One Sexy Mistake

By Sarah Ballance

Olivia Patton’s life just imploded. One night with sexy hacker Grady Donovan seems like the perfect, ego-soothing plan—until an epic snowstorm shuts down the city and thwarts her morning-after escape. Now the only walk-of-shame she'll be taking is right back to Grady's door.

Forced to actually talk, Grady and Olivia realize they can't stand each other. Forget another round in the bedroom—if it wasn't his apartment, she'd shove Grady outside to freeze. But with all the blistering sexual tension flying around, a second night with the hacker might be exactly what she needs...if they don't kill each other first.

Each book in the Chase Brothers series is a standalone, full-length story that can be enjoyed out of order.
Series Order:
Book #1 Five Things I Love About You
Book #2 For Seven Nights Only
Book #3 The Three Week Arrangement
Book #4 The 48 Hour Hook Up
Book #5 One Sexy Mistake

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Nov 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781633758384

Book preview

Table of Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Find love in unexpected places with these satisfying Lovestruck reads…

Sweetly, Deeply, Absolutely

The Right Kind of Guy

Pretend it’s Love

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2016 by Sarah Ballance. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

644 Shrewsbury Commons Ave

STE 181

Shrewsbury, PA 17361

[e-mail]

Lovestruck is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

Edited by Tracy Montoya

Cover design by Bree Archer

Cover art from Shutterstock

ISBN 978-1-63375-838-4

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition November 2016

For Mocha. Sleep well.

Chapter One

Grady Donovan sucked at this hookup thing.

It was 11:00 p.m., he was bored and horny, and most of his previous…assignations with women—whether a friend with benefits or an actual attempt at a relationship—had ended in way too much drama for his taste. After years of careful analysis, he’d come to the conclusion that he wasn’t built for relationships. But a one-nighter? That he could do. With bells on. If she was into that.

The trick was finding a woman who was on the same page emotionally. Tinder had a reputation as a hookup app. So Tinder it was.

Tinder PC, because he was not having a one-night stand with someone without viewing a photo bigger than a postage stamp.

After hours of agonizing over how to best describe himself on his bio, adding and deleting gems like please leave before breakfast and conversation not included, he’d finally nailed it: Frighteningly intelligent single male. Computer geek. No interest in romance but great in the sack. No relationships, please.

Accurate? Definitely. Odds of snagging interest? Nil, in his experience. But, he figured, don’t ask and ye shall not receive. Needless to say, he hadn’t expected a response.

Especially not the one that came through ten minutes later, prompting the mother of all double takes. Olivia’s profile picture was too good to be true.

So was the rest of her. Especially her bio. Hacker girl with a broken heart looking for a boy toy to make it all better. One night, no strings. I get to leave first. Two-minute wonders need not apply.

The irony was strong. As long as she followed through and actually left without asking for his hand in marriage, she was everything he could possibly want in a woman. Scratch that. She was all he could want from a night.

One night.

A beautiful woman who wanted to leave first.

He watched the screen, expecting her to disappear. He was no hardship to look at, but he’d said no romance or relationship, which left him floored that anyone would respond.

Let alone an anyone who was on the same, admittedly unconventional, page. Unless it was a trick.

Suspicion probably shouldn’t have been his first reaction to seeing the incredibly sexy photo pop up on the screen, but with a prank-happy extended family like his—all courtesy of his four brothers-in-law—being trolled was a distinct possibility.

Even via a random hookup app.

A muscle in his jaw jumped, and he realized he was doing this wrong. People were supposed to be all over these connections. Swipe right, get laid, problem solved.

Still there? she typed. Because if that two-minute thing is a deal-breaker, I need to know. At which point I may mock you. Mercilessly.

Grady stared at the newly arrived message, thinking the threat of mockery was the best excuse he’d ever have to bail.

But this was also probably his best chance to score.

Looking at Olivia’s picture, he really didn’t want to give up on the chance. He couldn’t believe his luck. Rich, wavy brown hair tumbled past her shoulders. Eyes sparkled in the same hue. She glowed.

