by Aliyah Burke
Relentless
Copyright © 2014 Aliyah Burke
Cover illustration copyright © Covers by K Designs
Sensual Romance Publishing Logo © MMJ Designs
Editor: Jessica Bimberg
ISBN: 9781311544261
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system-except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Web-without permission in writing from the publisher or author. The unauthorized replication or allocation of any copyrighted work is illegal. File sharing is an international crime, prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Border Patrol, Division of Cyber Crimes, in partnership with Interpol. Copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by up to five years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000 per reported instance, and seizure of computers.
This book is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is coincidental. All trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only.
Published by: Sensual Romance Publishing at Smashwords Publishing
Relentless
By
Aliyah Burke
Dedication
For my readers, old and the new, I hope you enjoy this journey to the small town of Cottonwood Falls. Thank you so much for your support! DH, I love you. To the men and women who protect our country, thank you so much for your sacrifices!!
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Additional Books By Aliyah Burke
About The Author
Chapter One
“Everything would be simpler, Mr. Glazer, if you would just sell to me. I’m offering you well over market value to buy out your clinic.” Toby Latner flicked a piece of imaginary lint from charcoal gray slacks with an impatient jerk of his hand.
Reginald Glazer sat across from him, leaning back in his wooden slot-back chair. The exhaustion in his eyes and embedded in the lines of his face still didn’t detract from his intelligence.
“For you, I’m sure. However, for me, it would not be worth it.”
“The amount I am offering will take care of your upcoming medical bills.”
Mr. Glazer—Dr., really—cleared his throat. “Is that what you learned in ‘business-take-over’ school? To mention a person’s medical bills? When I say no again, are you prepared to inform me just how expensive chemo will specifically be?” He leaned back, the rusty hinge squeaking loudly in the otherwise quiet, tense room. “I know your parents raised you better.”
The reprimand fell as hard as rain, stinging with the force of wind-driven sleet.
It was his turn to clear his throat. “This sale benefits both parties, Dr. Glazer.”
“Mostly you.” He rocked forward, leaning strong forearms upon the desktop. “You are offering me a sum of money after which you make so much more because you will put in one of those God-forsaken strip malls. This town doesn’t need that. Doesn’t need a vet clinic run by some faceless corporation. I have had the Cottonwood Falls Veterinary Hospital for over thirty years. I treat these folks’ animals in this town.”
Toby knew he’d struck a nerve with the flash of uncertainty in his eyes.
“I have plans.” Defiance laced Dr. Glazer’s tone, his first sign of weakness.
Toby adjusted in the chair. “You have plans.” He tugged on his suit coat sleeve. “Those words are indications of potential failures. What I am offering is a solution.”
“Do you even remember growing up here? How this little town was? You bringing in this strip mall—”
“It will bring in jobs.” Toby couldn’t believe Dr. Glazer was still arguing this. Why didn’t he just agree to sign and get on with it? Why the need to hash out whether or not Toby recalled growing up here?
“It will bring crime. This is not the big city.”
Didn’t he know it. He steepled his fingers, shoving memories of the past to the back of his mind. “Are you going to allow me to help you?”
“No, he’s not, so feel free to take your shitty, self-serving offer and yourself out of this office.”
The angry feminine voice pierced him like lasers. He turned to face the newcomer, ignoring the look of silent reproach from Dr. Glazer.
Holy shit. The good doc’s daughter stood there. Melinda. Or so he believed. He raked his gaze over her from head to toe, taking in everything from her red stilettos to her black, lacy, body-hugging, barely there dress.
Toby pushed to his feet in a smooth motion. She tracked his action with her diamond-hard glare. He offered his hand.
“I’m Tobias Latner. I believe you are Ms. Glazer? Melinda? You were two years behind me in school.” He bestowed his most charming smile.
Her expression remained unmoved. “I know who you are, and if you feel the need to address me, you may call me Dr. Glazer.”
Shit. He lowered his arm, the signs obvious she had no intention of shaking his hand. “A veterinarian?”
Her grin made him wonder about going to stand naked in Antarctica on a glacier during winter to get some warmth.
“I’m taking over my father’s business until he’s ready to return.”
“Melinda,” her father said in a warning tone.
“Not about to be polite, Daddy, not to a man trying to make a buck off someone else’s suffering.”
Toby looked between them. There would be no progress made here tonight. “I will see you later then, Dr. Glazer.” He peered at Melinda—Mellie, a name he liked much better. Sexy. “Dr. Glazer.”
Striding to the door, he had to turn sideways to get by the Coke-bottle-figured woman. The scent of wisteria filled his nose as he inched by the tempting curves. His body heated at the contact—brief though it was—despite the chilly disdain in her gaze.
He exited the building and walked to his Audi where he leaned on the side, hooking his ankles and crossing his arms. The muggy night air blew over him, sending him into the interior of his car. He pressed the ignition button and waited for the air to cool his heated skin. Given the combination of the humid Georgia weather and his visceral reaction to Mellie, he could use an icy shower about now. Or some sex with her then the shower.
