Falling For The Bad Boys

TAYLA

A new town and a new start, I thought as I pulled up outside my cousin Logan's house.

I killed the engine in my mini and climbed out, cold sea air blowing around my bare legs.

It was June and Logan had said that here they got really hot summers, but today was dull and grey.

Must be an off day, I thought.

The front door to the white seaside home opened and a six-foot blond-haired man came charging for me.

Shit!

Was he going to tackle me to the ground like he used to when we were kids?

Muscled arms wrapped around me, and I was lifted into the air and spun around quickly.

"You are here! Your mother has rung twice to see if you have got here safely," he said, squeezing me.

"Logan! I need to breathe!" I said, swatting his hands around my waist.

He dropped me to my feet, and I looked up at him.

"You got short!" he teased.

"No! You got taller," I corrected.

He threw his head back and laughed loudly.

"Guess I'm no longer the shrimp now?" he reminded me.

When we were younger and our parents used to get together for the summer, I used to tease him about being shorter because I was always taller than him up until now.

I had not seen him since he was fourteen and I was thirteen.

He opened the back of my mini and grabbed my one duffle bag.

"Is this all you brought?" he asked, frowning.

"Didn't really have time to pack much," I muttered, looking down.

"Shit! Sorry," he said, swinging my bag up over his shoulder easily.

"You been working out too?" I asked.

He gave an embarrassed laugh and slipped his arm around my shoulder, leading me up to his house.

"A lot has changed since we were kids," he told me.

He opened the front door and led me inside a hallway.

The walls were cream with a few pictures on the wall and a staircase led up to the next floor.

He shut the door behind me and placed my duffle bag at the bottom of the stairs.

"I'll show you your room in a minute, Jess made some iced tea for you," he told me.

I followed him down the hallway and into a large kitchen.

A stunning girl with big brown eyes was pouring iced tea into glasses at a kitchen island as we came in and she gave me a warm smile.

"You must be Tayla? Logan's cousin?" she greeted.

"And you are Jess, was it?" I asked, studying her.

"Jess is my other lodger," explained Logan, taking a glass of iced tea.

Jess had short cropped black hair that was shaved at the back and multiple piercings in both of her ears.

Her lips were pink and full, and she had gorgeous long dark eyelashes.

She offered me a glass and I took it, thanking her.

"Jess is a clean freak, so if you don't want your stuff going missing, I would advise you to keep it in your room," said Logan.

"Noted," I said, sipping my drink.

"Jess also works at the same restaurant you have the interview at, so if you get the job, then you will know someone," explained Logan.

I nodded.

Logan had arranged an interview for me to be a waitress at the local town restaurant in two days' time so I could settle in before going into work.

"We should totally go to that party at the beach tonight?" suggested Jess.

"The one on Raffiel's beach?" asked Logan.

Jess nodded.

"It would be a great way to welcome Tayla here to the town?"

"I'm not sure if one of Raffiel's parties is the way to welcome Tayla here, Jess? We need her to stay and pay towards the rent," he said, running a hand through his hair.

Logan owned this three-bedroom house, but his job never covered the mortgage, so he rented out the other two rooms to make it up.

He had bought this house with his ex-girlfriend and when she left him, he was left with the bill for the house.

"It will be fine," said Jess.

"Who is Raffiel?" I asked.

Logan shook his head.

"No one important," he told me.

Jess threw him a confused look.

"I don't have money to go to a party," I told them.

"Not needed around here," said Jess.

"You just bring a bottle," said Logan.

"Do you have a swimsuit?" asked Jess.

"I do, but it's cold and cloudy..."

Just then, through the window, the sun shone through, and the temperature began to rise.

"One thing you can count on here in Bluewood Cove is the weather," said Jess, laughing.

"I'll show you to your room," said Logan, finishing his drink.

I followed him out of the kitchen, and he lifted my bag over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs to the next floor.

He pointed left down a corridor.

"Mine and Jess's room is down there, and so is the bathroom. You get this side of the house to yourself which overlooks the beach," he told me.

Opening a door, I followed him into a bedroom.

There was a double bed, a dressing table, and an empty desk with a single chair.

There was a cream and yellow duvet on the bed with matching pillows and a huge cream blanket folded on the end.

"Wardrobe there and a small drawer for you to use," he said, pointing at the items.

He placed my duffle bag on the desk for me and ran his hands down his shorts with a sigh.

"Don't worry about rent this month. Jess and I got you covered for that, and when you do start contributing, it's at the end of every month," he told me.

I hugged Logan gently.

"Thanks, cousin. I owe you," I said warmly.

He laughed it off and gently pushed me back, heading for the door.

"I'll let you unpack, and we should be leaving around four for the beach."

I watched him leave and shut the door behind him.

Unzipping my bag, I put away my clothes in the drawer and hung garments in the cupboard that needed hanging.

My room had one window that you could lift up to let air in and close with a latch, with yellow curtains on either side of it.

Stepping to the window, I opened it wide and stuck my head out, inhaling the sea air.

I used to love spending my summers here in this town when I was a little girl, and I never lost my love for the sea.

My view was of a neat, kept back garden with a six-foot fence and beyond that was a grassy bank.

Over the grass bank was golden sand and the gentle crashing of the waves of the sea.

Gulls called out loudly nearby, and looking down the beach, I could see the outline of a huge and expensive house about a mile away from here.

"It's gorgeous! Isn't it?"

I jumped and bumped my head on the window edge as I backed back inside.

Jess was stood in my doorway, one hand holding my iced tea and the other halfway frozen in a knock.

"I did knock, but I don't think you heard me," she said, smiling.

"I'm sorry. I was admiring the view," I told her.

She placed my tea on the little drawer and then stood next to me, sticking her head out of the window.

I watched her close her eyes and breathe in the air.

I poked my head back out with her.

"Your room has the best view," she said, keeping her eyes closed.

"How come you didn't take it?"

"I need to be first in the shower in the morning because Logan takes ages in there," she told me.

She opened her eyes and pointed out to the house I had been looking at.

"That house there is where the party is at tonight," she told me.

"You know the owners?" I asked.

She pulled a face.

"Not really. Logan knows them better than I do. We only go to the parties there and don't really mix with the owners or their type of people," she told me.

"Type of people?" I questioned.

Jess turned to me and opened her mouth when Logan shouted her from my doorway.

"You going to make lunch, woman? I'm starving?" he said, grinning.

Jess rolled her eyes and we both came back into the room.

"I swear you would die without me," she muttered, following Logan down the corridor.

"Lunch in twenty minutes, Tayla tot!" shouted Jess as she went downstairs.

I pulled a face at my new nickname and shook my head.