Her husband shrugged. “Same thing about Arrowhead. It’s just a good thing.”
“I’ll second that.” Doug’s mouth was full, but that didn’t seem to hinder him in the least. “Darren, this is the best steak I’ve ever tasted. Hats off to you, man.”
She and Cheryl suffered through the second quarter and halftime together while the guys cheered and booed with seeming oblivion. The Chiefs were winning, much to Jack’s likely dismay, but the scoreboard wasn’t the problem. Would Gabe say yes? Would Jack even go through with it? Dear God, had he bought her a ring?
She grabbed up her cell phone, but Darren plucked it from her fingers and stuffed it in his pocket. No amount of glaring swayed him, so she threw a pillow at him and sulked. Doug laughed. Phil solemnly offered his cell phone, but Darren scotched the plan by threatening to steal that one, too.
It was too soon, she mourned. It had been only a month. They hadn’t known each other long enough to—
She cut off the thought with a start of surprise. Now that she sat down and calculated, she realized that they’d known each other for the better part of a year. How had so much time passed? Maybe it wasn’t so crazy an idea, after all.
With two minutes left in the third quarter, she decided she couldn’t watch. She gathered up the dishes and started for the kitchen with Cheryl close on her heels, but Darren again intervened, taking the dishes off her hands and practically shoving her back down on the couch.
“I’ll even wash them so they won’t be a distraction. Sit.”
Lily gave them a funny look, but Ivy took the opportunity to climb into Mike’s unoccupied lap. She clung to her youngest, wishing she'd talked Jack out of it when she had the chance. They had both been so happy lately. Why fix what wasn’t broken?
Cheryl sat to her right and took her hand. The poor woman was pale and couldn’t stop gnawing at her lip. She glanced at her man and her friend sprawled on the floor with Lily and shook her head.
“Do they even know what’s going to happen? How can they be so calm?”
Mike snorted. “They’re men. They just don’t get it.”
Darren returned just as the clock ticked down to all zeroes, and she gnawed at her lower lip, debating whether or not she should demand her phone back or sneak Phil’s into the bathroom where she could call the whole thing off in peace.
Her ever-vigilant husband sat down at her left and put an arm around her shoulders. “Have they decided where they’ll live yet?”
“Gabe’s house.”
“How will that work with Jack’s classes?”
Cheryl spoke up, her tone almost as curt as Mike’s. “Long engagement. He’ll double up some of his classes to finish in two semesters.”
“It’ll be all right, ladies.”
Mike’s hand clenched on his. “What if it isn’t?”
He chuckled, and she shot him a death glare. “If it isn’t, I’ll watch the girls so you can go fix it.”
She wanted to make a scathing comment, but the screen shifted to a poster hanging over the edge of the second tier. The gold section. She held her breath even as the announcers chuckled over the wording.
“Marry me, Gabe, and I’ll be a Chiefs fan when I’m not rooting for the Bears.” Darren shook his head. “That poor man.”
Doug laughed and eyed Cheryl speculatively. Phil raised an eyebrow.
But Mike’s gaze was glued to her sister’s face. Jack nudged Gabe with his elbow and pointed at the JumboTron. Her eyes widened as she saw herself, and she started to smile and wave. Her jaw dropped open as she read the poster, and she lurched forward to look over the edge.
“I hope they don’t pan away.”
“God, don’t even say that!”
Gabe blinked, obviously stunned, until Jack put a hand on her back and bent down to whisper in her ear. She jerked up straight like a puppet on strings, said something that made Jack throw back his head and laugh, and then threw her arms around his neck.
Mike’s breath left her on a relieved bark of laughter. The crowd roared its approval. Cheryl jumped up and threw her arms around Doug, who was happy to oblige in a little jig around the living room. The announcers offered their congratulations. Phil nodded, his relaxing face showing his relief.
“I wonder what she said.”
Grinning and already planning the wedding, she leaned back against her husband and scruffed her daughter’s curls. “If I read her lips right, she said something like ‘at least you’re not a division rival’.”
