by Shayla Black
She’s my best friend’s daughter.
Once, she had a crush on me. Now that she’s grown and engaged to another man, I can’t just let her go. But how many bridges am I willing to burn to convince her that she’s mine?
Maybe if I tell her I’m in love with her, she’ll choose me.
Then again, Perrie has shocked me for years—and now is no different…
Hot and sweet. HEA guaranteed!
EXCERPT
I feel guilty for this blistering torch I’m carrying for Perrie. But it’s worse this summer because it’s become absolutely clear that I don’t just want to peel off her clothes and pop her still-untouched cherry.
I’m in love with her.
Her father, Dan, would crucify me if he had any idea what I was thinking about his baby girl. And I wouldn’t blame him.
I absolutely, positively cannot cross the line with Perrie. Besides the risk of blowing up the business I share with Dan, the man I consider an older brother, there’s the girl herself. She’s got a big, bright future in front of her, starting with an Ivy League university back East—on a full scholarship. Yeah, she’s that smart. She needs to leave Phoenix, see the world, meet people, experience life. And she needs to do that without me.
My head knows it. My cock hates that idea.
Even if Dan didn’t bury me alive in quick-dry cement for touching his daughter, I doubt Perrie thinks of me that way. Sure, I’ve caught her looking once or twice. Curiosity about the opposite sex is normal, and because she’s an only child, she spends her time with adults—mostly me. She’s mature beyond her years and positively hated the games high school boys played. But she’s human; she has hormones. Hell, I peeked into her room last week, thinking she was in bed with a headache…but I swear I caught her masturbating. Seeing her panting, flushed, and shuddering under her covers has plagued my sex drive since.
I keep telling myself this is all moot. She’s leaving to start her amazing new life tomorrow morning, and our outing to this water park we’ve visited together many times is our last. But the subversive part of my brain keeps insisting I still have a whole night to find a creative way—preferably without clothes—to change her mind.
God, I’m an idiot.
“When we walked in, I saw they still have that Tempest machine in the arcade,” she remarked with a challenging smile. “Bet I can beat you again.”
“You wish. This time will be different.”
She raises that dark arch of a brow at me. “Because you’ve been practicing?”
“Because I’m determined,” I lied.
I’m actually relieved she’s found something else for us to do in public. As long as we’re not alone, I can’t be too reckless about putting my hands on her.
“Here it comes!” Her smile brightens as the water park’s man-made wave spouts from the edge of the pool and swells across the water before crashing over us.
The force of the water tugs at me and threatens to drag her under. Sputtering and gasping, she flings herself against me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and her legs around my middle. She’s petite, but her curves feel so fucking seductive and lush.
Our eyes meet. Her lips part. She blinks, water droplets clinging to her long black lashes. She’s mere inches away. All I’d have to do to kiss her is grab a fistful of her lush brown hair, pull her against me, and crush her lips under my own.
Could I talk her into my bed and out of her virginity?
Want a hot, suspenseful read? Don’t miss One-Mile and Brea!
He’s ruthless. She’s off-limits. But he’s just met his one weakness…
Now nothing will stop him from making her his.
WICKED AS SIN
One-Mile and Brea, Part One
Wicked & Devoted, Book 1
by Shayla Black
Click here to purchase!
(available in eBook, print, and audio)
Pierce “One-Mile” Walker has always kept his heart under wraps and his head behind his sniper’s scope. Nothing about buttoned-up Brea Bell should appeal to him. But after a single glance at the pretty preacher’s daughter, he doesn’t care that his past is less than shiny, that he gets paid to end lives…or that she’s his teammate’s woman. He'll do whatever it takes to steal her heart.
Brea has always been a dutiful daughter and a good girl…until she meets the dangerous warrior. He’s everything she shouldn’t want, especially after her best friend introduces her to his fellow operative as his girlfriend—to protect her from Pierce. But he’s a forbidden temptation she’s finding impossible to resist.
Then fate strikes, forcing Brea to beg Pierce to help solve a crisis. But his skills come at a price. When her innocent flirtations run headlong into his obsession, they cross the line into a passion so fiery she can’t say no. Soon, his past rears its head and a vendetta calls his name in a mission gone horribly wrong. Will he survive to fight his way back to the woman who claimed his soul?
EXCERPT
Finally, he had her cornered. He intended to tear down every last damn obstacle between him and Brea Bell.
Right now.
For months, she’d succumbed to fears, buried her head in the sand, even lied. He’d tried to be understanding and patient. He’d put her first, backed away, given her space, been the good guy.
Fuck that. Today, she would see the real him.
