by Annie Jocoby
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Exposure Series (Russian Mafia Romance)
Exposure
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Focus
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Close Up
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Perspective
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Exposure: The Complete Series
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About the Author
Romance novelists are absolutely no different from anyone else. Me personally? I’m just a tad nutty in real life. A bit scattered, a bit of a dreamer, never together. I wanted to originally create a character based upon myself, because I felt that people could relate to somebody who is decidedly imperfect. And have her get the dreamboat man, because, let’s face it, we all want that, right ladies? That was my inspiration for the story of Iris and Ryan in my Illusions romance books. Those novels were so well-received, that I just decided to keep on keeping on. Scotty, the current heroine in my Broken romance novels, is so much more together than myself. So it’s been fun to write her. And Nick has turned into a revelation – he seems to be a bit of a tough guy who is nothing but a womanizer, but I’ve found his soft side. I’m a little bit, okay a lot, in love with Nick and Ryan myself, and who wouldn’t be? I’m having the time of my life writing these books, and I want to keep on writing them until my fans decide that they’ve had enough!
My romance novels all have things in common: they all combine a touch of mystery and intrigue with drama, love, and lots of hot sex. Some of the books have action and even some criminal elements in them. My current book, in fact, is my first book that would be classified as straight romantic suspense, although it also combines definite elements of the thriller genre! If you’re in the market for a book that is fast-paced, where the heroes are beautiful and wealthy, and the heroines are strong, vulnerable and flawed, then try my romance novels out!
@anniejocoby
Annie Jocoby
www.anniejocoby.com
[email protected]
Part I
Wicked Temptations
Temptations Series Book Four
Copyright © 2016 by Annie Jocoby
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Chapter 1
Serena
Slade was due to come and talk to me, and I had to admit, I was nervous. Very nervous. He had hinted that he was going to have to do something drastic to make sure that I was safe, and I had a sneaking suspicion on exactly what that thing was going to be. No matter how many times I told him not to do anything that would jeopardize my relationship with him, I knew that he was going to go ahead with his plans. It wasn’t going to be pretty.
As I saw him come up the driveway to my house, his head was hung, and I just knew. He didn’t even have to tell me what was going on. It was written all over his gorgeous face.
I opened the door, and, without a word, I walked into the sun room. I patted my legs, and the dogs got up on the easy chair with me. Slade, also wordless, followed me into the room and sat across from me. He drew a breath and clenched his hands in front of him. He simply stared at me for the longest time, his beautiful eyes pained and haunted.
I stared back, not saying a single word. In my mind, I was thinking that, if neither of us spoke, maybe none of this would be true. There wouldn’t be some kind of awful revelation that hung in the air, threatening to end us. I wouldn’t be hearing from him about how he has no choice to marry that bitch, and how he was going to find a way out of it for both of us. How it would only be temporary, and that, soon enough, he and I would be together and there would no longer be a threat to my life. None of that would be true, if only neither of us spoke.
So, for what seemed like an eternity, I sat there, the dogs on my lap, and stared wordlessly at him and he did the same. His hands were still clenched in front of him, and, from time to time, he would hang his head and put his hands behind his neck. Then, a few minutes later, he would look up at me again with pain in his eyes.
Finally, he opened his mouth, as if to speak. At that point, I stood up.
“Don’t say it, just don’t say it. I already know what’s going on. I already know what you told that bitch. And there’s only one thing that I can say to you – get the fuck out of my house. Get the fuck out and never, ever come back.”
He stood up as well, and attempted to put his arms around me. I pushed him away, violently. “Perhaps you didn’t hear me. I want you to leave, and I want you to leave this very second. There is nothing that you can say to me that will make this right.” I was being irrational, and a part of me knew it. A part of me, deep down in my soul, knew that what Slade was doing was not only the right thing, it was the only thing that could keep me alive. A part of me knew that what he was doing was sacrificing his own happiness so that I could be safe. That part of me loved him desperately.
The other part of me also loved him desperately, but hated him just as much. That part of me only wanted him and I to be together, no matter how that could be accomplished. That part of me literally didn’t care if I lived or died, as long as I could be with him for the short time that I would be on this earth. And he couldn’t see that. I hated that he couldn’t see that.
These two distinct sides of me were at war as I looked at his beautiful eyes and face. He made no effort to leave, and that made me love, and hate, him all the more. “Serena,” he finally said. “I know that you know what happened between Charlotte and me. I know that you know in your heart that I would never do anything like this unless it was absolutely necessary. I think that you also know that I’m going to be get a plan together that will make sure that you and I end up together for the rest of our lives without having a shadow hanging over us. I don’t really know exactly what that plan is, but I’m buying time for us. I don’t expect you to understand right now, but I would love it if you would please see this as buying our long-term future in exchange for some short-term misery.”
