Secrets from Her Past: Scandalous, Book 2 (21 page)

And some of that stuff had been hell on his finances, but so worth it if she agreed to his plan.

Cori spun back around to face him. “Okay, why am I here?”

He couldn’t fault her for sounding skeptical and harsh. Anything she threw at him, he’d have to take.

“When I bought this building a while back,” he started, shoving his hands in his pockets, “I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what I wanted to do with it.”

Cori walked through to the front window and rested a hip on the wide sill. “I know—you had said that. What does all of this have to do with me?”

Dylan shrugged. “I’m thinking about opening a bakery.”

Cori tilted her head. “I thought you did construction, not cookies. And again, what does this have to do with me?”

Looking at her, talking to her, made him physically hurt. He wanted to reach out to her, touch her, love her. But he had to pave the way first.

“I do good to make a bowl of cereal,” he told her. “I’m just going to own the building. I have someone else in mind to run the bakery.”

Cori eased her purse off her shoulder and let it drop to the floor as she came to a standstill. “I assume you called me here because you want that person to be me.”

Dylan nodded. “After I bought the building, we started growing closer and you kept baking. I know you’ve said it’s a form of relaxation.”

“It is,” she agreed.

“I know you have your life in Miami, but you have a life here too. You could have a job easily and I would help you get this started. I ordered the best equipment I could get, but I wanted to leave the rest of the décor and other things up to you.”

He knew he was rambling, begging, but whatever. He’d never argued a more important case. This was his life standing before him, and there was no way in hell he was going to let her walk out that door without a fight.

“You’re awfully sure of yourself, Dylan. I’ve just started booking shoots and, hopefully, I’m getting a big contract this week. I can’t come back here.”

“Why?” he asked, taking his hands from his pockets and resting them on his hips. “Why can’t you come back? Because you don’t like it here? Because you don’t fit in, or because you think you have a better life in Florida? I want a valid reason.”

Cori tilted her chin, stiffened her shoulders. “To be honest, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t volley back and forth between what I want and what I need to do.”

Her raw honesty gave Dylan a spurt of hope he hadn’t had seconds ago.

“And what do you want?” he asked softly, inching closer because he could hardly stand back any longer. “If all that factored in was your happiness, not your job, not your housing or financial situation, what makes Cori happy?”

She opened her mouth, but quickly closed it. She shifted her gaze to the floor and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. “I’ve chosen my life and it’s done.”

Anger spurred him forward, made him grip her by the shoulders and shake her until she looked at him.

“Damn it, it’s not done, Cori,” he yelled, looking her in the eyes. “You may have a life in Miami, but you have a life here too. You have friends who love you, parents who love you. And me. I love you.”

Her eyes widened. “You don’t love me, Dylan. After what I did, you don’t. I saw your face when you knew that I’d kept that secret. I heard the words you said. You voiced honest, real emotions, and I destroyed anything we ever had. Believe me, I know you don’t love me.”

“Then why would I go through all of this,” he asked softly. “Why would I nearly kill myself getting this done before you came home again? There were nights I brought a sleeping bag and slept on the floor because I didn’t want to take the time to go home.”

He slid his hands up over her shoulders, her neck, and finally palmed her face between his hands. “I wanted this to be ready for you because I’m not good at groveling, Cori. I’ve never had to do it and I’ve sure as hell never needed it to matter this much.”

Cori’s breath hitched, her lids lowered and she bit her lip. Silence enveloped them as the soft glow from the sunset flooded the wide window. He didn’t want to rush her, didn’t want to pressure her, but he wanted—needed—her to know just how valuable she was in his life.

“I’ve never loved a woman before, Cori. I never thought I needed a woman to complete me. But I do.” He rested his forehead against hers. “I need you.”

When Cori’s arms wrapped around his waist, Dylan’s knees nearly went weak with relief. He eased forward, closing the slim gap between them as he slid his hands up into her hair and tilted her head back.

Her lids fluttered open and those misty eyes landed on his.

“If I stay and open this restaurant with you, will I have to bake at home too?” she asked with a slight smile.

Dylan grinned. “Maybe just for my birthday.”

“If I stay, do you promise we’ll never hurt each other again?”

“I can’t promise that,” he told her. “But I can promise I’ll love you forever and be here for you, no matter the cost.”

Cori’s smile widened. “I love you, Dylan. I love how you make me feel and how far you’ve gone to prove that I mean something to you. I had my career starting back up in Miami, but when I’d come home at night to the empty condo, it was depressing and lonely.”

“I know.” He nipped at her lips. “There wasn’t a part of my house that I could look at and not see you. We made love in nearly every room and those images rolling through my head were pure torture.”

Cori slid her lips across his, coaxing his lips apart with her tongue. Softly, she kissed him until he changed the angle and attacked her mouth. Weeks of pent-up passion and frustration fueled his desire.

Her hands slid beneath his T-shirt, her nails bit into his back.

“Are we going to christen this place?” she asked against his lips.

“We’ll have to go in the back. That window is pretty large.”

Cori glanced over her shoulder. “It’s getting dark. Lock that door.”

In no time Dylan had flicked the lock and shut off the lights. Cori had backed up to the wall between the window and the door and started unbuttoning her pants. They whooshed down to the floor, where she kicked them and her sandals aside. Seeing her standing there in her cotton shirt and silky panties nearly made him weep with want.

“I need to show you how much you were missed,” she told him with an evil grin.

