“I talked to Chris.” She laid her hand against his cheek, feeling the beginnings of the day’s stubble on his smooth, firm skin, touching the gold stud in his ear. “I’m staying in New York. For now. And then...forever, if that’s what we decide.”
“Eva.” His breath hissed in; he cupped the back of her head and brought her close, searching her face. “You’d do that for me?”
“Yes.” She felt no panic, nothing but certainty that their lives should be lived together. “I love you. And I want to be with you for a really long time.”
Another rush of breath. “I love you, too, Eva.”
Then they were kissing again, and as deep and meaningful and wonderful as their kisses had been before, these were ten times as important and soul stealing and magical, because they had just become part of each other in an entirely new way.
He led her to the bed, and they clasped each other close for a long while, enjoying the feel of their skin together, touching and stroking, Eva nearly overwhelmed by her own happiness and a deep and satisfying sense of peace. She felt as if she’d been carrying a burden her whole life that had finally been put down exactly where it was meant to be, and now she got to go forward forever without it.
Ames rolled on top of her, and she welcomed him on, spread her legs as he held himself on one arm, took hold of his beautifully hard penis and moved it slowly back and forth, up and down her sex until its tip glistened with her moisture and neither of them could wait any longer.
He pushed inside her, holding her gaze, smiling with happiness she knew was reflected on her own face. They made love slowly, simply, whispering adoringly, kissing languidly, letting the arousal simmer through their bodies until it grew hot of its own accord and the pace of their sexual rhythm and breathing increased. Their bodies communicated lust and longing, love and desire, rising until ecstasy took them both up and over the edge, and then, inevitably, down.
They lay there for several minutes, holding each other close, savoring each other’s warmth and nakedness. Eva had no desire to move; she was cocooned in the glow of what they’d just shared.
Except she was really, really thirsty. “I’m parched. Do you want a glass of water?”
“I’ll get it.” He was half up before he appeared to change his mind. “Actually, that would be great.”
“Okay.” She wasn’t sure what that was about, but he’d said he had a surprise. Maybe he needed to prepare while she was out of the room.
She scrambled off the bed, walked to the kitchen, got two glasses of water, turned to go back into his room and nearly dropped them.
“Ames?”
“Yeah.”
“Uh.” Laugher was already bubbling up. “Were you aware that a gorilla has taken up residence in your living room?”
“No way!”
She let the laughter out, heading back to the bedroom. No wonder he’d wanted her to get the water. “He is the perfect addition. Exactly what the room needed!”
He took the glasses from her while she climbed back into bed. “I was also thinking he might look nice in your house.”
“Mine?” Eva lowered her water. “You’d give him up to me so soon?”
“Oh, no, I wouldn’t do that. I love the big guy.”
She stared at him. “You are not making sense.”
“You know that call I have at four o’clock?”
“Now you’re making less.”
“Bear with me.” He took the half-drained glass from her and put it on his nightstand, set his own glass next to it. “It’s with a winery in central California. They’re looking for someone. I have a few more people I’ll be talking to next week. Thought I’d fly out there and find out if any of them want to meet me. See, I was sure the woman I love would be on the other side of the country. That wasn’t going to work for me.”
“Oh, my God, Ames!” She threw her arms around him, practically knocking him out of bed. “You’d do that for me?”
He chuckled, holding her close. “I would. You’ve opened up so many possibilities to me, Eva, that I never would have considered even a few weeks ago. You got me playing mini golf! But that was only the beginning. I feel as if I’ve been living my life with my head down, watching the sidewalk for cracks and dog poop, you know? Ignoring what’s around and above me. You gave me a new, full life, and I want to share it with you.”
“Oh, Ames.” Tears came into Eva’s eyes. She’d never felt this loved or cherished, never dreamed she could inspire this kind of passion and trust in someone who’d inspire the same in her. “You taught me not to be afraid anymore of who I am under these trappings, and what that woman wants. Which, by the way, is you. You have changed my life, too, and you have no idea what that means to me.”
“Maybe not.” He kissed her, kissed her again. “But whether we end up here or in California, I’m betting we have a lifetime for me to find out.”
* * * * *
Eva found her happy ending.
What will happen to her twin sister, Chris,
as the coffee shop switcheroo continues?
Popular author Isabel Sharpe has written
Chris’s story, on sale in February 2015
from Harlequin Blaze!
Keep reading for an excerpt from CLOSE UP by Erin McCarthy
Ten years ago one devastating night changed everything for Austin, Hunter and Alex. Now they must each play their part in the revenge against the one man who ruined it all.
Austin Treffen has the plan… Hunter has the money… Alex has the power!
