Naked (41 page)

She pulled away, lowering her head to where his lips pressed against her forehead, and panted. She looked to the side, and once again, all eyes were on them.

She couldn’t help the tension that had coiled in her stomach. For a moment, she let the eyes infiltrate her confidence. Many of these women knew Steven. She didn’t want to shit on his memory, but she wasn’t going to hide her feelings for Noah. Because they were the real thing.

“They’re not thinking what you’re thinking,” Noah said, his chin resting on the top of her head.

How could he know what she was thinking? She’d barely let the thought solidify in her brain.

“They’re just jealous.”

She pulled away, and looked up. His eyes full of mischief. “Of what?”

“Because they can’t have me.” He wiggled his eyebrows and planted one more kiss on her lips.

She snorted against his mouth. “Is that so.”

“That’s right.” He nodded, leaning closer. “This guy is taken for the long haul.”

To every person who has ever had a moment of self-doubt. May you always find the confidence to be yourself.

Acknowledgments

I’ve struggled with poor self-esteem my entire life. I’m the girl who sits in the corner watching everyone else have fun, silently cursing myself for not having the balls to get up and just…be me.

And I hate myself for it.

It’s always the same refrain playing on a loop in my head; I’m not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not smart enough, and not interesting enough.

So I wanted to create a character that was the complete opposite of me.

Enter Harper Jones.

She’s everything I wish I could be. Unabashedly self-confident. Outgoing. And feisty. She is completely in love with the woman she is. And isn’t that the most important type of love? Self-love (okay, get your minds out of the gutter).

In order to be yourself, your true self, you have to love yourself. It’s something that I work on every day, but I’m not quite there yet. I’m hoping that by the time I write Harper’s story in
Inked,
she might have rubbed off on me.

As always, I’d like to thank Sue Grimshaw for her enthusiasm about this series and her spot-on insight.

Thank you to my agent, Victoria Lowes, for your behind-the-scenes support. Thank you for believing I have what it takes to make it in this business.

To my girls, LB, SK, DK, and SG. I wouldn’t be able to survive this crazy writing world without you.

Thank you to every person who has ever taken the time to read even one word I’ve ever had published. You make the conversations with fictional characters going on in my head worthwhile.

B
Y
G
INA
G
ORDON

White Lace

Rush

Burn
(coming soon)

Body & Soul

Naked

About the Author

When her dream of becoming a mafia princess didn’t pan out, G
INA
G
ORDON
went after her second dream: becoming a writer. And she hasn’t looked back. A self-proclaimed happily-ever-after junkie and cupcake connoisseur, Gordon loves spinning contemporary tales of knee-bending first kisses, unconditional love, and super-hot sex. She lives in Milton, Ontario, with her husband and their lovable dog.

ginagordon.net

Facebook.com/AuthorGinaGordon

@GordonGina

The Editor’s Corner

Bring in the New Year with a new romance from Loveswept—all are specially written with you in mind, so I know you’ll find a story that’s a perfect fit.

Elisabeth Barrett returns to Briarwood, an unforgettable place where legacy and longing make dreams come true, in
The Best of Me.
USA Today
bestselling author Jamie K. Schmidt follows with the first book in her new Hawaii Heat series,
Life’s a Beach,
an irresistible tale of second chances. The bad boys of baseball only get better with Katie Rose’s fourth book in the Boys of Summer series,
The Heat Is On,
where a homegrown baseball star returns to snag the one that got away.
USA Today
bestselling author Mira Lyn Kelly finishes her Dare to Love series with
Now and Then,
a steamy short novel of lost love, second chances, and hidden dangers.

New York Times
bestselling author Kathy Clark releases
After Love,
book one in the suspenseful Austin Heroes series. Cecy Robson’s
Of Flame and Promise
kicks off a sizzling new series in the Weird Girls saga as Celia’s sister Taran fights to have it all. Jessica Lemmon introduces the ultimate bad boy in
Forgotten Promises,
and Gina Gordon starts her powerful, deeply sensual series Body & Soul where one woman discovers the courage to face life’s greatest challenges in
Naked
.

Let’s get sweet with
USA Today
bestselling author Laura Drewry and her latest,
Off the Hook,
part of her Fishing for Trouble series, and Zoe Dawson and her first Laurel Falls novel,
Leaving Yesterday,
for fans of small-town romance. Sidney Halston’s fans will be happy to know another mixed-martial-arts story is en route with
Fighting Dirty,
and then Claire Kent has you
Taking It Off
with a male stripper—yum! Adding to this
USA Today
bestseller list is a fast MC story from Maisey Yates,
Strip You Bare.
And Sawyer Bennett is bundling her books from her
New York Times
bestselling Cold Fury Hockey series.

Looking for a few historical romances? Lavinia Kent releases a Regency favorite in
Ravishing Ruby,
Sharon Cullen brings you back to Culloden in
Sutherland’s Secret,
and Pamela Labud’s Hunt Club series begins with
To Catch a Lady—
all with heroes to die for.

That’s it for this month—but February is bigger and better than ever before. Hope to see you soon.

