by Lucy Farago
Blake drew in a shuddering breath and visibly relaxed. “You are so mean.”
Then he kissed her so quickly and hard, he startled her, right up until he made her body tremble. Guess it was true. Pregnant women did get amorous.
She pulled back. “You know pregnant women can’t have sex. It could cause early labor.” Wait for it. And there it was, resignation and fake acquiescence on that beautiful face, because really, what choice did he have? “And, then when the baby is born, they say to wait another three months because you’re the most fertile after giving birth and birth control doesn’t work.” Clearly it hadn’t worked for them, regardless.
She watched his lips part just before he caught his jaw from falling open. God love him, he wanted to be supportive. And here she was, wrongfully amused. And one of these days she’d work on that. But not today. She’d tell him later. Maybe after she’d gotten him naked and teased the hell out of him. She was mean, and he loved her anyway. And he wanted to take care of her. Was that what she’d always wanted? What she truly wanted?
When she’d found her father passed out on the couch, she wished to not be alone. The first macaroni and cheese dinner she mucked up, she’d longed for a mother’s help. For every morning she set the alarm to get her father up for work, she wanted it to be someone else’s responsibility. When she was ten, she’d burned her hand on a lasagna pan. She’d cried, aching for someone to take care of her. That had been the start. The resentment began to fester and the guilt soon followed. She’d balanced for so long on that teeter totter of emotions that it had eaten her up inside, killed her self-esteem.
Maybe if someone had told her it wasn’t her fault her father couldn’t stop drinking, she’d never had taken that first job stripping. And her life would’ve taken a different turn. And she might never have slept with Blake, if she hadn’t felt the need to think of herself for a change. Huh, maybe fate and luck did go hand in hand? She’d always considered herself unlucky. But perhaps everything did happen for a reason. Because she did want someone to take care of her. And vice versa. Someone of her own choosing. Someone who loved her completely, and she him. Someone like Blake … and their baby. And here he was, looking at her like he wanted to strangle and kiss her, all at the same time.
“You know what else we have to add to your list?” she said.
“What?” he asked, clearly expecting the worst.
“Married.”
She grinned at him, and when he smiled back, angels cried.
Gord Weber Photography
About the Author
Lucy Farago knows there’s nothing like a happy sigh at the end of a good book. With the encouragement of her loving husband, she wrote her first manuscript. An unpublished historical novel, it sits in a file on her computer, there to remind her how much fun she had learning the craft and becoming part of an industry whose books make you believe anything is possible. A big fan of Agatha Christie, she set out to write her first romantic suspense novel. Thrilled to be a published author, Lucy also teaches yoga, enjoys cooking, and saying what other people are thinking. In her fantasy world, her beautiful Siberian husky, Loki, doesn’t shed and her three kids clean up after themselves. Alas, that fantasy will never see fruition. Visit her at lucyfarago.com.
Sin on the Strip
Control is everything to gorgeous Maggie Anderson. Her exclusive club gives abused and troubled women a refuge from Vegas’s merciless streets—and helps her reclaim her shattered sense of freedom. But now someone is brutally murdering those she fights so hard to save. And baring her deepest fears to the one man who insists on protecting her could be the one move she won’t survive …
Elite private investigator Christian Beck knows this particular serial killer’s MO—and his own wrenching failure to find him—all too well. But staying two steps ahead of Maggie’s determination to uncover the truth pushes his well-honed skills past the limit—and ignites his most naked instincts. Now every clue is a lie, each irresistible desire a lethal trap. And the closer he and Maggie get, their shattering secrets will either save them—or torch their lives to glittering ash …
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
LYRICAL PRESS BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2016 by Lucy Farago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Lyrical Press and Lyrical Press logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
First Electronic Edition: April 2016
ISBN: 978-1-6165-0819-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-61650-820-3
ISBN-10: 1-61650-820-5