[Excerpt] Accidentally Perfect

Chapter Four: What is it about Bad Boys?

The music thumped and the bonfire soared into the starlit sky over the field. I watched my breath puff out of my mouth as I snuggled into my jacket further and nibbled on the edge of my cup.

I'd spaced out a little as Hadley was raving about Roman again and I was swaying to the beat of the slightly techno mix I didn't know the name of in the hopes of warming up a little. The first real Winter Holidays party tended to be colder than you expected; every year without fail, we never learnt.

Hadley whacked me and I looked up. "What?" I asked.

"Don't you think?"

I sighed. "Don't I think what, Hads?"

"That he's as smooth as they come."

I glared at her over the rim of my cup. "No."

"Oh, come on!" she whined. "This afternoon? You weren't the least bit tempted?"

"No." Because I hadn't been.

"What planet do you come from?" Hadley asked me as though she were disgusted or about to dissect me.

"The one where I don't want to be strung along and treated like God knows how many girls before me. The one where I don't find it attractive for a guy to be sporting bruises or– Case in point..."

I pointed over at Roman where he'd just pushed a guy and they were getting in each other's faces. I expected a fight, but Rio pulled Roman off the other guy who deflated a little as he watched how eager Roman was to keep at it. Rumour suggested only an idiot got into a fight with Roman Lombardi because he was the one who emerged victorious every time. Every. Time.

"Sorry, Hads. But, that just seems like too much trouble to me. And, I mean... Don't you want more from a guy than a nice face and maybe a decent hook up? I bet there is nothing going on in his head."

"He's like every bad boy out of every book or movie you've ever watched," she said earnestly. "Who cares what's going on in his head!"

"You need to stop reading those books and watching those movies, babes. I've told you before. It's unhealthy."

"You're the one who got me caught up on Patrick Thingy and Chase...what's his name?"

"Verona and Hammond," I replied without thinking because I'd seen 10 Things I Hate About You and Drive Me Crazy probably twenty too many times and still couldn't get enough of them.

Mum and I had watched all those 80s and 90s Rom-Coms as I grew up and I'd never stopped loving them. I'd even looked for ones Mum might have missed and given Hadley and Celeste a heavy appreciation for most of them – or, at least the hot guys in them. And the older I got, the more I loved John Cusack in particular. His characters were sweet and adorable and just the perfect romance hero.

"Why do you remember these things?" Hadley asked me.

I threw her as cocky a grin as I ever got. "Because I'm loyal to the men I love."

She shook her head at me before looking back to Roman. "Well, I'm quite loyal to getting in those perfectly-fitting jeans," she said as she titled her head to supposedly get a better view of his arse.

And yes, it was not lost on me that he was still objectively attractive in jeans that tucked into black boots and a dark jacket that might have even been leather. Sometimes he did the canvas shoes, jeans and either t-shirt over long-sleeved top or t-shirt under the open button-up shirt combination. Sometimes he did the sneakers, chinos and baggy jumper combination. And sometimes, like just then, he looked like he'd walked out of one of Hadley's dirty romance books and was about to whisk you away on his motorcycle.