Hold On To Me Read online

  Hold On To Me

  Terry Towers

  Contents

  Hold On To Me

  Description

  Excerpt From

  AbigaiI

  Devon

  Contact

  Dedication

  Hold On To Me

  Newsletter

  1. Riley

  2. Riley

  3. Riley

  4. Grayson

  5. Riley

  6. Riley

  7. Riley

  8. Riley

  9. Riley

  10. Riley

  11. Riley

  12. Riley

  13. Riley

  14. Grayson

  15. Riley

  16. Riley

  17. Riley

  18. Grayson

  19. Riley

  Epilogue

  The End

  Newsletter

  Excerpt

  Excerpt From

  1. Abigail

  Contact Information and Release List

  Coffee Shop Series

  Dark Romance

  Contemporary Romance

  Erotica

  Terry Towers Boxed Sets

  Multi-Author Boxed Sets

  Hold On To Me

  By

  Terry Towers

  Who needs a man anyhow?

  Really?

  All they bring is frustration and heartbreak.

  I’m better off on my own.

  At least that’s what I thought.

  So imagine my anger when my sister went behind my back and signed me up on an online dating app.

  And the pictures she used...

  Just—no.

  She even went as far as to set up a date on my behalf!

  Umm, sister or not, isn’t that identity theft?

  Like it or not the date was set, and I was on the hook. One date and that was it, I told myself.

  One night of stress relief.

  Wham, bam, thank you sir!

  The last thing I needed was to catch feelings for the dreamy hunk staring boldly back at me from his profile picture.

  For all I knew he may not even have been a dude!

  I quickly discovered, however, that keeping my heart guarded from him was easier said than done.

  Excerpt From

  Billionaire Playboy

  AbigaiI

  Used condoms, bras and panties littered about the house: that was what I’d been forced to clean up each day to support myself and my daughter.

  Pushed past my breaking point, when my boss, billionaire playboy Devon Townstead, came home early, I couldn’t help but give him a piece of my mind, even if it meant risking my job in the process.

  To my surprise, instead of firing me, he gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

  Devon

  People didn’t talk to me the way that feisty little maid did. As she ranted and raved, fire in her eyes, I couldn’t be angry. Instead, all I could imagine was what it would be like to harness that fire and use it in a more productive place, like the bedroom.

  So, what did I do?

  I offered her a deal. A million dollars to stay with me for a month. If by the end of the month she hadn’t fallen in love with me, then the money was hers.

  Too bad for her, I never lose.

  Contact

  Contact Information and Release List

  Hold On To Me

  Copyright 2019 by Terry Towers

  All rights reserved. With the exception of brief quotes used for critical reviews and articles no part of this book may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the author Terry Towers. Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Terry Towers can be contacted via her website at www.elixaeverett.com

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via internet or other means, electronic or print without the authors permission. Criminal copyright infringement without monetary gain is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov.ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material.

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

  Created with Vellum

  Dedication

  To Rob,

  I’ve spent many years writing stories of love and romance. The hero meets the heroine, they fall madly in love and eventually live happily ever after. I’d started to think that perhaps I’d never get to meet my hero, but then you came into my life – just when I needed you the most. You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me and everything I dreamed my hero would be. You have become the inspiration behind the stories I weave, which is why this was written especially for you.

  I love you,

  Now and Forever,

  XOXO

  Hold On To Me

  By

  Terry Towers

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  1

  Riley

  “Oh, come on. This is not in any way what I want. Why would you do this?” I huffed as I sat back on my brown leather sofa and shook my head. This whole situation was royally pissing me off. My sister Charlotte had no right posting a profile on a dating site on my behalf. Not cool at all.

  Charlotte smiled, though I did see hesitation in her green eyes when they locked onto my deep blue ones. “Riley, don’t be like that. I had the best intentions when I did this for you.”

  Looking back at my smiling face on the computer screen, I shook my head a second time. This was ridiculous. “And the pictures you used…. Oh my God, I look like a whale in some of these.” I looked at one particularly absurd photo, pretty sure I was drunk in that one. Not that I drank all that much—rarely in fact—but sometimes peer pressure prevailed.

  “I only had what was on my phone of you and I needed both a head and body shot. So…” she shrugged a shoulder. “I think you look great in those pictures.”

