Stirring Attraction

For my grandmothers,

two of the strongest women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing

Acknowledgments

I
OWE
A
MANDA
Bergeron a huge thank you for allowing me to follow my characters. When I sat down to write Lily and Dominic's story, I had a rough outline in my head. I never wrote it down or shared it with my editor. I allowed the suspense elements to unfold as I wrote without trying to fit the pieces into an overall plan. I focused on what my characters felt in each scene and each moment. And I have never had so much fun writing. Thank you, Amanda!

As always a heartfelt thank you to Jill Marsal for being the best agent ever. I also owe a debt of gratitude to everyone at Avon Impulse—­thank you for everything you do, from the covers to the marketing to the publicity!

To my amazing sister and all of her medical school friends, thank you for taking the time to answer all of my questions about gunshot wounds, damaged nerves, and knife wounds. And for the text messages sent five minutes after you respond that politely ask: “This is for a book, right?”

I also must thank my husband for taking the children for days and nights at a time so that I could escape from the house and write. To my awesome kids—­JJ and AB—­one day I promise to teach you the meaning of the word “deadline.” And no, it does not mean “eating cupcakes after sending a book to an editor.” Your kindergarten and preschool teachers gave me some funny looks at pickup when you shared that definition with them.

To all of my readers, thank you for embracing the Second Shot series. I hope you're ready for Josh and Caroline's story,
Mixing Temptation
!

Contents

Prologue

“Y
OU PAINTED YOUR
toenails pink.”

Dominic Fairmore stared at Lily's bumble-­gum-­colored nails. He didn't trust himself to look up. Downstairs, his dad's dogs made the familiar trip to the water bowl and back, probably stopping to sniff the bag of Chinese takeout he'd abandoned on the kitchen table. The animals' nails tapped against the hardwood floors, but otherwise silence filled the farmhouse. His little sister was at the beach and his dad was pulling a double at Forever, Oregon's woefully understaffed police station. And yeah, he kept track of their locations because at twenty-­two he still lived at home.

Lily raised one perfect eyebrow. “I have two hours before my mom expects me home and you're looking at my toenails?”

Her ironic tone pushed him damn close to his breaking point. He'd take her. Here. Now. Against the wall, pictures falling to the floor. Because he knew she reserved her humor for him. The rest of Forever saw a blond-­haired, blue-­eyed woman who charmed a roomful of five-­year-­olds day after day. A girl who'd been born here, grown up here, and put herself through the local university while still living at home to care for her wheelchair-­bound mother and alcoholic father.

But Dominic saw the only girl he'd ever loved. If he closed his eyes, he could still picture her walking down the halls of their high school. She'd been one year ahead of him. She'd graced the dreary high school halls with her sunshine smile and confidence. And yeah, her short skirts.

He'd memorized the way her cheerleader's outfit teased her thighs while she led the squad her senior year. He'd been a junior, but already shepherding the football team to one victory after another. And sometimes it felt like he busted his ass on the field and won the game just to see her smile . . .

But he couldn't close his eyes and block out the way Lily looked right now. His gaze drifted up her calves. Every inch of bare skin wrapped around his heart like a noose. He took in the curve of her thighs and tried to go slow. His jaw tightened and his eyes disobeyed.

Fuck slow.

His gaze locked on the slip of fabric disappearing between her legs.

“Your panties match your toenails,” he growled. There wasn't a hint of humor in his voice. He couldn't picture laughing now. In two days, he'd wreck her heart. He would shatter their love and leave her with nothing but memories and the promise that he'd come back.

I swear I'll come back for her.

But so much could change while he was on the other side of the country training to be all he could be. And later, once he deployed, on the other side of the world.

Two more days. Two more nights.
How many times could he make love to this woman before they ran out of time?

“Are you sure they match?” she teased. Her fingers brushed the waistband of her panties and then her thumbs slipped beneath the pink fabric.

His hands formed tight fists at his sides, watching as she drew her underwear down to her toes. Her upper body stole away his view of the blond curls, instead offering the sight of her full, bare breasts hovering in front of her legs. Long locks of blond hair drifted down as she compared the color of her underwear to her nail polish.

“Lily,” he growled, and stepped closer.

She glanced up at him slowly, as if she knew every movement of her body turned him on and pushed him closer to that place where he lost control. But hell, after five years together, Lily Greene damn well knew how to drive him crazy with lust and longing.

