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Tears filled her eyes and spilled over. “When I told you we were finished, I was sure it was the right thing to do. Sure we’d be able to go back to being just friends. We’d done it before, after you…after the exhibition. I was sure we could do it again. I never stopped to consider you might not want to end our relationship. It never occurred to me you might honestly love me.”
“Even when I told you I did?” His voice was raw.
“I didn’t believe you. I was too busy protecting myself.”
She looked up into his eyes. It was too dark to see them clearly, but she could feel his gaze on her face. A huge lump formed in her throat and she swallowed. “Danny, I love you. Please forgive me for hurting you. For betraying us. I was such an idiot.”
“That you were.”
“I want to make it right. I want so much more with you. Can we take our friendship to a new level? Please tell me you’ll be my lover, my confidant, my partner. I want you. All of you.” She repeated the words he said to her just a few weeks ago.
She raised her face to his and kissed him. A soft, gentle kiss, filled with the promise of everything she said. She loved him but still didn’t know if he would forgive her.
He groaned against her lips and held her in an embrace so tender she almost wept again. “What took you so long, woman? I nearly gave up hope.”
“Tell me you didn’t. Tell me there’s still hope for us.”
“There’s still hope for us. I love you, Morgan. If you give me the chance, I will never leave you. Ever.”
“Is that a promise?”
“It’s a vow.”
“Oh God, Daniel, I’m so sorry I hurt you. Can you ever get past my appalling behavior?”
He pulled away slightly, and the flash of white teeth told her he grinned his devilish grin. “I’ll consider it. If you accept you have to be punished for your actions.”
A shiver of anticipation raced down her spine. “Punished?”
“Yes, you’ll need to do penance.” He kissed her. “It won’t be easy.” He worked his chest back and forth against her breasts. “It will involve a lot of time.” Her nipples pebbled and she silently blessed her earlier haste that prevented her from putting on a bra.
“How much time?” Breath left her body as Daniel’s hands crept under her shirt and cupped her bare flesh.
“Oh, a life sentence might cover it.” He pushed her shirt up, leaned over and drew a nipple into his mouth.
“Hmm…that is a long time.” Her back arched, allowing him easier access. She moaned as he sucked and sensation shot from her chest to between her legs, accentuating the urgent tug of arousal. “What do I have to do?”
He released her nipple and kissed her mouth again. “Marry me.”
“You want me to marry you?” Her laugh was exultant.
“Yes.”
“So Ben was right.” She shook her head in amusement.
“Pardon?”
He must think her mad. He just asked her to marry him and she was talking about his nephew. “I saw Ben today.”
Daniel looked baffled. “He told you I wanted to marry you?”
“Yes. And that you think I’m pig-headed.”
“He said that?”
She waited as comprehension dawned on him. “Yeah, just before Sarah hightailed it out of the shop in embarrassment.”
Daniel threw his head back and laughed. “Kids! I should haven known better than to say anything in front of him.” He looked at her sheepishly. “I have a confession to make.”
She would hear anything he had to say as long as he kissed her first. Damn, she didn’t want him to just kiss her, she wanted him to make love to her. Right here, right now. It had been a long, torturous four weeks. She needed to feel him inside her, to reinforce he really was hers, once and for all.
Need took precedence over everything right then and she leaned into him, hungrily taking his mouth in a very long kiss. “You’ve done something you shouldn’t have?” Slightly breathless, she ran her hand over his boxers and cupped his stiff penis. God, she’d forgotten how amazing it felt to touch him.
“Morgan, oh, Christ…wait…” he said in a strangled whisper and stepped backwards, pulling out of her grasp. Amy almost cried out in frustration, but Daniel’s fingers closed around her wrist. “C’mon,” he growled and was already moving, tugging her along with him.
She stumbled after him as he half ran, half marched her around the side of the building. The thirty seconds it took to lead her to an isolated nook, hidden from possible car headlights, stretched out like an eternity. But then he was pushing her against the wall, kissing her again, and her hand was inside his boxers, palming his erection and everything was right with the world. Everything was more than right. It was un-bloody-believable. She was back in Daniel’s arms, where she belonged.
The moan that followed could have come from either of them, she wasn’t sure.
