A Weldon Family Christmas: A Southern Steam Novella (Weldon Brothers)
Page 11
“Is that a no to sex via a live wire, or no to the fear.”
“Both,” she gasped, planning to ask to speak to Alexi just as soon as she caught her breath.
“Virgin ears. Mmm, that means I’ll be your first. Can’t you feel me? I’m right up against you. Feel the heat? My hands on you… my mouth. I can still taste your honeysuckle lips. I keep wondering if the rest of you is as sweet. Do you wonder too, Nan? Wonder how all that explosive attraction would play out between us if we let it loose? Remember the kiss outside the bar against the wall that day? We almost made love right then and there.”
Nan gulped for air, she was drowning. Drowning in him again. She popped her eyes open, hoping that the images he evoked would evaporate. They didn’t.
“No,” she said desperately. “No, I don’t remember. I don’t wonder. Tell Alexi I can’t make it tonight. We’re all wrong for each other Jackson, sorry.” Nan cut off the call before she heard anything else to tempt her otherwise. She stared at the wall, stunned by how much her need for him had grown since she’d stopped seeing him.
“Nan?” A firm finger tapped her on the shoulder. “Anything wrong?”
She swung her chair around. “Dr. Swanson?” she said, trying to blink his golden blonde image into focus, but a blue-eyed raven-haired devil kept imposing himself onto her retina.
He waved his hand in front of her face. “The one and only, but please, call me Brad. You look tired.”
“I am a little,” she said, blinking again. This time her vision blessedly cleared and she latched onto Brad’s GQ, Armani draped bod with both eyes like he was the last lifeboat before the flood. She gave him her brightest smile. “What can I do for you?”
His eyes widened. “You should smile like that more often. It’s quite breath taking.”
Nan’s jaw loosened with surprise at the personal compliment.
Brad shook his head as if bouncing out of a trance. “Ahem, well, I stopped by to ask you if you’d like to be my date for the charity banquet next Saturday. It’s not normally my sort of thing, but I thought if you’d like, we could, uh, go together.”
Had Mr. Famous Neurosurgeon just asked her out on a date in the middle of a colleague filled hospital? Nan shook her head to clear out the Jackson oriented cobwebs and saw Brad frown.
“Is that a no because you are working?” he asked.
“No. I mean that wasn’t a no to you. That was a no to…never mind. Yes, I would like to go with you to the benefit.”
“Excellent,” Brad said, giving her the full force of his charismatic smile.
Nan prepared herself for a jolt of excitement, something along the lines of the lightning bolt Jackson had sent shooting through her with his “ever had phone sex” line. To her dismay, nothing happened.
Excerpt from HARD IRISH LUCK
Weldon Brothers Series - Book Three
The world wouldn’t end if he kissed her again. Tonight. All she had to do was walk down the stairs... Rocky didn’t give herself time to question. She put her feet in motion and tip-toed downstairs, though marching would have fit her mood better. She was still sane enough to consider that he might have taken pain medication and might be asleep.
Rounding the corner into the living room, she found the couch empty and searched the shadows for Jared, then gasped.
He stood at the French doors, looking at the backyard. He wore only a pair of form fitting boxer briefs and the hard-shelled boot strapped to his leg. His crutches were back at the couch, so he’d already gone against his brother’s advice to keep weight off of his injury. Somehow that didn’t surprise her.
What did take her breath away was the sight of him. Every lean inch of him was honed and tanned to perfection. He dropped the curtain and turned to face her. His broad shoulders and rippled abs made her weak in the knees, but it was the want in his gaze that did her in. It was as raw and edgy as her need, only sharper. The hungry predator had found his juicy prey.
Had she actually thought she could share another roll-on-the-floor rock-her-world kiss and escape unscathed? Rethink time.
“I came to see if you’re all right.” She moved over to the couch and picked up his crutches, planning to take them to him. “You should be using these.”
He didn’t wait, but moved her way—faster than she thought possible.
He reached her. “They’d only be in the way of this.”
She didn’t have a chance to breathe before he caught her in his arms and planted his mouth on hers, instantly hot and demanding. She opened to him, meeting the thrust of his tongue with hers, groaning deep from within as her starving senses found succor for her every want. His tongue tangled with hers, leading her in a seductive dance unlike any other.
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight against his supple heat and burning erection. She pressed her palms to his chest, half thinking to stem the flooding tide, but then went crazy in a quest to feel and know his every contour. His muscles rippled as he shuddered at her touch.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2013 by Jenni Leigh Grizzle
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
eISBN: 978-1494798024
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles/ J.L. Saint/ Jennifer Saints might have a split personality. Or as a nurse and mother of three, she knows how to multi-task. She writes in a number of genres from gothic historicals, paranormal thrillers, romantic suspense, and sexy contemporary romance. She has won a number of awards for writing excellence including, two National Reader’s Choice Awards, two-time Maggie Award Winner, Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award, along with RT Book Club’s Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Gothic/Mystery. She loves hearing from her readers via her website jenniferstgiles.com or you can find her on Facebook and Twitter @jenniferstgiles.
From the Author’s Mouth
What can I tell you about me?
I don’t play video games or watch horror because I can’t take the heat, but give me a kickass thriller every minute of every day and I am there. Be prepared for a Hoover Dam meltdown if you’re with me and the movie is sad. So, to avoid disaster, I love romantic comedies.
Never coffee. Always tea. Never beer. Always champagne. There’s more, but hey, gotta save some secrets until after the first date, right?
I grew up in Miami. Went to nursing school in Georgia, where I now reside. I raised and home schooled three great kids. I wrote for nine years before I sold a book, which made me a firm believer that a person should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP ON THEIR DREAMS.
I remember my father’s remark after a particularly scandalous story about one of my ancestors, a story that involves a conspiracy, treason, betrayal, murder, and execution, a story that after a drink or two in the bar, I might be enticed to share. Anyway, what my father said was, “You can’t keep a good man down.” And I kind of see that in myself. Not that I am necessarily good, because the definitions of moral words are often relative, but I do persevere, and I am resilient. Nothing in life has ever worked out the way I planned for it too. In many areas of my life, I have yet to reach the level I thought I would, of where I envisioned I would be, but I haven’t given up. I won’t give up. I continue to work hard and do everything I can to help who I can and to make my dreams come true.
Besides great kids, family, and friends, that perseverance has so far garnered me a USA Today Bestselling tag and twelve plus books on the shelf in a number of genres (contemporary romantic suspense, historical suspense, paranormal suspense, and contemporary romance). I’ve won a nu
mber of writing awards, two National Choice Awards, three Maggie Awards, a RT Book Club Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Daphne du Maurier Award, the Marlene Award, and the Golden Heart Award to name most of them. I work with several amazing women in a charity to raise money for a shelter that helps abused and homeless women and children. I’ve revived my nursing career after a long hiatus, have renewed my license, and have found the right job for now.
I know there are many more great things ahead.
I write romance because I believe that when you boil all of life down to its essence, if you take a human being to the very core of his existence, then you will find that what matters more than anything else is to be loved and to give love.
Life is all about choices and to pull from one of Erich Fromm’s quote, I choose to create and to love rather than destroy and to hate.
I hope you enjoy my stories.
Go forth, dream, believe, create, inspire, and love,
Jenni (J.L. Saint, Jennifer St. Giles, Jennifer Saints)
Table of Contents
A WELDON FAMILY CHRISTMAS
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
More Titles by Jennifer Saints
Excerpt From WILD IRISH RIDE
Excerpt from SMOOTH IRISH SEDUCTION
Excerpt from HARD IRISH LUCK
Copyright
About the Author