Dear Annie
Wynter Daniels
Sex advice columnist Dear Annie—aka Suzanne—shuns relationships after growing up in a dysfunctional family. She takes care of her sisters and her mother but refuses to indulge in pleasures of the heart. When she meets a man who makes her toes curl, she’s terrified of letting him hang around long enough for her to start caring about him.
All Alan wants is a chance, but the blonde beauty keeps putting a time limit on their relationship. He charmed his way into her bed, but now must convince her to let him into her heart.
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
www.ellorascave.com
Dear Annie
ISBN 9781419939570
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Dear Annie Copyright © 2012 Wynter Daniels
Edited by Shannon Combs
Cover design by Syneca
Photography by Shutterstock.com
Electronic book publication March 2012
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Dear Annie
Wynter Daniels
Chapter One
Suzanne Weston reread the letter as she pondered how to respond.
Dear Annie,
My boyfriend and I have been considering asking his friend to join us for a threesome. I’ve always been attracted to the friend and I’m afraid that having sex with him will awaken a dangerous passion inside me that’s been brewing for a while. But I can hardly say that to my boyfriend. Should I tell my boyfriend to find someone else for the ménage à trois or should I take my chances?
Sincerely,
Confused in Connecticut
Suzanne stretched her back against the padded coffee shop booth seat then placed her hands on the keyboard.
Dear Confused,
Sounds to me like what you’re afraid of is discovering that someone might turn you on more than your boyfriend. If that’s the case, shouldn’t you explore that possibility? If you don’t, you might always wonder what could have been. Don’t do anything that makes you uncomfortable, but you know Dear Annie’s credo—if it feels good, go for it, baby.
She sipped her iced latte then set the plastic cup on the table. Glancing up, she noticed a tall, dark-haired guy making his way down the aisle.
His aquamarine eyes were fixed on her as he walked right into an elderly woman with a walker. “Oh God, I’m so sorry,” he told the lady. His voice was deep as a trombone.
The woman shook off his apology. “I’m fine. I think you were a little distracted.” She tipped her chin toward Suzanne. “She’s awfully pretty.”
The man threw Suzanne a crooked smile that made her feel as if she’d just downed a glass or two of champagne. After the older lady passed, the man offered Suzanne his hand but knocked her coffee over in the process. The flimsy plastic lid popped off and the thick, caramel-colored liquid spilled over her laptop.
Suzanne’s heart seemed to stop. The screen went dead and she let out a gasp. “No! Oh please, no.”
The man plucked a stack of napkins from the next table and started mopping up the sticky mess. “I don’t know what to say. Sorry doesn’t seem to cut it.”
That was an understatement. She poked the power button but the machine refused to come back to life. “It was an accident.” An accident that cost her hours of work on her upcoming Dear Annie columns, not to mention the cost of a new computer. That was all she needed.
Just when she thought she was going to get her head above water after paying her sister Laura’s college tuition payment and helping her mother with her mortgage payment. She shook her head. Going even a few days without a computer was out of the question.
“Look, there’s an office supply superstore a few blocks from here. Let me buy you a new laptop.” He sat down beside her. The empathy in his expression made her chest squeeze.
She set her hand on top of his and a zing of attraction rang through her. “You don’t need to do that. It’s not like you purposely broke it.”
He shook his head. “I won’t take no for an answer. Plus I have a friend who might be able to retrieve whatever’s on your hard drive. It’s the least I can do.”
A glimmer of hope lightened her gloom. “I’ll tell you what. If your friend can get my work off the hard drive, great. But I insist we go halvsies on the new computer.”
Without a word, he stood then offered her a hand up. Again, his touch started a riot of arousal inside her that spread to every nerve ending. How could she say no when they had such obvious chemistry.
“I’m Alan,” he said as he gathered the soaked napkins and the sticky cup.
“Suzanne.” She picked up her dead computer and wiped the bottom. They left the coffee shop and Alan led her to a late-model pickup truck.
He opened the passenger door and she brushed past him to climb inside, breathing in his evergreen scent. Maybe she wasn’t meant to finish writing her column today. Suddenly there was something—or someone—she’d much rather spend the day doing.
* * * * *
Alan handed the cashier at the office supply store his credit card despite Suzanne’s protests.
“We agreed we’d split the cost,” she said. Her lovely pale-blue eyes sparked with determination.
“You agreed. I overrode you.” He had to stifle a laugh when her jaw dropped.
Her eyes grew huge. “Over…overrode? Did you really say that?”
Grinning, he signed the electronic signature pad and the cashier handed him a receipt. He promptly gave it to Suzanne then grabbed the computer box from the counter. “I did. Let’s go.”