  “I’ve said before and I meant it. I don’t need a man in my life. I have the twins; Violet and Christian are my world and all I need. All a man has ever given me is bad credit, heartache and disappointment. Let’s face the facts: I’m forty years old, never been married and, chances are, never will be. I’ve come to terms with that, why can’t you?”

  She switched from the rocking recliner she was sitting in to sit beside me on the sofa. “Because you’re a kind, loving, beautiful woman that deserves a man who treats you like a queen. And you’re not going to find that when all you ever do is work and skip out for a very rare booty call.”

  “Okay. First off, you’re making me sound like a whore. I haven’t had a booty call, as you like to refer to it, in a very long time. And technically speaking I was dating those guys. It wasn’t as though I just picked some dick up at the bar and went to town with him. Jeez, I do like to know their names and have some sort of background on the guys I’ve slept with.”

  I looked down at her hands clasped before her, her elbows resting on her knees. What caught my attention was the large diamond solitaire ring and platinum band to go with it. She’d been married for fifteen years now. She’d met her husband in college—they both became teachers—and they’d gotten married upon graduating. She was one of the lucky ones. Not all of us found Mr. Right straight away. Many of us never found him. It was the way life went. I ne
ver imagined I’d be one of the ones that would never find her soul mate, but as the years went on, it was becoming increasingly evident that it might never happen. I had to come to terms with that. I had my kids, no daddy drama from their father, that’s all I needed. A quiet, peaceful life, living it without any restrictions from anyone, nothing wrong with that, right?

  “Yes, you were dating those guy’s dicks. You haven’t seriously sought out a relationship since—”

  Holding up a hand, I stopped her mid-sentence. “I don’t want to talk about him. That was a dark time in my life and yes, perhaps he did taint my view on love. How could he have not? That being said, it’s not like anyone of substance has come into my life.”

  Charlotte motioned to the computer screen. “That’s why I set the profile up for you. It’s time to get serious about finding the man of your dreams.”

  “And he’s only a mouse click away, huh,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes at her. I’d seen the ads for these silly sites, beautiful people meeting other beautiful people and walking off hand in hand into the sunset. Complete rubbish.

  “It’s not a perfect science, but at least it’s a start. It’ll get you out there and dating. It’s like the lottery; you can’t win if you don’t play.”

  “There’s also the saying that there’s winners and there’s losers in this life. When it comes to love, you’re the winner and I think I might be in that other column.” Did she think I wanted it to go this way? Of course I didn’t, but there was a point in a person’s life when they had to face the cold hard reality of their situation. I wanted to be an optimist, but I also had to be a realist.

  “Can you at least promise me you’ll keep an open mind?”

  “Fine.” I shook my head. She was like a dog with a bone and would never give up until I agreed.

  “Good. In that case I’ll leave you to the man hunting. I have to get to work.” Standing, Charlotte crossed the living room and put her shoes on at the front door. “Send me the links to the guys you like. I want to get a look at them. Also, I may have sent a winkie face to a few that I hand-picked for you.”

  Winkie face? I grimaced. For the love of God. She sent winkie faces?

  “Oh yeah, you’ll be the first to know when the great love of my life falls into my virtual lap.” If she’d noticed the sarcasm dripping from my tone then she didn’t let on. Opening the front door, she let herself out leaving me alone with several messages from a number of potential suiters. Some may have found me on their own; others may have been pre-selected via winkie face.

  Keep an open mind, I coached myself. The least I could do was open the messages, I supposed. One by one I opened them and with each new message my heart sank a little more. My disappointment surprised me, given that I didn’t even want to do this in the first place. Practically blank profiles, guys shirtless taking selfies in mirrors attempting to look sexy, pictures that were clearly a decade old, one-line messages saying things like “Hey baby” or “Hi.” The pool I was swimming in was bleak at best.

  This is just a major time sink that I don’t have the time for.

  I had a helluvalota things that were more pressing then sifting through the turd pile before me. This was useless. I didn’t need this aggravation. Deciding to just shut down my profile, I began to scan for a way to close the account. It was like a damned roach motel, once you got on it was next to impossible to get off. No pun intended.

  Eureka! Just as I discovered the delete button a message popped up. I was tempted to ignore it, but let’s just call it morbid curiosity that made me click on the message to read it. Besides, what was another ten seconds after I’d just spent close to twenty minutes trying to locate the delete button?

  What’s your beef with the Trek and the Wars?