Read each of their stories in the captivating Fifth Avenue trilogy, only from Harlequin Presents:
Avenge Me by Maisey Yates
Scandalize Me by Caitlin Crews
Expose Me by Kate Hewitt
And don’t miss the Fifth Avenue prequel that started it all, Take Me, by Maisey Yates!
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1
“IF THE GOOD Lord intended us to be naked, clothes wouldn’t have been invented.”
Kristine Zimmerman felt the urge to laugh, but restrained herself, shifting her phone from her right ear to her left as she surveyed the tables being set up for that Friday night’s art exhibit at Collective, the gallery that had just hired her as their events coordinator. “Mom, there are plenty of valid occasions for human beings to be naked.” She could think of at least three without even trying.
Her mother wasn’t sold. “Even Adam and Eve wore fig leaves. Why don’t they wear fig leaves in those pictures? Or better yet, those girls should have some boy shorts on. Boy shorts are cute.”
Given that her mother couldn’t see her, Kristine felt free to give a generous eye roll. It would be a bit counterproductive for the world-renowned mass nude photographer, Ian Bainbridge, to cover his volunteer models in undies. “The photographer is not doing an Adam and Eve exhibit. The nudity is intentional to make a statement about the lack of humanity in corporations.”
“It’s objectifying women,” was her mother’s firm opinion. “You need to quit thi
s job.”
Kristine was no longer amused. “No. I am not quitting this job.” She nodded as the caterer, who was setting up the tables with three staff members, held up white tablecloths for her approval. Normally setup wouldn’t occur three days in advance, but Kristine wanted everything perfect. She wanted the opportunity to see the gallery ready for the event, and make adjustments without the pressure of guests arriving in a matter of hours. This event was her probation period with this job. If it went well, her boss would know she had hired the right person, despite Kristine’s less than remarkable résumé.
At twenty-nine years old, Kristine had virtually nothing to show for the past decade of her life. No money, no retirement fund, no significant other, no highly sought-after skills or talents, and a boatload of student loan debt for a degree she’d never finished. This job was her chance to settle down into a routine, to prove she was a grown-up, finally. Her days of wandering aimlessly from one bad choice to another were behind her, and she was determined to move forward with her life.
Which was why she had also finally shelled out her last bit of savings to draw up divorce papers for Sean, the man she had impulsively married at the age of nineteen and shared a passionate and volatile six months with, before their relationship had imploded. They had parted in anger, but had never filed for divorce. Initially, she had been too upset to deal with the paperwork, and then as the years slid by, it had always seemed that she had something better to spend her hard-earned money on. It had also just been easier to let cobwebs collect on those emotions than disturb them. Apparently, Sean had felt the same way, because he had never contacted her for a divorce, either, even though Kristine knew for a fact he was now a highly successful businessman and money was not an object.
It wasn’t until a few months ago, when Kristine had started dating George, a guy she’d thought she could really grow to care for, only to be dumped unceremoniously when a month into seeing each other he had found out she was still legally married. He had considered it dishonest and revealing that she hadn’t severed those ties, and he had washed his hands of her. Given that a divorce could be obtained on the internet for a few hundred bucks had made her consider the fact that George had a valid point or two.
She was still holding on to Sean, consciously or not. He had been the first stable force in her life, and the last, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she had been treating him as a safety net.
Which was ridiculous. Why would Sean want anything to do with her now, ten years down the road?
The realization that she needed to move forward with her life and truly stand on her own two feet had hit her full force. She had packed up and moved back to her hometown of Minneapolis from Las Vegas to deal with her past before she could proceed with her future.
That past unfortunately included her mother, Ebbe Zimmerman, who was, and always had been, an eccentric. Over the years, Ebbe had worked to save the whales, put warning labels on rap records, become vegetarian, then vegan, then carnivorous again, had tried her hand at raising alpacas and baking cakes—on the same farm—and had fought for a variety of worthy causes for women’s rights. But whereas in her younger years her feminist lean had been toward equal pay for women, she was now hell-bent on shutting down every strip club, burlesque show and art exhibit featuring nudity she came across. Kristine figured her mother had a right to protest whatever she wanted, and most of the time she sympathized with her causes.
But not when it involved tasteful photography that in itself was a protest of corporate greed, something else her mother despised.
And especially not when her mother’s actions potentially threatened her job, given that Ebbe was known for stating her opinions with a lot of pomp and circumstance. And spray paint.
“Well, I can’t be silent about this,” her mother said firmly. “I’m going to stage a protest this weekend at the opening.”
Damn it. Kristine strode quickly in her heels to the back storeroom, where the caterers couldn’t overhear her. “Mother, don’t you dare. I am begging you, if you love me, do not make a scene. This is my place of employment!”
“So you would have me compromise my principles so you can rake in some greenbacks from porn distributors?”
