Kisses and Warfare: A Enemies to Lovers Standalone Romance. Read online

  Copyright © 2020 by T.L. Smith

  Kisses and Warfare

  This e-book is a work of fiction. Any references to real events, real people, and real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the Author’s imagination and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, organizations or places is entirely coincidental.

  All rights are reserved. This book is intended for the purchaser of this book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the express written permission of the Author. All songs, song titles and lyrics contained in this book are the property of the respective songwriters and copyright holders.

  Cover Design - RBA

  Image - Lindee Robinson

  Editor - Swish Editing

  Editor - Ink Machine Editing

  Proofread - More Than Words

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Blurb

  Prologue

  1. Blaze

  2. Kat

  3. Blaze

  4. Kat

  5. Blaze

  6. Kat

  7. Kat

  8. Blaze

  9. Kat

  10. Blaze

  11. Kat

  12. Blaze

  13. Kat

  14. Kat

  15. Blaze

  16. Kat

  17. Blaze

  18. Kat

  19. Blaze

  20. Kat

  21. Blaze

  22. Kat

  23. Blaze

  24. Kat

  25. Blaze

  26. Kat

  27. Blaze

  28. Kat

  29. Kat

  Thank you!

  Playette

  Also by T.L Smith

  Blurb

  The woman he loved died.

  And I’m what’s left standing.

  I didn’t know I would fall for him. He is, after all, my enemy.

  I set out to break his heart. And that’s what I plan to do. Splatter it into a million pieces.

  He’s an asshole, you see.

  He runs this town. And he thinks he can run me too.

  Well, he can’t.

  And he can think again.

  Most women don’t fall at the feet of a man like him. No, they grovel.

  Except, I can’t. Because I hate him.

  Even with his rugged good looks and a demanding presence, he can’t win me.

  Because I’ve played this game well.

  And I will win.

  Prologue

  Kat

  “You can do it,” Rochelle states.

  I shake my head at her words. Why is she so crazy right now? “No. No, I can’t.” My hands slide over my ever-growing belly.

  What the fuck is this?

  How did this happen?

  They say a bond is meant to be there with my child. Where is it?

  Right now, I’m mad. So mad. How was I stupid enough to be put in this situation in the first place?

  “You can. If anyone can, you can.”

  “Shut up! Shut up!” I scream, throwing the nearest glass I can reach.

  Rochelle isn’t fazed by my outbursts. I guess that’s a plus side of being sisters. She’s used to my brand of crazy. Her hand touches my shoulder, and I fall over in pain, clutching my belly.

  “I got you. We all do.”

  I shake my head. My teeth clenching hard together as I close my eyes. “I don’t want her in there. Do you hear me? I don’t want her in there,” I reiterate while managing to stand and push away from Rochelle’s touch.

  She shakes her head and purses her lips. “You’ll need her. More than me. Trust me, she’s done this a time or two.” Rochelle offers me a small smile. I don’t take it and bend back over, ready for the next contraction to hit me like a ton of bricks.

  “Will not! I got this,” I say, reaching for a cloth that Rochelle holds out in her hand.

  As my hand grips it, the pain hits me hard again. “Fuck! Fuck! Why did I have to do that? Seriously,” I scream, but it’s more of a half-cry.

  “Do what?” Rochelle asks as I manage to catch my breath.

  “Have a one-night stand. Look where it’s gotten me.” My eyes look down at what appears like a large basketball taking over my belly. Reality will be here soon. And then I will have to face it, even if I don’t want to. Even if I never wanted this.

  “I’m excited for your new adventure.”

  I want to throat punch her. No, I don’t, but it might help my anxiety. “Fuck you.”

  Rochelle giggles at my words. The door to my room flies open and my mother strides in. She walks straight over to me, hands going on my back and massaging in just the right spot.

  How does she know?

  I don’t want to thank her, but somehow, the words slip from my mouth anyway, “Thank you.”

  “See, told you,” Rochelle says.

  I look up to shoot her a warning glare as the midwife walks in.

  “Let’s check to see how far dilated you are.” She snaps on some gloves, and I have to look away. I climb up on the bed that I have grown to hate. The pain is all in my back and being on it does not help one little bit. “Are we waiting on the father, or are we all here?”

  “We’re all here,” Rochelle answers for me.

  The father? Yeah, what a joke he turned out to be.

  I knew I should have kept my legs shut and not fallen for his good looks. Damn asshole. That’s what happens when you let your vagina think for you, instead of using your head. You end up pregnant and ready to have a baby you never envisaged or wanted.

  “You’re at nine centimeters. It’s almost time to push, Kat.” She looks to Rochelle, and then my mother, as another midwife steps into the room. She takes hold of one of my legs and lifts my other one for my sister. “If you can hold her here, that will be great. On the next contraction, Kat, I need you to push. Now, only push during the contraction. Once it stops, you stop and breathe.”

