Seduce Me

by Kelly Elliott

  Kelly Elliott is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling contemporary romance author. Since finishing her bestselling Wanted series, Kelly continues to spread her wings while remaining true to her roots and giving readers stories rich with hot protective men, strong women and beautiful surroundings.

  Kelly has been passionate about writing since she was fifteen. After years of filling journals with stories, she finally followed her dream and published her first novel, Wanted, in November of 2012.

  Kelly lives in central Texas with her husband, daughter, and two pups. When she’s not writing, Kelly enjoys reading and spending time with her family. She is down to earth and very in touch with her readers, both on social media and at signings.

  Visit Kelly Elliott online:

  www.kellyelliottauthor.com

  @author_kelly

  www.facebook.com/KellyElliottAuthor/

  Also by Kelly Elliott (published by Piatkus)

  The Love Wanted in Texas series

  Without You

  Saving You

  Holding You

  Finding You

  Chasing You

  Loving You

  The Cowboys and Angels series

  Lost Love

  Love Profound

  Tempting Love

  Love Again

  Blind Love

  This Love

  The Austin Singles series

  Seduce Me

  Contents

  About the Author

  Also by Kelly Elliott

  Title Page

  Copyright

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Copyright

  Published by Piatkus

  ISBN: 978-0-349-42239-8

  All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Kelly Elliott

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  Piatkus

  Little, Brown Book Group

  Carmelite House

  50 Victoria Embankment

  London EC4Y 0DZ

  www.littlebrown.co.uk

  www.hachette.co.uk

  HE STOOD ACROSS the room and talked to Angie Reynolds like he had no idea he had shaken my entire world this past weekend. Maybe he did know. The truth was, he’d never know the real reason behind my leaving without saying a word to him. I gave him nothing. Not even, “Hey, thanks for the most incredible weekend of my life.”

  The only thing I did leave him was a letter because I didn’t have the guts to be honest with him.

  When his eyes drifted over the room, I looked away before he could see me watching him. I swore my lips still tingled from his kisses. Closing my eyes, I tried like hell to push the feelings away.

  I cannot fall for Tucker Middleton.

  Who was I kidding? I’d already fallen for him a long time ago.

  Peeking toward him again, my breath caught while watching his hand run through his brown hair. My stomach tugged with that familiar desire that Tucker always pulled out of me.

  I was struck by Tucker the first moment I ever laid my eyes on him. I turned into a complete mess. He made me feel things I’d never felt before, and that rattled me even more.

  My father’s voice played in the back of my head over and over. A constant reminder of why I couldn’t give in to my feelings for Tucker.

  “Charleston, do not be bothered with these boys in college. Focus on your future. Your future is with CMI. You can fall in love later.”

  When Tucker invited two friends of ours and me to his parents’ lake house in Marble Falls, I was foolish enough to think I could resist him.

  Yeah, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I spent more time in his bed than on the lake.

  My eyes closed. I could feel his scourging touch even now. Those magical fingers lightly running over my body. Deliciously soft lips against mine. His hands exploring every inch of my body.

  Stop. This. Now. Charlie.

  Drawing in a deep breath, I exhaled and glanced around the room. I pressed the beer bottle to my lips and finished it off. It didn’t matter how much I drank; I’d never be able to forget the way his body felt. The way he pulled out my first ever orgasm and forever rocked my world.

  Ugh, think of something else!

  Taking another look around, I found him again. This time he was talking to Lily, my best friend and his sister. My gaze dropped to his soft plump lips. The things he whispered into my ear would replay in my mind for the rest of my life … making me feel a high like I’d never felt before.

  And therein lies the problem.

  I need to stay focused. With Tucker, I cannot focus for shit.

  Someday I would be taking over my father’s billion-dollar global consulting firm. The last thing I could afford was a distraction. And boy howdy, was Tucker Middleton a distraction.

  Feeling someone bump my shoulder, I glanced to my right to see Lily standing there.

  Geesh. I was so lost in thought I hadn’t even seen her walk over here.

  Note to self: Don’t daydream about Tucker.

  “So, what happened between you and Tucker last weekend?”

  My heart stopped. With Lily being Tucker’s sister, I had no clue what all he told her.

  “Why?”

  Looking between me and Tucker, who stood across the room, she focused back in on me. “Because he’s been pissed ever since he got back. He said something to Nash about you being the biggest bitch he’d ever met. Then he told him if he never talked to you again, he wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.”

  Ouch. I deserved that.

  Snapping my head back over to Tucker, I saw he was now talking to a group of guys. I would never admit I was happy to see Angie had moved on and left Tucker alone.

  “So … are you going to tell me what happened?”

  My cheeks heated as I looked at her.

  “Oh. My. God. Did y’all sleep together?”

