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  PRETTY LITTLE TEMPTATION

  - TEMPTED SERIES -

  BOOK ONE

  GABRIELLE SNOW

  Copyright © 2020 by Gabrielle Snow

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination and used in a fictitious manner. Any similarity to actual people, living or dead, places, or events is entirely coincidental or fictionalized.

  Table Of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

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  Chapter 1

  Amelia.

  “Thanks a lot!” I said to the cab driver as I paid for my fare. I climbed out of the car and quickly made my way around to the trunk, opening it and reaching for my bags. I slammed it shut with a thud and waved at the driver before he sped off.

  I was home.

  I breathed in the warm June air as I turned to face the all familiar and beautiful townhouse that belonged to my mom. It had been four years since I’d last been standing on this curb, admiring the building and its architecture. It felt great to be back in the city.

  By sheer will I managed to grab hold of all four bags at once, and with great difficulty carried them up the steps. I dropped the bags down and pulled out the key I hadn’t used in years from my back pocket, opening the door. My eyes fell on the familiar interior as I crouched down for the bags. I stepped inside the exquisitely decorated home and instantly the flowery inside air filled my nostrils. However, something in the scent had changed during the last years though: this time around it had a hint of wood mixed in it.

  As my eyes skimmed over the living room area, the realization came over me: my mom had redone the flooring. It was now a deep mahogany instead of the old oak one.

  I can’t believe I’ve been gone so long that I forgot how the floor looked.

  The new one looked amazing though and I had to give it to my mom: she’d always had an eye for interior design. Despite our disagreements, that woman knew how to decorate a house.

  “Mom?” I called out for her and my voice echoed in the open space. The silence revealed her absence, but it wasn’t exactly surprising that she wasn’t home. Something more important must have come up. Apparently your only daughter coming back home from college wasn’t that important to her, even though the last time we’d seen each other had been four years ago. The thought made me grimace.

  I closed the door and hauled all four bags into my room. With a loud thump, I dropped them on the beige carpet and hopped on the bed. My eyes scanned the room before I let them close and I was pleased to find that at least here, everything looked the same. That seemed to dissipate my feelings of disappointment over my mom’s absence. Normally, it wouldn’t have mattered to me, but this time I had hoped that we would have been able to have a fresh start.

  As it went, my mom, Janis, and I had never had a good relationship. For as long as I could remember, that’s how it had been and at some point years and years ago, both of us just had stopped trying. We were like oil and water: impossible to mix and better separately. I had nothing in common with her since our interests were completely mismatched. For years I had also suspected that she resented me for changing the course of her life completely.

  Janis had been a typical, picture perfect, small town cheerleader who happened to steer off the rails. After high school, she’d gotten together with my no-good father and ended up pregnant with me at only 19 years old. Once my dad found out, he fled. My mom ended up having me alone, after her relationship with her family had fallen apart. That whole situation with my biological father resulted in two births: mine and her hatred towards men. Obviously, I never blamed her for what had happened. Not to mention, my dad hadn’t been any better: I had never met him and to me, it was clear he didn’t care about his daughter. Not that my mom ever wanted to tell me about him either.

  The two of us had been living in the Midwest, with my mom working at a diner, when destiny came calling. She met a rich plastic surgeon called Harvey Pickett who whisked us away to New York when I was four. Talk about good luck. The silver lining for me was that Harvey became somewhat of a father figure to me. But like most fairy tales not being real, their marriage didn’t last either. Ten years into the marriage my mom caught Harvey cheating on her with his much younger nurse. And that is the second reason she hates men so much.

  Luckily, her hatred towards the opposite sex hadn’t been contagious, even though in my 22-years of life, I’d pretty much steered clear of guys. Not intentionally though: most guys my age had never really liked me. In school, I’d always been the chubby, nerdy girl with glasses. Absolutely no one had found that attractive since I couldn’t have been further from the prevailing beauty standards. And honestly, I didn’t blame them. What I’d lacked in the looks department, I’d not made up for socially. My idea of a great time was spent alone, reading or filling my sketchbook with imaginary designs.

  “I’m glad all that is behind me now,” I muttered to myself as I turned to my side. As much as I’d loved college, being back in the big city felt exciting: like anything was possible. With my academic years behind me, my next choice of action was to get an internship. And if I got lucky, it’d be in one of the leading architecture companies right here in the city I loved.

  I let out a loud yawn, snapping out of my thoughts. I sat up on the bed and shot a quick look at the bags and with a sigh, I accepted defeat. I emptied the contents of the first bag on the floor and started sorting through my clothes.

  I’d spend the day getting settled in and then maybe take a few days off to relax—as the biggest overachiever I’d ever met, I more than deserved it. For as long as I could remember, my sights had been set on creating a successful career as an architect. For the past ten years, that had been my dream and I had worked tirelessly to move closer to it, sacrificing almost everything else.

