Tempting Target

by Savannah Stuart

  Tempting Target

  Savannah Stuart

  After being widowed at a young age, Jade Hadley is tired of her celibate existence and is determined to add a little romance and sex into her life again. When her deceased husband’s sexy best friend admits a longtime attraction, her entire world is thrown off kilter.

  Security expert David McIntyre is in love with Jade and has been from the moment they met. Unfortunately for him, that was the week she married his best friend. For years he’s stayed silent, giving her time to mourn. When he discovers she’s dating again, all bets are off. Then someone targets her to die and he realizes he has more trouble than he bargained for. Seducing her isn’t the problem. Convincing her what they have together isn’t purely physical, however, is. It might even prove to be a bigger challenge than trying to keep her alive.

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Tempting Target

  ISBN 9781419931321

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Tempting Target Copyright 2011 Savannah Stuart

  Edited by Shannon Combs

  Cover art by Dar Albert

  Electronic book publication January 2011

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Tempting Target

  Savannah Stuart

  Dedication

  For Kari Cmolik-Walker. I think it’s possible you love David more than I loved creating him. Thank you for your constant support.

  Author Note

  Tempting Target was previously released by another publisher under the title City of Secrets. It has been extensively revised and edited for Ellora’s Cave.

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  BMW: Bayerische Motoren Werke

  Chevrolet Impala: General Motors Corporation

  Christian Dior: Christian Dior Couture, S.A. Corporation

  Diet Coke: The Coca-Cola Company

  Gucci: Gucci America, Inc.

  Heineken: Heineken Brouwerijen B.V.

  iPod: Apple Inc., Corporation

  Mercedes: DaimlerChrysler AG Corporation

  Power Point: Microsoft Corporation

  Reefs: South Cone, Inc. Corporation

  Super Bowl: National Football League, UNINC Association

  Tylenol: Tylenol Company

  Victoria’s Secret: Victoria’s Secret Stores Brand Management, Inc.

  Vogue: Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. Corporation

  Chapter One

  Jade Hadley perched on the edge of her butterfly stool as she stared out the window of My Sister’s Closet, her clothing boutique. The scene in front of her was familiar and one she saw every day. A miniature potted palm tree used to prop open the French door swayed silently with the chilly breeze, and the sea of tourists so prevalent during the day had thinned to a trickle on the street.

  Shadows and blurred shapes only danced in front of her line of sight because she couldn’t seem to focus on anything lately.

  Anything other than her hideous lack of sex.

  It had been two years since she’d seen a naked man. Two years since she’d pressed her bare body up against another one. Two. Freaking. Years.

  Until recently, she hadn’t cared. Immediately after her husband’s death, getting out of bed and showering had been her biggest accomplishment. Hoorah for her.

  For the most part, she loved her life the way it was, but lately it seemed everywhere she looked, she saw couples. Couples holding hands. Couples on dates. Couples renting videos together. They all looked so annoyingly happy.

  Sighing, she stood and quickly closed down her shop. A blast of fresh sea air rolled over her as she stepped onto the cobblestones of St. George Street. Rows of shops blocked her view, but she could always smell the ocean. That moist sea air was something one couldn’t escape living so near the coast. Her store was in the middle of St. Augustine’s historic downtown district, and she lived almost exactly a mile and a half away.

  The walk home was quick and the moment she stepped through her front door, the phone started ringing. She grabbed it on the fourth ring, just before her answering machine picked up. “Hello?”

  “Hey, little sister, you sound like you’ve been out running.” Maya, her older sister’s familiar voice greeted her.

  She snorted. “Not this late. I just got home.”

  “Well, that wouldn’t be a problem if you had a cell phone, now would it?” Sarcasm laced her voice.

  “Please spare me, I get that enough from Mom. I was actually going to call you and see if we could get together this week for lunch.” She shrugged out of her green peacoat and pulled out a bottle of pinot noir.

  “Good because I’ve needed someone to vent to,” Maya grumbled.

  “Uh-oh. This doesn’t sound good. I’m guessing my darling little nephews got into something they shouldn’t have. Again.” Brian and Owen were three-year-old twin terrors with a knack for doing exactly as they pleased and begging forgiveness later.

  “You guessed right. I still don’t know how it happened. They were both eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the kitchen table. In the amount of time it took me to transfer a clean load of clothes into the dryer and start another load, they’d made a mural on my new loveseat.”

  “What did they use?” Inwardly she cringed, already knowing the answer.

  “What else? Peanut butter and jelly. I’m assuming because it was available.” Her sister let out a resigned sigh.

  Jade resisted the urge to laugh. When they were kids, they’d done much worse.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?” Though muted, annoyance was still very evident in Maya’s voice.

