by J. Kenner
She was good at deception, that was for sure. Matthew, however, was not. About the only thing he was managing to pull off successfully was an air of being head-over-heels for the woman who was his pretend fiancée. But since Hannah Donovan had mesmerized him from the first moment he’d met her, that really didn’t strain his meager acting skills.
“Hey, stud,” she said. “If you get the food, I’ll get the wine. I grabbed us a table near the band. And after the bride and groom do the first dance, we can go out on the floor, too. Less talking to people about our engagement if we’re lost in each other’s arms, right?”
He swallowed, imagining the feel of her against him during a slow dance. “Sounds good. I’ll meet you at the table in a—”
“Oh, hell. Red alert.” The harsh, almost scared, tone of her voice cut through him, making him want to hold her close and soothe her. “It’s my dad.”
His stomach curdled, his protective instincts now warring with a strong urge to just get the hell out of there.
But he couldn’t. The man was the entire reason he and Hannah were at this wedding together. Why they were pretending to be engaged. Why she’d been looking at him all gooey-eyed for most of the evening, and he’d been diligently reminding himself that it was fake. All fake.
“Let’s head over and talk to one of your friends,” Matthew suggested.
“Too late. He’s heading toward us. Dammit, I don’t want to deal with him right now.”
“You and me both.” He hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Donovan yet, but he’d heard enough to already be wildly intimidated by the successful lawyer. Matthew knew his strengths, and he also knew that if Ernest Donovan wanted to discuss legal ideas, current events, or even great literature, Matthew was going to come across sounding like a goddamn idiot. Shit.
Why the hell had he said he’d do this? He didn’t think fast on his feet. Words always escaped him.
“Quick,” Hannah said. “If we’re already talking about something, he won’t ask us about the engagement. Um, the school voucher system everyone keeps talking about. I think the Legislature’s going to look at it again for Texas this year. What do you think about that?”
Terror ripped through him. He didn’t have a clue about vouchers, and since he had no kids, he didn’t much care at the moment, either. Anything he said would reveal to Hannah that he was a clueless fool, and that was one thing he didn’t want to be.
“Or you pick a topic,” she said urgently. “Just talk. He’s almost here.”
But there was no topic. There was nothing for him to do.
Nothing except one thing.
He left the brisket on the table, pulled her roughly against him, and kissed her.
For a moment, she was stiff with shock. Then she melted against him, her mouth opening under his.
He sighed, lost in the feel of her. Because this felt right. Not overwhelming like the rest of it. This—the woman, the kiss, the pressure of their bodies—this was the way it should be.
And for one brief, delicious moment, Matthew knew what heaven felt like.
Too bad he was about to get kicked right back down to earth again.
A note from JK:
I hope you enjoyed All Night Long!
Be sure to grab Matthew and Hannah’s story, In Too Deep, book 10 in the Man of the Month series!
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If you want your very own Man of the Month calendar, you can grab it now! (While supplies last!)
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Guess what? I have even more exciting things coming in 2018, including more Nikki & Damien Stark! Keep reading for details!
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Subscribe to my newsletter or text JKenner to 21000 so you’ll be among the first to know when fab things happen!
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Check out all of my books at www.jkenner.com and be sure to join my Facebook fan group!
In Too Deep
Be sure not to miss Matthew and Hannah in In Too Deep!
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Hannah Donovan is not my type.
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Intellectual and career-focused, she’s a lawyer, and an intimidatingly beautiful one, at that. I’d rather pump iron than open a book, and the only reason I’d go to court would be for a traffic ticket.
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She’s the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. So how can I turn down her plea that I pretend to be her fiance for one weekend?
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But I never expected our pretend kisses to feel so real — or for it to lead to a wild night in bed that will forever stand out as the highlight of my sex life.
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Our performance convinces everyone, but it was never meant to be more than a fantasy. A short term gig before reality sets back in.
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I can’t imagine ever being good enough for her, but I’m hooked. And now I’m determined to do whatever it takes to make this fake engagement real.
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Meet Mr. October — he’s out to win her heart.
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Grab your copy now: In Too Deep
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Who’s Your Man of the Month?
When a group of fiercely determined friends realize their beloved hang-out is in danger of closing, they take matters into their own hands to bring back customers lost to a competing bar. Fighting fire with a heat of their own, they double down with the broad shoulders, six-pack abs, and bare chests of dozens of hot, local guys who they cajole, prod, and coerce into auditioning for a Man of the Month calendar.
But it’s not just the fate of the bar that’s at stake. Because as things heat up, each of the men meets his match in this sexy, flirty, and compelling binge-read romance series of twelve novels releasing every other week from New York Times bestselling author J. Kenner.
