About Love: Badboy Alpha Dominant Billionaire Romance (Just About Series Book 1) Read online

  About Love

  Just About Series # 1

  By Lexy Timms

  Copyright 2017 Lexy Timms

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to an actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright 2017 by Lexy Timms

  Cover by: Book Cover by Design

  Photographer: Dave Kelley

  Models: Lance Jones &

  Jami Watts

  About Love Description:

  After losing her money and fiancé in one go, Kallie Margolis, the one-time owner of a lucrative business, checks out of society. She needs to become something—or someone—unassuming. She’s hired on as a waitress at a bar called Darkness. It’s in a dangerous part of town, locally known for its Russian-American population.

  Betrayed and humiliated by her fiancé who used her business as a front for an escort service, Kallie wants to keep her world small and simple. Unexpectedly, her new life involves the erotic, shady, and incredibly charming Sasha Petrov. Sasha’s too good-looking for words. Life for Kallie becomes passionate, adventurous, erotic, and bold—but by no means simple.

  Though too many signals say Sasha plays dirty, Kallie decides she’d be a fool to deny herself the pleasure he brings her. Their affair becomes more like a fairy tale, and Kallie starts believing Sasha is the love she deserves after her hard times. He lavishes her with opulence and tends to her every need like no one has ever done. When Kallie’s past unexpectedly comes full circle, she realizes how small the world really is.

  Will an unforeseen discovery break Kallie’s heart for good, or will Sasha be the bad boy hero he’s set himself up to be?

  Just About Series

  About Love

  Book 1

  About Truth

  Book 2

  About Forever

  Book 3

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  Contents

  About Love Description:

  Just About Series

  Find Lexy Timms:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  About Truth, Book #2 Just About Series

  About Forever, Book # 3 Just About Series

  Just About Series

  Find Lexy Timms:

  BONUS EXCERPT – UNKNOWN by Lexy Timms

  Description

  Unknown - Chapter 1

  Unknown Chapter 2

  Unknown Chapter 3

  Unknown Chapter 4

  More by Lexy Timms:

  Chapter One

  Kallie Margolis had been chief executive officer of her own highly successful business—in her former life.

  That was what she was thinking about as she nervously stacked the glasses behind the counter in a bar called Darkness-Temnota.

  Sal, the bartender, washed the empties one by one and handed them to her.

  “You trust me?” she asked with a new appreciation for the task.

  “It’s not rocket science, sugar,” Sal replied. “Just stack ‘em. And the ponytail is cute and all, but it’s going to get in your way.”

  No longer in charge of anything—and barely her own life really—Kallie had become a cocktail waitress. Sal explained to her that stacking cups was how everyone started out, so they could learn the different types of glasses. She felt more like Cinderella, wearing her overly dressy bustier get-up that the bar required her to wear, acting like a bar-back.

  She wasn’t sure what had drawn her down the stairs to apply for this particular job, except for need and sadness. She knew she’d walked into an older, dice-ier part of town, but the place looked cool. The neighborhood appeared more urban than suburban and the place, mostly below ground level like a bunker, had been around forever, so she figured she’d feel safe. It looked vintage. Like something out of the fifties, but well kept.

  Sal was right about the hair, though. It did get in the way immediately, but she didn’t quite know what to do with it. The nearly-platinum strands were stick-straight. She wore it long and parted in the middle because that was about all she could do with it. It held no curl. The public health rules required that she tie it back. The ponytail bit was all she could come up with. It was too long for a bun, at least the ones she could fashion without a lot of work, and she didn’t have the stuff to do that right now. She would have to work on it. Big glasses on the bottom shelf, skinny ones just above, shot glasses go over there…

  She faced the wall, overthinking her fragile task, when she felt an unmistakable shift in energy. Someone entered the bar and a tingle dashed up her spine. She heard the heavy footfalls and then Sal’s greeting.

  “Hey, Sasha. Good evening to you, sir.”

  Kallie listened closely for the response. She liked the name. Everyone in this part of town had names like that. Niko or Dmitry or Alex. Now Sal and Sasha. She stole a glance in the mirror, immediately connecting with a pair of piercing cobalt eyes that dropped, clearly checking her out. She tried to be cool as she shivered inside, but something about the intensely good-looking man whose eyes were walking her up and down said she couldn’t hide a thing where he was concerned.

