First Frost

by A Lyrical Press Anthology

  Ridley had been a pretty poor kid, and fifty bucks would’ve gone a long way for him. “That would probably help a lot.”

  “What about you? Will you be collecting on your bet with Kiersten?”

  She shrugged, and squirmed. “Depends on whether you invite me in. Kiersten bet you would. If you don’t, she pays me fifty. If you do, I have to pay her. So either way, I win.”

  He snorted. “Women. You sure objectify us men. So, you’d be paying for sex with me.”

  “Well, of course that’d be my preferred outcome.” She held her breath and waited. God, when had she become the woman who propositioned men? Not just any man, either. Ridley the womankiller, the hunter.

  “How ’bout I chip in half?” He nudged the door open with his elbow, slipped an arm under her knees and hefted her up.

  Wrapping her arms around his neck, she held on.

  Once he had the door shut behind them, he kissed her, fumbling his way to the bedroom. With his door shut and locked, they stretched across his bed, bodies pressed tight together.

  He reached behind him and switched on his Harley bedside lamp. He cleared his throat. “So.”

  “So?” She nibbled his neck. “Did you forget what comes next?”

  He broke out in goosebumps and shrugged his ear toward his shoulder. “A minute. Are you…will you still…are you leaving? At the end of the week?”

  Butterflies again. Maybe he was still the same old player. “I’d rather stay. If you want me to.”

  He let out a big breath and relaxed against her. “Good. Because I was hoping maybe you’d try, I mean, we can try…a…relationship-type thing.”

  Melt, melt.

  “Let’s do.”

  “God, you’re beautiful.” He kissed her. “And mine.” Kissed her again. “When I look at you, I get this pinch in my chest. I don’t think that’s just attraction, but I want you to know I haven’t been a player for quite a while. Haven’t seen too much action. The other night… Three times? Baby, I don’t know when was the last time I was turned-on enough to manage three times. But I promise you’re gonna remember it this time. Okay?”

  “Ridley.” She moaned his name, squirmed against him. Powerful words, almost as heady as his kisses. She knew about that pinch-in-the-chest thing. Had to be too soon for them to be feeling it. But anything was possible.

  “Ivy.” There, he’d said her name again like a mantra. “I want you.”

  “Have me.” Please, have me already.

  He kissed her, slid his hand inside her shirt, his cool thumb inside her bra. Her already-peaked nipple ached with his touch, itched for more. He managed to unbutton her blouse with the other hand while nuzzling a trail down to her waistband. In true pro fashion, he got her jeans undone with no trouble and helped her shimmy them down, off her legs. Her panties followed, and he did something else she remembered from Saturday…did it well, did it long, his breath humming against her until she squirmed, tensed, let go with silent shudders, shivers, tingles. Shallow breaths and finally normal.

  He moved away to undress and stretched back on top of her, a condom crinkling in his hand as he nuzzled her neck. His breath in her ear made her wriggle.

  “I just need a minute,” he murmured. “Got plans to make this last, make it memorable. But I need a second to…well, back off and think of something else. Ya know?”

  She slid her hands over the corded muscles in his back. Man, he must spend some serious time on that home gym in the back corner of the shop. God, he smelled so good, felt so fine all pressed rock-hard along her from head to toe…well, maybe a little more rock-hard right there against her thigh… Her pulse rate shot up. He’d given her an awesome orgasm, but she seriously needed him, inside her, like, yesterday. “Let’s go now. Fast, hard.” She clenched handfuls of his butt and arched against him. “Now.”

  He raised up on his elbows and looked into her eyes. Those smoldering eyes of his were even more sexy when he was crazy aroused. He kissed her, smooth, long, deep, thrusting his tongue inside her, a mock-motion she needed for real down below. He broke the kiss and bent to put on the condom just when she was going to beg for penetration.

  “I should be good at this,” he said as he slid into her. “I’ve done it in my imagination about a thousand times since Sunday morning.”

