by Anara Bella
Taking in her sparkling eyes and heaving chest, he fought back a grin. Damned if he didn’t like her this way too.
The grin finally won out.
She scowled and planted her fists on her hips. “Don’t you laugh at me, Logan Donovan.”
Oh look. She’s even trying to look tough.
It was too much. He burst out laughing. “I can’t help it. You’re just so damn cute like this. I think I’m going to like the new you.” Maybe a little too much.
Just like that her anger dissipated. “Really?”
“It’ll take some getting used to, but yeah.”
The smile she graced him with was like sunshine breaking through storm clouds. It lit up her entire face and accentuated the beauty he’d never noticed before. Had it always been there and he’d just not seen it?
“Thanks.”
Still busy trying to take in the radical change, he jumped when she put her hands on his shoulders. “What are you doing?”
Looking confused, she said, “I thought you wanted to dance with me.”
Damn. He’d forgotten that was why he’d come over here. If he tried to back out now it would hurt her feelings. “Oh right. Of course.”
Smooth, Logan. Real smooth. He all but rolled his eyes at himself.
Feeling more than a little awkward and probably looking worse, he hesitated while trying to decide what to do. He knew he should put his hands on her waist, but the fact that he wanted to so much sort of made him feel like a perv.
She was practically his little sister for crying out loud. Okay, so she wasn’t, but he’d always viewed her that way. Until now.
Damn it. He couldn’t believe this was Nica. And that she looked so fucking hot.
He shook the thought out of his head, told himself to snap out of it, reached over and put his hands on her waist. There, that wasn’t so hard. At least not yet. He strove to keep as much distance between their bodies as he could manage without looking too obvious.
Nica had ideas of her own though, because the next thing he knew she’d draped her arms over his shoulders and clasped her hands behind his neck. In the process she’d pressed her sweet breasts up against his chest until their bodies were so flush against each other a microbe couldn’t have squeezed in if its survival depended on it.
His groin started to tingle.
Damn.
Wanted: One fling, orgasmic satisfaction guaranteed.
Batteries Not Required
© 2009 Anara Bella
In Dana Appleby’s experience, really bad, boring sex and long-term relationships seem to go hand-in-hand. Enough is enough. She’s now on a mission and her main objective is finding excitement in the bedroom. And she knows just who she wants to give it to her: Reese Cooper.
Short-term relationships are Reese’s specialty—and so is sex. Dana’s proposal to have a little fling is right up his alley, but things go awry when he starts to realize short-term isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And suddenly the idea of Dana moving onto someone else doesn’t appeal one bit.
So, what’s a guy to do? The only thing he can do. Set out to show Dana that long-term doesn’t necessarily mean boring. Not with relationships—and definitely not with sex.
Warning: This book contains graphic sex, a scorching office quickie and the teensiest bit of newbie handcuff play. Please note: Batteries not included with this book. But don’t worry, you won’t need any.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Batteries Not Required:
This was it. She’d made up her mind. Nothing could stop her now.
It all started on the count of three.
Dana looked towards her target and took a deep, fortifying breath before starting the nerve-racking countdown.
One.
Butterflies fluttered ruthlessly in her throat, threatening to choke her. She swallowed hard.
Two.
Her palms started to sweat. She swiped them on her hips.
Two and a half.
Breathing would be good about now. Hey, were those stars?
Two and three quarters.
Get a grip girl. Hike up your backbone and go for it.
Three!
By some complete miracle Dana’s legs started to move in the direction she wanted to go. Well, that wasn’t quite true. If they went in the direction the chicken side of her wanted to go she’d be headed in the opposite direction, straight out the door. But no, she was definitely headed towards Reese.
Who knew she possessed this much nerve? Not her. Not anyone. She wasn’t a wimp, but in all truth, she was anything but a risk-taker. Nor was she the attention-grabbing type.
If anything, with her plain brown hair and boring brown eyes, she tended to blend into the background. She was the one everyone said had her feet planted firmly on the ground. A straight-forward, no-nonsense kind of girl, that was her. In point of fact, she was the last person anyone would ever expect to do anything the least bit daring or “out there”. Especially with regards to men. And not with a man she’d only seen around the office and never met. She was the very antithesis of a femme fatale.
