Private Passions (17 page)

Just the sight of him was enough to sent a
shimmer of warmth through her, and when he came up behind her and
pressed his lips into the curve where her shoulder met her neck,
that warmth took root deep in her core.

Not that she'd be able to do anything about
it for a while, she thought petulantly.

"You look gorgeous," he whispered against her
bare skin making her wish—

"Don't touch the hair!" Claud said sharply,
pulling Jane's thoughts back from the inappropriate path they were
starting on.

Deck shot him a sidelong glare but kept his
hand away from the cascade of gold waves tumbling down her left
shoulder and slid it around her waist. Well, what was left of it
anyway.

She watched his reflected gaze slide down,
watched it heat with approval as it took in first the generous
amount of cleavage displayed by the dress's deep v neckline, then
the front hem that ended just above her knees to show off her toned
calves.

He frowned when he got to her feet. "You
can't wear those shoes."

Jane turned away from the mirror and looked
at him like he was high. "Of course I'm wearing them."

"Alexander McQueen designed them especially
to go with this dress," Mira chimed in as she gestured at the ruby
red pumps with their three inch platforms and six inch heels.

"Besides, they show off my legs and make me
look leaner, and at this point I need all the help I can get."

"You're nine months pregnant," Deck snapped.
"You're not supposed to look lean."

"Trust me, I don't need reminding." Though
she had been cautiously thrilled when she realized she was pregnant
just two months after what the press had dubbed their "steamy
reunion," and openly ecstatic when she made it through the first
trimester safely, now she was feeling every single second of those
nine months. The doctors said she could go at any time, and with
eight or so pounds of baby regularly doing a dance on her bladder,
Jane was ready for "any time" to be "now". "I just want to look as
good as I can, considering. You understand."

The look on his face said he didn't. "Just be
careful. I don't want you to fall."

"If I do, I'll try not to crush you," she
laughed and clung to his hand for balance as she picked her way
carefully down the stairs.

"Vegas has even odds that she won't make it
long enough to present her category," she heard Claud say to Mira
as they reached the entryway.

In the end, the odds makers were wrong. Jane
made it through her appearance—presenting the award for Best Actor
in a Comedy. It was later revealed that if she looked a little
tense while she was reading the teleprompter, it was because her
contractions had been building steadily since the Best Mini Series
category.

By the time she and Deck made their hurried
exit, the entire room was a buzz with the news that Jane
Bowden-Decker had gone into labor. Devlin James Decker was born
just five hours later, a scene-stealer from the start.

Jami Alden lives in the San Francisco Bay
Area with her socially well adjusted alpha male husband, two sons,
and a German Shepherd who patiently listens to dialogue and helps
her work out plot points. Find out more about Jami and her
books:

http://www.jamialden.com

http://www.facebook.com/JamiAldenBooks

http://www.twitter.com/jamialden

Keep reading for excerpts of PRIVATE PARADISE
and PRIVATE PLEASURES, books #2 & #3 in Alden's steamy PRIVATE
series!

After years of catering to the
whims of the rich and famous at one of the Caribbean's most
luxurious resorts, there isn't much that can rattle Carla
DeLuca.

Until Sam O’Connell shows up.

Tall, dark, and sexy, Holley Cay's new
security chief is no stranger. He's the irresistible bad boy who
seduced her over a long, hot summer only to leave her heartbroken,
humiliated, and determined to never again fall for a player like
him. But though her heart still stings with the memory of his
rejection, her body can't forget the all-consuming pleasure of his
touch.

Sam never forgave himself for his too cruel
rejection of Carla over a decade before. Young, reckless, and
convinced it was only a matter of time Carla regretted hooking up
with a trouble maker like him, Sam pushed Carla away before she
could realize her mistake. But when Sam lands a job working for
Carla in paradise, he seizes the chance to finally make things
right.

