by Katie Allen
Topher threw herself at Jamie, hugging him so hard she heard him grunt at the impact. “Thank you! I can’t believe you’re giving me Popcorn! You’re the absolute best present-giver in the entire universe!” Pulling back, she swiped at her eyes, but tears kept leaking out, making her cheeks cold. “And I just got you a book.”
“I like my book.” He wiped at her cheeks, doing a much better job at it than she had, and she grinned at him. Happiness expanded inside of her, filling every empty space and crevice until she knew she’d explode if she didn’t let it out.
“Thank you!” She gave Jamie another quick, tight hug. “As if I needed more incentive to spend every spare second with you. I’m going to ride my pony now.” Not bothering to open the gate, she climbed over the top. Since Popcorn was conveniently standing right next to it, she lowered herself onto his back.
“Tophie!” Jamie’s voice was amused and stern at the same time, and she loved it. “You’re not going to ride in the dark.”
“Just a quick one,” she promised, urging Popcorn to walk away from the gate. “Get in here and grab a horse so you can ride with us.”
“Tophie,” he growled, but he did as she suggested, hopping up on Ghost, who’d wandered over from the hay feeder, probably in search of treats.
They started across the pasture, keeping their horses at an ambling walk so they didn’t trip or step in a gopher hole in the darkness. The snowflakes thickened, falling to cling to Popcorn’s mane and Topher’s eyelashes. She reached out a hand toward Jamie, and he took it in his warm one. With the snow falling around them, they rode in silence through the night, hand in hand.
Turning her head to look at Jamie’s profile, Topher thought that she would burst with happiness. Things were so, so good, and they were only going to get better.
With Jamie and Popcorn in LA with her, how could they not?
* * * * *
Available now from Carina Press and Katie Allen
Read on for a sneak preview of
EROTIC EXPERIMENTS,
the first book in Katie Allen’s
RESEARCH AND DESIRE series.
The bouncer was hot.
Claire realized her mouth was hanging open. Snapping it shut, she touched her chin to make sure she wasn’t drooling. Despite her best efforts, she just couldn’t drag her gaze away from that perfect male specimen.
This was her first time at Club Taboo and the experience was reminding her why she didn’t go out very much. The vapor from the dry ice combined with a hundred different perfumes had burned Claire’s eyes, and the press of people had made her panicky. Ducking out onto the club’s side patio, she’d been relieved to find it relatively empty.
It was blessedly quiet after the heavy techno pulse of the club, even with the chatter from the crowd of people waiting to get in. The line bordered the patio and stretched all the way to the warehouse next door. The bouncer had moved away from his position by the door in order to monitor a group of rowdy guys waiting in line. Claire watched as the foursome bumped each other off balance and insulted each other in voices so obliviously loud she could clearly hear their comments above the noise of the crowd.
With his focus on the line, the bouncer was almost completely turned away from her. She studied him, feeling safe with her oblique angle. All she could see was the back of his head and the sharp edge of one high cheekbone, the corner of his no-nonsense mouth and the hard plane of his cheek. The cold November wind blew off the lake and ruffled his jet-black hair, but, even in just his shirtsleeves, he didn’t seem to feel the chill. The people waiting to get in, however, hugged their elbows and shivered, noses turning pink as they stomped their feet and huddled against their dates. There were surprisingly few who were messing around on their phones, probably because most of the people were afraid of freezing off their thumbs if they exposed them.
Watching the crowd reminded Claire of her own bare arms and thin skirt. With an involuntary full-body shudder, she moved closer to the shelter of the building. She hesitated a few feet from the door, not wanting to go back inside yet. Instead, she studied the heavy curve of the bouncer’s shoulders and the outline of his back muscles beneath the dark fabric of his shirt. He appeared relaxed and calm, but she imagined she could see the tremor of readiness dart through his muscles.
“Claire!”
