He pulled back a few inches. “Earlier you said that I made you hot and bothered.”
“Blurted it out, you mean,” she grumbled as she turned away, presenting him with the perfect view of her neck. Sam kissed her there, just behind her ear. Julie shivered.
Sam’s voice dropped an octave as he admitted, “Either way, I’m glad you said it.”
“Yes, well, I think you’ve managed to turn the heat up a notch.” She cleared her throat. “In case you were curious or anything.”
“Still feels a little chilly to me,” he said as he coasted his lips over her earlobe and nibbled.
“W-we can’t have that,” she whispered, tilting her head to the side and giving him better access to her neck.
Sam caved in to temptation and licked the smooth line of her neck. He could feel the rapid rise and fall of her chest as she pressed her body closer to his. Sam’s cock pulsed with the need to be buried inside her soft pussy. Damn, he hadn’t even taken off Julie’s clothes and already he ached for release. Sam was desperate to tear off her sweats, to see the full curves she kept hidden, but he didn’t want to rush her. She’d admitted her inexperience earlier, and Sam knew it would be better if he took the time to coax Julie’s passion to the surface, not demand it.
“I’m out of my element here, Sam,” she softly confessed, confirming his conviction that he needed to take it slow.
Nervous tension creased her brow, but the fingers tugging at his hair spoke of how turned on she was. The very last thing he wanted was for Julie to be shy and reserved. He wanted her to let go of her shyness, to feel free to explore him a little, because he sure as shit planned to explore her.
Sam nudged her face toward his. “Sweetheart?”
“Hmm?” she asked as her pleasure-filled gaze snared his.
“Kiss me,” he urged.
“Good idea.” She leaned into him and barely touched her lips with his.
Unlike the mating of lips before, this kiss was light and fleeting but enough to have Sam’s blood pounding hot. He dipped his head and tasted the V-shaped bit of skin exposed at the front of the hoodie. He licked the warmth he discovered there, enjoying the beat of her pulse pounding out a staccato rhythm beneath his tongue.
Lifting a little, Sam asked, “More?”
He watched her swallow hard, and even that seemed sexy. “It’d be oh so wrong to stop now,” she said, her voice not quite as steady as before.
“Christ, you’re turning me on here.”
She mumbled something unintelligible, but it was her responsiveness that sent a wave of primitive satisfaction through him. He wanted to be the only man with the privilege to hear that particular husky tone of voice from Julie. He brushed his lips across her throat one more time before placing a hand on the back of the swing next to her, caging her in.
Sam ran a hand down her arm, then let his fingers drift over one cotton-covered breast. Through her bra and the thick material of the hoodie, he couldn’t tell if her nipples were hard little points or not, but if her breathing was any indication, she definitely liked his ministrations. As he cupped one full, round breast, shaping and kneading, he heard her beg his name. Sam stopped and looked her over. With her hair all around her shoulders, eyes half-closed with desire and her lips swollen from his kisses, she looked like an offering.
Sam reached down with one hand and cupped her pussy through the sweats. “You want to come, sweets?”
“So very badly.” She moaned. “I just might implode if I don’t.”
Sam tsked. “We certainly can’t have that.” He kissed her cheek and breathed in her delicate scent. Sam took her hand in his and pressed it against his cock. “Feel what you do to me, Julie,” he gently ordered.
His tool, his rules…
Vance’s Rules
© 2012 Anne Rainey
Blackwater, Book 2
Looking at Vance Jennings now, no one would guess that the tough-as-nails building contractor once suffered a broken heart. Twelve years has blunted the pain of the breakup with his high school sweetheart, but not the memory. Until she shows up on his doorstep asking for a second chance.
One look at the sexy redhead, and Vance adds a foot or two to his rock-solid emotional barriers. No way is he letting her back into his life. But he’ll be happy to let her close enough to sample her delectable body.
Shayla Riggs is no longer the vulnerable teenager who was forced to give up her first and only love. She’s older, wiser, and determined to make things right. Except the changes in Vance throw her for a loop. He’s definitely not the sweet boy she remembers. In fact, the grown-up version lights her up hotter than a firecracker.
It takes only a kiss, a caress, to bring back the explosive passion they once shared. But if Shayla can’t find a way to break through the bitter walls around his heart, it just might destroy them both. Again.
Warning: This story contains a stubborn woman intent on seduction and an alpha male with some naughty ideas of payback. Let the fireworks begin!
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Vance’s Rules:
Watching the emotions flit across Shayla’s expressive face brought Vance back to the first moment he’d seen her. It was in Biology II, and Shayla had been wearing a demure white blouse and a pair of loose jeans. Her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, little strands hanging around her face. At first, he’d thought her mousy and sort of forgettable. It hadn’t taken him long to start imagining what her slight curves would feel like pressed up against his body.
He’d flirted with her, and she’d blushed. It’d turned him on. He’d spent too many classroom hours staring at her ass. She’d caused a riot within his hormones, then and now. More than once, he’d imagined taking hold of the little elastic band holding her hair back and yanking it free so he could watch as all her rich, red hair cascaded down her back.
When they’d started dating, Shayla had spoiled him with her sweet, giving nature, Vance admitted to himself. He hadn’t been forced to do much chasing because she’d been so enamored of him. The first time they’d made love, in the front seat of his pickup truck, no less, Vance had been thrown for a loop by the fact she’d been a virgin. Guilt had assailed him. Hell, she’d been innocent until he’d gotten hold of her. The next morning in class, she’d looked at him and smiled. The combination of sweet innocence and naughty vixen had done him in. He’d been toast after that. Vance hadn’t been able to keep his hands off Shayla. If he remembered correctly, she’d been every bit as greedy for him.
