Crash Into You
“Hot and romantic, with an edge of suspense.”
—Shayla Black, national bestselling author
“With her debut erotic romance
Crash Into You
, Roni Loren has penned a sexy, sizzling tale that is sure to have readers begging for more! Reid is the dominant hero of Brynn’s BDSM fantasies, she is the only submissive for him, and neither has been able to forget the love and blazing passion they once shared. But these two will have to brave old hurts, painful secrets, and new danger before they can be together. I can’t wait for Roni Loren’s next tantalizing story!”
—Jo Davis, author of
I Spy a Dark Obsession
“Revved up and red-hot sexy,
Crash Into You
delivers a riveting romance!”
—Lorelei James,
New York Times
bestselling author of the Rough Riders series and the Blacktop Cowboys series
RONI LOREN
HEAT | NEW YORK
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
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This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.
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. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2012 by Roni Loren.
Excerpt from
Melt Into You
copyright © by Roni Loren.
Cover photograph of “Wet Couple in the Rain” from Thinkstock (78655566).
Cover design by Diana Kolsky.
Text design by Kristin del Rosario.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
HEAT and the HEAT design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Heat trade paperback edition / January 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Loren, Roni.
Crash into you / Roni Loren. — Heat trade paperback ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-425-24524-8
1. Women social workers—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3612.O764C73 2011
813.6—dc22
2011011593
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my husband, Donnie.
You are my heart and my very own romance hero.
Thank you for being such a damn good man.
First, thank you to my parents, who have always supported me no matter what crazy path I’ve ventured down. I can’t tell you how much your unconditional love and unwavering cheerleading have meant in my life.
And love to my husband and son, who bring the joy to my world and who put up with me even when I’m in obsessive writer mode, which is often. I could never have written this book if you guys hadn’t given me the support to follow my dream.
Gratitude also to the wonderful and talented writer friends I’ve met along the way, both in person and online. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’ve found the natives of my home planet. Hallelujah.
And finally, hugs to my agent, Sara Megibow, and to my editor, Kate Seaver, for believing in my book, for believing in me, and for helping my dream come true.
Don the gas masks and cue the mushroom cloud.
Brynn’s date was spiraling toward DEFCON 1—imminent disaster. In the brief time it had taken her to down three hors d’oeuvres, her sexy doctor had tumbled from fantasy fodder to potential therapy client.
Dr. Depressed propped his elbows on the table and leaned forward, his brows knitted. “I don’t know what I did wrong. One minute we’re in love and planning the future, the next I catch her in the copy room with her arms wrapped around the pharmaceutical sales rep.”
Brynn frowned as tears gathered behind his glasses. Oh, hell. She couldn’t have
another
guy cry on her. That’d be the second one this month. She was becoming the Barbara Walters of dating—taking a perfectly put-together person and reducing him to tears without trying. She reached across the table and gave his hand a quick squeeze. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. It sounds like she took advantage of what a nice guy you are.”
He stared at her for a moment, and then released a breath.
“God, what am I doing? I’m breaking that cardinal rule, right? No ex talk on dates. I’m sure you didn’t ask me to come to this fund-raiser so you could hear me yammer about my breakup.”
“It’s fine. Breakups can be tough,” she said, giving her therapist half-smile—the one that said
I feel your pain and am
so
not judging you
, even though she was already formulating a hypothetical treatment plan in her head. She drew her hand away and sipped the last of her iced tea.
The lines in his face relaxed, and he leaned back in his seat. “I’m sorry I let it come up. You’re just so easy to talk to.”
“Occupational hazard, I guess,” she said, trying to lighten the mood. But the truth of her statement turned the words to sawdust in her mouth. She enjoyed her work, but did that mean she had signed up to heal every guy she dated? For once, she’d love to worry, like other women did, that a guy had asked her out simply to get her in bed. Instead, she had to worry if someone asked her to dinner because it was cheaper than a therapy session.
A waiter stopped by with a tray of champagne flutes. Brynn accepted one of the drinks, but her companion shook his head. “No thanks, I’m on call. Plus, I don’t want to fall asleep on my lovely date before the end of the night.”
He gave her a hopeful smile, his brown eyes still red-rimmed from unshed tears. Brynn fought back the defeated sigh that gathered in her throat. If he was staying awake on her account, he shouldn’t bother. She didn’t care how nice of a guy he was or how hot he probably looked naked. She was not going to be his rebound sex. Nothing like knowing a guy is closing his eyes in bed because he’s picturing someone else beneath him. Brynn took a long gulp from her glass.
“Speaking of which,” he said, reaching into the pocket of his jacket and pulling out his cell phone, “could you excuse me for a minute? I need to check in with the answering service.”
“No problem, take all the time you need.” Really, he could take
as much time as he wanted because this date was over—sign the death certificate and slap a toe tag on it. Done.
After he strode off, Brynn pushed her chair away from the table and straightened the hem of her black-and-white shift dress as she stood. She needed something stronger than champagne.
She navigated through the crowd and the steady hum of polite conversation, pausing occasionally to smile and shake hands with donors. The Women’s Crisis Center of Dallas had a fund-raiser twice a year and, thanks to a very active board, had managed to snag a number of high-dollar supporters for this one. Good thing, considering her job was dependent on the generosity of these strangers. She grabbed a mini quiche off a passing waiter’s tray and shoved it in her mouth, hoping her obvious chewing would deter more people from stopping her to chat.
Brynn spotted a familiar face near the bar. Melody, her coworker, flipped her auburn hair over her shoulder and laughed at something the bartender said. Brynn walked over but hovered behind her for a moment, not wanting to interrupt Mel’s flirting. The woman was a master and seemed to have the young bartender sufficiently under her spell until another party guest pounded a fist on the counter and demanded a refill. With an apologetic smile, the bartender excused himself and Melody huffed.
Brynn tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, girl, I haven’t seen you all night. Where’ve you been hiding?”
Melody turned around and grinned.
“Hey, I could say the same to you. Although, I have an idea of what’s keeping you busy.” She nodded toward Brynn’s table. “How’s it going with the yummy doctor? Are you ready to play nurse yet?”
She groaned. “Seriously? That’s the best you can come up with?”
“Look, I’m three drinks into this. My comedy skills suffer when I’m tipsy.”
Brynn set her champagne on the bar, and then turned back to her friend. “It’s kind of a disaster. He almost cried already.”
She cringed. “Oh, no.”
Brynn held out her palms and shook her head before her friend could go into pity mode. “I don’t even want to talk about it. I’m apparently cursed to be a thirty-year-old born-again virgin.”
“Oh, screw that. You just need to stop looking for the perfect guy and find
a
guy to have some fun with. You could ask out that lawyer who’s starting at the crisis center,” she suggested. “I think he’s Cooper’s friend. And believe me, I mentally undressed him a little while ago and liked what I saw.”
“Oh,
really
, you got to meet him?” Brynn asked, scanning the crowded room to see if she could spot Cooper and her new coworker.
Mel sipped her drink. “Mm-hmm. I ran into Coop a few minutes ago and he introduced us. Apparently, the guy’s starting Monday, so you have two nights to get around your I-don’t-date-people-I-work-with policy. Just enough time for a dirty little fling.”
