Battle of the Book Boyfriends Dating Horror Stories Contest!

CALLING ALL DATING HORROR STORIES!!!!

Have you had bad luck with romance in the past? Now's your chance to get not just one, but THREE swoon-worthy guys to be your Valentine this year! Enter your dating horror story in the Battle of the Book Boyfriends Dating Horror Stories Contest and you could win the Kelly Oram Contemporary collection. (Signed paperbacks, contest is international)

 

In case you haven't heard yet, this February I will be working hard to help you find the perfect book boyfriend to be your Valentine!

As the leading guys from all of my books duke it out in a battle to be crowned King of the Book Boyfriends, all of you will have the chance to swoon, fall in love, and maybe even take some of these yummy guys home with you!Throughout the Battle there will be lots and lots of opportunity to win stuff! I'll be giving away lots of signed books, posters, bookmarks, "Virgin Val" charm necklaces, and more signed books!  AND RIGHT NOW IS YOUR FIRST CHANCE TO WIN!

Every day from Feb. 10th through Feb. 16th, I will personally introduce you to all of the Kelly Oram boys and they will be featured on different blogs across the blogosphere. There will also be a different chance to win every single day by participating in quizzes, contests, polls and more! And we'll end with a twitter party on the 16th where I'll announce the giveaway winners and crown the official King Of The Book Boyfriends! The King will win the opportunity to be the superstar for once. (Meaning I will write a collection of scenes or short stories from the King's POV.

Plus, Valentines weekend (Friday-Sunday Feb 14th-16th) All of my ebooks will be on sale for just $0.99 each! If you haven't had the chance to read them yet, now's your chance to get them cheap! Gotta love cheap books! (Especially if you're a readaholic like me and spend the majority of your paycheck on books.)

For more details about the Battle of the Book Boyfriends click the image below to get the full event schedule.

BotBB Dating Horror Story Contest info:

How to enter: It's simple. Have a dating horror story? Email it to me at [email protected] with the subject Dating Horror Story. Anyone who sends a story will receive some signed bookmarks just for entering, and then I'll select my favorite stories to be finalists. All finalist entries will be posted on my blog during the Battle of the Book Boyfriends. (Entrants will be kept anonymous, of course.) Then I'll put it up to the readers to vote for the best one. The winner will receive the a signed paperback collection of my contemporary works. (Serial Hottie, V is for Virgin, The Avery Shaw Experiment.) 

Last day to enter is Thursday Feb. 13th. Finalists will be announced on Valentine's Day. Again, this contest is international. Have fun and good luck!  :) 

The First Time Ryan Says, “I love you.” (Ryan POV)

The First Time Ryan Says, “I love you.” (Ryan POV)

I don’t mean to brag or anything, but, Jamie Baker, world’s only superhero and hottest girl in the known universe? Yeah, she’s my girlfriend.

Not that she accepted this label gracefully, or anything. It took me weeks to wear her down, and when she finally relented she used the word stupid and was sort of yelling at me. In fact, I think she might have only agreed to it because she was sick of me hounding her. But whatever, the specifics are irrelevant. The important thing is that she’s my girlfriend now.

I kept waiting for her to try and take it back, but every time I saw her between classes she surprised me by looking as happy as I felt. Seeing Jamie smile, and knowing I was the reason for that smile, was enough to make me die happy. Which, considering my girlfriend has deadly powers that have a tendency to prove unstable at times, is a legitimate possibility. Not nearly as big of a possibility as Jamie likes to think it is, but enough that I have to be careful. Still. Jamie is worth the risk.

I think I was literally high on hormones—or pheromones or whatever—all day because nothing could dampen my mood. Nothing. Half the school was mad at me, including my two best friends, but I didn’t care. Nothing mattered except that Jamie was back from wherever she’d disappeared to, she was safe, and she was mine. FINALLY.

I’ll admit I spent the morning in my own little Jamie Baker world but even I couldn’t ignore the static in the atmosphere when Jamie and I entered the cafeteria as a couple at lunch. I knew people would whisper and stare, but I refused to let it get to me.

I was proud of Jamie regardless of whether or not the rest of the student body understood her, and I was determined to let everyone know that. As we walked through the lunch line, my arm securely—and obviously—around her waist, I met as many curious gazes as I could with reassuring smiles. That’s the only reason I noticed the girl in front of me slip in time to catch her.