She drew her mouth away from his. “Your confession?” she prompted, and would have said more but was incapable of coherent speech.
He nodded, breathed and nodded again. “I, um…kind of made something up.”
“You did?” She pumped his shaft, then bit her cheek as a wave of desire crashed over her.
He struggled to speak. “Know how, um…Leona was…interested in me?” His breathing shallowed. “Well…that might have been a…bit of an…exaggeration.”
“How so?” She enjoyed letting him suffer a little, knowing she was ethically bound by her profession and could never tell Daniel she already knew all this. The rough skin of his unshaven jaw prickled her lips as she trailed kisses along it.
“She’s not interested in me.” It was his turn to torment her and he did so ever so effectively, running a hand over her pants and pressing gently against her clit.
“She’s not?” She sucked her lip and tightened her grip, her urgency for him increasing a hundredfold.
“No. She’s gay. She has a girlfriend.”
“You lied?” She pretended to be horrified, but all she could really think about was his hand. She rotated her pelvis as his fingers massaged her through her jeans.
“I may have stretched the truth a little.”
It was difficult to concentrate. His tongue did crazy things to her neck. She pumped his dick a little faster and was rewarded with a low groan in her ear.
“Cricket-bat incident?” she asked. Again, full sentences were beyond her.
“Uh, I may have stretched the truth on that one too,” he rasped.
“I figured.” She smiled and squirmed as he nibbled her jaw.
“It was all justified,” he assured her. “I had to present you with motivating grounds to kiss me. To touch me.” He caught her lips with his and her mouth parted instantly. He needed no motivating grounds now.
When he pulled away, leaving her gasping for more, he said, “I knew that if we could just get past that first kiss, if I could just get you excited to touch me, I could convince you to love me, slowly and surely.”
“It worked.” She needed to show him how much. Now. “I do love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Prove it.”
Daniel did not disappoint. In less than a second he was making short work of her jeans and panties. She took the opportunity to shove his boxers down over his hips.
“God, Morgan, I missed you.” He dipped his hand between her legs and her moisture oozed onto his fingers.
She was so ready for him. She clasped his erection and pulled him closer. Later, there would be time for slow and sensual lovemaking, kisses and snuggles, foreplay and after play. There would be a lifetime for it. Right now she just needed him to fuck her. Needed him to affirm she was his. Always.
She wound her arms around his broad shoulders, relishing the hard, male muscle in his chest and back, and pressed her hips up into his. “Show me.”
He did. Right there against the wall. While she slipped first one leg and then the other around his waist, he hoisted her up by placing two firm hands beneath her butt. Then, with a low groan, he plunged into her, filling her, completing her.
It was a wild, hot, desperate ride. Their frenetic pace matched her feverish need for him and she came quickly, high on the knowledge that he loved her.
When she’d milked the last drop of semen from his body, he held her in his arms, and whispered, “Welcome home, my love.”
Several moments passed before Amy felt capable of either movement or conversation. Daniel slipped out of her when she lowered her legs to the ground, but he did not release her.
Her heart still pounded unevenly in her chest. “You made up the whole Leona story just so I’d fall for you?” Although she already knew the truth, she was still wonder-struck.
“I had to. I couldn’t let our friendship go on any longer without letting you know how I felt, but I couldn’t risk telling you before I was sure you felt the same. I knew you’d doubt my motives.” He frowned and his hands stilled. “I was right.”
She hugged him tight. “I was wrong. I’m sorry. Being in love with you is all so new, so uncertain. I didn’t know how to deal with it. I was so sure I’d just be another in a long line of girlfriends.”
He shook his head and looked at her, disbelieving. “You still don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what?”
“I’ve always loved you.”
“Huh?”
What?
“For as long as I can remember. I fell in love with you the day we met at school. Why do you suppose I’ve never been able to commit to another woman?”
He had a reason?
“Why?”
“Because she wasn’t you. None of them were. They could never measure up. Hard as I tried with some of them, I’d always end up wanting you.”
“Me? It’s been me all along?” Her heart was just about to burst.
“Morgan, it’s only ever been you.”
She couldn’t hold back her grin. It pretty much exploded onto her face. “Then I guess I’ll just have to accept your punishment.”
“You’ll marry me?” She could hear the smile in his voice.
