Twenty Times Tempted: A Sexy Contemporary Romance Collection

by Petrova, Em

  “Actually, I was hoping to arrest you. Tomorrow’s always another day.”

  “Play nice, boys,” Josselyn warned.

  “Actually, Josselyn, I need to be going anyway.” Caleb pushed back his chair and stood. “I’ll give you a call soon. Maybe we can get together and go to dinner and a movie in the city.”

  As he walked from the kitchen, Caleb deliberately put a shoulder into Ben and knocked him off balance. Ben clenched his fist, but the pressure Josselyn’s hand on his forearm restrained him. He relaxed his arm. Her silent warning was right. Caleb used dirty tactics to get a reaction, and Ben shouldn’t allow him to get under his skin.

  “Thank you for stopping by, Caleb. It’s nice to see you again,” she said.

  When Caleb was gone, Josselyn turned to him. “Wow, I thought the two of you were going to come to blows. Why do you two dislike each other so much?”

  “Maybe because when we were in school, I wasn’t the nicest guy. Caleb was one of those kids teased mercilessly because of his red hair and freckles. I guess he still holds a grudge.”

  Her eyebrows arched with surprise. “Really? His red hair is one of his best features.”

  “Well, maybe it’s like that now, but it made him an easy target back then. I suppose he’s compensated for it by becoming a cop. Now he feels he can push people around whenever he feels like it.”

  He followed Josselyn back into the kitchen and watched her put the coffee cups in the sink.

  “So, are you interested in Caleb?” How he despised himself for being jealous.

  “What do you mean by interested?” she asked innocently.

  “You know—interested, as Caleb becoming a fling, a lover, a husband.”

  She leaned back against the counter top and crossed her arms over her breasts. “Not particularly. He’s nice, I guess.”

  “Nice is code for the worst. Guys don’t like to be called nice or sweet.”

  “Caleb is nice, Ben,” she insisted. “A woman could feel very protected around him. There has never been any instant chemistry between us, at least from my perspective. I don’t foresee us coming together as a couple. I do want a husband and a family someday soon. I want a daughter. I want to shower her with love and attention and give her everything I never had.”

  Exactly what Ben wanted to hear. She opened up more and more to him. No way could she fake the emotion in her voice when she spoke of having a family, or the intensity burning in her brown eyes. Soon, he knew, she was going to demand the same openness from him.

  Walking to the sink, he dared to press his body against hers. Pleasantly surprising, she didn’t cringe but instead molded her soft curves against his hard ones.

  “You know, Joss,” he traced his finger down her perfect nose and across her full, lush lips, “you and I want exactly the same things—a home, a family, a life beyond a shell of an existence.” He bent down and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

  If pressed further he felt she wouldn’t resist, but he desperately did not want to shatter what the two of them were building together, something too special, too real to ruin with haste and lust. To him, Josselyn was a beautiful, but fragile china doll he needed to handle with the utmost care.

  With much reluctance, he gently stepped back from the object of his growing desire. No need to rush. They weren’t going anywhere...yet.

  Chapter Eight

  Josselyn was surprised by a telephone call from Patrick Leighton’s wife. Autumn called to invite her and Ben to an informal get together the next Saturday at their home to welcome them to Unity.

  Ben’s friends, Nick and Lynsey Lincoln, would be there, as well as Evan Monroe and his wife Daphne, along with a few other couples. It would provide a good opportunity to get to know Ben’s friends in a relaxed atmosphere.

  “It will be in the afternoon if that’s okay with you and Ben. Everyone either has babies or is expecting babies, except for Ryan and Amii.”

  “That will be great. I know Ben is anxious to get together with all of his friends. Can we bring anything?”

  “Dessert if you’d like.”

  When Saturday arrived, Josselyn dressed in eager anticipation of meeting Ben’s childhood friends. She decided on a rose print dress that gently hugged her shoulders and a pair of matching strappy sandals. Her hair was loose on her shoulders.

  However, before they went to Patrick and Autumn Leighton’s home, she needed to bring up something not being said between them. “Ben, can you come in here for a second,” she called to him down the hall.

