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  “He looks about the same as I do.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “Last week. When I came lookin’ for you.”

  “Why did you come looking for me?”

  “I was gonna demand you quit bein’ so stupid and childish and fall in line with my way of thinkin’. Then Cash told me you were gone, and I figured you were gone for good. And I…completely lost it, Macie. I lost my ever-lovin’ mind.

  “I accused him of stuff; he accused me of stuff. It was ugly. In retrospect it was one of the most embarrassin’ moments of my life. Although, at the time I was mad as hell and bleedin’ inside and out, and I thought you were all wrong.” Carter took a deep breath.

  “Turns out I was wrong.”

  She waited.

  “But I was hurt by you, too. Not only by your leavin’, but because I wanted you to like the pictures. There was no ulterior motive when I started paintin’ you. I really did create them from my heart. And I was so damn excited from a professional perspective that I’d captured the pure essence of you. I was so busy pattin’ myself on the back, tellin’

  myself you’d come around and see the pictures the way I did…that I lost sight of the fact I’d lost you.”

  Macie didn’t move outwardly, yet inwardly a small kernel of hope grew.

  “I’d rather have the real you than just a half dozen static images of you lookin’ at me like you used to. After I sobered up—”

  “Sobered up?”

  “Yeah, I kinda went on a bender after you left, and your dad and I rolled around in the dirt, and then Gemma kicked me off the Bar 9. My life was pretty much shit. My brothers showed up and showed me the error of my ways. Not with their fists for once, which my body is thankin’ them for profusely. Turns out I was wrong about them too.”

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  Lorelei James

  Carter finally looked her in the eye. “I destroyed the pictures, Macie. Not because you wanted me to. Because the thought of anyone ever seein’ you like that, not only naked, but with your heart and soul wide open tears my heart and soul clean out of my body. The right to share that or show it doesn’t belong to anyone but you. I hope I haven’t destroyed my chances with ever getting to see it again.”

  “And your art show?”

  “Still happening in three days. Turns out I have more than enough pieces without the pictures of you.”

  They stayed in place, watching one another.

  “Macie. Talk to me. I love you.”

  She studied him. “Why do you love me?”

  “What?”

  “You told me you loved me, but why?”

  Carter stared at her, taken aback.

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re brave.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he held up his hand.

  “Don’t bring up your fear of storms, darlin’. I’m talkin’ about you bein’ brave when it comes to livin’ your life.

  “You’re a fighter. It’d be easy for you to say, ‘My father neglected me my entire childhood, so screw him.’ Instead you’re here, fightin’ to have a real relationship with him.

  “Because you’re accepting. You don’t try to change people. You accept your dad for who he is now. And his feelin’s for Gemma never made you seriously question his feelin’s for you. Mostly, the accepting thing gets to me because you get me, the real me and accept me for who I am. You’ve taught me to accept myself. I’ve never thought I was worthy of the kind of love you’ve given me. And I want to spend the rest of my life lovin’ you, givin’ it back, times ten.”

  When she still didn’t say anything he added, “And because you make the best goddamn pie I’ve ever tasted.”

  Macie had never been so scared or so hopeful or so paralyzed by emotion in her life.

  Carter began to walk toward her. “Be brave, Macie. Fight for me. Love me. Accept what I’m offerin’ you. Take a chance on me.”

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  Rode Hard, Put Up Wet

  “Carter—” He seemed upset she hadn’t thrown herself into his arms. She put one hand on his chest, stopping him.

  “Please.” His eyes searched her face. “Oh, my sweet darlin’, why do you have that horrified look?”

  She whispered, “Because the person you described? That’s not me. I’m not brave.

  The thought of putting down roots scares me to death. Most of my life I’ve run instead of staying to fight because I’ve never had anything worth fighting for. I accept you, the real you, but will you accept me? The real me? The unsure, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants person I feel like inside everyday?”

  “Macie. Didn’t I just tell you—”

  “Listen to me, Carter McKay. I don’t have huge ambitions besides living my life happy. I like working in a diner. I don’t aspire be a polished woman hanging off your arm at big, fancy art shows.”

  Those blue, blue eyes flared anger. “I’m sorry, did I ever say I wanted or expected anything from you besides what you are?”

  “No, but—”

  “Did I say, ‘Macie, go to cookin’ school’ or ‘Study this book on the influence of cubism on 20th century art’? Hell, what kind of ambitions do you think I have? Last time I checked, darlin’, I lived in a crappy rented trailer in nowhere Wyoming, and my income is close to poverty level.

  “I’ve acted more immature in the last two weeks than you have in your whole life—

  and why the hell am I tellin’ you this?” He tossed up his hands. “I’m supposed to be sellin’ you on spendin’ your life with me, not encouragin’ you to run, though, now, it probably sounds like you should get as far away from me as possible.”

  And then she knew. When Carter didn’t offer her flowery promises, sweet words and romantic bullshit about the perfect life they’d have together as they rode off into the sunset, she knew they’d be okay. They’d make it work. She just had to be brave and fight and take a chance on him. On them.

