Scorned: Laws of Life Collection

By Donna Mercer

Online Dating isn’t for the weak.

You must have a take charge attitude. You must be willing to go to the limits to get your man, including wading through a lot of bull to find the one that is right for you.

That is exactly what Ebony Archer did. She climbed into the trenches of online dating and scored big. She took the risk of meeting Demetrius Papadakis in person pretty sure that he was her Mr. Right.

Wrong. Wrong. She was so Very Wrong.

Ebony has been stood up for the first, and last time by a man she thought she had truly connected with. Done with the emotionless, uncaring world of online dating, she decides to confront the hot firefighter who screwed up her date night. Seeing him in person, smiling flirtatiously at her spurred her anger, sparking her temper, making it impossible to control her emotions. Her poor impulse control led to her making a lasting impression on him with a solid right hook.
Demetrius was surprised when a fiery beauty showed up and assaulted him at the firehouse he volunteered at. Never before had a woman flown into his life so violently leaving skid marks on his heart and a burning sensation in his groin from the kick she landed there. He quickly discovered that the fiery beauty had every right to be pissed off, just not at him. It turns out, someone was using his likeness to trick her, for months.

Demetrius will use any excuse to keep this intriguing ball of passion in his life even the one of stopping the catfisher that is using his name to trick unsuspecting women. Working with Ebony, he hopes to track down the catfisher ruining his good name while wooing Ebony into his bed.

Ebony tries to ignore the passion that flares up between her and Demetrius. She needs to focus on reaching her goal. To find the person who has been toying with her and teaching them what happens when you screw with a woman SCORNED.

****Part of the Laws of Life Collection | Contemporary Romance | HEA****

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donna Mercer
• Release date: Jul 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463998625

Donna Mercer

Hi Everyone and thank you for stopping by my page. A little bit about myself. I have been married for over 20 years which is totally amazing to members of my family who had a bet on my wedding day that it would not last beyond two years. Suckers!! I have two kids that have made it to the age of 18. Yeah me!! I have been writing all of my life, but have never shared any of my writing with anyone beyond my family. I wrote my first romance novel when I was in junior high school and gave it to my English teacher to read. She told me to stick with something I know. Ever since then I have kept my writing to myself. What changed? When my oldest was going to graduate from high school one of the things I did was to write a letter to her future self. I just wrote what I felt, but it was so liked by her teacher that she stated that I should become a writer. I decided to stop hiding my desire to write and to just go for it. So congrats on joining this adventure with me I am glad you are along for the ride.

Book preview

She’d been played.

Ebony Archer sipped her drink, ignoring the pitying looks the bartender kept sliding her way.

The longer Ebony sat on the bar stool nursing her drink, the more obvious it became that she was the victim of a scheming man.

Fucking men, you couldn’t trust them for anything.

She continued to sip her drink, looking around the bar at the happy couples snuggling close together. The friends out enjoy each other’s company. The men and women having a great time on date night.

She could’ve been one of these people. She should’ve been one of these people. Instead, she was sitting here becoming more and more bitter by the moment.

She should’ve known it was too good to be true. No fucking panty-dropping hot looking man would need to be on a dating website. He probably had to beat women off with a stick.

This ended now.

No man was going to get the better of her.

She wasn’t going to become one of those weepy women who would go home and drown in her emotional tears while lamenting what was wrong with her.

There was nothing wrong with her.

That was something that Demetrius Papadakis was about to find out.

He was about to learn what happens when dealing with a woman scorned.

Ebony wasn’t sure that she was doing the right thing. She had spent all night cleaning her condo, trying to work out her anger. Didn’t men realize how hard it was for a woman to put herself out there?

Didn’t men realize just how shallow the dating pool was?

Maybe that was the problem? She continued to pace in front of the fire station. Men knew both these things and felt that it gave them the right to treat women, however they wanted. Her hurt feelings had landed her in the one place she probably shouldn’t be. Outside of Demetrius’ place of employment.

Pacing.

Questioning herself.

Ebony knew that she wasn’t a shy person by any means. But her heart wasn’t so hardened that it didn’t get hurt. It wasn’t just her pride that was feeling the pain of being stood up, but it was also her self-worth. No one wanted to be made to feel that they were not worth a person’s time for a phone call. Hell, she would have taken a text message.

Hey Ebony, got caught up. Maybe another time.