“Thanks,” she said a little breathlessly as I set her back on her feet.

“It was my pleasure,” I said, still a little giddy from my awesome Jamie-is-my-girlfriend high. “I’m a quarterback, you know? I never get to catch.”

The girl laughed until something caught her eye and her face went instantly white. When I followed her gaze she was looking at Jamie. I had to hold back laughter when I realized what the problem was.

In making myself Jamie’s boyfriend I’d basically stamped CAUTION: PROPERTY OF THE ICE QUEEN on my forehead. I was more than okay with that, but it did make me somewhat unapproachable now. I mean, people may not have known all the different ways Jamie could kill them without even trying, but they still knew better than to mess with—or flirt with—the Ice Queen’s boyfriend.

Not that Jamie would actually hurt them. In fact, I doubted she’d even care about the flirting. Jealousy didn’t seem her style. But I was the only one who knew that. As proof of that, the girl who’d just fallen into my arms mumbled a quick, “Sorry,” Jamie’s direction and then practically sprinted back to her seat.

Jamie and I both laughed a little as we sat down. “Poor thing,” Jamie said, snickering.

“Yeah. I remember the first time I had to interact with you. It’s pretty scary.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure you were real terrified as you were asking me to make out with you,” Jamie said sarcastically. “But that’s not what I meant.”

What else could she have meant? Jamie laughed at my confusion and then nodded her head toward the girl we’d just scared off. “That poor girl just slipped on potato salad and fell in love forever.”

I rolled my eyes when I got her meaning, but as I cut a glance back to the girl in question she was watching me with a dreamy expression. It was true. Jamie noticed my smirk so I said, “She’ll be over it by the end of lunch.”

Jamie laughed. “Right. Just like Amy Jones got over it? Or like Paige will ever be over it? You do realize you could have your pick of any of them, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” I admitted, smiling to myself because Jamie completely missed the fact that I already had taken my pick of all of them. I picked her.

And I got her.

“So why me?” Jamie asked. “If any girl in this school would go out with you, and all of them would have given you less trouble about it than I did, and none of them risk killing you if you get too close, why go through all the trouble?”

It was baffling to me that Jamie could honestly not know the answer to this. Once we got her powers under control, my next job as Boyfriend was going to have to be to make her understand how amazing she is.

“That’s easy,” I explained. I didn’t even have to think about it. “Because you kissed me that day.”

I had no clue why she was so appalled by that response, but she clearly was.

“Because I kissed you?” she asked. It was practically a screech. “Seriously? You only like me because I’m a good kisser?”

I almost laughed at her misunderstanding, but it was more fun to let her go on with her rant.

“That’s it,” she said. “We’re not doing this. I’m not letting you risk your life just because you can’t think with your upstairs brain.”

Now I did laugh. I couldn’t help it. “No, you twit,” I teased. “Because you kissed me that day. I expected the ice queen and got a funny, go-with-the-flow girl that didn’t care what anyone thought about her. A girl willing to stir up gossip just so that I could win a date with someone else.

“You didn’t have to help me. In fact, you probably should have been insulted, but you weren’t. You kissed me, you smiled, and then you wished me luck. No one’s ever surprised me like that. I couldn’t figure out why you did it, and I just had to get to know you after that.”

I took a breath. Somewhere in the middle of that speech I’d stopped messing around. I wasn’t teasing anymore. I think it was the genuine shock in her expression that was sending my brain into overdrive. It was like she was only just now realizing that I liked her. I resisted the urge to sigh.

There’s a difference between vulnerability and a lack of confidence. When Jamie looks at me all vulnerable like and silently says, “Here’s my heart, please don’t break it,” I could seriously die. But I hate her insecurity. I understand where it comes from—it’s got to be hard being so different from everyone else—but I don’t like it. It makes me sad.

On the bright side, I had from now until forever to help her see herself correctly, because now that she’d agreed to a relationship I wasn’t going anywhere.

“After that day,” I said, suddenly serious, and desperate. My heart was pounding and there was adrenaline pumping through me that hadn’t been there minutes before. I had to make her understand.

