Blindsided By You

By Lexxie Couper

He's a cowboy from the Outback. She's a journalist intern. Together, they are explosive!

Baz Kerrigan is traveling the world, tying up loose ends for his uncle—the man who raised him and the only family he’s got. A guy from a small Outback town, Baz is ready to cut loose, knowing any moment he’ll be required to take over the running of the pub his uncle owns. No strings. All fun. That’s Baz’s current life philosophy.But then he walks into an Irish pub in Baltimore, and everything changes.

Hayley Miller loves Pat’s Pub. It’s like a second home for her, and not just because her cousin, Natalie, married into the Collins family. The people she meets in Pat’s Pub are amazing, and as a journalist intern, Hayley is very much about meeting and observing people. She’s not prepared however, for her reaction to the Aussie cowboy who’s in the pub, looking for Nat.

Hayley’s never been a fan of one-night stands, but she’ll happily make an exception for Baz Kerrigan.

But what happened when one night isn’t enough for either of them? Especially when Baz will be returning to Australia very very soon…

Blindsided By You from International Award Winning erotic romance author Lexxie Couper, returns to her bestselling Outback Skies series where an Aussie Cowboy takes on Boston and the woman who just blindsided him.

Previously Published: (2017) Kindle Worlds | Original Title: Outback Wild (Wild Irish Universe)

Books in the Outback Skies series:
1. Bound By You
2. Breathless for You
3. Burn for You
4. Bare for You
5. Better With You
6. Blindsided By You

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Boutiques
• Release date: Sep 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781946363916

Lexxie Couper

Lexxie Couper started writing when she was six and hasn't stopped since. She's not a deviant, but she does have a deviant's imagination and a desire to entertain readers with her words. Add the two together and you get erotic romances that can make you laugh, cry, shake with fear or tremble with desire. Sometimes all at once. When she's not submerged in the worlds she creates, Lexxie's life revolves around her family: a husband who thinks she's insane, an indoor cat who likes to stalk shadows, and her daughters, who both utterly captured her heart and changed her life forever. Contact Lexxie at [e-mail], follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lexxie_couper or visit her at www.lexxiecouper.com where she occasionally makes a fool of herself on her blog.

Book preview

Excerpt

She’d never been so glad she lived so close to Pat’s Pub.

Five minutes more of walking silently, of glancing at each other and grinning like two kids getting up to mischief, and they arrived at her apartment building.

The trip up to her apartment on the fourth floor took forever. Or at least it felt that way to Hayley, thanks to Mr. Peabody—the building’s resident insomniac—joining them in the elevator. They listened to him complain about not being able to sleep until the elevator stopped on her floor.

Milo made some hot milk, Baz said to Mr. Peabody as Hayley pulled him through the open door. That’ll help you sleep, mate.

Mr. Peabody frowned. What made some hot milk?

The doors closed before Baz could answer. Hayley cocked an eyebrow at him over her shoulder. You don’t engage with Mr. Peabody at 12:47 a.m. in an elevator, Baz. Not if you want to get away to have crazy sex with me.

He chuckled. The fact he was letting her tug him along without any macho I’m-in-charge alpha crap made the delicious tension in her core flutter.

She’d avoided the whole rebound-sex thing after Dwayne dumped her, telling herself she didn’t need it, but whoa baby, if Baz Kerrigan was her rebound, she was diving in feet first.

I want nothing more than to have crazy sex with you, gorgeous.

She smiled. You don’t have to flatter me, Baz. Tonight, I’m a sure thing.

He tightened his fingers on hers, bringing her to a halt. Hey.

She frowned. Her pulse thumped hard in her neck. What?

Sliding his hands over her hips, he drew her body to his. "I’m not bullshitting just to get laid. You are gorgeous. The very second I saw you back in the pub, I thought so. And now, after talking to you, getting to know you…you’re more gorgeous."

Oh lord, was it possible to fall in love so quickly? Or have an orgasm just from spoken words?

Was it?

She stared up at him, throat tight. I want to kiss you so badly right now.

His lips curled, even as a worried frown dipped his eyebrows. What’s stopping you?

