Dangerous Temptations
Dangerous Temptations
From
USA Today
Bestselling Author
Brooke Cumberland
Copyright © 2015
Brooke Cumberland
www.brookecumberland.com
Dangerous Temptations
Cover Photography by
Perrywinkle Photography
Cover Models: Chase Williams and Whitney Rae Diederich
Cover Design by
Perfect Pear Creative Covers
Literary Editor:
Rogena Mitchell-Jones, Manuscript Service
All rights reserved. No parts of the book may be used or reproduced in any matter without written permission from the author, except for inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, establishments, organizations, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously to give a sense of authenticity. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to another person except when loaned out per Amazon’s lending program. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then it was pirated illegally. Please purchase a copy of your own and respect the hard work of this author.
One night was all it took…
One night to ruin everything I thought I knew.
From the outside, I had the perfect lifestyle.
Wealthy fiancé, blossoming career, amazing friends.
I wasn’t looking to get married yet, but when William—”Manhattan’s royalty”—charmed his way into my life, I couldn’t deny the security and comfort that overcame me.
To society, I was the girl only after his money. I was the party-goer who managed to seduce a man twice my age to have the lifestyle some could only dream of. I was every magazine’s cliché of what a gold-digging whore was.
I wanted to prove them wrong—that our love was real and that I wasn’t that girl.
But then everything changed.
One wrong decision. One unfaithful night. One haunting reality.
Perhaps they were right.
The media didn’t see it coming…and neither did I.
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“We may love the wrong person and cry for the wrong reason, but one thing is for sure, mistakes help us to find the right person.”
-Taylor Swift
Hi reader!
First, thank you so much for picking up
Dangerous Temptations
! I really hope you love Mac’s story as much as I do. Secondly, I want to point out that this book is exactly what the title suggests:
temptation
. Read the blurb carefully to see if it’s something for you. Without giving anything away, I know this book isn’t going to be for everyone and that’s okay. But I hope you get it a try! Mac had a story to tell, and I simply allowed her to tell it the way it needed to be told. This is a stand alone, so rest assured you’ll be getting an ending. :-)
Thank you again for all your support! Enjoy the ride!
Much Love,
Brooke xo
Prologue
I stared out
of the large floor to ceiling window as the rain poured over New York City. It was a gloomy and cloudy spring day. I focused on the street walkers covering themselves up with umbrellas and oversized jackets. It was like deja vu…I felt the same feeling, that same fear. Everything around me moved in slow motion as the events from
that day
played out in front of me.
Blood. So much blood.
I felt my stomach threatening to empty the contents of my breakfast as I heard the screeching voice of my boss, Laura. “Mackenzie!” I quickly spun around to her opening the door. “I have a lunch meeting at one o’clock,” she informed me with cold eyes. “We’ll be eating in the conference room. Make sure our order is here on
time
,” she said firmly, emphasizing the word
time.
I was still learning my way around the company and calling in quick favors wasn’t easy.
“No problem, Ms. Carmichael.” I forced a smile in her direction.
Actually, it was a
big
problem.
She didn’t tell me where she wanted me to order from and she couldn’t be bothered with inane questions. She just expected me to know.
As soon as she walked out, I frantically searched my email for any kind of delivery confirmation the last time she hosted a lunch conference. Finally, I found the most recent one for a Mediterranean restaurant and quickly placed an order—hoping to God I was picking the correct things.
By 12:50, the food hadn’t arrived yet, and I was starting to sweat profusely.
Shit, shit, shit.
She’s going to fire me.
“Mackenzie!” she yelled from her office.
“Yes?” I asked, fear and anxiety evident in my voice.
“Mr. Lancaster eats gluten-free only. Make sure the food is up to par.”
I nodded. “Absolutely.”
Oh my god!
She tells me this now?
Just as I turned around to walk out and back to my desk, I ran directly into a wall.
