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  Taming Alex

  Alexis has always been the wild child. She’s the girl everyone always gossips about behind her back. Now that she's engaged to the town’s bad boy, Travis, she finally thinks she's heading in the right direction. Then life throws a tall, dark, and good man her way and causes her whole world to shake.

  Grant's back in town. Helping his father with his legal practice had never been in his plan. But after trying to live in the city and deciding it wasn’t for him, he wants nothing more than to settle back down in his hometown. He even buys a small farm to prove to himself that he's back to stay. After stepping in and helping the town's bad girl out one night, he starts to see beneath Alexis' act. Now all he needs to do is convince her that choosing a good guy is not always a bad thing.

  Other titles by Jill Sanders

  The Pride Series

  Finding Pride – Pride Series #1

  Discovering Pride – Pride Series #2

  Returning Pride – Pride Series #3

  Lasting Pride – Pride Series #4

  Serving Pride – Prequel to Pride Series #5

  Red Hot Christmas – A Pride Christmas #6

  My Sweet Valentine – Pride Series #7

  The Secret Series

  Secret Seduction – Secret Series #1

  Secret Pleasure – Secret Series #2

  Secret Guardian – Secret Series #3

  Secret Passions – Secret Series #4

  Secret Identity – Secret Series #5

  Secret Sauce – Secret Series #6

  The West Series

  Loving Lauren – West Series #1

  Taming Alex – West Series #2

  Holding Haley – West Series #3

  Taming Alex

  by

  Jill Sanders

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

  ISBN: 978-1497415362

  Copyright © 2014 Jill Sanders

  Editor: Erica Ellis – www.ericaellisfreelance.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Dedication

  To all those good girls

  out there

  with a secret wild side…

  Prologue

  Alex stood in the grocery store. She looked up and down the aisles before slipping the small figurine into her coat pocket. Oh, she knew that stealing was wrong, but since God had taken away her mother a few months ago, she figured He owed her one. Besides, her ma had promised to buy the small horse for her on her seventh birthday. That day had come and gone last week. She'd prayed and prayed that her mother would get her the small metal horse from heaven somehow, but after she'd opened the last of her presents at her small birthday party and there was still no horse, she’d known exactly what she needed to do.

  It was the first day of school, and she'd convinced Lauren to walk with her to the Grocery Stop after school. The Grocery Stop was Fairplay's only market, and was only a few blocks from their school. They had a whole hour to wait for their pa before he'd be able to come and pick them up.

  Getting her sister to leave her alone in the aisle where the small statues sat in a large glass case took a lot of talking. Finally, Alex had told her big sister that she had to use the bathroom. When Lauren wanted to come into the small room with her, Alex had thrown a fit.

  “I'm a big girl. I don't want you watching me.” She'd stood there with her hands on her hips, just like their ma used to do. Her sister finally told her that she'd wait for her at the front counter and left her alone. She waited in the bathroom long enough so that her sister could make it up front. Then she peeked out the crack of the door to make sure that she had disappeared. She tiptoed down the aisle and pocketed the horse smoothly. She hadn't counted on a hand dropping onto her shoulder.

  “You aren't supposed to do that.”

  Alex spun around to see Grant “Do-gooder” Holton standing behind her. Grant was the same age as Alex and had earned the nickname by being the town’s biggest tattletale. He thought that just because his daddy was the town’s hotshot lawyer that he had to tell everyone else what to do. All the other kids at school made fun of him about it.

  Grant was a little taller than she was. Then again, almost everyone was taller than she was. Her mother had said that she was a small statue. Alex didn't know what that meant, but she wasn't happy that Haley, her little sister, was already taller than she was.

  She looked across the aisle at Grant. He was chubby and wore glasses that were always sliding off his nose. He was always wearing his best church clothes, or so Alexis always thought, since she'd never seen him in a pair of jeans or a T-shirt, ever. His hair always looked like he had just combed it, and she had never seen him dirty.

  Alex thought the glasses made him look smarter and desperately wished that she needed glasses so she would do better in math class, but the doctor had said she had perfect eyes. Grant’s hair was a shade darker than her own blonde, but his had a curl to it. She wished she had curly hair, since her hair was so thin it was hard to braid.

  She wrapped her small fingers around the cool metal of the horse in her pocket. “I'm not giving it back.” She stomped her foot. “God owes it to me since he took my mama away.” Her eyes started to water up and her bottom lip quivered.

  “Stealing is a sin. Besides, you can go to jail if they catch you.” His face started turning a darker shade of red. “I'm gonna have to tell.”

  She reached out and grabbed his coat before he could walk away. “Don't you dare, Grant Holton.” She looked up at him and thought of a way out of this mess. “If…if you promise not to tell anyone…” Her little mind desperately reached for some means to hold him to a promise. “I promise…” He waited, his big blue eyes looking into hers, and she blurted out. “I'll let you kiss me.”

