His Obsession Next Door (In the Line of Duty) (21 page)

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Silk:

Jon stepped from the shower stall, wrapped a towel around his waist and padded to his window. He was just about to draw the curtains when a movement down below caught his attention. He narrowed his eyes, looking closer, and when he spotted Lila facedown in a snow pile, dressed in nothing but a cotton robe and slippers, his pulse leapt in his throat.

“Jesus,” he cursed and quickly tugged on his jeans, pulling his T-shirt over his head as he rushed down the staircase. At the door he tugged on his boots and hurried outside.

When he found Lila struggling to her feet, a load of wood still in her arms, he hauled her up and looked her over. He brushed snow from her face. “Lila, are you okay?”

“I slipped,” she sputtered through a mouthful of snow.

“Give me that.” Jon grabbed the pile of wood from her arms. “What are you doing out here in your robe? You’re going to catch your death of cold.”

He hurried her inside and after he locked the door behind her, he shook his head. “Jesus, Lila. You could have asked me to do that.”

Her teeth chattered as she said, “Running the B&B is my responsibility.”

“Well at least let me help while I’m here,” he mumbled as a part of him realized how much he wanted to help her, and not just until Christmas Eve.

Fuck.

He dropped the wet wood at the door and guided her into the living room. He threw a few pieces of dry kindling onto the dying fire, but when he turned to see her shivering he knew she needed heat now.

“Come on,” he said, catching her hand. As he passed her liquor cabinet, he tucked a bottle of brandy under his arm and grabbed two glasses.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

“To my room.”

“Your room?” Despite the cold, heat moved over her eyes. The way her robe inched open enough to expose her lush cleavage hadn’t gone unnoticed by him.

“Yeah, it’s the only room with a good fire going, and I need to get you warmed up.” Using his shoulder, he pushed open his bedroom door and guided Lila to the foot of the bed, a few feet from the fireplace.

He took off her slippers and gathered her ice-cold feet in his hands. “You probably shouldn’t be in the snow in your bunny slippers.”

She forced a quick laugh. “I was in a hurry.”

After warming her feet, he poured a generous amount of brandy into her glass and pressed it into her hand. “Drink this.” As she took it from him, skin touched skin, eliciting a shiver from deep within. Jon poured a glass for himself, took a huge swig then put the bottle and glass aside. He ran his hand up her calf to create friction.

“Does anything hurt?”

“Only my pride,” she answered, crinkling her nose.

Jon shook his head and couldn’t help but smile. “No need to be embarrassed in front of me.” When his hand reached her thigh, he said, “We need to get you out of this robe. You’re still freezing.”

A strange, garbled noise sounded in Lila’s throat. He glanced up to see her, and that’s when he noticed two things. Her eyes were flaring hot and his hand had traveled far too high on her thigh. He was about to pull it away, but Lila closed her hand over his, holding it in place. As her touch turned him inside out, lust bombarded him and his cock began tightening.

She wet her full, plump lips and her voice dropped an octave. “I agree about the robe, but don’t agree that I’m still freezing.”

“No?” he choked out.

She drained the rest of her brandy before setting her glass beside his. “No,” she said. “In fact, I’m feeling a little…hot.”

Her robe slipped open another inch and he made the mistake of sliding a look over her bare skin. His imagination kicked into high gear, and his body reacted, unable to ignore her blatant femininity.

As he ached to lose himself in her, a growl of sexual frustration climbed from his throat and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stifle it.

Working to marshal his lust, he said, “It’s the fire. It’s blazing hot in here.”

“Nope. Don’t think that’s it.”

With one hand still trapped under hers, Jon grabbed his tumbler with the other and took another swig. She began moving his hand, running it along her thigh, creating heat and friction on her leg as well as in his pants. As sexual tension built inside him, he noted the way her honey-flecked eyes glimmered with sensuality, the way her body vibrated with want, the rich scent of her skin flooding the room and making her so damn impossible to resist.

“Jon.”

“Yeah.”

“I was thinking.”

“About what?”

“About the holidays.”

He exhaled slowly and went back on his heels, wondering where she was going with this.

“What about them, Lila?” he asked his voice sounding deeper, more intimate, even to himself.

“Well, I was thinking that holidays are about overindulging.”

Jon finished the brandy in his glass and set his tumbler aside. “Yeah.”

She nestled against him. “And well, since you’re here alone, and I’m here alone, maybe we could…you know…indulge.”

“Indulge?”

“Yeah, in each other.”

His jaw clenched and as her proposition rattled around inside his brain like a runaway pinball, she rushed out, “You know, just for the holidays.”

Even though he’d sworn he was going to stay away from her, because he was here for Errol and Errol alone, everything in the sexy way she looked at him had him rethinking his priorities.

“Lila—” he began, knowing he couldn’t give her what she really wanted.

“It’s just a simple holiday fling, Jon. Nothing more,” she assured him.

As she grabbed the belt on her robe and started loosening it, Jon began warming to the idea of tossing her onto his sheets and having his way with her. Just for the holidays. Honestly, it was a perfectly sensible proposition, one he’d be a fool to pass up. But he didn’t want to sleep with her until she knew the truth about him. Knew he was a selfish bastard who chose to stay in Miami and work instead of coming home for the holidays, only to end up losing his parents because of it, the two people in the world who loved him the most. If she chose to look at him with blame instead of desire, chose to walk out of his room, then so be it.

“Lila, we need to talk.”

She removed her belt, widening the opening of her robe. “No, Jon. We need to get out of our clothes.”

The sight of her gorgeous, naked body, save for the silk panties, nearly rendered him senseless. He swallowed. Hard. “I need to tell you something.”