Except it wasn’t a wall. It was Mr. Lancaster and my ass was definitely going to be toast.
“Whoa…” he said lightly bracing my shoulders with the palms of his hands. “You all right?”
I tilted my head up to a tall salt-and-pepper haired man. He was all lines and angles. His body felt firm against mine, and I had to remind myself how to talk.
“Y-yes. Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry!”
“No worries, Miss…” He smiled, waiting for me to tell him my name.
“Hewitt,” I filled in for him. “Mackenzie Hewitt,” I stumbled. “I’m really sorry. I should’ve been watching where I was going.”
“Yes…you should have.” I heard Laura scolding from behind me.
Here it goes…I’m so fired!
“Laura, it’s fine.” He held up his hand. “I shouldn’t have crept up on her. It’s my fault,” he responded genuinely. He looked down at me and winked. I mouthed a thank you and stepped back to allow him to walk past me.
The food had finally arrived and I quietly brought it into their meeting without saying a word. That’s how I was trained—be seen, not heard. I was there to do a job, not make friendly chat.
“Laura…” I heard him say with amusement. “Your assistant must’ve read my mind.”
Oh, shit…Had he heard me thinking about him? Had I said something aloud? He was good looking for his age, attractive actually. I’d been thinking how sexy he was just before he spoke.
I swallowed as I turned to face them. “I love Mediterranean.” He smiled seductively, making my body shiver in response.
Was he flirting with me right in front of my boss?
I didn’t know what to say. I blushed as I gave a small smile in return.
“Yes, she’s quite the worker,” Laura praised, taking me off guard. She’d never said a nice thing to me in the past six months I’ve been slaving for her.
I left the room without another word. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. This was not a usual encounter in my busy day-to-day schedule.
An hour later, Mr. Lancaster exited the conference room and thanked me for his lunch.
“You’re very welcome, Mr. Lancaster,” I responded, smiling again. I couldn’t help it. There was just something so vibrant and appealing about him.
“Oh, please. Call me William,” he insisted, bringing a hand to his chest.
“Have a good evening, William,” I responded, encouraging him to leave so I could finish my work. But he just continued to stand in front of my desk.
“I’d have a much better evening if you’d accompany me to dinner tonight.” My eyes widened in surprise.
Did he just ask me out on a date?
“I assure you it’d be a lot more enjoyable if I weren’t eating alone.” Now that just made me sad. No one deserved to eat dinner alone. I had too many childhood memories of eating alone in alleys. There’s no way I was going to turn down a meal with him.
“I’d love to.” He took down my address and said he’d pick me up at eight o’ clock. My body trembled as I watched him walk away.
Did that just really happen?
I was mentally freaking out, but I reminded myself I needed to stay calm. I still had five hours left of work to get through.
That night, we met for dinner and he focused all of his attention on me. It was so special, more than I had even expected. Being around him filled my body with a comforting warmth. He was easy-going for holding so much power.
After our dinner, I ended up Googling him and finding out exactly who he was. I was speechless. Shocked. Surely, he was just using me for some kind of publicity stunt. He was broadcasted all over page six in the
New York Post
at least twice a month. But he continued to ask me out, and I continued to say yes.
Despite our age difference, it didn’t really seem to matter. We carried easy conversation. He cringed at my work horror stories, and I laughed at his jokes. We were two people who would’ve never been destined to meet had I not moved to the city a year ago. But something stronger pulled us together, and a year later, he proposed.
I moved into his six-thousand square foot penthouse apartment shortly after. It was easier, made it so we could see each other more often since he worked ten to twelve hour days and then usually had business trips twice a month. His attention was limited when it came to juggling so many things at once. But we were making it work and I had never been happier.
But then one wrong decision changed the course of my life, and I hadn’t seen it coming. I didn’t know I would continue to be haunted by the reality of one unfaithful night. But soon, I found out lines would be crossed, boundaries would be broken, and things were never as they seemed in the first place.