  “For you, I might even have two seconds. Wow, you’re dressed up,” he remarked, fastening the cuffs of his shirt.

  “Ben, you are aware your friends think we’re a couple, aren’t you?

  He shrugged. “If that’s what they’ve assumed, then let them. I don’t see a reason to correct them. Besides, our business is our business.”

  That was true. No one needed to know the history of why the two of them were living under the same roof. As far as she was concerned, she and Ben were friends who came together as a result of his father, her dear friend, Morgan Parnell.

  Before leaving the house, Josselyn went to the kitchen where her two Banoffee pies were cooling the stove. As she prepared to wrap the pies for travel, Ben’s hands caress her shoulders.

  “Are those for us?” he asked.

  “No, they are not. We’re taking a dessert this afternoon.”

  “What is it?”

  “Banoffee pies. I wanted to bring something unusual.”

  He ventured a guess. “Bananas and coffee?”

  She turned to him and unbuttoned the top button of his denim shirt. “Bananas and toffee.”

  “You made them?”

  “Yes, while you were lazing in bed this morning.”

  His blue eyes twinkled merrily. “My friends don’t deserve your home baked treats. I say we take them store bought pies. We keep these pies and pig out tonight when we get home.”

  “I can always bake more pies for us. As a matter of fact, I can do a lot of things you probably don’t know about,” she teased.

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Like what?”

  “You’ll just have to wait until you know me better,” she said with a sly wink.

  ***

  They were the first couple to arrive. Patrick and Autumn Leighton lived in an impressive custom built two-story log home with a wraparound porch, situated on a rural stretch of road without neighbors.

  The front door opened into a large, elaborate living room with Italian leather furniture over white carpeting. The focal point of the room was an enormous stone fireplace. The home was tailor-made for a doctor and his family.

  About Josselyn’s age, Autumn Leighton was dark-haired and pretty with a smattering of freckles across her cheeks, but ungainly, late in her pregnancy with twins. She took Josselyn upstairs and showed off the nurseries for her soon to be born babies.

  Josselyn sensed right away Autumn was someone with whom she could become good friends, and she seemed to like her as well. When introduced to Ben’s childhood best friend, Nick Lincoln, his wife Lynsey and their two-year-old daughter, to Josselyn, the couple seemed hopelessly mismatched. Nick was blond, about forty, and a lieutenant for the Unity Police Department. He spoke very little, yet possessed what could only be described as a quiet sense of power. The love in his eyes for his wife and child was unmistakable. His wife, Lynsey, on the other hand was a brunette with flashing dark eyes and a big personality. Their daughter inherited the best of both parents. She had her mother’s dark hair and friendly smile, and her father’s blue eyes.

  The only unmarried couple at the affair was Ryan Maine and Amii Sloane, the duo who lived in the cottage by the lake. Ryan was an attorney who, with Amii, wrote scenarios for two highly rated primetime television police shows. Something about the couple made them stand out from the others. They possessed a cool, funky vibe, making them different from the rest.

  As the afternoon progressed, Josselyn silently
observed how happy Ben was to be in the center of his friends. They were friendly and accepting of her as well, but Ben was the wayward Unity boy once again being welcomed back into the fold. She was an outsider hoping for acceptance.

  Josselyn quietly absorbed their conversations as the adults sat around the living room sampling desserts and drinking coffee. She couldn’t help but notice how Amii sat on the imported leather couch curled up next to the love of her life, Ryan, or how he stroked her hair and whispered in her ear.

  “So, Amii, have you and Ryan made any firm wedding plans yet?” asked Lynsey Lincoln.

  “We’re thinking of jetting off to the Bahamas and marrying on the beach,” she said as she interlaced her fingers with her fiancé’s.

  Lynsey’s lips formed a lipstick painted pink pout. “I’m so disappointed,” she said dragging out the word ‘so’ to express her displeasure. “I was looking forward to a big Christmas-time wedding.” She riveted her attention on Josselyn and Ben. “So, you two...”