Gordon’s voice brought the bouncer’s head around. She managed to hold his gaze for a full second and a half before the intensity of his stare, the sheer breathtaking beauty of his face and body, was too much. Ducking her head, Claire turned to Gordon.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked, a slight slur blurring the edges of his words. “It’s freezing!”
“Just getting some air.” Forcing a smile, Claire lied, “I was just about to go back in.”
“Good.” He gave her a sloppy grin. “Let’s go dance.”
Claire had to force herself not to recoil. Only a sharp mental reminder that he was her boss, and definitely not drunk enough yet to forget the evening, allowed her to keep her face expressionless. She even managed a small smile. “I’m not much of a dancer,” she demurred. “In fact, I probably should go home soon.”
“Don’t be silly.” Gordon brushed off her words, grabbing her by the arm and tugging her toward the doorway. “It’s a celebration!”
Gritting her teeth against the urge to punch him in the balls, Claire couldn’t help but jerk back against his grip. “No!” she snapped.
He blinked at her, surprised, dropping his hand from her arm.
“I mean,” Claire backtracked, “that I’m...um, not feeling well. I’d better stay out here a little while longer.”
“There a problem?”
The smooth, masculine voice brought both Claire’s and Gordon’s heads around in surprise. The bouncer must have hurdled the waist-high patio fence, since he was standing just a few feet from them, close enough to make Claire’s stomach churn.
“We’re fine,” Gordon snapped, his lips drawn in a tight, prissy knot. This close to the gorgeous bouncer, Gordon looked even more unappealing than usual. The sparse goatee circling those wet, too-red lips of his always made Claire think of pubic hair, an image that brought both suppressed giggles and a shudder of disgust.
The bouncer ignored Gordon, all his focus on Claire. “Miss?” he asked.
She cleared her throat. The combination of his beauty and that low, golden voice robbed her of her ability to speak.
“Huh?” she finally managed to grunt. Smooth, Claire, she commended herself. Obviously she had been locked in the lab for too long. “I mean, I’m okay,” she managed to squeak out, staring at him.
The bouncer didn’t move, didn’t blink. Claire swallowed.
“She said she’s fine,” Gordon repeated, reaching to take her arm again but dropping his hand at the last moment. “Come on, Claire, let’s go inside.”
Barely managing to tear her gaze from the bouncer’s perfect face, Claire finally turned her head to look at Gordon. As his words penetrated her fog of instant infatuation, she shook her head.
“No,” she said firmly. “I have to go home. I want to get into work early tomorrow.”
Gordon rolled his eyes. “Don’t be silly. I’ll give you the day off.”
Irritation rushed through Claire. “I need to get some things done,” she clipped out, quickly losing her grip on her facade of patience and good humor.
Ignoring her protests, Gordon grabbed her wrist. “Let’s go in,” he insisted, but Claire barely felt the tug before his face froze and his hand dropped away.
The bouncer’s fingers were wrapped around Gordon’s arm just above the elbow. Whatever he was doing must have hurt, judging from the pastier-than-usual color of Gordon’s face.
“You. Go,” the bouncer said evenly, and Gordon gave a short nod and a wince. As soo
n as the larger man released him, Gordon turned on his heel and stalked to the side door of the club.
Claire watched his stiff back as he left. She sighed. Work would definitely be uncomfortable for a few days. Gordon slammed the door behind him and Claire flinched. Make that a few weeks, she amended mentally.
“How are you getting home?”
She turned toward the bouncer, startled. She’d been distracted enough by Gordon’s annoying behavior to forget the mountain of hotness still standing next to her.
She smiled at him. “Thanks for your help. He’s had a few too many and was being really persistent. He’s my boss, you know, so it wasn’t like I could kick him in the balls, although I did think about it. Punching him in the balls, to be exact.” Shut up, shut up, shut up! Claire’s brain screamed, but she couldn’t stop the babbling flow of words. “So it was really nice of you to take care of it so I didn’t do any damage to his man parts and get fired.”
