Dangerous Attraction Romantic Suspense Boxed Set (9 Novels from Bestselling Authors, plus Bonus Christmas Novella from NY Times Bestselling Author Rebecca York)

by Kaylea Cross

  “Good morning, beautiful,” Jack whispered as he trailed kisses along her shoulder. Kelly had no idea that sensations on her shoulders could be so erotic, so sensitive and if she were forced to pick a favorite spot at the moment, her shoulders might just be it. Jack rolled her to face him and moved down her neck to the hollow between her breasts and she thought briefly that she might need to change that assessment. When Jack took one nipple into his mouth and swirled his tongue over its peak, she knew she would never be able to choose a favorite. Everywhere Jack touched her, felt on fire.

  Kelly pressed against him, wanting to feel him inside her again. She ran her hands down his chest and around to his back and marveled at the feel of his muscles, the smooth coolness of his skin under her hands, the hard tautness of his muscles rippling under the surface. It only took a small touch of his body to have her, not only ready for him but willing to plead with him to take her.

  With one swift move, Jack flipped them over so that he was lying on his back and Kelly straddled him. Kelly laughed and smiled down at him.

  “Good morning, Jack.” Kelly began to rub herself along Jack’s hard length, but she didn’t take him into her yet. Jack groaned and tried to pull her down onto him but she laughed and pulled back. Kelly thrilled to the feeling of power, her ability to bring this incredible man to his knees. Kelly rocked her hips back and forth and enjoyed the slick, wet, hard feel of him between her legs slipping back and forth in her folds.

  * * *

  Jack watched Kelly’s face as she writhed above him. It was sheer torment not to slide inside her but he could see now that she was close to the brink and he watched her face, in awe of her beauty, as she brought herself closer and closer to climax on him. It was incredible to see her so powerful, taking what she wanted from him and he gritted his teeth to hold out long enough for her as she suddenly cried out and came crashing down.

  She pulsed with pleasure and Jack held her as the waves rode through her. When her body finally relaxed, Jack put one arm around her waist and flipped her underneath him in one quick motion. Kelly let out a giggle but that quickly turned to a moan as Jack slipped on a condom and entered her in a swift thrust, and plunged into her depths, again and again until he found his own release with Kelly wrapped around him, holding him as he buried himself deeper than she’d thought possible, inside her.

  Collapsing in a heap, Jack pulled Kelly tight into his arms and they fell asleep once again.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Kelly and Jack lay lazily in bed, her head on his chest, one of his hands drawing languid circles on her shoulders and neck. Jack had never much cared to snuggle or spoon with women in the past but he didn’t seem to be able to get enough of Kelly. It was like he was compelled to hold her and touch her in whatever way he could until his body had recharged enough to take her again.

  He loved the feel of her skin on his hands, the brush of her breath on his chest, the way their legs tangled together or her hair tickled his skin and teased him to life again. Jack closed his eyes, content to hold Kelly in his arms as long as she would let him.

  “Jack?”

  “Hmm?” Jack’s hand didn’t stop its exploration of Kelly’s soft skin as he answered her.

  “Why is your aunt so dead set on having Chad in charge if Chad doesn’t want your position?” Kelly asked, not lifting her head from where she was snuggled into Jack’s side.

  “We don’t really know. There was a time when she was the happiest woman you’ve ever seen. Hell,” Jack said on a laugh, “she used to be as happy as Mrs. Poole.”

  Kelly raised her eyebrows at that but waited for Jack to continue.

  “Our families used to be so close. Chad and I were both only children so he and I grew up more as brothers than cousins. We went on family vacations together, had dinners and did things together once or twice a month – we used to see each other all the time. In those days, Aunt Mabry was so much fun. She was like a second mom to me. Then, one day, he left. He left and we hardly see him. Even Chad hardly hears from him. She probably felt he thought she wasn’t good enough and that being alone was better than being with her. I thought it said he was a selfish prick, but what do I know?” Jack shrugged. “She changed after that. Luckily, by the time she focused on me, Chad and I were adults so it didn’t affect our friendship or working relationship. But she never let it go. When she started this CEO stuff after my dad died, Chad and I talked about it. We didn’t want to push the issue with her …so we didn’t. She comes off as this obnoxious, mean person now, but she really isn’t. She’s just hurting. Chad doesn’t want the CEO position but he doesn’t push it.” When Jack finished, both he and Kelly were quiet for a while.

