Fall Away

By Zoe York

Nothing is more awkward than waking up next to a woman whose name you can’t remember...

Navy SEAL Trick Novak knows he needs to find a better cure for his insomnia, but a warm body and a pretty smile worked just fine until he met Gaby Ellis—his latest conquest’s roommate. Now he’s not sleeping, and he’s definitely not getting laid, but that just means he’s got more time to plot ways to win over the beautiful and stubborn kindergarten teacher.

Except maybe falling in love with one who'd rather not know yours.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: May 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094418117

Zoe York

Zoe York lives in London, Ontario with her young family. She has an English degree and works at a university, so it was probably a foregone conclusion that she’d write a romance novel one day. What Once Was Perfect is her debut novel.  

Book preview

teacher.

Chapter One

Nothing is more awkward than waking up next to a woman whose name you can’t remember. Trick Novak should know—this wasn’t his first time. The next five minutes would be a subtle dance of generic statements and sneaky attempts at getting her personal information—hopefully for the second time.

Although it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he hadn’t bothered to get her name the night before.

He racked his brain. He’d been dead-tired. His team had gotten home from a pretty routine extraction mission that had gone off without a hitch. The high of a job well done coupled with Dumbrowski turning twenty-seven meant that everyone had been eager to cut loose.

Before heading to The Wave, a popular bar, the other guys had racked out for a few hours.

Trick had jerked off and taken a hot shower, but sleep had eluded him, as it had for a few months now. So he went out, had a few rounds with the guys, and left with the first soft woman he could find.

He needed to find a better way to deal with insomnia than anonymously fucking his way through the female population of Coronado Beach. It was going to bite him in the ass one of these days.

The blonde with the curvy hips and tiny red panties stirred next to him as her phone let out another quiet bleat. Who has a fucking lamb alarm? He squinted against the midmorning sun and peered around the room. Maybe the same person with white eyelet lace curtains and framed prints of ballerinas on the walls. Okay, so she was a good girl. That could go either way.

She sleepily patted her side table for her phone, hit the snooze button, then rolled toward him, still holding her phone in her hand.

Trick scanned her pretty face as she snuggled deep into her pillow, eyes still shut. A trickle of guilt slid through his gut. He definitely didn’t know her name. And he was pretty sure that it had been her friend who had caught his eye the night before.

Damn.

As a Navy SEAL still looking at more than a decade of service—at a minimum—Trick loved one-night stands. A bit of physical release, a few laughs, a warm bedmate. Zero strings. And since he’d started struggling with sleep, that post-orgasm cuddle was better than Nyquil.

It wasn’t that he was allergic to commitment, but it would take a rare girl to put up with his work schedule. And to find that kind of understanding in a woman with whom he might find the kind of sparks that lasted a lifetime?

He wasn’t holding his breath. If he stumbled across love, he’d take the leap. In the meantime, he was happy with temporary hook-ups.

But he didn’t like the idea that this woman hadn’t had his full attention the night before. And now that he was thinking too damn much, she wasn’t going to have the good kind of attention this morning, either. He needed to make a quick exit and head home.

He snagged her phone out of her hand. No password. Oh, the innocence. He clicked on her Facebook app. He wouldn’t snoop, he just needed her name. Lila Jovan. And her friend’s name was…didn’t matter. Wrenching his thumb away from the screen, he clicked out of the app instead of scrolling down her list of contacts.

For whatever booze-and-fatigue-induced reasons, he’d chosen this woman last night and until he said goodbye, she was the only woman who got his attention.

He slid the phone back into her hand. With a sigh, she rolled toward him, then squeaked as her palm slide across his bare abs.

Hi there, he said quietly.

She cleared her throat, angling her face away from his. Hi.

I’ve gotta get going, but I didn’t want to sneak out. Sneaking out was never cool.

Okay. Thanks for last night.

I’m sure the thanks should be all mine. No hesitation. That was key. Set the tone as polite but finished, and she’d pick up on it. From the way she’d eased away from him, she already had.