“She sure as hell didn’t look like that in school,” he muttered to himself.
He would wait them out. They would need to sell. In the meantime, he could begin with some of the other properties he now owned. As he sat there, he watched Dr. Glazer—the elder—make his way out to his waiting truck. Now, Toby could see the exhaustion much clearer. Dr. Glazer looked…well, old.
His past interactions with the Glazers hadn’t been all that much. He’d been prohibited from having any pet so he’d never gone there.
Still, he did remember growing up here. The difference was he had grown up with the times yet, from the looks of things, Cottonwood Falls hadn’t stayed up with progression. Towns all around were growing, and Cottonwood Falls, in his opinion, would do well to get in on the ground floor of the expansions he was proposing.
Putting his car in gear, Toby backed out of his spot and drove away. He went through town, noticing the other changes. It wasn’t a one-light town. It wasn’t less than a hundred people; there were a good fifteen hundred there. But, for a man who’d spent the past twelve years in N
ew York City, this was Podunk.
It had grown a bit, but he saw people helping one another, smiling, and waving. Okay, so that doesn’t happen so often in the city I make my home in.
Toby pulled into one of the few gas stations in town. He parked and climbed out, needing a few bottles of Coke. He strode to the building, loosening his tie along the way. Drawing open the door, he gazed around at the narrow aisles, the drink machines on the far wall, and the coolers in the back.
“Well, well. If it ain’t Toby Latner. Back from the big city with all his fancy duds.”
The male voice tinged by laughter had him turning to his right and finding three buddies from high school, all on the basketball team with him.
He grinned. “Bobby Jenkins, Stuart Copeland, and Randy Tourno. How the hell are you three?”
Bobby laughed and, removing his hat, raked his fingers through dark locks. “Around here, we say ‘y’all’, not ‘you three’ like any uppity pretentious Yankee.”
The men exchanged hugs before stepping out of the way of the door. “Don’t insult me, Bobby. I’m Southern through to my roots.”
They guffawed. “Sure, you are,” Stuart said. “Is that why you’ve been here a week and haven’t even looked up the rest of The A-Team?”
Toby had forgotten that’s what they went by in school. “I’m sorry, guys. I was wrapped up in work. I would have looked you up.”
“Sure, sure.” Randy’s remarks were spoken without heat or rancor. “Come on out for a drink. Catch up.”
The trio followed him to grab the four bottles of Coke he wanted. “Tonight?”
“We stay up past dark here; we don’t have to go in just ‘cause the sun goes out. You see, we’s gots electricity down here.”
He laughed. “Shut up, Stu.” He placed the drinks on the counter. “Nothing more.” Toby put down a ten and waited for change and the bagged items.
“Night, y’all,” the young cashier said.
“Night, Josie,” the trio said as one. Toby merely nodded in thanks and trailed them outside.
“Whooee, this your fancy ride?” Stu asked, shooting a stream of tobacco juice to the asphalt, hitting the faded yellow line.
“Yes,” he replied, unlocking it with a touch and placing his bag on the passenger seat. “So, don’t go spittin’ on it.”
“Can I touch it?” Randy whined in falsetto.
“Like I told you in the showers, no. You’ve got dirty hillbilly finger grime.”
“Don’t worry,” he said, dragging out his words. “I won’t use my fingers.” He grabbed his crotch.
Toby laughed again and slammed his car door. “So, you’re laying naked on my Audi? That’s the only way it’s going to touch my car. You forget, I’ve seen your dick; I ain’t worried.”
“Fuck you, man.”
More laughter.
“You boys causing problems?” The teasing question came. Toby turned to find a police cruiser idling behind his car. A blonde leaned out the window, a shit-eating grin on her face.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Vicki Boshay. Who the hell gave you a badge?”
“Mind your tongue, Tobias,” she drawled. “I have no problem slapping cuffs on you.”
He grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “Didn’t we do that in school?”
A chorus of “ohhs” came.
“You know it,” she sassed. A call came over the radio and, after she responded, she turned back to Toby. “Come see me before you drive back to the fast life. Good to see you. And, Tobs, glad you’re home.”
“I’ll find you,” he promised.
She headed off. Approaching from down the road behind that drove a blue Nissan Pathfinder. He recognized the driver. Mellie.
“Guys, we’ll catch up tomorrow. Right now, I have something to do.” He opened his car again and started the powerful engine. With a wave, he took off, following the SUV.
Melinda drove along the darkened street toward the town square. She needed to think and that would be one of the best places to do so. At her parents’, she knew her father would be waiting for her explanation about her behavior. Her items would be delivered, and she would not be at their place but a small one-bedroom on the outskirts of Cottonwood Falls.
No matter how long she’d been away, the small center of the town square had always been a favorite of hers. She parked and opened the door. The mugginess attached to her skin like suction cups from a cephalopod.
