Always Loving You

by Sydney Landon

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  Read on for a special preview

  of the next sexy romance

  in the Danvers series,

  WATCH OVER ME

  Available in September wherever books and e-books are sold.

  “Well, this officially goes down as my crappiest birthday ever . . . hands down,” Gwen Day moaned before looking back up into the sympathetic eyes of her friends Mia Gentry and Crystal Webber. “I’m finished with men. I mean, what do you even need them for anymore?”

  Her friend Crystal, who was newly divorced, nodded her head in agreement. “You got that right girl. I have a vibrator that’s always hard, doesn’t talk back or leave the toilet seat up or dribble toothpaste in the bathroom sink. I’ve come more in the last six months with my plastic boyfriend than in the last six years combined with my ex. If I’d had one of those suckers when I was twenty, I’d have never gotten married.”

  Beside Crystal, Mia gave them a sheepish look. “Um . . . well . . . I like my man just fine, and trust me . . . he’s always hard whenever I want it.”

  “You suck,” Crystal grumbled. “The rest of us don’t have a perfectly wonderful, hottie alpha male like Seth Jackson. You could at least share him, you know. Have you two considered broadening your horizons with a threesome because I’d totally be up for it?” Wiggling her brows, she added, “I seem to remember you mentioning a certain threesome fantasy featuring Suzy Merimon and her hubby, Gray.”

  The conversation between her friends distracted Gwen momentarily from her pity party before she went back to brooding. She had no interest in her vibrator, but she agreed with Crystal that men were completely overrated. She had thought all of that was changing for her when she met McKinley Powers. His company handled the security for Danvers International, where she worked. He was drop-dead handsome with his short military hair, which he still favored even after leaving the Marines, and his rock-hard body, which never failed to make her heart race and knees squeeze together. The fact that he was a genuinely nice guy was an added bonus.

  When they had first started dating, Mac had been more than content with her “taking things slow” request, which maybe should have been her first red flag. After they’d been going out for a month, he still hadn’t put any type of pressure on her to go beyond kissing. By the end of the next month, she was horny and frustrated. It seemed like he was the one wanting to take it slow, and by then she was ready to rip the clothes from his buff body.

  They had engaged in some make-out sessions that never progressed past second base, because he always pulled back when he got too close to third base and dammit . . . crossing home plate had become just a distant dream.

  Gwen knew all of the books said never let a man determine your self-worth, but she had been really struggling with that one after Mac’s silent refusal to have sex with her. Until she finally put all of the pieces together and figured out that it might not be her who was the problem, but more important who she wasn’t—Ava Stone.

  Mac was good friends with the Stones, who also worked for Danvers. There was Declan, whom Mac had served with in the military; Brant, who was Declan’s older brother; and then there was Ava. She was an attractive blonde Gwen had seen in the lobby on several different occasions. She had come to understand that there was possibly something more than friendship between Mac and Ava when she witnessed Mac completely losing it because his coworker and good friend Dominic Brady had given Ava a ride on his Harley. Mac had been so upset that warning bells had gone off in Gwen’s head.

  From that point on, her relationship with Mac was on borrowed time, and she knew it. He had become even more distant. He forgot to call her, didn’t return her calls, and was just generally unavailable physically and emotionally.

  So one evening, she had gone to his house to talk and just to spend some time with him, and he’d taken off almost immediately after receiving a call concerning Ava. Gwen had decided to wait it out and see if he came back home. When he finally did, hours later, they had ended it. There was no fight, no ugly words or insults. It was very civilized. Gwen might not be happy with Mac for dating her while he was hung up on Ava, but he had been honest with her, and she knew that it had really upset him to hurt her.

  Her self-esteem had been limping along since that evening until Mia had dropped her bomb this morning. Her friend Suzy had told her that Mac and Ava had gotten married over the weekend in Las Vegas. It had been a blow that Gwen hadn’t been expecting. She figured she would just be tortured for a while seeing them as a couple around the office. She had never expected Mac to break up with her and then almost immediately tie the knot. God, was she now the one whom men dated right before they found “the one”?

  Gwen had been so lost in thought that she almost jumped from her seat when Mia’s hand landed on her arm, shaking it excitedly. “I know, let’s have a girls’ night tonight! Seth’s leaving this afternoon on business for a few days, so I’d love to go out. How about you, Crystal?”

  Gwen was secretly hoping that the other woman would veto the whole thing because she wasn’t really in the mood to socialize. She just wanted to go home, eat herself into oblivion, and watch some man-hating movies on Lifetime. Of course, she’d probably run right into Dominic in the apartment complex where they both lived. Geez, she needed to move now. Wasn’t it just her luck to live doors away from Mac’s friend? Dominic was already so annoying . . . okay hot—completely smoking hot—but still annoying.