  She then caught her physical response to him from her own reflection in the mirror. Clearly, by the look on her face, he could see what he’d done to her on the inside, too. She wasn’t embarrassed. It couldn’t be the first time this man made someone’s entire body gasp. He had to be used to it. If this guy was a regular, working at the bar was going to be interesting. He was walking sexuality. Just the sight of him stirred things in Kallie she didn’t think were revivable. After the crap she’d walked away from with her ex-partner in business and in life, she didn’t think it would be any time soon when she would be interested in a man.

  But this guy already gave her something to think a
bout, even if she never saw him again. Maybe he was someone who just stopped by occasionally. A big, hulking man built like he was cut from a mountain.

  With the expression of a hunter, handsome Sasha again passed his intense gaze up and down along her body, his smoldering expression unchanging.

  The man hadn’t even laid a hand on her, or said a word, and yet he’d sent her heart racing. This kind of happening would be good medicine for her after walking away from everything to a life that was bare bones.

  Sasha nodded and pushed away from the bar. “Sal, can I talk to you for second?”

  Kallie liked his voice. It sounded resonating deep and powerful; his slight Russian accent added a purr and his voice alone made her skin tingle. Her ex-fiancé, Jeremy Corcoran, had a terrible voice. He’d been a gorgeous man, though, and he fitted into her plans so nicely, but when he ruined everything she had the fact that he had a voice people could make fun of made her resent him more. This Sasha, though, was eye candy and sweet to hear as well. There had to be a catch; no man could be this perfect. He didn’t have a stupid look about him, but maybe that was it.

  “Sure, Sasha, sure,” Sal replied eagerly.

  “In the kitchen,” Sasha directed.

  Something was wrong, Kallie felt. Whoever this Sasha was, he had a problem, possibly with her.

  She shook her head. Maybe she was being paranoid because of the stress from the past few weeks, which had managed to turn her life upside down. She might just be super-sensitive now. She’d run a huge business, and now she felt insecure about stacking glasses. She didn’t know what exactly might be wrong here, but there was something; she could feel it.

  Sexy Sasha seemed to have a knowing look in his eyes and he’d studied her, then wanted to speak to Sal.

  Something was off.

  Seedy part of town? Dirty business? Or maybe he figured she was dirty. Or trouble.

  The glass she was currently trying to set slipped. Fortunately, it didn’t break when it landed on the rubber mats she stood on. Good thing she didn’t break it, as she didn’t need a job that started out in the hole. When Kallie crouched down behind the counter to pick it up, she heard doors slam open up front with a crash.

  She froze a moment, surprised by the sudden noise.

  A second later someone burst into the bar and opened fire.

  Bullets flew, and instantly glass shattered and fell all around her.

  Her mind went blank. She looked up and saw more glass falling. She felt pretty sure she said, “Oh shit!” but no sound came out of her mouth. Or if there was sound, the blood rushing to her ears blocked it out. This isn’t real. It isn’t happening.

  As the distinct roar of a gun fired again, she cringed. False alarm. There isn’t a gunman or more freakin’ gunmen in the bar. I’m not in danger. She tucked her head into her hands, trying to become small. There was no freakin’ way her mind was playing tricks on her. Someone was shooting. And had a freakin’ lot of bullets!

  She harkened back to the first time she stepped foot in this place, as though maybe she could undo that choice. Looking back at what went through her mind at the time her self-deprecating laugh maniacally echoed in her own head as she tried to remain out of sight until the gunmen were gone.

  The kitchen doors slammed open with a vengeance.

  Someone shot back.

  Kallie pulled the trash cans from beneath the shelving and duck-walked into their space. As she tucked herself into the hole as tight as a ball, her boobs slipped over the bustier she wore as a cocktail waitress and popped out. She drew the bustier up, but had to shift her weight because her knees throbbed something fierce in her current position. She was terrified they would pop back out.

  Bullets and shots echoed back and forth, and she tried to plug her ears from the sound. It felt like it was never going to end. That the guns were never going to run out of ammunition. Kallie burrowed deeper and prayed she wouldn’t get shot.

  Finally, the bar went silent.

  Kallie slumped in her hiding place, playing possum until she absolutely knew it was safe to come out. She let herself breath again when she heard Sasha shouting.

  He and Sal were shouting out hurried instructions.

  “Call an Uber and send them to the hospital,” Sasha said authoritatively. “Let’s clean this up.”

  He sure seemed awfully cool about the fact that two guys were just shot. Kallie took that as a hopeful sign they weren’t badly injured, even if they did burst into the bar and scare the life out of her.

  Sasha spoke in that deep, rich, sexy voice of his, and if Kallie had been sitting next to him at the bar instead of hiding under it she’d want him to buy her a drink.

  “Hey,” he said softly.

