Perfect Stranger (Novella)

Perfect Stranger

Carly Phillips

BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

Published by the Penguin Group

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PERFECT STRANGER

A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author

“Perfect Stranger” previously appeared in
Hot Summer Nights
, published by Berkley Sensation Books.

Copyright © 2013 by Karen Drogin.

Excerpt from
Perfect Together
by Carly Phillips copyright © 2014 by Karen Drogin.

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

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For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

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eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-63377-9

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Berkley Special edition / January 2014

Cover photo © Jacob Wackerhausen / Getty Images.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Version_1

Titles by Carly Phillips

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

 

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

 

Special Excerpt from
Perfect Together

J
oe’s Bar. Familiar stomping grounds for Alexa Collins, yet everything about the night felt off to her. First, the bar’s owner and his new bride were on their honeymoon, so Joe wasn’t serving. Alexa’s normally happy friend Cara Hartley sat morosely stirring her drink, staring into the glass for answers, but the man who’d caused the problems was nowhere to be found. Alexa couldn’t relate to guy issues considering she lived an extremely busy life, spent hours in the hospital ER, and had no time for a relationship, let alone hot, stress-relieving sex—something she could definitely use. For the last couple of weeks she’d been suffering from a definite case of the blues, and the strain of her life was beginning to wear on her.

No wonder she was in a funk.

The music now blasting through the speakers gave her a jolt akin to a caffeine kick, and Alexa perked up at the sound. Rising from her barstool, she glanced at her friend.

“I feel like dancing,” Alexa announced.

With a disinterested sigh, Cara shook her head, but Alexa
wasn’t taking no for an answer. Cara needed to have fun and forget about Mike Marsden, the man who’d broken her heart.

She jerked her head toward the dance floor. “Dance. Now.”

Cara groaned but complied, standing up on command.

Alexa looked to the third woman in their trio. “Liza?” Liza and her husband, Dare Barron, had joined them for a night out along with some other friends who mingled around the bar.

Liza swayed her hips in time to the beat of the music. “Why not? I could use some letting go.”

Katy Perry’s upbeat tune reverberated around them as they headed to the dance floor near the jukebox. “Teenage Dream” began the set, which segued into “Firework,” one of Alexa’s favorite songs. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to get lost in the moment, her body moving to the beat, her entire being consumed by the tempo and the sounds pulsing around her.

When she opened her eyes, she noticed she wasn’t the only one attracted to the upbeat music. The crowd had grown in size, everyone on the floor pumping their fists, swiveling their hips, and dancing as if they were shooting across the sky as the lyrics suggested.

Dare had joined Liza, wrapping himself around his wife in a heart-melting embrace. Alexa looked away to avoid the obvious intimacy between the couple and her gaze met that of a man who sat alone at a table near the dance floor. A sinfully sexy man with shaggy, sandy blond hair and an unwavering stare.

He watched as she danced, his heavy-lidded scrutiny focused on her as he sipped at his beer. His demeanor seemed casual but his stare was anything but. Thinking of how down she’d been lately and how great this music made her feel now, she was unable to resist the impulse to crook her finger his way.

A glance told her that her best friend wasn’t watching, which was a good thing considering Cara wouldn’t know
what had gotten into Alexa. And she would be hard-pressed to explain. All she knew, all she felt, was a bone-deep loneliness that reached into her soul, and this man’s intense and interested stare provided her heart with a jump she hadn’t felt in too long.

A slow smile lifted his lips and her pulse skyrocketed as he stood and made his way toward her, his swagger indicating a self-confidence that was rare. Alexa experienced that same kind of self-assuredness in medical settings, but she normally fell short in other areas of her life. Still, she’d called on that confidence when beckoning him over, and she was glad she hadn’t stopped to think it through.