He brushed off her thanks with a small shrug and a raised eyebrow.
“What?” she asked, before she remembered his earlier question. “Oh, getting home. Right. I’ll probably walk—I live just five blocks away.”
The bouncer turned on his heel and gave a sharp whistle. Another burly man in a black shirt stuck his head around the corner.
“Going on break,” Claire’s bouncer called, his voice cutting easily through the chatter of the waiting crowd. “Watch those four.” He pointed at the loud group he’d been monitoring earlier. The four guys looked back at him with expressions of offended innocence until one wobbled and fell off the curb, to the great amusement of his three companions. The other bouncer nodded and waved a hand in a “go ahead” gesture.
The gorgeous man turned and walked toward the door to the club. Bemused, Claire just stared at his broad back.
Holding the door open, he turned back and raised the same eyebrow. Claire figured just that one eyebrow probably saved him a couple hundred words a day.
“Let’s go,” he ordered, and she blinked at him, startled.
“Where?”
“Your house.” Although the duh was left unsaid, it was very much implied.
“Aren’t you going on break?” she asked.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Comprehension dawned. “Oh,” she hurried to say. “You don’t have to walk me home. I’ll be fine. I have a whistle.” Claire dug in her small purse. “It’s in here somewhere...”
Her fingers found the silver whistle and she yanked it out, grinning triumphantly. Her smile slowly faded when she saw the bouncer’s expression. The eyebrow was now appalled.
“What?” she asked, but he just shook his head.
“Hurry up.” He jerked his head toward the open door.
She gave in and followed him into the club. “Well, if you’re sure you want to. I mean, I don’t want to take up your break. I’m sure there are lots of things you would rather do than walk someone home, like get a snack or pee...” She trailed off when she realized he couldn’t hear her through the club noise, even though they were only a few feet apart.
Claire followed his broad back through the press of people, appreciating the way a path just opened up for him, either his size or his presence making even the drunkest reveler duck out of his way. She glanced over her shoulder and saw her small group of colleagues clustered at a table. Claire sighed. Gordon still looked pissed.
There’s nothing you can do about it now, she thought, facing front again. Instead of seeing the bouncer’s wide shoulders, Claire found she was caught in a mass of strangers. She tried to wiggle through the crowd, but, without the bouncer’s magic path-making ability, people refused to give way.
Standing on her tiptoes and cursing her short stature, she tried unsuccessfully to see over the press of bodies. With an irritated grunt, she fought her way in the direction she thought the door was located, using her elbows liberally.
She had only made a few feet of progress when the bouncer appeared in front of her. Grabbing her by the hand, he towed her to the main door and outside. Claire gasped a breath of blessedly cool air, relieved to be out of the crush of people, but then she shivered.
“My coat,” she groaned, glancing back at the entrance with dread. She really did not want to go back in there.
“I’ll get it,” the bouncer told her, before shoving his way back into the mass of people.
“Wait!” He didn’t stop. “I didn’t tell you where it is,” she finished under her breath. Claire waited for him to come back and ask for directions—or for a description of the coat, at least—but was surprised to see him reemerge a minute later with her jacket clutched in one huge fist.
“Thank you,” she told him, holding out an arm. After a tiny hesitation, he helped her put her coat on. “How did you know which one was mine?”
He gave a small shrug, just the twitch of one massive shoulder. “Just did. Which way?” Claire pointed left, and he strode down the sidewalk.
“Hang on,” she told him with a breathless laugh, struggling to keep up with his quick pace. Her heels were not the best running shoes. “Can you slow down just a pinch?” she panted.
Although he looked surprised, he did slow his steps until she didn’t have to jog to keep up with him.
“Thanks,” she said gratefully. “I’m Claire, by the way.”
“I know,” he grunted. At her curious look, he added, “Heard your boss call you that.”
“Oh.” She nodded and waited. And waited. “And you are...” she finally prompted.
