by Lea Bronsen
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement (including infringement without monetary gain) is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
High-Risk Fever
Copyright © 2014 by Lea Bronsen
ISBN: 978-1-61333-751-6
Cover art by Fiona Jayde
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC
Look for us online at:
www.decadentpublishing.com
Decadent Publishing Recent Releases
One Night with the Groom by Sara Daniel
Winds of Change by Zee Monodee
Imperfect Mate by Lia Davis
By the Sea by Katherine McIntyre
The Marquis and the Mistress by Dominique Eastwick
Dragon’s Bond by Kali Willows
Blindside by Jayden Alexander
Star Spangled Surprise by Kimberly Quinton
High Speed Hunger by Shady Grace
The Big One by Louisa Bacio
Operation Owl by Tara Quan
Duel with Death by Louisa Bacio
Her Everything by Tara Andrews
Taliasman by Anastasia Vitsky
Flirting with Fire by Tara Quan
Redeeming Raygan by Megan Slayer
The Vampire’s Hourglass by Shayne Leighton
A Class Act by Leigh Ellwood
High-Risk Fever
By
Lea Bronsen
~Dedication~
To Aaron Sillis; all it took was a photo.
Thanks to talented authors, beta readers, and friends D.C. Stone, Cait Jarrod, Kishan Paul, Laura Dean, and Jesse Pearle for your advice and support. I can always count on you.
A special thank you to Bob Podrasky for making me believe in the story.
Chapter One
A distant boom of thunder made Anne look up from the dinner table, wiping cloth in hand. Outside, black clouds built above the hill tops in the horizon, threatening to embrace the small mountain village.
“Hmm, looks like the weather’s changing again.” Nodding, she returned to the wooden table and removed the remaining breakfast crumbs. “We’re in for another one, Brian.”
These storms came quickly in the French Alps, grazing the snow covered, fork-like peaks before diving into the deep valleys and ravaging them with inhuman force. After a few hours, the darkness would vanish as if wiped away by a magic wand, once again leaving the villageois with a familiar sense of awe and the tourists reeling in shock at the power of nature.
“What did you say?” Her husband’s low, gentle voice drifted from the kitchen.
She refocused on the window. Against the backdrop of black clouds beyond, reflections from the lit room played on the glass pane before her. Brian’s silhouette appeared, peeking from the open kitchen door.
Her chest filled with warmth. God, she loved that man with his long hair, moustache, and sad, hazel eyes. An old hippie, a bear of a man with more kindness and humanity than the world could take. He’d traveled continents and oceans alone for half a lifetime before turning up at this village one sunny afternoon, two years ago.
It took one look at the French hosts’ young daughter, Anne, to calm his vagabond heart. Despite their fifteen-year age difference, they’d married shortly after, about the same time her parents bought an apartment in town and left her in charge of the business.
Together, they ran the local bed and breakfast, a charming, two-story stone house with wooden framework and white-painted window frames. They welcomed visitors from all over the world, mostly trackers and bikers questing along the winding alpine roads. While Brian took care of the cuisine and administrative tasks, Anne shopped for provisions, cleaned the house, and served guests.
She focused on her reflection in the glass. Doe eyes in an oval face stared back. Not yet thirty, but a full, ripe woman. A lone brown tendril escaped from her shoulder-length hair and hung on her forehead. She pushed it back before smoothing her white blouse and kilt.
All she needed to be happy now was a child.
Thunder in the distance again, and her heart skipped.
Brian approached. “Sweetie, I didn’t hear you.”
Anne dropped the cloth on the table and stepped toward the front door. “I said a storm is coming. We should close the shutters.”
“Let me take care of that.” Before she could protest, he caught her from behind, bringing along the smells of frying oil and detergent.
Large, manly hands slipped around her waist and settled on her stomach. His tall, warm body enveloped her. Hot breaths brushed against her ear. “And then maybe we can….” He held her tighter, pressing the outline of his cock against her ass.
“Oh, sweetheart.” She smiled. Though they knew each other inside out, he’d never lost his untamed desire and grabbed every opportunity to give her some loving, at least once a day.
If only he were a bit more creative, it would be perfect. But instead of, for example, right this moment, bending her down on the table, pulling up her skirt, and doing her from behind with long, lusty strokes, he would take her hand, bring her upstairs, and perform the same old romantic missionary thing in the bed sheets.
With a low rumble in the depth of his throat, he moved his hips up and down, rubbing her through his pants and lodging his burgeoning erection farther between her cheeks. “I love you, Anne. Every single bit of you. Can you feel it?”
“Yes. And I love you.” To hell with creativity. A pinch in her inner thighs called. Her nipples hardened against the soft blouse. She sighed, leaned her head back on his shoulder, and almost gave into temptation. It would be so easy to dive into the fluffy sheets and let him fill her with his gliding hardness until all she could do was whine like a cat in heat. Good God.