“Every time I was with you I got glimpses of the real Jamie, the one who is dying to break out, and she was this fun, relaxed, smart, funny, caring girl. Finding out the truth about you only made you that much more incredible. You’re so strong. You’ve gone through so much, you’re going through so much, but you never stop trying. You’re amazing.”

She wouldn’t look at me, so I lifted her chin. The second our eyes met, I knew. I knew because of the complete serenity that suddenly washed over me. We were in the cafeteria, but we may as well have been in Gene’s Zen garden because no one and nothing else existed except for one simple truth.

“I love you, Jamie Baker.”

I’d never said those words before. Not in the sense that I’d just used them. I’d told my family I loved them, and Becky, but that was different.

I always thought I’d be scared to say it the first time, but the moment I’d realized it was true I had to tell her. I wanted her to know. Needed her to know. It didn’t even matter if she didn’t love me back yet.

I watched Jamie’s eyes gloss over with a layer of moisture, and waited, heart in hand, for her to respond.

I had no expectations from her, because I hadn’t expected to tell her I loved her, but she still surprised me by throwing herself at me in almost the exact same fashion as she’d done the first time we met. We were even in almost the exact same spot, with the entire school was watching the spectacle. And just like the first time we met, that kiss blew me away.

Jamie hadn’t returned the words, but the love was there, in that kiss. I could feel it. I loved Jamie and she loved me. I knew it, and I was pretty sure she knew it. And I was going to have fun getting her to admit it.

"The Superkiss" from Ryan’s POV

"The Superkiss" from Ryan’s POV

As I waited for Jamie to come back with lunch, I took one last sniff of myself. I was all zesty-fresh. After her comment about her heightened sense of smell I’d scrubbed every inch of me twice, had a heyday with the mouthwash, and splashed the tiniest molecule of cologne on. I’d probably be paranoid about how I smelled for the rest of my life now.

A minute later pepperoni, onions, and garlic overpowered the scent of Irish Spring. Jamie was back, and the pizza she set down in front of me looked and smelled like a work of art. Where in the world had she found this? Definitely not here. I would know if pizza like this existed anywhere even close to the Sacramento metro area.

“I’m telling you, best pizza in the country,” Jamie said, smiling proudly at my obvious excitement.

“This looks amazing! Where did you get this from?”

“This little town in Illinois.”

I blinked. Did she just say Illinois? “You mean that state clear on the East Coast?”

“Well, technically it’s the Midwest. Did you sleep through geography too?”

I was too stunned to care where the state of Illinois fell on a map. “Whatever. I just meant that it’s not exactly around the corner.”

I picked up a slice of pizza. I was almost afraid to eat it because the thought that it had been cooked a thousand miles away seemed to make it priceless. But it looked seriously good, so I got over the shock and just enjoyed the fact that dating Jamie Baker had some sweet perks.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the impossibility of Jamie as I ate slice after slice of her Illinois pizza. By my fourth piece I simply had to voice my amazement. “I can’t believe you just went all the way to Illinois.”

“It is kind of surreal sometimes when I think about what I can do.”

Kind of surreal? That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. If only I could do the things she could.

“I wish I had powers too. How much fun would it be if I could just go tromping around the country on a whim and still be back in time for dinner? I’d be at Miami Beach all the time. Or New York.”

My mind drifted off into a hundred different possibilities—places I could go with Jamie if I had powers too. Things we could do together. And it was all be that much more exciting because it would be our little—okay huge—secret. I wonder if I could get my hands on a radioactive spider.

I was imagining us alone on a beach in Cabo by the time Jamie pulled me from my daydream.

“What?” I asked.

Her cheeks instantly went bright red. Could it be that she was mentally on that beach in Cabo with me? Before I could ask her what color her bikini was, she cleared her throat and said, “If I could take you anywhere with me, I’d take you to the Grand Canyon, not New York. Best sunsets on the planet.”

Not a beach in Cabo, but still. I’d take it. In fact, the Grand Canyon had never sounded so good to me. Romantic sunsets, a billion stars in the sky, me, Jamie, and not another soul around for miles and miles… Hey, she could even still wear the bikini if she wanted. I wouldn’t discourage her.

“We’ll plan a trip sometime.” I was already hashing out the details in my brain. “You’ll just have to go by plane like us mere mortals.”

She groaned, and I laughed. I knew she’d appreciate that one. “Like you mortals?” she said. “Oh, please! Shut up and eat that last piece.”