“On one condition.”
“Name it.”
“Promise it’s forever.”
“Amy, my friend, I promise. Trust me when I say all I’ve ever wanted is forever with you.”
This time, Amy trusted him.
About the Author
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Look for these titles by Jess Dee
Now Available:
Ask Adam
Coming Soon:
Only Tyler
Steve’s Story
Can one wild night of passion turn into the romance of a lifetime?
Ask Adam
© 2007 Jess Dee
Lexi Tanner’s got a major problem: AJ Riley, the man she’s about to approach for a hefty donation, turns out to be the stranger she shared a night of steamy sex with less than a week past. She’ll do anything to raise money for a children’s charity—anything except sell herself. Now how can she ask AJ for money without it seeming like he’s paying for sexual favors?
If there’s one thing the past has taught Adam “AJ” Riley, it’s that loving someone can only lead to pain. He knows he shouldn’t feel so attracted to Lexi, and he definitely shouldn’t trust a woman who’d sleep with a man one week and approach him for money the next. Yet somehow Lexi breaks through all his barriers. His instincts tell him to run but his heart wants to give Lexi—and love—a second chance. How can he let go of his tragic past and still protect his battered heart?
Warning, this title contains the following: steamy sex, graphic language and red-hot romance.
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Ask Adam:
Lexi accepted the congratulations and kisses of ten thousand well-wishers before finally taking her seat at her table along with Sarah and her family. After Daniel and Amy danced the first dance, other family members and guests rose to join them on the floor.
Lexi grabbed her nephew’s hand. “Come on, Benny. It’s time to dance.”
“I don’t know how,” he told her, in all his four-year-old’s innocence.
“It’s easy, I’ll show you. Just stand on my feet and I’ll lead you around.”
Ben stared at her feet with mistrust. “I don’t know, Lekth,” he said. “Thothe shoeth look vewy high.”
She laughed. Her heels were a little higher than usual but they looked good and that was what mattered. “Don’t worry, just hold tight and I promise you won’t fall.”
In minutes, she was laughing with her nephew as they tried a series of dance steps, looking for a suitable one for a woman of nearly six-feet and a boy who barely reached her hips. Finally, she surrendered to the inevitable and picked Ben up, hugging him tight while she swayed them from side to side.
As Daniel and Amy joined them, Ben tugged at her arm and lisped, “Lex, why is that man staring at you?”
“What man, sweetheart?” Three pairs of eyes turned to look in the direction Ben pointed.
Her stomach lurched as she found the man. His gaze froze her movements, and her heart pounded in her chest. What was he doing here? He looked yummy enough to eat, dressed in a tux and crisp white shirt that showed off his tanned skin and contrasted sharply with his black hair. Lexi swore to herself. Dammit, what happened to the air whenever he was around?
“It’s AJ,” Daniel said.
“You know him?” Lexi asked, astounded.
“Yep. He came to the exhibition, bought a few of the photos. We’ve become quite good friends since. We run together about three times a week.”
“He’s hot,” Amy observed, “in a cold kind of a way.” She placed a placating hand on Daniel’s arm. “Don’t panic, Tanner. He doesn’t hold a candle to you.”
“He’d better not,” Daniel huffed and Lexi moved discreetly out of their way as her brother dipped his head toward Amy’s.
“Who ith he?” Ben asked, unaware of the acute discomfort the man stirred in her.
“Just a man.” A man who threw her world off centre. A man who made her feel as glorious as the rising sun and smaller than the tiniest flea. A man who seemed to turn up every time she came to terms with not seeing him again.
“Well, why’s he staring at you?” Ben lisped.
Why was he staring? He’d made it clear he wanted nothing more to do with her by dismissing her from his life and sending Matt to deal with her instead.
“I’m not sure,” she told Ben. “Maybe he’s wondering who this cute guy is I’m holding.”
“No,” Ben disagreed. “He’s looking at you. Do you know him?”
“Yes, sweetie, I met him through work.”
“Then why don’t you say hello to him?”
Because that’s probably the last thing he wants. Besides, I can’t seem to breathe properly when he’s around.
“I’ll do it if you’re too scared,” Ben offered and lifted his arm and waved at Riley. “Hello, man,” he yelled across the room and Lexi snorted, though in amusement or horror she wasn’t certain.
