Lucky Neighbor Read online

  Lucky Neighbor

  A Second Chance Secret Baby Romance

  Gage Grayson

  Third Base Press

  Contents

  Also By Third Base Press

  Dedication

  Author’s Note

  Table of Contents Instruction

  1. Killian

  2. Rebecca

  3. Killian

  4. Rebecca

  5. Killian

  6. Rebecca

  7. Killian

  8. Rebecca

  9. Killian

  10. Rebecca

  11. Rebecca

  12. Killian

  13. Rebecca

  14. Killian

  15. Rebecca

  16. Killian

  17. Rebecca

  18. Killian

  19. Rebecca

  20. Killian

  21. Rebecca

  22. Killian

  23. Rebecca

  24. Killian

  25. Rebecca

  26. Killian

  27. Rebecca

  28. Killian

  29. Rebecca

  30. Killian

  31. Rebecca

  32. Killian

  33. Rebecca

  34. Killian

  35. Rebecca

  36. Killian

  37. Killian

  38. Rebecca

  39. Rebecca

  40. Killian

  41. Rebecca

  Hawaii Big-O

  Brooklyn Big-O

  Inside Job

  Lucky Neighbor

  A Second Chance Secret Baby Romance

  By Gage Grayson

  Copyright 2018 by Third Base Press

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental. This work intended for adults only.

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  Also By Third Base Press

  Gage Grayson

  Hawaii Big-O

  Brooklyn Big-O

  Aiden Forbes

  Inside Job

  To Teagan

  Take a bottle of whiskey.

  Add in a hot girl next door.

  Looks like I’m about to be one lucky neighbor…

  I’ve got my favorite bottle.

  My manuscript.

  My solitude.

  Until Rebecca comes barreling into my life.

  She drives me crazy.

  I can’t get her out of my head.

  A total distraction.

  But she has secrets.

  She needs a baby.

  And wants me to bet he one to help her out.

  What’s an old friend to do?

  Show her just how neighborly I can be.

  If I play my cards right

  We can both get what we want.

  And soon she’ll bet he one begging for more.

  Getting’ lucky with the neighbor.

  What could go wrong?

  Turns out, my luck might have just run out…

  Author’s Note

  Hello, all you lovely, amazing readers.

  It’s great to see you again.

  Oh, and happy St. Patrick’s Day!

  If you aren’t reading this on St. Patrick’s Day, not to worry! This sweet little tale of Irish novelist

  Killian Walsh, and a very unusual encounter with his old flame Rebecca Doyle, is infused with the spirit and essence of Eire.

  Before you dive into this stout and whiskey-soaked story of second chances, allow me to tell you a little bit about myself.

  I’m a guy, which is not too unusual. But, I also happen to write romance novels.

  A guy who writes romance?

  Yeah, I’m a bit of a rare creature.

  But, I’m enjoying taking this journey into the world of contemporary romance with you, my wonderful readers!

  Anyone who’s familiar with my previous books is probably aware that my style, so far, is to write exclusively from a male point of view.

  However, for Lucky Neighbor, I wanted to try something a little different.

  As a romance writer, I’m bound to be at least somewhat interested in the female perspective. So, for this story, I decided to explore both sides of the coin, writing from Rebecca’s perspective as well as Killian’s.

  It’s been an exciting, enlightening, and all-around fascinating journey into new territory for me, and I hope you enjoy it.

  So, grab yourself a pint, or a dram, or just a wee bit of soda bread, and get ready to be transported to the Emerald Isle with Lucky Neighbor!

  Gage

  Table of Contents Instruction

  WAIT!

  Please use the TOC (Table of Contents located in the upper left area of your screen) to navigate your way through this book. If you’re zoomed out and you’re seeing a smaller version of the book and it is flipping through that way, please press the center of your screen to get you out of page flip mode.

  Thanks!

  Gage Grayson

  Chapter 1

  Killian

  “Ah, you again? So, it’ll be the usual, will it?”

  Huh. Okay, then.

  Walking up to the bar, I try to place the barkeep’s face somewhere in my memory. I give that up right quick as soon as I realize how much effort it’s taking.

  “Why are you asking me questions before I’ve even said a word?”

  “You think I don’t know you well enough by now? Killian Walsh.”

  So, he remembers my name. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing.

  It’s only been a hundred days—that’s what it says on my chip at least.

  The chip I’ve been moving up and down the fingers of my left hand from the moment I walked through the doors of the local pub.

  Okay—I’ve been holding it all day. Since early this morning.

  For fuck’s sake, I’ve almost earned a 101-day-chip at this fucking point.

  “Pint of Guinness, Mr. Walsh? I’m right about that, aren’t I?”

  No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before. My memory’s not that far gone yet.

  Or maybe it fucking is at this point.

  Hopefully not, because I’ve got a fucking novel to write. The ink’s still drying on the contract.

  A hundred thousand fucking words—and that’s a minimum.