  He filled her and held there, staring down. Oh, the eye contact with this stud! Wasn’t that one of those intimacy techniques? It worked, though. She felt so connected, beyond the physical. Was he trying to delay? Did that work for him, the staring, as a means to get his control back? Because the connection made her more hot and bothered, with no control over her rushing blood, her throbbing ladyparts…her thrusting hips.

  “Fuck, fuck,” he muttered, threading his arms tight behind her, his face in her hair, against her neck, around her ear. He throbbed inside her, but held still. “Ivy. Sweet God. Ivy.” A small withdrawal and then he shoved in deeper, harder. Again faster. Shuddering, he groaned, tensed, ground deep within and made her clutch him tighter as he rocked her world again.

  His breaths were ragged in her ear.

  She waited for him to relax, goosebumps rising along her skin. Yeah, she’d definitely remember this. “Hey,” she whispered. “I’ve got another pickup line. Let’s make like fabric softener and Snuggle.”

  His chest shook with a laugh, and then he pushed up so they had eye contact again. “Got one I never thought I’d use.” He rubbed his fingers over his eyes and took a deep breath. “Hey baby, you got a BandAid? Cause I just scraped my knee falling for you.”

  About Autumn Piper

  Born and raised in Colorado, Autumn Piper writes contemporary romance, many of them set in her hometown of Rifle. Though she has a penchant for making characters suffer, her hero and heroine always get the happily-ever-after they so deserve.

  Autumn writes amid (or despite) a husband, two teens, two cats, a box turtle, and a jungle of Jurassic-size houseplants. She loves sunny days, hot bread, the ocean, the Joans (Jett and Rivers), that fluttery-inside feeling from the first spark of a great romance and enjoys reading, gardening, morning walks, and making people laugh.

  Find Autumn at:

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Autumn-Piper/

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/AutumnPiperAuth

  Her site: http://www.autumnpiper.com/

  Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/autumnpiperauth/

  Other Lyrical Press books by Autumn:

  Trouble Won’t Wait: http://lyricalpress.com/trouble-wont-wait/

  Lone Star Trouble: http://lyricalpress.com/lone-star-trouble/

  Trouble Under Venus: http://lyricalpress.com/trouble-under-venus/

  Fallen Star Trouble: http://lyricalpress.com/fallen-star-trouble/

  In His Embrace

  Contemporary romance by Wendy Ely

  When life's glow threatens to die in a person, love's light guides the way.

  Tori expected Friday to be completely ordinary: a quick goodbye to her best friend who was going away on a business trip for the weekend, a routine checkup at her doctor's office, and the rest of the day filled with work. But she was wrong. Ben's hand rested on her hips a little longer than usual during their goodbye, igniting sparks she'd tried to ignore for years, and then her tests came back abnormal. Scared and alone, she wishes for one person’s hand to hold–Ben's. He is trying to make it back before her next doctor visit, but can he?

  Chapter 1

  Tori Welsh sat on the black suede couch and rested her sock-covered feet next to a pile of celebrity magazines on the glass coffee table top. She leaned her head back, closed her eyes and whispered, “I don’t want you to leave.”

  Ben Maxwell, tall and rugged to a fault, chuckled, and in the deep voice she adored listening to, he said, “I don’t want to leave either, but unfortunately, my boss insists I attend this function.” His voice sent warm vibrations over her body and she fought the temptation to get up and plant a kiss on his lips. “But I’d rather stay here wit
h you.”

  Letting out a sigh, she slowly opened her eyes. “Do you have to pick Jamie up before heading to the airport?”

  He glanced at his watch. “Nope. I’m meeting him at the airport and we fly out in two and a half hours.”

  She straightened while she computed the numbers in her head. “Your flight is at four so that makes it— Oh, shit. I have an appointment in thirty minutes, so I have to leave.”

  He shrugged, pushed himself up from the recliner and grabbed his coat from where it had been tossed over a chair. Following his lead, she rose to her feet and grabbed her coat off the back of the couch.

  “We’ll talk while I’m gone,” he said so matter-of-factly.

  “We better.” She slipped her arms into the wool coat and buttoned the front. Placing her earmuffs around her neck, she beamed her biggest smile at him.

  He poked at her earmuffs. “I can’t believe you wear those things. I bet you wore your hair in braids with those on your ears as a kid, huh?”

