Breathe

by Donna Alward

  She backed up against the door of her car, her breath hardly moving her chest.

  “I’m in no rush, Ella McQuade.”

  “You never were.” She said it with a snarky twist so he’d be sure to get the insult. “And don’t call me that.”

  His body was warm as they hovered only inches apart. If she leaned forward the slightest bit they’d be touching in several places. Her body strained against her clothing while her head warned her to stay put.

  “Why not? It’s your name.”

  “Not anymore.”

  He lifted his hand and traced a finger down her sleeve. She shivered. He’d always been that way. He’d always known what a simple touch could do to her. They’d learned together, discovering all the special spots. Only now it was worse. Now they were older, wiser. Knowing he still had that effect on her hurt. She should have moved on by now. Moving on was the entire reason she’d brought those papers to begin with.

  “It is until I sign those.”

  “Please, just sign them then. Sign them and I’ll be out of your hair for good.”

  His finger went up her sleeve and down again. “Not yet. Come back to the house. I still have some things of yours anyway. You can pick them up.”

  “Devin.” She looked up at him, censoring him with her eyes. “You know that’s not a good idea.”

  Dammit, saying it did nothing more than give credence to the attraction shimmering between them.

  “When have you and I ever had good ideas?”

  The door to Ruby’s opened and shut again and she sighed. Did she really want to argue this in a public place?

  “Almost never,” she admitted.

  “Forty-eight hours. That’s my deal, Ell. You spend the weekend with me, and at the end of it I’ll sign your precious papers. You’ll be free as a bird, as you said.”

  Falling in love is the last thing on his busy agenda…but compromising positions can lead just about anywhere.

  Compromising Positions

  © 2009 Jenna Bayley-Burke

  David Strong knows how to do a lot of things—run an international fitness company, finesse stock portfolios and stay out of emotional entanglements. That is, until he gets tangled up with Sophie Delfino and her Sensational Sex workout. He’s supposed to help her demonstrate Kama Sutra positions for her couples’ yoga class. The rigorous postures require more than just physical control. And his co-instructor unexpectedly tests his control to the limit.

  Sophie’s been fantasizing about David since her teens, but she never dreamed she’d actually be expected to run through her intimate desires—with an audience! The class is very professional, tame even—or it would be, if she’d been in any of the positions before. But she hasn’t—except in her wildest fantasies about David. Sophie knows she wants David in every way, and she’s flexible enough to use whatever she has to get him.

  David can’t afford any unexpected distractions. Besides the sensual positions he has to endure without embarrassing himself in public, there’s an embezzler stealing from his company. And then there’s Sophie—who is well on her way to stealing his well-guarded heart.

  Warning: This is one exercise program you won’t need to consult your doctor before beginning…unless he’s hot and available for house calls. The Kama Sutra isn’t for the prudish or faint of heart, and neither is this story.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for: Compromising Positions:

  “Why are you here exactly?” She plugged the rest of her orange into her mouth to keep it from going permanently dry. The man had a body that made her want to learn how to carve marble. He was as big as a tree and as broad as a house. Even through his charcoal T-shirt she could see the definition in his wide chest. His biceps bulged beneath the hem of his sleeves. A package of lean muscle and brooding good looks that made her insides melt.

  “I’m here because Craig asked me to fill in for him.” David’s voice echoed inside Sophie’s head. Her heart leapt around her ribcage. No way. She’d been mortified at the idea of demonstrating sexual positions with Craig, but with David? No way. She couldn’t do it. She’d die of embarrassment. Contorting herself into such suggestive positions with the man whose body she fantasized about every night. She could never. Never.

  “Fill in for him?” Breathe in tranquility, exhale tension. Breathe in—

  “There is some co-ed class that he and Daphne teach together. Sophie’s filling in for Daphne, and I’m supposed to fill in for Craig. If you could tell her I’m here that would be great.” David popped a handful of grapes into his mouth, his eyes never leaving the bowl of fruit.

  Sophie’s gaze darted across the reception desk. She hadn’t bothered to ask if there were any messages after her Pilates group. There were never any messages. She ripped three pink notes off the desk.

  Craig. Please call.

  Craig. Use diagrams, he won’t be coming.

  Craig. Found a replacement, David Strong.

  She plopped down in the receptionist chair and rolled back toward a potted palm. Her stomach reeled.

  As she looked up at David, the fear that swamped her was drowned by a much warmer sensation. Why not?

  She was a professional after all. And she’d been in positions with him far more challenging than the ones they’d be demonstrating in class, even if it had only been in her dreams.

  She knew more on the subject than she ever thought possible. Every move of each of the classes was diagramed on note cards Daphne had left. She just had to get through it one by one. Without thinking that this was the closest she had ever come to actually having sex.

  He met her stare and grabbed an apple from the bowl. She laughed, harder this time. So predictable.

  “What now?” He crunched into the Red Delicious.

  “Nothing.” Sophie tried to stifle her giggles and peeled a banana off the bunch.

  “I know, the wedding.” He looked pleased with himself, as if he’d just solved the mystery of life. “You wouldn’t dance with me.”

  “That’s me.” Sophie peeled the banana halfway down and smiled at its phallic resemblance.

  His eyes clouded over. He looked her up and down once more. When his eyes cleared, he cocked his head to the side. “Are you Sophie?”

  “Two for two, ace.” She bit the top off the banana. Was there a sexy way to eat a banana? She shook her head. She didn’t care. Daphne had complained so often about Craig’s womanizing best friend Sophie felt she knew him. Enough to know she wanted him to remain a fantasy. He was way too much for her limited experience to handle. The class would just flesh out her dreams a bit.