  Look, that shouldn’t be a problem for me. And I’m not too bothered even if it turns out to be.

  Either way, the advance check is already locked safely in the fortress of the local Bank of Ireland branch, a few kilometers down the road. It should be clearing well before I get that first nagging phone call from the publishing house.

  “So, that’ll be a pint of Guinness, will it?”

  This young fellow’s being rather insistent, isn’t he?

  “Are you expecting a big rush or something? You seem to be in one.”

  I flash a little bit of that famously charming fucking smile to show that I’m just taking the piss.

  Seems like all I do these days is take the fucking piss, but this fellow doesn’t seem even a wee bit offended.

  “Seriously, though—what I’m craving is that Tall Blonde in the Black Dress.”

  A flicker of recognition fizzles through the bartender’s face.

  “I haven’t heard anybody call it that in a while.”

  “Just how long could a while be in your young life?” I query, stepping around the stool in front of me and resting my weary duff for the duration of the celebration.

  The pre-novel writing celebration that lies ahead of me, that is.

  “Long
enough to read two or three of your books, Mr. Walsh.”

  Of fucking course—another fan. Another young fellow who connected with my own typewritten angst, writ large across several internationally bestselling tomes—and yes, that includes the list in the New York Fucking Times.

  It’s not like any of them came out too long ago. Maybe I’m just shaking off the last of that youthful angst myself.

  Maybe I’m still in the thick of it without knowing.

  Fuck, I shouldn’t be taking fucking notes, shouldn’t I?

  “Blonde in the Black Dress,” the barkeep says. “Coming right up, Mr. Walsh.”

  “Call me…Killian.” I like saying my name like that. On a few rare fucking occasions such as this one, anyway. “And I’ll call you…”

  “Rowan.”

  “No kidding. Well, Rowan, to answer your question…” I’m still running that chip through my fingers under the bar. “What was your question again?”

  “Never mind that, Mr. Killian.” Rowan’s focused on trying to pull the perfect pint, trying to impress, well, one of the more famous authors to emerge from this tiny village—or hamlet—or whatever the fuck you want to call it, in the middle of the sparsest yet greenest county here on the island of Eire.

  “Blonde in the Black Dress,” Rowan announces, placing a fresh pint on the little cardboard coaster in front of me.

  Would you believe that the coasters in this place are fucking blank? I don’t even know where they get them. You think those promotional ones would come free from Guinness or from fucking Killian’s Irish Red or, I don’t know, one of those fucking whiskies or something.

  You gotta love this fucking pub, though, with these blank, dark red little circles of cardboard to protect the ancient, dusty wooden bar from our glasses sweating the nectar of life.

  Trying to forego the pretense of having anything to fucking hide, I hold up my hundred-day Alcoholics Anonymous chip. It’s partially a show for Rowan, but he’s not even watching me. He’s busy chatting up some crowd of fleece-wearing tourists at the other end of the bar.

  “That’s probably for the best,” I say to myself, letting go of the small, bronze coin and watching it sink into the pint of lager.

  My sponsor told me that these chips are some of the rarest sobriety chips that you can find. A hundred days now—you wouldn’t think it’d be that fucking rare.

  He’s splitting town for a while, anyway. I hope he’s okay, wherever he is by now. A day can carry you a long way sometimes.

  Now as for me, I’m happy to let the chip fall where it may—right into the Blonde in the Black Dress.

  If any of you out there are worried about sanitation issues, I’m convinced that this stuff could kill the bubonic fucking plague if it wanted.

  With just a few wee nips, it’s already starting to kill that coiled up tension and anxiety that’s loved to do nothing more than eat away at my fucking gut for the past three fucking months.

  Speaking of wee nips, there’s a sudden stiff wind nipping at my back as more townsfolk of various fucking kinds are filing into the pub.

  I can hear them but not see them. It’s a sonic blur of laughter, loud voices, people excited to be going out on the drink.

  All I need is another few sips of stout. Then another few.

  There’s a point I lose track of my rare, bronze AA coin. That point comes early enough in the evening.

  The point where I can judge what point I’m at in the evening comes and goes with some swift fucking speed, too.

  “Pint of Guinness, Mr. Killian? Lady in the Blonde Dress?”

  “Are you drinking tonight, Rowan? You just used the words blonde dress as if that’s a normal thing for a human to be doing.”

  “It’s a busy night, Mr. Killian.”

  “Just call me Killian.”

  “Would you like a shot of whiskey to go with your next black-blonde dress stout in a pint glass, then?”

  “What’s the well whiskey here, Rowan?”

  “Ah, you should know Mr…You should know, Killian. My stars, it feels strange calling such a figure as yourself by just your first name, sir.”

  “Is it Jameson?”

  “Of course it is, Killian…sir.”

  “Then I’ll have to say thanks but no thanks. Just keep the Guinness flowing, if you don’t mind.”

  The Guinness stops flowing at some point, but only because I choose for it to stop. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Most likely, I just make an executive fucking decision, which I can’t even fucking remember.

