by Jean Oram
Maya bit her bottom lip. She knew he could help people, but what if she couldn’t? What if the dental device flopped? It had barely even happened in the first place, because she knew diddly-squat about the real world and timelines, who to talk to, where to go for help and even how long things took. The idea of screwing up all these details again nearly made her hyperventilate.
Connor, with a featherlight touch, tipped up her chin. “You’re freaking out in there, aren’t you?”
“There’s a lot to these deals, you know.”
“Um-hmm.”
“And a lot of stress.”
“Um-hmm.”
“And I don’t have money.”
“There is a place for everyone. You won’t have to do everything like you did on this deal. Em agreed to leave CME—man, James is going to want to rename that place—and so has Stella. I gave them bonuses just before I sold.” Connor sent Maya a sly grin.
“You’re kidding!”
“Not at all. They are most favorably on my side.” He angled his head in thought. “Although I’m pretty sure they were even before the bonuses.”
“Oh, they totally were. Are,” Maya said quickly. “Em was amazing with all of this.”
“So, they can take care of details. You can vet the masses. I can be the backer.”
“Not silent, though? You’ll also be the expertise?”
Connor linked his hands through hers again, his suit jacket brushing her chest. “I happen to think that is where you and I will shine together, Maya.”
She squeezed their linked fingers, Connor’s hips brushing hers. “Why aren’t you running away?”
Her man slid their entwined hands behind her back, releasing her fingers so he could embrace her properly. “I think you’re pretty special, you know that?” He shuffled closer, bringing his body flush to hers. “I always have.”
“But you…” All those times he’d pushed her away. “You fell asleep while going down on me!”
“I promise I won’t ever again.”
She took a step back, breaking his hold as she raised an eyebrow. “Maybe that will be an easy promise to keep, seeing as I don’t mix business and pleasure.”
Connor gave her a mischievous smile, his eyes darkening with desire as he drew her tight again, making her lean back in order to see his face. “Then I guess, sweet Maya, you will have to make a choice or change your mind, because I happen to know you find business pleasurable, and I want to make your pleasure my business.”
His breath created light breezes on her exposed neck, making her skin tingle, and she knew she was going to cave if she didn’t get away from him. Maya guessed she would just have to grab it all and say to hell with any possible consequences.
“Shall I show you?” he asked. “Give you a taste of what you are choosing between?”
Oh, yes. Most definitely.
* * *
Maya’s lips were sweeter than he remembered. Her curves. Her breasts. He was a very lucky man. A lucky man about to make good use of what nature had given him.
As he laid her on the bed in his room, he shook his head and stared down at her. She sat up impatiently and ripped her blouse over her head, not bothering with the buttons and sending her necklace skittering across the floor. He laughed and watched her scramble toward him, ditching her long skirt when it got in the way, her desperation to have him unleashed.
Grabbing his belt, she hauled him closer, working his pants down low. He could feel her hot breath through his boxers, and his erection jumped, trying to get closer to her. He gripped her head, bringing her face to his. She moaned as he worked his tongue over her lips, then nibbled her bottom lip.
She pushed him away, her face scrunched in thought. “Wait.”
“It’s okay, I have protection in my bag.”
“No, I mean…are we going to set up business in Toronto?” She blinked hopefully.
“You’re talking as though this is going to happen.” He palmed her breast, then ran his fingers over her hard nipples, reminding her why they had moved to the bedroom. “I thought you hadn’t chosen yet.”
Her eyes fluttered shut and her breathing hiccupped as he continued to caress her breast, ignoring the nipple now, doing everything but touch it.
“Damn you, Connor. Don’t tease me.”
He laughed. “I think you like it when I tease you.” He ran a hand inside her panties, stroking her clit. Her back arched away from him, her fingers digging into his shoulder as he ran a finger over her with agonizing slowness. He loved pushing her buttons. Her body responded with a shudder and he bit her bare skin, making her cry out.
“Don’t tell me to be patient, Connor,” she said, her voice rough with desire. “I need you to pick up the pace.”
“Not yet. We’re talking, remember.”
He ground his erection against her, wanting nothing more than to be inside her warmth.
Maya smoothed her hands up his chest with a desperation that made him want to pin her to the bed and drive himself into her until she screamed his name in pleasure. “I want to live in Toronto,” she said.