~Demetrius

Wham. Bam. Thank you, ma’am, and she could have been home with her two friends Ben and Jerry instead of wasting her time in a bar waiting on a guy who was never going to show. Ebony thought that she and Demetrius really had connected during their online conversations. They had had so much in common. They enjoyed the same movies, listened to some of the same music, and even ate at some of the same restaurants. Heck, they even had the same sense of humor. She had put herself out there and invited him into her life as much a person could online, and he just turned around and shat on her.

If she truly had not liked him, she knew she wouldn’t be outside of the fire station waiting for one of the firefighters to let him know that she was there. She would have chalked it up to experience and moved on, but something deep inside of her wasn’t allowing that. Maybe it was the feelings she had developed for him. Maybe it was the sexual attraction she felt when she stared at his picture. She couldn’t define it, but it was enough for her to step out and take a chance. A chance that stood her up in a bar alone.

No, she was in the right place. Now if she could only control the anger, she was feeling ready to have a decent conversation with Mr. Demetrius Papadakis. He better have a hell of a good explanation for why he stood her up.

Hey Demi, Demetrius, pulled his head out of his locker where he was storing his freshly cleaned fire gear. There is a very hot piece asking for you up front. Manny, the Latino Lothario yelled at him. You better hurry up before Reggie sets eyes on her. You know he likes the thick ones.

Thanks, man, Demetrius wasn’t expecting any visitors at work. His family knew that he was coming by the restaurant like he usually did after finishing a volunteer shift. He wasn’t currently dating anyone, so it wasn’t a girlfriend stopping by. It was probably somebody who he’d rescued just coming by to say thanks. That happened every once in a while.

Ahh hell, the Demi-god got another one on the hook. Reggie, one of the permanent firefighters, shouted out to the other guys in the locker room where they stored their turn out gear.

Demetrius shrugged, Don’t hate the player, hate the game. Laughter filled the room. He loved the comradery of the job, risking your life side by side building a bond, similar to brotherhood.

C’mon man tell us your secret. What do you keep doing to get these fine bitches to interact with you? Reggie turned to Demetrius, It must be that Greek Momma’s boy routine.

Well Reggie, Demetrius turned to the large black man whose locker was next to his. They had been friends since Demetrius came onto the fire crew as a volunteer, maybe if you stop referring to women as bitches you might get one to stick around for longer than a minute?

I only call them that because I don’t know their names, Reggie informed him as if it was obvious.

"Well he is kinda ADORABLE," Josh’s imitation was fairly spot on of the high-pitched voice that the last woman came around looking for Demetrius. The phantom stress of the past echoed when he even included the giggling. It had been nonstop, and it was what finally drove Demetrius to break up with her. It gave Demetrius horrifying flashbacks.

Fuck you, Josh, Demetrius flashed him the finger without stopping his task, the laughter flowed into a roar.

No—no, it’s the black-haired Greek one that keeps coming by with the food. What’s her name? Reggie thought. Ellie…Emma…, He snapped his fingers, Elpida. That’s it. That is Demetrius’ new hot flame.

Are you kidding? Demetrius demanded with a shudder, She is way too much under my mother’s thumb. He shook his head at Reggie. I need a woman with something resembling a backbone to stand up to my mother. That is the one thing that Elpida doesn’t have.

Demetrius slammed the door of his locker, rolling his eyes at the laughter and headed to the open bay doors. As I said, don’t hate the player, hate the game. Can I help it if women love me? He gave them a cheeky grin that flashed his woman attracting dimples at them. He could hear the lockers slamming behind him as his nosy co-workers came to see who had shown up now. If they didn’t have each other’s dates to rib each other for, the firehouse would be boring. What could he say? They were an easily entertained group of men.

A woman stood in the sunshine. Heel impatiently tapping as she waited just outside of the fire truck bay. Civilians were not allowed within the firehouse. That rule helped to prevent sleepovers.

Squinting, he took in the fresh, clean air of the beautiful Sunday morning. The sun was already warming up. It was set to be a great day. He would grab a few hours of sleep after getting some breakfast and then meet up with his family for their weekly family dinner. Being a part of a Greek family had its perks, there was always someone around to relax with.

After the weekend he had, he needed a break. It had been full of fires. Summertime brought out all sorts of wannabe pit masters who tried different ways of outdoor cooking. Some of them weren’t as successful as they thought they would be.

It must be his lucky day; he watched the foot tapping a staccato rhythm. Whoever this was, Manny was right. She was a thick one. Curves for days. The sight of her sent heat through his body, his body agreed with his assessment, she was someone who would give a great ride. He wouldn’t need to