She didn’t have to ask him twice. He strode into her tiny apartment, kicking her door shut and grabbing hold of her so he could brace her against the door, the flowers tumbling to the floor as he slammed his lips on hers in a devouring, passionate kiss.
“What was that for?” she asked when he finally broke away.
“I’m trying to prove to you that no one else matters. Only you.” He touched her face, his fingers absorbing the softness of her skin. He breathed deep her sweet scent and closed his eyes, pressing his forehead to hers. “I’m moving too fast. I keep telling you that, but I…I’m falling in love with you, Andrea.”
He pulled away, needing to see her face, hear her words, praying they would be what he wanted.
She gaped up at him, appearing as if she were in shock. “Wh—what did you just say?”
“I said, I’m falling in love with you.” He kissed her, softly. Sweetly. She clutched at the front of his shirt, her head tipped back, her mouth soft and open, and he took advantage, sliding his tongue against hers before pulling away. “Tell me you feel the same.”
“I feel the same,” she murmured. “I feel…exactly the same.”
Relief flooded him, making his head spin. “What happened with Raquel, it could happen again. I won’t lie to you, Andrea. My life can get kind of crazy.”
She gazed up at him, her fathomless brown eyes so welcoming, so full of emotion, all of it aimed directly at him, his heart threatened to burst. “I can deal with it.”
“Are you sure? Because I don’t think I can survive much more of this. I need your faith in me, baby. No one else does it for me like you.”
“Really?”
He felt like they were having a repeat of their earlier phone call. “Really. You’re mine. You belong to me. Got that?”
Her lips parted, her expression incredulous. “Okay. Got it.”
“And I belong to you.” He dipped his head, his mouth on hers again. The kiss went on for long, tongue-filled minutes, until she was tugging on his clothes and he had his hand shoved under her shirt. He broke away from her, his breath coming fast. “Am I yours, Andrea?”
She smiled up at him, cupping his face in her hands. “Always.”
That was all he needed to hear.
About the Author
USA TODAY bestselling author Karen Erickson writes what she loves to read—sexy contemporary romance. Digitally published since 2006, she’s a native Californian who lives in the foothills below Yosemite with her husband and three children.
Karen is also known as New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Monica Murphy.
To learn more about Karen, visit her online:
www.karenerickson.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/monicamurphyauthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/msmonicamurphy
Look for these titles by Karen Erickson
Now Available:
Spontaneous
Jesse’s Girl
Fortune
Fortune’s Deception
Fortune’s Promise
Fortune’s Chance
Playing with Fire
Forbidden
Tangled
Scandalous
Notorious
Fated
Under My Umbrella
Baby, Don’t Lose My Number
Simple Twist of Fate
Tahoe Nights
My Favorite Mistake
End of Days
Neon Chaos
Worth It
Worth the Scandal
Worth the Risk
Worth the Challenge
Worth Everything
The Renaldis
Temporary Arrangement
Tempted by Her Boss
Kidnapping His Bride
Falling for Her Husband
Vegas Nights
Wicked Weekend
Print Anthologies
Midsummer Night’s Steam: Hot Summer Nights
Luck of the Draw
Playing with Fire
Tahoe Nights
Playing With Fire 2
Twist of Fate
Coming Soon:
Vegas Nights
Wild Nights
Sometimes dream crushes do come true.
Reckless Nights
© 2015 Karen Erickson
Vegas Nights, Book 1
Reagan can’t believe her luck—and not in a good way. One minute she’s hanging out with her friends at an exclusive party in Las Vegas. The next, she’s attracted the attention of a famous actor. Not just any actor. Declan Carter, the man on whom she used to—okay, might still—have a fangirl crush. Whose blue eyes leave her embarrassingly tongue tied.
All Declan wants is to meet a nice, normal woman who won’t use him as a stepping stone to fame. Something about Reagan tells him she could be that rare woman, and he follows his instinct to invite her back to his suite—where they proceed to have wild monkey sex. All. Night. Long.
What was supposed to be one night of no-regrets sex stretches out into a blissful weekend of two people who can’t get enough of each other. But when the glamour of Sin City wears off, they’re standing on the edge of a once-in-a-lifetime chance to turn a weekend fling into something lasting. Will they take the jump?
Warning: Smokin’ hot sexy weekend with a gorgeous actor? There shouldn’t be a warning—more like encouragement to indulge your fantasies!
Enjoy the following excerpt for Reckless Nights:
“Do you like your job?” he asked.