He joined her on the dance floor, immediately picking up the rhythm. He danced close enough for her to smell his woodsy cologne that both surrounded and aroused her. As they moved, their bodies spoke for them, their synchronicity startling for two people who’d never met, let alone danced together before. And when the music turned sultry, he was all too willing to join her for some dirty dancing. He ground his hips against hers, the swell of his erection pressing deliciously against her stomach, too intimately for strangers. But too good to deny.

So she didn’t.

Instead she let the heat of desire crackle and spark between them, and fire licked at her veins as a result.

Cara eased closer and looked from Alexa to her partner, her eyebrows raised, a concerned expression on her face. Alexa ignored her. She needed this sense of freedom, the release this man provided. She hadn’t realized how badly until now.

Pure enjoyment and fun.

When was the last time she’d allowed herself the luxury?

Her dance partner’s hands slid to her waist. She’d worn black leggings and a cream cardigan, which she’d unbuttoned to show both cleavage and the barest hint of her lace cami underneath. She reaped the benefit of her clothing
choice now, as he slid his hand beneath the layers, and she trembled at the rasp of his calloused palms caressing her sensitive skin.

A sexy grin lifted his lips and he continued the dance along with the erotic assault on her senses. She could have lingered in their intimate embrace all night, but from the corner of her eye, Alexa caught sight of Cara’s ex-boyfriend, Mike Marsden, the man who’d broken her best friend’s heart.

He strode up behind Cara and wrapped his arms around her. She jumped in surprise but soon settled into the embrace. Alexa figured Cara thought it was one of her guy friends joining her for a dance, because no way would she allow Mike that kind of privilege. Not without him doing some serious groveling first. Worried about her friend, Alexa kept an eye on the couple, prepared to step in if needed.

“You okay?” her dance partner asked in a Southern drawl. It was the first time she’d heard him speak, and the sexy voice fit him perfectly.

She nodded and smiled at him, her gaze roaming over his handsome face, which had dimples on either side of his perfect mouth and full lips and a faded scar above his left eyebrow. But even as she admired the view, she never lost sight of Cara, knowing her friend would do the same for her.

Mike pressed his front against Cara’s back in a more intimate touch. Before Alexa could even wince, Cara whirled on her ex with a surprised then furious spark in her eyes.

The music was too loud for Alexa to hear much so she inched closer, remaining vigilant and on call.

“What are you doing here?” Cara asked, her voice tinged with the pain Alexa knew she’d suffered ever since Mike’s abrupt departure.

“I’m back.” His gaze never left Cara’s.

“Good for you,” she said with deliberate sarcasm.

He appeared as worn and ragged as Cara had earlier, before Alexa had forced a dance session on her friend.

Cara perched her hands on her hips. “And you thought
you could wrap your arms around me and pick up where we left off?” she asked, her voice rising.

Oh, go girl!
Alexa thought, stopping short of clapping, because Cara wasn’t greeting Mike with open arms. As a cop, Cara could handle herself in any situation, but as a woman, she was more fragile. Yet she wouldn’t let any man, including this one, walk all over her. Alexa was proud of her friend.

Serendipity, New York, was a small town, and Mike was the former police chief whose sudden departure had sparked many wagging tongues. Add the now loud discussion between exes and, sure enough, Cara and Mike were attracting stares from the crowd. Alexa knew they needed closure, but they didn’t have to do it in front of an audience. Time to put an end to the show, Alexa thought.

Figuring she’d buy her friend some time to handle this on her own terms, she tapped Cara on the shoulder. “Are you okay?” Alexa asked.

“Yeah.” But the hurt in Cara’s blue eyes told another story.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?” Mike asked her.

“Seriously?” Cara blinked in obvious shock. “Let’s get something straight. I don’t know why you’re here or for how long and I don’t care. But I will not be your booty call every time you come back to town.”

Alexa stifled a grin.

Behind her, she sensed her former dance partner was still there, watching the scene unfold, and Alexa spared a moment’s regret for having to ditch him this way. But he was a momentary diversion, while Cara’s friendship was forever. And no self-respecting woman abandoned a friend in need for a man.