Building Something Hot Read online

  BUILDING SOMETHING HOT

  by

  STEPHANIE NICOLE

  OTHER BOOKS

  Taste of Love

  Out of the Friend Zone

  Miles of Pleasure

  Building Something Hot

  Note: This book was based on a previous story named ‘Big Tex’. It has been edited and revised for content/grammar.

  Copyright © Stephanie Nicole 2013. All Rights Reserved.

  Cover Art and Design by Humble Nations

  Book Formating Services Provided by Brad Wilson KBG Authors Ecosystem

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, either by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is for a reviewer who may quote brief passages in the review. This publication is presented to you for informational purposes only and is not a substitution for any professional advice.

  Table of Contents

  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

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  OTHER BOOKS BY STEPHANIE NICOLE

  Chapter One

  “Mom, I don’t see why you feel the need to move all the way to Texas!” Briella stared at her mother. In all her twenty-four years, she had never faced something that made her so angry and so sad at the same time.

  “Honey, I just need to get away from all the memories here. You father has been dead for over two years now, and I need to move on. I feel like if I don’t leave, I will forever be stuck in his shadow. I have some friends there, and I have the opportunity to run my own business. It’s just something I need to do,” Charlee explained reasonably to her daughter. “Besides, you have your own life now.”

  Briella sighed. “I know I don’t come over often Mom, but I don’t get a lot of time off from work. I guess I’ve been comforted knowing that if I need to come see you, you’re in easy reach. Texas is so far away from New York!” Briella threw up her hands. “Why do you want to move out there with all those hicks? You know what they say: ‘There’s only steers and queers in Texas’!”

  “Briella Ashley Fox!” her mother snapped. “Don’t you dare talk like that! How rude to make such generalizations. Besides, Texas is full of southern gentlemen. I’m sure you’d find their charm captivating.”

  “Mom, I’m happy enough with Jameson. I just don’t want you to leave me,” Briella replied. She got up from her mother’s kitchen table, walked to the living room and threw herself on the couch, burying her head in the throw pillows. She was acting like a child and she knew it, but she was too heartbroken to care.

  “Briella, we have always been close, and we always will be,” her mother soothed. “I’m sorry this upsets you, but the distance won’t affect our love.” Charlee sat on the edge of the couch next to her daughter. “I would love it if you and your friends could help me move down there. Maybe it will help you with this transition.”

  “Even Jameson can come?” Briella asked, her voice muffled by the pillows.

  “Ha! Can that pretty boy pick up any boxes? He might break a nail,” Charlee laughed. “But yes, he is welcome to come with us. And Mila too. I will pay for them.”

  Briella rolled over to look at her mother. “Mom, don’t make fun of my boyfriend. Just because he has a pretty boy image doesn’t mean he won’t help with the move.”

  Charlee looked at her daughter with sympathy and wiped the tears from her cheeks, just as she had when Briella got upset over a fight with her friends or got hurt on the playground. She knew that moving was going to be hard on both her and her daughter, but she needed to get out from under the memories. Besides that, Charlee would finally be able to reconnect with some old friends who had drifted to the nicer climate, and she needed that quite a bit right now.

  Charlee was excited about taking over the architecture firm that her uncle had bequeathed to her in his will. She had rarely seen him since her teens, but he had heard rave reviews of her work through the family and through architectural magazines. He apparently decided that the business he had built from the ground up would remain in good hands with his niece running it.

  “You know, honey, you could always come and work for me. From what I hear, the firm needs some new talented architects,” Charlee told her daughter.

  “Yeah, right! When pigs fly, Mom!” Briella shook her head vehemently to make her point. “First of all, I don’t want to leave New York. Second of all, I think it might be uncomfortable working together. Besides, I am doing just fine where I am. My boss has been fairly impressed with my work lately.”

  “I know, I know. I just hope you understand I’m not doing this to hurt you. I’m going to miss you too. Now go round up your friends and tell them to take some vacation time to move your poor, lonely, old mother to the Deep South!” Charlee playfully pushed her daughter off the couch.

  One short month later, Briella stared out the passenger side window as they drove down a residential street. The neighborhood was much more spacious than her mom’s old stomping grounds in New York. The houses were a lot bigger, and the yards stretched endlessly. It was certainly quieter here, and definitely warmer.

  Looks like Mom isn’t going to have it too bad after all. This place looks like it suits her. Briella would never admit the thoughts going through her head. She sighed as they pulled into a long and winding driveway.

  “Here we are!” Charlee yelled excitedly from the driver’s seat. She pulled the rental car into the circular part of the driveway in front of the house. Her own car would arrive later in the day with the movers, then she would let Briella use the rental.

  “Wow Mrs. Fox! This place is huge and it’s oh so gorgeous!” raved Mila, Briella’s best friend. “You must have spent a mint on it!”

