Love Letters Volume 2: Duty to Please
Page 13
The rest was a blur. The backpack she held suddenly loomed large in his vision. A lightning strike of fear melted his feet into dusty earth. The heavy scent of trouble in the air. The knowing smirk that didn’t quite match the velvet depths of her eyes. A whispered prayer. Koslowski’s hand on his helmet, pushing him down.
His knees hit hard-packed dirt and a spray of bullets burst from his weapon. A flash. A bang. A hailstorm of dust, concrete and gore. A part of him wished he’d smothered under the dense, thick weight of a dead man pinning him to the ground. For the rest of his life, he’d stare into the desolate hole left behind in the spot where a girl with pretty, soft eyes stood moments before she blew them all to hell and gone.
Now another pretty, soft-eyed girl beckoned to him from his bed, and once again he was paralyzed. “Happiness isn’t a right.”
“The constitution says it is.” She offered her hand palm up—open, accepting, and his for the taking. If he had the guts to take it.
He took a step closer to the bed and she rolled up onto her knees to meet him. “No, it says we have a right to the pursuit of happiness, but it doesn’t make any promises.”
Tara didn’t move. She just knelt there in the center of his bed, watching, waiting and offering him the chance of a lifetime. His fingers twitched—the urge to grab her hand, tuck her under his arm and run from his nightmares choked him. She spotted it. He knew she did. Somehow she always caught his tells, making it impossible to play poker with her.
“You can jump from a plane into fires that eat mountains, but you can’t handle one small woman, Hawk?”
The challenge in her voice came fully equipped with a side of scorn and an eyebrow arched so high it got lost in the damp tangle of her hair. He balled his fingers into fists and tucked them under his arms, but the softening of her eyes told him the gesture played more defensive than the casually annoyed one he was going for.
Quiet defiance lit her eyes and burned bright as a flare arcing through the twilight sky. She reached for him again, her jaw set in a stubborn line that triggered sirens in his head. Tara was a woman who would not be denied, and for the first time since he laid eyes on her he found he didn’t have the will to try. Still, he did enjoy watching her get wound up. As a matter of fact, winding her up lit him up all over again.
“You can run like your ass is on fire, but you’ll never outrun what we can be to each other. I won’t let you. You’re my happiness. I have an inalienable right to pursue you, and I will.” She pressed her palm flat against his stomach and for a moment he wondered if she was testing him to see if he had the guts to let her in.
“Tara—”
“Into fire. Time and time again,” she insisted. “You and me. Together.”
She narrowed a steel-reinforced glare at him, daring him to fight her. What she didn’t understand was that she’d just given him the promise he needed to take the step he wanted the most.
Luke tugged her hand and stepped toward her. She tumbled into his embrace and peals of beautiful laughter chased them as he fell onto the bed. He pulled her down on top of him, then pushed her tangled hair from her face. With the wayward locks safely tucked behind impossibly delicate seashell ears, he ventured a wan smirk. “When I tell you to land, you had better damn well land. You read me?”
She answered with a sly smile of her own and cast a meaningful glance at his growing erection. “I’m sorry, what was that? I think we’re experiencing a little interference.”
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Craving more erotic romance short stories that will tempt you to submit to desire?
Be sure to check out the first volume of Love Letters, available now!
Love Letters Volume 1: Obeying Desire
A Is for Assignment by Ginny Glass
Lane Heywood is the last person Cameron Isley wanted as his partner in an undercover investigation at a sex club. But with the sexy psychiatrist masquerading as his Domme, he’ll have to submit to her erotic torment—and try to control his all-too-real lust.
B Is for Bondage by Christina Thacher
When Rachel Cooper begins BDSM lessons, she soon starts fantasizing about her instructor, Marc Thibaud. They’re not supposed to have sex—until one lesson crosses the line.
C Is for Curious by Emily Cale
Mistress Rebecca Greer has had her eye on The Black Rose BDSM club’s shy receptionist, so when Hilary “accidentally” interrupts one of her sessions, Rebecca decides to give her a taste to satisfy her curiosity.
D Is for Detained by Maggie Wells
He was the preacher’s son; her parents owned the local sex shop. Sherry Adams and Tyler Prescott’s attraction was forbidden when they were teenagers, but years later Deputy Tyler takes out his trusty handcuffs to show her just how good they could be together.
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About the Authors
Ginny Glass grew up in the rural South thinking that she wanted to be a stage actress. She discovered a love of romance novels early on, and reading romance eventually became a love of writing it (admittedly spiced up a bit from her early collections of soft-focus category novels). Ginny is also the owner/operator of WordSugar Designs, a graphic design firm that specializes in author promotions and book cover design.
Ginny currently lives in the desert Southwest with her husband and a very spoiled dog named Piper. Her drama is on the page now instead of the stage, but comes with the luxury of being able to always work in her pajamas.
Find Ginny at www.ginnyglass.com or www.twitter.com/ginnyglass.
Find WordSugar Designs at www.wordsugardesigns.com.
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Christina Thacher is the pseudonym for a bankruptcy lawyer with a naughty imagination and some extra time sitting in the back of courtrooms. After reading a lot of steamy stories—thankful no one can tell what’s on her eReader!—she suddenly realized no one can tell what she’s typing on her laptop, either. Several bankruptcy hearings later, Chris had written her first erotic novella.
Chris dreams up deliciously dominating men and the women who hold their own, even in BDSM relationships. She admits she’s still waiting for her own romantic hero to arrive. After he shows up, though, he’ll have to share her with the men in her stories. They may be too good to be true, but that doesn’t stop her from loving them.
You can reach Chris at www.christinathacher.com.
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Emily Cale never intended to write dirty books, it just worked out that way. While her creative writing professors would be appalled at the way she turned out, she’s delighted to spend her days hanging out with her kinky characters. Some might call her crazy, but she prefers the term multipublished erotic romance writer. When Emily isn’t writing, you can find her curled up on her couch with her husband and two needy cats.
Find Emily at www.emilycale.com.
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Maggie Wells is a deep-down dirty girl with a weakness for hot heroes and happy endings. By day she is buried in spreadsheets, but at night she pens tales of people tangling up the sheets. The product of a charming rogue and a shameless flirt, this mild-mannered married lady has a naughty streak a mile wide.
Fueled by supertankers of Diet Coke, Maggie juggles fictional romance and the real deal by keeping her slow-talking Southern gentleman constantly amused and their two children mildly embarrassed. They are the food purveyors to three dogs, a passel of fish, and one impertinent house rabbit she claims is the love of her life. Shh. Don’t tell her husband.
You can find her online at www.maggiewell
s.com, on Twitter @maggiewells1, or on Facebook www.facebook.com/AuthorMaggieWells.
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ISBN: 978-14268-9549-4
Copyright © 2013 by Ginny Glass, Christina Thacher, Emily Cale and Margaret Ethridge
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
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