Free Brock: A Bad Boy Romance by Amy Kyle

birthday, and that he didn’t want to spend it alone. He insisted that I join him for dinner,” she muttered as she ducked his head.
    Lizzie abandoned her post at the coffee machine and grabbed her purse. “So that would explain this headline?”
    A streak of panic went through Gemma as she reached over and snagged the article. Gemma Darlings Spends Night with Charlie Connor.
    “Shit,” she moaned. The picture showed her with tousled hair and bedroom eyes. “From the frying pan and into the fire.”
    “Catering deliveries also don’t include over night stays,” Lizzie said as she poured herself a cup of coffee. “What happened?”
    “Sex happened.” Gemma tossed the magazine to the floor and sighed. “We had a few beers, and we were talking. He seemed lonely. I was upset. And suddenly we were naked and making out like teenagers.”
    “My god. You slept with Charlie Connors. Tell me it was good.”
    “It was more than good,” Gemma admitted. “It was better than anything that I’d ever had. But it doesn’t matter because it’s never going to happen again. I’m such an idiot that I actually felt like we’d connected that night. But when the press showed up, I accused him of calling them, and then he accused me of calling them. Things got dirty quick. He’s one of the biggest jerks I’ve ever met.”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t say that just yet,” Lizzie said. Gemma watched in disbelief as she pulled yet another magazine out of her purse.
    “What else do you have in there?” she demanded.
    “This is the last one. I swear,” her friend laughed.
    “It better be,” Gemma grumbled. Unrolling it, she realized that it was a reputable women’s magazine. This type of magazine did more than just troll celebrities.
    The hook was right there on the first page. Charlie Connors Reveals All. Apparently, he’d written a letter to the editor. Her legs shaky, she sat down as she began to read.
    Recently there have been rumors circulating my involvement with model Gemma Darling. Because she has already been scrutinized enough by the public, I thought I would come clean with our so-called relationship. Ms. Darlings, wanting to help out her friend Elizabeth Towney, arrived at my doorstep with my order from Towney Catering. Amazing food, by the way. I was hiding from a birthday party that wasn’t really meant for me, and she was hiding behind a public judgment that had been unfairly cast on her. She and I had more in common than I could ever even being to imagine. The only difference is that she is one hundred times better than me. My label as a scoundrel is well deserved, but she lost everything trying to rise above a ridiculously humiliating situation. There is a pureness in her that I can’t even dream of ever achieving, and I have to admit of being attracted to that. More than attracted.
    I’ve upset people in the past, and those ghosts have come back not only to haunt me but also to haunt Gemma as well. One night with her, and the public has already written her off as a harlot. She’s anything but.
    My time spent with her meant more to me than I could ever imagine. And I very much hope that perhaps she’ll want to award me with even one more moment of her time.
    So before you take a look at the picture that’s circulating and start to whisper, keep in mind that I’m the scoundrel in all of this. And this scoundrel may have just finally met the person who could make him better.
    Gemma’s lips trembled as she finished reading the letter. “They’re calling it the sweetest love letter every written,” Lizzie said gently. “Of course, you’d know that if you’d turn on the television.”
    “Do you think it’s just a PR stunt?”
    Lizzie came over and took the magazine from her hands. “I think Charlie Connors is very powerful. I think he’s powerful enough to get Stephan to tell the truth. And I think he’s powerful enough not to give a damn about one picture floating around. He didn’t do this for him,