Hot & Humid
Hot & Humid
Journalist Brine Torin has just made the biggest mistake of her career. In a moment of desperation and inebriation, she chains herself to a redwood in order to get the attention of a reluctant source, logger Thane Elam. What she gets instead is the attention of local law enforcement and Thane’s entire work crew.
Brine’s been preparing for this confrontation for weeks and isn’t prepared to leave until she gets her interview and her way. She quickly discovers that the only thing Thane is interested in is teaching her a few lessons. Stubborn and fiercely independent, Brine doesn’t plan on submitting to Thane’s demands to leave anytime soon.
Caught by Thane and the scars of her past, Brine knows the only thing she can do is walk away from the man she's just met and fallen hard for. Can she convince Thane it's the right thing for both of them?
Genre:
Contemporary
Length:
45,268 words
HOT & HUMID
Tatum Throne
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
HOT & HUMID
Copyright © 2012 by Tatum Throne
E-book ISBN: 978-1-61926-762-6
First E-book Publication: July 2012
Cover design by Harris Channing
All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
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PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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Hot & Humid
by Tatum Throne from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
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This is Tatum Throne’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Throne’s right to earn a living from her work.
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
DEDICATION
I dedicate this book to my family. I love you very much.
A special thank-you goes to Melissa, for your unwavering support of my writing, for going on all of my research ventures to the fire station, and for being there for everything else...we both know that’s a really long list. I love you!
A special thank-you goes out to Cathy, for your extensive knowledge on the current research on Eosinophilic disorders! I’d be lost without you! Love you too, girlie!
HOT & HUMID
TATUM THRONE
Copyright © 2012
Chapter One
She
wanted
the man’s attention but not like this.
Brine Torin just made the biggest mistake of her life and there was nothing she could do to take it back. Cold wind rippled through the tree line, causing her to shiver. The chains that locked her down to the giant sequoia rattled.
She’d been desperately foolish. Desperation could make a woman do some pretty reckless things. Strong, independent women didn’t do this type of thing. Not when they were thinking with the rational part of their brain, she reminded herself.
Oh, she was starting to feel the consequences of this bad decision
.
The jagged bark of the sequoia dug hard lines into Brine’s backside. She couldn’t remember the last time she had such a rough ride. She tried to get comfortable but the chain that held her wrists out to her sides had little give.
Lights flashed from the cop car in the hazy mist. She was about to be arrested. She was sure of it. She hadn’t planned on the cops being called in so soon.
She’d wanted a chance to talk to Thane Elam first. Flatbed semis snaked down the access road with tree remains stacked five high. The logger lifted his binoculars to the redwood and adjusted the scope. She blew him a taunting kiss.
The man had dodged her calls, e-mails and stalking visits to his office for weeks. It was now a matter of professional pride that she get this story to bed. The logger lowered the binoculars, for a second, to say something to the man next to him. Brine caught his profile and her heart did a nervous flip.
It
was
him.
Brine wrapped the cold chains around each wrist and set her long legs wide, ready for round one of the fight that was about to begin. She needed this story. She wanted it so bad she could taste it.
Bring. It. On.
Brine turned her gaze upward to the Oregon thunderstorm pushing through. It was a cold, tedious rain drizzling through the redwoods. Brine’s dark-blonde hair was plastered to her face. She had that Audrey Hepburn thing going on with her bangs today but that was where the resemblance ended. Brine was more voluptuous in ways that Hepburn never was.
She could just make out Thane’s sneer as he lifted the binoculars again. Too bad she had to ruin his day. Too bad he was ruining hers.
Brine wasn’t about to let the tyrant known as Elam Industries bully her around. Not when she had them by the chainsaw. For now
.
She
was
going to get this story, even if she made a few mistakes to get it. This was probably by far the biggest, most impulsive mistake of her career. Investigative journalists didn’t chain themselves to redwoods to get the attention of a reluctant source. She knew things would never be the same. Now, there was nothing she could do to go back to change the last few hours of drunken irresponsibility that would ultimately tarnish her reputation.
Elam leaned his thick forearms onto the truck as though he had all the time in the world. Maybe he did but so did she. She could just imagine all the nasty things he was saying. He brought up his binoculars again and she flicked him off with both hands. The cop didn’t look too happy about that one. What could she say? She had an attitude problem today. She was under a deadline. Elam said something to the logger who shook his head no.
The logger pointed and zeroed in on her granddaddy’s gun. The 1640’s Blunderbuss wasn’t loaded but he didn’t need to know that. At least, she didn’t think she loaded it. Her memory of last night was a little fuzzy. Yes, she’d needed a drink to stay warm and get the balls to have her coworker, Stephanie, chain her to the redwood. She thought about her granddaddy’s favorite saying about grabbing life by the horns. Well, she could grab bull’s balls and the horns
.
Elam fine-tuned the adjustment. A bottle of Glenlivet was half empty on the ground a few feet away.
Now that was a mistake not worth making again.
Brine glowered at the handcuff key bobbing in the bottle. She remembered dropping it in at the time, thinking it was the safest place to put it. She’d been wrong when the bottle tipped and rolled away.
Elam set the binoculars into the back of the truck and traded them for a set of bolt cutters. He headed her way. It was so on.
She wanted his attention. Now she had it. She could do this.
“I’ll be right back.” He called over his shoulder.
“That’s what they all say in the movies right before they bite it!” The logger beside the truck yelled through the ravine.
Elam spread his arrogant arms wide as though the world was his playground and everyone in it his playthings. “She’s not going to shoot me. The gun is out of reach!”
Yes it was, to her annoyance. Ancient redwoods towered. They shadowed Elam as he navigated the thick, earthy terrain. He maneuvered around the downed trunks with the athletic edge of a man that worked out. He approached her slowly, the way a man might approach a wild deer.