  “I don’t want to do this. Just take it out already,” I say to her.

  The midwife doesn’t say anything back to me. Smart woman.

  My mother wipes my face with a wet towel and grabs one of my hands, and as I’m about to tell her to not touch me, a contraction hits, hard.

  “Push. Push low as if you need to do number twos.”

  I do exactly as she says, and it burns. Damn it hurts. Everything hurts. Tears leave my eyes, and right now, I honestly don’t know if I can do this. How can I do this?

  “You are doing great, sweetie.” My mother wipes my face again, and I look down at our hands and notice hers are bleeding—obviously from my nails digging in—but she doesn’t remove it or make any suggestion that I am hurting her.

  “Okay, next one… big push. I can see the head, so I want a big push.”

  I shake my head.

  No way.

  I don’t want a head to come out of my vagina.

  “Cut it out. It will ruin me,” I say mid-freak out.

  The only one who laughs is Rochelle, knowing precisely what I’m talking about.

  Ruining my vagina—I have a pretty vagina. Well, I did. Probably not so much now with the size it’s stretching to.

  Fuck.

  “Cut. It. Out,” I scream as the next contraction hits, but I start pushing again.

  This goes on two more times before she tells me one last push.

  And the minute she’s out, my body
feels a sense of relief, and every part of me droops with overwhelming tiredness.

  “Why isn’t she crying?” My mother’s hands are now digging into mine.

  Shit! Is she meant to cry?

  I manage to look up to see them already moving her over to a small cot, and a team of doctors are working around her. I attempt to sit up, but I can’t, my body’s too exhausted and worry sets in.

  “Is she okay?” I question in a voice that even I don’t recognize. As the words leave my mouth, a tiny cry is heard around the room, and a small bundle is lifted and brought over to me.

  The midwife opens my gown. “Skin to skin is best.”

  I nod as she places this little human on my chest, who instantly stops crying when she’s on me. And when I look down, I know. I know straight away she’s meant to be. No matter what happened or how it happened, she’s meant to be mine.

  Kissing the top of her head, tears leave my eyes in abundance. “Annabelle,” I state.

  My mother hiccups and then starts to cry next to me. “It’s beautiful,” she says as she reaches out and touches the top of Annabelle’s head. And I know, no matter what, I will kill for this small baby in my arms.

  Maybe, now it’s all over, my one-night stand with the pretty blue eyes wasn’t so bad after all.

  He’s given me something I never knew I wanted.

  Chapter One

  Blaze

  One year later

  Her long red nails tap on the table, bright red lipstick coats her lips.

  Damn, I want to taste them.

  Instead, I stay where I am as I watch them turn up into a devilish smirk.

  She is trouble.

  “I propose we fuck.”

  I cough, swallowing my drink the wrong way.

  “You didn’t just say that,” I say, shaking my head at her words.

  She raises one eyebrow.

  “You did just say that, didn’t you?” I ask, bringing my glass back to my lips, watching her over the edge.

  She’s dangerous this one.

  Dangerous.

  “What? It’s natural. I think you’re hot. You think I’m hot.”

  “And how do you know I think you’re hot?” I ask, as the music grows louder.

  A door opens then shuts, placing us back in silence as she stares at me, her hands still visible on the table.

  “I see the way you watch me. I know.” She gets up, her hands sliding over the table as she begins to touch me. I don’t stop her as she slides her hand over my chest then down to my pants buckle where I am hard for her.

  “This would like me very much.” She squeezes slightly then smirks before she pulls her red manicured hands back and sits down. “So, as I was saying… I propose we fuck.”

  “No,” I reply, shaking my head.

  She pokes her bottom lip out in a pout, then pulls it back in and sucks on it. “You are such a buzzkill.”

  “Kat…”

  I don’t turn to that voice, but Kat does.

  She stands, her shiny red dress glimmering in the light, and I watch and love every fucking curve it shows.

  This woman will be the death of me.

  Rochelle, Kat’s sister and the woman who’s currently got my brother whipped, stands at the door. “We should go.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Kat says.

  I feel Rochelle’s eyes on me, and I turn to face her, her stare is hard. “Hi,” she says, but I don’t say it back.

  Marcus walks up behind Rochelle and slides his hand over her hip. He nods, and I turn back to Kat, who’s standing in front of me.

  “My offer stands.” I smirk at Kat and don’t bother answering.

  Rochelle reaches in and grabs her sister, then pulls her out of the club.

  Marcus stands behind me, not leaving. “You don’t have to be such an asshole. She isn’t going anywhere,” he says, referring to Rochelle.