  Part of the reason I had been so determined was my mother. The last thing I wanted was to mess up and have some rich guy come save me. She got lucky, unlike most people in her shoes and that’s why I’d been working my hardest to not end up in a similar situation. Doing well in school had always been important to me: that had been my ticket out. Instead of waiting for my knight in shining armour, I vouched to create my own success. Her dream had been to marry someone rich and have that person take care of her. I, on the other hand, wanted to make it on my own—I wanted to break the curse.

  I quickly emptied the other three bags on the floor and shuffled through the clothes, sorting them into clean ones and dirty ones, before picking up a pile of them. Trying to avoid any of them falling to the floor, I maneuvered my way out of the room towards the master bathroom to wash them.

  As I passed by the living room window, my eyes fixed on our next door neighbor. The second my eyes fell on him, butterflies appeared out of nowhere in the pit of my stomach. I felt my lips twisting into a sly smirk as I watched him walk his bike and reach for his keys. Just before he disappeared, I let my eyes linger on his tall, athletic shape that was noticeable through his dark jeans and white t-shirt.

  So, he still lived here.

  I hadn’t seen him after I left for college—which only made sense since I hadn’t visited home. But now, I couldn't help but note that his looks seemed to have only improved over the years.

  I ogled at the empty street for a few seconds before snapping back to realit
y from my trance. I shifted my gaze down and found myself wondering why I was holding a pile of dirty clothes. Oh yeah, the washing machine. Chuckling, I walked into the bathroom and shoved the clothes into the washing machine before turning it on. The washing machine wasn’t the only thing getting turned on.. It seemed as though Mr. Neighbor still had the ability to make me lose my train of thought.

  As the low and soothing rumbling noises began emanating from the machine, I rested my elbows on top of it, and as if prompted by the vibrations, disappeared back into my thoughts.

  From the time I had started to find the opposite sex interesting, I’d developed a crush on this neighbor. Him being older had made no difference: in my teenage dreams, he had always been very into me. In reality my crush had obviously been one-sided. That hadn’t stopped me from daydreaming about him though... A wide grin spread across my face as I thought back to my old dreams that now seemed so childish and innocent.

  I closed my eyes and let my mind take me for a spin, imagining how it would feel to have his hands roaming all over my body and how I’d run my fingers through his dirty blond hair as he touched me in places I’d never been touched before...

  “Amelia? Are you here?” My mom’s voice pulled me back from my thoughts, giving my promising fantasy a disappointing end.

  “Yes, give me a sec!”

  I shook my head in an attempt to pull myself together, feeling uncomfortably aware of how excited that short lived dirty daydream had made me. I used my hand to fan my face and then made my way to the living room where she was standing.

  My mom hadn’t changed a bit. She was wearing a silver headband on her blonde hair and was dressed in a blush, tweed skirt suit with shoes to match. Probably Chanel. She loved expensive things: if it didn’t have a hefty price tag on it, she didn’t want it.

  “Hey mom,” I said and wrapped my arms around her. She gave my shoulder a few pats before breaking the contact. The hug was quick and polite—not a hint of maternal warmth from her part. As we broke apart, she took a step back and observed me from head to toe before cocking her head to one side and nodding approvingly.

  “Look at you, all grown up. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you with your stuff... the girls invited me to a luncheon at Patricia’s penthouse,” she started enthusiastically. “You should’ve seen the place. It was so...luxurious. Never seen anything like it and the chandeliers...,” she went on and I tuned out the noise. Truthfully, it was the same stuff every time: who was the richest and who had the most expensive carpets and lamps. It wouldn’t be surprising if she now wanted to re-do the entire interior of this house.

  Sighing defeatedly, I sat down on the beige velvet couch and tried to look like I found what she was saying interesting.

  “Oh, that sounds great, mom. But really, how are you? How are things? It’s been years since I last saw you,” I changed the subject swiftly.

  Mom sat down next to me, pulling on the blush hem of her skirt before patting her light blonde hair. Not natural, by the way.

  “Well, you decided not to come visit, didn’t you,” she hinted nonchalantly but I could still detect the accusatory note in her voice.

  I flashed her an apologetic grimace. “I know, I know. I just thought it best to keep studying and working through the holidays.”

  She pursed her lips together. ”If you say so. But oh well, you know me, I’ve been keeping busy. It’s not easy being a part of the social circles here.” She smiled curtly. “How about you? How’s my one and only daughter been?”

  “I’m glad you've found friends. I’ve been good too. But I’m glad to be back in the city. I’m looking forward to getting my career started.”

  “That’s no wonder, you’ve always been one of those girls. I’m happy to see you managed to grow into your nose...and those curves too! A higher chance of finding a wealthy husband in this city,” she raised her finger knowingly and winked.

  I couldn’t help rolling my eyes as I got up from the couch. “That’s not really my priority, as you know,” I retorted. “I’m gonna do some work in my room. I’ll see you later.” I turned towards my room and as soon as I walked over the threshold, I closed the door behind me and pulled out my sketchbook.