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"With each novel featuring a favorite romance trope—beauty and the beast, billionaire bad boys, friends to lovers, second chance romance, secret baby, and more—[the Man of the Month] series hits the heart and soul of romance." New York Times bestselling author Carly Phillips
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Down On Me
Hold On Tight
Need You Now
Start Me Up
Get It On
In Your Eyes
Turn Me On
Shake It Up
All Night Long
In Too Deep
Light My Fire
Walk The Line
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and don’t miss Bar Bites: A Man of the Month Cookbook!
* * *
Want your own Man of the Month calendar? Grab it now! (While supplies last!)
The Men of Man of the Month!
Are you eager to learn which Man of the Month book features which sexy hero?
Here’s a handy list!
Down On Me - meet Reece
Hold On Tight - meet Spencer
Need You Now - meet Cameron
Start Me Up - meet Nolan
Get It On - meet Tyree
In Your Eyes - meet Parker
Turn Me On - meet Derek
Shake It Up - meet Landon
All Night Long - meet Easton
In Too Deep - meet Matthew
Light My Fire - meet Griffin
Walk The Line - meet Brent
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and don’t miss Bar Bites: A Man of the Month Cookbook that includes a short story featuring Eric, slices of life, and bonus scenes for all the men!
Want your own Man of the Month calendar? Grab it now! (While supplies last!)
Meet Damien Stark
Only his passion could set her free…
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The Original Trilogy
Release Me
Claim Me
Complete Me
And Beyond…
Anchor Me
Lost With Me
Meet Damien Stark in the award-winning and internationally bestselling series that started it all…
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The St
ark Saga by J. Kenner
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Download Now
Meet Damien Stark in Release Me, book 1 of the wildly sensual series that’s left millions of readers breathless …
Chapter One
A cool ocean breeze caresses my bare shoulders, and I shiver, wishing I’d taken my roommate’s advice and brought a shawl with me tonight. I arrived in Los Angeles only four days ago, and I haven’t yet adjusted to the concept of summer temperatures changing with the setting of the sun. In Dallas, June is hot, July is hotter, and August is hell.
Not so in California, at least not by the beach. LA Lesson Number One: Always carry a sweater if you’ll be out after dark.
Of course, I could leave the balcony and go back inside to the party. Mingle with the millionaires. Chat up the celebrities. Gaze dutifully at the paintings. It is a gala art opening, after all, and my boss brought me here to meet and greet and charm and chat. Not to lust over the panorama that is coming alive in front of me. Bloodred clouds bursting against the pale orange sky. Blue-gray waves shimmering with dappled gold.
I press my hands against the balcony rail and lean forward, drawn to the intense, unreachable beauty of the setting sun. I regret that I didn’t bring the battered Nikon I’ve had since high school. Not that it would have fit in my itty-bitty beaded purse. And a bulky camera bag paired with a little black dress is a big, fat fashion no-no.
But this is my very first Pacific Ocean sunset, and I’m determined to document the moment. I pull out my iPhone and snap a picture.
“Almost makes the paintings inside seem redundant, doesn’t it?” I recognize the throaty, feminine voice and turn to face Evelyn Dodge, retired actress turned agent turned patron of the arts—and my hostess for the evening.
“I’m so sorry. I know I must look like a giddy tourist, but we don’t have sunsets like this in Dallas.”
“Don’t apologize,” she says. “I pay for that view every month when I write the mortgage check. It damn well better be spectacular.”
I laugh, immediately more at ease.
“Hiding out?”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re Carl’s new assistant, right?” she asks, referring to my boss of three days.
“Nikki Fairchild.”
“I remember now. Nikki from Texas.” She looks me up and down, and I wonder if she’s disappointed that I don’t have big hair and cowboy boots. “So who does he want you to charm?”
“Charm?” I repeat, as if I don’t know exactly what she means.
She cocks a single brow. “Honey, the man would rather walk on burning coals than come to an art show. He’s fishing for investors and you’re the bait.” She makes a rough noise in the back of her throat. “Don’t worry. I won’t press you to tell me who. And I don’t blame you for hiding out. Carl’s brilliant, but he’s a bit of a prick.”
“It’s the brilliant part I signed on for,” I say, and she barks out a laugh.
The truth is that she’s right about me being the bait. “Wear a cocktail dress,” Carl had said. “Something flirty.”
Seriously? I mean, Seriously?
I should have told him to wear his own damn cocktail dress. But I didn’t. Because I want this job. I fought to get this job. Carl’s company, C-Squared Technologies, successfully launched three web-based products in the last eighteen months. That track record had caught the industry’s eye, and Carl had been hailed as a man to watch.
More important from my perspective, that meant he was a man to learn from, and I’d prepared for the job interview with an intensity bordering on obsession. Landing the position had been a huge coup for me. So what if he wanted me to wear something flirty? It was a small price to pay.
Shit.
“I need to get back to being the bait,” I say.