I have to tease her about the superpower thing as much as possible because to her being different the way she is feels like the end of the world. But it’s not really. If I had a truckload of toxic waste to douse myself in, I’d juice myself with some power lines in a heartbeat just to prove it to her.

“Can I ask you a question?” I blurted suddenly.

“Sure.”

There was one thing that had always bothered me about Jamie’s story, and every time I considered finding a vat of toxic waste to bathe in I felt desperate to ask it. Apparently now was the time.

 “But you have to promise not to freak out.” This conversation was sure to upset her, but it was too late now.

“Okay,” she said slowly.

I kicked myself. I’d already put her on edge and I hadn’t even asked the question yet. “I was just wondering…” Suddenly I wasn’t sure I could ask.

“Yeah?”

“Well, I was just thinking about how you got your powers.”

“And?”

I gulped. How exactly is the best way to bring up the subject of her dead boyfriend? “I was just wondering why… Derek”—it was hard to say the guy’s name—“didn’t end up like you.”

My stomach turned to knots as I watched the blood drain from Jamie’s face. “I don’t mean to pry,” I said gently. “It’s just that, well, if it was the waste from the truck combined with the electricity that gave you your powers, then shouldn’t Derek have gotten them too, instead of… you know…”

My voice trailed off. I hated bringing up such a painful memory. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt her, but it just didn’t make any sense, and if we really wanted to get to the truth behind her powers, then I needed to know.

Jamie looked terrified, but she’s tough and I knew she could handle it so I waited expectantly and was eventually rewarded.

“Derek wasn’t in the car when the truck hit me. He wasn’t sprayed with the chemicals, just electrocuted.”

I guess it made sense why he didn’t get powers then, but I was still confused. “What was he doing if he wasn’t in the car with you? Where was he?”

“We were coming back from this place we liked to go to sometimes.  An old bridge over a big irrigation canal hidden in the middle of a cornfield.”

My thoughts came to an abrupt stop. I felt like I’d just taken a baseball bat to the gut. She’d been out in the middle of a cornfield with the guy? Alone?

“It’s a nice quiet place for stargazing.”

I’ll bet it was. And I’ll bet this Derek guy was paying really close attention to all those stars.

She said something else then. Something about beating him back to the car, but I was having a hard time paying attention because another thought had now occurred to me. Exactly how far had she gone with her last boyfriend?

I’d always assumed Jamie was somewhere on the pure side of the scale—not, you know, as white as snow or anything considering how she’d straddled my lap and kissed me senseless in front of the entire school—but she was shy enough with me that I doubted she’d been much further than a good makeout session.

Jealousy is a rare feeling for me. I was caught off guard by the severity of it, and I really didn’t like it. It seemed stupid to be jealous of a dead guy, but Jamie was really, really broken up over him, and if she’d been sneaking off to cornfields with him...

Had Jamie actually loved Derek? Had she given herself to him? If so, that sucked. It was bad enough having to compete with a ghost, but if their connection had been that deep, then she was a lot more hurt than I realized, and all my attempts to push her into a relationship with me were probably only making things worse.

For a moment I felt completely sick to my stomach. What if she couldn’t get past him? What if there was no way to win her heart? What if her heart was too broken?

I was working up the courage to ask her if she’d loved Derek when she broke the silence. “Can I ask you a question?”

I was surprised by the request, and so relieved to be stopped from asking what was probably the stupidest question I could ask that I nodded happily. “Sure, anything.”

“What’s the story with you and Becky? Why haven’t you guys ever gone out?”

I was completely blindsided by the question. Weren’t we just talking about the death of her first lover? How in the world did Becky get into this conversation?

“Um…” I was so startled that it took me a second to even remember what she’d asked me. “Well, actually we did for a while. Kind of. If sixth grade counts.”

Suddenly I was transported back to the sixth grade and Becky’s twelfth birthday. My parents were having the mother of all fights, so I snuck out and crashed her sleepover. Her friends had forced us into a closet saying I needed to give her a birthday present before I could leave. I smiled at the memory. “She was my first kiss.”

Jamie’s quiet “Oh” brought me back to the present, and, a little too late, I put all the pieces together. “You’re not worried about Becky, are you?” I asked.

