“Except your face.”
He thought it had more to do with him being late to every date or canceling all together because of work.
Alina brushed her thumb over his lips and burst out laughing.
He wanted her to dip that thumb in his mouth so he could suck it and turn that sweet giggle into a seductive moan.
“That is the craziest reason ever to break up with such a handsome man.”
“You think I’m handsome?”
She tipped her drink to her lips, then brought it down just enough to stare at him over the rim. “You know you’re gorgeous.” She took a sip, then gave him a sexy grin. “Even if your smile is crooked.”
“I don’t use it much.”
She set her drink down and leaned in. The silly moment turned serious. “You should. It looks good on you.”
He found himself leaning in to kiss her, but pulled back when he remembered he’d sat down to cheer up a friend—who was strictly hands-off if he wanted to live the next time he saw Caden and Beck.
“Worst breakup?” he asked to get them back to having fun and to cool the heat building between them.
“Well, it’s not a breakup, but one guy didn’t know how to take no for an answer.”
Jay narrowed his eyes, angry some guy came on to her and didn’t keep his hands to himself.
She read the look and waved her hands back and forth in front of him. “It’s not like that. He just didn’t know when to quit. He asked me out practically every day at school. He was inventive, if not silly.”
“Silly put you off. You’re smart, hardworking, honest. You want a guy who—”
“Isn’t a perpetual child,” she finished for him. “We were in college. I wanted maturity. He wanted to play high school pranks.”
That intrigued him. “Like what?”
“We had to dissect a cadaver.”
He scrunched his nose in distaste. “You did that?”
“Not my favorite, but yes. So, I opened his chest and discovered the heart missing. The joker popped up on the other side of the table and held the heart out to me and said, ‘My heart belongs to you.’”
Jay groaned and rolled his eyes. “Ah, that’s bad. Terrible.” He laughed with Alina and it felt damn good to let loose for once.
“Corny as hell and the perfect example of what I’d been dealing with, with that guy. Totally not serious about anything.”
“And you turned him down flat again.”
“I spread the cadaver’s chest wide, looked inside, and said, ‘Yep, some guys don’t have a heart.’”
He feigned being wounded and touched his hand to his chest. “Hey, we all have hearts. It’s just some of us don’t know how to use them.” He dropped his hand back to his thigh.
“Are you sure?” Alina leaned in, put her hand on his chest, and the sweet smell of her and the shock of electricity shot through him. His heart stopped for a second, then tripled-timed it against his ribs.
For a second, time stopped. Their gazes locked and held for one second, two, three. He fell into the depths of longing in her eyes and nearly lost himself. With their faces inches apart, he leaned in so close he smelled the whiskey on her lips and felt her shallow breath warm his skin.
A millisecond from losing his mind and kissing her, the overhead lights went out. They broke apart like the band pulling them together had snapped. The lights around the back of the bar, highlighting the bottles of booze, bathed them in a soft glow.
“It’s twenty minutes past closing,” the bartender announced.
Alina reached for the check, but he snapped it up.
“My treat. I can’t remember a better evening.” He truly meant it.
Their eyes locked.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Lost in Alina and the feelings he shouldn’t have clouding his mind and making his heart beat in that strange rhythm that seemed to keep time to whatever it was about her that drew him in deeper and deeper by the moment, he forgot to sign the check until the bartender cleared his throat.
He left the guy a huge tip for giving him the extra twenty minutes with this beautiful woman.
Self-preservation kicked in. He took the hand she’d used to touch him time and again over the last few hours, stood, and brought her off the stool. “Time to go.” He didn’t know what else to say, but he needed to get out of there before things went too far.
They left the empty bar. God knows if anyone from the wedding party had come in or if they’d had the place to themselves the whole time. He both cared and didn’t give a damn if anyone saw them. He’d blow it off as two friends passing the time if it got to Caden and Beck.
He held Alina’s soft hand. She used her free one to punch the button for the elevator. Tipsy—okay, drunk—she swayed on her four-inch heels. He steadied her with an arm around her shoulders as they walked into the elevator. She hit the button for the fourth floor. The cozy lodge Caden and Beck had rented for the weddings wasn’t huge, but it boasted some of the nicest rustic-chic rooms for those who wanted an elegant country retreat.
They stood at the back of the elevator, side by side, leaning against the wall, hands clasped tight. He’d see her to her room like a gentleman. Then he’d go back down to his room and sleep alone like every other night since God-knows-how-long-now.
Alina tilted her head to the side and glanced up at him, her blue-gray eyes soft and alluring. “I don’t want tonight to end.”
Neither do I.
The part of his brain that told him this wasn’t a good idea got drowned out by the buzz of lust that swept through him.
Don’t do this!
You’re crazy!
Ignoring that voice and overrated reason, he leaned forward, hit the three button, and drew Alina around in front of him. “My room’s closer.” Those were the last words he got out before he finally satisfied his curiosity and the demand of his body and kissed her.
The second his lips touched hers, fire shot through him. He cupped her face, pulled her up on her toes, and sank his tongue deep into her mouth. Her hands slipped under his jacket around his sides and up his back. Her body pressed to his and her belly rubbed against his hard cock.
She moaned. He let loose and kissed her again.
The elevator doors opened with a soft ding. She backed out the door. He had no choice but to follow if he wanted to keep tasting her sweet mouth.
She put her hand on his chest and pushed, breaking the kiss. “Which room?” She looked down the hallway in one direction, then the other.
It took him a second to get his bearings, but once he did, he took her hand and practically dragged her down the hall to his room.
She traipsed after him giggling.
At his door, he put his finger to his lips. “Ssh. Someone will see us.”
“You mean hear us.” She laughed again.
