by Anny Cook
Leaving her some privacy, he went down to the kitchen, flicked on the bright overhead light and headed directly for the refrigerator. Earlier in the day, he’d picked up a Feast for Two from First and Ten. Now he set the cartons on the counter, sorting them in hot and cold batches. Retrieving a stack of serving plates, he transferred the contents from the cartons that required heating in the microwave.
Whistling while he worked, he pondered how to approach Becky about moving in with him. If he had his way, they would get married and that would be that, but he already knew her well enough to realize that she was a package deal. Their lives wouldn’t mesh unless her children and Aunt Mary were happy, too. Finally, he decided to offer her the apartment over the three-car garage as a temporary solution. At least that way, she and her family would be close enough for them to spend some time together.
Becky walked into the kitchen just as the first dish finished heating. “What can I do?” she inquired after observing his setup.
He handed her plates and silverware. “If you don’t mind, set the table. The wine’s in the refrigerator.”
They worked well together, complementing each other, anticipating each other’s needs. When the food was finally prepared, Joe pulled out her chair with a flourish. “Your table is ready, madam.” Once she settled into her seat, he lit the candles and took his seat.
She took his hand, smiling at him through sudden tears. In two days, he’d given her more romance than she’d had during her entire marriage. Taking her dwindling courage in her hands she asked, “What do you see in our future, Joe?”
Very deliberately, he plucked a tiny box from his robe pocket and opened it. Inside was an adjustable ring with a gaudy purple glass stone. “I won this at the summer carnival the year I was sixteen. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and I had very unrealistic plans to give it to you when I asked you to marry me.”
Becky gazed down at the ring through a watery blur. “What happened?”
He sighed. “That September I saw you making out with Tom in his car. It just broke my poor young heart. I ran away and my dad found me sitting in the swing on the back porch.” He bit back a smile. “Dad asked me what was wrong. I sat there pouring out my heart to him and then he gave me some wonderful advice. He said to keep that ring as a reminder of my first love so I would never forget what it felt like. And I did.”
Tears trickled down her face, and he handed her a napkin.
“The way I see it, you’re still my first love. I want to marry you. I want to be a dad for your kids. Maybe we’ll even have a couple more. And I’m pretty sure I’m already in love with your Aunt Mary. But I know you want to be sure. So I’m going to give you this ring. And when you’re ready to marry me, you can let me know by putting it on your finger.”
Her hands shook as she plucked the ring from the box, but there was no hesitation as she slipped it on her finger. “I fell in love with you over a pile of cucumbers,” she announced firmly. “I’m giving you your answer now before you change your mind.”
“Becky?”
“Yes, love.”
“How do you feel about sex on the kitchen table?”
About the Author
After working in various occupations, rearing four children, and moving over forty times, Anny has finally retired and settled in one place long enough to do the one thing she's longed to do—write. She happens to be fortunate enough to have a supportive spouse who encourages her to write, write, write! Or it could be that he’s simply anxious for her to support him in the manner to which he’s accustomed when he retires.
Are you in the mood for another Carnal Reunion?
Find more of this delicious anthology now available at Resplendence Publishing
IOU by Paris Brandon
The morning after her final exams, Bliss Harper woke up in her own bed wearing only her underwear. She’s never remembered how she got there or why she found an I.O.U. tucked into her panties for one night of “Bad Boy Sex,” signed by her favorite pizza delivery guy, Nick Santucci. But she had a ten-year plan that didn't include any more bad decisions and handsome men. But all work and no play make for a dull life and she’s headed to her ten-year college reunion with every intention of collecting on a debt that's long overdue.
Ten years ago, bad boy Nick hadn’t usually looked twice at shy, thrift-store fashion reject Bliss Harper. He just hadn’t been able to avoid it when she’d started doing a tabletop, drunken striptease at a frat party the police were raiding. These days Nick’s not delivering pizza, he’s delivering deals and he’s headed to his ten-year college reunion determined to negotiate one night into many with the woman who holds the marker on his heart.
G-Spot by Taylor Tryst
Lily Sutherland. No, Detective Lily Sutherland, a title she worked her ass off to earn, has returned to Heartwood Indiana for her ten-year college reunion. An ex-Lady Hawk, and a star athlete on the volleyball team, Lily used her competitive edge to win on the court. She dove into the male dominated world of law enforcement where she once again rocked the foundation and shot up the ranks to homicide detective in record time. As far as Lily is concerned, she’s just one of the boys until she reunites with Dakota Reese, the love of her life.
