Comforts of a Man (The Panty Droppers Series)

  Back Cover

  An Interracial Erotic Novella by Tigra-Luna LeMar

  Allison's daughter Emily is heading off to college and Allison's husband is heading off to Fresno with a younger model. Feeling like she's let herself go, Allison is perfectly willing to be a shadow of her former self until a craving for Jamaican food led her into the path of the sexy, ex-marine, Logan Montgomery. He is so out of her league—but so damn tempting.

  Logan Montgomery may be young but he knows a good thing when he sees it. And Allison Jackman—made his mouth water. But the woman has some issues left behind from her jerk of an ex and he isn't sure he can break through them. But what is he to do with the fire burning within him for her?

  To the people who’ve made Books 1 and 2 so amazing. I love you.

  Comforts of a Man

  The Panty Droppers Series

  •Fast Girls Are True

  •Shakin’ It For Daddy

  Tigra-Luna LeMar

  MuseitHOT, division of

  MuseItUp Publishing

  www.museituppublishing.com

  ADULT CONTENT: Contains graphic sexual content.

  Prologue

  Allison woke up praying everything that happened the night before was just one horrible nightmare. Her body still ached and her eyes burned from lack of sleep. She pushed into a sitting position, wincing all the way and stared at the bedroom door. A yellow stain was there as a vivid reminder she had almost taken her husband’s head off with an open bottle of her acrylic paint. Her heart ached. She bit against her lower lip to contain the pain surging through her, but it didn’t help. She thought nothing will ever help to make things alright again.

  William waited until Emily, their daughter, was getting ready for college. He then sprung the news on her and gave her the papers. He proceeded to rub salt in the wound by telling her, “The romance died years ago,” and then, “I only stuck around for Emily’s sake.”

  All of a sudden he’s Mister Fucking Morality.

  Emily freaked when she heard what her father had done and offered to stay home. Allison placed a brave smile on her face, packed her daughter into the family van for the last time and drove her to the train. They moved Emily into her dorm room the week before and came back to spend one last week together before her classes began. Taking the train wasn’t the plan. William and Allison planned to drive her down, then surprised her with the brand new convertible they’d purchased for her—more like Allison purchased for her daughter. The red bullet was still parked in Emily’s parking space at the dorms. That remained a good thing in the whole mess that had become Allison’s life.

  Allison didn’t feel the need to get out of bed then. She did, however, manage to pull herself from the comforts of the large, guestroom bed long enough to grab a jar of chocolate icecream from the freezer, a spoon from the drawer and a large bag of potato chips. But that was as far as she went. She was happy about one thing; Emily wasn’t around to see the absolute mess she had become.

  Why shouldn’t she be angry?

  Allison earned that right after giving her virginity to William. She earned the right to be righteously pissed off at his betrayal for she had kept herself only for him. For eighteen years she had been with that man—eighteen years and he just dumped her like yesterday’s garbage for some skinny little bimbo he met on a business trip to Fresno!

  Oh for fuck’s sake! It’s fucking Fresno! Of all the damn places!

  I hope it burns like hell when he pees!

  Snapping the bag open, she pulled out a handful of chips and stuffed it into her mouth. While she crunched on that, her fingers worked to pry the lid from the icecream and shoved the spoon in. She had been a good wife to William—the bastard. Never once did she ask him for anything. Their agreement before their wedding was if for some strange reason they got a divorce, each person would leave the marriage with what was theirs—what they came in with. In the case of any children, Allison would have gotten full custody. She laughed bitterly. That was why he stuck around for as long as he did. He didn’t want to lose custody of Emily.

  That thought sent a feeling of disgust through her and she tried to kill it by pushing a full spoon of icecream into her mouth. She didn’t get rid of the feeling. She only succeeded in giving herself a major brain freeze. At that moment, the telephone began peeling. She pressed her palm to her forehead and reached for the phone. It could be Emily. Taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat. “Yes, hello?”

  “Ally?” Her best friend Ashton Jakes replied. “You alright? Em called and asked me to check in on you. What’s going on? Why is she so worried about you?”

  “I don’t know what alright means.” Allison stuck another spoonful into her mouth though her forehead still ached. She winced. “I feel like shit.”

  “Okay, don’t go anywhere. I’m coming over there.”

  “Ash, I don’t feel like—hello?” All she got back was the dial tone. “Damn it!”

  Allison slammed the phone into the cradle and flopped backward into the pillows. She wasn’t in the mood for company, but she should have known Emily would have called Ashton.

  The truth was Emily hadn’t said much to Allison during the car ride to the train. That left Allison feeling as though Emily blamed her. After all, what kind of woman loses their man after eighteen years? There had to be something she had done wrong—wasn’t there?

  Reluctantly, Allison pushed her body into a sitting position and occupied her mouth with a handful of chips. She took the moment to walk to the mirror and stared at her reflection. She felt haggard, ugly, unsexy. She frowned at the lines under her eyes, the redness of her eyes, and the snot running down her nose. She sniffled, but reached for a Kleenex. She had cried herself to sleep the night before and her eyes told the story. With her nose cleaned up she looked at herself again. Allison barely recognized the woman glaring back at her. The eyes appeared sad and unfamiliar. Her frazzled hair clung to one side of her head from where she rested her head on the pillow. No wonder William left her. Over the past few years she let herself go. She hadn’t cared about how she looked really because she barely had time. She had a daughter to take to rugby practice and modelling. She had a home business to run and everything else that came with being a human female. But somehow a part of her knew those were simply excuses.