  “I like that family is more important to you than anything else,” Kelly said. “Besides, your Aunt Mabry is the reason you’re putting me through law school, if you think about it so I’m okay with her craziness.” Kelly grinned and Jack let out a laugh and held her closer.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  The man in the black sedan watched Kelly as she parked her car and entered the legal aid clinic. As the door closed behind her, he hit the speed dial on his phone and waited, listening to the ringing sound in the earpiece.

  “It’s me,” he said.

  “Have you found a pattern yet?” said the voice on the other end of the phone.

  He spoke again. “She doesn’t seem to have many regular routines other than coming to the clinic on East Street. No regular job, no schedule for shopping or working out that I can see. She’s often with her husband or one of her friends, but she comes to the clinic every morning and she’s alone then. That’s her only steady commitment.”

  “We’ll grab her there, then,” the voice said, cold, calculated, without feeling.

  “There’s another problem. They’ve put security on her. They don’t stay right on her, but they’re nearby at all times.” The man hesitated. “I think we should ditch her. Find a replacement.”

  “No,” came the response from the other end. “I want this one. She’s the one. I’ve already sent a preview of her to our buyers. Let’s send someone into the clinic so we have a friendly face close to her. We’ll get her away from her security and lure her out.”

  * * *

  Kelly’s week was pretty full. She went to the legal aid clinic routinely every morning and staying until noon. She helped people fill out the necessary paperwork and matched them with the right attorney for their problem and the process gave her a chance to see a pretty wide range of legal issues and get an idea of what types of problems people faced. She was also getting to meet a lot of the attorneys around New Haven because the clinic pulled volunteers from all of the major firms around town who were looking for a way to fulfill their law firms’ pro bono requirements.

  Once or twice when she left the clinic, Kelly was fairly sure she saw the all-too-familiar dark sedan turn a corner or sit idling a block away, but she knew Aunt Mabry’s investigator wasn’t going to find any dirt on her so she had started to ignore the car and its driver.

  Now that Kelly was spending time in New Haven at the clinic each day, she met Jack for lunch whenever he could get away from work. They had decided to try to work their way through every New Haven restaurant they could and one day Jack even surprised her by having Mrs. Poole pack a picnic lunch that they ate out on the green. Kelly laughed when he tried to take credit for preparing the meal himself, knowing full well that Jack had never lifted a cooking utensil in his life.

  On Friday, she and Mabry took the train into the city and found a cocktail dress for the party Jack and Kelly were hosting. The designer’s name meant nothing to Kelly but Aunt Mabry was impressed by it and Kelly liked the dress. It was silky black with an a-line skirt that flared around her thighs. Swarovski crystals sprinkled like raindrops from the waist to the hem and the spaghetti straps were also dotted with tiny, sparkling crystals. The saleswoman was right; it did show off Kelly’s hourglass figure and generous curves and Kelly ended up feeling
very sexy when they paired it with silver strappy heels and smoky charcoal gray undergarments edged with raspberry red lace.

  Kelly tried to see signs of the Aunt Mabry that Jack had told her about but all she could see was her same pinched face and scheming mind. She felt sad for Mabry, really. Not sad because her husband had left her, but sad that she couldn’t let it go – that it still affected her so badly. Kelly didn’t get the sense it was because she had loved her husband. It seemed as though Aunt Mabry’s pride was hurt and she couldn’t get past the anger of that. Kelly wondered what it would be like to hold onto anger for that long.

  On Saturday evening, Jack said that he had a surprise for her and he was right. They enjoyed a five star dinner served on a private boat out on the sound. As the water rocked them and they looked up at the stars, Kelly couldn’t imagine anything more romantic and she once again was hit with a sharp pain when she remembered that their life together had a deadline.

