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Lora Leigh

Surrender

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Lora Leigh

Surrender

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Lora Leigh

Surrender

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SURRENDER

An Ellora’s Cave publication written by

LORA LEIGH

MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-84360-430-2

Mobipocket (PRC) ISBN # 1-84360-431-0

Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), & HTML

© Copyright LORA LEIGH, 2003.

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave.

Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc. USA

Ellora's Cave Ltd, UK

This e-book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by email forwarding, copying, fax, or

any other mode of communication without author or publisher permission.

Edited by
Kari Berton

Cover Art by
Scott Carpenter

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Surrender

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Warning:

The following material contains strong sexual content meant for mature readers.

SURRENDER has been rated NC-17, erotic, by three individual reviewers. We strongly

suggest storing this electronic file in a place where young readers not meant to view this

ebook are unlikely to happen upon it. That said, enjoy…

Lora Leigh

Surrender

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Dedicated to:

My sister Lue Anne, who’s always there, no matter what.

Thanks, Sis. You make life easier when it gets really hard.

Lora Leigh

Surrender

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“Tess, you coming to my party?” It was her father’s voice on her answering

machine that finally roused her from sleep. “You better be here, girl. I’m tired of you

staying away. You call me back.”

The line disconnected. Tess sighed as she opened her eyes. She would have

preferred the dream to the stark loneliness that awaited her when she opened her eyes.

At least there, even in the dark, frightening abyss of desires too dark to name, she had a

purpose, rather than her fears.

She stared down at the large stuffed gorilla she clutched to her chest in her sleep. A

present from her father when she left with her mother. Something to keep the bad

dreams away, he had said sadly, even though she had been an adult. Tess often had bad

dreams.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have left as well, Tess often thought. She was just entering

college at the time, and could have made her own choice. But her mother had needed

her. Or Tess had thought she did. Now she wasn’t certain if her mother needed her, or

merely needed to control her.

“Tess, you awake now?” Her mother, Ella James called from the bottom of the

downstairs hallway, her voice barely penetrating the distance.

Tess had installed her own phone line straight out of college and moved her

bedroom to the upper floor where her mother rarely ventured. She needed her privacy,

and her mother was prone to butt in wherever she could. The stairs kept her from

venturing into Tess’s privacy very often.

“Yeah, Mom. I’m awake,” she yelled back, rising from bed, imagining her mother’s

moue of distaste. It was Saturday, for God’s sake. She was entitled to sleep in. She could

just imagine her mother’s expression if she knew it was her father’s call that woke her.

Resigned, Tess got of bed and headed for the shower.

Tess was well aware of her mother’s disgust for her father’s lifestyle. Jason

Delacourte didn’t stay home or keep regular hours or play the nine to five game. He

owned a national electronics corporation and lived the lifestyle he chose. He gave

dinners, attended charities and threw yearly parties. Ella preferred her books and her

quiet and anything that didn’t involve a man. She had done her best to raise her

daughter the same way.

Tess did hate parties. She always had and she knew she always would. She

invariably ended up going alone. Always ended up leaving alone. Parties jinxed her.

Men jinxed her, they had for years. But she was committed to this party. She had

promised. What could she do but get ready to go?

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She grimaced, confused as she pondered her lack of a love life. Or perhaps sex life.

She wasn’t a great believer in love or the happily ever after stuff. She had rarely seen it

work, her own parents were an example of that one. And her father’s second marriage

seemed more rocky than solid.

She frowned as she usually did when she thought of her father’s new wife. Well,

perhaps not new. Jason Delacourte, her father, had been married for nearly three years

now to Melissa. The woman still insisted that everyone call her Missy. As though she

were still a teenager. Tess snarled with distaste. Of course, the woman was barely

thirty-five, ten years younger than her father, and nearly ten years older then Tess. The

least he could have done, she sniped silently, was marry a woman closer to his own age.

She could barely tolerate being in the same room with ‘Missy’. The woman gave

dumb blonde a new meaning. How she managed to be related to a man touted as a

genius, Tess had no idea. But she was. Cole Andrews was Missy’s brother, and Tess’s

father swore Cole had moved Delacourte Electronics into the financial sphere it now

enjoyed as one of the leading electronic manufacturers.

The thought of him caused mixed reactions in Tess, though.

Cole was six feet three inches of hard packed muscle and dark, brooding good looks

with a cynical, mocking attitude that drove her crazy. His kisses were the stuff dreams

were made of. His fingers were wicked instruments of torturous pleasure; his lips were

capable of throwing her into a hypnotic trance when they touched her.

She suppressed a sigh. No man kissed as good as Cole Andrews. It should be a

crime that one man should ooze so much sex appeal, and be such an asshole to boot.

And it was really a crime that she couldn’t get past that one stolen kiss long enough to

enjoy any others.

After showering, she quickly blow dried her hair, sighing as she swiped the brush

through her shoulder-length black hair one last time before turning back to the open

doors of her large closet. She had enough clothes. One thing her father had always done

was made certain she was well provided for.

Elementary school teachers didn’t make a lot in terms of money, and it wasn’t the

glamorous job Jason Delacourte had always thought his daughter should hold, but it

was what she wanted to do. Besides, it kept her out of the social sphere her stepmother

and Cole Andrews moved in. That was a big enough plus to keep her there.

But, she had promised her father she would stay with him for this one week. That

she would take the time off work and return to the large family home she had grown up

in before his divorce from her mother, and she would try to be his daughter.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love him, she thought as she packed her suitcase. She did.

She loved her father terribly, but Cole was at the house. He stayed there often, and it

was Cole she needed to avoid.

After packing the more casual clothes she would need and her treasured, hidden

vibrator, Tess moved back to her closet to choose what she would wear for the yearly

Lora Leigh

Surrender

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Valentine’s Day party her father gave. It was also the third year anniversary of his

marriage to Missy. Yeah, she really wanted to celebrate that one.

She pulled a short, black, silk sheath from the closet and hung it on the doorknob.

From her dresser she pulled out a black thong, a lacy matching bra, and smoky silk

stockings. The dark colors suited her mood. Valentine’s Day was for lovers, and Tess

didn’t have one. She still didn’t understand why she was going to this stupid party.

It wasn’t like her father would really miss her. The house would be packed. They

didn’t need her there. She hadn’t attended one of Missy’s parties in well over a year

now. They were loud, bustling and often turned out a bit too wild for her tastes.

Besides, Cole always ended up bringing his latest flame, and pissing her off the first

hour into it.

His dark blue eyes would watch her, faintly cynical, always glittering with interest

while the bimbos at his side simpered adoringly. She snorted. If she had to simper to

hold him, well then—

She sighed desolately. She would probably simper if she thought it would help. If

she could learn how. Her mouth always seemed to get the better of her though. His

general air of superiority just grated on her. Ever since that first kiss, his hard body

holding her captive against the wall as he whispered what he wanted in her ear. Her

body had sung in agreement, her mind, shocked and dazed from the images, had

kicked in with an instant defense: her smart mouth.

It had been over two years.

She sat down on the bed, still naked, her cunt wet, throbbing at the memory.

“Can you take the heat, baby?” he had whispered to her, holding her against the

wall as he ground his cock between her thighs. “I won’t lie to you, Tess. I want you bad.

But I’m not one of your little college boys that you can mess with. I want you tied to my

bed, screaming, begging for me. I want to pump my dick in that tight little ass of yours,

I want to hear your cries while I’m buried there and fuck you with a dildo bought just

for that tight cunt of yours.”

She shook now in remembered arousal and hot desperate need.

“Sure,” she had bit out. “And then I can fuck your ass next!”