by Lauren Dane
She was temptation made a physical thing. Her curves, the pale gleam of her skin, the bumps of her spine as she arched. Her hair slid over the hand he placed at her shoulder, cool and soft.
“I dreamed of this.” He pushed in that last bit and paused, simply reveling in her body. In the way they fit. “There’s no one else but you, Beth. Always. I’ve never fit like this with anyone.”
He dragged himself nearly all the way out and pressed in again. Over and over. All the way in and then out, her body hugging at him as if she couldn’t bear his leaving.
She held him tight, squeezing her muscles around him until he gasped.
“No fair. You’re going to push me right over.”
Her laugh was breathless.
A challenge.
“Oh, so it’s like that? Well all right then.” The hand at her shoulder pulled her back as he let go of her hip, circling around to her clit. The sound she made pulled him closer to climax.
She tried to push back against him. To take him deeper and faster, but the hand he kept at her shoulder controlled her movements. He leaned in, kissing her shoulder. “Uh, uh, uh. I’m in charge here.”
She nearly melted into a puddle.
She ached. His words had stoked the fire turned raging inferno. He made her feel so beautiful. So desired. Powerful. In the month they’d been apart, she’d been so damned sad and empty. This had been why. She hadn’t realized it until that moment when he touched her like she was precious. When he met her with his own need, as he took hers and gave her what she demanded. He filled her up with so much.
Tears pricked her lashes as she accepted the enormity of what it meant to love someone. Of the way it made her vulnerable as she let herself get lost in him. Tangled up in the JoeandBeth of it all.
She flew apart with a cry. A cry he echoed just moments later as he pushed deep and stayed deep.
“Don’t you ever leave again. You hear me, Joseph?”
They fell to her mattress, his arms around her, holding her close.
“I hear you, Beth. I hear you. I love you and I’m sure as hell not letting you go ever again. I need you too much.”
Chapter Sixteen
Buck ran, his little legs a blur. He grabbed the ball in his mouth and headed back to where Meg giggled and clapped her hands.
Beth, standing against Joe’s chest, snorted, amused. “He’s gonna get her nice and tired.”
“Good for everyone.” Joe kissed the top of Beth’s head.
“Oh you mean so your son sleeps better too?”
He laughed. “Our son now.”
“Did you hear that, Buck? I’m your new mommy.”
Meg thought that was hilarious, and Buck danced over, licking Beth’s hands, barking up a storm.
“I vote you bring Buck to all family dinners from now on.” Matt spoke from where he’d been sitting on the porch with Tate. “He’s kept them running all day long. Lots of tired kids will sleep well.”
“Well, but now Nicholas is begging for a dog.” Maggie snorted. “We were going to the breeder until Beth suggested we try the animal shelter.”
“Oh good! Buck was abandoned. Imagine anyone just tossing away a dog as fabulous as he is.”
They talked dogs as Beth wandered over to where her sisters sat with Lily and the Chase wives. Polly came out of the house with a tray of hot chocolate and joined them.
“Lily, you’re getting married in less than a month.” Beth snickered. “And you’ll be a Murphy.”
“God help you,” Anne said, grinning.
“Nathan told me yesterday he wanted to start trying to get pregnant right away. I admit I’ve been wondering. Holding off on deciding because I wanted Chris to be back on track. But he told me a few days back that he hoped I had a whole passel of kids so he could spoil them.”
Nathan had not only been Lily’s fiancé, but in a lot of ways he’d stepped in as a father figure to Lily’s brother. It had made Nathan a better man, and certainly helped Chris as his own father was sort of a dick.
“Also, I agreed to start looking for a house. Chris will come with us, of course. I told him he would always have a place with me. This way my mom will have her house when she comes home, but Nathan and I can have a house of our own.”
That was a huge step, Beth knew. For everyone involved. She also knew Nathan would feel a lot better in a house that was theirs. He’d be at home in a way he never could be at Lily’s mom’s place.
“Joe asked me to move in with him.”
Everyone got quiet, looking her way. Smiles and grins broke out as a flurry of oh my gods and congratulations sounded.
“When?” Lily demanded. The only person Beth had told was Tate, who she called at five that morning, knowing she’d already be up with Lil Beth.
“Last night at dinner. He just blurted it out. Said we needed to find a place with a big backyard for Buck. He said he wanted to come home to our place every night and know I was there. He wants to make a home with me.”
A home.
That’s what had done it. She’d made one for herself of course. But with him? With the man she loved in the same town with her family, with her best friends and all the people she loved best in the world?
She’d said yes and wrapped herself around him like a monkey right there in the restaurant.
“He’s the one?” Polly asked, taking Beth’s hands.
Beth nodded. “Oh yes. He makes everything better. Even dumb stuff like folding laundry and cleaning the bathtub.” The latter mainly because he lured her with sex after. But she’d keep that to herself.
“Does he deserve you? I know how hard you fought for him, so clearly you deserve him. But you’re special. Not just beautiful on the outside, but on the inside too. We can’t have you giving yourself to a man if he’s not worthy of you. Edward told me this just the other day. Polly, make sure our Beth understands how special she is, and how that Joe Harris best be good enough or he’ll have me to answer to.”