But tonight was different. Tonight marked the coming of the New Year and the new her. Tonight she was going after what she wanted. And what she wanted most was Reese Cooper.
No more lying in bed all alone, fantasizing about what she would like to do to his super sexy body. Fantasizing about what she wished he would do to hers. Fantasizing about what they could do to each other. No sirree. She’d made her New Year’s resolution and that resolution meant she was going to start this year with a bang.
Or more precisely, with a kiss. The kiss to end all kisses. Or maybe just the kiss that would bring an end to her fantasies about Reese. Because if things didn’t go the way she wanted, at least she’d finally know. And maybe, just maybe, she could move on and find a man who would give her what she wanted—a taste of what great sex was all about.
She really had nothing to lose. At the very least she’d find out what it was like to kiss Reese Cooper and that alone was a thrilling prospect. Heck, it already had her tingling down to her toes.
Besides, what else was New Year’s for? It was a time for change. For adventure. For new beginnings. All the things she was determined to kick off right now.
After pushing her way through the crush of people, she reached her quarry and stopped just behind him. All six-foot-three-scrumptious inches of him. The place was so packed it was a wonder she was able to get this close to him, but at least the crowd and noise had helped in her quest. She was certain Reese hadn’t noticed her approach.
She looked around and quickly sized up her options. Now that she was in position, it was going to take a bit of maneuvering to accomplish what she’d come here to do. Because a man like Reese was too good looking and sought after to come to a party by himself.
His present arm candy was even now primping herself in expectation of getting his New Year’s kiss, and the countdown was about to begin. But Dana knew something the blow-up blonde didn’t—she was doomed to disappointment. Because, date or no date, in about ten seconds Reese was going to be kissing her, Dana Appleby. Not blissfully unaware, destined-to-fail, Cosmo girl.
All Dana had to do was get the timing right.
At that moment the music stopped and the host of the party called for everyone’s attention, announcing the countdown was about to commence.
This is it. The moment of truth. The moment she’d been waiting for. She shored up her nerve and got into position.
“Ten…nine…eight…”
Steady. I can do this.
“Seven…six…five…”
Now.
Pretending she’d tripped, Dana very neatly fell into Reese’s very strong, very yummy arms.
I did it.
“Four…three…”
She looked into his surprised grey eyes and almost melted. She’d never seen them up close like this before and their impact was staggering. She could happily drown in those eyes. “I’m so sor
ry. I’m such a klutz.”
“Two…one…”
He steadied her with his hands but didn’t remove them from around her. She took that as a good sign. Now if she could just get rid of the damn blush making her complexion a bright, fire-engine red. It was hard to look sexy when you looked as if your head was going to catch fire at any second.
“You okay?” He seemed genuinely concerned. How sweet.
A chorus of “Happy New Year” being shouted from every corner of the room effectively interrupted her answer.
As the surrounding crowd whooped it up and kissed the one they loved, or whoever was convenient, Reese looked around, obviously trying to sort out his current dilemma. His gaze flitted between blow-up Barbie—who was frantically trying to shove Dana out of the way—to his armful of Dana.
Dana, however, didn’t have any such dilemma on her hands. She knew exactly what she was going to do. She ignored the bimbo, disregarded Reese’s shock when she grabbed his lapels, and tossed off what she hoped was an impishly sexy grin. Red face and all. Then she proceeded to kiss the living daylights out of him.
At least she hoped that’s what she was doing.
For an instant, he went perfectly still, no doubt taken aback and not quite sure what to do with her, and a feeling of panic fluttered in her stomach. Oh no, what if he pushed her away? Before that thought could fully take root, he relaxed and took the kiss over with an eagerness Dana would never have dared hope for.
Oh God, it was a million times better than she’d ever imagined. This was the stuff fantasies were made of. This was what a kiss was supposed to be. This was what it was like to be swept off your feet, and then some.
This was what she’d been looking for.
Now all she had to do was hang onto it.