Her warm seductive chuckle curled around him. “Oh, so now the man of few words wants to talk. Well guess what? I’m not in the mood for talking.”

“I thought you were always in the mood for talking,” he managed to get out and struggled to remember what it was he needed to tell her.

She rolled her shoulder and let her robe fall down one arm, shutting down his ability to think with any sort of clarity.

“Not always,” she assured him. “Sometimes I’m in the mood for moaning,” she said, teasing him in a playful manner that drew him deeper and deeper into her seduction.

“Lila—” He tried again, and struggled to remember what it was he needed to tell her as equal amounts of lust for this woman and fear for what she made him feel raced through him.

“Jon,” she said, sliding her fingers through her damp hair. “Whatever it is, it can wait until breakfast tomorrow.”

When he heard the raw ache of lust in her voice and saw the sexy pink flush on her cheeks, all he could think about was laying her out on his bed, spreading her legs and nibbling on her like she was his personal holiday feast.

“Tonight, however—”

Jon pressed his fingers to her lips to hush her. “Lila.”

“Yeah,” she asked.

“It’s time to stop talking.”

“It is?”

“Yeah.” He positioned his lips over hers, creating an instant intimacy, and murmured into her mouth, “Because it’s time for indulging.”

What happens on the island, lingers in the heart.

Hawaiian Holiday

© 2013 Crystal Jordan

Destination: Desire, Book 2

Julie Simms moved back to Half Moon Bay to take over her ailing great aunt’s fiber arts store, and stayed by her side until the end. Now it’s Julie’s first Christmas without the sassy old lady, and grief drives her to take some much-needed time off away from a town full of memories.

A week in Honolulu—hula dancers, coconut palms, and sunny beaches—is exactly what she needs, plus a bonus: meeting a gorgeous man who makes her forget everything except getting naked. With him. As often as possible.

Stanford Professor Lukas Klein, who’s just finished up a conference and is ready for a break, hasn’t been this intensely attracted to a woman since his divorce. He’s been leery of getting too deeply involved in a relationship, yet Julie is a breath of fresh air he can’t resist. And doesn’t even want to try.

Half Moon Bay and Stanford aren’t that far apart, but the magic of paradise could be too far removed from reality to let an attraction this mind-blowing last forever.

Warning: Crochet bikinis and sex on the beach (the drink and the real thing). Hawaiian breezes ignite an affair hot enough to reanimate a dormant volcano.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Hawaiian Holiday:

“Would you care to share my taxi?” a deep voice called from behind her. “We’re going to the same place, it seems.”

Turning, she saw a tall man holding open the door to a cab. He was…sexy. Dark hair, serious blue eyes, angular features that contrasted with a sensual mouth. She took a few steps forward, her feet moving without any direction from her brain. Seriously, anyone that good to look at deserved a closer inspection. She had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze by the time she stopped. And he looked even better from this angle. Something about him made her heart skip a beat.

He leaned toward her, closing some of the distance between them. She didn’t back away. Somehow, it felt just right to have him in her personal space. His eyes crinkled at the corners, though he didn’t smile. “Should I take your coming over as a yes?”

“Yes.” The word came out throatier and more inviting than she meant it to.

His gaze dropped for just a moment to where her damp T-shirt clung to her breasts, and her breath caught, a shiver of utterly sexual awareness passing through her. Her nipples tightened. She wanted to tell herself it was from the breeze on her wet clothes, but it would have been a lie. Her reaction to this man was hot, instantaneous—a lightning strike of sheer need.

Mmm-hmm
. She could only hope she wasn’t drooling. A flush burned her cheeks. Wow, she hadn’t realized she was this hard up. Okay, so it
had
been a while since she’d let herself enjoy the company of a man. Not since before Auntie’s first stroke. She lifted her chin. It was time to get on with living her life, even if it would always be a little bit emptier without Eloise.

Tilting her head, Julie looked the dark-haired man over one more time. Maybe not the most gorgeous guy she’d ever seen, but definitely the sexiest she’d been around in a long time. Hello, animal magnetism. She knew her attraction showed in her expression, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. The tingle of warmth spreading through her felt pretty good.

She cleared her throat, recognizing that she’d been staring a little too long. “Thanks for sharing your ride.”

“No problem.” His gaze did a slow slide down her body, the perusal deliberate and as obvious as her inspection of him had been.

Her shoulder brushed over his chest as she bent to climb into the car. Just that simple touch made her shudder, and a wave of sweet heat sluiced through her. Holy Jesus, this was crazy. She had no idea who he was, but she hoped he was single. It would be a damn shame to be this drawn to a guy who was taken. She dragged in a deep breath, and realized that her heart had leaped into a pounding rush.

Sliding across the seat, she set her shopping bag on the floor at her feet. He climbed in after her, dropping a leather messenger bag on the seat between them. He leaned his head back against the seat, closed his eyes, and sighed. The cab pulled away from the curb and merged into the chaotic mess of people trying to get out of the rain and into some form of transportation.

Julie twisted in her seat to get a better look at her companion. Yes, definitely gorgeous. And definitely exhausted. “Long day?”

Rolling his head toward her, he opened his eyes. He offered her a slight grin. “Oh, yeah. I just finished a week-long conference, but now I’m free to relax, unwind, and…enjoy myself.”

The faintest hint of an accent flavored his words, but she couldn’t pinpoint where he might be from. A mystery. She liked that. But then what he’d said sank in.

“You finished? So you’re on your way home?” A pang of disappointment went through her. She shouldn’t care, but she did. The possibility shimmering between them was too good to miss out on so easily.

Two dimples popped into his cheeks. “Not at all. I’m staying for another week on vacation.”