Special Agent Dakota Reese has always been too smart for his own damn good. Specializing in serial cases, Dakota attends his college reunion at Western Indiana University for what he believes will be a reprieve, only to discover that his life just became much harder…literally, when he see’s Lily Sutherland at the grand old Victorian down the street. Dakota and Lily had split amicably ten years prior, each of them marrying for all of the right reasons. Unfortunately, they married someone else, and were now both divorced. There’s a natural animosity between the cops and the feebs, but can Lily put their differences aside long enough for her ‘G Man’ to find her g spot and rock her world, forever?
Nailed by Cindy Spencer Pape
When shy scientist Karen Sikorski meets up with her college crush, Warner Beckett, sparks fly, but she knows the handsome contractor would never fall for a plain nerd like her. Warner, though, has other ideas. Smart, voluptuous Karen is everything he's ever wanted in a woman, and this time around, he's enough of a grown up to appreciate it. Now all he has to do is convince the lady he really does want her--in every way possible.
First and Ten by Fran Lee
What Fran Jamison and Jack Gerrard have in common, you could balance on the head of a pin. And to make things worse, Jack blew his chances to hell back in High School with the BBW.
Neither goes to their 10th college reunion expecting sparks to fly, but when they collide in the airport, painful old memories quickly evaporate to make way for two people desperately needing to scratch 12-year-old itches.
Jack royally blew it when he let other people's opinions stop him from pursuing the 5'11" bombshell so many years back, and by the time he realized he was a jackass and tried to apologize, a traumatized and hurt Fran had shredded his ego in public, leaving him to lick his wounds and move on.
She thought she would hate him on sight. She didn't. She thought she could walk away. She couldn't. She certainly didn't expect to find herself making out like a madwoman on the hood of a borrowed car in the airport parking ramp. But she did expect one thing...she was not going to walk away again. Not when he was so damn good at scratching those itches...
Training Randi by Tessie Bradford
Miranda Ellson graduated from college with a degree in design in one hand and a ticket to London in the other. Ten years, five job changes and three boring, unfulfilling relationships later she’s back at WIU to re-connect with old friends, enjoy the campus activities and take a break from…oh who the hell is she kidding?
Jeff Briggs, former college neighbor and best bud, now successful gym owner, lives in town. He’s the only guy she has ever known who could set her panties on fire by simply walking into a room and Randi is sick and tired of only hooking up with him in her dreams. This may
be her only chance to discover exactly what kind of personal training he has to offer.
Smokin’ Ace by Regina Carlysle
A college reunion and seeing her best ‘gal pals’ is just the thing widow and single mom, Chloe Wells needs to put a little oomph back into her boring, routine life. For her, those carefree years and the friendships she made with six other women in the old Victorian were unforgettable and, hey, what’s wrong with revisiting a past that was fun and full of laughter? But when she bumps into Michael “Ace” Banner other memories surface. Memories of hot nights and rumpled bed sheets. Memories of the loss of the one man who burned her to ash.
Former college tennis star, Ace Banner, now a renowned sports photographer, has just one chance to regain the love of pretty, sweet, very sexy Chloe. Yeah, he blew it years ago by walking away but he’s a man now and not about to let her get away again. Ace is prepared to pull out all the stops in reclaiming what he lost all those years ago. It’ll take a slow hand and an easy touch but he’s up for the challenge.
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Handcuffs and Lace
Resplendence Publishing’s Erotic Romance Line of Law Enforcement Themed Stories
What the Cuff? By Celia Kyle
God really should have reconsidered making werewolves. That, or Lyssa needed to get better taste in men and stay away from those with wandering eyes—and other things. Drunk as a wolf, she stumbles to her best friend’s house to sleep off her whiskey induced haze and wakes to…cuffs?
Caleb sees his chance and takes it. His buddies on the force ribbed him but good for buying silver plated cuffs. But with a werewolf in his bed, the woman he’s yearned for since they were teens, he wasn’t taking any chances. Lyssa was his. She just didn’t know it yet.
Ticket Me More by Tia Fanning
Hailed by the bridal flower world as an artistic genius, Meli works long nights making bouquets for women lucky enough to find love, while she herself lives a life of solitude. She yearns to share her heart and body with someone other than Bob, her Battery Operated Boyfriend, but acute shyness keeps her from engaging the “living” world.
However, Meli’s quiet and predictable existence takes an unexpected turn when she is pulled over and ticketed by the most gorgeous cop she has ever encountered—Officer Michael Johnson. Though he doesn’t seem to notice her as anything more than a traffic violation, Meli makes plans to overcome her timid nature and seize the police officer’s attention…using any speed necessary.
Handcuffs and Lies by Bronwyn Green
Sometimes promises to friends are the hardest to keep. Undercover police officer, Michael Tanner, promised his dying partner that he’d take care of the man’s little sister. Trouble is, after her brother’s death, Doctor Tori Spinelli wants nothing to do with Michael—or any other cop for that matter.