I drew a breath. “When is the wedding?” I asked him. I didn’t really want to know the answer to that question, of course. I only wanted him to know that I knew what was going on. I wanted to stick the knife into him and make him feel the pain that I felt. By forcing him to answer that simple question, I knew that he was going to feel what he was about to do. To him, to us, to our future. I wasn’t buying the whole I’m doing this now to make sure our future is secure bullshit. He could kiss my ass if he thought that I was buying that crap.
He sat back down and hung his head again, putting his hands behind his neck. “I don’t know,” he said quietly. “Soon. I need to get this over with so that I can start snooping around her family. I need to find a weak spot. I need to find a rat, somebody who is willing to double-cross her and perhaps, maybe, keep her in line.” His eyes looked at me, sorrow filling them. “It’s the only thing that I can think of right now.”
I nodded my head. “Get out. Get out, and go marry your whore. Go marry her, and make sure that your face is in the tabloids at all times.” I smiled. “And, trust me, you will be in the tabloids at all times. It’s so fucking priceless, this story – rising Hollywood star marries handsome billionaire who was in the news for a murder he didn’t commit. Who is currently about to stand trial for disposing a body and covering up a murder 20 years ago. The tabs are going to be all over that shit.”
He crinkled up his brows. “Is that all that you’re worried about? That you’re going to be forced to see me every time you go to the grocery store?” He made a move, once again, to hold me in his arms, as he stood up and came over to me.
I backed away. With every step he took towards me, I took one step back. He wasn’t going to act like nothing was wrong. He wasn’t goin
g to be able to just put his strong arms around me, and kiss me and make love to me, as if he wasn’t going to be married to somebody else. I wouldn’t let him do that. He couldn’t get away with that, because I wasn’t going to allow that. “Get away, Slade. I told you a few minutes ago that I wanted you gone, and I mean that. Stop the bullshit. You’re going to marry that whore, and nothing will be done to save me or to save us. You’re going to fall into that lifestyle, and you’re going to forget that I exist. I already see that. So get out. Get out now.”
“Serena,” he began, as he once again wrapped his arms around me.
“No. You and I are done.” I pushed him, hard, so hard that he fell on the floor. He apparently wasn’t bracing himself. I closed my eyes, and left the room, with him still on the floor.
It didn’t take him long, though, to get up off the floor and follow me into the living room.
“Slade, why are you still here? Get out. I told you to get out, and I mean it.” I didn’t mean it, of course. I desperately wanted him to stay there with me. I desperately needed him to stay there with me. But not like this. Not when I knew, I knew, that, the second he left the house, he would be leaving for good. He would leave this house and go to her, and, the next thing I would hear, would be news of his happy wedding with the Hollywood goddess. I wouldn’t be able to turn on the television without seeing the two of them together. I had always loved to watch the Academy Awards on TV – that was one of my guilty pleasures, even if I hardly ever got to see the nominated movies – but I could never again watch that show, because she would be on there with him. I would want to vomit when I saw her smiling face, and he would also be smiling, because she would be telling him, behind the scenes, that he better smile or else.
Worse than that, though, would be the fact that Slade would no longer be in my life. My life was going to be as empty as it was before I met him, and I just couldn’t handle that fact.
“Serena,” he said. “I’m not going to even try to bullshit you. I respect and love you too much to do that. So, yes, after I leave, I’ll be going to Charlotte's and I’m going to do the unspeakable. I know that there’s nothing that I can say to you that will make you believe that this is best for us. I know that you’ll never really believe that I’m going to find a way out of this and I’m going to return to you and make you my wife for real. You’re going to hate me, and I don’t blame you for hating me. I just have to get through these next few months, which are going to be absolute torture, so that I can fix this problem for good. You don’t believe that though, and I don’t blame you. But I love you, Serena, and, mark my words, we will be together after this. Together for real.”
I drew a breath when he said the words I’m going to make you my wife for real. That was the first time that Slade had ever said something like that. I had always assumed that Slade wasn’t serious about me and my long-term future with him, but, with those words, I knew that he was. That thought comforted me, even though the reality of the situation was that Slade and I, in all likelihood, would never see each other again after today.
I blinked back tears. This was such an impossible situation. The part of me that was desperately in love with him resurfaced for a moment, and I allowed him to come and put his arms around me. I felt his breath inhaling my scent, as if he never wanted to forget it. His masterful hands were gliding up and down the small of my back, and, as I laid my head on his chest, I heard his heart start to pound. I closed my eyes, wanting to stay there forever. If I was ever given a choice just to stand there with Slade, motionless, his arms around me, his heart pounding in my ears, forever, I would have taken it. Forget work, forget Charlotte, forget the world around us. I wanted just to stay there, exactly as we were, for the rest of time.