  Another such executive decision I make is to find my way to the coat rack and slow dance with it to a Pogues song playing on yonder jukebox.

  Another such executive decision is to sit at a table with that group of fleece-wearing tourists and let them buy me stew from the kitchen while asking me repeatedly when my next fucking book is due on store shelves.

  Then, sometime before closing, the Guinness starts flowing again.

  It’s probably the best executive decision I’ve made all night. A few more heavy pints to send me on my way.

  “Are you sure you won’t be having a shot of Jameson to go along with your last Blonde Lady, good sir Killian?”

  “You know, that nickname I don’t mind, Rowan. But for feck’s sake I can’t be drinking any shots of that whiskey tonight or ever. I’m not enamored with taking that tone, but please stop mentioning that word that starts with the tenth letter of the basic Latin bloody alphabet.”

  “No problems at all, Mr. Killian.”

  Maybe I made the next executive decision, or it could’ve been some other entity, but after some length of time, every patron in the pub is joined in a song, belting at the top of our lungs.

  Beauing, belling, dancing, drinking,

  Breaking windows, cursing, sinking,

  Every raking, never thinking,

  Live the Rakes of Mallow.

  That collection of loud, boozy voices soon becomes just my own solitary voice, singing the same song, wandering through the quiet night air along the side of the road connecting the heart of the village with my little cottage.

  Living short but merry lives,

  Going where the devil drives,

  Having sweethearts, but no wives,

  Live the rakes of Mallow.

  I’m not even sure if I’m getting the fucking melody right anymore.

  Chapter 2

  Rebecca

  The fine line between dream and reality is becoming goddamned thin.

  Watching the headlights flood the perilously narrow stretch of barely paved road in front of me, I realize that I’d crossed that line ago.

  Hours ago, possibly.

  Thousands of miles ago, even more possibly.

  What was the last normal, believable thing that happened to me, anyway?

  Fuck, I may have to go back years for that one.

  Left turn ahead onto…

  The voice coming through my smartphone speaker crackles and fades abruptly.

  “Left turn onto where? What left turn? It all looks straight! Help! Where did you go?”

  Okay, a left turn, that’s what I’m looking for.

  If my eyes stay open.

  Fuck, should I just pull over and sleep in this goddamned SUV?

  It’s certainly frigging big enough.

  Much bigger than I thought I’d be getting at Shannon Airport. I booked a subcompact to make the drive out to my cottage in…

  Somewhere in the middle of Ireland.

  Even in my head, I sound like a stereotypical American dope. That’s one reason I wanted to get the most unassuming vehicle possible to drive to my rental home in the middle of nowhere.

  I didn’t want to stick out in any way. Of course, this meant not making a big stink when they handed me the keys to the largest vehicle they had on the lot.

  Possibly the largest vehicle in any part of Europe at that, without a built-in GPS, which I had not only booked ahead of time, but went so far as to confirm several
times with the rental counter via email and VoIP calls from the States…

  Erm—maybe I had this coming, actually.

  It’s fitting, really.

  I acted, albeit unwittingly, like an obnoxious American, so I ended up with an obnoxious American car.

  Although to refer to this rolling behemoth as a ‘car’ would be stretching the very definition of…

  In…hundred…eters, take a slight right onto D…

  “What? What? Wasn’t I supposed to turn left? Now I’m turning in a hundred meters, or nine-hundred kilometers, onto some street with a…no!”

  This really is a dream, isn’t it?

  Next, I’m going to be back in high school, except, Jack Nicholson’s going to be the principal, for some reason; and Principal Nicholson will tell me I have to come back for a semester to take some course I had somehow missed twelve years ago. But then I’ll forget to attend any classes and get lost on my way to the final ex…

  Left turn ahead onto—

  Static. Then nothing.

  It’s too frustrating to even yell anymore.

  And besides, it’s not my poor phone’s fault I accidentally pissed off the staff of the car rental counter at Shannon Airport.

  In fact, it did have me heading in the right direction for several hours.

  At least, I think it was the right direction.

  Fuck. If I really wanted to eschew American stereotypes, I could’ve taken a goddamned bus or something.

  Although, if all the roads in this area are as narrow as the one I’m on, I doubt there’s much bus service in the area.

  It looks like I’ve got about a half tank of fuel left, and I’m bound to reach some sort of civilization eventually.

  I’m not keen on just stopping out here in the middle of the moorlands.

  If that’s even where I am.

  Dream or not, I’m not convinced there aren’t some sort of sprites or faeries—the type of creatures who’d be at home in an illustrated book of Celtic mythology—but would turn out to be quite real and furious about my intrusion on their moorland homes if I were to stop here for even a minute.

  Now that’s an idea for a children’s book. Some mythological land that’s actually quite accessible—a place you could end up in without even trying.

  Maybe one of those places you’d be transported to from your bedroom after a family fight.

  There were times I could’ve used a place like that, even during my adult life.

  A magical place of escape, full of wondrous creatures.