“Oh, hell. Now I’ve gone and made you feel either guilty or self-conscious. Don’t be. Let them get liquored up in there first. You catch more flies with alcohol anyway. Trust me. I know.”
She’s holding a pack of cigarettes, and now she taps one out, then extends the pack to me. I shake my head. I love the smell of tobacco—it reminds me of my grandfather—but actually inhaling the smoke does nothing for me.
“I’m too old and set in my ways to quit,” she says. “But God forbid I smoke in my own damn house. I swear, the mob would burn me in effigy. You’re not going to start lecturing me on the dangers of secondhand smoke, are you?”
“No,” I promise.
“Then how about a light?”
I hold up the itty-bitty purse. “One lipstick, a credit card, my driver’s license, and my phone.”
“No condom?”
“I didn’t think it was that kind of party,” I say dryly.
“I knew I liked you.” She glances around the balcony. “What the hell kind of party am I throwing if I don’t even have one goddamn candle on one goddamn table? Well, fuck it.” She puts the unlit cigarette to her mouth and inhales, her eyes closed and her expression rapturous. I can’t help but like her. She wears hardly any makeup, in stark contrast to all the other women here tonight, myself included, and her dress is more of a caftan, the batik pattern as interesting as the woman herself.
She’s what my mother would call a brassy broad—loud, large, opinionated, and self-confident. My mother would hate her. I think she’s awesome.
She drops the unlit cigarette onto the tile and grinds it with the toe of her shoe. Then she signals to one of the catering staff, a girl dressed all in black and carrying a tray of champagne glasses.
The girl fumbles for a minute with the sliding door that opens onto the balcony, and I imagine those flutes tumbling off, breaking against the hard tile, the scattered shards glittering like a wash of diamonds.
I picture myself bending to snatch up a broken stem. I see the raw edge cutting into the soft flesh at the base of my thumb as I squeeze. I watch myself clutching it tighter, drawing strength from the pain, the way some people might try to extract luck from a rabbit’s foot.
The fantasy blurs with memory, jarring me with its potency. It’s fast and powerful, and a little disturbing because I haven’t needed the pain in a long time, and I don’t understand why I’m thinking about it now, when I feel steady and in control.
I am fine, I think. I am fine, I am fine, I am fine.
“Take one, honey,” Evelyn says easily, holding a flute out to me.
I hesitate, searching her face for signs that my mask has slipped and she’s caught a glimpse of my rawness. But her face is clear and genial.
“No, don’t you argue,” she adds, misinterpreting my hesitation. “I bought a dozen cases and I hate to see good alcohol go to waste. Hell no,” she adds when the girl tries to hand her a flute. “I hate the stuff. Get me a vodka. Straight up. Chilled. Four olives. Hurry up, now. Do you want me to dry up like a leaf and float away?”
The girl shakes her head, looking a bit like a twitchy, frightened rabbit. Possibly one that had sacrificed his foot for someone else’s good luck.
Evelyn’s attention returns to me. “So how do you like LA? What have you seen? Where have you been? Have you bought a map of the stars yet? Dear God, tell me you’re not getting sucked into all that tourist bullshit.”
“Mostly I’ve seen miles of freeway and the inside of my apartment.”
“Well, that’s just sad. Makes me even more glad that Carl dragged your skinny ass all the way out here tonight.”
I’ve put on fifteen welcome pounds since the years when my mother monitored every tiny thing that went in my mouth, and while I’m perfectly happy with my size-eight ass, I wouldn’t describe it as skinny. I know Evelyn means it as a compliment, though, and so I smile. “I’m glad he brought me, too. The paintings really are amazing.”
“Now don’t do that—don’t you go sliding into the polite-conversation routine. No, no,” she says before I can protest. “I’m sure you mean it. Hell, the paintings are wonderful. But you’re getting the flat-eyed look of a girl on her best beha
vior, and we can’t have that. Not when I was getting to know the real you.”
“Sorry,” I say. “I swear I’m not fading away on you.”
Because I genuinely like her, I don’t tell her that she’s wrong—she hasn’t met the real Nikki Fairchild. She’s met Social Nikki who, much like Malibu Barbie, comes with a complete set of accessories. In my case, it’s not a bikini and a convertible. Instead, I have the Elizabeth Fairchild Guide for Social Gatherings.
My mother’s big on rules. She claims it’s her Southern upbringing. In my weaker moments, I agree. Mostly, I just think she’s a controlling bitch. Since the first time she took me for tea at the Mansion at Turtle Creek in Dallas at age three, I have had the rules drilled into my head. How to walk, how to talk, how to dress. What to eat, how much to drink, what kinds of jokes to tell.
I have it all down, every trick, every nuance, and I wear my practiced pageant smile like armor against the world. The result being that I don’t think I could truly be myself at a party even if my life depended on it.
This, however, is not something Evelyn needs to know.
“Where exactly are you living?” she asks.