  I’d barely been back for a couple of hours and she was already starting to get on my nerves—and I knew she did it knowingly. Somehow, she always managed to make me feel less than, which had been doing a number on my self-confidence: it was something I had struggled with for as long as I could remember.

  Being away had been good, since it had allowed me to build my confidence up. I was just fearful that living under the same room with her would undo the progress that I’d made. Her comments had been one of the main reasons I had decided to not come back for the holidays during college—not that I’d ever told her that. Whenever I tried talking to her about it, it was to no avail—it was impossible to try to make sense to her. Kind of like trying to reason with a brick wall. My mom lived in her own bubble and didn’t really care about the details of my life or my self-esteem.

  Working on my designs would be the best plan of action right now, I thought as I flipped through the pages to a blank opening. The quicker I began making a name for myself, the quicker I could afford to move out.

  Chapter 2

  Lucas.

  “Yes mom, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I reassured her. “Okay, I’ll talk to you later then. Love you too.”

  I dropped my phone on the desk and brought my fingers up to rub my temples. I loved my mom more than anything, but sometimes she worried about me too much. My parents living all the way in London didn’t help either. The distance just added to her concerns over me—her only child.

  Sometimes I missed being close to them, though. My parents were basically the only family I had. Growing up, my father had been a diplomat which meant that we seldom lived in the same place for more than a year. I’d been one of those children referred to as ‘third culture kids’. My Dutch mother had met my British father while on vacation in South Africa. Three months later they had gotten married and a year later, I had been born. Both of them had always told me that they just knew they belonged together—almost instantly after meeting. At 36 years old, I was still waiting for that to happen. And I didn’t have the greatest track record either.

  I glanced down at my planner and my eyes skimmed over the remaining tasks I had for the day. Despite it being 7 p.m. on a Friday evening, there was still quite a lot to do. Some could say the work never stopped. And so it happened, my work was the main reason my mom worried about me: often she would call me and find me here, no matter how late it was.

  The thing was, I loved my work. Being one of the two CEOs in one of the fastest growing tech companies in New York was and had always been, a dream come true. Although I’d never been in it for the money—I had been just a nerdy MIT graduate, who had happened to strike gold with his best friend, turning us both into millionaires almost overnight. I liked the simple things in life: all I needed was a comfortable house to live in and maybe a nice car or two. Not that I even drove mine on a regular basis—I preferred to ride my bike to the office.

  Finally, I decided on the next task and got started on it. To me, work was effortless and enjoyable, although time consuming. My mom struggled with understanding that: she wanted me to find happiness, but for the most part, I considered myself happy. I was the type of person who liked to stick to themselves, and always had been. An introvert at heart.

  Being by myself came naturally to me, because from early on I learned that all of my relationships had a due date. To save myself the unnecessary pain, I stopped trying to make friends everytime we relocated. It was simply easier that way and I was content with my bike and video games.

  Luckily, my father seemed to understand me a bit more. We had always been quite similar: quiet and ambitious. Meeting my mom had been one of the best things that had happened to him, though. He had found his other half in her.

  It only took me a few minutes to
finish the first thing on my list, after which I checked it off and moved onto the next one. If I kept up this pace, it wouldn’t take long for me to finish everything.

  “Lucas, I’m heading off. You coming?” Xavier Williams, my business partner and best friend poked his head through my partly-opened door.

  “Not yet, I’m gonna finish up here. I want to get this proposal done so we can move ahead with it next week,” I grinned at him.

  Xavier stepped inside, giving me a thumbs up. “Awesome! I would stay and help you finish faster, but I promised Lily I’d take her out to dinner,” he said with an apologetic look on his face.

  “Don’t worry about it, I won’t be long either. You go out and have a great time with your fiancée. I got this,” I told him encouragingly.

  With his short and muscular build, he jumped up excitedly in the air and let out a hearty laugh when he landed. “Decent, I owe you one Lu! Enjoy the weekend!”

  Xavier was all smiles when he waved and walked out the door. A few seconds later, I heard the elevator ping, signalling his exit.

  I’d moved to the states when I’d gotten accepted to MIT, leaving my parents behind in Europe. Xavier and I had both majored in computer engineering, and after bumping into each other at the library on multiple occasions, we decided to start studying together. After a while, we’d discovered that we had more in common than we’d originally thought: we both had struggled with the feeling of not really belonging anywhere. I was a third culture kid and Xavier came from a mixed background: he had an African American mother and a white father. That had been the start of our friendship, which later turned into us becoming business partners, and finding success together.

  I double checked my to-do list and after realizing that I had done everything in need of doing, turned off my laptop and packed it into my backpack. I grabbed my keys from the side table and made my way into the elevator. Once it reached the ground floor and the doors slid open, I walked over to my bike that I had hidden behind a counter. Out on the street I climbed onto it and started towards my destination The second best part of my day after work itself, was my daily bike rides.