“Sounds about par for the course with those two.” He put his arm around her and stretched his legs out before him, settling in for the rest of the game and trying not to trip the dancing couple. “Did you ever think she’d settle down?”
“No, I didn’t.” Her grin turned into a smug smirk. “So I did what any good sister would do when her kid sister refuses to find a man on her own.”
Phil quirked an eyebrow, joining the conversation. “What’s that?”
“I bought her one.”
About the Author
To learn more about Molly Burkhart, please visit www.mollyburkhart.net. Send an email to [email protected]!
Scorching sex: Definitely on the menu. Hold the love, please…
Romeo for Hire
© 2010 Jane Beckenham
Workaholic Carly Mason is caught between a rock and a hard place. The rock: an invitation for four days of sun, sand and…well you get the picture…with her friends. And her mystery man. The hard place: Mr. Invisible, who lusts after her with delicious abandon, is a fantasy that doesn’t really exist.
Then she encounters a motorbike-riding Adonis whose image taunts her during the wee small hours. And when fate drops him in her sights the next day, she grabs the opportunity to offer him a job. Pretend to be her Romeo, just for the duration of her getaway.
Exhausted from months negotiating his multi-million dollar company’s expansion, Marco Valente is more than tempted by Carly’s outrageous proposal. If nothing else, it’ll give him a temporary escape from his high profile life—and his mother’s serial bride attitude.
Once on the island, Carly realizes she’s been tricked. She and Marco are the only ones there. Neither has a mobile phone—and the helicopter is disappearing into the distance. For the next four days and nights, it’s just Carly and her hired Romeo. And a growing connection that definitely wasn’t part of the contract…
Warning: Contains two unbelievably stubborn people undergoing serious cell phone withdrawal, and seriously scorching sex on the beach. Not responsible for reader’s failure to apply sunblock before reading.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Romeo for Hire:
Marco’s touch set Carly on fire. It was sublime, everything she thought it would be, and more.
As she lay on the bed, she watched him strip, clothes falling where he dropped them. He was a magnificent man and she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Broad shoulders tapered to slim hips, the smattering of jet-black chest hair beckoning her fingers. Carly lowered her gaze, suddenly filled with a raging, hungering need to explore his glorious body and any residual calm she thought she possessed shattered as he eased his long, taut body next to hers.
He reached for her, and her body grazed his, chest to chest, hip to hip, the hard sensual thrust of his arousal a potent reminder that Marco was all male. Slowly his eyes darkened to a blue-black, holding hers in a powerful force. His lips sought her mouth, arousing her with a whisper-soft touch. Carly groaned and her body yielded, arching against his. Marco’s breathing came in short, sharp intakes and the pulse in the base of his throat throbbed. She ran a finger over it, felt it skip an erratic dance. She couldn’t help but smile, enjoying his reaction to her.
“Lesson one,” he whispered in her ear.
Carly braced herself, waiting with excited expectation, her eyes closing the moment before he dropped soft, shivery kisses on her eyelids then her earlobes and continuing down to her throat.
Her skin burned with desire, her
body consumed by a basic need. She wound her arms around his neck, holding on, praying it wasn’t a dream and, like a genie, he would vanish. With the tips of her fingers sliding through his silky hair, the texture a sensual play against her own soft skin, she tilted his head down to her breast.
“You taste delicious,” he groaned as he suckled on one pebble-hard nub.
Hearing his whispered ecstasy, she smiled, satisfied. Nothing else mattered. “I’m learning,” she managed to say between the teasing kisses he dotted across her lips, her eyes, her face.
“You’re a good student,” he agreed and sought solace from her other breast. “Your body is so responsive, cara mia.”
Carly couldn’t think clearly, her mind fragmented. She could only feel, touch and taste. All thought beyond the now was gone.
Reacting with a compulsion and desire so strong, she lifted her hips to his. His erection pulsed against her stomach and he began to explore her intimately, teasing her to even greater heights than she thought possible. Emboldened, she slipped her hand between them and clasped him, smiling as Marco exhaled a harsh, ragged gasp.