“My nails are a light pink. I think the bottle said ‘Ballet Slipper.' But my underwear is closer to fuchsia.” She tossed her panties at him. “See?”

Years of training on the football field kicked in and he caught the slip of fabric in his right hand. “You're right,” he said and he took a step forward. He threw her underwear down to the carpet without bothering to study them.

“You need to be home in two hours?” he asked.

Her teasing smile faded at the reminder of the reality beyond the bedroom walls. “You know I do.”

“We might not have time for the Chinese food.” He momentarily blocked his view as he drew his “Go Army!” T-­shirt over his head. He discarded the reminder of where he was heading in two days' time. He wanted to leave this town and the dead-­end future it promised, but not Lily.

“I hate Chinese,” she said.

She reached forward and grabbed on to the belt buckle his father had given him after he won the state championship with his high school football team. He pressed his palms flat against the wall, one on either side of her head. He couldn't touch her. Not yet.

“I know.” He allowed her to pull him close, her fingers working to free his belt and undo his jeans. “I didn't want to run the risk that you would want to eat first.”

She smiled as her hands won the battle with his belt. Drawing his zipper down, she leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “Smart man.” Her hands pushed his pants over his hips and then went in search of their target.

“Lily,” he gasped as her fingers wrapped around the part of his body that thought “slow” spelled disaster. Hell, it just might. He wanted her so damn much he might come in her hand. “Careful,” he added. “Or I'll be about as useful as I was the first time. In the front seat of my truck.”

“Have as much self-­control now as you did at seventeen?” she challenged, her hand moving up and down now.

“You know it.” He took his right hand off the wall and cupped her jaw. Angling her lips up to meet his, he kissed her. He knew her mouth. He'd memorized the way she liked his tongue to tease hers.

His hand moved down her neck and over her shoulder. His fingers froze, hovering on her collarbone. He knew the feel of her soft skin as well as he knew his own. But dammit, he couldn't take the weight of her breast in his hand, her nipple brushing against his palm, and still maintain control.

She broke the kiss. “Don't hold back, Dominic,” she whispered. “You never have before. Don't start now. You know how to touch me. You're the only one—­”

His growl cut off her hushed words. He was the only one who knew the color of her panties. The only man in her bed. The only one who heard her sly humor. And yeah, the only man in Forever, Oregon, who loved her.

For now . . .

Possession unleashed his need and he cupped her breast. He felt the weight against his hand as his thumb drew small circles around her nipple.

Damn right, he knew how to touch her. His other hand abandoned the wall and reached for her hips. He gripped her, holding tight, pinning her against the wall.

“Release me, Lily,” he demanded, his forehead touching hers. “Now.”

She obeyed, and her hands moved to his bare back. Holding tight to his shoulders, she raised her right leg and wrapped it around his hips. “Here?” she asked.

He let go of her hip and slipped his hand between her legs. His fingers brushed over her center.
So damn wet.
He slipped his index finger inside. Her hips rocked forward, eager for his touch.

“Here,” he confirmed as he drew his fingers away. His other hand let go of her breast and he palmed her bottom. He guided her left leg up until her limbs wrapped around his waist.

“I've got you,” he reassured her.

“No, honey,” she said, her voice low and rough. “I've got
you
.” She squeezed her thighs as her nails briefly dug into his shoulders.

That voice . . . Those words . . . The woman he'd loved for five long years tore past his restraint.

“Now,” she added, rocking her hips forward. “Let's see what these walls are made of.”

He slipped inside her. No condom. No barrier between them since she'd started taking the pill. He didn't need to guide himself. He knew how to find home. And Lily was his.

For two more days. . .

He withdrew an inch, then another, and thrust forward. Hard.

“Oh, Dominic,” she gasped.

He repeated the motion, loving the sound of his name in that deep voice she reserved for him. Because right now, she was his, dammit.

Maybe one day she'll be mine forever. When I come back and claim her. . .

He buried himself deep inside her, over and over. The wall shook. But he didn't let up. Harder. Faster. He let his need, his desperation, and yeah, his love for this woman, eclipse everything.

He felt her tighten around him. “Get there, Lily. I know you're close.”

“Yes,” she called. “Oh . . . my . . . so, so, so . . .”