He hadn’t taken his eyes off her for a second, not from the minute she’d preceded the bride down the aisle. He’d hidden in the crowds and watched her, content to keep his distance yet drink his fill. Touching her may be off limits but he couldn’t stop himself from staring.
She looked stunning. Her dress was the same color as a predawn sky, with a simple line that clung in all the right places. The long slit up the side allowed for an enticing view of shapely thigh—thigh that had been wrapped around his waist, and his neck, more than once in Melbourne. A low neckline showed off slim shoulders and a teasing glimpse of firm, round breasts. Breasts he wanted to bury his face in. Breasts he
had
buried his face in.
He headed over to her, watching as the boy wriggled out of her arms and skipped off to play with another child across the room. He sighed in relief. One less stress to deal with. Dealing with Lexi on her own was hard enough.
She frowned as the child raced away, then she stood a little straighter and flicked her hair over her shoulders as if bracing for his arrival.
“Lexi,” he greeted her, keeping his voice neutral.
“Adam.” She eyed him nervously.
Who could blame her? Last time she’d seen him he’d said some pretty outrageous things. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“They make a handsome couple.”
A brief smile touched her mouth as she looked at the bride and groom. “Yes, they do.” She turned back to him. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“That would explain the stunned expression on your face.”
“I never knew you and Daniel were friends.”
“There seems to be quite a few things you never knew about me.”
A hint of color touched her cheeks. “Yeah, well that’s the thing about meeting someone for the first time. You generally don’t know very much about them.”
“Does it make you uncomfortable? Knowing you’ve slept with a friend of your brother’s?” Shit, why’d he have to talk about sex every time he saw her? What made him so damn horny all he could think about was hauling her off into some secluded corner and fucking her stupid?
Her eyes blazed. “Not as uncomfortable as it does knowing the friend thinks I slept with him under false pretences.”
“Did you?” The way she got all worked up and hot under the collar like that, well it got him all worked up and hot under the collar.
Her hand fisted at her side and for a minute he thought she might punch him.
“I have answered that question,” she bit out and stepped closer, speaking into his ear, her voice soft enough so only he could hear and aggressive enough to get those hot bits under his collar really burning. “Several times. Now, you listen up, and you listen good. This is my brother’s wedding and I will not engage in some two-bit discussion with you about what kind of a whore you think I am. I won’t do it now, and I won’t do it tomorrow or the next day. If you have anything else you need to say to me, I’m sure Matt will be happy to pass on the message. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see someone I would like to spend time with.”
Ouch.
As she twisted around to leave, he grabbed her wrist and spun her back to face him.
“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” she asked in a ferocious whisper. Her smile was tight and her gaze darted around as she checked to see if anyone had noticed their little altercation.
“I’m clearing something up.” He kept his voice low.
“I told you, speak to Matt.” She tried to pull away. He gave her arm another tug and she teetered on her heels for half a second before losing her balance and stumbling into him. He wrapped his arm around her waist, steadying her and pulling her close at the same time.
“This isn’t really something you’d want Matt to hear.” Damn, she felt good in his arms.
“Adam, let me g—”
“I don’t think you’re a whore,” he cut her off. “I never did.” His mouth was by her ear and his voice was soft. He couldn’t help but notice the goosebumps that skittered over her bare shoulder and down her arm.
She stopped struggling. “Then why do you insist on treating me like one?”
Because if I treat you like you ought to be treated, if I give you half a chance, I’ll fall for you
. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve it. You never have.” How could he tell her she scared the crap out of him? How could he explain the only way he knew to keep his distance was to punish her emotionally? She wouldn’t understand why he needed to keep his distance, why it hurt too damn much to ever love again.
The fight drained out of her. Her resistance slipped away. “No,” she agreed, “I really don’t deserve it.”
Suddenly, he didn’t want to let her go. He wanted to keep on holding her. “Dance with me?”
Her body tensed up again.
“We’re on the dance floor anyway and people are beginning to stare.” Shit, why’d he need to make excuses to hold her? “It’s just a dance, that’s all.”
She nodded uncertainly and her arms fluttered midair for a minute before she wound them round his shoulders. Shivers ran down his spine as she touched his hair.