  Macie stood on tiptoe and got right in his face. “I’ll admit, your lines have improved since the first time I met you, cowboy. But if you ever use them on another woman, I’ll kick your butt worse than my dad or your brothers ever thought of.”

  Then she threw her arms around him and kissed him.

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  Lorelei James

  “Thank you. Oh, Macie darlin’, I love you. I love you so damn much.” He peppered her face with kisses. “I’m so sorry I hurt you. So sorry. Thank God I didn’t lose you.

  Thank God.”

  Carter didn’t let go of her for the longest time.

  “No more nude pictures of me ever, Carter. Promise me.”

  “I promise.” He smiled down at her. “Marry me.”

  Her heart leapt into her throat. “Shouldn’t we wait and live together first?”

  “No. I want my ring on your finger. I want to start the rest of our life out right. No running away when the going gets tough, for either of us. We stick together for better for worse, forever.” His eyes turned serious. “Besides, I already asked your dad if I could marry you.”

  “Did he say we’re too young to settle down?”

  “He said age was just a number and there are no age restrictions on when you might find true love. But most importantly, he said yes.”

  How had she gotten so lucky to have not one, but two good men in her life?

  “Wanna go meet the rest of the McKay family before we head home to the Bar 9?”

  Home. That sounded nice. “They’re here?”

  “Yep. They fell all over themselves to be here when I told them I was takin’ my girl dancin’.”

  “You don’t dance.”

  Carter twirled her in a clumsy circle and tromped on her toe. Then he stopped and cradled her face in his hands. “Macie, with you in my life, I can probably fly.”

  Tears spilled down her cheeks. “You are such a dumbass, Carter McKay. But you’re my dumbass and I love you.”


  And they raced outside to dance together under the Wyoming stars, young, hopeful and wildly in love.

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  About the Author

  To learn more about Lorelei James, please visit www.loreleijames.com. Send an email to lorelei@loreleijames.comor join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as Lorelei ! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoreleiJamesGang

  Look for these titles by Lorelei James

  Now Available:

  Long Hard Ride

  Running With the Devil

  Dirty Deeds

  Beginnings Anthology: Babe in the Woods

  Coming Soon:

  Cowgirl Up and Ride

  Running On Empty

  To stop a blackmailer and achieve her dreams, she only had to do one thing: seduce the enemy.

  Sneak Peek: Watch Me

  © 2007 Shelley Bradley

  Shanna York was set to achieve her glittering ballroom dreams and become a dance champion—until her dance partner gets tangled up in scandal and blackmail. With the clock ticking and all her ambitions at stake, the last thing she needs is the gorgeous owner of a sex club tempting her with the forbidden.

  Or maybe that’s the very thing she needs…

  Alejandro Diaz has sizzled for Shanna since he set eyes on her months ago. Her repeated rebuffs will make her surrender that much sweeter. She’s ambitious and driven…but so is he. When she asks for his assistance to ensnare a voyeuristic blackmailer with a video fetish, he doesn’t hesitate to help her stage a bedroom trap. But neither is prepared to face scorching, endless passion, the blackmailer’s real identity—or the undeniable love that grows between them.

  See Show Me by Jaci Burton for the second story in the Sneak Peek Duet.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Watch Me:

  “Men are watching you, wanting you.”

  He grabbed her thigh, spun her around to face him, then placed that thigh over his hip. They rested nearly hip to hip again. As he leaned back slightly, he forced her chest against his. Still, she could not break his stare.

  “You like it,” he whispered.

  She opened her mouth to deny it, but Alejandro’s gaze stopped her, warning her before she could do anything foolish, like lie.

  “I know you do.”

  The intensity of his stare, the way in which he’d dug past her icy defenses, seemed to see the real her, and guessed her dirty secret… He was a walking wet dream.

  He was her worst nightmare.

  He swayed with the music in the opposite direction, bringing her body with him.

  With a gentle caress of her cheek, he directed her gaze back to his—all while making it look like a part of the dance.

  “You know you do,” he murmured. “You love knowing that most every man in the room right now would kill to have your body against his and have a front-row seat of that smoldering sensuality you keep wrapped in ice suddenly melting in a pool at his feet.”

  His words made her shake. Oh, no. No! “Stop.”

  He performed an open step, then brought her back for a box. “Their eyes cling to you as you lure them in with the sway of your hips to the music and your femininity. Their gazes caress your breasts as your chest lifts with every move and breath. They watch the sleek movements of those gorgeous thighs and wish they were between them.”

  A glance around proved he was totally right. Easily a dozen men were openly watching her and Alejandro dance, their gazes ranging from more than mildly interested to sizzling with heat. Desire vibrated deep inside her, pulsing under her clit. How wet could she get before it stained the front of her thin costume?

  And how had Alejandro known what turned her on?

  Most people had only seen the driven dancer who yearned to win and find some way to make her family proud. No one else had seen the woman inside who used dance to express the sexuality she otherwise repressed. No one.

  This man had seen her hidden sensuality in the blink of an eye. He’d all but mocked her icy reserve. He looked at her as if he could see past it, all the way to the fear and emptiness that fed her ambition.