  “I was expecting someone like Daphne.” He devoured the rest of the apple. “Though the attitude should have been a clue.”

  Sophie shrugged. Let him think she hated him as much as Daphne did. It was much safer than him knowing the truth. She finished the last of the fruit and tossed the peel in the wicker garbage basket. She lifted the basket so he could toss in his apple core.

  He eyed her again. “I didn’t eat dinner. Are you going to laugh again if I eat another piece?”

  “Depends on what you pick.”

  His eyebrows lifted further up his forehead. Never taking his gaze off her, he grabbed another apple, almost daring her to comment.

  She smiled. Too easy. Sophie rose from the chair and walked back to the office. She could feel him behind her. Right behind her. She stopped, laughing as the front of him bumped into the back of her. It was fun to tease him.

  “Too easy,” she said aloud this time. Playing with him was too much fun to resist. She turned into the office she shared with Daphne. Two desks faced each other in the middle of the small room. She perched on top of hers.

  “What’s too easy?”

  “Nothing.” She flipped through her cards. “What did Craig tell you about the class?”

  “Not a thing.” David stood in the doorway, not quite entering the small office. “He just left a message on my voicemail. He wanted to stay with Daphne, but she wa
s insisting he come to this class, so he needed a replacement. So what is it? Partnered stretching? I’m not the most flexible person.”

  Sophie turned, hiding her face as she choked on her laughter. She should tell him. It wasn’t his fault he’d been set up for a most embarrassing situation. The temptation to see his face when he figured just what they’d be doing was big. But he could also run screaming and leave her humiliated in front of the class. Better to prepare him and give him the option to run now, in private.

  She picked up a binder and flipped through the pages until she came to the flyer. Turning the binder to him, she pointed. “This is the class.”

  SENSATIONAL SEX!

  Committed partners explore the similarities

  between yoga and The Kama Sutra.

  Learn how to stretch and strengthen your body

  for better sex in just five weeks.

  “Okay,” David said slowly, handing the binder back to her. Just what had Craig gotten him into? His mind spun back to the voicemail message. The only thing he could recall was “Ask for Sophie. I trust you”. Damn. Craig trusted him not to use the class to make game with Daphne’s sister. The little sprite sitting on the desk. No problem. She was nowhere near his type. He’d probably break her in two.

  “I’ll understand if you’re not comfortable enough with your sexuality to participate in the class.” Sophie’s fingers traced up and down the black sweats covering her thighs. The heavy fabric hung loosely around her, making her seem even smaller beneath it. “I can use diagrams if you want to back out.”

  She was giving him an out. Or was that a challenge? “What makes you think I wouldn’t be comfortable?”

  “The fruit,” Sophie answered quickly. Too quickly. Was she psychoanalyzing him because he was hungry?

  “What are you talking about?” He watched her ample chest rise and fall as she took a deep breath. She wasn’t very proportional.

  “Instant gratification.” Dimples pressed into her full cheeks and her teeth gleamed in the fluorescent lighting.

  He sat down in an office chair. Funny, with him sitting in a chair and her on the desk they were almost eye-to-eye. It was those eyes that had made him ask her to dance at Craig and Daphne’s wedding. They’d pulled at him all during the ceremony, pierced right through him. She must have been standing on a box or in some very high heels because he would have remembered she was this short.

  “You’ve lost me.” David shook his head and looked down at her feet. They were bare, except for a coat of crimson polish and a silver toe ring on her right foot. Even her feet were miniature. They had to be smaller than the palms of his hands.

  “Grapes are the ultimate in instant gratification. Fast, easy sweetness. No mess afterwards. Apples are next. Just a core to discard.”

  He tossed his head to the side. She had to be joking. “So you think what fruit I like to eat tells about me sexually.”

  “Yes.” Her voice rang in triumph. She flipped through the cards she held.

  Refusing to be goaded, he scooted closer, trapping her against the desk. When he heard her gasp, he smiled. “Or maybe you just want me to think about what oranges and bananas say about you, sexually.” Two could play at this little game.

  She drew in a ragged breath. “That I take my time to get what I want? Go ahead and think about that.”

  Her feet found the chair between his legs, and she pushed him back, hard. Propelling him into the opposite wall. She jumped down and was out the door before he could even get to his feet.

  Breathe

  Donna Alward

  The first time they broke each others’ hearts. Now they have a second chance…

  Doing what was expected didn’t get Anna Morelli anything but a bad marriage. Now that her life has fallen apart there’s only one place she can think of to regroup and figure out what comes next. Two Willows, the winery owned by the only man she could ever rely on. Her oldest friend. And her worst mistake.

  Growing up as the poor boy didn’t stop Jace Willow from falling for Anna one hot, sultry summer. Back then, his best efforts to prove himself worthy of the Morelli standard fell just short. While it killed him to see her marry someone else, he made beating the Morellis at their own game his life’s work. And he’s excelled at it.

  When Anna shows up on his doorstep, their painful history pales in the face of her need for a roof over her children’s heads—and some peace. The heat of their renewed passion is healing, but it burns away layers of hard-won emotional distance, reopening old wounds. Threatening their one last chance to rebuild their love on the shattered pieces of their broken hearts…

  Warning: Full-bodied, rich bouquet with sexy overtones. Decant, breathe, and enjoy.

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  They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520

  Macon GA 31201

  Breathe

  Copyright © 2010 by Donna Alward

  ISBN: 978-1-60928-239-4

  Edited by Heidi Moore

  Cover by Kanaxa

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: November 2010

  www.samhainpublishing.com