  A laugh escaped me. I’d only skimmed through the profile Charlotte had put up for me. It was mostly the god-awful pictures that had caught my attention. She must have mentioned my distaste for anything space or fantasy related when it came to movies and books. If that space stuff was your thing then power to ya, it just wasn’t mine.

  Glancing at the blinking message, I took a minute trying to decide how to respond. I brought up his profile and nodded, it was just as I’d thought. Charlotte had indeed contacted him with a winkie smile and she’d gone as far as to click the interested in a date button.

  Thanks for putting the pressure on, little sister. Though she wasn’t much younger, with only a couple years separating my forty from her thirty-eight.

  He had over a dozen pictures of him doing various activities from running a marathon to skiing and playing what appeared to be a pick-up game of football. His smile was bright and wide in each of his photos, with perfect teeth. His blonde-hair had traces of gray throughout which matched his deep gray eyes. I was a sucker for men with stormy gray eyes. Okay, so he certainly passed the physical looks test with flying colors.

  What about the rest?

  His name was Grayson. Hmmm, interesting name. But there was no occupation listed. What I could deduce from no job stated was that he either had a high-powered or celebrity type of job or he was unemployed and unskilled. At our age, his being listed at forty-two we were too old to be unemployed and without an education.

  But damn if he wasn’t cute and he had kick-ass photos. Wouldn’t hurt to find a little out about Mr. Dreamy would it?

  Finally, I went back to the message and began to type a reply.

  I just don’t do the space stuff. Beam me up and may the force be with me… Nah thanks, I’ll pass.

  I was about to click on my profile to read what Charlotte had written when another message popped on the computer screen.

  Grayson: You seem to know a lot about the Star Trek and Wars quotes to not like them.

  Riley: Just because I know pop culture references doesn’t mean that I actually watch those shows and movies. It just means I leave the house and socialize from time to time. There’s a lot of you star boys out there.

  Grayson: Whoa, whoa whoa. Let’s back up the accusations for a minute here. What makes you assume that I’m a “quote” starboy?

  Riley: Why else would you be busting my proverbial balls about it? Surely, there’s something more interesting to you on my profile than that?

  There was a break before receiving a response of close to five minutes, which made me fear I’d somehow insulted him. I found myself slightly disappointed. I’d taken the pause in interaction to check out my profile more carefully. I supposed it wouldn’t hurt to know what everyone else that checked out my profile discovered about me. The fact that I’d planned on deleting the profile was temporarily forgotten.

  I’m an erotica author as a profession? Ohmygod, why would she put that? Yeah, I was a writer, but I hadn’t written erotica in a very long time. With that posted on my profile it would totally give men the wrong impression of me right off the bat. I was surprised that I hadn’t received a stream of dick pics by now. Either guys would assume I was some wildcat in bed or they’d be scared off. Neither option I liked.

  I groaned out loud, flopping back into the sofa. As I raked a hand through my hair deciding to make some adjustments to my profile, another message popped up.

  Grayson: I was a little intrigued over your occupation.

  Riley: I bet. That’s not really what I do though, just in case you got the wrong impression.

  There was a couple-minute pause before the reply came in.

  Grayson: Why would you post that’s what you did if that’s not what you do?

  Dammit Charlotte, now he thinks I’m a liar. Or a catfish. Neither one was a good option in my mind.

  Riley: Okay, here’s the truth. I didn’t open a profile for myself. My sister did for me. She thinks I need to find myself a man and I was just about to delete my profile when your message came in and so here we are.

  Chewing at my lower lip, I waited for his response to that dose of honesty. The wait was excruciating. While I told myself that I didn’t want or need this in my life, there w
as another part of me that really did want someone. Who didn’t—really? You could play the whole strong, independent, don’t need anyone in my life game with yourself all you wanted, but deep down it was nice to have a special someone from time to time. I think most women—and men—want that happily ever after.

  Grayson: Then you’re not looking to find someone? Were you even the one to send me the wink thing?

  Lots of hard questions. This was going seriously sideways. His profile seemed interesting and it was just my luck that I was blowing this. Standing, I made a quick trip to the kitchen and grabbed a can of Coca-Cola. If I was going to torture and humiliate myself then I might as well do that while gaining the pounds and self-medicating with caffeine and sugar? Opening the can, I took a hearty swig, set the can on the coffee table, and sat back down in front of my laptop.