Maybe Jamie wasn’t as hung up on her last boyfriend as I’d thought, because she looked disappointed by the idea of me being interested in Becky. That frown was seriously the best thing that had happened all day. As long as there was even a tiny spark of interest from Jamie, that was all I needed. She’d just given me the opening I’d been waiting for.

“There’s nothing like that going on between us anymore,” I said. “There hasn’t been for years and years. I promise you, Jamie, you have nothing to worry about.”

Jamie made a face I couldn’t decipher.

“That’s exactly what worries me though, Ryan—the fact that there’s nothing going on. Becky is so pretty, and aside from how she feels about me, she seems really nice. You obviously care a great deal for her. She could be the perfect girlfriend for you. That’s something I could never be. You deserve the things she could give you, all the things I can’t.”

So that was her game plan this time? Pull the we-can’t-kiss card and point me in the direction of another girl? Did she really think she’d be able to get rid of me so easily?

Nice try, Jamie Baker, but I don’t think so.

I was about to laugh at her but then I noticed tears in her eyes. Apparently this wasn’t another of her measly attempts to scare me off. She was serious!

I was simultaneously horrified that she thought I’d be better off with Becky than her, and thrilled that she liked me enough to be upset because she thought she didn’t deserve me.

Suddenly desperate to make Jamie understand exactly how much I wanted her, I leapt out of my seat and pulled her into my arms. “But she can’t be you,” I promised. “Don’t you understand that you’re the one I want? You. Not Becky or Paige or any other girl that may or may not be able to make out with me. Just you.”

I was so serious that I nearly shouted it at her. I had to make her understand. Ever since the day she’d kissed me there was no other girl. What girl at Rocklin High could compare to her?

I’m not just talking about her superpowers either. Jamie didn’t play games the way girls like Paige did. She didn’t care what anyone thought about her. She wasn’t stupid, and she challenged me like no one else ever has.

Jamie was the most amazing person I’d ever known. And since she’d raised the bar to impossibly high standards, she was just going to have to buck up and be mine. I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“No,” she whispered as if she’d read my thoughts. “You shouldn’t want me, Ryan.”

Jamie pulled herself out of my grasp and took off around the porch to the front of the house. But she was moving at a regular human pace. If she wasn’t going to disappear at superspeed, then I wasn’t going to let her go. I caught her by the wrist just before she made it to the front porch steps and tugged her down onto the swing with me.

“Oh, no you don’t,” I said. “You are not running away from me this time.”

“Ryan, please.”

“No!” I said and trapped her in my arms.

She strained against my grip, but the girl had superstrength and speed. Not to mention she could zap me silly. If she really wanted to go, she could have.

“If you don’t want to be with me because you’re not ready for another relationship or you don’t like me that way, then that’s fine,” I said. “I can respect that. I could even deal with the excuse that you’re just too scared. That’s a lame excuse, but it’s one I could live with. What I can’t live with is you playing the martyr because you don’t think you’re good enough for me, understand?”

Jamie didn’t respond, but she stopped fighting me. I waited until I was sure she wasn’t going to bail and then let her go. Her whole body sagged like she just given up some big internal fight. I took that as an okay to pull her against me. Surprisingly, she sank into my side and let me hold her.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. I think I even sighed a little. There is nothing like the feeling of having Jamie in my arms, and she doesn’t let me keep her there nearly often enough.

Taking advantage of this miraculous opportunity, I kissed the side of her head and slipped my arm low around her waist. For the briefest moment my fingers brushed her skin along the hem of her shirt. It was enough to make my brain stop processing logical thought. My other hand quickly found her stomach. The simple touch made me shiver.

“Ryan,” Jamie said with a sigh. It was a warning. Jamie never used to let me get within a foot of her, but she’d slowly been giving in an inch at a time until once or twice I’ve actually been allowed to make physical contact. She always ends it too quickly though.

“Shh,” I said, cutting her off before she found an excuse to put some distance between us. “We’re just going to sit here for a minute.”

I took my fingers off her skin and had to lace them together to keep them from roaming. If they did, Jamie would kill me. Literally. And quite possibly on purpose.

I hated that I could hardly ever touch her, but I knew she kept me at a distance because she was scared of hurting me. I was grateful that she was at least trying to learn to control her power. Being patient was near impossible, though, so I had to remind myself that she’d never lasted this long before.