  Charlee laughed. “Yeah, it was pretty expensive, but I can’t run my own architecture firm and have a dump to live in, now can I?”

  She got out of the car and turned to the others. Briella had never seen her so excited. “Come on, let’s go in!”

  Mila followed right behind Charlee, while Briella hung back a little to wait for Jameson to get out of the car. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the open front door.

  “Easy, girl! You’ll pull my arm out of its socket,” Jameson said to Briella, jerking his arm out of her grasp. “Damn, it’s so hot here, it’s a good thing I used extra strength mousse in my hair this morning.”

  Briella shot Jameson a look of disgust. “You really are worse than a girl. Let’s just go so we can get inside to the air conditioning.” She disappeared into the house.

  Charlee gave her daughter and the two others a tour of the five bedrooms, three baths, massive great room and all the other impressive aspects of the house. Everyone was rightfully impressed, even the snobby Jameson. He was just happy to be inside where the weather didn�
��t affect his hair.

  After Charlee had finished the tour, the movers arrived and started unloading. Briella and Mila went out to the truck and grabbed some boxes to help the movers, while Charlee stayed inside to direct the traffic on where each box belonged.

  Jameson meanwhile, went out to the car, grabbed his overnight bag and headed upstairs to take a shower. His hands never touched a box that day.

  Chapter Two

  Jameson flew back to New York the next day. He wasn’t helping much with the move anyway. It seemed like all he did while he was there was complain and get in the way, so the girls were secretly pleased he was out of their hair.

  To reward the girls for working so hard, Charlee treated them to a night on the town, beginning with dinner at the best Italian restaurant in town. To an innocent observer, it would seem that three friends were out on the town instead of a mother, her daughter, and her daughter’s best friend. Charlee was 56 years old, but no one would ever guess her age. She was beautiful, with her shoulder length light brown hair, her green eyes, and her slim build. Mother Nature had treated her well and left her face quite youthful. Her friends always joked they were going to take her picture to their plastic surgeons so they could end up looking like her.

  Briella was the spitting image of her mother: the same color eyes and hair, only her hair was longer and flowed down to the middle of her back. Though Briella was thin, she was very toned, and carried a well defined figure. Briella was not only beautiful on the outside, she was blessed on the inside as well. She would do almost anything for her friends and family, and was loyal almost to a fault. Charlee was proud of her funny, intelligent, and sensitive daughter, as was her father until the day he died.

  Mila was quite pretty, though she emanated a different style than the mother-daughter combo she accompanied. Her black hair and blue eyes contrasted to those of Briella and Charlee, and though she wasn’t overweight, she had more womanly, softer curves.

  The three women enjoyed their dinner, then decided to head to one of the bars in the small town. “From what I hear, this is one of the best bars in the area. It’s small and quaint, but fun nonetheless. Although, if you two want to drive into the city, we can go to a bigger bar,” Charlee told the two other girls.

  “No Mom, this will be fine,” Briella assured her. “I don’t think any of us would make it if we had to drive a half an hour there and another back after working so hard today. Let’s just stay in town. Maybe we’ll go into the city another night.”

  When Mila and Briella walked through the doors of the bar, they stopped in their tracks. There was sawdust and what looked like peanut shells littering the floors, bull’s horns and armadillo skeletons on the walls, and country music twanging through the air. On the dance floor, people were forming lines, moving in sync together, wearing Wrangler jeans and button down shirts, flashy cowboy hats and boots.

  “Well, ladies, looks like we’ve found ourselves a gen-u-ine honkey-tonk,” Briella said, with an exaggerated southern accent. All three ladies laughed.

  Briella looked around for another moment while her mother and friend walked toward the bar. Looks like I am going to need plenty of alcohol to get through this night, she sighed to herself as she followed.

  After the ladies bought their drinks, they found an empty table and sat down. “Don’t look so glum, Briella. This place isn’t that bad. Loosen up and you might actually enjoy it,” Charlee said.

  “Sorry, Mom, but this isn’t exactly the type of atmosphere I am used to. You may enjoy it, but I don’t really care for the whole redneck ambiance. I like clubs, I like cities, and I like intelligent people. I just can’t see myself enjoying anything about Texas.”

  “Well, I am here with an open mind, so don’t ruin my good time,” Charlee snapped at her daughter.

  Just then, a man walked over to their table and asked Charlee to dance. She smiled and took his hand as he led her onto the dance floor.

  “You know, I agree that this place is pretty lame,

  Mila said. “I couldn’t imagine living here, but your mom is obviously enjoying it, so try not to ruin it for her.”

  “I know, it’s just hard,” Briella whined. “I can’t fathom why she would like this after living in New York all her life. I mean, look at these people. They are all lost lambs, following the leader on the dance floor. It’s really sad and pitiful.”

