Burned (10 page)

She’s more spice than sugar…and he has a taste for heat.

Bold

© 2012 Mackenzie McKade

Whispering Cove, Book 5

Tabatha Taylor has mooned over her brother’s best friend since childhood. For years she’s been chipping away at his cool façade, using the generous, all-grown-up assets God gave her to her advantage.

Finally she has a chance to work close to him on a project for the Fall Festival. Going nose to nose with him will prove her ideas have merit, even if she doesn’t have a degree. But she learns the cost to her heart could be bigger than she anticipated.

Tabby’s dark beauty definitely sets architect Reece McGrath’s pulse racing, but she’s an itch better left unscratched. The attraction that flares between them is hot and undeniable, but getting close means risking a friendship he values and a lifestyle he cherishes. Crossing that boundary isn’t worth the price he’d have to pay.

With one of the grandfathers of Whispering Cove pinpointing them in another matchmaking scheme, though, they find themselves inching closer to that line. And closer

Warning: This book gives new meaning to getting nailed. Nothing beats a man with a variety of tools at his disposal and a woman who is bold enough to take him on.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Bold:

When Reece maneuvered his truck around a curve in the road, the two-story, redbrick gymnasium came into view. Surprise registered when he saw Tabby’s black Jeep in front. As he pulled up beside the vehicle, relief filtered through him. At least now he knew where she was. He sat behind the wheel of his vehicle for a moment, wondering whether he should let her be or go in and help. The thought came and went when he reached for the door handle and got out. Gravel crunched beneath his feet as he trod purposely to the door, finding it unlocked. As he entered the auditorium, he heard Tabby’s sweet voice.

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” Standing center stage, she gazed longingly over the rows and rows of empty seats. Houselights beaming upon her, she made a quarter turn and the long, flowing, red velvet Renaissance gown she wore brushed the polished floor.

He smiled. Silently he closed the door to not disturb her.

“Deny thy father and refuse thy name.” She breathed deeply, her features belaying a tortured woman in love.

Acting appeared to come naturally to Tabby. Of course, she had always been good at theatrics—the brat. With those puppy-dog eyes she could wind her father, Devon and even him around her little finger at will.

“Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,” she spoke softly. “And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”

Padding down the aisle, he opened his arms. “Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?” he quoted, remembering the line from his high school years when they had been forced to read the play.

Tabby shrieked, her head swinging side to side in search of the one who had invaded her privacy. Regaining her composure, she leaned forward and squinted, peering into the darkness against the brilliance.

Licking her lips betrayed her nervousness. “Who’s there?” she growled.

“’Tis me, Romeo. Your fairest of princes.” He barely held back a stream of laughter.

He knew the moment she recognized him. She pinched her lips against a grin begging to be released.

“Fairest of princes? You’ve got to be kidding.”

He may not be Romeo, but she definitely was Juliet. With her long black hair and that gown a little too tight so it raised her breasts invitingly, she looked as if she had taken a step back in time.

“So what is this? A movie montage?” He slid into a front row aisle seat, kicking his feet up on the bar before it. “I want to see more.” And surprisingly he did. He had never seen this side of her. She was an amazing woman with many facets to her even he didn’t know about. For some damn reason he wanted to know all those things about her he missed out on while he was at college and on job sites.

A devilish glint sparked in her eyes. “You do, do you?”

“Yeah. Show me what you have.”

Gathering a wad of material in each hand, she raised the hem of her gown and disappeared behind the heavy velveteen curtains. In seconds she returned adorned in her own boots along with a golden full-circled skirt draped by a black overlay, but it was the bodice that made his jaw drop. The damn woman didn’t have a shirt or a tunic beneath it. The leather lacings spanned wide enough to send his gaze down her bare cleavage, setting his pulse racing.

When he didn’t say anything, her palms went to her shapely hips. “Don’t tell me you don’t know what I am.”

Sexy. Gorgeous.
A couple more words bounced around in his head, but that’s not exactly what stirred his blood and made his cock twitch with excitement. An image of her came to his mind… Tabby sprawled naked and prone across a blanket atop a sandy beach, her graceful spine arching as his mouth traced a path along its curve.