Vance knew now what they’d had was puppy love. Shayla was more confident now. He had a feeling she wasn’t going to be quite so malleable this time around. She’d all but tossed a wrench into his well-ordered world with her sudden appearance as it was. He grinned in spite of himself. If she had any clue how intent he could be when he wanted something, she never would’ve stepped foot into his house.
When she sat on the couch in front of the fire and smiled up at him, Vance wasn’t sure whether he wanted to lick her from head to toe or push her out the door.
With resignation, Vance went to the kitchen cupboard and took out a bottle of wine. “Merlot, okay?” he called out.
“Perfect, thank you. So,” she said, “have you always lived here alone?”
It didn’t surprise him she would fish around to see if he’d ever had a woman living with him. Shayla was curious by nature. As he headed back into the living room, Vance hid a grin and decided to tease her a little.
“Actually, Elizabeth lives here with me.”
Shayla squinted. “Elizabeth? But you said you weren’t seeing anyone.”
“Elizabeth isn’t just anyone. She’s upstairs,” he said as he poured them each a glass of wine, “sprawled out on my bed.”
The look she shot him was downright lethal. “I see. Well, I hope I didn’t interrupt…anything.”
Yep, the woman was definitely jealous. Vance sat down next to her and took a sip of his wine. “Eh, Elizabeth doesn’t mind, but don’t expect her to come down and visit. She’s shy.”
Shayla tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, then started drumming her fingers on her thigh. Vance knew Shayla well. The twelve years she’d been gone hadn’t changed the fact that she only performed that little ritual whenever she was agitated—and without a doubt, right now she was agitated. “How long have you two been together?”
He swirled the wine around in his glass. “Ten years, give or take.” When her eyes grew wide, Vance added, “Shayla, Elizabeth is a cat.”
Her gaze narrowed. “A cat?”
Vance winked. “Yep. A pretty, slightly obese, gray-and-black-striped cat that I found at the animal shelter.”
She placed her glass on the coffee table and crossed her arms over her chest. “You were putting me on.”
Vance’s gaze zeroed in on Shayla’s breasts. She wore a high-necked, peach-colored blouse, and he could just barely make out the outline of her bra. God, how he wanted to see her strip. He imagined licking her nipples, and his cock stiffened. When an image of her naked and beneath him sprang to mind, he quickly pushed it away. “Yeah,” he said as he cleared his throat, “I was. Sorry.”
She chuckled. “You really don’t sound sorry.”
Vance had to tamp down the need to reach over and simply take what he so badly wanted. He needed to do something and quick, or Shayla was going to find herself sprawled out on the couch. To hell with crazy things like logic and good sense. “I’m really not.”
Vance put his wine next to hers on the coffee table in front of them, then scooted closer. When he took her in his arms, he noticed the shock registering in her eyes. “W-What are you doing?”
“When you came here, did you want more than a clear conscience, Shay?”
She closed her eyes tight and nodded. “Yes.”
Vance’s blood heated. “Do you still have feelings for me?” he asked, all but holding his breath.
Her green eyes opened and held his captive. “I don’t know, but I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought about you over the years.”
It wasn’t a lot to go on, but it was enough that he wanted to shout in triumph. “Maybe we should get reacquainted, then. See where things go.”
“Yes, I’d like that.”
Vance cupped her face in his hand and drew her close until she was nestled against him. “Let’s start this off right, shall we?” he murmured as he dipped his head and tasted her for the first time in what seemed like forever. Oh, hell, yeah. The woman was made for him. God, he’d missed her taste. Her scent. Her sweet, bow-shaped mouth. No woman had ever gotten to him the way she did. It was as if with a single kiss the years melted away. His sweet Shay. It pissed him off that she got to him so fast, so easily.
Vance locked his thoughts away and devoured Shayla’s plump lips. He licked, torturing them both with ideas of more. Then he teased his tongue back and forth over the seam, thrilled when she parted them for him. Only him. It was a small sign of surrender, but Vance would take whatever he could get. She twined her arms around his neck, and her curves melted against him. He ached to sink into her hot pussy. To bury his dick deep and feel her shudder all around him as they loved each other.
He moved until she was lying back over the cushion, his body covering hers. He accidentally kicked the leg of the coffee table, and the wineglasses shook. Shayla stiffened. She began to push him away, and Vance let her, but only so he could taste the delicate skin on her throat. His hand wrapped around the slim column. He licked a spot behind her ear, and she moaned his name. His cock grew hard as stone, and he let loose a low groan of need.
“Wait,” she murmured. “Please.”
Vance pulled back and looked into her eyes. Her need tore him up, but there was a good amount of apprehension there as well. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“It’s too fast. Just this morning, you were ordering me to leave.”
Vance smoothed his palm down the side of her body until he was clutching her hip. He squeezed and felt her tremble. “Don’t you think we’ve waited long enough?” He held himself in check, giving her the ultimate decision.
Her answer was pure Shayla. “I want you like crazy right now, but it can’t be merely sex. There has to be more between us.”
He frowned down at her. “It’s not just a quick fuck I’m looking for here.”
Breaking Brodix
Anne Rainey
She wants to get all up in his business? She’ll have to get real personal.
Blackwater, Book 3
Brodix Jennings has a head for business, but his skills are put to the test when his brothers call on him to bring the family restaurant back into the black. With the grand reopening only days away, it’ll damn near take a miracle to keep the doors from closing for good.
Reporter Sarah Greer knows exactly what Brodix needs—free publicity on the front page of the town’s only newspaper. All she wants in exchange is the Jennings brothers’ rags-to-riches story. Except none of them are talking. And Brodix, who cuts a blazing path through her body with just a smile, is the most tight-lipped of the lot.