  It was no one’s business if she peeked through her blinds every time she heard his boots in the hallway. Yes, dear Lord, she could admit to herself that she could pick out the sound of his tread from the rest of her neighbors. He just looked so good in his cargo pants and those tight T-shirts. And some evenings she was even lucky enough to catch him in all of his masculine glory after returning from a run. Shirtless . . . and wearing low-hanging shorts. She loved the sight of him with those rippling muscles, glistening sweat, the tattoos, the . . . “Hmmm?” Gwen looked around to see both Mia and Crystal staring at her.

  Crystal smirked.”Honey, where was your head at? You just moaned and your eyes went crossed.”

  “And you have some drool on your chin,” Mia pointed out helpfully.

  Gwen felt her face flush as she quickly ran a hand across her mouth. Darn it, there was drool there. Freaking Dominic Brady! “I . . . er . . . was just thinking about dinner.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Crystal grinned. “Whatever you say. So anyway, how about drinks at Hawks tonight?”

  Mia rubbed her hands together. “Ohhh, going the sports bar route tonight. I like it. Seth would hate it, so it sounds perfect to me.”

  Gwen found herself agreeing. Surely, an evening out with her friends was better than sulking at home. After all, her ass was big enough, and adding another pint of ice cream to it wasn’t going to help things any. Tonight she would have fun and forget all about Mac. How hard could that be?

  * * *

  Dominic Brady sprawled back on his sofa with a big sigh of contentment. Jet lag was a real kick in the ass. Maybe he was just getting old, but flying to Vegas and back in less than forty-eight hours was not something that he cared to do often. When he had been in the Marines, he and his friends had lived for quick trips like that. They’d get a few days off and make the most of it. Sin City was a frequent destination back then. Now just being home in his apartment in Myrtle Beach was much closer to heaven than the bright lights and the scantily clad women on the strip. Yeah, hell, at thirty-three he officially sounded old.

  The trip this weekend had been for a good cause, though. One of his best friends had gotten married to the woman he’d loved all of his life. It had been a long, rocky, and uncertain road for them, but Mac and Ava had finally worked it out, and Dominic couldn’t have been happier for them. He, Mac, and Gage owned a company called East Coast Security. They monitored and provided sec
urity for many high-end companies, including Danvers International, where their headquarters was located.

  The job and the location fit Dominic perfectly. His family lived in Georgia, so he was close enough to visit when he wanted to and far enough away to keep his nosy mother and sister out of his business. He loved them dearly, but they had been trying to find him the “right woman” since he had been potty trained. If he still lived near home, they’d be herding single women past him like they were on an assembly line. The fact that his sister had married her high school sweetheart and promptly popped out two kids only put that much more pressure on him.

  He had just started on his second Corona and was watching SportsCenter when he heard a sound at his door. It was more like someone moving against the frame than knocking. Biting off a curse, he reluctantly put his beer down on the coffee table and went to check. It was likely no one coming to visit him. His neighbor at the end of the hall liked to party, and even though he always tried to keep the noise down, occasionally there were a few lost strays in the hallway.

  Dominic checked the peephole, then pulled back in surprise. This was a new one. He could make out the crown of someone’s head, and that was about it. He stood there for a few moments, hoping that the person would just move on. When he heard nothing but silence, he came to the resigned conclusion that he was either going to leave the person there all night or open the door and encourage her to move on.

  Swinging the door open suddenly might not have been the best idea, Dominic concluded when a soft body landed against him. He heard a feminine giggle, then a “Whoops!” He froze when hands started roaming his chest and then his torso. “Mmmm, you are sooo hard. . . . I knew you would be.”

  What the hell? Just as he registered that what he thought was brown hair through the peephole was actually dark red, his interloper looked up, and he gasped in shock. “Gwen?”

  “Dominic,” she purred back, blinking at him like an owl. Her hands continued to roam, and he didn’t know whether to be thrilled or sorry that he was wearing nothing but a pair of basketball shorts. Her hands on his bare skin were having a direct effect on his cock, and the silky material wasn’t doing much to contain it. On the other hand . . . it felt good. . . . No, amazing.

  Maybe he was asleep, and this was a dream. There was no way Gwen, the woman he’d wanted from the first moment he’d seen her, was here now, touching him . . . damn near everywhere. “Er . . . Gwen . . . babe, did you need something?” He almost groaned aloud when her hand dropped to cover the bulge in his shorts.

