Imperfect Love Read online

  Imperfect Love

  Jade Royal

  Imperfect Love

  Copyright © 2017 by Jade Royal

  All rights reserved

  Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without proper written permission from the author.

  * * *

  Cover Design: Kennedy Kelly from K Creative Designs Exclusive

  Editor: Wing Family Editing

  Interior Formatting: T.E. Black Designs

  www.teblackdesigns.com

  This book is dedicated to someone that inspires me to be the best that I can be every day. Your strength to conquer everything that you can has shaped me into the woman that I am today. Without you, I wouldn’t have the courage to make mistakes and grow from them. The foundation that you’ve instilled has brought me sunshine on many of rainy days. I chose to release this book on June 17th because without this day, there would be no you. You are forever my rock. I love you, big sister.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Jade Royal

  “Shelly!” Hollie opened the door and hugged me tightly.

  I smiled knowing I was home. Having little to no family always makes the holidays lonely. I keep myself busy by volunteering but “Howard the Great” wouldn’t allow it this year. He said I needed to be around family and he didn’t care if he had to drag me here to prove his point. I tried to call his bluff, but he showed up at my house this morning to drive me home proving how serious he was. Imagine that! Too bad he won, as always, because I’d planned to watch Christmas movies and eat Danish cookies straight from the tin. The Bakers are my family. It had been that way since I came trailing after Hollie in sixth grade.

  Hollie was cute and had two hot brothers. I didn’t expect to develop a crush on her younger brother and become best friends with her oldest. I also didn’t expect to love her like a sister. Though, over the past four years, Hollie and I haven’t been as close due to the marriage and kids that consume her time. I haven’t been back to Cincinnati for that long either. That doesn’t mean we haven’t chatted away on the phone. It also doesn’t take away the fact that I’m her children’s godmother. We take account of the details of one another’s lives except …

  “There’s my other daughter!” Mama Baker was the most sophisticated, coolest, no shit taking German woman I’d ever met. She wasn’t afraid to stand in front of Howard’s tall six foot four, two hundred and sixty pound frame and tell him she didn’t like something he’d done. Mama Baker wasn’t afraid to get in the middle of her six foot two younger son’s military-gun toting self and Howard when they fought. She’d break them up and look at them as if she was the one that had served for several years training to kill the enemy.

  Everybody always talked about how strong-willed Papa Harold Baker was, but they didn’t know that the real chief was fire flaming Mama Nathalie. Her accent was the thickest of all the clan because she was indeed German. I loved the way her native tongue made her run her English together as if it were all one long word instead of individual sentences.

  Mama Baker gave me the biggest welcome. I gathered that between her “left” and “right” nothing would harm me. It’s no wonder that the waterfall started as I held on to her. Though this family was great, I still missed my own parents. They were resting and gone five years now, but it didn’t get lighter for me as time passed. She held me tighter and the trembles only grew. God, I loved this woman. It was as if she knew what I needed right at this moment and her love was the remedy for what ailed me.

  As I calmed, I looked over to see Hollie wiping her own tears. I pulled away and Mama Baker just smiled at me as she dabbed at her eyes.

  “Baby, whatever you need,” she said leaving the rest unsaid. I knew Mama Baker would always be there for me.

  “Yes, ma’am.” I hugged her again and Hollie pressed tissues into my hand.

  “You girls go get cleaned up and I’ll go check on the turkey.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” we both replied as we made our way upstairs. Merry Christmas, Mama, Daddy and Papa Baker. Wherever you are, I believe you’re shining down on us.

  I was sitting in the living room with Haley when the first Baker man walked into the house. Haley was explaining what fancy things each of her new dolls did. I looked away from Haley’s dolls to see Howard. He should have been the object of my affection, but he wasn’t. Well, not romantically. Professionally and brotherly, he was my main man. It wasn’t because he wasn’t attractive. That German accent he bore was delicious by itself, not to mention the rest of that chocolate man. He came in bearing bags and boxes of gifts. He hugged everybody and winked as he made his way over to torture me.

  “Glad you could make it, pet,” he said before he hugged me tightly.

  “Like I had a choice, Sir,” I flirted innocently.

  “That’s my girl.” He chuckled, handed me a box and smiled wickedly. “I’ll be right back. I have one more gift to grab.”

  I shook my box and when it didn’t make a sound I frowned at it. The torturous Dom in him probably nailed the gift down tight. I was wondering what was taking so long for him to return when I heard a squeal from Haley. “Mommy, Uncle Howie has my doll house!” She ran over and hugged his leg while he and Daniel, Hollie’s husband, tried to carry the house. Hollie ran over, picked Haley up and rescued Howard’s trapped leg.