“Really, Reece? I’ll give you hint. ‘Argggg… Ye matey.’”

Jerking his attention to her scrunched-up face, he noticed for the first time her eye patch. “Hmm. A pirate.”

She released an exaggerated breath. “Yeah.” And then she disappeared behind the curtains once more.

He slipped his feet from the railing to rest on the thinly carpeted floor. Easing out of his seat, he moved toward the stairs leading to the stage. When his boots struck the waxy floor, Tabby came whirling across the platform dressed in a soft pink Nutcracker ballet tutu costume. The sugarplum fairy skirt glittered beneath the lights. Her hair was a curtain of silk whipping through the air as she spun again and again, laughing. The girlish sound wrapped around his heart and tugged.

Taking another step, he sneezed. The musty scent of time and dust teased his nose.

When she came to a halt, her breathing was labored. Her breasts rising and falling were hard to ignore. “I always wanted to be a ballerina.” She stood with her left foot in front of her turned at an angle while stretching her right foot behind her. Her arms held gracefully before her.

God. She was beautiful, like a delicate fairy too whimsical to believe. His palms itched to reach out and touch her, prove she was real, but he resisted the urge.

“Why didn’t you pursue it?”

Her shoulders rose and fell on a sigh. “I’d have to leave Whispering Cove.” As if that was a valid answer to his question, she performed a perfect pirouette and tiptoed elegantly out of his sight.

He heard the rustle of clothing, and then a thud followed by an unfeminine “crap”. “Is that why you dropped out of college?”

“Uh-huh,” she murmured, before the delicate toes of one foot peeked from behind the waterfall of forest green drapes.

His heart skipped a beat as a shapely ankle appeared, followed by a calf and a slender thigh. Her hand was next, along with an almost transparent black scarf pinched between her thumb and index finger. She let it slowly fall before her head appeared, the lower half of her face shielded by a veil that lent an air of mystery and sensuality.

Instantly, his throat went dry. When she stepped out in the open, he pulled in a breath, his muscles clenching, his body tightening. A whirl of blood swished in his head.

Delectable breasts were barely concealed in a black, sheer, belly dance coin sash, baring her back and dipping low in the front. His hungry gaze followed a span of tanned bare skin to her glistening bellybutton ring to the matching hip scarf she wore. A variety of different colors and lengths of the diaphanous material dangled around her legs. As she undulated her body in sexy and enticing waves, coins jingled, spurring his arousal.

“Tabby, s-stop.” He didn’t recognize the thick throaty voice as his.

Instead of heeding his demand, she giggled, stepping before him and yanking a scarf from her waist to let it float to the floor before she drifted away.

He died a little inside. He had never wanted a woman like he did Tabby. She stirred something deep within him he hadn’t even known existed. Desire so potent it felt as if it touched his soul. The raging need inside him quieted some when she spun around and smiled, showing him the young girl he once knew. Several more times she returned to test his willpower, each time disposing of a scarf to expose more and more of her delectable limbs.

“Please,” he heard himself beg, weakly fighting against the years he had secretly wanted her but stayed away because of her brother and their families’ relationship.

He didn’t know what came over him, but the next time she came close, his hand jutted out and pulled her into his arms.

Their eyes locked in a sultry battle of attraction.

When he ran his fingers across her veil, electricity ignited and snapped, stinging him. The next thing he knew he was kissing her with an unleashed hunger that scared the shit out of him. Dammit. He was actually trembling with the need to take her. It didn’t help that
Mine
whispered through his thoughts, over and over.

A woman on fire with desire. A man with the right equipment to fan the flames.

Brazen

© 2012 Cathryn Fox

Whispering Cove,
Book 6

Josie Wells’s libido is in an uproar. Her psychic promised she’d meet Mr. Right—two months ago. Her good-girl image is wearing thin, and when she gets the chance to have a little fun with town bad boy Adam Collins, she decides to go for it. The notorious playboy will be perfect for some no-strings play time until the real thing comes along.