“Then live in Toronto. I already bought myself a place here. I’ll fly into the city for any meetings.”
“Wait…what?”
“You heard me.” He nibbled on her earlobe, and she drew his body closer. “I just bought a place outside Port Carling, near Tristen’s. I thought it would be good for me to get away from the rat race.” He squeezed her ass, then ran his fingers along her inner thigh, loving the way she quaked with the effort of holding herself back, trying to mask her need for him. Oh yeah. It was going to be an all-nighter with his gal Maya.
“But…” She drew Connor’s hand away so she could think. “I want Toronto.”
“So move.”
“Toronto feels like such an uphill battle,” she moaned.
“Can’t you have what you want here?”
She sighed and tipped her head back, giving in. Her shoulders dropped slightly. “I’ve always wanted out of here. But I think that was because I wanted to be a part of something big. Bigger. You know?”
“I do.”
“Do you?” Her eyes on his, she slowly drew his ring finger into her mouth, sucking hard enough to make his cock bounce in jealousy.
He sucked in a shaky breath. She was doing him in. He needed her. Now. He yanked down his boxers, nudging her folds through her damp panties. “Come here, spitfire. No more thinking.”
Kneeling on the bed, she wrapped his tie around her hand and shook her head. “I don’t think so. You come to me.” With a tug, she had him following her onto the mattress.
His mouth trailed goose bumps down her flesh, her skin sweet under his lips. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled his face to hers.
“Patience,” he said, backing away.
“Next time. I’ve already been waiting weeks for this.”
“Only weeks?” He gripped her wrists, pinning them to the bed.
“Yes.”
“Then pull down your panties and prove it.”
“Let go and I will.” She raised an eyebrow in a dare, and he knew things would only get better for Connor MacKenzie.
* * *
Maya opened an eye, her arm slung around a naked, strong male body. She propped herself up, drawing circles on Connor’s bare chest. The best wake-up in the history of her universe. Connor MacKenzie in her bed. The Connor MacKenzie. And he was the king. The king of her bedroom, her destiny, her future.
“Hey,” she said as he awoke. “Good morning.”
“It is,” he confirmed, his hand under the sheets. He smiled and gripped her bare thigh. “Always sleep in the nude, Miss Summer?”
“Only when there is a man to wrap myself around.”
“And that happens frequently?”
“Not as often as I’d like, but I’m interviewing new partners and think I’ve found someone with potential. He’s got the asset mix I’ve been looking for. A real go-getter, with experience.”
“Does that shoe fit, Cinderella?” She rolled overtop of him, trapping his body beneath hers.
“You calling me a princess? Because I’ll have you know a princess can’t do this.” He nudged her inner thigh with his morning wood, and she swung her legs down on either side of his hips, hoping for more.
He placed her hand between their bodies, using it to stroke himself. “This is all because of you, you know.”
“Sure it’s not just a morning erection?”
“I’m sure.” His steady gaze held something that made her insides go gooey. As though she mattered. As though he cared about her. And a bit as though she was responsible for the way he’d turned his world around. The way his smiles lit up his face and made her want to make him smile every day for the rest of their lives.
Yes, their lives. She’d made up her mind. Partners. All the way, and in every sense of the word.
“For future reference, that shoe does not fit. I’m a one-gal kind of guy.”
“Good to know.”
“So, Maya Summer. Have you decided what you’d like to do with your future?”
“You know…” She sat up. “I think I want to try mixing business and pleasure. If that offer is still on the table.”
He smiled as though she’d given him the best news of his life, and she fell a little bit further in love.
“Damn right it is,” he said.
“Good, because I might even like you.”
His fingers dug into her hips. “Good, because I love my spitfire. And not just because of her grit and resiliency and bulldog attitude in the business world. You get me, and I get you, Maya. You make me laugh and want to be a better man. You fix my wounds and help me find purpose in my life.”
Maya’s heart skipped and stuttered. Did he just say…
“I said it too soon, didn’t I?”
She nodded hesitantly.
“You feel right, Maya Summer. And while my own patience isn’t particularly great, when my instincts tell me something is a good deal, I tend to move fast.”
“Snap decisions.”
“Is that going to be a problem?”
“Have you forgotten who is naked and straddling you?” She dropped a kiss onto his lips. “Besides, gut instincts never lie.”