  “That doesn’t mean I have to like her.” And I don’t. Well, kind of. I don’t hate her, but I have a history with her. Or should I say her friend who I don’t want to be reminded of but am every time I look at her. Plus, she’s changed my brother. The one constant in my life is now her constant.

  That makes me mad.

  “I love Rochelle,” Marcus says.

  I’ve never heard those words leave his lips before, and I’m stunned to my very core. My hands grip the glass in my hand, and I can’t move. “And I love you, too.”

  Managing to finally breathe again, I turn back around. And when I do, he’s gone. In his wake, I get one last look at a pair of sinful lips that promised me she would make me pay.

  A few months ago.

  A flash of red walks through the door. Why the fuck is she here? She shouldn’t be here, but I can’t seem to look away either, even when I know I should. She throws back a shot at the bar with Snow, who smiles at her as if she’s some fucking ray of sunshine. I shake my head and finally manage to glance away, but fuck that’s hard to do—to look away from her.

  “Who invited the other sister?” Marley asks, nodding to where Kat’s currently seated. ‘Kat,’ what a fucking name.

  “Who fucking knows.”

  “She seems like trouble.” I look back at her and see she’s smiling. Kat licks her lips, and her eyes manage to find mine. I can tell the minute she locks onto me because she grabs a drink and makes her way over to where I’m seated.

  “Hot stuff.” She sits right next to me, her legs crossing together making her dress rise up her sexy fucking thighs. Then she leans in, and I have to remember to breathe something other than her enticing scent. Because she smells like fucking poison. A poison that can seep its way into my veins and strangle me if I don’t keep my distance.

  “Not here with little sis?” Snow asks as he sits opposite us. She leans in a little closer, and I can’t help myself as I reach out to touch her. I shouldn’t because my head isn’t clear and I don’t want her.

  Dammit! That’s a lie.

  I want her.

  I want to bend her over and pull on that fucking sweet red hair and make her scream my name.

  My cock twitches at the thought.

  “She’s coming to get me.” I turn to her sweet voice, and when I do, we’re almost nose to nose. She’s inches from my lips, and when she licks hers, I want to put my hands around her throat and hold her to me.

  “Prez.”

  Before I stand, I lean in as if I’m going to kiss her. Kat’s breathing picks up and she pauses. I want to kiss her, but I don’t. Instead, I pull away, managing to head to the front where I know her sister Rochelle is pulling up in her car.

  “Déjà vu,” I say as she slides out.

  “Yes, another one close to me, I’ll have to save from you,” she has the cheek to say as she walks over to me.

  I quirk my lips at her smart-ass mouth. “As long as you don’t get this one killed, we’ll be fine.”

  Her eyes narrow, and she clenches her fists. “This is my sister, and she will not have anything to do with you.” Rochelle crosses her arms over her chest.

  “I haven’t killed you because Marcus loves you. Don’t make my brother hate me because I found the need to end you.”

  Kat giggles as she walks out, stepping right up to me and leaning her body on mine as she looks up to her sister. “Rochelle, how come you never invited me here before? I love it.”

  “You shouldn’t be here,” Rochelle tells her.

  At least we agree on that.

  I turn to Kat, hope sparkles in her eyes and I’m about to crush it. Because the last woman I liked is now dead. “Your annoying sister is right. Don’t fucking come back.”

  Kat seems to straighten and sober all at once. “What the fuck?” Her eyes turn to angry slits as she steps up to me. “Did you really just say that?”

  “Yes. Now, fuck off,” I say, pointing in the direction for them to go.

  Kat shakes her head, steps closer, and I watch in fascination as she reaches down, and her hand cups my cock. “I’m going
to break your fucking heart, Blaze, and you’re going to enjoy every single moment of it.” Kat smiles, then turns and walks away as if she didn’t just threaten me.

  Silly girl.

  Chapter Two

  Kat

  Now

  I haven’t always been high maintenance, I swear. But the older I get, the more I feel I need to be, and the more I couldn’t care less about what people think of me. I do what makes me happy, which is why I dragged my sister away from Marcus for the day to get our nails done, since last week did not go to plan.

  I had a plan.

  A big plan.

  I need to make Blaze Stone love me.

  Why, you ask?

  So I can break his fucking heart.

  He is proving to be troublesome in the love department.

  I don’t even know what it is about him that draws me in. I don’t play with men like him. Or maybe I should? The last man who I believed was good ended up being a one-night stand, which resulted in me falling pregnant. And when I finally found him—which my family doesn’t know—it turns out he’s the ultimate player and doesn’t give two shits.

  Keeping that to myself was not only for me but to protect Annabelle. She doesn’t need to know her father—or should I say sperm donor as a better term for him—is an asshole. No, she should have better. So everything I do for her is to be better.

  Well, apart from Blaze.

  Blaze is for me to have fun with.