It’s a rare instance when Jamie really, truly lets her guard down, but it’s those moments that keep me fighting for her. She’s like chasing a dream, something magical and impossible, but when she lets me touch her I’m reminded that she’s real.

Her vulnerable side makes her seem more human. She becomes someone I can relate to, someone I can protect. She becomes someone I could see myself falling for, and the scariest part about that is that that doesn’t scare me.

After another minute Jamie relaxed again. I unlocked my hands and started trailing my fingers lightly up and down her arms. I knew this could flip her dreaded ice queen switch, but I was unable to help myself.

Jamie’s skin has this unique quality of feeling alive. When she’s upset you have to watch out because touching her is going to bite you, but when she’s relaxed? I can’t fully express how amazing it feels to touch her.

Her skin warms to the touch and feels tingly. Something about her energy literally draws you closer, like a magnetic pull. It causes an almost uncontrollable craving.

My hand moved to the narrow strip of her stomach exposed between her shirt and jeans, and she gasped. It was a good gasp. It was a this-feels-incredible gasp. It pushed my control over the edge. I needed more of her. Now.

“Jamie?”

Her response was breathless. “Hmm?”

“Kiss me.”

“No,” she whispered even though her body shuddered with desire. She wanted this as much as I did. I was sure of it.

“You’re ready,” I said, bringing my face down to her neck. “If you can handle this, then you can handle just one kiss.” I nudged her jaw up a little, brought my lips to her ear, and whispered a desperate, “Please?”

She didn’t say anything, but she wasn’t freaking out yet either.

I moved more slowly than I ever had in my life, giving her all the time in the world to stop me, but she wasn’t going to.

My heart was hammering. I’d wanted this for so long. I couldn’t believe I was finally going to get it. I held my breath as I lowered my lips on to hers.

When we touched something inside her cracked. Her resistance shattered. It was like our first kiss only so much more. She fell into the kiss as if propelled by an invisible force.

It was sensory overload. I could feel and taste her unbridled heat and desire. It worked with my own need to create an explosion of passion that I thought only existed in cheesy girl novels. 

But then on top of that there was the magical electricity that was uniquely Jamie. It washed over me like a tidal wave of energy that brought me to life in a way I’d never felt before.

Jamie noticed my hair standing on end and started to pull away, but I was so not going to let a little static end this kiss. “No,” I said, gripping her tighter to me. “No, it’s okay.”

To prove my point I crashed my lips down on hers again with everything I had in me. This kiss had been a long time coming and I was going to make sure she’d remember it for the rest of her life.

My senses heightened. I could hear things more clearly, taste and smell things I couldn’t before, and most of all I could feel everything like it was being blasted at me with hurricane force.

After I don’t even know how long my body was filled to the brim with energy. I began to shake and felt Jamie panic in response. She pressed her hands to my chest, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t to feel me up. She pushed me back, trying to break our connection, but she wasn’t thinking clearly and accidentally sent be flying.

As I flew through the air I was on such a high that I felt as if the world around me was moving in slow motion. My senses were still in overdrive and the pain of the impact when I hit the ground was so intense I couldn’t breathe. Whatever. Small price to pay for that experience.

Seriously, Jamie Baker = Best. Kisser. Ever.

I sat up slowly sure that something was broken. I should have been dead, or at least hurt. Jamie had thrown me so far I swear I was half way to the highway, but, miraculously, I was fine—just a little stiff.

Then my eyes fell on Jamie and I wondered if I didn’t have a concussion because I was seeing things. She looked like she’d stepped straight out of an X-men comic. She was standing on the front steps of the cabin looking like the ice queen version of Storm. Her hair was whipping all around her like she was standing in a tornado, except there wasn’t any wind, and her eyes were glowing. It was the first time I ever looked at her and truly saw her as a superhero.

She looked dangerous and powerful and so freaking hot, but she also looked seriously freaked out. Something was very wrong. Her entire body started shaking like it was trying to explode.

“Jamie!”

When I screamed her body jolted and then lightning came shooting out from her hands. I ducked and could feel the heat of the electricity pass over my head. I don’t even want to know how close it came to blasting me into oblivion. Especially when I heard it crash into a tree behind me with an explosion so loud it rattled my insides.