“I love it. I like helping people. I’ve always wanted to be a nurse, ever since I was a kid.” She lifted her gaze and smiled.
“Is it hard sometimes, though? It has to be. I’m sure you’ve seen some pretty ugly stuff.”
“Well, yeah, of course. The ugly stuff comes along with the wonderful stuff, you know? I’ve seen violence and death and horrific car accidents involving small children. Gunshot wounds, knife wounds, crime victims. But I’ve also seen kids with bonks on their head and scratches on their arm because their cat got mad at them.” She smiled and slowly shook her head, lost in her thoughts. “A frantic grandma came in once with her granddaughter who stuffed a bead up her nose. She didn’t know what to do, how to get the bead out. She was frantic, panicking which only made her granddaughter cry. I grabbed a pair of tweezers and plucked the bead out within seconds and that poor grandma was beside herself with how easily I took care of it. Said she felt like a big idiot.”
“What did you tell her?” he asked, knowing it was going to be something kind. Whereas Reagan might have noticed his innate confidence, he definitely noticed her innate sweetness. Because she was sweet, she had to be, what with what she did for a living.
“I reassured her she wasn’t an idiot. I gave her a hug. The poor woman was just beating herself up while the three-year-old was running around acting like it was no big deal.” She laughed. “It was kind of funny.”
“Sounds like the craziest stories are the ones where they stuff something where it doesn’t belong.”
“So true.” She turned to study him, her gaze meeting his. “I’m rambling about stuff you probably don’t care about, huh?”
“Not true. I wanted to talk to you about working in the ER, remember? I’m going to use it for my character,” he said.
“Yeah? When do you start filming?”
“Next week.” Unable to help himself, he touched her. Drifted his finger along her hairline, down her temple. She remained completely still—he didn’t think she was even breathing—and he let his hand drop. The shuddering breath that left her was full of disappointment. “A six-week shoot.”
“Where?”
“In and around Los Angeles. My character works at a fictional hospital there.”
&nbs
p; “Awesome.” She offered him a tremulous smile. “Do you like being an actor?”
“It’s all I know. Pretending to be someone else, to do things I would never do…I like it.” Sometimes. Sometimes he didn’t. But what else could he do? He’d dropped out of school before he graduated and had to get his GED. His work schedule hadn’t allowed him for a normal high school life, and no way in hell could he go off to college. His mom wouldn’t let him.
She hadn’t allowed much of anything except work, work, work. They didn’t even talk anymore. One last major fight while he’d been high on coke and she’d been drunk off her ass had severed their relationship. He hadn’t gone back. Hadn’t said sorry, hadn’t begged for her forgiveness, nothing.
Neither had she.
He resented her for pushing him beyond his limits and she resented him for cutting her off. So they didn’t speak, the two of them too stubborn to give in first.
Stupid.
“Did you miss it? When you went…” Her voice trailed off.
“To rehab? Yeah.” At first he missed the fame and what came with it. Women, booze and drugs. His life had become an endless party, and then it was gone. Felt like he blinked and he was in rehab, going through withdrawals, cranky and feeling like he was at the end of his rope. “Once I got sober and my head on straight, I realized I didn’t want to give acting up. That I’d have to change the way I think and what I did in order to get what I want.”
A soft smile curled her pretty lips. And they were definitely pretty. Lush and full and the perfect shade of pink. Her lipgloss had worn off long ago, and he had the urge to press his lips to hers. See if her mouth turned red and swollen after a few minutes of intense kissing.
“Sounds like you’re on the right track, then,” she said.
“I feel like I’m on the right track. Now I just need to make sure and not fuck it up.”
Her eyes widened the slightest bit at his use of the word “fuck”, but otherwise she didn’t say a thing. She didn’t need to. Any other words uttered could potentially destroy the mood and that was the last thing he wanted.
Leaning in, he traced his fingers along the edge of her jaw, smoothed his thumb down the front of her chin. She parted her lips when his fingers made contact with her skin, her breath stuttering when he brushed his thumb against her plump lower lip. She tilted her head up as his descended, their mouths meeting at the perfect moment.
If this was a movie, the music would’ve swelled in the background and the camera would’ve panned out on the kissing couple. But this wasn’t a movie. This was his life.
And he planned on enjoying every second of it.
What happens in Vegas…could be a fantasy come true.