  “Well, maybe we should just make the most of it. Come on now, let’s get drunk. Even though the atmosphere is different, the alcohol is still the same!” Mila shouted as she jumped out of her seat. Both girls headed to the bar for some more drinks.

  “We’ll have four shots of Dr. Magillicutty, two red-headed sluts, and two Bud Lights please,” Briella barked at the bartender.

  The man looked at Briella with pure confusion on his face. “Huh? Red-headed slut? Dr. Who?”

  “Oh, man. Can this place get any worse?” Briella asked Mila.

  “Okay, do you have any Tequila Rose?” Mila asked the bartender slowly, as if she was talking to someone from a foreign country.

  “Um, is that the pink stuff?” he asked Mila.

  “Yes, it’s the pink stuff, looks like strawberry milk,” she told the bartender and he nodded his head. “Okay, give us 6 shots of that and 4 Bud Lights.”

  She turned to Briella, who had her head in her hands. “It could be worse; at least we are only visiting!”

  Briella nodded and paid the bartender when he brought the drinks over. “I’d like to propose a toast…” Briella raised her first shot, then Mila did the same. “Women have many faults, men have only two…everything they say and everything they do.” The girls clinked their shot glasses together, swallowed the liquid inside and then slammed them back on the table in unison.

  “Wow, quite impressive. Looks like ya’ll have quite a load of drinks in front of you. Ya’ll think you can handle all that?” They looked up to see a man of about thirty, with black hair and green eyes smiling at them from under his cowboy hat. He had a pretty impressive build, but was dressed in the local uniform, with his Wranglers and cowboy boots.

  Mila and Briella looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

  “What, you think we can’t keep up with you, Country Boy?” Briella asked.

  “Oh, ladies, ya’ll have no idea. Not to be rude, but I doubt ya’ll could ever keep up with my drinking skills,” the man challenged.

  Briella called the bartender over, and ordered three shots of Tequila Rose and two beers. She handed him his first shot and said, “We’re one ahead of you, you’re on your own for this one.”

  He took the shot and slammed it easily.

  “Girly stuff!” he announced.

  “Well, seems like they don’t know how to mix drinks in this back woods establishment! We tried to get some better stuff, but it was a no go,” Briella snapped. “Let’s go, next two shots together!”

  After the shots were gone, they started on their beers. “I’m Kason Harris, by the way,” he said to his two drinking competitors.

  “I’m Mila, this is Briella.-Can I ask what you two are doing in these parts? Ya’ll definitely don’t seem like southern girls,” Kason asked.

  Mila waited for Briella to answer, but she chose to ignore Kason, so Mila answered for her. “Briella’s mom just moved into town, and we’re here to help her get settled in. We’re from New York, and can’t wait to get back there!”

  “Interesting. Sounds like ya’ll aren’t exactly having a good time.”

  “No really? What made you think that?” Briella asked as she finished her beer with one big gulp.

  “Yikes, you’ve got a sharp tongue, don’t ya?” Kason drawled. “I bet ya’ll just don’t like it because you haven’t had anyone show ya around the right way. I could take you under my wing and give you a tour if ya’ll want.”

  “Time for more shots!” Briella said.

  “I’ll take that as a no,” Kason said.

  By the end of the night, both girls were drunk a
nd finally enjoying themselves. Kason was buzzed, not quite drunk. He had to admit, the girls had given him a run for his money. He’d never seen any woman keep up with him when drinking, and he was quite impressed.

  After hanging out with Kason all night, the girls decided that he was actually pretty sophisticated, and they agreed to meet him there again the next night for a rematch. He left in a cab, and the girls went off in search of Charlee. When they found her, she was surrounded by a group of men, and was clearly enjoying the attention. She decided to leave and drive the girls home before they passed out.

  All in all, it was a fun night out for the three women - even if it had been in the middle of redneck hell.

  Chapter Three

  The girls spent the next day helping Charlee finish unpacking. The house was really shaping up and already starting to look like a home. There was plenty of space that had yet to be filled, but Charlee would enjoy taking care of that in the months to come. When the last box was finally emptied, all three women gave a yell of victory and collapsed on the living room furniture.

  “So, do you girls have plans for tonight?” Charlee asked.

  “Yeah, we’re going back to that bar to meet up with Briella’s new boyfriend,” Mila said. Charlee looked at Briella with curious eyes and saw her jaw drop.

  “What? I thought Country Boy was your new man,” Mila teased.

  Please, I have Jameson,” Briella said, shocked at what her friend had said.

  “Yeah, right. Country Boy was drooling over you all night. He so wants you, and I think deep down you want him,” Mila shot back.

  “Um, thanks but no thanks. I like my boys citified,” Briella huffed.

  “Wow, you made friends already. I can tell you’ll be the next to move down here,” Charlee jumped in on the teasing.