She huffed, a gesture he found completely adorable.
Without waiting for her rebuttal, he headed toward the door.
Her heels clicked on the polished floor as she marched behind him. “You seem to think you’re somehow in charge of this…this transaction. I’m not one of those women who allows a man to control her. No sir. I watched my father walk all over my mother until she finally threw the bastard out. So don’t think just because you paid for my new computer, you own me. You don’t. I’ll bet you’re used to making all the decisions just because you’re big and obviously strong with all those…muscles and that deep voice. I’m just speechless at your gall.”
He chuckled. “Obviously you’re not.”
She bristled as he let her in the truck. There was something so feisty and fun about her.
She was going to be a challenge. He didn’t want their time together to end. “My computer geek buddy lives in Falls Church. Mind if we stop for lunch on the way?” He shut the passenger door before she had a chance to answer. He got behind the wheel. “What do you say?”
“Do I have a choice or are you going to make another executive decision?” A hint of a smile played on her rosebud lips.
He turned toward her and slung his arm over the back of the seat. “I’d never force a lady to have lunch with me.” He couldn’t keep his eyes from roaming over her body—full, high breasts and small waist. And those legs, Christ. Long, shapely, tan and made for sin. His pants grew decidedly tighter in front. “But I might beg.”
Her slender neck bulged with a swallow. She parted her lips and dropped her gaze to his mouth.
He slid a few inches closer. “Say I did beg. What would your answer be?” He toyed with a strand of her blonde hair, wound the silky lock around his finger.
She licked her lips. “W-what are you begging for?”
“I think it might have been lunch a few minutes ago. Now? A taste.”
The softest moan slipped out of her. She moved toward him, so close he could smell her vanilla scent, feel the heat of her breath on his skin. He’d never experienced such a quick connection with a woman. Something about her—or maybe everything about her—drew him like an oasis did a thirsty desert nomad.
Need quickened his pulse as he covered her lips with his. Then her hands were on his chest, his head, her fingers tangled frantically in his hair. She opened to him and he seized the opportunity to plunder her mouth.
She tasted sweet, like coffee and chocolate and desire. God, he couldn’t stop kissing her. Yet he didn’t want it to be just a kiss. Need flared to life. His cock strained against his pants and he had to shift to accommodate its growing size.
He broke from her lips and trailed his tongue down the column of her neck, tasting the sweet, soft skin, nibbling when he yearned to devour. But he didn’t want to rush through the moment. She deserved more and so did he.
Forcing himself to back away, he broke free and grasped her shoulders. “I live less than twenty minutes away.”
She shook her head and his hopes crashed to the ground.
Suzanne straightened her blouse, smoothed down her hair. She cleared the dust from her dry throat. “My apartment is closer, just a few miles from here.”
Alan nodded and the relief was evident in his smile. She didn’t normally take home a guy she’d just met, but her hormones were screaming for relief. It had been months since she’d indulged in a fling and she instinctively knew this one would be amazing.
His bossy nature combined with his boyish charm and hulking size made him a mass of walking contradictions. Nothing about Alan seemed predictable. She loved for a man to keep her guessing, not that she kept any around long enough to bore her.
Hell no. After watching her parents’ train wreck of a marriage, all she was interested in was the here and now. “Take a right at the end of the street,” she told him. “Here, the blue building on the corner.”
He parked around the back and she led him inside, a little embarrassed that she lived in such a tiny place in not the best part of town. But how was she supposed to help her younger sisters if she paid any more for rent? She knew someday her column would be picked up by more newspapers and she’d be able to afford a better apartment, maybe even buy a house.
All thoughts of her sisters flew out the window when Alan wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her against the wall of muscles that was his chest.
“Cute place. Not half as adorable as you, though.” He nuzzled her neck and a pleasured shiver rolled over her skin.
“It’s a dump, but it’s home for now.”
He ran his hands up and down her back, inciting a needful ache between her legs. He reeled her in for a blistering kiss that made her knees weak.
“Bed,” she managed.
He lifted an eyebrow. “You’re sure? I don’t want to rush you into anything.”
She smiled at his sweet gesture. “I’m a big girl. I know what I’m doing and I know what I want.” The atmosphere between them grew even more charged.
He followed her to the small bedroom and she wondered if he’d fit on her bed or if his feet would hang over the mattress. Not that it really mattered. He wouldn’t be staying long enough for it to bother him. She wondered if she’d be bothered more than usual when he left.
Shoving aside the negativity, she faced him and started undressing.