Dylan crossed the space between them in two strides and had her plastered against the wall as his mouth claimed hers. His hands were up her shirt, pulling down her bra, teasing her nipples as she went to work on his jeans. She jerked the button open and slowly eased down the zipper over his erection.

As soon as his jeans and boxers were pushed down, he hoisted her up, holding her firmly between his body and the wall. Cori’s legs wrapped around his waist and he plunged into her.

“Sorry for the hurry,” he told her as he pumped his hips. “I need you now, Cori.”

She squeezed his shoulders as she tilted her hips against his. “Yes, yes…”

His hands wrapped firmly around her waist, holding her still as he moved in and out at a frantic pace. Dylan claimed her lips again as her body started to tighten around him. Every part of her clenched and Dylan couldn’t hold back any longer.

As their bodies shook, he held on to her, knowing he’d never let her go, knowing this was literally the first day of so many more to come for them.

Cori eased her legs down to stand on the floor. Her hands were still tightened on his shoulders.

“That was a nice start to welcoming me back,” she told him. “But I think we may need to go home and try that again.”

Dylan smiled. “Home? And where is that for you, Cori?”

“Your house, your bed.”

“Does that mean you’ll be moving in with me?”

Cori smiled. “It means I’m living with you and we’ll be getting married.”

Dylan laughed, kissed her on the lips. “I was going to propose the right way, but you beat me to it. I was so worried about getting this place done I hadn’t gone to get a ring yet.”

Cori shook her head. “I don’t need a ring, Dylan. I need you. I need us.”

Dylan kissed her again, so thankful for second and third chances.

“Let’s go home, Cori.”

About the Author

As an award-winning author, Jules Bennett has penned her way into the hearts of readers with her sassy and sexy characters since 2005. When she isn’t tapping away on her keyboard dreaming of a happily-ever-after for her next story, she is living her own HEA with her high school sweetheart hubby and chasing around their two beautiful girls. She’s also starting her own small petting zoo with her rescue Beagle/St. Bernard mix (go ahead and laugh), her rescue bunny and a goldfish that will outlive the whole family.

Jules loves to hear from readers. Find her online via her website,
www.julesbennett.com
; on Facebook, “Jules Bennett’s Fan Page”; or on Twitter, @JulesBennett.

Look for these titles by Jules Bennett

Now Available:

Scandalous

Sins from Her Past

She will never be free to love…until she finds the courage to heal.

Sins from Her Past

© 2013 Jules Bennett

Scandalous, Book 1

After her parents’ deaths, Evelyn Banks endured a living hell for nearly two years at the hands of her godfather’s son. She couldn’t tell anyone…not her brother, and certainly not the godfather who took them in.

Now she is twenty-five—and still trapped in silence. After all the time, no one would believe her. And any revelation of her shame could halt her godfather’s political aspirations. But what she can do is take her design firm to the next level with a project for her brother’s best friend. Handsome, sexy hotelier Vincent Hawk.

Vin has always had a thing for Evie, but kept his hands off out of respect for her brother. Now that they’re traveling together, though, keeping his distance is tearing him apart. Except every move he makes to get close is met with not just mere resistance, but with a fear-whitened face and trembling body.

Evie can’t deny she’s falling for Vin, but accepting their future means facing her past…a past that could destroy everyone she loves.

Warning: This book contains a heroine who fights to get past her demons, a hero who’s more than willing to help, a few emotional scenes that may require a tissue and some steamy love scenes guaranteed to make you fan yourself.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Sins from Her Past:

Oh mercy.

Was the man purposely toying with her? She would not be a cliché and fall for her boss. Technically they were friends first, but right now he was her boss.

“How about if we turn the tables and discuss the woman behind the new design business?”

She laughed. “Okay, Vincent, I’ll let you dig deeper into my professional life for a bit.”
But not too deep.

The water bottle popped as he squeezed it a bit too hard, so he settled it into the cup holder and screwed the cap back on. “What can you offer me?”

Tremors raced, one after the other, through her body. She knew he meant business but, mercy, his words had a whole other meaning. Almost sexual and for the first time, she wanted to explore that underlying passion, but that damn fear kept her from doing so. Still, she was thankful and almost relieved at these normal feelings of desire.

Evelyn ran a finger over the stones of her single-strand diamond bracelet. “I have an eye for details and am a perfectionist. I take the work off my clients so they can relax and enjoy the process.”

“From working with you and the team at Marshall’s I can see how much you love your work.”

“Every minute.”

“That’s what will set you apart from the rest.” His eyes held hers, his tone softened. “When you love something it comes through without any effort.”

Smile frozen in place, Evelyn eyed him with a tilt of her head. “Don’t tell me you love your work. Money clouds the vision.”

“There you go assuming you know the business side of me,” he corrected. He glanced out the side window, then quickly back at her. “Yes, money is nice, but I love what I do just as much as you do. I wouldn’t be in this business if I didn’t. You know how hard I work. Money is a side benefit of doing something I love.”

“Didn’t mean to lump you into the category of rich snobs,” she told him, batting her lashes.

“Oh please. You love knocking me down a peg.” He laughed. “Seriously, I won’t let the money change me.”

“It hasn’t,” she assured him, taking in his faded jeans and black, fitted T-shirt. “I promise to smack you back to reality if it does.”

“I’m afraid you’d like smacking me a little too much,” he told her.

Yes, he owned a jet and two homes, but the man was generous with his time and money and constantly donated to children’s charities and women’s shelters. While he never bragged or boasted about it, Evelyn had witnessed firsthand the people whose lives he’d touched with his generosity. And he didn’t just donate money—often he donated his time.