  Grant's eyes got bigger behind his glasses. He thought about it a moment, then said, “For real?” He looked around.

  What was it to her? She'd seen her ma and pa do it lots of times. She didn't see what all the fuss was about, since it looked sloppy and gross, but if it got Grant to shut up about the statue, she'd tolerate it.

  She nodded her head her eyes and smiled. “Sure.”

  “On the lips?” His head tilted as he waited.

  “Why not? Is it a deal?”

  Grant thought about it for another second, then nodded his head as he pushed up his glasses. When he took a step closer to her, she almost lost her nerve. Instead, she closed her eyes and puckered up her lips like she'd seen her mother do. When his lips touched hers she wanted to pull back and wipe her mouth off, but then something happened. She started to like it. His lips were soft and not wet, after all. They felt like feathers tickling her lips and she actually felt her feet and hands start to tingle.

  After what seemed like years, he finally pulled away, a huge smile on his lips. Then he turned and rushed down the aisle and out the front door without a word. She hadn't even made sure he was going to stick to their bargain.

  “Come on, Alexis. Dad's here,” her sister called from the front of the store.

  Smiling, she held onto the small horse in her pocket and walked towards the front. She thought about kissing Grant and decided that she liked kissing. She wanted to do it again and as often as she could. And with as many boys as she wanted to.

  Chapter One

  Ten years later...

  Alex held
her breath as her father's coffin was lowered into the ground. Her world was shattered, again. Looking over to Haley, she wondered what would happen to the three of them. After all, Haley was only fourteen. She reached over and grabbed Lauren's hand in her own, then held onto Haley's.

  The three of them stood and watched as their father's coffin sank lower into the red dirt at the church's cemetery, in the plot next to their mother's.

  Lauren's eyes closed for just a second until her sister dropped her hand and walked over to place a white rose into the hole. It landed softly on the coffin. Lauren turned and nodded to her, then she followed. As she dropped her rose, she stood and said her goodbyes to the man who had done his best to raise the three girls alone and make them happy.

  When she turned, Haley walked up and stood next to the hole. Alex couldn't stand it anymore. She turned and walked quickly towards a group of trees. Even though it was spring, the heat was almost too much for her to bear. Here in the shade she could feel the breeze, and she felt like she could finally breathe.

  Leaning against the trunk of a large oak tree, she closed her eyes and focused on taking slow breaths. She'd been staying at Cheryl Lynn’s house the night that Lauren had found their father on the floor of his room. She should have stayed home that weekend. If she had only stayed…

  “Hey.” She looked up into Grant's deep blue eyes. He looked pretty much the same as he always had, but his sandy hair was a little longer and he'd gotten new glasses. The wire rims suited his face a little better. He had a slight case of acne on his round face, but his clothes were still spotless.

  “Hey.” She continued to lean against the tree, crossing her arms over her chest. She started to feel cold and wished for the warmth of the sun again.

  “I'm sorry about your dad.” He looked down at his shiny boots and kicked a pebble. Grant's father and her father had been best friends since childhood. Even their mothers had been friends, since they'd all grown up in the small town. “I sure hope you don't have to sell your ranch or anything.”

  Her shoulders came off the tree and she looked at him. “Why would we?” She frowned.

  He looked up from his boot and stared at her. “I don't know, I just overheard my pa talking about some money problems your pa had and how Lauren wasn't old enough to take care of you and your sister and a run a ranch at the same time.” He raised then dropped his shoulders.

  “She's not all by herself. She has Haley and me.” She took a step closer to him.

  “Well, I hope you're right. I'm leaving at the end of this year. I was accepted into Harvard.” He smiled real big.

  Her chin dropped and she said, “We're only seventeen.”

  “I know. I finished all my credits for high school over the summer and my dad and I sent in applications. Can you believe it?” He stuck his hands into his pant pockets.

  “You're only seventeen,” she repeated.

  “Are you gonna miss me?” It came out as a whisper, and Alex didn’t hear it. Her mind was stuck on the fact that she was seventeen and now both her parents were gone and she was facing the possibility of losing the only home she'd ever known.

  Then she looked over her shoulder and frowned a little. She saw that Grant’s father and Mr. Graham, her father's other best friend, were talking to Lauren next to their truck.

  Walking away without saying goodbye, she rushed over to where Haley stood next to her friends and grabbed her hand. “We need to go.”

  Haley nodded and followed her. They walked up to their sister together.

  “We're ready to go home.” Alex glared at Mr. Graham and Mr. Holton, who quickly turned their eyes to the ground. Chase, Mr. Graham’s son, was standing next to them. He smiled slightly and nodded his head, then the girls left.

  The drive home was quiet. Alex wanted to ask her sister what her plans were, but knew it wasn't the right time. Lauren was a week shy of her nineteenth birthday. She was old enough to legally take care of Alex and Haley, that much she knew. She didn't know anything about the money problems their father was having, or even if the ranch had been left to Lauren. Lauren would know all that. After all, for the last few years, Lauren had been helping their father out with the big place.