She was definitely too good to be true.

I can guarantee at least three minutes, he wrote, then sat back. There was no good reason a woman like her would need an app, unless it was because she was tired of being hit on for being gorgeous.

Which, frankly, he’d believe.

For the first time in pretty much ever, he wished for more personal communication.

A new message popped up. So what do you have against relationships?

He hesitated over a response. I don’t care for the drama, he typed. Or the rituals. Or the expectations.

Ah, she replied. A girl gets three minutes one night and wants four the next.

Something like that. Actually, it was a lot like that. At one time, he hadn’t hated the idea of a relationship. In fact, all he’d ever wanted was for someone to accept him for who he was, which sounded like a schmaltzy spiel of bullshit, but it was true. He enjoyed going out every now and then, and he’d hold a woman’s purse at the mall if he had to. But having to outdo every other couple on Facebook or Instagram or whatever social media platform was the rage at the moment burned him out.

Permanently.

If being in his own goddamned relationship meant he had to compete with everyone else’s, then he’d be just fine alone.

Except for one teeny caveat.

Sex.

What about you? he asked. Not buying that you can’t get a date.

I don’t want a date. I want sex.

Well, okay then. You could get that from anyone, he responded. Why me?

You’re a mile away. It’s snowing.

You keep impossible standards, he typed back.

And you’re hot, and straightforward. And you did promise great sex.

Anyone can promise that, he noted.

Actually, she replied, I’m pretty sure no self-professed computer geek has ever promised great sex.

He rolled his eyes. And here I was thinking the self-professed hacker would appreciate my skills.

I plan to, she said. For the entire three minutes.

Well, hell. This was the part where he should promise her a few hours, but if she looked anything like her picture, he’d be better off promising her a few rounds. And he could only pray the first one lasted three minutes.

He pulled up her profile again, still suspicious. There wasn’t much there, so the repeated glances were futile.

You don’t seem worried about hooking up with someone you’ve never met, he typed. Are you crazy or just adventurous?

Her answer was immediate. Do you want to find out?

Did he? That was why he was online, though he certainly never expected he’d find anyone like her. She was too perfect—not just physically attractive but also in a field of work closely tied to his own, if there was any truth to the hacker girl statement in her bio. While he didn’t need to have anything in common with Olivia, if they actually had a conversation—versus creepily not speaking at all—there was something to be said for shared interests.

He’d had plenty of dates with women who lectured him about how boring computers were, that he should get out and live a little. These were, of course, the same women who couldn’t peel their eyes from their smartphones, but that point was seldom appreciated when he voiced it.

But it probably didn’t matter. People didn’t use hookup sites in search of sparkling conversation.

Especially not him. He caught himself looking over his shoulder, half expecting to catch one of his brothers-in-law doubled over in laughter on the fire escape.

Instead he got an eyeful of the neighbor’s yellow-eyed, helter-skelter-faced, crooked-fanged mini-wildebeest the old woman called a cat. And yes, he jumped.

Then he swore.

That thing should be in a zoo. Or a freak show.

Behind the questionably feline facade, snow fell. Grady had no idea why that woman let the cat out in this kind of weather, but he wasn’t inclined to let the thing freeze. Even if it was the ugliest, creepiest excuse for a cat he’d ever seen.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Harmon had a habit of smacking him with her purse when her precious Mortimer found his way into Grady’s apartment, which made him wary of rescuing the cat, at least immediately.

He glanced back at his computer. The cursor blinked, and he realized there might very well be an actual woman on the other end,

Reviews for One Sexy Mistake

[pelusa41-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Received an ARC for honest review for netgalley. Really Cute Book. Fell in love With Grady and Olivia. They swore that they could just go in to having a one-night stand with no feeling involved, when both of them were extremely hot, and that pretty flew out of the window when they saw each other, but they were determined to stick to that plan. However, due to extenuating circumstances that was not to be. They had forces of nature working against them. You did understand why both of them were pretty gun shy, and did not want to get into a relationship, and they really did try to work against there mutual attraction. Hell, poor Grady had a secret he was keeping for Olivia, when he discovered who she was, and yet he still couldn't help himself. And then you had poor Olivia, the girl could not catch a break, the betrayal was strong, but she still had such strong feelings. I loved how it truly worked out for them, Grady went above and beyond. He showed he was great boyfriend material and a romantic, when he thought he wasn't. It was wonderful. I hope author now writes about Olivia's roomate! I am just not ready, for this clan to end.

