by Lori Foster
They stepped through the trellis—and into an elaborate setting of orange blossoms, crepe paper and hundreds of chairs filled with guests. A multitude of trees had been decorated with ribbons and a white outdoor platform, complete with a smiling minister, had been erected on the immaculate lawn.
Thunderstruck, her mouth hanging open, Rosie scanned the crowd of grinning faces. She recognized her neighbors, all the people she worked with, Ethan’s relatives and co-workers and friends and...almost the whole town.
And there, right in the front row where her family belonged, was her brother with Michelle at his side. He looked at her for a long moment, his expression poignant, tender, then he grinned like a rascal and winked. Michelle gave a small, happy wave. Emotion choked Rosie and she started gasping, unable to catch her breath.
“Hey.” Ethan slipped his arm around her. “Don’t faint on me now.”
She stared at him through a haze of tears. “Oh, Ethan...”
He caught her chin and tipped her face up to his. “I love you, Rosie.”
She covered her mouth with a shaking hand, gulped, but it didn’t help. Darn it, she never cried.
Ethan turned them both so that he blocked her from view with his body. Smiling, he used one fingertip to wipe the tears away. “You’re going to ruin your makeup, sweetheart.”
“But I thought you didn’t want this.” She sniffled, tried to pull herself together without much success. “Ethan, it’s wonderful, it really is. But you’re all that’s important. Nothing else matters to me...”
“It matters to me, Rosie. I used to think if I did this, everyone would see me and remember how I’d been jilted.” His mouth curled in a crooked smile. “Now I know what they’re really thinking.”
“What?”
His thumb rubbed under her chin, teasing her, keeping her face turned up to his. “That you’re beautiful, and that I’m the luckiest man alive.” He bent and kissed her to the roar of their guests. When he lifted his head, he grinned. “And I want the whole town to know that you’re mine.”
Rosie heard soft music begin, saw the guests all smiling and the flash of a camera capturing the moment.
Regina rushed up and handed her the bouquet.
Rosie stopped crying. She had everything—because she had the perfect man. Forever.
She caught Ethan’s hand and dragged him to the platform. To the surprise of the other guests, Harris and Buck and Riley all whooped, cheering her name and swinging their fists in the air. But then, they were used to Rosie and her pushiness.
Once they were standing in front of the minister, Ethan pulled her close. “Love me forever, Rosie.”
She laughed and threw her arms around him. “I already have.”
* * * * *
RILEY
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EXCERPT
CHAPTER ONE
“RAISE YOUR KNEES.”
Wide-eyed, breathless and straining, she said, “No,” in such a scandalized voice that Riley Moore grinned. That was the thing about Red—she made him laugh, made him feel lighthearted when he hadn’t thought such a thing would be possible ever again. Not a bad start.
But he had other things to accomplish here besides smiling.
“I’m not letting you up till you do.” Hell, he’d be happy to stay put for hours. Not only did she amuse him, she also aroused him more than any woman he’d ever known. Her body was slight but very soft, a nice cushion under his larger, harder frame. And the warmth he felt in the cradle of her thighs could drive him over the edge.
Her big green eyes darted left and right. “Riley, people are watching.”
“I know.” He decided to taunt her. After all, this was important. She needed to learn how to handle him. No sense in wasting all his instruction. “They’re waiting to see if you’ve learned anything through all these lessons. Most of them think not. Others are pretty damn doubtful.”
New determination drew her slim auburn brows down into a frown and turned her green eyes stormy. Suddenly her knees were along his sides, catching him off guard with the carnality of it. While his mind wandered down a salacious path, she bucked, rolled—and onto his back he went.
Proud as a peahen, she bounced on his abdomen and cheered herself. Wrong move, sweetheart, he thought, and deftly flipped her straight back and into the same position that she’d just escaped, except that this time her legs were trapped around his waist. With the wind temporarily knocked out of her, she gasped.
Half frustrated, half amused, Riley straightened. Because he knew his own ability, even if most others didn’t, he always utilized strict control and caution. Especially with women, and most especially with Red. He’d sooner break his own leg than ever bruise her.
He pulled her upright, forced her arms straight up high to help her breathe, and shook his head. “When you get the upper hand on an attacker, honey, you do not stop to congratulate yourself.”
Seeing that the display was over, the crowd dispersed, going back to their own training. Riley stood and gently pulled Regina Foxworth to her feet. She wasn’t necessarily a short woman, but next to his height, she seemed almost puny. The top of her head reached his shoulder. Her wrists were like chicken bones. Narrow shoulders, a delicate frame...and yet, she wanted him to teach her self-defense.
Riley snorted. Hell, whenever he got this close to her he had things other than fighting on his mind. And the fact that, regardless of what he’d tried to teach her, she still ended up on her back with him in the mounted position put all kinds of considerations in his mind.
Like what it’d be like to have her situated that way, with no clothes between them and without her attempting to escape.
Soon, he promised himself. Very soon.
In a huff, Regina promptly jerked away and began straightening her glorious red hair. If the woman thought half as much about applying herself as she did about her appearance, they’d make more progress.