“He did?” Edward Chase, a lot like her brothers, made her realize it was entirely possible to be a wonderful husband and father. The way he still looked at Polly, even after nearly four decades of marriage, blew her away. He not only loved her, he loved her ways. Made room for her in his life in a way that was natural and amazing and filled Beth with envy.
“He did. You’re like our own daughter too, you know.”
“If I can have with Joe, even a shadow of what you and Edward have, I’ll consider myself blessed. Joe is a good man. He loves me. He makes sure we always have red licorice and pie. He listens to me and laughs at my jokes. He’s good to all my nieces and nephews. Of course it goes without saying his dog is fabulous. And he knows my family is important. It’s important to him too. I never thought love could be like this.”
“Well then, good. Congratulations, honey. He’s one long tall drink of water. Sure will be nice to have another gorgeous man to look at on Sundays for dinner.” Polly winked.
That acceptance of this thing with Joe by her family had been important. His family had been amazing as well. Oh, sure, the relationship with his mother was slow. His mother had a whole lot on her plate. It wasn’t what Tate had with Polly, but that was all right too. There was only one Polly in the world, anyway.
But his father was doing well on his most recent course of treatment. His mother was accepting that he could be actually getting better. His sister and her kids and husband were coming out for Christmas.
It was good. And strong. Full of promise and laughter. And that was all she could ask for and more.
About the Author
To learn more about Lauren Dane, please visit www.laurendane.com. Send an email to Lauren at [email protected] or find her at Twitter @LaurenDane.
Look for these titles by Lauren Dane
Now Available:
Chase Brothers
Giving Chase
Taking Chase
Chased
Making Chase
Petal, Georgia
Once and again
Lost in You
Cascadia Wolves
Wolf Unbound
Standoff
Fated
Trinity
de La Vega Cats
Trinity
Revelation
Beneath The Skin
Reading Between the Lines
Holiday Seduction
To Do List
Sweet Charity
Always
Coming Soon:
Unconditional
This time, he plans to do it with class. Style. And more than a little groveling…
Once and Again
© 2011 Lauren Dane
Petal, Georgia, Book 1
Seven years ago, Lily Travis was only too glad to see her hometown of Petal, Georgia, in her rearview mirror. Thanks to her father running off with a twenty-year-old, though, here she is, trying to pick up the pieces. First order of business: meet with her brother’s teacher in a quest to pull his grades out of a downward spiral.
Nathan Murphy is pretty much resigned to his bachelor status—until he looks up from his desk to see an all-grown-up Lily walking into his classroom. Of all the women who turned out to be totally wrong for him, she’s the only one who felt right. At least until his foolish, immature mistake drove her away.
Lily has to admit that time has been more than kind to gorgeous, sexy Nathan. Except there’s no room on her full plate for another complication. Especially with a man who broke her heart once before.
With a little help from his friends, Nathan has a plan to rekindle the flame. It isn’t long before they’re burning up the sheets. Winning her heart? That’s another matter.
Warning: Hot, sexy high school teacher in denim and boots. Strong-willed females abound. Bad words and naughtiness, too. Come on, you know you want to read it.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Once and Again:
There they sat and she liked him. Still. He was funny and charming and sweet even. He’d helped her with Chris, and his apology, though late, was genuine. She knew him enough to understand it in his words.
People made mistakes. She made them too. And she was so tired of avoiding him. But it wasn’t wise to let him back into her heart. He had too much power over her, and she hadn’t been lying when she told him it took her a long time to get over it. She never wanted to feel that kind of misery again. Ever.
“I accept your apology. But we can’t date.”
His gorgeous features darkened.
He was as alpha as they came. Used to getting his own way. It was gloriously sexy, but she had enough to manage. He was a man now, not even a young man in graduate school. He’d be even worse. Which would mean he was way hotter in bed, but she wasn’t going to think about that. Much. At all. Ever in the next ten minutes.
“You still don’t like being told no, I see.”
That broke his sour expression. “Why can’t we date?”
She was totally going to have to make up for the whopper she was about to tell. “First because I’m over you. Second, and far more importantly, because my brother is in your class. He’s got enough to deal with right now. The last thing he needs is to have anyone think he’s getting special treatment because you’re dating his sister. Or for him to worry you’ll retaliate if we broke things off.”
He growled a sigh, and her insides got all warm and gooey. She really needed to date nice men who didn’t growl.
“Do you really think I’d do that?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t have accepted your apology. But this is Petal. Gossip is as common as marshmallows in Jell-O salad. He’s had enough, don’t you think? My lands, the boy can’t even go out for a burger without people knowing his dad left his mom for a girl barely older than him. I can’t be part of anything that would harm him even more.”
“You said you were over me.”
“I am. Don’t smirk. What if your face freezes that way?”
He laughed and she did too. It felt so good to laugh with him after so long.
“I want you back, Lil. I’m telling you that up front. Just so you won’t be surprised when I get you back.”