  She choked back a laugh. “I don’t even know what to say.”

  “Saying nothing is better than saying something stupid.”

  Uh-oh. “What did Colin say?”

  “He said, ‘Boys will be boys.’ He’s so casual about it, but if they’d done something to his precious truck I’m sure he’d have had a lot more to say than that. I made him sleep on the couch.”

  “I’m sure that lasted all of ten minutes.”

  “You might be surprised,” Maya muttered.

  Jade frowned at her sister’s words. Married for four years, Maya and Colin still acted like newlyweds. Occasionally, when she looked at the two of them so happy together she ached. Her sister’s tone was unusual. “What’s going on with you two?”

  “We… Never mind.”

  “What is it?”

  “Seriously. It’s nothing.
”

  Jade bit her tongue but she hated that Maya didn’t open up to her. And Jade knew why. Just because she was a widow Maya seemed to think she couldn’t vent about her husband because she had one. She understood her sister wanted to protect her feelings but she missed the way they used to talk.

  “All right, that’s enough out of me. What have I missed in the past day?”

  Jade slipped off her boots and sat on one of the high-top swivel chairs. “I’ve come to a decision, but I need your help. I want…” For weeks she’d struggled to think of an appropriate way to say, “It’s been so long since I’ve had sex that I’m wondering if they’ve changed it.”

  Her sister would understand. That’s not what worried her. Saying the words aloud meant she was truly moving on. She didn’t want to betray Aidan’s memory, but she missed that physical connection. At the same time, the thought of letting another man touch her scared the holy hell out of her.

  “I don’t have time to play twenty questions. Out with it,” Maya prodded in her familiar, big sister tone.

  “I’m ready to start dating again. Soon. It’s been too long since I’ve seen a naked man. I’m in need of some seriously hot sex. Or just some regular sex. And I want an orgasm that does not include a battery-operated machine. I’m tired of living like a nun.” The words tumbled out once she got started.

  Maya exhaled loudly. “You scared the crap out of me, Jade. I thought it was something serious.”

  “This is serious.” She frowned at her sister’s blasé response.

  “Sweetie, Mom and I have been waiting the past few months for you to say this.”

  “What?”

  “That’s right. Mom and I have a whole fleet of men dying to take you out. Well, maybe not that many, but we definitely have some in mind. But if I were you, I’d stick with the men I pick, not Mom. You know how she can get—”

  “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

  “We were waiting until you were ready. It wouldn’t have mattered how many great guys we had lined up if it wasn’t the right time for you.”

  She started to protest, but the truth of her sister’s words hit her with startling accuracy. If they had tried to set her up with anyone, even three months ago, she would have most definitely said no. “It’s going to be weird dating again. Where am I even going to meet anyone?”

  She wasn’t really into the bar scene. Even before Aidan, she hadn’t been. Compared to her former party-girl sister, she’d always preferred to go boating or hit the beach in lieu of staying out all night drinking. Occasionally she went out for drinks with girlfriends after work but was almost always home by nine.

  “You just leave that up to Mom and me. In fact, I think I have the perfect candidate for you. There’s this man, Rick, that Colin’s been working with for the past year who would be a perfect first date for you.”

  “No, no cops.” Maya’s husband was a detective in St. Augustine so naturally all of his friends were in law enforcement. “And no firefighters either. I don’t want anyone with a dangerous job. I want someone with a normal nine to five who comes home for dinners.”

  “Jade, you can’t limit yourself like—”

  “Yeah, I really can.” After being married to a US Marshal, who’d left at all hours of the night, her worry had been endless. She wasn’t putting herself through that again.

  “Fine, but this isn’t over. What about David?”

  “I haven’t talked to him about it yet. I figured I’d wait until he got back in town. Hopefully he’ll be home this weekend. I haven’t seen him in a couple weeks, so he’s due back any day.” Every time she called him it went straight to voicemail so she assumed he was out of the country. Last time they’d gotten together he’d said something about a security job, but it was hard to keep his schedule straight. It was only Monday, so she knew not to expect him back until at least Friday or Saturday.

  “No.” Her sister stressed the word. “I mean what about dating David?”

  Jade jerked in her seat and sloshed wine all over the granite counter. “Are you out of your mind? He’s like a brother to me, not to mention he was Aidan’s best friend. What’s the matter with you?”

  “I think he’d be good for you, and so does Mom.” Her sister’s words echoed in her brain and bounced around for all of two seconds before she dismissed them.

  Completely.