  “Uh-oh, Joss, I think we’re about to be interrogated,” Ben said with a hearty laugh.

  “We’ve all been placing nickel bets as to whether the two of you are married. I was just telling Nicky…” Lynsey paused and patted her husband’s knee, “…I bet you’re one of those modern couples who don’t wear wedding rings.”

  A warm blush crept into Josselyn’s cheeks. She dreaded being placed in an awkward position and was grateful to Ben for relieving the pressure. He put his arm around her shoulders, hugged her gently, and said, “We’re actually one of those modern couples who aren’t married.”

  The topic of conversation next shifted to reminiscing about their high school days. Ryan and Amii, who didn’t grow up in Unity, excused themselves from the gathering.

  Josselyn followed their lead. Walking out onto the wraparound porch, she stared off into the thicket of pine trees and tree stumps behind the house. The woods looked as if at some point, someone had attempted to clear the land but became overwhelmed by the sheer number of trees and gave up.

  The summer air was heavy, and the clouds gathered above. Perhaps a storm would come in tonight. The cooler weather would be a welcome relief.

  Standing alone on the porch, her loneliness overwhelmed her. Ben belonged here; maybe she never would. Even if she were successful in keeping the house, those people’s allegiance was to Ben. They accepted her because she was with him. They believed them to be a couple. If he was without her, she got the distinct impression Lynsey Lincoln would rush in and fix her handsome bachelor friend up with some suitable woman to marry and join their clique.

  From the corner of her eyes she spotted movement. Ryan and Amii off in the distance kissed passionately. Ryan’s hand rested on her belly. Josselyn saw something she hadn’t earlier— a small rounded bulge in Amii’s mid-section beneath his hand. She was pregnant. Since the couple hadn’t announced the news, Josselyn assumed they wanted it to remain their little secret for a while before sharing with their group. She averted her eyes, gazing back to the rain swollen clouds in the sky. Everyone there was so content and fulfilled with their lives. It didn’t seem fair. She didn’t want to be bitter, but when would it be her turn?

  The door opened behind her. She didn’t need to look; she knew it was Ben. She could sense him.

  “Here you are. Everyone was wondering where you’d gotten off to,” he whispered in her ear.

  She doubted anyone noticed her disappearance. “I just needed some fresh air.”

  He turned her around to face him. He presented to her a plate with a square of dark chocolate cake smothered with a thick layer of chocolate butter cream icing.

  “It looks wonderful, but you know I don’t eat chocolate.”

  “You’ve got to try at least one bite. It will be like facing down a demon,” he reasoned.

  “You first.”

  Lifting the cake with his fingers, he took a big bite from the side. “It’s a little piece of heaven.” He licked the icing from his lips and held the cake out to her. She hesitated. It had been seventeen years since she last tasted something even remotely chocolate. Giving in, she took a small bite to find it smooth, creamy, and delicious to make her smile. He had been right. Another piece of her past shredded.

  “Feel better?”

  “I think I do.”

  “You have icing on your lip.” His mouth swooped down upon hers. He gently parted her lips with the tip of his tongue, and she melted into him. As deliriously dizzy with passion as she was, a voice inside her head whispered a cautionary warning. Maybe Ben feels as awkward as I do, and is just playing for his friends in case any of them happen to be watching.

  Just the thought of his kiss being no more than a front to deceive his friends made her step back.

  “This is a lovely house,” she remarked, anxious to break the awkward moment her withdrawal caused.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “It puts our dumpy shack to shame.”

  He used the word ‘our’ to describe the house in which they cohabitated. Was it just a slip of the tongue? “Our house is not dumpy or a shack. It just needs love and a bit of tender care. It’s going to be beautiful when the renovations are complete.”

  “When you talk like that, I can’t help but believe.”

  “Well, I believe.”

  “Still, a part of me thinks we should just give the house keys to the contractor and let him worry about the renovations while we jet off to Europe and backpack for a month. Or maybe we could rent a villa in Spain and just lie on the beach. No muss, no fuss, and no getting our hands dirty.”

