She turned her back toward me, and I swallowed the groan working its way through my gut, up my chest. The skirt slithered over her hips, cupping her ass. I wanted my hands there, fingers digging into the supple flesh, as I pounded into her body. And forget…
Whoa. Not going there. Especially twice in under five minutes.
Thankfully, she spoke, breaking my near-trance.
“I’m going to have to pass,” she said over her shoulder.
I crowded her a little. Her pupils dilated and her delicate nostrils flared. I lifted my hands, prepared to run my palms down her bare arms.
She walked back in clear dismissal.
“There’s one thing you didn’t ask me,” she snapped.
I dropped my hands. “Fine. I’ll bite. What’s that?”
“If I was interested in a one-night stand.”
“Who doesn’t like pleasure?” I growled. She was as into me down at the bar as I was into her.
She cocked her head, all that long, luscious dark hair spilling across her neck and down her back. “You’re sexy. You’re charismatic. Unfortunately, your reasoning that I would fall into bed with you after having a fifteen-minute conversation is unacceptable.”
A live wire zipping up my spine wouldn’t have hurt anymore. “Unacceptable?”
She slid her purse strap back on her shoulder but continued to face me, her eyes filled with such disappointment—in me—that I looked down at the floor.
“You use sex. For pleasure. Nothing wrong with that, I guess, if both people are okay with it.” Her tone said there was a lot wrong with my choices. She stepped in closer, her rich voice caressing my skin, causing a ripple over my flesh. “But, see, I’m not okay with that.”
My chest ached at the weary sadness that filtered into her eyes.
“Did someone…” I didn’t know how to ask—what I wanted to ask—but it was evident from her bleak expression that she’d seen sex used as a weapon. That realization made my heart stutter.
She brushed off my question with a flip of her hair. That silky, shiny hair I really wanted to pet. Not in a sexual way, not now. I just…shit. I wanted to hold her close and tell her everything would be okay.
We both knew that was a lie.
“You want to do intimate things to my body without understanding my mind, my feelings.”
“What does sex have to do with feelings?” I asked, my voice harsh because these emotions she’d churned up inside me hurt.
Her expression held no amusement. What had happened to her?
“For many men and women, but most importantly, for me, everything.”
“You’re saying you’ve never fucked for the sake of the release?” I asked. No, I couldn’t have heard her response right.
“I don’t fuck.” Her voice was as flat as her expression.
The word fell, hard and ugly between us. I shivered. When she said it, it sounded…well, bad. Everything about this evening had taken a nose-dive into unfamiliar and painful territory. I didn’t know how to respond.
“I’ll take you home.”
She pursed her plump lips. “No.”
“No?” I asked. I was so out of my depth.
“No. Me coming here was insanity.” Her delicate throat convulsed and her eyes filled with tears that she ruthlessly blinked back.
She was ripping my heart out. Bringing her here had been an epic mistake.
“I have one very simple rule.” Her voice broke but she kept her gaze locked on mine and her back straighter than a flagpole. “You don’t get in here without getting in here first.” She tapped her chest, then her temple.
Her words settled against my skin like acid rain.
“You expect me to…what? Love you? I don’t even know you.”
And this time she didn’t even smile. Her gaze remained steady, true as I met it.
“Exactly.”
Her next words, spoken in that rich voice that wrapped around me like a mug of hot chocolate, stopped both my heart and my desire to comfort her.
“I don’t think you can love a woman.”
With effort, I managed not to stagger. My body turned stiff as I shut each emotion down. She was right—I didn’t. Well, not the kind of relationship she meant. I mean, I loved my mama and my sister, but not wanting emotional entanglements with other women? That was a choice. One I’d made because… I shook my head, trying to force the memories from my mind.
She turned on her cowboy boots and walked to the door. Hand on the knob, she glanced back at me. The light set her hair aglow.
“Good luck with the seducing.”
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this excerpt. Want to preorder? Please click here for current available links.