  “I see it, sweetheart. It is not helpful to hold onto his leg. You’ll make him fall before he can place it in your room,” Hollie intervened.

  Haley responded with determination. “I was making sure that his legs were strong enough to carry it!”

  We all laughed as Hollie put Haley down. She took off toward her room in search of her dollhouse. To say that she was excited was an understatement. I looked over at Hollie and she shook her head at all the stuff that Howard had
brought.

  “I wish I could say he’d over done it, but then I would have to further fuss at my husband.” Hollie was flustered. Her accent grew stronger and her words were broken, giving away her feelings. Though all the Baker kids spent most of their early childhoods in Germany, Howard was the one who had retained most of the German accent. Harrison and Hollie’s accents were faint and not as noticeable. Hollie’s apparently came out when her mood changed. Daniel and Howard descended the steps smiling, sure they had just righted the world.

  “You guys believe yourselves to be big ol’ superheroes now?” Hollie asked, annoyed.

  “We’re even better than that!” Howard responded. “Boys!”

  I watched as juniors, Daniel and Harold, came in to see their uncle and began to open their gifts. When they shouted in excitement and ran off to play with huge remote-controlled cars, I saw the testosterone rolling off Howard in huge waves.

  “Now we’re gods!” he said as he pushed his chest out and looked at his sister.

  Hollie threw two pillows at him. “I remember saying not to buy those.”

  “That’s right, you did. Don’t think you’re senile because I decided not to listen.”

  I laughed and ran over to Hollie just as she leaped to kill her brother. “Let’s go check on that amazing smelling cake,” I interjected.

  Hollie glared at Howard and was about to comment when the door flew open.

  “Honey, I’m home!” My heart doubled in speed and my eyes slowly went over to the speaker. Chocolate brown skin, fresh haircut, tall, million-dollar smile, navy and light blue argyle sweater with a white button down underneath, light washed jeans and matching Timberland boots. Hot damn!

  “Harrison, you’re just in time to tell your brother he’s a jerk for me,” Hollie said as she went to hug him.

  “Why?” He hugged her, walked back to the porch, then came in with a bunch of bags.

  “Oh, sheesh! Not you, too!” Hollie threw her hands up in frustration and walked toward the kitchen.

  I looked at the very obvious bags for the kids and shook my head. Harrison chose that moment to look at me and my mouth went dry.

  “Hey, Shelly.” He walked over and hugged me before I could respond. I closed my eyes briefly; it was over just as quickly as it began. Damn, he smelled amazing. I felt his muscled body through his clothing. He worked out daily, I remembered. I’d seen nothing past his arm muscles, but a girl could dream up all kinds of things when she needed to while alone masturbating.

  I heard footsteps and a tall model looking chick walked into the living room. “Harrison, where do you want me to put my coat?” Bimbo alert!

  He walked with her into the hall and helped to put her coat away. I turned and watched as Uncle Benny laughed while holding his chest.

  “Wow! That boy chases more tail than Onyx does! Somebody owes me a hundred!”

  I shook my head in denial that Uncle Benny had said that. Harrison was famous for his ass chasing skills. He never stayed with the same woman for long and each of them always thought that they were “the one”. Somebody needed to examine his head and theirs. He hadn’t always been like this. When we were kids he wanted to be just like Howard, playing sports. I guess maybe things had changed more than I thought. He’d changed one sport for another, but he was his own man now.

  Since Harrison had been home from his second tour, he’d been busy with real estate and property renovation. From what I understood, he was damn good at it. I’d been meaning to see if he could help me purchase a home, but the time never seemed right. Plus, there was that little fact that I grew nervous every time that he talked to me.

  I walked into the kitchen to help and to distract my mind, but it was useless. I had one question repeating itself in my mind. What caliber of woman would it take to change the Baker men, or were they just unattainable?

  What was she doing here? I knew that Shelly and Hollie were still best friends, but I didn’t expect her to show up here this Christmas. She usually spent it doing volunteer shit. It had been a long time since we’d been in the same room together for longer than a few minutes. She avoided me and I was fine with that. It was best for the both of us that she didn’t get comfortable in my presence. Sailed ships and all.

  We sat at the table just after grace was said by Mama. I was sitting between the girl I was currently fucking and Shelly and having a challenging time concentrating on my meal. Shelly was a fucking wet dream in her red sweater. It covered her to her thighs and was paired with black tights that showed all her curves. But nothing compared to those damn boots that were above her knees. The heels were about four inches high, which brought attention to her delectable ass.