When a hurricane strands them alone on the
island, Carla is unable to resist the passion simmering between
them. She doesn't fool herself that what they have will last past
the storm. But little does she know, Sam will do whatever it takes
to make her his – forever this time.

This could not be happening.

That was all Carla DeLuca
could think as she stared, dumbstruck, at the man in front of her.
The Caribbean breeze ruffled night dark hair that was much shorter
than she remembered. His lean features had become bolder, more
chiseled, and his broad-shouldered lanky form had filled out
substantially. Despite the differences, she had known his face the
instant she'd laid eyes on him. Even after over a decade, there was
no mistaking those blue eyes, startling
against his jet black lashes and brows.

Eyes that crinkled at the corners as he
offered a friendly, if guarded smile, and didn't do a damn thing to
help her unglue her tongue from the roof of her mouth.

“Isn't it amazing?” Her cousin Chris's
laughing voice broke through her daze, and she focused on his
smiling face as he clapped the other man on the shoulder. “Who
would have ever thought we'd hire Sam O'Connell as head of
security?”

“Amazing,” Carla murmured. Mentally steeling
herself, she forced herself to meet Sam's eyes. The effect of those
laser blue eyes meeting hers was only slightly less jolting than it
had been two minutes ago, when she'd arrived on the terrace of
Holley Cay's dining room to see what Chris's big surprise was.

After a two month search for someone to head
up security at Holley Cay, the exclusive Caribbean resort Chris had
started nearly a decade ago which Carla now managed, Chris had
found the perfect candidate.

Sam O'Connell.

A man who Carla could happily go to her grave
never laying eyes on again.

“Sam,” Carla repeated. “You hired Sam to head
up our security,” she said, as though she expected Chris to change
his answer, like it was all some horrible joke.

But Chris had no clue what had gone on
between Sam and Carla during that hot Las Vegas summer, and if he
did, he'd never be so cruel as to pull something like this.

“It's great to see you again, Carla,” Sam
said. His expression gave nothing away, but his voice, still raspy
and even deeper than it had been at twenty-one, had the same
maddening impact as it always did, curling around her like a warm
blanket and sending a little flutter of need to her core. “You look
even better than the last time I saw you.”

Not much of a stretch, considering the last
time he saw her she was a sobbing mess, practically bent double in
pain from the blow he'd just delivered to her heart.

Still, as she felt his admiring gaze roam
over her, she was glad she'd had her monthly Brazilian Blowout just
yesterday so her psychotically curly hair hung down her back in
silky waves and that her short, silky dress showed off arms and
legs that were slim and toned from hours on the running trail and
thousands of reps in the gym.

That's right. Take a long
look at what you gave up, everything you've been missing,
she thought.

Then it hit her again, how easily he'd been
able to walk away. He hadn't missed a goddamn thing. The memory of
his smirk and the cruel glint in his blue eyes was enough to get
her hormones in check and straighten her spine.

She was no longer an eighteen-year-old girl
caught under the spell of a seductive bad boy. She was almost
thirty years old, in charge of a multi-million dollar operation.
And, if Sam and Chris had their way, Sam's boss.

Right. Maybe when hell froze over.

Click here to read
PRIVATE
PARADISE

The tropical heat continues in
PRIVATE PLEASURES, book #2 in the PRIVATE Series.

Wendy Carmichael's career as a high-powered
attorney leaves her little time for a love - or sex - life. She has
a broken engagement to prove it.  With everything she's worked
for on the line, she can't afford to be distracted -especially not
by Drew Walker.  The first time she laid eyes on the brash,
cocky millionaire five years ago Wendy knew that giving into the
chemistry sparking between them could only lead to trouble. But
when they're thrown together at a party in paradise, his wicked
smile and rock hard body draw her like a moth to a flame.
 Convincing herself one night of indulgence can't hurt, Wendy
decides to find out once and for all if being with Drew is as hot
as she's always imagined.