Knowing he goes for the brazen type, Josie pours on the heat to seduce him at the town’s Festival. The kiss they share touches off an explosion of passion she never saw coming.

Adam’s always been crazy about Josie, but he’s never been willing to expose such a nice girl to the Collins Curse. She deserves the big house with the white picket fence—with a man who doesn’t have failed relationships written all over his family tree.

As their brief affair starts to become something more—and the town psychic predicts that Josie is destined to be his—Adam dares to hope there’s a chance. But then he learns a secret that makes him question what’s real…and what isn’t.

 Warning: Contains hot sex against a fire truck, a sexy firefighter who’s willing to do what it takes, and enough orgasmic explosions to rock your world!

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Brazen:

“What the hell was that?” Trent asked when Katy and Josie were out of earshot.

“What the hell was what?”

“Oh, come on, Adam,” Trent said, grinning like the crazy son of a bitch he really was. “I thought I was going to have to hose you two down.”

When the festival’s chairman came up from behind, Adam grabbed the box of money and handed it to him, apologizing that he didn’t have a dollar count. Then he snatched his windbreaker off the back of his chair, tossed it over his shoulder and started making his way toward Town Square.

Knowing he was unable to keep anything from Trent, he cast him a sideways glance and said, “She really was coming on kind of strong, wasn’t she? What do you make of that?”

Trent rolled his eyes. “Geez, I wonder.”

Adam took a minute to chew on Trent’s response. Was it possible that sweet little Josie wanted him as much as he wanted her? She knew his reputation as a playboy, so why was a nice respectable girl like her, a girl who’d openly admitted to wanting love, marriage and children, suddenly paying him so much attention? What the hell had gotten into her?

They rounded the corner and spotted a crowd surrounding the fire truck parked in the center of Town Square. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Come on, Adam, you both clearly want each other. What’s stopping you?”

“You know what’s stopping me.” Wanting to change the subject, Adam nodded toward the truck and asked, “What exactly is it we’re supposed to be doing anyway?”

“Adam…” Trent began, refusing to let the matter drop.

But Adam just shook his head and said, “You know I can’t, Trent. Not with her. Not with Josie.”

Before Trent could respond, their captain Doug Simms called out to them and waved them over.

“Get yourselves suited up,” he said when they approached, and that’s when Adam noticed his colleagues. All three were shirtless and wearing only their pants and suspenders. Confused, Adam wasn’t quite sure what the demonstration entailed or why they were doing it after dark. Most fire-fighting displays were done for the children and there wasn’t a child in sight at this late hour.

After removing his own shirt and pulling on his pants, the captain lined them up. Adam looked into the crowd, and noted the excitement in the air. As his captain read off names, and five women came forward, one of them being Josie, he turned to Trent. “What the hell is going on?”

Trent grinned and let his glance race over his wife Katy as she stepped up to him. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

As Doug began to pair them up, and he found himself face-to-face with Josie, he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that nothing good could come from this. He glanced to his left and spotted Josie’s friend’s Vic and Tabby cheering her on.

He gestured with a nod as understanding hit. “I take it they put you up to this?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking innocent and sheepish once again, and he also wondered if they were also the ones who put her up to the kissing booth.

“Okay, when I sound the fire alarm, you begin to undress,” Doug continued. “With the help of your partners, of course. The first one to get out of their gear wins dinner for two at the Seafarer.”

Okay, that seemed simple enough. Perhaps this wouldn’t be too bad after all.

“But there’s a catch,” Doug went on to explain. “Neither one of you can use your hands.” When he added, “Bodies only,” cheers erupted from the crowd.

Sweet mother of God!

Adam had no idea what he’d done to deserve this kind of torture. He did a quick tally of the day’s events—first Madame M said he was going to fall in love with Josie, then the two shared a smoking-hot kiss that had him wanting to forget his vow to stay away from her, and now she was about to use that sexy body of hers and nothing else to help him undress. Adam had a sneaking suspicion that the fate gods were conspiring against him, trying to complicate his mission to keep his distance from the one woman who got to him in a way no other woman ever had. As he envisioned her wiggling that tight little ass of hers against him, his cock thickened and he groaned out loud.