My apartment is that door, directly behind me, and I fear if I start kissing you here, we won’t make it inside before—

He scooped her up in his arms and strode the few remaining feet to her door.

Twenty-six second later, they were inside.

He kicked the door shut, his gaze locked on her. Against the wall, on the sofa, on the dining table, kitchen counter, or in your bed?

Her sex constricted. Oh, I like the counter idea.

Done. He crossed her small living room space to her just-as-small kitchen, and deposited her ass on its smooth, granite surface.

She wrapped her thighs around his hips, locking her ankles at the small of his back as their mouths clashed in a hungry kiss. The hard ridge of his erection pressed to her pussy and she wished to hell she’d not worn panties to the pub. But then, how was she to know she was going to meet an Australian sex god when she’d gotten dressed that morning?

Blindsided By You

Outback Skies, Book 6

Lexxie Couper

Published 2018 by Book Boutiques.

ISBN: 978-1-946363-91-6

Copyright © 2018, Lexxie Couper.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Book Boutiques.

This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, locales, or events is wholly coincidental. The names, characters, dialogue, and events in this book are from the author’s imagination and should not to be construed as real.

Manufactured in the USA.

Email [e-mail] with questions, or inquiries about Book Boutiques.

Blurb

Baz Kerrigan is traveling the world, tying up loose ends for his uncle—the man who raised him and the only family he’s got. A guy from a small Outback town, Baz is ready to cut loose, knowing any moment he’ll be required to take over the running of the pub his uncle owns. No strings. All fun. That’s Baz’s current life philosophy.

But then he walks into an Irish pub in Baltimore, and everything changes.

Hayley Miller loves Pat’s Pub. It’s like a second home for her, and not just because her cousin, Natalie, married into the Collins family. The people she meets in Pat’s Pub are amazing, and as a journalist intern, Hayley is very much about meeting and observing people. However, she’s not prepared for her reaction to the Aussie cowboy who’s in the pub, looking for Nat.

Hayley’s never been a fan of one-night stands, but she’ll happily make an exception for Baz Kerrigan.

But what happens when one night isn’t enough for either of them? Especially when Baz will be returning to Australia very very soon…

Previously Published

(2017) Kindle Worlds | Original Title: Outback Wild (Wild Irish Universe

Dedication

To Blue. AKA, Mari Carr. For asking me to be a part of this amazing adventure of hers. And for being my friend.

Acknowledgements

Cover Artist: Valerie Tibbs, Tibbs Design

Author’s Note

This work has been made possible by a license from Mari Carr. All characters, scenes, events, plots, and related elements appearing in the original Wild Irish series remain the exclusive copyrighted and trademarked property of Mari Carr and her affiliates and assigns, and are used herein with the express permission of Mari Carr.

Chapter 1

"I feel like I’m right in the middle of a living joke right now."

Baz Kerrigan turned to the hulking Brit standing beside him and frowned. Why?

Neville Ledger smirked. An Australian, an Englishman and a Canadian walk into a bar…

On Neville’s other side, Peter Tremblay—the Canadian component of the joke—snorted. An Australian, an Englishman and a Canadian walk into an American version of an Irish pub, you mean?

Baz chuckled, scanning the muted interior of Pat’s Pub. It looks alright. Reckon whoever this Pat is, he knows a thing or two about pubs. And the Irish.

Says the Aussie born and raised in an Outback drinking establishment. Neville clapped Baz on the shoulder. Now remember, lads, whoever scores last pays for tonight’s accommodations. Ready?

Ready. Peter rubbed his hands, checking out his surroundings.

Baz shook his head. I’m not here to score, mate. Not tonight, at least. I’m here—

To deliver your dying uncle’s last wish. Neville shook his shoulder. That’s not going to stop you getting laid, Kerrigan.

"Uncle Lack would want you to get laid," Peter suggested, tracking the path of a rangy redhead with broad shoulders, a trim ginger beard, and tight jeans across the pub’s dance floor.

Lacky, Baz corrected with another chuckle. "Uncle Lacky. And he’s not dying, he’s just…tying up some loose threads."

Peter smirked at him. I plan to do some tying up of my own tonight. Don’t wait up.