One-Mile Walker slammed the door of his truck and turned all his focus on the modest white cottage with its vintage blue door. As he marched up the long concrete driveway, his heart pounded. He had a nasty idea how Brea’s father would respond when he explained why he’d come. The man would slam the door in his face; no maybe about that. After all, he was the bad boy from a broken home who had defiled Reverend Bell’s perfect daughter with unholy glee.
But One-Mile refused to let Brea go again. He’d make her father listen…somehow. Since punching the guy in the face was out of the question, he’d have to quell his brute-force instinct to fight dirty and instead employ polish, tact, and charm—all the qualities he possessed zero of.
Fuck. This was going to be a shit show.
Still, One-Mile refused to give up. He’d known uphill battles his whole life. What was one more?
Through the front window, he spotted the soft doe eyes that had haunted him since last summer. Though Brea was talking to an elderly couple, the moment she saw him approach her porch, her amber eyes went wide with shock.
Determination gripped One-Mile and squeezed his chest. By damned, she was going to listen, too.
He wasn’t leaving without making her his.
As he mounted the first step toward her door, his cell phone rang. He would have ignored it if it hadn’t been for two critical facts: His job often entailed saving the world as people knew it, and this particular chime he only heard when one of the men he respected most in this fucked-up world needed him during the grimmest of emergencies.
Of all the lousy timing…
He yanked the device from his pocket. “Walker here. Colonel?”
“Yeah.”
Colonel Caleb Edgington was a retired, highly decorated military officer and a tough son of a bitch. One thing he wasn’t prone to was drama, so that single foreboding syllable told One-Mile that whatever had prompted this call was dire.
He didn’t bother with small talk, even though it had been months since they’d spoken, and he wondered how the man was enjoying both his fifties and his new wife, but they’d catch up later. Now, they had no time to waste.
“What can I do for you?” Since he owed Caleb a million times over, whatever the man needed One-Mile would make happen.
Caleb’s sons might be his bosses these days…but as far as One-Mile was concerned, the jury was still out on that trio. Speaking of which, why wasn’t Caleb calling those badasses?
One-Mile could only think of one answer. It was hardly comforting.
“Or should I just ask who I need to kill?”
A feminine gasp sent his gaze
jerking to Brea, who now stood in the doorway, her rosy bow of a mouth gaping open in a perfect little O. She’d heard that. Goddamn it to hell. Yeah, she knew perfectly well what he was. But he’d managed to shock her repeatedly over the last six months.
“I’m not sure yet.” Caleb sounded cautious in his ear. “I’m going to text you an address. Can you meet me there in fifteen minutes?”
For months, he’d been anticipating this exact moment with Brea. “Any chance it can wait an hour?”
“No. Every moment is critical.”
Since Caleb would never say such things lightly, One-Mile didn’t see that he had an option. “On my way.”
He ended the call and pocketed the phone as he climbed onto the porch and gave Brea his full attention. He had so little time with her, but he’d damn sure get his point across before he went.
She stepped outside and shut the door behind her, swallowing nervously as she cast a furtive glance over her shoulder, through the big picture window. Was she hoping her father didn’t see them?
“Pierce.” Her whisper sounded closer to a hiss. “What are you doing here?”
He hated when anyone else used his given name, but Brea could call him whatever the hell she wanted as long as she let him in her life.
He peered down at her, considering how to answer. He’d had grand plans to lay his cards out on the table and do whatever he had to—talk, coax, hustle, schmooze—until she and her father both came around to his way of thinking. Now he only had time to cut to the chase. “You know what I want, pretty girl. I’m here for you. And when I come back, I won’t take no for an answer.”
Want another bad boy who seduces a stranger into becoming his? Meet Maxon Reed.
I hired her to distract my enemy. Now I’m determined to have her for my own.
MORE THAN WANT YOU
More Than Words, Book 1
by Shayla Black
Click here to purchase!
(available in eBook, print, and audio)
I’m Maxon Reed—real estate mogul, shark, asshole. If a deal isn’t high profile and big money, I pass. Now that I’ve found the property of a lifetime, I’m jumping. But one tenacious bastard stands between me and success—my brother. I’ll need one hell of a devious ploy to distract cynical Griff. Then fate drops a luscious redhead in my lap who’s just his type.
Sassy Keeley Kent accepts my challenge to learn how to become Griff’s perfect girlfriend. But somewhere between the makeover and the witty conversation, I’m having trouble resisting her. The quirky dreamer is everything I usually don’t tolerate. But she’s beyond charming. I more than want her; I’m desperate to own her. I’m not even sure how drastic I’m willing to get to make her mine—but I’m about to find out.
EXCERPT
“Look, Keeley. I like you. And I want you. I’m not good at talking or relationships or letting people know me. I’m good in bed. Can that be enough for tonight?”