  Kallie remained scrunched up, still not sure if it was safe for her to come out of hiding. She had no idea if he was talking to her.

  “You, pretty little lady,” he said, and she knew he was talking to her now. “You can come out now.”

  She couldn’t have moved even if she wanted to. Her mind seemed to be working, but her body wasn’t. She was paralyzed with fear. She tried sucking in another breath and relaxing. It didn’t help. She sensed him over her now.

  He lifted her up from behind the bar, so easily with his ridiculous strength it felt like being lifted by an oak tree, if that were possible. “It’s okay,” he assured her gently.

  She kept squeezing her eyes shut, opening them quickly, then closing them again as she rasped for another breath. Her throat felt dry and tight.

  He leaned against the barstool, holding her with one arm as he reached over the bar for a bottle in the well. He flipped the pour spout open with his thumb and offered her the bottle. “Here,” he said. “Drink.”

  Kallie took the bottle without hesitation and chugged. Delicious. It tasted like lemon.

  He stopped her immediately. “Easy,” he admonished, then laughed softly.

  “Are they dead?” She was too scared to look around.

  “Dead?” he asked, as though it was a silly question.

  “Are they g-gone?” she stuttered.

  “See anyone here but us?”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a trail of blood on the floor. With perfect timing, the dishwasher rolled out a bucket and a mop and began cleaning.

  “Shouldn’t we call the police?” She cautiously glanced around, still wondering if she could be heard. Her voice sounded so small, even to her.

  Sasha tsked. “What do we need the police for? We’re good. Are you good?” he asked patronizingly, lowering her off his lap.

  He was shifting the focus on to her. Very manipulative, very smooth. There were men in the world who were very good at this, and it appeared Sasha was one of those. This place was dangerous. Between the people who obviously came here and the ones who owned it, she knew better. If she was smart, she’d go get her stuff and quit on her first day. But she hesitated, wanted him to charm her more. He was so good-looking, with such incredible magnetism, that he’d been able to gloss over a moment that held her in fear for her life. She’d go through it again if he’d end up holding her again.

  Idiot.

  She casually drew down the hem of her tight skirt that had hiked up during the chaos and she hadn’t realized. Her face fevered with a sudden, intense blush. She coolly tended to her bustier, adjusting her wayward breasts to conceal them as well. She swore she heard him chuckle and cover it with a cough. She didn’t have the nerve to look Sasha in the eye, but she felt certain he saw it. “I’m good,” she said finally, trying to break the long silence between his question and her answer.

  “Have you eaten?” he asked, suddenly the host. “You’re entitled to a shift meal. Why don’t you go make a sandwich while the guys clean up in here?”

  Who could eat with blood on the floor? “Not exactly hungry. I think I’m going to go home,” she said timidly as the reality of the surreal situation hit her all over again. There’d been a shooting! People were probably dead, lying in the tr
ash out back. Who knows?!

  “No, no, we can’t have that.” Sasha set the bottle he’d offered her back in its place. “This was just a thing. Nothing more. Wasn’t our fault or anything we could do about it. It’s over and done with. It’s not going to happen again, at least not tonight.”

  He laughed, but Kallie didn’t think what he’d said was funny.

  “C’mon,” he coached, urging her to loosen up. “That was a little funny. If you leave, it’ll be worse. Sort of like the getting back up on a horse thing.” His head cocked charmingly to the side. “You’ll be less scared if you stay.”

  “Sorry, but I just don’t think I’m cut out for this.” Except she didn’t have quite enough spine to leave just yet. Her legs felt weak and she wasn’t sure she could make the walk across the room. It’s from the shooting. Not because she just couldn’t seem to get enough of being beside a man like him. She should’ve run like a screaming freak out of the bar ten minutes ago, like any sane person would do.

  Without touching her, he stooped to her eye-level and looked at her squarely. His gaze went well beyond her vision, feeling like it penetrated her to her core. “So, tell me something,” he said with a teasing tone in his voice. “Kallie, is it?”

  “Yes,” she replied nervously.

  “What is that, Russian or something?” he joked.

  “I don’t think so,” she replied, unable to control the trembling in her voice. So, the guy had a sense of humor; she couldn’t find hers exactly. She made a face like he was crazy and it made him laugh. She got it; he was trying to make light of the situation, but she didn’t feel like just shrugging off what had happened.

  In fact, the whole incident worked on her more and more.

  She could’ve been killed.

  She’d wanted a new life, but had no plans to join the afterlife.

  He seemed to sense her rise in anxiety, and handed her the bottle again.