  She nodded, letting her gaze travel over his leather jacket, down to the trendy jeans he’d bought pre-holed, and her gaze settled a tad too long on his crotch. Heat rushed up her cheeks. She hoped he didn’t notice the extra attention she paid to certain areas of his body.

  “I’m going to miss you,” he murmured, pulling her into a hug.

  And she’d miss him more than she could ever tell him. Her breath caught in her throat as his strong hands rested on the small of her back. She lowered her face to the soft leather covering his shoulder. No, she didn’t want him to leave. Not today. Not ever. “Just hurry back,” she whispered. “What will I do without you?”

  He pulled back from the longest hug they’d ever had since becoming friends in college. She couldn’t remember a time when he’d nuzzled against her hair as he’d done only moments ago. His repeated chuckle warmed her heart. “What will you do without me? I know exactly what you’ll be doing. Selling those silly doggy dresses at your shop and cleaning puppy poop. You’ll be just fine.”

  She joined in his laughter. “And bunny poop, a little cat litter and possibly some bird crap too. Not to mention the reptiles.”

  He patted her shoulder, suddenly back to their normal best friend relationship, sending her heart sinking to the pit of her stomach. “See? You’ll be fine. Probably won’t even miss me a second.”

  “Come on. I’ll walk you out,” she said, forcing a smile. She hated this side of Ben’s career. He usually traveled for work about once a month, depending on his boss’s scheduled appearances, for anywhere from a weekend to one or two weeks at a time. And each time he left, a part of her left with him, returning only when he did.

  The moment the front door opened, the chill of Colorado’s November air swirled around her and crept through every crevice in her coat. She pulled the lapels up to shield her neck before securing the muffs over her ears. “Aren’t you cold?” she asked, eyeing the large hole positioned perfectly over the front of his thigh, revealing just enough skin to get a woman—her, mainly—excited.

  “Nope. I’ll be on the plane soon and they always keep those things so warm.”

  She nodded as she walked toward her car parked next to his in the lot. “And you hate flying, so you want to be as comfortable as possible.”

  “I do. Have some fun while I’m gone?”

  She laughed. “Maybe. Have a safe trip.”

  “Tori?” His voice stopped her as she reached for her car’s door handle.

  “Yes?” Her gaze connected with his, the chemistry crackling between them as if they ignited enough spark to start a blaze. She blinked rapidly to bring her brain, and heart, back to reality. They were best friends and both of them had vowed that night in college to never ruin a friendship by entangling it with romance.

  “We need to have a serious talk when I get back.”

  “Okay, but why do you want to wait? Give me a call when you reach your hotel room.”

  He shook his head, a strand of soft, brown hair falling against his forehead. “When the time is right. See you soon.”

  She waved her fingers at him in farewell, then stood there, watching him climb in his car and pull out of the lot. After he turned out of her line of vision, she climbed in the driver’s seat of her own car, and with a heavy heart, drove the short distance to Doctor Wise’s office for her yearly check-up.

  For once the waiting room wasn’t crowded. Instead of a room full of people thumbing through the outdated magazines while watching the door for the nurse, one elderly man sat in the corner of the room holding a crumpled tissue. He sneezed and hastily brushed the Kleenex against his nose. “Good afternoon,” he said, his tired gaze only landing on her for a second.

  Her feet felt like she had twenty-pound weights in each of her sneakers as she took the required steps to the reception desk. Come on, Tori, he’ll be back in a few days. Cheer up.

  The receptionist pointed to the sign-in sheet even though that wasn’t necessary because she’d been a patient of Doctor Wise since she’d graduated from her pediatrician’s office. Beyond that, the doc was one of her favorite clients at her shop, Wags and Kisses.

  Before Tori even had a chance to take a seat in the waiting area, the door opened and Nurse Kerry stepped out, calling Tori’s name. With a wave of her hand, the tall, lean nurse motioned for Tori to follow her down the hallway to the bathroom for a quick pee in a cup, and then directed Tori into an exam room to replace her jeans and sweatshirt with a gown. She climbed up on the exam table, and while she waited, her thoughts drifted to Ben.