And with that, he strode across the floor towards the redhead.

Neville laughed. Game on, Kerrigan.

Baz shook his head, his own laugh low. Knock your socks off, you pommy bastard.

Neville squeezed his shoulder one last time and, gaze locking on a petite brunette sitting at the bar, ditched him.

Baz smiled. His traveling companions were, if nothing else, predictable. At every new town, in every new bar the three of them had arrived in since meeting up at Sydney Airport a month ago, Nev and Pete could be relied on to seduce their way into someone’s bed.

Baz never lack for opportunity either, but his heart just wasn’t in it at the moment.

Wild, uninhibited, no-strings sex was all well and good, but this trip was about tying up loose ends for his uncle.

Something felt off about fucking his way around the world while Lacky—the man who’d raised him since he was a toddler—was fighting cancer.

So far, in the six weeks since leaving the small Outback town he lived in, he’d delivered one of Lacky’s old Vietnam war medals to a doctor in Perth, a pencil sketch of a child to a retired soldier in Christchurch, New Zealand, a sealed envelope to a teacher in Austria, a single white rose to the daughter of a deceased general of the Japanese navy, and now here in Baltimore, USA, he was—he hoped—about to deliver the last of Lacky’s items.

Whoever Lachlan Lacky Kerrigan was before he’d become Baz’s sole caregiver, he’d lived a mysterious life.

And a secretive one. No matter how many times Baz asked him about it, all Lacky would do was smile and touch the side of his broken nose.

One of these days Baz was getting answer.

Can I help you?

The soft female voice, laced with a curious mischief, made him jump.

I mean, the young woman standing in front of him frowned, even as her lips—totally kissable lips—curled into a small smile, "you are standing in the doorway, after all. Blocking anyone wanting to get in. Her smile turned playful. Or out."

Baz gazed at her, taking in her lush curves, thigh-length floaty black dress that made those curves completely sinful, wavy blonde hair falling about her shoulders, and glacier-blue eyes. Bloody hell, she was gorgeous.

She’s trying to tell you to move, buddy.

Baz jumped—again—at the gruff growl directly behind him.

An older man about his height, wearing a cap that read Baltimore Ravens, half scowled, half smiled at him.

Ah, shit. Baz stumbled aside. Sorry, mate.

Baltimore Ravens raised his eyebrows. Australian?

Yeah. Baz grinned. Baz Kerrigan. Howya going?

Baz?

The playful laughter in the gorgeous blonde’s voice made Baz’s blood thicken. Grow hot.

Not here for sex, Baz. Not here for sex.

Is that really your name?

He grinned at her, doing his best to keep his focus on her face. Checking her out again would only mess with his resolve to concentrate on Lacky’s wishes. He needed to find Natalie Collins, whoever she was, and give her the camera. Then he, Nev and Pete were heading to Vegas for a couple of nights—where he planned never to pay for accommodations.

I was christened Bartholomew McKenzie Kerrigan, but everyone calls me Baz.

Once again, the woman’s laughter played hell with his body. And libido. Bartholomew McKenzie Kerrigan. Her clear blue eyes twinkled with devilish mirth. Did your parents not like you?

Wouldn’t know. He gave her a lopsided smile and shrugged. They buggered off and left me when I was a baby.

Both Americans stared at him, their expressions stunned.

Ah, shit. Sorry ’bout that. He rubbed at the back of his neck, grin sheepish. I’m a shocker for killing the mood and making things awkward.

The man in the baseball cap frowned. The woman—hell, she truly was gorgeous—blinked.

Hey, listen, he plowed ahead, shifting into recovery mode, I’m actually here looking for someone. Would either of you know a woman called Natalie Collins? I’ve got to give her something.

The woman blinked again, flicking a glance at Mr. Baltimore Ravens.

I do, the man said, stare locked on Baz. Natalie’s my wife. Who the hell are you?

*

Damn, why was her mouth dry?

Watching the Australian turn to Ewan, Hayley licked her lips.

He was hot. Really hot. Really can-I-cover-you-in-melted-chocolate-and-lick-it-off hot. And for some reason, asking about her cousin.

Her