I shouted Jamie’s name again, scared that she was hurt, but not only was she just fine, she was screaming like I was the one in danger.

“Look out!”

I looked up where she was pointing just in time to see death coming at me at full speed. A huge pine tree was falling and there was no way I cold move in time to get out of the way.

My hands came up instinctively, but before I had time to assume crash position, and cover my head, I was actually holding the two-foot think trunk in my hands. I’d caught the tree! I was holding a freaking tree above my head! Granted it probably wasn’t as heavy as my truck, but no way could a regular human do what I was doing at the moment.

Jamie and I stared at one another for a moment, equally stunned, but then I felt my lips spreading in idiotic proportions on my face. I didn’t know why or how, but I definitely had superstrength!

Say it with me: AWESOME!

Testing the theory I flexed my arms and gave the tree a little push. Much like Jamie had just flung me, I tossed the tree half a football field into the forest.

I smiled at Jamie again and then laughed. “That was freaking awesome!”

I started to get up slowly testing the muscles and joints that still felt stiff, but before I got all the way to my feet Jamie collapsed and I forgot all about any possible injuries I might have.

I ran to her and just as I went to scoop her up her eyes fluttered open and the blood drained from her face. “”No! Wait!” she screamed, but it was too late.

I now knew how Timmy felt in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex’s fence turned back on with him still on it. I imagine it’s a lot like a TV dinner feels like—completely cooked from the inside out. FYI? I sucks. A lot.

I was pretty sure the shock was going to kill me. And just when I’d joined the ranks of superheroes! That sucks. But as I blacked out, there was only one thing I thought about. Kissing Jamie Baker? So worth it!

"Working Out" (Ryan POV)

This was actually posted on my blog forever ago. I'm just moving stuff around today. Ugh, I really should switch over to Wordpress because I hear you can do so much more with it, but I don't know how to use it. SO I stay here on blogger. One of these days I should just pay a web designer to make me a real website. Probably not going to happen any time soon.

Anyway, here's a scene from Being Jamie Baker that I wrote from Ryans point of view. There will be one or two posted after this...

"Working Out" from Ryan's POV

My date with Jamie was amazing, but it was so G rated that I’d been a flustered mess all week. How I managed to get through that night without laying a single finger on her was nothing short of a miracle. There was no way I’d be able to do it again. I didn’t want to.

I was ready to push Jamie in a more physical direction so I suggested we work out together. At the time I thought it was brilliant because I could still use the pretense of practice, but we’d both be wearing less and our adrenaline would be up.

I hadn’t had the chance to take my shirt off for Jamie yet. Not that I’m as ripped as Ryan Reynolds exactly, but I’m not dumb. Girls act differently around me when I’m at the pool or out on the lake. It’s like I turn them primal. I wanted to turn Jamie primal.

My plan totally backfired.

There was definitely an overabundance of hormones present this afternoon, but they were all mine. Jamie is beyond hot even on her bad days, and I knew she’d look good working up a sweat. Still, I was not prepared for the sheer sexiness that is Jamie Baker working out.

Jamie is always put together. Her hair and makeup are always perfect. Her clothes are always stylish. She’s gorgeous. But when I’d picked her up this morning and found her makeup-less with her hair thrown up in a simple ponytail, wearing nothing but a sport-tank and tiny workout shorts, gorgeous wasn’t the right word to describe her. She looked so freaking hot I nearly had an aneurysm and she hadn’t even started her workout yet.

When we finally got to the exercising, I couldn’t focus on anything but the fact that in order for Jamie to actually put some strain on her muscles she had to bench my truck. Seriously. My F250. Nearly 6,000 lbs of machine and she just lifted it above her head over and over again. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.

Then she started breaking a sweat. Needless to say I forgot about her superpowers. The only thing I could think about was getting all worked up and sweaty with her. Feeling the hardness of her muscles beneath all that soft skin. Tasting salty kisses. Feeling heat rising between our bodies, our breaths coming fast…

Um, yeah…

“You know? I think you were right. Making you work out was a really bad idea.”

“Why?”

“Aside from the fact that the F-250 you’re pumping is making me feel extremely inadequate, I’m afraid that if you don’t stop doing that, you’re going to end up throwing it at me.”

Jamie looked at the vehicle above her. “Why would I throw a truck at you?