  He’d probably just arrived at the airport and was meeting up with his boss, who Ben was required to fly with on most cases. Thinking about Jamie Cox, celebrity asshole-extraordinaire, made her stomach clench. Of course, she’d never met Ben’s boss. What she did know came from the tabloids and was always confirmed and expanded on by Ben over drinks. Jamie seemed to be the bad boy on and off the silver screen.

  The door creaked open and Dr. Wise joined her in the small room. She expected his bright white smile as he greeted her with his joyous, “Tori, my favorite patient.” Instead, he kept his eyes down on the chart he carried, his thick-soled shoes shuffling against the off-white linoleum floor as he approached. With his free hand, he rolled the chair closer to the exam table and finally made eye contact.

  “Doc?” Tori asked, anxiety building. “Is something wrong?”

  “Actually…” Dr. Wise paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “I have a concern.”

  Her forehead crunched in confusion. “How can you be concerned? I haven’t had my check-up yet.” Maybe something happened to her insurance. People messed up paperwork on occasion, and with a little time on the phone, everything would be fixed.

  “From your urine test. You see, the lab found some blood.”

  Blood? How could there be blood in her urine? Surely she’d have noticed. She searched her memory for some instance of feeling sick. None. Her period had been normal this month and she didn’t feel ill at all. Why would there be blood? No, wait, this must be a mistake. She shook her head in denial. “I don’t understand.”

  “A little blood is normal. A lot of blood is something to be concerned about.” He took a pad of paper from his pocket and began to write. “My first guess is that you have a urinary tract infection, but we need to run some more tests to confirm.” He went on to ask her if she had a whole slew of symptoms, which she answered no to. He finally asked, “And no pain?”

  Tears threatened. “Doc, I feel great. If I had the tiniest ache, I’d let you know.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “This is so strange. Shouldn’t I notice something like blood in my pee?”

  “Not usually. The blood is usually microscopic.”

  A knock on the door filled the tiny space and broke the tension in the room. A woman dressed in a white lab coat came in and quickly took her blood while Doctor Wise added some notes to her file. Once the lab tech had left with a few vials of blood, Dr. Wise continued with the check-up
.

  He finally took a step back, saying, “I think we’re finished up here. Everything does look fine.” He picked up the square white paper. “Here’s a prescription for an antibiotic to clear up any infection.”

  A routine check-up resulting in something serious. Could this really be happening? “But, Doc, if it isn’t a UTI, what could it be?”

  He took two steps toward her and wrapped his large hands around hers. “I don’t think I should play the what-if game with you, Tori, but because you’re my favorite patient and my friend, I’ll be completely honest with you.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

  “O-okay.” Panic clawed at her throat.

  “You have to promise me that you won’t go home to Google your symptoms. Promise?” After receiving a nod from her, he continued, “Blood in the urine can be a symptom of many things including serious problems with your bladder, and we’ll run tests until we find out what is causing this.”

  He was leaving things out, but she didn’t need anything more to worry about. When he pulled his hands off hers, she clutched the gown tighter and climbed off the table. Her brain fogged over as the doctor left the room so she could change back into her own clothes. With legs like lead, she dragged herself from the office, climbed into her car and drove to her shop located on the other side of town. Some of her tension melted from her heart as she walked across the parking lot to the shop’s back door. As soon as the door swung open, animal noises greeted her.

  “Mary,” she called to her employee, “I’m back, but I’m taking Quade and Yoyo to the yard.” Even though she wanted to be alone, except for the dogs, she’d only manage to keep them outside for a few minutes due to the cold temps today. Oh well, a few more minutes alone to process what the doc had told her was better than nothing.

  After leashing the dogs, she let them lead her through the back door, across the parking lot and through the chain-link fence she’d installed upon opening the pet shop several years before. Tori had wanted a place different from most pet stores. Her goal had been to provide her pets with a place to run, play and socialize beyond the four walls of the pet shop. Customers were even welcome to join them in the yard. The pets’ for sale status shouldn’t bar them from interaction each one needed.