It wouldn’t do to smile at him and encourage this silly behavior, but she did anyway because she’d clearly been dropped on her head as a child.
Pie arrived and she was glad for the interruption. And the pie of course.
“I need to get back home. I’m glad we cleared the air and all.”
She tried to pay half but he pushed the cash back her way. “I invited you, I’ll pay. I’ll walk you to your car too.”
Plenty of female attention landed on him as they made their way toward the door. That much hadn’t changed. It used to leave her feeling a little smug. That he was hers and they could look all day long but he wanted Lily Travis, not any of those other bimbos. And then she was wrong.
“I can get it from here,” she said once they’d arrived outside. The evening air was cool, and without even asking, he helped her into the coat.
“I’m sure you can. Where are you parked?” Bold as you please, as if she’d never spoken.
“Around the corner. On Ash.”
“Why you parking back there?” He held his arm out and she took it automatically. Once she’d done it, it would have been silly to let go. “It’s dark back there.”
“It was daylight when I parked. This is Petal. Main was packed.”
“You have a cell phone. Next time, text me and I’ll come get you.”
It was dark but quiet, and the moon overhead was beginning to rise. “I’ll do no such thing. And there won’t be any next time, Nathan.”
He took her keys and unlocked the door for her. “Just keep telling yourself that if it gets you through the day. But we both know that’s a bald-faced lie.” He stepped closer and her back hit the car.
She was looking for some stern words when he leaned that last distance between them and brushed his lips across hers.
All her stern internal reminders swept away when he pressed his body against hers and she found her fingers in his shirt, holding him to her. His hands slid up her sides, coming to rest at her back, just above her ass.
Her mouth opened on a sigh, and he swallowed the sound, his tongue slipping between her lips like a thief and then he owned her as if they’d never been apart.
She gave in and ran her fingers through his hair as he slid his tongue along hers. He tasted of tea and pie and man. She was lost in the sweet sensation of that kiss until he sucked on her tongue and her nipples hardened to the point of pain, throbbing in time with her clit.
Up the block, someone shut a door, and it was enough to reclaim her senses and put her hand on his chest to push him back a bit.
He broke the kiss and stared at her lips for long moments, his chest heaving as he struggled to breathe.
“I want more of that mouth,” he murmured, bending to kiss the side of her jaw.
“I have to go home. I promised Chris I’d watch a movie with him.” Her voice was rusty. She licked her lips and he groaned again, putting some distance between them.
“Go on then. I’ll see you soon, Lily. We’re going to be friends once more, if I can’t have friends and then some.”
He’d have to be satisfied with that, she told herself as she drove home, because that’s all she had to give.
Sometimes even Angels must learn to fly…
Rocky Mountain Angel
© 2012 Vivian Arend
Six Pack Ranch, Book 4
Allison Parker needs a convincing excuse to come home to Rocky Mountain House. A hopelessly romantic reason that won’t let her mother suspect the truth—that Allison has discovered Mom is keeping a terrible secret from the family.
Gabe Coleman is struggling with two of the roughest parts of ranching: dealing with his bull-headed mule of a father, and making enough to pay the bills. When his old friend Allison offers to help him develop his ideas for organic ranching—in trade for pretending to be her fiancé—it sounds like the perfect set
-up.
Yet the deception leads them in an unexpected direction, where their shared daily hells are erased by nights of heavenly distraction. It’s not supposed to be real, but once the gates are opened, there’s no denying they’ve found in each other a little bit of Paradise.
To break free of the past and face the future, though, will take more than temporary pleasures. It’ll take putting their hearts on the line.
Warning: Tortured hero with a guardian-angel complex, grief-stricken heroine willing to sacrifice everything for family. Break out the tissues, this trip to the ranch is a heartbreaker on the way to the HEA.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Rocky Mountain Angel:
He gave her a confused look. “What are you doing?”
She shook out the sturdy picnic cloth, placing the cushiony fabric on the grass beside where he sat. “You’re still tense. Take off your shirt and I can at least massage out a few of the knots.”
Gabe eyed the blanket warily, then nodded, rising on his knees to strip off his shirt and undershirt.
Allison pulled a small bottle of hand cream from her purse triumphantly. She dropped the bag to the side and turned to deal with Gabe.
Oh damn. He’d laid himself out on the blanket like she’d asked, resting his head on his hands. The position showed off his muscles beautifully—shoulders, biceps, and the firm bands that wrapped around his torso down along his waist.
A slick of sexual tension stroked her spine. A massage might help get rid of his tension, but it was going to increase hers.
“You ready?” Gack. Her voice sounded far too high-pitched and unnatural.
“Yeah, I guess.”
She knelt at his side and warmed up the cream before putting her hands on his shoulders.
For the next fifteen minutes Allison’s mind raced as she worked her hands over Gabe’s back. Her thumbs along his spine, fingertips digging into the hard bulges that slowly relaxed. She slipped lower, wondering why she was doing this to herself. What had started as an offer from a friend to another was making all kinds of more-than-friends ideas pop into her head.