  When the truck turned into their long driveway, Alex looked at their three-story house in the distance. The once freshly painted white building could stand a new coat. The roof had just been replaced a few years back. Alex knew the old place had its problems, but she wouldn't have traded it for any other house in the county.

  “Lauren?” She looked at her sister as she parked the truck, wanting to ask so many questions. Just then, Haley pushed out of the truck and raced towards the barn.

  Lauren looked at her and smiled. “I'll get her.” Lauren left Alex alone in the truck as she raced after their little sister.

  Alex's eyes watered. This was really happening. They were going to lose the ranch. Most likely, they would be split up too. Where were they going to live? What was going to happen to them?

  Alex rushed into the house and slowly walked around the place. She was trying to memorize every small detail—all the furnishings, the look and the smell of the place. She ended up in their father's room and when she sat on his bed, she began to softly cry.

  It was just like when their mother had died. If she hadn't stopped to grab the cookies, Haley wouldn't have snuck out and run upstairs. Then their mother wouldn't have gone and gotten her. They would have all made it to the shelter in time. Instead, the three girls had had to watch in horror as the tornado ripped their mother into the darkness and out of their lives forever.

  If she would have just stayed home this last weekend, their father would still be alive. It was all her fault. Dropping to his bed, she inhaled his rich musky scent and cried until her heart and head hurt. She must have fallen asleep, because when she woke up, it was dark outside the window.

  Standing up, she went into her own room and changed into her jeans and work shirt. She knew the horses needed feeding and it had been her job for the last few years. When she walked out to the barn, she saw that the task had already been done. Her shoulders slumped and she sat down in the soft hay, feeling like she'd let her family down again. She made a pact right then and there that she would never let her sisters down again.

  Over the course of the next few months, it became apparent that Lauren had everything under control around the ranch. Her sister had even taken over her and Haley's chores, telling them both that they needed to focus on their studies instead.

  Lauren had driven Alex down to get her driver’s license, and had given her the old red Honda to drive her and Haley to school every day. She didn't mind driving them around all the time, since she knew Lauren was busy. They had sat down the next week and Lauren had told them that all the bills were paid and that no one was going to take the ranch away. Even better, she had signed the official paperwork with Mr. Graham that stated that she had full custody of Alex and Haley. Lauren was their legal guardian. No one was going to separate the three of them, ever.

  Alex relaxed into a schedule, knowing that her sister would take care of whatever popped up around the ranch. After a few months, guilt settled in when she noticed how much her sister actually did around the place, and she started doing things without being told to. She asked Jamella down at Mama's for a part-time job and picked up as many hours as she could, just to pay for her gas. But she started making extra money and would always leave it in Lauren's office for her. Her sister never mentioned it, so she continued to give her half of her weekly paycheck. Even Haley picked up on what was going on and started helping out with the animals more and more.

  But then just a year later, Alex started dating Travis, and her life had a new purpose—to do everything she could to become Mrs. Travis Nolan.

  Almost Eight years later…

  Alex stood in the dark parking lot, feeling like kicking something or someone. How could he do this to her again? She looked around the almost-empty lot and felt like screaming.
/>   Instead, she tossed the beer bottle she was holding and smiled when the glass shattered all over his blue truck. The engagement ring on her left finger sparkled in the parking lot's dim lighting. She felt like ripping it off her finger and throwing it as well, but stopped herself before she could follow through. It was her birthday and Travis had gotten so drunk. He was now passed out behind the wheel of his precious truck again. Even the shattering of her beer bottle over his windshield had done little to wake him.

  Over the last few months, she'd told herself she was going to really evaluate their relationship. She’d made the decision after Lauren and Chase had sprung it on everyone that they had gotten married the day after their father's funeral. Lauren had married him out of desperation to get out from under a crushing debt, but now they were completely happy about it. Chase had moved into the house and they acted like newlyweds, which she supposed they were since Chase had been gone for the last seven years.

  She walked up to Travis' truck and looked at him through his open window. He was still as handsome as the day she'd fallen for him. He had the classic rugged cowboy look that she'd always swooned over. Even the cleft in his chin melted her heart. But lately, his actions were speaking more loudly to her, and she was falling farther and farther away from that soft gooey feeling he had always invoked in her.

  She turned and leaned on the truck, crossing her arms over her chest. The steamy, summer night air caused her white blouse to stick to her skin and she desperately wished for a shower. Her hair was plastered to her neck and face, since she and her friends had spent the last few hours line dancing at The Rusty Rail, the local bar and dance hall. Everyone had come out to celebrate her birthday. A stack of her presents filled the back of Travis' truck. She smiled when she looked back at the packages. Travis had promised her that he wouldn't drink too much tonight, since she hated it when he got so drunk that he started getting rude. He’d never raised a finger towards her, but he did get a little mean with his words and, a few times, she'd had to walk to her friend’s house and spend the night instead of letting him drive her home.