“Listen to me and we’ll go places, baby.”
“I think we already are,” she replied. “We have the right asset mix to make it long-term.”
“Even through an economic bounce.”
“Downturns in the economy.”
“A bull market.” He nudged her with his erection.
“I love you when you talk dirty.”
“Do you, Maya?” He was serious.
“Love you?” she asked, playing for time. Could she tell him how she felt, just as he’d told her? Would it make things awkward or difficult if she let herself do so? Shut her eyes, let go of the rope and fall into whatever he had in mind?
Could she trust him? She was already changing her life for him. They were starting a business together here in Muskoka.
What about her plans? Her dreams? But things with him…they were the real dream, weren’t they? The thing she’d never dared allow herself to believe she could have—all of it. Business and pleasure and success and love. And all with one man.
The real dream: Connor MacKenzie.
“Yes. I love you. And not just because you are willing to give me everything I’ve ever wanted and more, but because of the way you understand me and know how I’m going to trip myself up even before I do. You’re there with the net to catch me before I hit the ground. And despite all my flaws, you are still here, willing to help me grow into the woman I really want to be. You trust me in ways I don’t trust myself.” Maya, her voice thick with emotion, whispered, “You make me a better person, Connor.”
“Hot damn, Maya.” He peppered her face with kisses and rolled her under him. “You are the lifeline I never knew I needed. Like a lighthouse on safe shores, beckoning to me through the storm. The one place I always wanted to be.”
“You’d better make me scream your name out soon, because we’re getting pretty mushy, and I really hate to cry in front of men.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I have a lot of time before the next meeting to make you moan and thrash about in ecstasy. When is our meeting again?”
“In about a week.”
“You are going to be so tired of screaming my name you’re going to want to find a new project to keep me busy.”
“I think that might just be my destiny.”
~ The End ~
Continue the story with Melanie in Love and Trust to find out what happens next! Click here to keep reading.
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The Summer Sisters Tame the Billionaires
One cottage. Four sisters. And four billionaires who will sweep them off their feet.
Love and Rumors ~ Hailey Summer believes she can cover her past mistakes by using her photography skills as a member of the paparazzi. The only problem is that movie star Finian Alexander has his own ideas on how she can use her abilities and it might just involve both of them in the tabloids—together.
Love and Dreams ~ Business woman Maya Summer continues the quest to save the cottage by providing an executive retreat for her business world hero, Connor MacKenzie. The only problem is that the real-life version of Connor is not the man she’s always dreamed of and every time she turns around, she’s further from saving the cottage, and further from merging with Connor and making a difference.
Love and Trust ~ Melanie Summer puts her legal mind to good use as she struggles to find loopholes to not only save the family cottage, but also prevent a disruptive development across the water. She can’t do it alone and must convince the former land developer Tristen Bell to put on his old suit—one he promised he’d never wear again—and help her out.
Love and Danger ~ Hippie sister Daphne Summer is forced to take shelter in the shadow of ex-military man Evander de la Fosse when things in Muskoka get out of control. The bodyguard represents everything she hates…or does he? Find out in the explosive finale to this series of sisters, as well as discover the healing power of love.
http://www.jeanoram.com/books/summer-sisters/
Audiobooks
Coming Spring 2015!
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to Lurie Twist, a member of my fan group/street team on Facebook, for naming Connor MacKenzie’s business, CM Enterprises. If you’d like to join in such fun and games as naming characters and more (as well as get incredibly rich and famous—hey, it could happen—by being mentioned in one of my books) join us at www.facebook.com/groups/jeanoramfans.
I would also like to thank my critique partners who, as always, do their best to keep me in line. As well, thank you to Emily and Erin for cruising the book for errors that slipped past me after making the corrections suggested by my editor, Margaret.
About the Author
Jean Oram is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author. She grew up in an old schoolhouse on the Canadian prairie, and spent many summers visiting family in her grandmother’s 110-year-old cottage in Ontario’s Muskoka region. She still loves to swim, walk to the store, and go tubing—just like she did as a kid—and hopes her own kids will love Muskoka just as she did when she was young(er).
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Jean
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What’s Next?
Read book 3, Love and Trust, in the Summer Sisters Tame the Billionaire series and find out how the sisters manage Rubicore.