“Lesson number two.”
She smiled. “I try to please.”
“You do. Very much.”
Lost in a sensory world, Carly’s mind went blank. Only Marco touching her, urging her with his fingers as they flickered over her slickness, was important. She gloried in the sensations whirling through her veins, the rhythm of his heightened touch. Finally, as she reached for some intangible goal, allowing her body to surrender completely, her cry of pleasure pierced the night as Marco brought her to heart-wrenching, joyous fulfillment.
Nothing had prepared Carly for this. Nothing. She lay dazed in utter contentment, savoring the spine-tingling moment, too happy to breathe, too fulfilled to think.
Finally, as every wonderful sensation washed over her in a gentle ebbing caress, she let out a shuddering sigh of total release and contentment. “That was beautiful.”
“Beauty for the beautiful, amore.” Marco grinned and trailed a finger down the side of her cheek. “Lesson number three, cara. A man makes sure his woman is pleased,” he whispered into the fall of her hair and again began dotting butterfly-soft kisses down the curve of her throat. It sent goose bumps shimmying up and down her spine, an instant heat pulsing between her thighs.
“You have pleased me. I’ve never…” Her voice trailed off, and an embarrassed heat rushed to her cheeks.
But Marco pulled back and the tip of his finger lifted her chin. Her gaze met his.
“Pleasure, Marco. That was the pinnacle of pleasure. I feel complete.” And she was. It echoed through her body in a continuous salve of pure joy and made her heart sing. “You’ve made me come alive. I don’t want to even breathe in case it disappears.” She ran her hands across his skin, reveling in the feel of it beneath her fingertips. “I never want to lose this feeling. To lose…”
“Shush. That is impossible. We have all night.” Dark, teasing glints flickered in Marco’s passion-filled eyes.
“All night. Sounds perfect.” Reaching up, Carly trailed a path over the rough sandpaper stubble of his chin. “Everything I touch is so heightened, so erotic and arousing,” she whispered. “Are our lessons finished?”
One dark eyebrow arched humorously. “Life is one long lesson.”
Carly curved a hand around his blatantly aroused penis, stroking the thick shaft. She arched back, her legs parting. “Then hadn’t we better get on with the lesson?” she asked with a wicked smile.
“The final lesson is about to begin. Kiss me. Now,” Marco instructed and with a gentleness that surprised and warmed her, he edged himself to her moist center, tentative and teasing as he nudged at her slick folds.
“Now, Marco. Please?”
He smiled down at her. “Patience, cara. A man needs to know his journey before he starts.”
Inch by delicious inch, Marco entered her. Carly reveled in the feel of him, wanting him to fill her. Faster. Harder.
“At last,” Marco sighed and captured her lips. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”
Lilting laughter slid from Carly. “A few days.”
“It seems a lifetime.”
Loving him couldn’t be worse than losing him… Could it?
Rock Me
© 2010 Cherrie Lynn
Candace Andrews has had enough of pleasing others. In an act of birthday rebellion, she sets out to please herself—by walking into the tattoo parlor owned by her cousin’s ex-boyfriend. All she wants is a little ink, and Brian’s just the guy to give it to her.
As soon as she submits to his masterful hands, though, the forbidden attraction she’s always felt for him resurfaces…and she realizes the devilishly sexy artist could give her so much more.
Sweet, innocent Candace is the last person Brian expected to see again. She’s everything he’s not, and her family despises him. He doesn’t need the hassle, but he needs her, and this time no one is taking her away. Not even those who threaten to make his life a living hell.
Backed into a corner, Candace faces the worst kind of choice. Cave in to those who think Brian is a living nightmare…or hold her ground and risk it all for the one man who rocks her world.
Warning: This book contains explicit sex, naughty language, tattoos aplenty, family drama, a hot rock concert…and a bad boy hero who’s pierced in all the right places.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Rock Me:
Candace closed her eyes as Brian’s finger traveled gently up her nape, raising gooseflesh on her arms. “Maybe you had a point, as far as how my parents are going to react to you. Maybe it’ll always be that way.”