“Edward.” As she continued to look at him, he added, “Edward Astor.”
“So what do you go by?”
He slanted a look at her. “Edward Astor.”
Claire laughed, although she wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not. “Ed? Eddie? Ned? Big Ed?”
Shrugging, he told her, “Whatever you like.”
“That’s a little dangerous,” she warned, still grinning. When the eyebrow went up again, she explained. “Letting me call you anything I want. There’re so many unpleasant possibilities—Wally, for example. Or Scooter. How about Sprinkles? Or Giggles? Or—”
“Fine,” he interrupted. “Call me Ed.”
She made a face. “But I was just getting into it. You sure I can’t call you Sprinkles?”
He answered with a look.
“O-kay, Ed it is. Mr. Astor if you’re nasty.”
Both eyebrows went up at that and Claire thought she saw a spark of heat flare in his eyes, turning them silver for just a moment before they cooled to their original gray. An answering shiver clenched her lower belly.
Claire shook her head, brushing away his reaction as a figment of her imagination. Her reaction, now—that was a result of too many hours spent in the lab, where the only males in sight were Gordon and some of the rats. It had been a long time since she had been this close to a guy, much less such a big, gorgeous, muscular specimen. She realized she was staring again. Glancing away with an effort, she saw they had almost walked past her street.
“Oh—” she pointed across the intersection “—turn here.”
He did the same thing he had at each crossing, holding her back with a hand against her arm as he checked for traffic before ushering her across. Something about this careful gesture melted her insides into a ball of goo. Claire swallowed.
“That’s my building,” she rasped. Clearing her throat, she tried for a tone that was a little less...lustful. “I’m fine from here. You’d better get back. Your break must be almost over by now.”
Ed dismissed that idea with a single shake of his head.
She shrugged, hiding her pleased grin by digging in her purse for her keys. The whistle kept getting in her way until, with a frustrated growl, she yanked it out and tilted the purse so random coins, breath mints, a tampon and h
er key ring slid to one corner. She grasped the keys and held them up like a trophy.
With a gentle tug, Ed pulled the keys from her fingers and opened the door for her. As she stepped into her building in front of him, Claire felt the first stirrings of anxiety. Was he planning on staying? Despite his rescuing her from Gordon and walking her home and the sweet way he’d held her back until he was sure the street was clear, Ed was still very much a stranger.
“Don’t be scared.” The way he said the words, like a command, made her heart beat even faster, although she wasn’t sure if that was from arousal or fear.
“I’m not,” she threw over her shoulder as carelessly as she could manage, although she was fairly sure her nerves showed through. Straightening her shoulders, she climbed the stairs to her second-floor apartment. The elevator was temperamental at best, so she preferred to take the steps and not risk a couple-hour stop between floors while the handyman thumped and swore in Russian above her. Being trapped in the elevator with Ed, though... She cut off that train of thought. Her heart could only take so much.
“I won’t hurt you,” Ed said from behind her.
Claire glanced back again, this time meeting his eyes. “I know,” she said.
She did know. At least, she was pretty sure. Kind of sure?
Turning back to climb the last few steps, she rolled her eyes at her worries. If this was how she acted when she was around a hot guy, she really needed to get out more.
“This is my place,” she said, her eyes darting around.
Should I invite him in? she wondered. Her body was screaming “Yes!” but her mind was more cautious and the words didn’t leave her mouth. She stepped back as he unlocked her door with one of the keys he still held and pushed the door open, holding it for her as he remained in the hallway.
“Thanks,” she said in an embarrassing squeak as she turned toward him. “For walking me home, I mean. And using up your break, when I’m sure you have a ton of things you needed to do—”
She broke off, her mouth still open and her eyes wide, as he moved toward her. Taking her hand, he placed her keys in her palm and gently folded her fingers around them. After staring dumbly at her hand for several seconds, she looked up at him.