~Happy Romance!

Gina Wachtel

Associate Publisher

Read on for an excerpt from

Seduced

by Gina Gordon

Available from Loveswept

Chapter One

Charlotte Young pried open her swollen eyes, weighted by what felt like a hundred pounds.

Her head pounded. Her body ached. She felt like she’d survived three rounds in the ring with Ronda Rousey.

What the hell had happened?

She tried to focus, tried to remember why she might be feeling like gum on the bottom of a shoe, but her brain was just as fuzzy as the film on her teeth and tongue.

When her eyes finally managed to focus, she stared up into the sky; white, fluffy clouds scattered across the expanse of blue.

Shit!

Was she dead? Was this heaven?

The clouds weren’t moving. Come to think of it, nothing was. The air around her was eerily still…and stale. She took a deep breath, recognizing the faint smell of cigarettes and booze. A lumpy mattress poked her aching body, and when she spread her hands out to the side, scratchy bedding scraped over her skin.

She was in bed, but it wasn’t hers. And if she wasn’t at home…

A soft groan sounded beside her.

Double shit!

She definitely wasn’t at home.

Her heart rate picked up, along with her brain, running through a million possible scenarios because she could not for the life of her remember where she was, how she’d gotten there—wherever this was—and who she was with.

Another soft groan.

She couldn’t look.

Didn’t
want
to look.

But she
had
to look.

As she let her head fall to the left, her brain disagreed with her choice to move. It pounded against her forehead in protest. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the severe throbbing behind her eyeballs.

Finally, she got the courage to take a peek.

When she registered the person lying beside her, her breathing stopped on a gasp.

His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. He looked sinful, delectable, absolutely beautiful, all sleep-rumpled and warm. Her fingers itched to reach out and touch the part of his chest that was bare, which was most of it since the sheet barely covered him up.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t fantasized about this, and he looked exactly the way she’d always thought he would without a shirt on—hard, tanned, and a feast for the eyes. And she was absolutely down for a breakfast buffet.

Archer Anderson, II. The son of her late boss.

And they were in bed together.

Fuuuucck.

She looked away, squeezing her eyes tight once again, willing away the situation. This was a dream. A very vivid, fantasy-come-to-life dream, but she was going to wake up now.

She opened her eyes and seeing him still beside her, she whimpered.

Clutching her head, she pressed her fingers into her temples hoping like hell it would give her some relief. But it did no such thing.

She looked over at the nightstand next to her and to her surprise, there was a glass of water and what looked like two aspirin set out. But pain relief was quickly forgotten when she noticed the bright, purple box sitting right beside the glass.

Was that a box of condoms?

She peeked under the covers and to her dismay, she was completely naked.

Double fuck.

She whimpered, reaching out for the glass of water, but froze when a clink echoed in the room as soon as she made contact with the glass.

She pulled her hand away, a shiny flash of metal catching her attention. She held out her left hand, spreading her fingers wide to inspect her ring finger. It was a white gold band, or maybe platinum, she couldn’t tell the difference. But there was no mistaking what it was.

“What the hell is going on?” Her forehead pinched with her words, her voice shaky and rough. She didn’t even recognize it.

“If you’re going to sleep beside me, the least you could do is be quiet.” He groaned. The bed shook with his movement, and he settled on his side. He peeked up at her with heavy lids, his blue eyes penetrating every defense she’d ever built to keep men like him out.

All men for that matter.

He reached out with a shaky hand and with gentle fingers swiped away the strands of her blond hair that had fallen over one eye.

She tensed. “What are you doing in this bed?” She squeaked out the words and batted his hand away. “Why are you touching me like that?”

He looked sincerely shocked, like her words had sliced through a happy part of him. But he quickly recovered, his hand flopping down on the bed, frustration settling on his face. “Is that any way to treat your husband?”

She snorted out a laugh.

Husband?

There was no way in hell she had gotten married, let alone to the rich, entitled frat boy who gallivanted all over the world on his family’s money.

Talk about complete opposites.

“We are certainly
not
married.”

His eyebrow quirked up. “You don’t remember?”

She froze. He was actually serious. That teasing smirk that usually accompanied every word out of his mouth was missing.

“Anything?” He simply stared at her, waiting for her response. But her mind was still fuzzy. A blank stare was the best response she could give him.

The last thing she remembered was the memorial for her late boss, the one she had planned with his wife, who had taken over as interim CEO and was now her boss. She remembered Archer showing up drunk, which wasn’t a surprise. She remembered him bringing over shots, and vaguely baiting her to “catch up.” Obviously she’d taken his words to heart, because here she was in a strange room, in…“Where are we?”

“Vegas.”

“What?”

Of all the stupid and reckless things to do.

But isn’t that your new thing?

“Please explain how we went from shots at a restaurant in Toronto to being married in Vegas.”

“You really don’t remember?” He rolled over, swinging his legs out and over the edge. He lifted his arms, stretching out his perfect back. The blanket fell away even more and that’s when she realized he was just as naked under the covers as she was.