  She still remembered the sorrow in David’s dark eyes the day he’d come to her with the news of Aidan’s death. He hadn’t had to say a word. She’d known the second he’d shown up on her doorstep. That was the first time she’d ever seen a man cry—really cry—and to see a man that tough break down, she’d known only one thing could have happened.

  “What? He’s not good-looking enough?” Maya asked, and Jade could practically see the smirk on her sister’s face.

  David was a wonderful friend, but she didn’t consider him boyfriend or husband material. It’s not that he wasn’t attractive. Even she couldn’t deny that. If it wasn’t for his nose, which had been broken more than once, he’d almost be too good-looking. His features were sharp and Slavic in appearance. With a square jaw, defined cheekbones, and deep charcoal eyes the man had to know he looked good. He stood close to six foot three, and no matter how often he shaved, he seemed to have a permanent five o’clock shadow. His thick black hair always hung a little too long on the sides, and his eyes rarely revealed glimpses into what he was thinking.

  They might be friends but he was a very private person, even with her. Not to mention he had a primitive side to him that sometimes put her on edge. He’d never done anything outright to make her wary, and in reality, he’d been one of the best friends she could ask for. Still, she knew it was there just the same, lurking beneath the surface.

  And there was no way she was discussing any of that was her sister. “Be serious, Maya.” She grabbed a rag and started to clean up the crimson mess she’d made.

  “Fine, fine. I have some candidates in mind but I want to narrow down my list first. Oh, and one more thing.” There was a long pause on Maya’s end. Jade heard a crash in the background. Surprisingly Maya stayed on the line. “You need to take off your ring.”

  A lump settled in her throat. She still hadn’t taken off her wedding ring. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t considered it, but every time the thought crossed her mind, guilt engulfed her. Her first instinct was to argue, but she knew her sister was right. “I know.”

  After they disconnected, Jade trudged up the stairs to her room. The house was eerily quiet. Safely in her room, she sat on the edge of the bed and stared at her left hand. It was now or never. She slipped the plain, platinum wedding band off her ring finger and placed it on the middle of her chestnut dresser. Minutes passed, but she didn’t move. She was rooted to the spot, mesmerized by the ring, almost afraid to take her eyes away from it.

  It’s time to let go. Aidan’s voice sounded in her head as clear as if he were in the same room. A strange sensation filled her. One she hadn’t felt in quite some time. Relief. The vise that had gripped her heart for so long, loosened. It didn’t completely release, but it was a start. With care, she placed the ring in her handcrafted mahogany jewelry box and clicked the lock into place.

  “It’s time.” Though no one was around to hear, saying the words aloud gave her an unexpected sense of peace.

  Chapter Two

  David McIntyre leaned back in the leather seat of the luxurious twin-engine jet as the nose of the plane dropped and they skidded onto the runway. He grabbed his carryon from the seat next to him, made his way to the front, and waited for the pilots to open the hatch. His return flight from the Caribbean had been as uneventful as the recent security job. The rest of the security team had all flown back to their respective cities but the band that hired him had flown him home on one of their private jets. The small but impressive plane sat twelve comfortably, but with the exception of the pilot and copilot, he was alone.

  Despite his crazy schedule, he
was grateful for his success. Two years ago, when his best friend died, he’d quit his job as a US Marshal and started his own security company. The thought of working the same job without Aidan by his side had made him feel…hollow. He’d gained enough contacts from his many years in the Navy, and then from working as a US Marshal, that jobs had literally fallen into his lap. If only his personal life was as smooth as his professional one.

  A few minutes later, he thanked the pilot and descended the stairs leading to the tarmac. Without waiting another moment, he got into the idling taxi. The best perk about having an official passport was that he didn’t have to wait around for his luggage or deal with security checks. The driver half turned in his seat and asked him where he wanted to go. Without thinking, David rattled off Jade’s address. He inwardly cursed, but he also didn’t correct himself. It was bad for him to see her too often, but he did it nonetheless. Every time he came home, he had to see her.

  She was his addiction. His secret addiction.

  Weeks had passed since he’d seen her last. Fifteen days to be exact, but who was counting? The need to be near her sometimes overwhelmed him. For three years he’d been trying to get over her but to no avail. Apparently, he was a masochist.

  He shut his eyes, trying to block out the mental image of her but that only made it worse. Her skin was always a golden brown, and she usually left her long, honey-caramel hair down, swinging seductively around her shoulders. Her emerald eyes always seemed to be filled with laughter. A man could lose himself forever in those deep, exotic pools. And forget about her curves. His cock flared to life just thinking about them. He never understood why she hated her hips. More times than he cared to admit, he’d fantasized about what it would feel like to wrap his hands around them as she rode him. Or as he took her from behind.