Our Star-Crossed Kiss (The Rooftop Crew #4) - Piper Rayne Page 0,88
I mean.”
I shrug. “Maybe I’m still getting over her.”
She blows out an annoyed breath, not having to ask who her is. “Give me a break. She’s a felon.”
“A few protest arrests, doesn’t make you a felon.” And there I go sticking up for the woman who broke my heart like it was a twig—with no care for its fragility and no backward glance. Still, I’m over Leilani now. But I don’t want a relationship, and if I say I’m over her, Patrice will make it her personal mission to set me up.
I slow down as we near my apartment. My buddy’s shop, Ink Envy and his girl’s bake shop, Sweet Infusion are right here. Rian is usually already baking at this godforsaken hour, but it’s the dark-haired girl walking down the street who grabs my attention. I know the cadence of that walk, and I definitely know that ass.
What the hell is she doing back here?
Patrice looks over at me when I stop the car and then follows my line of sight. “Fits the description of the female suspect, right?”
I hold my hand up, put the car into park and quietly shut my door. “Leilani,” I say into the cool morning air. She’s in jeans and a sweatshirt. Patrice is wrong, she can’t be one of the suspects. But then on her right jean leg I spot paint and the more my eyes scour her clothes, I spot the cast of spray on her clothes.
“Knox.” Her voice is as sweet as candy as she saunters over to me, her hips swaying, her eyes eating me up like she’s going to welcome me with a kiss after she bolted from town. “It’s been so long.”
“Since you left me, you mean?”
A door chime rings behind me and although I don’t bother looking, I know it’s Rian.
“I came back to see you. I was going to ring the buzzer, but I didn’t want to wake you.” She breaks the distance between us, and I quickly grab her wrist to stop her before she touches me.
“Where were you earlier?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I told you. I was here, waiting for you.”
I’ve been around this block twenty times tonight. This is the first time I’ve seen her.
“Were you painting?”
The truth lies in her eyes. Or should I say the lies. It’s the same look I’d get when I’d ask her about moving in together.
“You need to come down to the station.”
Red and blue lights reflect off the glass of the storefront and I glance over my shoulder to see Patrice shrugging.
“You can’t arrest me. You have no proof.” She squirms to get out of my hold. I’m sure her assumption is that I’d let her go because in her mind, I’m still stupidly in love with her. I can’t deny there’s still a soft spot there, but I no longer pine over her like a sappy schmuck.
“The paint on your clothes is proof enough.” I grab my handcuffs and secure them on her wrists.
“What are you gonna do? Take me up to your apartment with these cuffs on? Just like the old days, huh?”
“No.” I try not to let the visual she’s so eager to produce in my mind come to fruition.
I turn her around toward the cruiser and Leilani balks. “Seriously, the lights? Why not put your siren on too?” At least she finally realizes this is serious.
Patrice isn’t even trying to bite down her smile as I walk Leilani back to the squad car, open the door, and press my hand on her head to lower her in. “Hello Leilani,” she says.
“Patrice.”
As I round the back of the car, I catch sight of all my friends on the balcony. I’m assuming Rian must’ve alerted them. My gaze falls to Rian on the sidewalk outside her shop with her hand covering her mouth and a look of sorrow in her eyes.
I hate that damn look.
“Go back inside, Rian,” I say and climb into the driver’s side.
Just to be a dick, I turn on the sirens, but it’s me who’ll suffer for this. Move on over Ben, I’m the new joke at the station now.
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Cockamamie Unicorn Ramblings
Seth and Evan’s story was our first attempt at the star-crossed lovers trope. As most of you long time Piper Rayne readers know, we try to think of new tropes we’ve yet to write in order to challenge ourselves and keep things fresh. Of course, we have our ole’ faithful’s like enemies-to-lovers (we really can’t get enough of this one). So it was awesome when we wrote this story because we could have that hatred and pent-up sexual energy brewing between them in the beginning, but then allow their friendship to rekindle, shifting us into friends-to-lovers, and ultimately settling on star-crossed lovers as the story progressed. It was such a nice story flow and once we figured out the logistics it was so enjoyable to write.