“Whoa. Slow down.” He took her wrists. “Let me help.”
She dropped her hands to her side as he unbuttoned her top then slid it off her shoulders. Her nipples puckered and hardened under the lace cups of her bra.
Alan sucked in an audible breath as he looked down at her. He met her eyes, asking for permission to go on. She sat on the bed and he kneeled on the floor facing her.
“Who’d have thought today would have turned out this way? I’m sorry about your laptop, but in a way, I’m not.” He pressed a soft kiss to the skin just above the front closure of her bra. Then unhooked the garment and peeled away the fabric.
“Beautiful.” Cupping her right breast, he rolled the peaked point between his fingers. A jolt of intense desire made her gasp.
Alan licked circles around her areola, getting closer and closer to the needy erect point. Then he scraped his teeth over her taut flesh. She moaned and sank her fingernails into his shoulders.
Ravenous cravings stormed through her. She eased herself back onto the bed and waited as Alan stood then slowly opened his shirt, one button at a time, his eyes never releasing hers. His chest and shoulders and arms were everything she’d imagined and more—tan and cut. His strength and power was evident in his imposing stance.
He reached for her, pushed her skirt up to her waist and smiled down at her, turning her into a quivering mass of hormones. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, her breath ragged and her heart thudding loudly.
Alan skimmed his big hands over her thighs. She bit back a sigh at his gentle dominance. “I hope you didn’t have any plans the rest of the day because I’m going to take my time with you. I want to see you come again and again. And again.”
A squeak broke from her lips. She cleared her throat. “Um, yeah, I’m free all day.”
He lowered his hulking form to her, settled half on top of her, half next to her and kissed her deeply, thoroughly. Pushing the heel of his hand between her legs, he rubbed her through her panties. Heat spooled through her, from her core outward and inward, pulsing with a beat she knew well.
The hard bulge in his pants shifted along the side of her hip. She tried to twist toward it but Alan was completely in control and he held her where he wanted her. He hooked the elastic string on the side of her underwear and stole his hand underneath, against her skin. He rolled her panties lower then ripped them right off her.
A calloused thumb strummed her cleft, right where she needed. She fisted her fingers in his hair and moaned her longing. He stroked a deft finger through her moist folds, sliding through the slippery confines. Then he pushed deeper until he had two fingers inside her.
She arched against him, encouraging him farther inside. The lush sensations were almost too much. Oh God, he’d found The Spot. She bit back a gasp as she exploded in a whirlwind of ecstasy. Wave after wave of joy crested as he stroked and rubbed and touched her exactly as she needed, as if he’d lived in her head forever.
He used his clever tongue to carve a trail down her neck, over her breasts. She whimpered with helpless need, her orgasm refusing to subside. Finally, her climax ebbed, leaving her panting and breathless. “Whoa.”
“Not bad for the appetizer. But there’s a lot more to come. I hope you’re hungry.” He scraped his teeth over her pebbled nipples, covered her mound with his hand and continued to rub her. The pleasure never completely died down before he’d brought her to the edge again.
He s
hifted so he was on top of her then slid his erection over her, only his pants separating them. She tried to grab at his belt buckle but he pushed her hands away. “Not yet, babe. I told you, you’ll have to be patient.”
Suzanne had had her share of sexual encounters, but none of the men seemed half as interested in her pleasure as Alan did.
He rolled her over then unzipped her skirt and yanked it off. Then he massaged her back, her shoulders, and smoothed aside her hair to get at her neck. He climbed on top of her and fitted his hard-on along the crack of her ass. Rocking over her, he kissed her skin and touched her everywhere.
He fisted his hands in her hair, yanking the strands taut as he bit at her shoulders and licked a line down her backbone. Finally, he removed his pants. She looked over her shoulder at his nakedness and what a sight he was.
His cock was long and thick, the head like a perfect plum. She licked her lips at the thought of tasting it but before she could make a move toward it, he was on top of her again, this time sitting on her backside.
He kneaded her upper arms, bending to kiss her every few moments.
“You’re spoiling me, you know.” She sighed with satisfaction.
He leaned down and spoke next to her ear. “And I’d like to keep spoiling you. What do you think?”
She froze. What did that mean? Maybe he just meant today, perhaps tonight and tomorrow at most. “Um, that sounds good.”
“Glad to hear that.” With that, he turned her over, took her face in his hands and kissed her. Then he reached for the condom he’d set on the night table and tore open the packet. Carefully, he rolled it over his shaft.
Suzanne propped herself on her elbows and studied his perfection. Dear Annie definitely approved. But something inside her grew sad at the notion of him being merely for the day.
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