He recognized the familiar countdown and tightened his grip on her ass, drawing the cheeks apart, offering pressure that he knew would drive her over the edge. Every one of his fingers pressed into her skin.

“Now!”
she cried out. “Now, now, now . . .”

She slammed her head back against the wall as her back arched. Her fingernails tore at his skin. But the pain didn't distract. He was too close. One more thrust, the wall trembling at her back, and . . .

“Aw, fuck,” he gasped. “Lily. My Lily.” His lips found hers as he came. He welcomed the rush, the pleasure, the relief . . . and he hated it.

How many times can I make love to her before I leave?

One less now.

She pulled away from the kiss and released her hold on his shoulders. Slowly, she lowered one foot to the ground and then the other. And he let her go, closing his eyes as he stepped back.

“We knocked a picture off the wall,” she said with a laugh.

He opened his eyes and glanced at the fallen frame lying facedown on the carpet. “I'll fix it later.”

“But right now you have a hankering for an egg roll?” she asked, her tone light.

He looked at the face he knew by heart. Her blond eyebrows formed a pair of perfect arches. She'd probably spent a half hour, maybe more, in front of the mirror, plucking out the stray hairs. He'd watched her do it once, while lying on his bed. His gaze dropped to her lips, curved into a forced smile.

“No, Lily, I don't want an egg roll.” He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. His naked body pressed against hers. She was tall for a woman. But compared to a man who'd played center for his high school football team? Her cheek pressed against his chest as her arms wrapped around his middle. “I want you,” he added gruffly.

Two days and two nights—­it would never be enough.

He felt her teardrops running over the hair on his chest. And he waited for the words—­
then stay.
She'd let them slip once and then quickly asked to take them back.

“Go ahead and cry, Lil,” he murmured, feeling damn near close to tears himself. “I'd take you with me if I could. Hell, I'd marry you tomorrow.”

“I know,” she said through a sob. The tears were like a river now, flowing down to his abdomen. “I know.”

Still, words didn't change the fact that she couldn't leave this town. Her roots were here. So were his. But he was tearing his up. And while his widower father leaned on him for help around the old farmhouse and counted on him to keep his wild little sister from messing up her life, it was nothing compared to Lily's mother. Her mom had spent the past decade struggling with her multiple-­sclerosis diagnosis. And Lily had stood by her side every step of the way. She'd attended the local university and gotten her teaching certificate online so that she could care for her mom.

Dominic could silently curse the fact that the girl he loved was saddled with a mom who was losing the ability to care for herself more and more each day. And a dad who drank away his sorrows, rendering himself useless to the woman he'd married and to his daughter. But that wouldn't change a damn thing. Lily's life was here and he was moving across the country for basic training. And after that? The army could send him anywhere in the world.

“Maybe after you serve for a few years, maybe when you come back—­”

“I'm coming back for you, Lily. When you're ready, and if you still want me, I'll come back,” he said. “But not to stay here, in Forever. You know that, right?”

He waited for her answer. He refused to leave her here, in small-­town Oregon, hoping and praying for a future that would never materialize.

“I know,” she said.

“I'm not doing this for the money. Hell, the police force paid well. But I can do more.”

Be All You Can Be—­the slogan resonated with him. He'd known since high school that with the right training he could be one of the best. He could fight on the front lines. And if he had his way, if he succeeded with the option the army had given him under his contract, he'd become an army ranger. Hell, he would have tried for the SEALs, but he wanted to be an infantryman first, focusing on ground combat, not a sailor.

“I love you, Lily,” he said. “I'd wait to join up, but now that Josie's heading to college and I don't need to look out for her . . .”

He'd been waiting for this chance since they graduated from high school. He'd stayed to help his dad manage his wild little sister. And he'd tried to make peace with doling out speeding tickets and breaking up parties ­peopled with underage kids at the town's university. But he couldn't escape the fact that his own mom had died young and suddenly. He wanted to reach for his goals now. He couldn't wait until life turned on him and took him out before he'd gone into the world and proved that he could do so much more.

“I just wish things were different.” She drew back and looked up at him. “And I didn't love you quite so much.”

A jolt of electricity ran through him as if he'd touch a live wire. He felt like a bastard, but he wanted her love. He wanted everything she had to give.

“I want to serve, Lil. But I've never not wanted you,” he said firmly. “How much time do we have left?”