That was a leap of epic proportions. Art with consenting adult models did not equate to porn. There was literally no reasoning with the woman, and Kristine did not have time for this. “I need this job or I will be forced to move in with you, and God knows, neither of us wants that. So save the protests for social media, okay? Because if you show up here Friday and destroy this opening night, I will lose my job and I will never speak to you ever again, even while I’m sharing your apartment.”
Hardball was the only way to play the game with Ebbe. Otherwise, she would do exactly what she wanted, with no thought to the consequences for those around her.
“What kind of daughter threatens her own mother?” Ebbe sniffed on the other end of the phone.
“One whose mother threatens to get her fired. Now I will talk to you later. Love you.” Despite knowing she would pay for it, Kristine ended the call without saying goodbye.
Tossing her phone onto the desk, she grabbed the sign, which was going to be placed on an easel at the front of the gallery, and pushed her way back into the main room. She was about to speak to the caterer when she realized there were people by the front door. Two men, in suits.
One looked familiar. Very familiar. Ten years hadn’t eradicated the knowledge of his muscular body, his narrow face and dark hair, despite the power suit. She knew every single inch of this man, every expression, every gesture, the touch of his hands, his lips, his tongue. Among other things.
He strode toward her and her mouth heated. Her breath caught. Her knees wobbled.
It was Sean, the only man she had ever been in love with.
Her husband.
* * *
SEAN MADDOCK HADN’T been confronted with this many naked bodies at once since a tequila-fueled skinny-dipping party in college. Unlike then, he was stone-cold sober this time around, but fortunately, or unfortunately, however you chose to feel about it, these were not flesh and blood partygoers, but nude photographs. A lot of them. In enormous proportions. With dozens and dozens of people in each shot, so that everywhere Sean turned, he caught a breast or a backside or an eyeful of man junk.
Damn. It was a lot to take in at two in the afternoon.
His latest intern, Michigan, was an ambitious recent U of Chicago graduate, who had apparently broken his parents’ hearts by choosing not to attend their alma mater, which had been his namesake. Instead, he’d worked his ass off at Chicago, and Sean suspected he’d never seen this much skin at any point during his undergrad years.
The poor kid made a strangled sound in the back of his throat as they stood in the lobby of the art gallery, Collective. “Interesting,” Michigan managed.
“You could call it that.” Sean shook his head. Maybe he wasn’t deep enough to comprehend the bigger meaning, but having two hundred people naked together in one photograph, looking like a herd of sheared sheep, did not project any sort of message to him other than awkward. “But it’s highly commercially successful, so the artist knows what he is doing. As does the gallery.”
Under other circumstances, he might have found it amusing. There was nothing he loved more than seeing a quirky idea take off on the open market. Not to mention he had no objections to nudity, though he preferred his naked encounters to be one-on-one. But today he was distracted by the papers that had arrived unexpectedly in the morning, jarring him out of an ordinary day’s work and straight backward to the previous decade.
Back to Kristine.
“How many people are attending this event?” Michigan asked.
“Two hundred.” Sean glanced around the neat and upscale gallery, noting there were multiple exits, one presumably to a back storeroom, and two directly to the exterior. The front of the gallery was all glass, which was, of course, problematic for security, but
generally speaking, he didn’t think Maddock Security would have any issues securing the opening night of the Ian Bainbridge exhibit and charity fund-raiser.
He didn’t need to be here, frankly. His team had already done their research on the event and the facility, and had put a plan in place for the party Friday evening, but Sean hadn’t been able to resist stopping in himself for a look when he saw the name of the event coordinator who had hired the firm. Kristine. His former wife, who wasn’t technically his former wife, since they had never legally filed for divorce, despite it being ten years since their impetuous and short-lived marriage had ended. They had parted ways after a rip-roaring fight, two headstrong personalities barely out of their teens, and as far as he knew, Kristine had been living in Vegas since their split, heading west on impulse. That was Kristine—action first, thought second.
It was one of the things about her that had made him fall in love with her initially—that she was so much the opposite of him. He was methodical, pragmatic, a self-made millionaire who had been accused of being coldhearted a time or two. Though, back when they had been together, he had been broke, with nothing more than a vision and a determination to work hard. He hadn’t been as cynical, as remote as he was now, and there had been nothing cold about him when it came to Kristine. She had made him hot with passion, and warm with the most intense emotion he’d ever known. He didn’t fall in love easily. In fact, it was safe to say he had not been in love since, which was why he’d never bothered to pursue tracking her down and obtaining a legal divorce. The technicality didn’t matter, because he hadn’t been serious about another woman in the following years, maybe because, at the tender age of twenty-one, he had learned there was something to the adage about fools and love. He had fallen hard and gotten his heart ripped out of his chest and stomped on.
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