by Anthology
Kyle had been with plenty of beautiful women who’d been well aware of their looks and had used them to their advantage. Bella, though, seemed almost innocent by comparison. Did she not realize the effect she had on men?
At the thought of another man touching her, his gut clenched. A primitive part of him had already claimed her as his. Mine to touch, mine to kiss, his caveman brain chanted.
Slow down, dude. You just met her, the more logical part of his brain admonished.
“Why shouldn’t I have a big head?” he finally responded. “I’m handsome and famous. The best combination, right?”
Bella laughed. “You’re very certain of yourself. But fame can be lonely.” Her tone turned wistful, and he wondered if she’d ever experienced the pitfalls of fame herself. “You’re never alone, but sometimes you can be within a sea of people and feel so lonely your heart breaks.” She looked back at him. “Do you know what I mean?”
Yes, I know what you mean, he thought.
Kyle had enjoyed his fame and fortune, but with it had come some bitter lessons. He had to be careful who he could trust, who he could talk to, who he could date. He couldn’t reveal too much about himself or his family without worrying that someone would use it against him. He had to be careful that any woman he slept with wouldn’t get angry when he decided to break things off and give some tell-all interview as revenge.
He pushed away the painful emotions her words had incited.
“Are you saying that you’re lonely, Duchess? Because I can take care of that for you,” he said with a wide smile.
“And how would you propose doing that?”
He raked her with his gaze, and he watched as a pretty blush rose on her cheeks. She sat on the couch like a queen or something, her back stiff, her accent straight out of Windsor Castle. He’d never seen a woman with more perfectly manicured nails, or one who didn’t have a hair out of place. Despite the casualness of her tank top and shorts, she somehow managed to wear both with an elegance Kyle had never witnessed before
“I’d start with showing you how happy I am you came to me. I’d kiss you,” he said as he leaned toward her, his lips brushing her ear, “and make you tremble. Then I’d stroke your luscious body until you begged me to take you.”
Bella was breathing faster now, and Kyle saw with delight that her blush extended to her chest. She smelled like jasmine and honey, so sweet that he wanted to taste her.
“Do you always speak to women you’ve just met like this?” she asked, her voice breathy.
“Only women I’m interested in.”
“You’re interested in me?”
He laughed. “Do you think I ask women to meet me alone if I’m not interested in them? That seems like torture to me.”
She shrugged. “You Americans can be so odd, though. Sometimes I’m unsure how you think.” She shifted, and his hand moved from her knee to her calf.
He stroked her skin; she shuddered slightly. “Do you have an example?”
“Oh, well, Americans wear shoes inside their homes. In Salasia, that would be considered extremely impolite.”
“Ah. Well, I think it’s weird that Europeans eat pizza with a fork and knife.”
“That’s not weird, it’s civilized.”
Kyle softly pinched her, and she yelped before laughing. “What else you got, Duchess?”
“Your movies—so much violence, but nudity is seen as going too far. In Salasia, we don’t fear nudity.”
He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Are you saying we should go ahead and strip down right now? Because I can tell you, this American would be game for it.”
She blushed and laughed again. “No, that’s not what I meant!”
“Too bad. So how does a good Salasian girl like you get into American football?”
“When I was a young girl, I saw a game on television. I’d never seen anything like it.” Her eyes widened, and excitement laced her voice. “Men tackling each other! The fans screaming. Europeans love football—soccer, I mean—but this was like nothing I’d ever seen. I had to know more.” Shrugging, she added, “And that was that.”
Kyle continued stroking her skin, inching his hand up slowly, watching her reaction. She quivered. He could see her nipples peaking through her thin tank top, and he hardened. God, he wanted her. Talking football with a beautiful woman was one thing, but having her this close, her pupils dilated and her body begging him to take her? Paradise.
A ringing sound erupted suddenly, and Bella jumped. She pulled out her cell phone. “Oh, I have to go!”
She hopped up, but Kyle took her hand.
“I want a parting gift, Duchess. Before you go.”
Her eyes widened, her breasts rising and falling with her quick breathing. “Like what?” she asked in a low voice.
Standing, he smiled. He touched her cheek. “A kiss.”
She blushed harder, and it was so adorable Kyle couldn’t help but trace the color along her cheekbone. “Yes, all right,” she murmured finally.
He didn’t wait for her to change her mind. Pulling her into his arms, he wrapped an arm around her waist and continued cupping her cheek with his right hand. He felt her warm breath brush across his lips, her soft breasts pressing against his chest.
Then Kyle kissed her.
He’d kissed dozens of women. So many he couldn’t remember them all. Recently, they’d all blurred together, the kisses merely a prelude to sex.