  When I didn’t answer, she yanked at my arm. “Charlie, wait. I’ve never seen that look in your eyes before.” She gasped then slapped her hand up to her mouth before dropping it again and saying, “You like him!”

  With a curt laugh, I rolled my eyes and said, “Please. I do not like Tucker.”

  Lie. I think I’m in love with him.

  She lifted her brow. “But y’all slept together?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe.”

  Grabbing me, she pulled me down the hall and into the bathroom. “Okay, I’m so confused. I know Tucker has the hots for you, but I didn’t think you liked him. I mean, you get all weird around him and all but …” She gasped again. “Oh no.”

  My eyes filled with tears, and I quickly looked away. “C
harlie, what happened? He acts like he can’t stand you now.”

  I instantly felt sick. “What did he say?”

  “Pretty much the same thing he told Nash. That you were cold hearted and didn’t care about anyone but yourself. He just told me he didn’t care if you ever hung out with us again.”

  Squaring off my shoulders, I took in a deep breath as I tried to bury the sting of his words. I deserved them, though. “Well then, that’s for the best. Takes the awkwardness away from the situation.”

  Narrowing her deadpan stare, she asked, “What … situation?”

  How did I tell my best friend I was in love with her brother, had the most amazing weekend of my life with sex that was mind blowing, and then snuck out Sunday morning without so much as a word? Well. There was the note I left, which is probably why he hates me.

  “Um … well … we, ah … things got a little … you know …”

  Shaking her head, she responded. “No. I don’t know, and you’re babbling.” Her brows pulled in. “You never babble.”

  I jumped and pointed at her, causing her to shriek. “See! That’s the problem. Your brother brings out this whole other side of me, and I can’t think straight when I’m around him. I trip on shit and say the stupidest things. You’d never know I was going to run a huge corporation someday by the way I act when he’s near me.”

  The smile that spread over her face made my stomach drop.

  “Oh. My. God. You really like him.”

  I frantically nodded my head. “Yes. No. Oh God, I don’t know. No! I don’t like him. I cannot like him. We had an amazing weekend with the best sex of my life, but it’s over. I told him in my note I wanted to forget it ever happened and that it was best if we were just friends.”

  Swallowing hard, I looked away as I chewed on my lip. Oh, how I tried to talk myself out of kissing him that first night. We were both a little drunk, and damn it if he didn’t look hot as hell in his stupid Dallas Cowboys baseball hat turned backward. Do guys have any idea how hot that makes them look?

  For the last three years I fought my feelings for Tucker. I had a moment of weakness. Okay, it was more than a moment. It was three days’ worth of moments of weakness.

  “Friends? So you’re saying you’re not attracted to my brother?”

  Attracted? Pffttt. Boy, was she off. I had fallen for Tucker the first time he grabbed my hand and walked me into a movie theater with our little group of friends. To him it was a friendly gesture … to me it made my entire body come to life. I knew then he was going to be my kryptonite.

  Innocent touches here and there I could handle, but this past weekend took everything to a DEFCON level 5. All I heard the entire weekend were sirens going off in my head. Not to mention my father’s voice warning me to stay focused and not get involved with what could only amount to a fling. After all, college relationships never lasted, he said. It didn’t matter he had met my mother in college and married her. Or that they had been happily married for thirty years. He made me promise I wouldn’t date and that I would solely focus on school.

  I had kept my promise too. Kept it as long as my heart would allow.

  Well, until last Thursday night when I let my betraying bitch of a body control me.

  But Tucker was different. So very different. He made me want things I never desired before. He was a weakness I couldn’t afford to have in my life. Not if I wanted to pursue my dreams. Well, my father’s dreams.

  “Hello? Earth to Charlie? Are you even listening to me?”

  I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “Sorry. Listen, I messed up this past weekend. Things got a little hot and heavy with Tucker. It was a mistake that I … that I … regret.”

  I wonder if that sounded convincing to her? It sure as shit didn’t to me.

  Her mouth damn near dropped to the ground. “Wait, did you say you told him you wished it never happened in the note? The note you left him, Charlie?” Her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

  Damn. This is where the shit is going to hit the fan.

  “I, um … well. I left super early.”

  The look of disappointment on her face about killed me. I knew if I had waited for Tucker to wake up, I wouldn’t have been able to leave. I would have found myself wrapped up in him another day. And that would have turned into another night, which would ultimately turn into more days and nights. There was no way I would have been able to look him in the eyes and say it was a mistake we were together because deep down in my heart, it was exactly what I had been wanting. There wasn’t one ounce of regret in my body over the time we spent together, but my mind was flooded with all the whys and hows of why we could never be more than friends.

  My blank stare was answer enough.