But, no, not now. The tenants could come back anytime. Three families rented rooms today, and though their schedules varied, the approaching storm might rush their return to base.
She sought distraction from her arousal.
The first floor consisted of a dining and living area in one room, a kitchen, and a small office in the back. Her gaze wandered from the dark-painted wood beams in the ceiling to the plastered walls they had decorated with artifacts from her husband’s many voyages. Two Bordeaux-colored couches and a dark-wood coffee table sat in one corner. In the other, sharing a wall with the kitchen, a bar with a couple of stools fronted a shelf filled with a selection of bottles. Small flags from different countries hung from a string above the bar area, and on the countertop, a laptop mingled with beer pads and ashtrays.
The pride Brian took in welcoming the guests was one of the things she loved about him. His jovial generosity, the way he’d fill glasses of beer to the brim and only charge for half, always with a friendly word and a smile. Or the time he’d take to patiently explain the local topography and directions to various mountain treks, not to mention the hours spent in the kitchen trying out delicious recipes, making sure the visitors left the Alps with a sense of having found a second home.
A loud knock sounded on the door. Once more, her heart jumped.
Merde. She stiffened, and so did Brian, against her back.
“It must be the postman.” Hoping the busybody of a village facteur hadn’t seen anything through the white flowery curtains, she slid out of her husband’s tense grip, immediately regretting the loss of contact with his hard-on, and stepped forward.
Brian grumbled a low curse, but stayed put.
This shouldn’t take too long. Unlike yesterday, she would just take the mail from the slim, uniformed man and, with a polite smile, close the door, cutting off his usual attempts to chat. In her mind flashed the picture of his expectant smile and curious eyes beneath the black La Poste cap, and the short conversation they’d had about her pregnancy—or, the lack thereof.
A subject worth mentioning to Brian.
She paused in front of the door, a hand on the cold brass handle, and pivoted. “You know what he asked me yesterday?”
Brian stared at her. “No?”
“If we had any good news.”
“What do you mean, good news?”
God, how could he not immediately understand what she was talking about? She placed her free hand on her stomach. “You know.”
He raised a brow. “Oh, a baby?”
“Oui.” She held back a sigh.
In the course of their two years of marriage, she hadn’t gotten pregnant, hadn’t even had a miscarriage. Though Brian repeatedly confirmed he liked the idea of fatherhood and was more than willing to perform the act of baby-making, she wasn’t sure to what extent he understood and related to her wish for a child.
“Sweetie.” He cocked his head. “We’ll just keep trying. One day, you’ll be pregnant. I promise.”
“I wish you’d take the fertility test. I’m willing to—”
“We’ve been through this.”
She nodded, would drop the subject for now. But one day, she would insist and—
Knock, knock.
She spun around and, with a fake smile, opened the door.
A gust of cool air blew in, filling her nostrils with acrid wetness. Torrential rain would hit anytime.
Outside, two young men sat on tall bicycles, greeting her with expectant gazes. Both carried rucksacks. Wearing only tight, colorful spandex clothes from top to toe, they were far from equipped to tackle the bad weather.
Behind them, across the narrow street, houses similar to the bed and breakfast stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Fast-moving storm clouds loomed above their black-tiled rooftops.
The nearest bicyclist, a thirtyish suntanned blond with the looks of a movie star, gave her a frank smile. His deep-emerald eyes drew her to him so intensely, she almost forgot his companion, almost erased Brian’s hard cock from her memory, and almost ignored the rumbling thunder at the entrance of the village.
“Yes?” She studied the blond.
His well-toned arm and torso muscles worked beneath the thin yellow spandex, and a visible pulse beat in his throat. As he sat on his bicycle—a modern, thirty-something-gear mountain monster—his “package” bulged on the front of the leather seat, reminding her of what Brian had offered seconds ago. She swallowed hard, imagined peeling the spandex off this beautiful man’s svelte body and discovering what sexual beast hid inside. She might be married, but admiring another man could not possibly do any harm.
“We’re looking for a place to stay for the night.” The young guy’s voice, low and confident, with a clear American accent, brought her back to his face. Bedazzling green eyes met hers with a grin displaying a row of perfect white teeth.
“Oh.” She shook herself and took a deep breath, then pointed backward into the living room. “Um, Brian, my husband, will be happy to accommodate you.”
Happy, my ass. I should be the one handling this.
Irritation grew at that thought. Her parents had run the bed and breakfast the same way, with Papa controlling the property and making all the family decisions, and in spite of his hippie roots, Brian had adapted to the tradition. It didn’t matter that she was the formal owner. In this remote part of France, the man of the house automatically had the last word.
“Chéri?”
“Yeah.” Brian joined her. The big bear filled the doorframe, oozing warmth at her side.