Her alarm went off again before she could say anything else, and with a shriek, she leapt out of bed, then dropped out of sight, reappearing wearing a t-shirt from the floor. I totally slept through my alarm, I’m so sorry. I’ve gotta get to work, but there’s coffee in the kitchen if you want something, and the door automatically locks, so just let yourself out. My roommate is probably here, so make sure you’re wearing pants.

Jesus, what kind of guys did she normally hook up with if they just wandered around her place with their junk hanging out? At least he didn’t have to worry about her clinging to him like a wannabe girlfriend. He watched her gather some clothes and disappear into the bathroom, but from her frantic pace, he didn’t think he could get up and out before she reappeared.

He didn’t have to be anywhere until the evening, so he lay back and enjoyed the uncommon luxury of relaxing on a girlie bed covered in pillows.

Trick loved pillows, and there were only so many a dude could have on his bed before his buddies started to make fun of him. And since his roommate, Miles, had zero boundaries, he couldn’t even keep a pillow collection private.

Maybe while Miles was overseas he could temporarily indulge…

He frowned.

No. While Miles and the rest of their team were overseas, he’d be concentrating on work. Doing his fucking job, supporting them however he could, and filling in where the other teams needed help.

And just like that, the good post-sex relaxation was gone.

He should be overseas with them. It was his fucking turn in the sandbox. But he wouldn’t be there because he couldn’t fucking sleep and couldn’t keep his stupid blood pressure under control on a medical.

Panic attacks.

The medical staff had talked all the way around PTSD without actually naming it, because he’d made it clear there was no way he’d wear that label. He was fine. Just a bit stressed. And there were ways to deal with that and still function in the job.

So far, his commanding officer was being supportive. One tour staying behind. A training rotation, they were calling it.

Once. He’d get a free pass once. If he didn’t get his head sorted out and his health under control, he knew his days as a Navy SEAL would be numbered.

That wasn’t an acceptable option.

Lila started when she came running out of the bathroom, hair damp, fully dressed in what looked like a waitress uniform. Oh, you’re still here.

I’m going, no worries.

Uhm… She made a face. Okay.

Yeah.

Fuck him. These random hook-ups had to stop.

He gave her a three-minute head start, and when the apartment sounded safely quiet, he got up, used her private bathroom to freshen up, then finished dressing and went to find his boots, which he vaguely remembered kicking off in the living room.

They weren’t beside or in front of the couch. He leaned over the oversized armchair, wondering if they’d been tossed further than his vague recollection indicated.

From behind him, an unfamiliar female voice cleared her throat, then asked, Looking for your boots?

Gaby asked the question gently, but it still sounded abrupt in the quiet of the apartment. She actually hadn’t realized anyone was still here.

The oversized man Lila had brought home the night before—the one with the size thirteen boots she’d tripped over this morning, and the super-fine butt she was trying really hard not to ogle—stood up with unexpected grace and turned around slowly.

You must be the roommate, he said as he twisted. His eyebrows pulled together when he got a good look at her. Oh. Hi.

Uhm, hi. She smiled politely. And you must be Lila’s date from last night. I put your boots by the door earlier. Which you can use any time now, because I have marking to do in peace and quiet.

Thanks. He glanced in that direction, but he didn’t move. Instead, he looked at her again, frowning this time. You were at the bar last night.

She had been, for a while, but when her friends hit the dance floor, she’d come home and gone to bed. Early and alone, as usual. If this guy hadn’t slept with her roommate, she’d appreciate that he’d noticed her. But since he had… What bar?

The Wave. He frowned again. I’m sure you were there. Red t-shirt, hair in a ponytail with… He pointed to the sides of his chiseled face. Loose bits of hair around your face.

She could feel her face turning red as she shook her head. You must be mistaken.

He stared at her for a second, then nodded. "Okay, my bad. Well,

Reviews for Fall Away

[Deb Pden · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When the guy and girl met for the first time..in her place..he's just had sex with her roommate and best friend. No female ever wants to be picked second, the sounds of intimacy and the comparison would always be in the back of the mind and comeback as a reminder at times. Human nature. Stupid story