“Does it have to be?”
“How else could it ever be? There’s no changing my situation.”
“Sweetie, there’s no way to say this without sounding condescending, but you’re young. Right now this is all you can see, but trust me, this won’t always be your reality. Pretty soon you’ll be able to make your own way in the world no matter what they think.”
“You don’t know them very well, do you,” she said flatly.
He cupped the back of her neck in his hand, bringing his other over to tilt her chin toward him, trapping her for the kiss she knew was coming if she didn’t do something fast. But he just held her that way, stroking her cheek with his thumb, his gaze searching hers as if all the answers were inside her somewhere.
If only that could be the truth.
“I don’t. But I think I have a pretty good handle on you. You’re going to be okay.”
He stared at her so intently. His eyes were a dark, turbulent ocean, and she wanted to drown in it. Suddenly she became aware of the aching fullness of her lips and the weight of her breasts pushing against her bra.
This skirt was so short, and she’d chosen it for that reason alone, but maybe it had been a huge mistake. Reaching under it and her black G-string would take absolutely no effort on his part. Not good, though she wanted that so, so badly, she couldn’t resist rubbing her bare thighs together as his gaze continued to melt through all of her defenses.
Just when he knew she was about to go up in flames or melt right there in his truck, he leaned in. Warm lips slanted over hers as a breathless cry rushed from her mouth into his. She brought up her hands, clenching his shirt in her fists as his tongue stole past her teeth and plundered her mouth. His was the kiss she had dreamed of all her life, deep and somehow as fierce as it was gentle. It opened the gates to a flood of emotion and erotic sensation that had her almost writhing against the seat.
His hand finding her breast seemed the most natural thing in the world. Even through two frustrating layers of fabric, she could feel his heat as he palmed her and circled the tight bud of her nipple with his thumb, forcing it to pull even tauter. When he pinched it, she moaned into his mouth, clasping his wrist in her hand. But not to stop him. To make sure he didn’t stop. The little jolts of pleasure/pain sent lightning zipping all through her body, striking
at the juncture of her thighs. Her skimpy underwear was no barrier to the growing wetness there. She began to fear making a mess on his seats.
She pulled away from his mouth to breathe, and he attacked her throat with his lips, his heavy breathing the sexiest sound she had ever heard. He was shuddering as hard as she was. His teeth raked her throat and an involuntary “Oh” slipped out before she could stop it. It seemed to only enflame him further, and he plunged a hand under her top, pushing up the cup of her bra as he finally brought his fingers flesh-to-feverish-flesh with her aching nipple.
She had no anchor, nothing to buffer her from these insane sensations. The worry of getting caught was only a minor flicker in the back of her mind…they were in the back of the lot, it was dark, and his windows were tinted. She turned into him as much as she could, trying to bring her right leg over his, to straddle him. If he would only pull her into his lap so she could grind against him…
He got the hint. Almost before she could cry out in frustration, he pulled his hand out of her shirt and plunged it beneath her ass, yanking her hard over him as if she weighed nothing. The new position, legs splayed over him, pushed her skirt the rest of the way up over her hips. She was bare except for a scrap of fabric he could easily rip. Instead, he ran both hands down the small of her back, allowing his fingers to become entangled in the strings as he cupped both her bare cheeks in his palms.
“Jesus Christ, Candace,” he groaned, leaning his forehead against her shoulder as his hands massaged, soothed, played and tantalized. It felt so good, so good…
“Oh, God.” The words were a shuddery sigh. Spread open this way, with his fingers only inches away… “Please.”
“Please what?”
She ground her pelvis into him hard, so that her clit barely rasped across the fabric of his jeans. She couldn’t get close enough. His hands continued tormenting her, squeezing her ass, tugging her panties, but making no move to address the need burning hot and wet at her center. “Touch me.”
My Gigolo: The Care and Feeding of a Male Prostitute Page 26