  * * *

  On Sunday morning, Jack walked into the kitchen to find Kelly cooking breakfast. It was Mrs. Poole’s day off and Aunt Mabry was still in bed. Jack stifled a groan as he watched Kelly bend over to dig for a pan in the cabinet under the stove. She was wearing an old pair of boxers and a t-shirt but she couldn’t be sexier…and the way the boxers stretched tight over her bottom when she bent over made Jack want to skip breakfast and find out how sturdy his kitchen table was.

  Jack stood and watched Kelly as she rooted around in the cabinet, enjoying the curve of her calves, imagining his hands on her thighs, pressing his fingers into her hips as he pulled her tight to him. Within seconds, Jack’s own pants were tight and he was very happy that Mrs. Poole took Sundays off.

  The longer he stood there, the more Jack realized he didn’t want this to end any time soon. He liked having Kelly around the house. He liked spending time with her and making her smile and laugh. He liked spoiling her with presents and he liked finding new ways to make her scream out his name in bed.

  Maybe I’ll ask her to stay through law school. It wouldn’t hurt her to have a home to live in and Mrs. Poole to take care of her while she studies and gets her degree. And then there’s the bar exam to study for and maybe a clerkship to get through….

  Before he knew it, Jack was wondering if he could convince Kelly to continue their arrangement for another five years or so. What could he offer her to convince her to stay? He’d have to make it worth her while but the thought of offering her money made his stomach churn. He knew he couldn’t buy Kelly. Before he could fully realize what was bubbling up to the surface in his head, Kelly stood up and Jack forced his thoughts to the side.

  * * *

  Kelly found the pot she wanted and stood up before she noticed Jack watching her. He watched her with an intensity that made her tingle and she found she couldn’t come up with a single word to say. In her head, she knew “good morning” might be appropriate but her mouth had apparently stopped functioning.

  Jack silently walked over to her and took the pan from her hands, setting it aside on the stove. Kelly had about two seconds to realize she was about to be treated to another one of Jack’s incredible kisses, but this time, he didn’t just kiss her. With his mouth still on hers, Jack walked them backward until they hit the island in the center of the room. Jack lifted her onto the cool granite countertop and slipped in between her legs before kissing her.

  He didn’t start out with his typical gentle exploration of her lips. There was no feeling Kelly out to see if she wanted him to kiss her. There was only heat and passion, so hard and strong, it made Kelly tingle from her belly down to her toes and stole her breath from her body. Kelly felt her arms wrap around Jack’s neck and she grabbed handfuls of his soft hair, fisting the dark curls as she leaned her body into Jack’s and answered his passion with her own.

  Jack’s hands slid down her sides and brushed the curves of Kelly’s breasts, causing her nipples to tighten. As they moved lower, skimming down her hips, he pulled her more tightly around his body fitting her to him like two pieces of a puzzle. Just as Jack was about to lift Kelly up into his arms and carry her upstairs, he heard someone clearing their throat in the doorway of the kitchen. His head in a fog, he couldn’t process who would be in the kitchen with them until he heard his Aunt Mabry’s shrill, “Good morning.” He quickly broke away from Kelly. Kelly blushed and buried her head in his chest as he turned to his aunt.

  “Good morning, Aunt Mabry. I was helping Kelly make breakfast. It’s Mrs. Poole’s day off today.” Jack wore a wide grin as he greeted his aunt.

  “That’s an interesting cooking style you have there, dear,” Aunt Mabry said and for a minute with her joking smile and casual manner, she sounded like the Aunt Mabry he remembered from long ago. Unfortunately the moment flashed past as her face resumed its pinched state and stared in reproach as Jack slid Kelly off the counter and let her get back to work on breakfast.

  Jack sighed and went to the fridge where he pulled out eggs, bread, sausages, and fruit and placed them on the counter for Kelly. Kelly grinned at him as she started to crack eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisked them together.

  “Scrambled eggs with sausage on the side, French toast with sausage on the side, or an omelet with cheese and sausage inside?” Kelly asked.

  “Anything works for me, beautiful,” Jack said, and looked expectantly at his aunt.

