Page 1 of Dating the Bad Boy

CHAPTER 1

ASA

“Asa, you asshole!”

“Shit,” I growl, ducking just in time to miss the breadstick sailing across the diner, aimed directly at my head. It whips end over end, smacking into the back of the booth where my head was before landing on the cracked vinyl beside me.

“Jesus Christ.” Jeremy throws his head back, howling with laughter as my baby sister, Caroline, marches toward us with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face, mad as a fucking hornet. Why? I’m me, so who fucking knows? I piss her off at least once a day, twice on weekends.

She loves the fuck out of me anyway.

“Whatever you’re mad about, can it wait?” I mutter, tossing the breadstick onto the center of the table. “My fucking head hurts, baby sis.”

“Good.” She sniffs, sliding in beside my best friend and her fiancé. About damn time they figured that shit out. Frankly, they were starting to piss me off. She shoots me a dirty glare, tossing her long hair over her shoulder. “If you hadn’t been at the bar all night, you wouldn’t be hungover now.”

“I was working,” I protest. It’s not a lie. Whenever there’s an event, I help with security. Is it my fault if half the town plies me with free drinks to keep me occupied? No. Do I pass them up? Also no. But that’s beside the point. “I’m not hungover. Some chick keeps blowing up my goddamn phone.”

“Why?” Caroline asks. “It’s not like you’re civilized enough to date.”

“That’s what I said,” Jeremy mutters, earning a giggle from my sister.

“Uh, fuck you both. I’m plenty civilized.”

They exchange a look that says they think I’m full of shit. Which may or may not be an accurate assessment. The simple fact is that Icanbe civilized. But my motto was alwaysWhy bother?

Women were problems I didn’t need when I was in the military.

Don’t get me wrong. They’re magical, wonderful, beautiful, worthy creations deserving of adoration and all the best things in life. They just didn’t need to be saddled with a motherfucker who was gone more often than not, on missions he couldn’t talk about.

I was a pain in the ass, set in my ways. I liked what I liked, and what I liked was to be left the fuck alone to my own devices. It’s the sole reason I didn’t date. And believe me, plenty tried.

For years, they tried. And then they got offended when I shot them down. I felt like an asshole for saying no when I wouldn’t have had to say it in the first place if they would have just left me alone. Easy enough solution, right?

Clearly the fuck not, because no one in this part of Texas would leave me be. It drove me up the fucking wall.

Was a little peace too much to ask for when I was home?

Apparently so.

Every woman over the age of fifty tried to hook me up.

Every woman under the age of fifty batted her lashes at me.

I finally wised up to the game. I started annoying the fuck out of everyone. No mama wants her daughter dating a man everyone in town eyes sideways. My plan worked like a fucking charm. Women finally left me alone.

The problem is that it may have worked a little too well.

Because I’m now out of the Army, and it’s been fucking years since I’ve been on a date. Which is precisely what I thought I wanted. Right up until the asshole seated across from me started dating my baby sister. Now, I’m not so sure anymore.

The thought of spending the rest of my life alone suddenly feels… fucking lonely.

“You can’t even spell civilized, Asa.” Caroline snorts, stealing a fry from Jeremy’s plate. She pops it into her mouth, smirking at me. “Clearly, if this girl has a thing for you, she hasn’t met you.”

“She doesn’t have a thing for me,” I growl. “She’s a matchmaker.”

Caroline and Jeremy exchange a look.

I narrow my eyes at them. “Is this going to be a thing now?”

---