Tori has always fought against overprotective men and deception. Forced into protective custody with Michael, she’s now faced with both in the same package. Despite their differences, Tori falls in love with him, but how can she trust a man who lies for a living?
Search Me Baby, One More Time by Melinda Barron
Wren Thornberry’s life isn’t going according to plan. She let her father talk her out of marrying Bryan Stockard, the man she loves, and moved halfway around the world. Now she’s back home in Texas, babysitting her grandmother while grandma and her boy-toy work through their list of sexual exploits, making themselves the talk of the town.
But what Wren doesn’t know is that things in her hometown are about to heat up even more, and it will have nothing to do with her grandmother. It seems that Bryan Stockard is still around, he wants to get back into Wren’s life—by any means necessary, and now he has just the tools to do it: A police uniform, handcuffs, and the authority to make Wren assume the position.
Cuff Me Lacy by Demi Alex
Three months is way too long to wait for some simple, low-down, straight forward sex. It’s not like Officer Chrissie Hansen is asking for prince charming to offer her the love of a lifetime. All she wants is a good orgasm that she doesn’t have to work for alone.
At least with “The Bull” she knows what to expect. But when Patrick MacKlick returns to her life and tempts her with new options, she discovers that lace can imprison a heart better than handcuffs can.
Going Commando by Catherine Chernow
Bounty hunter Shyra Lawrence listens to her favorite radio station one morning where the DJ’s are discussing “going commando” —a.k.a wearing no undies. Captivated by their conversation, she decides to shed her panties in favor of the freedom that wearing no underwear brings.
Enthusiastic, Shyra sends an email to her best friend, Donna, detailing the delights of panty-freedom, but unbeknownst to Shyra, she’s hit the send key...to the wrong email addy!
When Derek Grayson opens his emails that morning, he discovers that his #1 employee and top bounty hunter has sent him an erotic, enticing message about going commando. Derek has always been polite, professional, and so damned attracted to Shyra that it’s almost painful. Working day in and day out with voluptuous woman has sent Derek’s hormones into overdrive on more than one occasion.
Now, Shyra’s shed her panties and Derek’s got all he can do to contain his lust when she announces that she’s... GOING COMMANDO.
Also available from Resplendence Publishing
Scorcher by Celia Kyle
Phoebe’s a salamander with a problem. Fire is her element, her very best friend, and the core of her nature. But she can’t control it worth a darn. One decent temper tantrum and poof! Fire galore. Good thing she lives in the desert with nary a tree in sight. Well, there are a few bushes and such. And her house. And a few cacti...sorta. At least until she’d gotten mad over getting stuck by one of the darned things...
Brant lives by fire and dies by fire. Literally. As Fire Chief, it’s his job to stamp out fires in Winthrop, making sure residents of the small town in the back woods of Arizona don’t have to worry about fire taking their businesses and homes. As a phoenix, he has the ability to sense fires the moment they start. It’s a handy talent that keeps the residents safe. Except for his girlfriend, who seems to be able to blow up just about everything, including the stove.
Red: A Seduction Tale by Maddie James
Garnet Boudreaux is going home. Not back to her nice little apartment in New York City, but to her childhood home in the bayou. She doesn’t want to go, and isn’t certain what will be waiting for her when she arrives. But standing there in the voodoo shop on Bourbon Street
, in the middle of one helluva party, she’s told by Madame Madeleine Dupuis that she has no choice. She presses two pouches into Garnet’s hands, wraps a red cape around her, and tells her she must go—and go now—to see to her grandmother.
Max LeBlanc spies the lovely redhead across the street and knows in a heartbeat that she is the one. A rougarou
always knows when he’s met his mate. Some may call him a lycanthrope, a werewolf if you will, but in Cajun bayou lands, he’s known simply as The Rougarou. He’d waited several hundred years for this moment, and for her. There is nothing left for him to do but mark her and claim her as his mate. Soon.
Oriana and the Three Werebears by Tia Fanning
Oriana Ricci has taken over the family business—flying cargo and rich tourists around Alaska’s barely inhabited Kodiak Archipelago. When her plane malfunctions and she’s forced to make an emergency landing, she finds herself stranded in the middle of a National Wildlife Refuge. With no civilization for miles and no hope of rescue, she thinks all is lost…
Until she stumbles upon the entrance to an underground bunker.
Jack, Jordan, and Jonathan McMathan own and operate a secret intelligence firm contracted by the US Government. Hidden away in an old Cold War spy station located the middle of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, the brothers are not only able to do their top secret jobs safely without fear of discovery, but are better to protect their other, more personal secret: they have the ability to shift into Kodiak bears.