  Thankfully, the music ended.

  “Thank you for an interesting evening, Mr. Diaz. Perhaps our paths will cross again.”

  Not if she could help it.

  Still, he didn’t let go, continued to stare at her with that sultry hint of a smile as the music began again. “The evening is not over. I bought all of your dances tonight, for the whole night.”

  Shanna stared at him, wide eyed and stunned. Panicked. He’d bought all of her dances? She swallowed. That was bad. Very bad. Just being in his arms and hearing his words made her feel vulnerable in a way she didn’t like and would not accept.

  And she was stuck with him for the next three hours? Lord, she was in so much

  trouble.

  “Why?”

  “I enjoy watching you being watched and the way it arouses you. I love knowing that so many men in the room are fantasizing about slaking their lust with you—”

  “You can’t know what other men are thinking,” she protested.

  “But I can. It is exactly what I’m thinking. It is even more delicious because I alone am holding you in my arms.”

  Oh, God. Oh, God. “This conversation is inappropriate.”

  “Honesty disturbs you?”

  “I’m not…I—I don’t get aroused knowing that men are watching me.”

  “Really?”

  He urged her into a cross again. No sooner than she turned to step into the next box, he pushed against her hand, sending her spinning to face the wall. Then he was behind her, hands on her swaying hips, his mouth hovering just over her sensitive neck in a darkened corner of the ballroom.

  Shanna shivered as he exhaled, quivered as he gripped her hips.

  Then he reached around to place his hand flat on her stomach again…but he aimed high, flattening his palm on the upper swells of her chest and smoothing his way down.

  “Hard nipples,” he commented. “Little edible, want-to-suck-them-in-my-mouth nipples.”

  She hissed in a breath, and opened her mouth to stop him, tell him to get lost…but he kept tantalizing her as he caressed his way south, down her ribs, over her stomach, until his fingers brushed the front of her costume right over her sex. He lingered. Shame and arousal crashed inside her. She closed her eyes. Her thong was about to overflow.

  “You’re always wet when you dance in public…like now, aren’t you?”

  At his touch, his words, pleasure spiked, hitting her full force, like a blast from a raging fire. She sucked in a breath. Damn it, why did he have to be right?

  If he could figure that much out after just a few minutes with her, Shanna knew he’d dig deeper, quickly, into her soul, unless she put distance between them now.

  “Stop,” she demanded in her best ice-queen voice.

  “Answer me, querida.”

  “No.”

  He danced her to face him again as one song segued into the next, this one a waltz.

  “Do not be embarrassed. Your arousal turns me on. It’s one of the reasons I chose not to give up when you rebuffed me at the Bartolino event. I want that arousal,” he whispered in her ear, making her shiver. “I want it in my hands, my mouth, all around my cock when I fuck you and you wonder exactly who is watching us.”

  His words hit her like lava, sizzling her skin, charring her resistance and sanity. No one had ever talked to her like that. Between her brothers and the bitchiness she wore like armor, no one had dared.

  God, even without uttering a word, Alejandro was stunning. When he talked like that, he didn’t just turn her on; he turned her inside out.

  Alejandro was dangerous to her career and her focus. She could see getting lost in such a man and the smoldering promise of spectacular sex—which she’d never experienced—in his hazel eyes.

  “That’s enough,” she forced herself to say.

  “We haven’t started. I
think about undressing you under soft lights, your back to my front and letting my hand smooth your dress from your lush curves. I ache to let your perfect hard nipples brush the inside of my palms before I roll them between my fingers.

  I fantasize about feeling my way lower, down to that soft, wet pussy, and grazing your hard clit. And stroking it until you come. I obsess about bending you over and filling you with my cock—all while you know hot eyes, strangers’ eyes, touch you.”

  Desire pulsed, flared with every mental image he created. She could see herself naked, flushed, writhing under his hands or as he impaled her. She could feel herself dissolving at the thought of orgasming for him—and a roomful of aroused men.

  Recipe for Margarita Day: Take one shy woman, toss in three determined alphas, mix liberally with sizzling sex, add a dash of intrigue, and watch the steam rise.

  Margarita Day

  © 2007 Nicole Austin and TK Winters

  Stand alone sequel to Mimosa Night.

  Jodi Matthews is the consummate gamer. One crazy night she let her hair down, stripped off her clothes, and anteed up for a night of poker and wild fantasy sex. Now she has three alpha players hot to win her hand.

  Conner is a walking wet dream ready to share his vision of the future. Wiz, a high roller looking for a cherished pet to adorn his arm, while John’s an average Joe who can turn Jodi inside out with a simple look.

  No matter what card she chooses, Jodi risks losing something. The life she loves working as a Vegas dealer or some close friends. Maybe both.

  From champagne and diamonds to mysterious parties and private jets, Jodi must accept herself and what her heart’s always known. The Smut Squad is there, ready and willing to fortify her courage and orchestrate a daring hunt for the ultimate stakes.

  The only thing is—this is no game, and the jackpot will be even better than her wildest dreams.