[booksnuggle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"One Sexy Mistake" by Sarah Ballance is book number five in the "Chase Brothers" series. This is Olivia Patton and Grady Donovan's story.I loved the Chase Brothers series. They can be read as a standalone but you are going to want to read their stories! Another winner by Sarah Ballance. She does a great job of incorporating a steamy romance with humor."One Sexy Mistake" by Sarah Ballance is book number five in the "Chase Brothers" series. This is Olivia Patton and Grady Donovan's story.Olivia and Grady have a one night stand. The next morning Olivia tries to slip out while Grady is asleep. Well, that didn't work out for her. Due to an epic snowstorm that has shutdown the city. Olivia is forced to go back to Grady's apartment. The two are forced to spend time together. They discover that they have amazing chemistry but neither one wants a relationship. Will this amazing chemistry turn into more than a hook-up? Grady and Olivia discover that they are connected through circumstances in their past. Will these circumstances bring them closer or destroy what they have started?You will love the banter between Grady and Olivia. I fell in love with their characters. Sarah Ballance does an excellent job grabbing your attention from the beginning to the end.Get comfortable and be prepared for a steamy and funny quick read romance.FYI, includes mature content. I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

[thebookjunkiereads-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Olivia Patton and her one night with sexy Grady Donovan was not quite all she anticipated. This quickie was a better read then her quick attempt to make a break after a one nighter that proves there is more than first impression. Olivia and Donovan have a reason to not like each other. Having to face each other and actually talk to each other brings about issues. This was lite fun read.

[annabastos-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. I want to also thank the publisher for giving me this opportunity.

A 3.5!

Forget the title, this was cute and funny and far from being a mistake!

Olivia and Grady seem to be perfect for each other: all they want is a one-night stand to avoid the complications from their previous relationships. It all goes perfectly fine until Olivia is forbidden from leaving Grady's apartment after being snowed in.

This was a very quick reading, it's short, it's simple and it's interesting. I'm sure if you're the type to do in one seating, you will—it's not my case, though. The couple had great chemistry, and while I didn't expect anything but romance cliches, I had a nice surprise that area but I'd be spoiling you. Let's just say, it was a smart use and even a little nostalgic at times. Actually, I kept thinking this would also make a great movie.

I haven't read the others in this series or even any of this author's previous works. And now I feel like going through everything.

Don't expect anything memorable but for a guilty pleasure I was way past pleased with the book. Romance lovers, just go ahead!

[Deb Pden · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was the last man of the Chase family that wasn't interested in a relationship..but ...this is his story about a one night stand and the Hell Cat from the neighbor next door. The cat was a highlight of the story. Enjoy this short story about Grady, his sister Estelle married Crosby.

[nelispelusa · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Received an ARC for honest review for netgalley. Really Cute Book. Fell in love With Grady and Olivia. They swore that they could just go in to having a one-night stand with no feeling involved, when both of them were extremely hot, and that pretty flew out of the window when they saw each other, but they were determined to stick to that plan. However, due to extenuating circumstances that was not to be. They had forces of nature working against them. You did understand why both of them were pretty gun shy, and did not want to get into a relationship, and they really did try to work against there mutual attraction. Hell, poor Grady had a secret he was keeping for Olivia, when he discovered who she was, and yet he still couldn't help himself. And then you had poor Olivia, the girl could not catch a break, the betrayal was strong, but she still had such strong feelings. I loved how it truly worked out for them, Grady went above and beyond. He showed he was great boyfriend material and a romantic, when he thought he wasn't. It was wonderful. I hope author now writes about Olivia's roomate! I am just not ready, for this clan to end.