For her lessons today she’d restrained her hair in a braid as thick as his wrist that hung to the middle of her back. Already silky tendrils had worked loose, giving her a softened, just-laid look. Riley shook his head in awe. He worked with other women and they just got sweaty and rumpled. Not Regina. Somehow, no matter what, the woman always managed to look more appealing.
Watching her tidy her braid sent tension rippling through his muscles. A man could conjure quite a few fantasies over that hair, not to mention the delicate, ultrafeminine body that came with it. Hell, he even found the sprinkling of freckles over her nose adorable.
Riley snatched up a towel. “Quit pouting, Red.”
“I’m not.” But her bottom lip stuck out in a most becoming way. Normally a princess like her wouldn’t have appealed to him. But Red had guts beneath the fussy exterior. And in the time he’d known her, he’d also realized she was gentle, compassionate, understanding, and damn it, he wanted her, had from the very start.
If that had been his only problem, he’d have coaxed her into bed by now. But it was more than that. He hadn’t thought to ever want involvement with another woman, but he wanted it with Red.
Riley slung his arm around her shoulders and headed her toward the shower. Not that she needed to shower. The natural fragrance of her skin and hair was warm and womanly. His body tensed a bit more in masculine awareness, on the verge of cramping. “We’re wasting our time with these lessons.”
“I need to be able to defend myself.”
True enough. Three weeks ago, Regina had been caught in a burning building while on assignment for the Chester Daily Press. As a reporter, she liked to stick her cute little freckled nose into places where it didn’t belong, and that particular building had been in a disreputable part of town. That s
hould have been her first clue not to be there. The fact that the fireworks dealer had already had trouble in the past should have been her second.
She’d forged on anyway and had come damn close to dying for her efforts. Most were inclined to call the fire an accident due to the shoddy management of the owner, who left opened pyrotechnics scattered around. But there was more to it. Long before Red got caught up in that fire, she’d been afraid. Riley first met her while she attempted to interview his friend, Ethan, for commendable work as a firefighter. Even then, she’d been as jumpy as a turkey on Thanksgiving morning. She’d seemed so strained, Riley had expected her to scream at any minute.
The day after the interview, she’d come into his gym and asked for lessons to protect herself. Unlike most of the women who approached him with the same request, Red had seemed more desperate, as if she needed the lessons for an imminent threat, not for general assurances.
Before the fire, he’d discarded her claims of endangerment, as had the county police where he worked as an evidence tech. They still didn’t believe her, but at thirty-two, through life and some hard lessons, Riley had learned to read people, to sift real from feigned. Red was afraid, and he’d bet she had reason.
Someone was after her. She didn’t know why. He didn’t care why.
The day she’d almost died in that fire, he’d staked a claim. Little Red just hadn’t figured that out yet. But no way in hell would he let anyone hurt her.
“Why don’t you shower up and we’ll talk about it?”
“Again?” She gave her long-suffering look. “There’s nothing more to say. The police don’t believe me, nothing else major has happened—”
Riley jumped on her choice of words. “What do you mean, nothing major? Has something minor happened?”
She shrugged, which did interesting things to her petite breasts. Dressed in snug biker shorts and a matching sports tank, there wasn’t much of her body left to his imagination. But then, he’d wrestled with her enough and studied her in such detail that Riley already knew she had a discreet rack. Her breasts were small, firm and a definite draw to his eyes.
He could span her waist easily in his big hands, but from there she flared out. Her bottom was fuller, nicely rounded, as he liked. Not that it mattered. He already knew you couldn’t judge the woman by the package. A facade of innocence, of kindness, or honor, meant nothing, less than nothing.
Regina could have looked a dozen different ways and he’d still want her because her draw on him went deeper than appearances. He felt an affinity to her, a vague basis he could trust in and that, more than anything, appealed to him. It seemed the moment he’d met her something had sparked.
So far, she’d shut him out.
“My apartment door was vandalized the other day.”
Riley stopped dead in his tracks, right in front of the entrance to the women’s shower. In a voice low with annoyance and disbelief, he growled, “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m telling you now.”
“Now is too damn late.” He felt like shaking her, but she was so dainty a good shake would rattle her teeth.
“There were three other doors that got egged, so I figured it was random, not personal. And really, there’s no threat in an egging, just an aggravation.”
“Unless someone is trying to bug you enough to make you move.” The fact that she lived in a nice apartment building with good security and lots of neighbors around reassured Riley many a night. It was the only thing that had kept him from forcing his pursuit of her. Because he felt she was safe at night, he intended to let her get used to him at her own pace. Little by little, he’d make his intentions known.
Still, he felt compelled to point out the facts. “I don’t care what you figured, Red. From now on, tell me everything. I’m the expert here.”
Her gaze dipped over his chest, now damp with sweat so that his T-shirt stuck to him. Wrestling with her hadn’t caused any exertion, but he’d been in the private studio all morning giving lessons. Besides, just being near Red fired his blood. Having her open and vulnerable beneath him brought out a possessive sweat. He’d conquer her—in his own time.