More images flashed through my mind. Definitely not G rated. “Because you usually get cranky when I try to kiss you, and if you don’t stop looking so downright sexy, I’m going to have to do just that.” And then some…

Jamie took a slow concentrated breath and the truck rose again. The muscles in her stomach tightened. A drop of sweat that had pooled in her naval rolled down the side of her ribs.

I took a much needed deep breath. Baseball… Frogs… Snowstorms… My grandma…

“I’ve never seen you break a sweat before. It’s got my mind in the gutter big-time.”

“Quit objectifying me right now, or I will throw this truck at you!”

Man, she’s hot when she’s pissed.

“Go take a cold shower or something while I finish.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” I said. “Why don’t you call it quits and come in the hot tub with me.”

Definitely a better idea. 

“Oh yeah, that’s a brilliant idea. Why don’t you just take a soak with a blow dryer?”

Geez. She may have had a point there, but there was no need to be so hostile. I hoped it was because she was just as frustrated as me. I doubted it though. I’d been drooling over her for the last half an hour and she’d been so focused it was like I wasn’t even there.

I abandoned my weight bench for the patio swing and closed my eyes as I chugged a bottle of water.

I had to get myself under control or I was going to get really cranky. That couldn’t happen. I couldn’t let the Ice Queen get to me. Ever. That was the one thing I had over everyone else. Jamie could push people away in her sleep, but no matter how hard she tried she was not going to scare me off.

Jamie’s voice startled me out of my brooding. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“A really quiet humming noise. I can’t exactly place it, but I’ve never heard it out here before.”

I listened, but all I heard was nature. “It’s probably just a boat down on the lake.”

Jamie abandoned her workout. I couldn’t tell if I was disappointed by that or relieved.

She climbed out from under my truck and pointed toward the forest. “The lake is behind the house—this noise was coming from out there.” She scanned the trees and then frowned. “Maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me. I tend to get a little paranoid when I’m doing things like lifting trucks out in the open.”

I sighed. Here I was stuck in the hottest fantasies about her and she was just worried that someone was watching her. So much for things getting physical between us. The only person I’d managed to turn primal today was me. Lame.

I sat up, disappointed, but then Jamie came to sit next to me on the swing. I took a chance and put my arm around her. I could have done a happy dance when she didn’t shrug me off. It was enough to perk my mood back up.

“All right then,” I said, feeling like my patience had been renewed. Is it sad that one arm over her shoulder felt like a magnanimous victory? “Why don’t we work on something a little more subtle if you’re worried? How about your hearing? I’ll start singing, and you go for a jog. Call me when you can’t hear me anymore. That’s not so obvious as bench-pressing my truck.”

I gave her a light squeeze—totally just friendly—but for some reason it was the absolute wrong move. “I don’t feel like practicing anymore today,” she said sadly.

I didn’t get it. What had I done now? I swear sometimes it’s like Jamie’s bi-polar. I never have a clue what’s running through her head. I wonder if crazy mood swings are considered a superpower.

Seeing Jamie upset kills me. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to be her. She’s been through so much, and I know she feels like she’s alone in this but she’s wrong. She might be the only one with superpowers, but I was there now, and I was going to get through this with her. Whether she wanted me to or not.

“All right,” I said, forcing cheer into my voice that I didn’t feel.

I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my arms and make her tell me what was wrong so that I could help her feel better. But the more I push her the more she closes off from me, so, as impossible as felt, all I could do was be patient and wait for her to let me in.

“It’s lunch time anyway,” I said, “and I’ve officially worked up an appetite.”

Jamie jumped on that idea, happy to avoid telling me what was up. “You like New York-style pizza?” she asked.

She had my attention now. If I wasn’t going to get a hot makeout session, pizza was better than nothing. “I’m a guy. I love all forms of pizza.”

“Well I happen to know where to find the best pizza in the country, so why don’t you point me in the direction of a bathroom, and once I’m all cleaned up I’ll run get us lunch.”

Now that would just be a shame. “Aw come on Baker, I’m digging that post-workout look.”

She rolled her eyes at my flirting. Rolled her eyes. Was I ever going to get to kiss that girl again?

“More like post-workout stink,” she said. “Don’t forget I have a heightened sense of smell.”

“Gross.” Mood officially dead. Way to go, Jamie.