  She heard the front door opening and footsteps. Her heart dared to hope it was William. When Ashton yelled her name from downstairs, Allison’s heart broke once more. She wrapped her body into the old robe she refused to throw out since it used to be her grandmother’s, grabbed her jar of icecream and descended the stairs.

  Ashton was waiting at the foot of the stairs with his arms open to her.

  “You didn’t have to rush over here,” she told him, accepting his hug before leading him into the kitchen. They hopped onto stools and she stuck her spoon into the icecream. “I mean I’m sure Paul isn’t happy you’re running over here to rescue me again.”

  Ashton smiled but his eyes were still worried. “Paul understands. You and I have known each other since the beginning of time and that’s a bond that won’t break. And besides, he loves the idea I have a friend like you. Now stop worrying about my love life and tell me what happened.”

  “William left me.”

  “Left you as in gone on a business trip, left you?”

  “No. I mean left me as in he met some blond pre―pubescent bimbo in Fresno and served me with divorce papers.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Ashton growled.

  Allison gave him a sad smile—well it was just a curve to the corner of her mouth. “Oh yeah. And the thing is, he didn’t even ask for anythin
g. All he wanted was for me to sign the papers so he could ask her to marry him.”

  “What? He said that?”

  “Oh yeah. The bastard didn’t even care our teenage daughter was standing right there. I tell you something, Ash, I could have killed him last night.”

  Ashton shook his head. “I can’t believe he would do that. How’s Em taking it?”

  “I don’t know. She freaked at him. Told him he made her sick. She offered to stay here and take care of me, but I couldn’t let her do that. It’s always been her dream to go away for college. I wanted her out of this hell hole—I wanted her to be happy.”

  “That’s why she called me—”

  “I think she hates me.” Allison sobbed now. She pressed her face into Ashton’s shoulder. “I mean, I let myself go. Look at me! My hair’s a mess, my nails haven’t been done in forever, I wear my old track pants to bed—I used to wear lingerie.”

  “But you’re a mother!”Ashton rationalized. “You had a daughter to raise. You had a business to run and a house to take care of. You are allowed to dress shitty because you’ve earned that right. What he did to you is inexcusable. Want me to dig up some dirt on him? I’m pretty sure he has some. I have ways I could use to bury him and he wouldn’t even see it coming.”

  Allison had to chuckle at that despite herself. “Nah. I’ll deal with William—or not. I signed the papers.”

  “Already?”

  “Oh yeah. We had a pre nup so there’s nothing to hold on to. If he wants out so badly, let him go.”

  “I never understood men.” Ashton shook his head. “We have a good thing at home and choose to leave with trash. You wanna know what I think?”

  Ashton got up and grabbed a spoon for himself before returning and stabbing the spoon into the icecream.

  “What do you think?”

  “I think it’s only a matter of time before Karma comes around to bite certain people in the ass. There’s no need to stress about the crap they’ve done to you—the way they’ve broken your heart into a million different pieces, or stab you in the back. Karma’s a bitch, my friend. Karma’s a bitch.”

  Allison stuck her spoon, piled high, into her mouth and sucked the cold dessert from it. She thought over what Ashton just said, but couldn’t see how William would get his. He was rich, still handsome and had a lovely new fiancée on his arm. His life was perfect, Allison knew that. But how could he claim to have loved her and move on so quickly? Perhaps he didn’t really love her after all.

  “You’re going to want to go back to your room and sulk,” Ashton interrupted her thoughts. “But Em’s first break is going to show up fast and she can’t find you here sulking. You have to find some way to get over this and be strong when your daughter comes home. I’m not talking red-eyed and a mess. Got that?”

  “I don’t know how I’m going to do that,” Allison sighed. “William was my everything. My whole life revolved around his happiness and Emily. I mean I even turned my job into a work from home just so I could be the perfect wife. Now Emily is gone—I have nothing left.”

  “Oh girl, please.” Ashton took her hand and squeezed. “What you need to do is take those dance classes you’ve always been talking about. Or write that novel you’ve been harping on for all these years.”

  “I’d be some kind of hypocrite. I don’t believe in true love anymore. What kind of a romance novel would that be?”

  “Well now you’re just being a stick in the mud. Haven’t you ever faked it?”

  Allison turned to stare at her friend not really sure what to say to that. Instead, she leaned over the counter and grabbed a banana. She eyed it for a while, trying to figure out whether or not to eat it. Finally, she placed it back.

  “Just think about it, alright? What about your photography? You haven’t used your camera in ages.”

  “That’s because I never had time after Emily was born. I took pictures of her as a baby and a few other times after that, but nothing serious.”

  “See? There you go.” Ashton pushed off the stool and kissed her head. “I have to get to the station before heading back home. I did tell Paul I was just running over to see you for a bit. You gonna be good till I get off?”