Also by Alexa Padgett
SWEET SOLACE (Book One of the Seattle Sound Series)
She Knew Him When
When they first met, Dahlia was far too young—seventeen—and already engaged to the wrong man. Her husband eventually betrayed her trust, but Asher shattered her heart when he wrote a song for her…and then vanished.
He Never Forgot Her
Asher’s whiskey-rough voice made him a star, but fame extracted its price. After leaving Dahlia Dorsey behind, he never expects the way he’ll feel when he sees her next. His once muse is now a widowed mother and a reclusive writer who’s given up on happy endings—in part because of his choice all those years ago.
Betrayal Broke Them Once
Dahlia's career is on the rocks. Asher's family is falling apart. Neither can chase a passing attraction. But the connection between them is too fierce and much too precious to resist. When a moonlit beach and the touch of an old friend revives their decades-old cravings, will they be able to forge a bond stronger than past betrayals and youthful mistakes?
BETWEEN BREATHS (Book Two of the Seattle Sound Series)
2017 Readers' Favorite award winner and The Romance Reviews Top Pick.
Grief brought them together
A hospice center is no place to fall in lust. But Hayden Crewe’s world is cracking, and he needs something sweet to distract him. It doesn’t matter that he’s the backbone of Australia’s hottest international rock group—here, watching his estranged mother die, he’s more alone than ever. So, when he meets long-legged, perceptive Briar Moore, he knows how to fill the hole inside.
Fortune will drag them apart
Briar has just escaped a job and relationship that nearly crushed her. Crawling out of the wreckage of her previous life, she’s done playing it safe. Sexy, vibrant Hayden is what she wants, and Briar is going to take him. For as long as she can…
Out of heartbreak comes hope
Briar and Hayden plunge into an affair as the ghosts of their pasts haunt their every moment. While those few, intense days changed them forever, a connection this fierce should burn out as fast as it ignited…
* * *
HOLD YOU CLOSE (Book Three of the Seattle Sound Series)
Searching for peace
Mila Trask’s much-wanted pregnancy ended in a crunch of steel and pain, leaving her career derailed and her body scarred by a stalker no one else believes in. And Murphy Etsam, the man she thought would love her forever, shot into international rock stardom on the pure fury of the song he wrote when they broke up. Mila must talk to him one last time if she’s to fully let go of her painful past…
Running from the truth
One glimpse of her in the crowd and Murphy knows a year of drowning his sorrows in booze, fame, and other women hasn’t erased a molecule of his passion for lovely, maddening Mila. Too bad Mila’s stalker picks that moment to attack.
Too close to doubt
With both their lives in danger, the ex-lovers are forced into hiding, where their proximity compels them to face the trauma and misunderstanding that wrenched them apart—and to battle the chemistry that still urges them together. There’s no going back to what they had before. But the future is theirs to claim…if they survive.
* * *
MANY SOUNDS OF SILENCE (Book Four of the Seattle Sound Series)
An Awful Night
A night she can’t remember produces a brutal set of photos the media and former college “friends” won’t let Abbi Dorsey forget. No matter what she does, she can’t escape the shame and harassment…or the threat of more degradation to come.