  Earlier, when I hugged her, I couldn’t help but enjoy how good she felt in my arms. She was soft and fit just right against me. I kept it light since she was starting to get a rise out of me. Her presence was stirring old desires and I couldn’t put my finger on the whys. I shook my head and tried to focus on the dinner conversation, but Shelly was one hell of a distraction. She was not what I needed to be thinking about, but damn if my brain wanted to cooperate!

  “Where’d you meet this girl? A model shoot?” Uncle Benny asked while eyeing Harmony.

  “No, we met at the grocery store,” I said to him knowing that the conversation wasn’t going to be pretty. It was common for my family to ridicule all my girls.

  At first, I blew it off, but now it bothered me that they never tried to get to know them. But then again, they wouldn’t be around long enough for it to matter anyway. I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend, so keeping them around longer than a couple of weeks was pointless. Some of them were smart enough to stick up for themselves and those were the girls that I’d been bringing around lately. Not today, though. Harmony was pretty and liked sex just as much as I did. That’s all I cared about for the moment.

  “What was she buying? Condoms?” he asked.

  Shelly choked on her roll and grabbed her glass of water trying not to die during dinner. She was fine, but the fact that she was flustered by Uncle Benny was thrilling and all it took was the word “condoms”.

  I looked at Harmony who sat there oblivious to the conversation while she fiddled with her cell phone. “No, she was buying eggs.”

  “Sweetheart, do you even know what to use eggs for?” Hollie asked Harmony directly.

  “Yes, a facial.” Harmony looked at Hollie with clear irritation at her dumb question.

  “A facial?” Shelly asked. “Who in the hell uses eggs for a facial?”

  “Howard, how’s business been?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

  I looked at Shelly and Hollie as Howard tried to distract the room. I let them know through eye contact that what they were doing wasn’t right. Hollie looked at me head on and I knew she wasn’t finished.

  “So, Harmony, what do you do for a living?” Hollie looked only at me, not really caring what Harmony had to say.

  “I’m a makeup model and an extra for dance videos,” she said happily.

  “Who in the hell is making videos in Ohio?” Uncle Benny jumped in.

  “I’ve been in Freddy Fred’s video and there’s talk about his next one,” Harmony supplied.

  I put my head down and shook it. Why did she have to open her mouth and make it worse? I knew her mouth was only good for one thing, but she had to go and speak making even that seem like a waste. I sighed, feeling lost in the frenzy, but decided to let this girl talk herself out of the shit storm she had just started.

  “Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street? He’s making music videos?” Uncle Benny chimed in. I had to chuckle at that. Where’d he come up with this stuff?

  Chatter went around the table as she tried to explain who this low life was. Nobody at the table had heard of him and she sounded as if she idolized the man. I clearly was fucking somebody with low expectations. She wouldn’t last as long as the other girls I messed around with. It was time to break things off with her.

  I pondered s
ex before I ended things with her when I felt a hand on my thigh. I smirked knowing exactly what Harmony and I were going to do when we left here. It was decided that I’d fuck her one last time before I broke it off.

  Her hand slowly slid between my legs to grab my dick when I froze. I knew she was bold but … I looked down to see the hand that grabbed me coming from the wrong angle. Harmony was sitting to my right but this hand came from the left. I looked at Shelly and she only smiled mischievously before laughing at something my uncle said. She squeezed me a bit as she allowed her hand to follow the length of me through my jeans.

  The fact that it was her touching me made all the sensations more intense. When she got to the head she bit down on her lip and moaned lowly. So low I almost missed it. She tapped my thigh and moved her hand away, and just like that, it was as if nothing had ever happened. It took a while, but I was finally able to convince my erection to behave. I was still in denial about what had transpired, but the truth was it had taken everything in me not to take her on the dinner table. The fact that we were sitting so close to one another turned dinner into a chore.

  When the meal was over we all rose to clear away the dishes. Shelly slid by me and let her hand caress mine as she passed. I watched her but she avoided my eyes altogether. What the hell was she trying to pull tonight? We’d known each other for years and not once had she pulled anything like this. Alcohol? Maybe. I thought she was sexy as hell but we’d always played it safe. Harrison and Shelly, nothing sexual. No exchanges, just friends. Why the advances now? Maybe she was going through some things. Either way, she was playing with fire and I knew she wasn’t ready for the heat.