  “I will be.”

  “You promise? You can call Paul if you need anything while I’m at the station.”

  “I thought you weren’t going to be long there.”

  He grinned boyishly at her.

  “Seriously, go home to Paul. He barely sees you as is because of your job.”

  Ashton nodded. “Just as long as you’re alright.”

  Allison found a smile from somewhere deep within and placed it on her lips. She smoothed her hands over her frizzy hair and took a deep breath. She held it for a bit then exhaled. “I’ll be fine. If I need anything I’ll call Paul—I promise. Now go and get back home to your man.”

  Ashton seemed satisfied with that answer. He kissed her head and exited. But Allison didn’t feel fine. She felt angry, betrayed and broken. By the time mid-day rolled around, she managed to eat half the large jar of icecream, the bag of chips she had taken into her bedroom and was sobbing through reruns of The Ghost Whisperer.

  Chapter One

  Logan Montgomery stood with his back against the wall of the centre and stared at the group before him. After his return from the Marines he noticed Stony Creek had gotten worse since he was last there. The rich got richer and the poor—well it may sound cliché but they got poorer. The youth were getting into more and more trouble and the people were happy about locking them up and throwing away the key. He didn’t see how that helped young ones. All they did was serve their time, reoffend and found their way back behind bars. He was always taught prevention was better than cure. Therefore, he took all his free time and spent it in a program he had developed for the centre called Dance Therapy.

  Being a street kid before he joined the Marines, he knew how most of the kids ended up hanging with the wrong crowd. He’d been there―done that. His parents were loaded, but never had time for him. They were always working or away on some kind of trip. He went through high school alone in their large house most of the time and with his best friend’s family. It was lonely for him. He then picked up with the Eastside Posse and soon found himself in a jail cell being asked if he would like to utilize his one phone call.

  His eyes opened that day. He lucked out when a certain detective took pity on him and decided to look the other way after Logan promised to keep his nose clean.

  “Come on, Dax,” Logan called above the music.

  He pushed from the wall and fell into the spot beside one of his students. Logan allowed his body to pop and lock the way the move was supposed to look for the class. “Let your body fall into it. Lean on the music—that’s why it’s there. Try it again.”

  Once more the class began the routine from where they had stopped before. He watched like a proud father. The current students had come a long way. They wanted to dance. He used that to bring in some rules. The rules were simple; no drugs or alcohol in his centre. No gang colours or talk—period. He prized respect above all else and if they didn’t show him, each other and themselves respect he would show them the door. Last but definitely not least, they would have to keep their grades up. With his connections, Logan had managed to get a few teachers to volunteer their time twice a week for homework clinics. So far, it seemed to have been working.

  He glanced at the clock and clapped his hands. “Alright,” he jogged over to the stereo system and turned it off. He stood before them and smiled, “You guys are getting good at this,” he joked and they laughed. “Class is over for today. Remember, since most of you have exams coming up, extra help will be available. Make use of it. I don’t want any C’s got that? I know you guys have it in you to do well.”

  He got a few moans for a reply, but he knew they would try their best. He watched them go and took a deep breath. Being a mentor―as the media had called—wasn’t what he wanted to spend his life doing. B
efore the Marines he thought he’d be dead before he even figured that out. During the Marines he thought he’d be dead before he got home. Now that he was home, he had plans. He was twenty nine and getting older. He wanted a family, children, a lover who would also be his wife. He smirked at the thought. His best friend Samuel would have laughed too hard at it. When all the students were gone Logan took the moment to pack up his CDs, a few books he had gotten from the bookstore and a DVD someone had left behind. He carried the DVD to the lost and found, but everything else he placed in his duffle bag to toss in the back of his truck.

  “Hey, Lo!” Samuel hollered from where he stood at the door bouncing a basketball. “You have time for some hoops?”

  Logan checked his watch. “Sure, I got a little time to kick your butt and send you home.”

  “You think so, huh? Well I think it’s only fair to warn you, I got mad skills, son!”

  Logan laughed and faked to the left before stealing the ball from Sam’s hand and dribbled it a few times. “You were saying?”

  “Lucky break.”

  “I should be home working on that demo.” Logan stood on the free throw line and sent the ball sailing. It fell through the basket with a distinct whoosh. He caught it and tossed it over to Samuel. “They gave me a deadline of three weeks. That was two weeks ago—and I still got nothing.”

  “Maybe you need to put it down for a couple of days. Get inspired somehow.”

  “I’ve been trying to get inspired for the past two weeks. Nothing’s coming to me. This is my big break man—and I’m flubbing it up.”

  “It’s too soon to say that.” Samuel missed a shot and trailed off into a frown. “Just give it some time. Besides, knowing you? You’re probably putting way too much thought into it. You’re an over-thinker. You need to sit back, watch the paper for a while and it’ll come.”

  Logan wanted to make it big in the music business. That was something he had always had a flair for. He could rhyme with the best of them and carry a love song off in the league of Keith Sweat and Luther Vandross, but for the life of him he couldn’t come up with a good enough song for his demo.