“These young men—”
A growling noise interrupted, building at the end of the road. A semi-trailer entered the village, going full speed as it passed merely a meter from the two bicyclists and bringing along a violent swoosh of cold mountain air.
While Anne and Brian turned their faces to avoid the blow, the draught hit the two young guys. The blond managed to stand, but his friend’s bike fell to the ground, bringing him down with it.
“Vaffanculo!” Legs tangled, struggling to regain his balance, the second bicyclist threw his hands in the air in true South-European style.
“Son of a bitch.” Brian glared at the cloud of dust left by the disappearing vehicle. “Fucking narrow street and no sidewalk.”
Anne’s heart raced. “It’s so dangerous.” If—when—she had her own child one day, there would be petitions to sign and meetings with officials to attend.
Breathing deeply to calm her nerves, she approached the unfortunate bicyclist and bent to grab his handlebar.
Surely by pure coincidence, one of his gloved hands landed on hers, curling strong fingers around her small ones and helping her pull until the bike stood upright between them.
Still, even as he stood on his feet, his hand lingered, holding hers firmly on the hard-plastic handle.
Anne looked up into his face, seeing him for the first time. How in the world had she missed such a jewel earlier? Among tanned, Latin features, a pair of black diamonds sparkling with mischief stared back without shame. His long, black locks were swept back in a ponytail, revealing a single golden earring in his left lobe. Large chest muscles heaved beneath a tight, pink spandex shirt, begging to be caressed by a woman’s hand, and black chest hairs peeked from the open collar.
Unable to believe the seductive intensity he exuded, she sucked in a breath and held it while the world narrowed. Her head buzzed. “What?”
“What?” The beautiful bicyclist used the same low tone, his full lips forming a teasing grin inches from her face. He was so near she could smell his hot breath. Intoxicating.
How had he come so close? And how long before her husband noticed?
Thankfully, Brian’s calm, indifferent voice rose behind her, addressing the blond bicyclist. “So you’re looking for a place to stay?”
“Yeah. We’ve already asked in several different villages on our way here.”
Anne tugged at her trapped hand and took a demonstrative step back. “Please.”
“Oh.” Feigning surprise, the dark beauty lifted an eyebrow and removed his hand, allowing her to retrieve hers. “Sorry,” he added, rolling a thick R with his tongue, keeping his lips parted a second too long. A move so deliberately naughty, her stomach knotted with need.
As she retreated, he studied her face with a grin, arrogance and amusement gleaming in his dark eyes, before turning his attention to the two other men.
Blood pulsing in her temples, she copied his movement.
“I’m sorry, but we’re full. This time of year—” Brian gazed into the blond’s eyes. The two men were the same height and had a similar hair color.
“But, Brian.” Anne trembled from the sensual shock. “We have one room available.”
He shook his head. “No, honey, a couple called an hour ago, when you were out shopping.”
“Oh.”
“I’m sorry.” His voi
ce was firm but kind. He looked from one young guy to the other. “But we’re full.”
A new boom of thunder roared above the rooftops, threatening to crack the sky open. Anne hunched away from the noise.
“See, we’ve asked everywhere.” The blond lifted his shoulders. “We’d take anything with that storm coming. A couch, whatever.”
Brian shook his head, apology marring his sad dog features, before a new thought lit his eyes. “Say, man, sounds to me like you’re from the ole US of A.”
“Damn right I am.” The blond smiled. “Baltimore, actually. Where’re you from?”
“Some shitty place in Kentucky, but I been around since.” He offered his bear paw of a hand. “I’m Brian.”
“Todd.” The blond took the proffered hand and shook it, green eyes holding her husband’s. “And my, uh, friend here”—he turned to the Latin guy, who stood still watching the scene—“is Micaela, from Italy. We’re riding the Alps this summer.”
Heat rushed through Anne’s chest. An Italian! That explained his shameless advance. The charm and sex drive of the French were reputed, but a woman could not walk in Italian streets without having lustful stares and whistles thrown at her from both young and old men.
Brian nodded at Micaela. “Nice to meet ya.”
Micaela nodded back with a reserved, self-confident smile.
The first cold raindrops fell from the darkened sky, landing on their faces.
Brian glanced up and blinked. “Well, keep looking, guys. Every village has a bed and breakfast. But don’t waste time. All hell’s about to break loose.”
“Yeah.” Todd sat up on his bike and adjusted the weight of his rucksack.
Anne’s heart tightened as she watched the rock star-looking Italian do the same. She sent a quick, discreet glance at the bulge in front of his spandex pants, resting on the saddle between his muscular thighs.
Why did they have to leave so fast, when they’d just come into her life? She was a married woman and had not once had unfaithful thoughts, but at this moment, she couldn’t help enjoying the flattery of another man.