He shook his whiskey-soaked head, put the key card in the lock, and shoved the door open and Alina inside. She backed up through the sitting area toward the bedroom, kicking off one of her shoes along the way. He pushed the door shut at his back and stalked her, feeling very much like the animal inside of him that wanted to be unleashed to get his hands on her.
She turned at the last second before falling backward onto the bed, dropped her sparkling purse, and stared at him over her shoulder. She wanted him to slide the zipper down the back of her killer dress. He’d get to it. First, he stopped behind her with his chest pressed to her back and slid his hands over her shoulders, down her arms in a soft sweep of fingertips, then dipped his hands under her arms and around her sides and up her belly and ribs to cup her full breasts. Her hands went up and reached over the back of his neck until her fingers combed through his hair.
Her hard nipples pressed into his palms as he squeezed her breasts and kissed a trail down her neck to the curve of her shoulder. Every taste of her skin, the rock of her rump against his hard cock, the intoxicating scent of her made him want her more with
each passing second.
Impatient to see all of her, he unzipped the satin dress. He shucked off his jacket and threw it aside. The tie he’d loosened at the bar followed. She dropped the front of the dress down her arms and pushed it over her hips with an ass wiggle that made his dick twitch with anticipation. She kicked the pool of blue away along with her other shoe. He undid his shirt cuffs and several more buttons down the front, then reached back and pulled the whole thing over his head and sent it sailing to the floor.
Alina turned to him and stared at his bare chest, lust and admiration in her eyes. He held back the impulse to flex. Barely. His gaze roamed down her beautiful face to her lace covered breasts. She reached behind her, undid the bra clasp, and tossed the thing, smiling mischievously when he growled low in his throat and moved toward her again, wanting to get his hands and mouth on those pink-tipped breasts begging for his attention.
She backed up and fell on the bed, her breasts bouncing as she scooted back. He almost laughed, but the sight of all that creamy skin, soft curves, and her welcoming smile tightened his chest and shut off his brain to speech because all he wanted to do was devour.
The gorgeous goddess lay on the white blanket, a shapely silhouette of golden skin.
Like gravity, she pulled him in.
He drew closer, leaned over, planted his hands on either side of her hips, and kissed her belly, his bottom lip grazing her panties. She sighed and melted into the bed. He licked his way up to her belly button and circled it with his tongue before traveling back down, taking the lace in his teeth and tugging the panties down her gorgeous legs. She drew her legs up and to the side, raised her arms to her head, and raked her fingers through her long dark hair, spreading it over the white bed. Stunned by her beauty, his heart slammed into his ribs. His mind lost all thought but one. Sexy perfection.
He stood at the end of the bed with her panties hanging from his mouth and undid the belt at his waist and kicked off his shoes. Her eyes smoldered as she watched him undo the button, slide the zipper down, slip his hands inside his boxer briefs at his sides, and push his pants and underwear down his legs all at once. Socks went flying a split second before he stood before her naked, his cock standing up, hard as rock. Her eyes blazed. He tugged the panties out of his mouth and rubbed them down his chest, over his dick, and tossed them away.
Her hips rocked back into the white cloud of blankets then up. An invitation if he’d ever seen one. He crawled up the bed and Alina and laid his body over hers. She cradled him between her thighs and rubbed her slick center against his aching cock. He wanted this one moment to feel her against him, skin to skin, soft to his hard before he got the condom.
He sank down and kissed her softly, then pressed back up on his hands and stared down at her in the soft light coming through the window sheers from the hotel garden lights glowing outside.
She took his breath away. “You are so beautiful.”
“I want to touch you.”
Those bold words should have warned him how the night would go. He was unprepared for the onslaught of sensations—fire and need—she’d evoke with every brush of her hands, press of her lips, lick of her tongue, and stroke of her body against his. She held nothing back. She gave everything. Accepted all he poured into making love to her. The immense pleasures they shared forged some kind of bond that had her eagerly responding to him every time he woke her in the night, greedy for more, and needing to make every last second of the night mean something because somewhere in the back of his mind he knew something this amazing wouldn’t last.
About the Author
JENNIFER RYAN, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Hunted, McBrides, and Montana Men series, writes suspenseful contemporary romances with outrageous plot twists, deeply emotional love stories, high stakes, and higher drama. Her stories are filled with love, family, friendship, and the happily-ever-after we all hope to find.
Jennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. When she isn’t writing a book, she’s reading one. Her obsession with both is often revealed in the state of her home, and how late dinner is to the table. When she finally leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts them on paper.
Please visit her website at www.jennifer-ryan.com for information about upcoming releases.
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By Jennifer Ryan
Montana Heat Series
Montana Heat: True to You
Montana Heat: Escape to You
Montana Heat: Protected by Love (novella)
Montana Men Series
His Cowboy Heart
Her Renegade Rancher
Stone Cold Cowboy
Her Lucky Cowboy
When It’s Right
At Wolf Ranch
The McBrides Series
Dylan’s Redemption
Falling for Owen
The Return of Brody McBride
The Hunted Series
Everything She Wanted
Chasing Morgan
The Right Bride
Lucky Like Us
Saved by the Rancher
Short Stories
Close to Perfect
(appears in Snowbound at Christmas)
Can’t Wait
(appears in All I Want for Christmas Is a Cowboy)
Waiting for You
(appears in Confessions of a Secret Admirer)
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from Montana Heat: Tempted by Love copyright © 2018 by Jennifer Ryan.
montana heat: true to you. Copyright © 2018 by Jennifer Ryan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.
Digital Edition MARCH 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-264527-2
Print Edition ISBN: 978-0-06-264528-9
Cover design by Nadine Badalaty
Cover photographs by Michael Frost; © hameinframe/Getty Images (background)
Avon, Avon & logo, and Avon Books & logo are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers in the United States of America and other countries.
HarperCollins is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers in the United States of America and other countries.
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