Just a Kiss: The Bradfords, Book 5 (42 page)

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Where There’s Smoke:

Logan snagged a plush towel off the rack and wrapped her in its softness. He buffed her arms and legs, making sure not to press any sore spots too hard, then wrapped a smaller cloth around her hair before attending to himself with a handful of swipes.

When he turned to put the towel in the hamper, Kyana plucked his clothes from the floor. She arranged his shirt over the shower door then dug into his jeans, rescuing his faux-leather wallet. He didn’t stop her fast enough.

His face heated, glowing as red as an overheated saw blade when she removed his ID and the last three crumpled singles he had left to his name. Instead of laughing at his pathetic life savings, she flattened the trio of bills on the counter and propped the cheap pleather open to allow air to circulate through the barren folds.

She distracted him from his discomfort when she peeked up from beneath long, if not curled, lashes. The raw vulnerability he spied in her eyes made him feel a little more on even footing. “Logan…”

“Yeah?”

“Will you stay with me tonight?”

“I don’t have anywhere else to go, Ky.”

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you need.” She didn’t pry, just nodded, though her shoulders seemed to slump a little. Avoiding looking at him, she scooted past, into her bedroom.

“Hey, wait. That didn’t sound right.” He scrubbed his hand through his hair, thinking of the countless fuck-ups he’d made when it came to her. All the times he’d said the wrong thing. Or had been too afraid to try to find the perfect thing.

No more of that bullshit. Time to man up.

Crossing the threshold to her sanctuary, he took a gamble. “It wouldn’t matter. You know, if I had a hundred homes. This is where I want to be tonight. I’m only sorry I wasn’t here earlier. You shouldn’t have had to deal with this, all of it, on your own. It’s been a long-ass time, but I’m still the same guy who was your friend. I haven’t forgotten how you always had my back. Now let me get yours.”

From a hand-glazed dresser, she withdrew a gossamer garment intended to drive men insane with lust and admiration. Mission accomplished when it fluttered into place around her ideal form, leaving a surprising string of pink, white and red cherry blossoms exposed on her shoulder. He wouldn’t have expected her to go for tattoos, but the artwork suited her. It made his cock ten times harder.

“I’ve got things under control.”

“I don’t doubt that.” He watched her slip beneath the lush duvet and ridiculously soft-looking sheets. “But you can lean on me tonight. Today. Whatever the hell it is out there. And always. I hope you understand that.”

He considered getting in bed with his underwear on but didn’t want to risk the cheap black dye staining her fancy linens. With a shrug, he shimmied out of the sticky fabric, tossed it over his shoulder into the bathroom then strode to the bed.

Kyana’s laser-beam stare tracked his every movement until he obscured her view with the duvet, staying on top of the sheet she rested under. He wasn’t some kind of creeper who’d try to molest her when she was down…no matter how desperately the primal parts of his brain encouraged him to try.

They both lay on their backs, staring at the ceiling for a while. A chasm at least a foot wide separated their tense bodies in her luxurious bed. When he couldn’t stand it another second, he slid his hand beneath her shoulders and tugged. “This is stupid. We’re adults now. Come here.”

Thankfully, she didn’t fight. She laid her head on his shoulder and curled up to his side, with only the thin sheet separating them.

Logan decided it was time to go all or nothing. Lying wasn’t his style any more these days than it had been in high school. Hiding his feelings then had almost killed him.

“Sweet dreams, Kyana-chan.” He tipped up her chin and claimed her mouth in a brief kiss. Brushing his lips against hers, he relished her taste and the complete surrender she offered him. Resisting the urge to plunder, he attempted to illustrate the tumble of emotions rolling around in his guts. Slow, tender and lingering contact seemed to do the trick.

When they parted, they both were breathless.

“Welcome home,” she rasped.

Just a Kiss

Erin Nicholas

She’s unforgettable…and that’s exactly what got him into trouble the first time.
 

The Bradfords, Book 5

As a paramedic in the busiest ER in the city, Kevin Campbell knows there’s no such thing as a typical night—but this one definitely has them all beat.
 

His dad’s been stabbed with a fork, his mom’s been in a fight, and it’s all because of a younger half-brother he never knew existed. And if
that’s
not enough, everyone seems to agree that Kevin should take the boy in for the six months during his mom’s rehab. Oh, and the annulment he thought he got fourteen years ago? Never went through.
 

It’s really too bad he gave up drinking and swearing.

Eve Donnelly is shocked to see Kevin again, but not surprised they’re still married. After all, she was the one who refused to sign the annulment papers. Now that she’s got Kevin back in her life, nothing else matters. Not even her past fourteen less-than-virtuous years. In fact, the truth about her life without Kevin isn’t even worth bringing up. She hopes.

When Eve offers to help Kevin with his younger brother, a sweet, devout preacher’s daughter seems like an answered prayer. Besides, things can’t get more
complicated. Can they?

Warning: Contains a bad boy gone good, a good girl who knows all about being bad, and lots of hot, sweet, so-this-is-how-married-couples-do-it sex.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

Cincinnati OH 45249

Just a Kiss

Copyright © 2012 by Erin Nicholas

ISBN: 978-1-61921-216-9

Edited by Lindsey Faber

Cover by Angela Waters

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: October 2012

www.samhainpublishing.com