  “Part of the joy and satisfaction is having a hands-on experience in making your dreams come true,” she insisted. “Besides, contractors are doing the bulk of the work. We’re really only adding our own personal touches.”

  “All right, Josselyn, we do it your way. Are you ready to go home?” he asked.

  “I am; let’s get out of here.”

  ***

  “Keep the clutch pressed to the floor,” Ben instructed, holding his hand over the top of Josselyn’s as she shifted gears.

  His stomach flip-flopped when he heard the gears of his very expensive sports car grind in protest at her inexperienced handling.

  “I’m so sorry, Ben. I’m hopeless at this. Maybe I should pull over so you can get behind the wheel.”

  He wanted to but reminded himself Josselyn was learning and not deliberately trying to burn out the clutch. “You’re not hopeless. You’ll catch on.” He hoped to sound encouraging, despite his cringing.

  “I don’t want to have to replace the engine when I ruin it.”

  “Just keep driving.”

  Ben breathed a huge sigh of relief when Josselyn set the parking brake at the lake. His car seemed no worse for the wear.

  He had been the one to suggest they pack a cooler and head to the lake to enjoy the afternoon. Nick had mentioned he had a row boat stored near the lake, offering a perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with Josselyn.

  Within the confines of the rowboat out in the middle of the lake, she had no choice but to talk to him. The more she talked, the more he got to know her. The more he knew, the more he was drawn to her. As far as he knew, she was still extremely wary of him, and that was probably his fault. The shabby way he had treated her may have forever placed a jagged scar on their relationship.

  After Ben located the boat, he helped Josselyn inside and pushed off from the wooden dock. When he rowed the boat a comfortable distance from the shore, he pulled out a pair of Wayfarers, slipped them over his eyes, and tilted his head back to feel the sunshine warm his face.

  “This is the life,” he sighed.

  Josselyn lifted her t-shirt over her head leaving her in a pink bikini top and denim cutoffs. She immediately busied herself with rubbing sunscreen cream onto her exposed skin. Not only did she have a beautiful face, she had a gorgeous body. Instead of being stick thin, like women such as his former fiancée seemed to aspire to, Josselyn had curves in all
of the right places.

  He hoped she didn’t notice him appreciating her beauty. If she did, she didn’t seem bothered. Maybe she was finally starting to relax around him instead of always sensing an agenda.

  “Ben, could you rub some of this cream onto my shoulders and back? I have very sensitive skin, and I don’t want to burn up.”

  He snapped back to reality. “Sure.” He took the tube from her.

  Turning around in the boat, she lifted her ponytail to give him better access to her porcelain, perfect, unblemished skin without so much as a freckle or a mole. He could barely see a tell-tale scar from the spinal surgery she endured when she was just seventeen. Obviously her surgeon had been magnificent and possessed the skills of a gifted cosmetic surgeon. Although her shoulder still carried a fading bruise, he was confident it would soon heal. She really did remind him of a china doll.

  Rubbing the cream into her skin, he hoped she didn’t notice how he allowed his fingers to linger longer than necessary. He wanted to release her mane of hair from the confines of its pony tail and bury his face in the wave of black silk.

  She turned back around to face him. “Thank you.” With her thumbs, she painted a stripe of sunscreen beneath his eyes.

  “I got a phone call this morning from Lynsey Lincoln. My friends loved you. I guess you passed their test.”

  “Oh? I didn’t know I was being judged,” she remarked with raised brows.

  He sensed her defenses rise. “They thought you were very sweet and shy.”

  “Well, that’s nice.”

  He inhaled sharply at her sarcastic edge. Yesterday had been a great day. He reconnected with his old friends and made some new ones. Secretly, he hoped Josselyn would fit in as well. Apparently she didn’t want to fit in.

  “You didn’t like my friends, did you? I mean, it’s okay if you didn’t. I just thought it might be nice for you to meet some new people and maybe make some new friends.”

  “Oh, I liked your friends. Really, I did. They were very friendly and accommodating to me. They are your friends, Ben. I understand that.”