  “You could say that,” she moaned as she pushed him back a few steps before shutting the door behind her. Just when he thought this encounter couldn’t get much weirder . . . or hotter, she leaned down, grabbed the hem of the slinky black dress that she was wearing and pulled it over her head in a move that would have made a stripper proud. Then she stood before him in nothing but a black lace bra, tiny matching panties, and strappy black sandals. He was completely and totally screwed.

  Still trying to be the voice of reason for some crazy reason, Dominic held out a calming hand and said, “Babe, what’re we doing here? I mean . . . God, you’re gorgeous!” All right, maybe that last line had slipped out, but holy hell, how was he supposed to stay calm when Gwen was standing in front of him practically naked, with a come-hither look in her eyes that was making him pant like a dog in heat?

  She began to prowl forward, and he walked uncertainly backward, which he figured out was a big mistake when he tripped over his coffee table and landed in a heap on the sofa. “Oh goody.” She rubbed her hands together as she stopped a few inches from where he had landed. “It looks like we’re both on the same page.” Then . . . she dropped down to straddle his waist, and it was all over for him. When she grinned before pulling a strip of condoms out of her bra, he almost professed his love on the spot. Who was this woman? She looked like his beautiful neighbor, but that was where the similarities ended.

  He’d caught her checking him out on more than one occasion, and yes, in his fantasies, he had wanted to believe that she desired him as he did her . . . but she’d never given him any outward reason to believe that was true. He had certainly never imagined her showing up on his doorstep like a wet dream. He forced himself to ask one last time, “Are you sure about this?” In answer, she ground herself against him before licking his neck. Well . . . that meant yes in his book.

  He put his hands on what he had come to think of as the Holy Grail: her ass. It was firm and round and drove him to distraction. Dominic had never been one to desire a skinny woman. He loved soft, lush curves, and to him, Gwen had the perfect body. His only problem was deciding where he wanted to lavish his attention first.

  “I need you inside of me,” Gwen murmured as she bit his ear. As if to prove that point, she plastered her body against his chest, freeing his hips, before saying urgently, “Shorts off, condom on.”

  Dominic had always been something of an alpha male, so this role change was not only different for him, but surprisingly sexy as hell. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been this uncoordinated as he did his best to push his shorts down and then fumbled to put the condom on his throbbing erection without causing it to blow early. At this point, he was hanging on to his composure by a mere thread.

  After what was probably seconds but felt like hours, he was sheathed and past ready to feel her around him. “All right, baby, let me take care of you.”

  “Yes . . . God, yes,” she breathed throatily. “I need to take my panties . . .” Refusing to let her up, he ripped one side of her flimsy excuse for panties and then the other. She lifted her hips slightly, and he pulled the fabric free, sending it sailing somewhere nearby. He ran a finger through her cleft, finding it wet and swollen. “Dom . . . I’m ready. Please now!”

  Putting a supporting hand under her ass, he raised her body before bringing her down onto his waiting shaft. He held himself still as she screamed, afraid that he’d hurt her by going too fast. “Okay, baby?” he asked as he stroked her hip soothingly.

  Gwen rose to her knees, sliding him almost out of her wet heat before bottoming out once again. “Move . . . harder, Dom!” Her demands broke what little control he had left. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close enough to devour her lips, while pumping his hips at a ruthless pace into her tight passage.

  Soon they were nothing but a tangle of shifting, grinding limbs. Dominic bit, sucked, and licked every available inch of her skin, and it drove him to distraction when she did the same. He’d never really thought he would enjoy having his own nipples nipped, but damn if it wasn’t off-the-charts hot. He wanted to make it last for hours, but all too soon he felt the familiar tingle at the base of his spine. When Gwen started to spasm around him, he was helpless to hold back any longer. His orgasm seemed to go on forever as black dots danced through his vision.

  Dominic collapsed backward as all the blood that had been gathered down below finally redistributed throughout his body. He grazed his hand lazily up and down Gwen’s spine as she nestled against him. He knew he needed to get up and dispose of the condom, but he figured he could do that when she inevitably freaked out and ran from his apartment. He was braced and waiting for that to happen. Hell he felt almost like the woman in this scenario, wanting to cuddle and talk about feelings and crap like that.

  When Gwen sat up, he dropped his hand, already trying to distance himself. He was floored when she licked her lips and gave him a lopsided smile. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to need to do that again. Can we? Please?”

  Well, hell, it was official: He had gone and lost his heart to the girl next door . . . and his best friend’s ex. In true fashion, he never took the easy route.

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