Wicked Weekend
© 2014 Karen Erickson
Vegas Nights, Book 0.5
Between nursing school and starting their careers, Reagan, Andrea, and Natalie have had no time for dating. After saving up for a special vacation, they’re on their way to Vegas for a long-awaited weekend of fun, sun, gambling and partying.
When their luggage goes missing, an impromptu shopping trip leads them to James, who makes them an unusual offer—to be part of the female scenery at his boss’s upcoming party. Not just any scenery, but women who are pretty in a real way, not the nipped, tucked and dyed Hollywood version.
Accept a “private party” invitation from a complete stranger? These ladies weren’t born yesterday. Yet before “no thanks” crosses their lips, Reagan discovers who James’s boss really is: Declan Carter, an actor she’s crushed on for, well, forever. Now she’s determined to be the eye candy who catches Declan’s eye. No matter what it takes…
Warning: Epic shopping trip results in meeting hot men. It is recommended that all credit cards be placed out of reach before reading.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Wicked Weekend:
“What do you guys think?” Reagan asked as she stepped out of her dressing room. She did a little twirl, the deep red skirt of the dress she wore flaring out and almost showing them all her goods.
“Gorgeous,” James said, clapping his hands. “You girls are going to knock them all on their asses when they see you.”
“Who?” Andrea asked, turning toward him. He’d been saying a lot of stuff about mysterious men who were going to “see” them since they started shopping with him, but he was always evasive, never revealing any names or recognizable details.
He could drop all sorts of celebrity names and she’d probably not recognize them, but still. She had a feeling he might be a liar. Or, at the very least, he was a bit of an exaggerator. But he was so much fun to hang out with, she could allow a few overblown stories here and there.
“You are all talk and no action,” Natalie accused James, resting her hands on her hips as she stared up at him. Calling him out when no one else would—that was Natalie. It was rather amusing, watching her face off with a man a solid foot taller than she was. She was probably going to get a crick in her neck if she kept staring up at him like that.
“What do you mean by that?” James asked innocently.
“You say you’re the assistant to some famous actor, but you won’t say who. You keep alluding to certain people, but you never give us any firm details,” Natalie said. “I want some concrete information, James. Tell us who you work for.”
A mysterious smile curled his lips, and he slowly shook his head. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Are you saying you’ve kissed your employer, the famous actor?” Reagan asked, sounding shocked.
“No, no, no.” He waved his hand, dismissing Reagan’s question. “You girls are so literal. Please. Like he’d kiss me. He is so unerringly straight, which is a shame, but I deal with it since he pays me so well.”
Andrea crossed her arms in front of her chest, sending the giant price tag attached to the dress toward her line of vision. She dropped one arm and grabbed the price tag, gasping when she saw the amount. “This dress is over four hundred dollars!” Holy crap. She was in a screw it mood, but not that much.
“And worth every penny,” James said smugly. “I mean, look at you. You’re freaking gorgeous.”
Natalie and Reagan both gasped about the cost of their dresses too, since they were close to the five-hundred-dollar range as well. James shushed them all, giving them a stern look before he started talking.
“Listen, girls, don’t argue with me. Buy those dresses,” he said firmly. “Buy them and then I’ll get you into the most exclusive, premier party you’ve ever been to in your life.”
“Uh…” Andrea started, but James sent her a firm look, silencing her. It sounded like fun, but she had a feeling he was talking out of his ass, as much as she hated to think it.
“Seriously. I don’t want to hear any protests. I don’t want to hear the whining over how expensive the dresses are, how you don’t have the money. All three of you are stunning. The people at this party asked me to find some beautiful ladies to bring tonight and to make sure they’re dressed appropriately. This party could change your lives. So don’t protest over a few hundred dollars. It’s ridiculous.” James snapped his fingers. “So get those credit cards and get ready to purchase, girls.”
“Wait a minute, you want us to go to a party tonight? But it’s already so late…” Reagan’s voice trailed off when she saw the way James looked at her.
“This city doesn’t sleep, baby. The party has hardly begun. It’s still early, but it’ll be happening for hours. Hours. Now go.” He clapped his hands and then waved them all back toward their dressing rooms. “Get changed and get to buying. I’ll give you all the details as soon as I see receipts.”
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incident
s 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
Endless Nights
Copyright © 2015 by Karen Erickson
ISBN: 978-1-61922-619-7
Edited by Amy Sherwood
Cover by Syd Gill
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: April 2015
www.samhainpublishing.com
Endless Nights: Vegas Nights, Book 3 Page 9