“Best get used to it,” she muttered, heels clacking on the sidewalk as she strode to a bench. Not clad in the best park-sitting attire, she didn’t care. Right now, she needed the peace.
She sat and rotated her ankles, running over the situation. It wasn’t that she’d had to come home. That had been a niggling thought for a while now.
No, this was about learning her father had been diagnosed with cancer. About her putting herself together before facing them. Before heading to the clinic this evening, she’d had dinner with a girl she’d gone to school with, Hermione Windsor. That was the reason for her being dressed up. Normally, she would have been at the clinic in scrubs.
Now, all that remained was heading home. The hand covering her mouth trembled, and she lowered it to her lap. At work, she had mastered the art of hiding her pain, yet after she hung up the white jacket and changed, she reverted back to a little girl petrified of losing her father.
She pinched the bridge of her nose before sighing again. “Buck up, Glazer. Can’t spend the night in the town square.”
“I can think of a few people who would frown upon that. Mrs. Traveler, for one.”
She started at the rich, masculine voice. When his face registered, she groaned. Why did it have to be him?
“I’m in no mood to deal with you, Mr. Latner.”
He didn’t take the hint. Instead, he sat beside her, leg aligning intimately to hers. Her deep breath imbued her senses with an intoxicating mixture of sandalwood, patchouli, and a scent she had no doubt belonged solely to Toby.
“I’m sorry to hear about your father.”
She scoffed. “So much so you keep pestering him to sell?”
“I am offering him a damn good deal.”
“Bullshit,” she snapped. “Just because it’s a small town doesn’t mean we’re stupid. He’s not selling, and we don’t want your Goddamn strip mall here.”
He tensed and angled himself in her direction. “What do you have against bringing in jobs to help the people of Cottonwood Falls, Melinda?”
“My name is Dr. Glazer.” Her response, she pushed between clenched teeth as she got to her feet. “And, I have nothing against creating jobs except when—as is in this case—it takes away the livelihoods that have been passed down through generations.”
Her father’s reprimand for her lack of manners rang loud in her mind, but she didn’t care.
“They will have more money than they know what to do with,” he retorted.
“You don’t get it, do you?” She stomped away, only to be whirled back.
He snagged her around the waist as she tottered on her heels from the expedited pivot.
“What? Don’t get what?”
“We like the lives we have here. I don’t want to shop in some huge national chain store where people there have no clue about me, because you damn well know they won’t bring in locals to be the main workers, especially when they are older. They’ll want younger workers. New ones who have no clue about me. I don’t want that when I can just go to Ike’s Grocery and get my food as well as find out how his wife is doing and his kids. Grandkids, also.”
“They can still do that. I’m building businesses.”
“No,” she growled. “You’re destroying them.”
The taction of his hard body against hers kicked her mind down a road—one she had no need to be on—like a field goal kicker going for his PAT. Even so, she had to draw back to keep from pressing so intimately against him.
“Do you mind?” She pushed against the arm anchoring them together.
“Not at all. I love holding a gorgeous woman against me.” He tugged her closer still, brushing his hard length along her belly a few times before settling against her core.
“An ass, one minute, and trying to hit on me, the next.” Disgust laced her tone.
“Trust me, Mellie.” He whispered her name as if it were the most decadent piece of chocolate he’d ever tasted. “This is not me hitting on you.” His lips brushed along hers with a feathery caress that succeeded in birthing a well of craving within her. “Care to know the difference?”
Chapter Two
He woke with her name on his lips and his hand clenched around his rock hard cock. Toby opened his eyes and took in his boyhood room. It was the same as it had always been. Squeezing them closed, he focused on the woman who’d put his body in this state. Dr. Melinda Glazer.
She was a vixen. No other way around it. Curves that, in that dress she’d been wearing, could have knocked him off his feet. Her scent, enough to make a eunuch horny.
He pumped his shaft. Envisioning Mellie. Yeah, she wasn’t a Melinda but a sexy kitten, Mellie. Those dark hazel eyes molten with passion as he took her on a counter, desk, wall. He wasn’t picky, anywhere he could be to sink his dick fully inside her wet heat.
His balls drew tight, and he groaned as thick ropes of cum jettisoned from his cock. Holding his softening shaft, he left his bed and walked naked to the shower where he stepped into the water. His heart pounded a rapid cadence behind his ribs as he cleaned himself up.
After he finished, dried, and dressed, Toby walked down to the first floor of his parents’ house. They had already left for work, but he found a note from his mother on the table that directed him to the oven where a breakfast plate sat warmed for him.
A soft smile turned up his lips as he pulled it out. While he ate, he thought about Mellie and her comments about him bringing the strip mall here. Would it really change the area so much with such a negative impact?
He left the house, dishes sitting in the sink. Jogging down the steps, he strode to the car and paused at the door when a blue Pathfinder rolled up the drive.