  She closed her eyes for a brief moment before glaring at me with pure anger in her irises. “So, let me get this straight. Y’all made love, you led him on, then got up and left without so much as saying goodbye?”

  The way she said it made me feel like such a slut, and truly the world’s biggest bitch. Tucker was right when he told Nash I was a bitch. In fact, he was being a tad bit generous in his assessment of me.

  Note to self. Sleeping with a guy and then getting up and leaving without so much as a thank you for the multiple orgasms is a bitch move. A total bitch move.

  I didn’t like the way she looked at me. Anger quickly raced through me. It was the only choice I had. “We didn’t make love, Lily. Don’t try to romanticize it. We fucked. He wanted me; I wanted to see what it would be like with him. Itches scratched. End of story.”

  Lily slowly shook her head. “You know it was more than that, Charlie. I see it in your eyes. You’re just too damn scared to admit it. Maybe next time you want to get laid, go find some asshole who won’t care when you get up and leave. Someone who will actually slap your ass on the way out the door. Tucker had feelings for you. How could you do this to him? How could you lead him on all weekend and then leave him high and dry and say it was a mistake?”

  My chest squeezed thinking Tucker might no longer have feelings for me. That if he had feelings for me, I’d crushed any chance of ever being more than what we are right now. The thought that I had ruined a friendship I valued so much for a few hours of pleasure was fracturing my already broken heart. I had to keep telling myself it was for the best; it was the only way I’d be able to put one foot in front of the other around him.

  Forcing myself to keep a steady voice, I replied, “Tucker wanted in my pants as much as I wanted in his, Lily. I can’t help it if he thought there was going to be something more out of it. There were no promises made between us; it was just two adults doing adult things with no strings attached. Plain and simple.”

  Her head jerked back and she wore a shocked expression before letting out a scoff. “Wow, Charlie. You really are a bitch. A heartless bitch with no feelings at all. You’ve mastered that at the ripe old age of twenty-one. You’re going to make a great addition to your father’s company with that attitude.”

  With that, my best friend spun around on her heels and stormed out the door. I couldn’t even be mad at her because every single word she said was true.

  All of it.

  THE DING OF the elevator door pulled me from my thoughts. Mindlessly stepping in, I heard a female voice speak.

  “I’m so sorry for your loss, Charleston.”

  My blank stare met her warm eyes. “Charlie, please call me Charlie.”

  She nodded and gave me the same smile I’d been getting for the last week. That’s what happens when both of your parents unexpectedly die at the same time in a car accident. People give you that sad look that says they really don’t know what to say, and “I’m so sorry for your loss” is the only thing they can muster. Do they think it helps? It doesn’t. It’s only a reminder of what’s missing. A reminder of what I was left with.

  No one. I was all alone.

  They thought their whispered questions went unheard by me, but I heard them all.

  What wi
ll she do now? How will she be able to handle it all? Is this place going to stay open? One of the world’s largest consulting firms … is she capable of running it?

  Alone.

  I was totally alone. I had no one.

  “Your father was an amazing man. Not to mention your mother; she was so caring and everyone loved her.”

  With a weak smile, I nodded in agreement. The ache in my chest knowing my mother would never see me walk down the aisle or hold a grandchild in her arms nearly had me bursting out in tears. But crying was something I didn’t do. Then you had my father. Oh yes. My father was amazing. He was a lawyer, a businessman, a husband, and a wonderful father. But he demanded everything out of me and expected nothing but perfection from his only child. Needless to say, it was a no-brainer that he talked me out of taking the swimming scholarship to Notre Dame and instead head to his alma mater, The University of Texas. I went to school and achieved my business law degree with a minor in math. I’d do anything to make my father happy, even give up my dreams of owning my own small business and becoming a wife and mother. I didn’t want a corporate life; I wanted a simpler one.

  Instead, I dutifully did what I was told and got a degree from The University of Texas. Then I went on to law school … again … at The University of Texas.

  The woman cleared her throat, I guess to pull me out of my thoughts. It wasn’t until then that I really took her in. She was older; her blonde hair was pulled up neatly in a tight bun, and her makeup was perfect, as well as her nails. Glancing down at my nails, I hid them behind my back. The evidence of my grief chipped away on each fingernail.

  Note to self: Make a spa day appointment. You fucking deserve it.

  When the elevator opened onto the top floor, I stared at the numbers. I didn’t even remember hitting a floor number when I walked in.

  “I hit the floor number for you, Charles- … I mean, Charlie. The board members are all waiting for you. You’ll meet with the lawyer first in the main conference room next to your father’s office.”

  Then it hit me. “You’re Marge, my father’s executive assistant.”

  With a warm smile, she nodded politely and used her hand to urge me out before the elevators shut again.