I find myself holding my breath. If she says no, I have no fucking idea what I’m going to do. After a handful of probing questions, I already feel oddly raw. I rub at a sore spot along my breastbone.
“Yes. Sorry. I have a terrible tendency to be nosy. You’re interesting…and I really am not a fan of sleeping with strangers. But I think I know who you are, Maxon… Damn it. What’s your last name?” She gives an embarrassed little laugh. “Oh, that sounds brilliant.”
Her joke totally lightens the mood. I need that. “Reed.”
“Well, Maxon Reed, are you going to stand there all night or kiss me in the moonlight?”
The second I get the green light, my tolerance for banter flies out the window. I become a hunter who’s just settled on his prey of choice, and I’m looking forward to fully sating my hunger.
I don’t bother with words. Instead, I take the bottle from her hands and set it in the sand beside us. Then I fuse my stare to hers and tilt her head where I can most effectively devour her. Her eyes flash with something. Excitement, yes. Apprehension. That surprises me but no denying what I see. And hope… Maybe she’s not the only one feeling unexpected things.
Then she parts those bee-stung lips again, and all my thoughts dissolve.
I lower my head and kiss her with a groan.
Fuck if her lips aren’t every bit as soft as I imagined. She opens to me, presses against me, wrapping her arms around my neck like she needs to touch me every bit as much as I’m dying to have her bare against me. I’m sizzling, my senses reeling. I’m actually dizzy the longer I kiss her, but I urge her lips apart with my own and plunge inside.
I’m lost.
She’s so sweet. Not like a Snickers, which I love. Her flavor is more refined, and the pleasure I get from her is like savoring a good red wine paired with a lush dark chocolate. Then she kisses me back with a sensual sway of her tongue and an indrawn breath that lets me know I’m getting to her, too.
I’m drowning.
My hands are suddenly in her hair, tugging until she gives me full access to every part of her mouth. I go in even deeper as if I’m trying to own her all at once. I haven’t had the sort of drought she has, but I can’t imagine another five minutes without being inside her, taking full possession of her. It’s chemical. It’s electric. I don’t know how the fuck to describe it because I’ve never felt anything quite like this.
Suddenly, she breaks away from my kiss, nipping at my lips like a kitten, before tilting her head back completely. Her lips aren’t on mine anymore.
I’m dying.
Not kissing her is unacceptable. Then…I see the arch of her delicate throat. She’s exposed one of the most vulnerable parts of herself to me. Her ivory flesh glows in the moonlight. Even in the pale gleam, I see the flush staining her skin. I hear the catch of her breathy inhalations. I feel the hard beads of her nipples against my chest. How can I absorb her all at once, experience every facet of her in a single moment? I can’t, but I’m damn impatient to try.
“Maxon?” She sounds shaky, uncertain.
I rush to set her at ease. “Why are you so fucking beautiful?”
“If you think I am, I’m glad. Are you going to touch me now?”
She sounds breathless and anxious. Does she imagine for a second that I might say no?
LET’S GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER!
ABOUT ME:
Shayla Black is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of roughly eighty novels. For twenty years, she’s written contemporary, erotic, paranormal, and historical romances via traditional, independent, foreign, and audio publishers. Her books have sold millions of copies and been published in a dozen languages.
Raised an only child, Shayla occupied herself with lots of daydreaming, much to the chagrin of her teachers. In college, she found her love for reading and realized that she could have a career publishing the stories spinning in her imagination. Though she graduated with a degree in Marketing/Advertising and embarked on a stint in corporate America to pay the bills, she abandoned all that to be with her characters full-time.
Shayla currently lives in North Texas with her wonderfully supportive husband and daughter, as well as two spoiled tabbies. In her “free” time, she enjoys reality TV, reading, and listening to an eclectic blend of music.
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OTHER BOOKS BY SHAYLA BLACK
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
MORE THAN WORDS
More Than Want You
More Than Need You
More Than Love You
More Than Crave You
More Than Tempt You
More Than Pleasure You (novella)
Coming Soon:
More Than Dare You (July 28, 2020)
More Than Protect You (novella) (TBD)
WICKED & DEVOTED
Wicked As Sin
Wicked Ever After
THE WICKED LOVERS (Complete Series)
Wicked Ties
Decadent
Delicious
Surrender to Me
Belong to Me
Wicked to Love (novella)
Mine to Hold
Wicked All the Way (novella)
Ours to Love
Wicked All Night (novella)
Forever Wicked (novella)
Theirs to Cherish
His to Take
Pure Wicked (novella)
Wicked for You
Falling in Deeper
Dirty Wicked (novella)