“Yes, you’re an expert, Riley.” Staring up at him, her big eyes full of serious regard, she added, “At a lot of things.”
“At a...” His voice trailed off. Was she coming on to him? ’Bout damn time. He crowded closer to her, letting her feel the heat of his body, instinctively overpowering her with his size and masculinity and interest. “Just what does that mean, Regina?” He sounded gruff, half-aroused, but then she had that effect on him.
Head tipped way back to meet his gaze, she sighed. “You’re an amazing guy, Riley Moore. That’s all I meant. I don’t know any other man who used to be part of a SWAT team, now serves as a crime scene evidence technician, and owns his own gym.”
Deflated, mouth flat, Riley said, “No.”
With a ludicrous show of innocence, she blinked. “No, what?”
“No, I won’t do the damn interview.” He should have seen right through her. He was good at deciphering motives, but his perspective was blown around her, clouded by lust. She’d been after an interview for over a week now, but his past was just that: the past. He wouldn’t dredge it up for anyone, not even Little Red.
“But—”
At that moment, Rosie Winters shoved her way out of the showers, forcing them both to back up. Now Rosie, bless her, knew how to work out. She got sweaty, red-faced and hot. Not more appealing. She cursed, grunted, struggled, and she gave it her all, showing constant improvement without a single thought to her hair or audience.
Like Riley, Rosie fought to win and she was now good enough that she just might stand a chance against a man without Riley’s special training. But as ex-SWAT, Riley could be lethal when necessary. His job had taught him how to come out the victor in any scenario. But long before that, when he’d still been a kid, nature had taught him that he didn’t like to lose.
At anything.
As one of his best friends, Rosie had been coming to his gym a lot, much to Ethan’s dismay. She and Ethan had married last week, but that hadn’t slowed down Rosie. Nothing slowed her down. The newlyweds supplied endless hours of entertainment with the way they clashed wills, and the way they loved.
“Hey, Riley.” Rosie gave him a resounding smooch on the cheek before turning to Regina. Her brown hair, still wet, hung down her back. “I lingered in the shower so I could talk to you.”
Regina lifted her brows. “Really? What about?”
“Prepare yourself,” Rosie warned with a lot of suspenseful anticipation. “Your loan went through. You’re all set to close on the house!”
That announcement seemed to set off both women. Regina squealed as females are wont to do, and Rosie, who never squealed, laughed heartily. But around Regina, Rosie often got pulled into the more feminine mannerisms. Like now, with Regina holding her hands and dancing in circles and bouncing around.
Watching them, Riley crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. He just adored women, the way they reacted, their expressions, their unique mindset that was so different from men’s. Rosie and Regina couldn’t be more dissimilar in most ways, yet they had similarities, too, just by virtue of being female.
It gave him pleasure to listen in—until it dawned on him what Rosie had said. He shoved away from the wall. “A house? You bought a house?”
They quieted, but both still grinned hugely. “It’s adorable,” Regina confided. “Just the right size for me.”
“And such a great bargain,” Rosie added. “Because it’s empty, she can have immediate occupancy.”
“Immediate occupancy?” The words emerged a dark whisper. “As in alone in a house, unprotected, immediately?”
Rosie paused. “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. I mean, it’s in a nice quiet neighborhood with half-acre yards—”
“Great. Just great.”
Regina gave him a level look. “Really, Riley. You
act like I’ll be camping in the open with wild bears all around me. I can lock my doors and windows.” When he only narrowed his eyes, she added, “I’ll even buy an alarm system, okay?”
“It’s a lousy idea. Have you two forgotten that someone recently tried to burn you alive?”
Rosie shuddered. “I’ll never forget.” She’d gone with Regina that day, and damn near died because of it. “But the police seem to think that it was either vandalism that got out of hand, negligence on the part of the owner, or at the very worst, vengeance aimed at the owner, not at us.”
Regina watched Riley closely. “They think we were innocent bystanders.”
“Right. And that’s why your camera was taken and the owner has disappeared?”
Looking guilty, Rosie turned to Regina. “Maybe he’s right.”
“No, he is not right. I have to live somewhere, so it might as well be my own house.” She patted Riley on the chest. Though she did it negligently, without a single sign of awareness on her part, he felt the damn pat clear through to his masculine being. “I’ll get an alarm system and a dog. How’s that?”
Seeing that he wouldn’t win, Riley gave up that particular argument. At least she wanted to take steps in the right direction. A big, well-trained German shepherd or Doberman would certainly be a deterrent to anyone thinking to harm her. In the meantime, he’d just have to see about advancing his courtship. Once she gave in, he’d have the right to keep her close, to watch over her.
And all her spare time would be spent in bed, giving her less time to get into trouble.
With Ethan and Rosie’s rushed wedding plans, they’d been forced together more frequently than otherwise. Adding to that her lessons at the gym, he’d seen her almost daily for the past three weeks. Their time together had been platonic because he couldn’t possibly wrestle with her and have romantic thoughts without embarrassing them both, and possibly breaking a few sexual harassment laws. He felt certain a boner would have been out of line.