After what seemed like forever, Slade gently brought my face to his, and kissed me. His hands were on my cheeks, and I felt myself melt into him. Even though my mind was telling me not to do this – it was wrong, he was going to be gone soon, and making love with him would simply make me miss him that much more – my body was betraying me. I felt the heat in his kiss, and I could feel the urgency in it. Both of us knew the score. At least our minds did. But I knew that his body, and his soul, were feeling the need for the two of us to connect one last time. I was feeling the same.
I felt like I had no bones, and Slade picked me up and carried me to my bedroom. He laid me down on the bed, and, without a single word, he gently stripped me of my clothes. When his tongue met my clit, it wasn’t with the urgency that he displayed in his earlier kiss, but, rather, it was slow and gentle. It was as if he had to make this last, and he knew it. Every stroke of his tongue brought me to new heights, because I had never felt so much connected to him. I had never before felt like this. It was as if he and I literally were one body, one mind, one heart, one soul. He became a part of me in that moment, and, when I orgasmed for that first time, it was as if it was my very first orgasm ever.
His hands and fingers made their way up my stomach and to my breasts, and his gentle tongue traced a trail up my breasts and to my neck. There was heat in his lips and tongue, heat that I never really felt before. His warmth was something that I had always noted about him, but it was something that I could feel at that moment, more than I had ever felt it in my life.
As I felt his rock-hard cock gently fill me up, I rocked into him, throwing my legs around his back.. I felt as if I never wanted to let him go. I wanted to imagine that I was holding him to me, and that I would hold him to me for the rest of both of our lives. In my head, that was exactly what was going to happen with us – I would keep him there with me, and he would never, ever leave.
He made love to me for the better part of an hour – so slow and gentle that it was almost agonizing. My clit was on fire with every gentle stroke of his glorious penis, which slowly but surely rocked in and out of me. I felt one orgasm after another roil through me. Our bodies were one. I couldn’t tell where he ended and I began, or where I ended and he began.
When he finally, and reluctantly, withdrew from me, after I felt his hot cum roiling inside of me, he just looked at me. I looked back at him, and I nodded. There was nothing to say that hadn’t already been said. Nothing to do that hadn’t already been done.
It was finished. We both knew it. Whether it was finished forever, or just finished for a few months, was unknown. That remained to be seen.
In my mind, though, it was finished for good. I had to just forget about him. If I let myself pine away after him, then I could never move on with my life. And I had to do just that – move on with my life. From that point on, I would pretend like Slade didn’t exist. I would just have to compartmentalize him like I always was able to before whenever tragedy struck me.
And that was what this was – a tragedy. Losing Slade was a tragedy.
Just like I moved past all my other tragedies, I would move past this one as well. In time.
At least I hoped that I would.
Chapter 2
Slade
I left Serena, and I felt the weight of what had happened come down on me. Goddamn Charlotte. Goddamn her. She was ruining my life, and I knew that I was going to have to find a way out and soon. Very soon. If I had to kill her myself, I would do that. Of course, I didn’t want to do that, but that was an option to me right at that moment. I had to admit, covering up that murder for my mother all those years ago gave me a certain kind of confidence that I could do it again. After all, that murder would have been unsolved if it weren’t for Charlotte and her big, blackmailing mouth.
As I drove up the highway, my mind was filled with revenge. Revenge was the first thing on my mind, but somewhere, in the recesses of my brain, a plan was starting to formulate. It was hazy though, nascent. At some point, it was going to be fully formed, though, I knew. And then it was going to be put into action.
At that moment, though, I was going to have to face up to what I had done and what was about to happen. As much as it made me want to vomit, I had to face it. I was d
esperately worried about Serena, too, though – after all, she was still facing danger with Derek. I was going to definitely have to make a deal with Charlotte about that. I was going to have to negotiate with her before we ever got down that aisle, and having Derek either back the fuck off, or, even better, lose his job, would be a part of this negotiation.
I finally made it to Charlotte’s house, and my mind filled with dread. I looked down at my hands, and they were shaking. I swallowed hard as I drove up the long drive that led to her mansion. As I sat in front of her house, I took a deep breath. I had to feel calm, because my mind had to be clear. Only with a clear head could I figure a way out of this mess.
As I sat in the car, though, Charlotte came bounding out of the house. She came right up to my car. “Did you tell her?”
“Of course.”
She looked at me suspiciously. “How did she take it? And was talking all you did?” She backed off the car a few feet and crossed her arms in front of her. She raised an eyebrow as I just stared at her.
You know that talking is not all we did, bitch. “What do you think?”
She shook her head. “You don’t need to tell me, but I can tell you one thing. That won’t happen again. Not with you and her. With you and me, that should happen every single day.” Then she smiled. “And, believe me, I will be looking forward to that.”
I just stared at her, my hands gripping the wheel. My mind was telling me to run. Run far, run fast, and don’t look back. Just go right back to Serena’s and whisk her off to my house in Italy, and never, ever, think about Charlotte again.
Of course, we would always be looking over our shoulders. Every minute of every day, we would looking around, wondering when the goons were going to come out and gun us both down.