But this was different. He didn’t know how. He didn’t want to think why. But the moment his lips touched hers, it was like being transported to another place. She tasted sweet and luscious, and her lips were pillow soft. His thumb stroked her cheek.
Kyle didn’t push her, though. He kept the kisses sweet and closed-mouth, mere touches that would hopefully have her craving more. Sure enough, she twined an arm around his neck, a low moan emitting from her throat.
He pulled away slightly. “Open for me,” he said in a low voice.
Her eyelashes fluttered. She gazed at him. Then she opened her mouth.
He thrust his tongue inside, mimicking how he’d like to thrust inside her body. Her moan turned louder. Blood had already pooled in his groin, his cock so hard it was painful. His hand moved from her waist to her ass, and he pressed her against his erection. She jumped a little, but after a moment she began arching against him, like a cat wanting to be stroked.
“God, Bella,” he murmured against her mouth. “I want you.”
He kissed her until her eyes looked dazed, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care if she left this room looking like she’d been kissed for hours. He wanted her to remember him. He wanted her to touch her lips and have the memory of him flood her mind.
But then Bella’s phone sounded again. Kyle stopped kissing her, albeit reluctantly. Although he desperately wanted to take her right there on the couch, he had a feeling that would be way too fast for her. So he stroked her sides and kissed her neck until she pulled away.
“I have to go,” she said.
“When will I see you again?”
She hesitated. Bit her lip. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
“Can you at least tell me where you’re staying?”
She rocked back on her heels, as if considering.
“Or maybe you could come to our after-party?” he said. “It’s at a dive bar called Chez Charlie’s in the Bronx. We go there because nobody bothers us. The owner doesn’t give a shit if you’re famous or not, and neither do the patrons.”
Bella sighed sadly, like she was feeling torn about something. Kyle had never wanted to see another woman again as much as he wanted to see her, and the fact she was hesitating made him almost howl in frustration.
“It sounds fun. But I’m not sure…” She fiddled nervously with her hair, much like she had when she’d first arrived. “I have to go. Thank you, Kyle. For talking with me. For that kiss. For making me feel less lonely, if even for a few minutes.”
She then unlocked the door and walke
d out.
It was only after she’d left that Kyle realized he had no way of getting in touch with her. He didn’t even know her last name.
I’ll find her, he vowed to himself.
I’ll find you, Bella, and when I do, we’ll finish what we started.
Thank you for reading this excerpt from Royally Deep, Book 2 in my Going Deep Series, coming soon.
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Other Books by Virna
THE BEDDING THE BACHELORS SERIES
Book 1: Bedding The Wrong Brother (Rhys): Click here to learn more
Book 2: Bedding The Bad Boy (Max): Click here to learn more
Book 3: Bedding The Billionaire (Jamie): Click here to learn more
Book 4: Bedding The Best Friend (Ryan): Click here to learn more
Book 5: Bedding The Biker Next Door (Cole): Click here to learn more
Book 7: Bedding The Best Man (Gabe): Click here to learn more
Book 8: Bedding The Boss (Eric)**
HOME TO GREEN VALLEY SERIES
Book 1: What Love Can Do (Quinn): Click here to learn more
Book 2: The Way Love Goes (Conor): Click here to learn more
Book 3: I’m Gonna Love You (Brady): Click here to learn more
Book 4: Best Of My Love: Click here to learn more
SAY YOU LOVE ME SERIES
Book 1: Say It Sexy: Click here to learn more
Book 2: Say It Sweet: Click here to learn more
ROCK CANDY SERIES
Book 1: Rock Strong: Click here to learn more
Book 2: Rock Dirty: Click here to learn more
Book 3: Rock Wild*
Book 4: Rock Free*
**Coming Soon
About the Author
Virna DePaul is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of steamy, suspenseful fiction. Whether it’s vampires, a Para-Ops team, hot cops or swoon-worthy identical twin brothers, her stories center around complex individuals willing to overcome incredible odds for love. Bedding The Wrong Brother, which begins the Bedding the Bachelors Series, is a #1 Bestselling Contemporary Romance and a USA Today Bestseller.
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Royally Deep (Excerpt)
Copyright © 2016 by Virna DePaul
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
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Brenda Rothert
His bonus epilogue by Brenda Rothert – Andrew and Quinn are settled in to their happily ever after when a friend turned foe returns.
His
Two years after the epilogue…
Quinn
Tucking my flat iron into one of my bags, I decide the packing is complete. And not a moment too soon. Roy, Andrew’s driver, is waiting to drop me off at the airport where Andrew and I will fly out on the plane he chartered.
I can hardly contain my excitement. We’re celebrating our first wedding anniversary at a secluded beachfront home in Fiji. Andrew bought the house to mark the occasion, and from the photos he showed me, I have a feeling it will become our favorite getaway spot.