That said, this storyline didn’t come easy for us and we went through so many iterations of Seth and Evan’s story. Some hit the page and some didn’t. Rayne thought she had a gold mine of an idea (that Evan would be pregnant with Brock’s baby and Seth would raise the baby as his own. Nice in theory but that wasn’t the story for Seth and Evan). Sometimes you only realize that once you start writing and so the first five thousand words had to be scrapped. Which meant an emergency meeting was in store. Although we like to tell you guys we have it all plotted and figured out, the cliffhanger at the end of The Rival Roomies put us a little bit in the corner that we had to find our way out of.
In the end, it all worked out. And once we realigned the conflict and goals, words came fast and furious and Seth and Evan bounced off the pages. Now all we can hope is that we can pull off Knox’s little cliffhanger at the end of this book!
Fun facts: Piper & Rayne both eat everything bagels. If you ever see us in the morning when we’re together whether at a conference or a signing, we’ll more than likely both have an everything bagel. Piper’s with butter and Rayne with cream cheese. Maybe that’s where the idea for competing bagel shops came from. LOL
None of this would be possible without our amazing team!
Danielle Sanchez and the entire Wildfire Marketing Solutions team.
Cassie from Joy Editing for line edits.
Ellie from My Brother’s Editor for line edits.
Shawna from Behind the Writer for proofreading.
Hang Le for the cover and branding for the entire series.
Wander Aguiar for the amazing photo of Seth and Evan.
Bloggers who consistently carve out time to read, review and/or promote us.
Piper Rayne Unicorns who shout from the rooftops about our new releases and love our characters like we do.
Readers who took a chance on our book with so many choices out there.
We think we’re really going to throw you on the next book. That was quite a cliffhanger we left you guys with at the end. As for what’s in store for Knox? We can’t really say much more without giving anything away. But we’re rubbing our hands together excited to flip the script!
XO,
Piper & Rayne
About the Author
Piper Rayne, or Piper and Rayne, whichever you prefer because we’re not one author, we’re two. Yep, you get two USA Today Bestselling authors for the price of one. Our goal is to bring you romance stories that have "Heartwarming Humor With a Side of Sizzle" (okay...you caught us, that's our tagline). A little about us... We both have kindle’s full of one-clickable books. We're both married to husbands who drive us to drink. We're both chauffeurs to our kids. Most of all, we love hot heroes and quirky heroines that make us laugh, and we hope you do, too.
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Also by Piper Rayne
The Rooftop Crew
My Bestie’s Ex
A Royal Mistake
The Rival Roomies
Our Star-Crossed Kiss
The Do-Over
A Co-Workers Crush
The Baileys
Lessons from a One-Night Stand
Advice from a Jilted Bride
Birth of a Baby Daddy
Operation Bailey Wedding (Novella)
Falling for My Brother’s Best Friend
Demise of a Self-Centered Playboy
Confessions of a Naughty Nanny
Operation Bailey Babies (Novella)
Secrets of the World’s Worst Matchmaker
Winning My Best Friend’s Girl
Rules for Dating your Ex
The Modern Love World
Charmed by the Bartender
Hooked by the Boxer
Mad about the Banker
The Single Dad’s Club
Real Deal
Dirty Talker
Sexy Beast
Hollywood Hearts
Mister Mom
Animal Attraction
Domestic Bliss
Bedroom Games
Cold as Ice
On Thin Ice
Break the Ice
Box Set
Charity Case
Manic Monday
Afternoon Delight
Happy Hour
Blue Collar Brothers
Flirting with Fire
Crushing on the Cop
Engaged to the EMT
White Collar Brothers
Sexy Filthy Boss
Dirty Flirty Enemy
Wild Steamy Hook-up