Not Just Another Romance Novel Read Online Free

spit it out all over the bar at his vulgar description of his colleague’s nickname.
    He was all bad boy, and apparently I was all good girl. 
    He roared with laughter while he wiped up the tequila all over the bar in front of me with a rag. As he moved away to help some other customers, I really couldn’t help but wonder if she’d opened her legs for him. I brushed the thought away. It didn’t matter, anyway. I’d managed to snag the interest of a bad boy. My intentions with him didn’t go beyond the night.
    It may have been nice to think about my mother’s trite advice about things that seemed too good to be true, but in the moment, I hadn’t. Instead, I went on living a book-worthy moment while my eyes met Stone’s from across the bar.
    I sipped my Patron, wondering what the next step was, and then a presence slipped into the barstool next to mine.
    “Hey, gorgeous.” His voice was deep and masculine. “You new around here?” I turned in his direction as he spoke. His voice matched his features.
    And when our eyes met, my breath caught in my throat.
    He had these clear, jarring, blue eyes that seemed like they were staring right through me. He was ruggedly handsome, muscular in a sexy way, not in a hulky way. He (predictably) wore a black shirt and jeans with work boots. He smiled at me, revealing straight, white teeth. My eyes moved from his full lips back up to his eyes.
    “I’m a student at SDSU,” I said, my voice shakier than I would’ve preferred.
    Shit. I’d already acquired my target. This second, just-as-hot-as-the-first, bad boy was going to get in the way.
    Unless I went home with him instead of the bartender. There was always that possibility.
    I laughed internally at myself. Yeah, like I could handle two bad boys.
    “I’d love to buy you a drink…” he trailed off, raising his eyebrows as if asking me my name.
    “Piper,” I filled in. “And I’d love one.”
    Right. Because three glasses of straight Patron was a fantastic idea.
    “Piper. Nice to meet you. I’m Ryker.”
    “That’s an unusual name.”
    He grinned. “My parents were hippies.”
    I giggled as he waved Stone over. When Stone’s eyes met mine, I sensed a bit of a storm brewing. It had to be a figment of my imagination. Stone was making a drink, and he nodded toward Ryker while we made small talk.
    “Do you come here a lot?” I asked.
    He nodded toward Stone. “I’ve known the owner for a while.”
    So Stone owned this bar? That was an interesting bit of information on my bad boy. He finished serving the customer on the other side of the bar, and then he made his way over to us.
    “The usual?” Stone asked Ryker, his eyes sliding back toward me.
    Ryker nodded. “Plus whatever Piper wants.”
    “I’ve been taking care of Piper,” Stone said.
    Ryker immediately jumped on the defense. “I figured a gorgeous woman like her shouldn’t be sitting alone.”
    “Hands off.” Stone’s voice had taken on a hard edge, and I was momentarily confused about what was happening.
    It became all too clear when Ryker turned to me.
    “Are you with Stone?” he asked me.
    “I just met him,” I admitted, my voice small.
    That may have been the wrong answer.
    Stone stormed angrily away to serve a new customer who sat at the bar. I watched the set of his shoulders. He was tense. Ryker had flipped his switch, and I sort of wanted to go back to when it had just been some heavy flirting between Stone and me.
    I was treading into unknown and dangerous territory, but I had to see it through. I had to get my bad boy research.
    Kitty made her way over. “Leave him alone,” she said to Ryker, her voice tough as nails.
    “Why should I?”
    I watched the exchange silently.
    She leaned in closer to him. She looked venomously at him. “Because you always do this, Ryk. You get him all riled up and angry and then you leave and I’m the one who has to deal with the fallout. Let him have his moment with this one.” She jabbed her