The house is modest—around 1500 square feet with two bedrooms. There are hammocks outside where we can relax and take in the whitest sand and the most beautiful ocean views I’ve ever seen.
After a grueling fourth semester of college, this is just the break I need. Andrew’s been grumbling about not seeing me much, which is funny coming from my workaholic husband, but I love him more every day—grumbly, overworked and all.
I carry my bags out to the living room, where Roy and one of the security guys take them out to the car for me. I follow behind them but am stopped in the kitchen by Don, another member of the security team.
“Mrs. Wentworth, there’s a man out front asking to see you,” he says.
“Who is it?”
“Says his name is Bean.”
I freeze for a second, not having thought about my former friend in so long. The last time I’d seen him was when Bethy and I fled from Mexico after he’d turned on us.
He’s got balls, showing up here. I want to tell Don I won’t see him, but what if he knows Bethy lives here, too? He could show up again, or follow her when she leaves home. I can’t risk it.
“Go ahead and send him in through the front,” I say.
“I’ll escort him in.”
Don knows Andrew will fire him if anything happens to me. Not that it would. I may not have to fight for my life every day on the streets anymore, but part of me will always be the scrappy survivor I once was.
I’m standing in the warehouse’s living room, arms folded over my chest, when Don walks in with Bean.
Bean’s hard, dark eyes soften a little when he sees me. He’s not quite as lean as he used to be, and there are new lines in the corners of his eyes—whether from age or the sun, I don’t know. But his calculating gaze is unchanged.
Bean was always a great ally when Bethy and I were on the streets. He was ruthless and fearless. But when he chose to turn against me and my sister, he lost my trust forever.
“Quinn,” he says in greeting.
“What do you want, Bean?”
He sighs deeply. “I wanted to see you. That’s all.”
“I’m on my way out, so unfortunately, I don’t have time to reminisce about the time you tried to kill me because I wouldn’t give you forty grand.”
He at least has the grace to look ashamed. “I’m sorry about that.”
“No, Bean,” I say, shaking my head. “Apologies are for forgetting about someone’s birthday or spilling your drink on them. You don’t say you’re sorry for trying to kill someone…someone who trusted you.”
He nods in acknowledgement. “I went back to drugs when we got to Mexico. Didn’t plan to, but…” He looks away and sighs again. “It just happened.”
“I trusted you to take care of Bethy.” All the anger I felt that night when I found my sister in a shack, scared and alone, comes rushing back. “You betrayed both of us.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be like that, you know. After all that time…” He shakes his head. “We spent a couple years together, you and me and Bethy. And you went for the rich, hot guy as soon as he hired you as his whore.”
His narrowed eyes are full of contempt now.
I step closer to him. “You’re a liar, Bean. You never had feelings for me.”
“The hell I didn’t. I wanted to be with you, Quinn, but I didn’t have nothin’ to offer you. I wanted to get us off the streets and make a better life together.”
“Bullshit. You would’ve killed me that day in Mexico if you could have.”
“Yeah.” He shrugs. “Only ’cause you fucked me over. Left me and Bethy while you carried on with that rich asshole.”
“I did not fuck you over. I did the best I could under the circumstances, Bean.”
“You crushed me. Falling for some rich prick—”
“Don’t speak about my husband that way,”
I say, pointing at him as I close the distance between us. Andrew has more honor than you ever did or ever will. He’s never let me down, not once.”
“I thought it was our way off the streets. But then you changed everything. And I shouldn’t have gone back to drugs. I know that now. I’ve been clean for almost a year.”
“If you came here to ask for my forgiveness, I forgive you,” I say. “But only because I’ve moved on and Bethy has, too. I don’t want you in our lives.”
His expression is forlorn. “When I’m using drugs, I’m a different person, Quinn. That wasn’t me. Hell, how do you think I got in so deep with a cartel that I lost my hand?” He holds up his arm without a hand. “All I could think about was that money. If I’d lost my chance with you, having enough money for drugs was all that mattered.”
“I’m sorry you felt that way, but it’s over now. It’s all over and we all have to move on with our lives.”
He shakes his head and I feel his eyes sizing me up, the way I saw him do with so many people on the streets.
“Bethy’s eighteen now,” he says. “Shouldn’t she get to decide for herself?”
My heart pounds and I have to hold myself back from attacking him.
“She feels the same way about you as I do,” I say. “You’ve been dead to both of us since that night.”
“Dead? So it’s like that?”
“Oh yeah, it’s like that. Dead—just like I’d be if I hadn’t fought you off that night.”
He holds my gaze in silent challenge for a few seconds before I speak again.
“Listen, Bean. Listen well. I could have killed you that night, but I chose not to. I chose to give you another chance. It was a one-time thing. If you go anywhere near my sister again, I won’t make the same choice next time.”