you’re trying to be nice. A nice person wouldn’t call up her pregnant friend at two in the morning, so I think you still got miles to go. Frankly, I don’t care how you act around other people. Just don’t call my house between ten at night and nine in the morning.”

  Nina was ready to respond to the directive, but Curtis hung up before she could. There were days she wished she could gut the man. Sadly, Hannah had grown too fond of him to put him in the grave. Plus, someone was going to need to be around to watch their twins when they finally came out. Curtis was the perfect man for that job.

  Eventually, she’d find a way to get back at Curtis for always throwing a wrench in her plans, but that was for another day. She tossed the phone on the stand next to the bed and screamed as loud as she could. Her shrink told her it was good to get her emotions out.