  Aunt Mabry scowled. “Scrambled is fine. No need to be fancy.” Mabry turned to Jack. “Jack, dear, I saw a picture of that actress you used to date in today’s newspaper. That one with the stunning black hair and the green eyes. What was her name? She was nominated for an Oscar. Kelly, you should see some of the women that your Jack dated before he found you.” Aunt Mabry smiled her nasty sneer at Kelly as she continued.

  “There were so many models, weren’t there, Jack? You seem to be partial to models.” She continued on. Kelly saw Jack go still, ever so briefly, before he brushed off his aunt’s words and took the bread from the counter.

  Kelly smiled a tight smile and began to pour the eggs into the heated pan and scramble them as they set. She took out another pan for the sausage while Jack popped several pieces of toast in the toaster but she found herself blinking her eyes to hold back tears as Aunt Mabry’s words sank in.

  Jack turned to his aunt and then smiled at Kelly. “And they all bored me to death. Until I found Kelly, I was bored to tears, Aunt Mabry.”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Kelly and Jack walked into her mother’s kitchen for Sunday dinner and Jack had the odd sensation of utter belonging and acceptance, as if he had always been a member of this family. Kelly’s brother Liam was pulling a beer out of the fridge when they entered the room. Without missing a beat, he tossed one to Jack before he cracked his own beer open. Kelly’s mother kissed and hugged Kelly then turned immediately to Jack and pulled him into her embrace for kisses and hugs as if he were one of her own.

  Jack was surprised to find himself hugging her back as if he had been hugging her at Sunday dinners his whole life. Life with Kelly was starting to be one big revelation after another. When he told Mabry that he had been bored by every woman he had dated before Kelly, Jack had immediately realized the truth of that. His life with Kelly, despite its fake beginning, was never boring. He never had that usual let-down feeling when he realized that there was nothing under the surface of a woman. With Kelly, the surface was, well, it was only the beginning, just like it should be.

  As Kelly and her mother finished the dinner prep, Jack and her brothers set the table while Kelly’s dad sat at the table and joked with everyone. Kelly’s sister Jesse came in shortly after Jack and Kelly arrived and Jack found that he was happy to see her also. The room buzzed with the easygoing chatter of the family catching up on the week’s events. They all laughed easily when Kelly’s mom told Jack that she had looked up his company on “the Google” and was very impressed by all that he had done.

  It struck Jack that he had always wanted this, this feelin
g of family. Even though he had loved his parents more than anything and he always had Chad around growing up, he had always wished he had siblings.

  As he looked around, he saw the room was awash with warmth and familiarity and caring. Jack wanted to spend Sunday dinners here forever. And that’s when it struck Jack. He wouldn’t. He would only spend a year as a member of this family and then things were scheduled to end. Like all this had an expiration date. And then his new siblings, new parents, would likely hate him.

  Once again, Jack found himself wanting more with Kelly. Wanting to somehow erase the expiration date that mocked him every time he thought of it.

  This visit to Kelly’s parents’ provided one surprise after another for Jack as he realized that the temporary nature of his marriage to Kelly was beginning to leave a very bad taste in his mouth. He couldn’t imagine resuming the life he’d had before Kelly.

  * * *

  Jack walked into the bedroom that evening, well after nine o’clock. He had been down in his office working later than usual but Kelly was still up reading a book in bed with the pillows propped behind her back.

  Jack slid in beside her and laced his fingers through her soft hair at the back of her neck before leaning closer to the warm skin of her neck to trace a pattern of kisses from her neck to her jaw line. Kelly’s thoughts weren’t on the book for long as she turned to nuzzle against Jack and open herself to him. It never ceased to amaze Kelly how quickly Jack brought her body to a frenzied state with a kiss or a touch.

  Jack reached over and closed Kelly’s book, then put it on the end table on her side of the bed. Slowly, he stripped her body of the tank top and pajama pants she wore. Jack traced lazy patterns with his mouth and tongue from Kelly’s shoulders to her stomach, down her legs and back up again, before giving in to her pleas. Jack quickly grabbed a condom and sheathed himself before he entered her, making her cry out his name over and over.