A Great Lie
Green-eyed senior Clay Rippey has a famous father of his own, and he knows the sting of betrayal. From the moment he sees Abbi, he can’t stop thinking about her. He’s not the relationship type, but he can play one for the press to help protect her from the vicious comments circulating about her…
A Dangerous Hope
There’s nothing made up about the desire sizzling between Abbi and Clay. But a bond built on fear and faking it doesn’t lead to happy endings…
FROM THE FIRST (Book Five of the Seattle Sound Series)
Sudden Impacts
The car that slammed into Evangeline Mercer knocked her life apart. Her body will recover, but when she looks at the orphaned girl from the other car, she’s lost in memories of her own awful time in the foster system. Evie won’t let little Paige go through that nightmare, and she finds an unlikely ally in Kai Luchia, Paige’s newest friend and champion…
Hidden Fears
At 22, Kai is the lead singer in a chart-climbing band. He’s got frontman good looks and cash to burn. But fame and fortune don’t quiet the demons of his past. Or maybe it’s just that shy, sultry Evie has given him something better to desire…
Hurried Hope
When Paige’s case comes to a crisis, Kai and Evie have one reckless shot to take her future into their hands: get married, and fast. They’ll keep her safe. They’ll sate the lust that taunts them. And they’ll have each other, without any messy feelings to sort out. Unless racing away from the truth leads to a larger crash…
* * *
STRIKER’S WALTZ (Book Six of the Seattle Sound Series)
Take a chance
Because of her violent ex, Preslee Jennings hasn’t felt safe enough to date in six years. When she’s shoved into volunteering with Matteo Cruz, soccer star and international sex symbol, she can’t deny her attraction. Teo is driven, patient, kind—and his butt is on seventy-foot billboards. Maybe she can risk trusting again, if only for one night…
Take a breath
Battling an injury that could end his career, Teo has one chance left to chase the victory he’s sought since he was twelve. He can’t afford to be distracted by a fling. Especially not with pretty, talented Preslee, with her watchful eyes and sudden laugh. He can guess she’s been hurt before. But the more he sees her, the harder it is to stay away…
Take it all
The growing need between them can’t be ignored. If their relationship goes public, the backlash could cost them everything…
* * *
WHEN WE FELL DOWN (Book Seven of the Seattle Sound Series)
Love played false
It’s just before Christmas, and Ella Dorsey is pregnant, heartbroken, and miserable. Her husband Simon hasn’t been home in months. There are photos of him snuggled up to his publicist. And just when she thinks things between them are at their lowest, she’s served with divorce papers at work.
Too cold to be true
As his life with Ella disintegrates, Simon’s music career finally commands the admiration and cash he’s always desired. But his son believes rumors circulating and Ella refuses to see him, thanks to those divorce papers he never intended to send. Ella’s annual trip to visit her parents in England couldn’t have come at a worse time…
An answer for always
Simon has until Christmas to discover the truth, decide what matters, and win his wife back. But there’s more to Ella’s life than him. For their love to last, he’ll have to learn her heart all over again…
* * *
A MOONLIT SERENADE (Book Eight of the Seattle Sound Series)
The sound he can’t forget
He fell in love with her voice first. But trying to recruit mysterious girl-next-door music teacher, Ryn Hudson, to work on an album together is proving harder than Jake Etsam imagined. She’s prickly, defensive, wounded, and stubborn. And he’s in danger of falling in love with the rest of her, too…
The hope she can’t deny
Ryn has had her share of heartache, and she’s not eager to risk a silly crush on an arrogant, unavailable rock star. Jake’s band is one of the hottest acts in the world, and for a woman who’s already lost it all, celebrity drama holds no appeal. But the man himself is harder to turn away…
The chance they can’t resist
As the holiday season takes over chilly Seattle, Jake and Ryn see that something between them glows warmer than twinkle lights. But even if they can stop their doubts, close their eyes, and believe in magic, the pressures of his fame and her past can’t just be wished away…
* * *
* * *
MOONSHINE EYES (A Seattle Sound Series novella)
Sometimes, one glimpse is all it takes to fall in love…
Seth didn’t come to Barcelona for a girl. All he wants is a genuine connection with a rock star father who took off a decade prior. But when he catches the eye of a stunning girl across Avenida Diagonal, his plans for a boring, normal life go straight out the window…
After a family secret sent Ramona’s engagement crashing to the ground, she fled Milan in a hurry. Her heartache finds a cure the moment she spots Seth. Soon enough, she feels more alive than she ever had with her fiancé.
Even though Seth makes her happy, Ramona can’t help but feel the pull of her family back to Milan. She must ultimately make a choice: retreat to the safety of the life she once knew or take a terrifying leap into love.
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