But Drew isn't satisfied
with just one night, and neither is Wendy. When Drew proposes a no
holds barred, no strings attached affair that will end when he
moves across the country, Wendy can't say no. Yet as the nights
pass, each hotter than the last, Wendy discovers that what she
thought was casual is anything but, and has potential to be so much
more. Now she fears that when cocky, too sexy for his own good Drew
walks out of her life, she'll be saying goodbye to the man of her
dreams
.

Wendy Carmichael lingered at the bottom of
the stairs leading to the beach. Laughter carried on the
salt-scented breeze, still warm even though the sun was barely
clinging to the horizon, turning the normally bright turquoise
Caribbean waters surrounding Holley Cay into a bright, burnished
orange.

Wendy's gaze wandered over the crowd full of
couples mingling among tables set up on the beach, sipping
champagne and cocktails while they nibbled on gourmet cuisine
prepared by Holley Cay's world class chef.

Everything about the party was perfect, from
the location - Holley Cay was one of the most exclusive resorts in
the Caribbean if not the world - to the decor, the bright blues,
greens, and yellows of the table linens echoing the palette of the
gorgeous location and setting off the bouquets of tropical flowers
to perfection.

But nothing was more perfect than the couple
being celebrated tonight, Wendy thought as her gaze landed on the
guests of honor. Tonight Chris and Julie Dennison were celebrating
five years of wedded bliss together. They were stunning to look at.
Chris, tall and lean, his broad shoulders straining against the
white linen of his shirt. And Julie, blond and petite, with big
blue eyes that shone up at her husband with as much adoration as
the day they were married.

To look at them, you'd think they were
newlyweds, the way Chris kept Julie close, his fingers entwined
with hers even as they carried on separate conversations.

They looked so... connected, Wendy thought
with a little stabbing pain in her chest. And the love that had
brought them together, and produced a little girl who, Wendy was
convinced, was the most adorable child ever born, was so apparent
you could practically see it, radiating off of them like a halo,
enveloping the guests who had come all the way to Holley Cay to
celebrate their fifth anniversary in its warm glow.

There wasn't a single person who wasn't
smiling.

Well, Wendy reflected as she felt her own
clenched jaw and tight mouth, maybe one.

As she took the final step onto the canvas
runner that had been laid over the sand so the female guests could
still indulge in fancy footwear for as long as their feet put up
with it, Wendy tried but failed to banish the knot that had settled
in the pit of her stomach. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for
Julie, who had been her best friend since they met when Wendy
transferred to UC Berkeley her sophomore year.

Of course she was. Julie, with her big,
giving heart and sweet sense of humor, was one of Wendy's favorite
people in the world, and no one deserved happiness more than she
did.

From the moment she'd met Julie, Wendy, who
wasn't much older but was a whole lot savvier than her sheltered
friend, had taken it on herself to protect Julie from the big bad
wolves out on the prowl.

Wendy had always prided herself on being able
to hold her own, but Julie was always at risk of being ripped to
shreds. In fact she nearly had been, thanks to a disastrous but
thankfully brief first marriage. But in the end, she'd ended up
with Chris, who was a great guy and worshipped Julie as she
deserved, giving her an idyllic life in paradise, her very own
happily ever after.

And Wendy was happy for her, she really was.
Yet, as she lingered alone on the edge of the crowd, watching all
of the other seemingly ecstatic couples, Wendy couldn't shake the
blue funk that had enveloped her for the last six months, growing
as heavy as a wet wool blanket the second she stepped onto the dock
at Holley Cay and saw Julie and Chris beaming at her, gorgeous
little daughter cradled in Chris's arms.

For all that she didn't begrudge Julie her
happiness, the sharp contrast to Wendy's own love life brought back
all the feelings of hurt and failure so keenly it felt like it was
yesterday instead of six months ago that Alan had broken off their
engagement.

Snap out of it,
she scolded herself,
forcing her feet to continue down the beach, dread growing with
every step as her suspicions were confirmed that she was the only
one here without a date. "Bring a friend," Julie had
encouraged.