Once Forbidden, Twice Tempted (The Sterling Wives Book 1)

by Karen Booth

  Torn between loyalty and lust...

  A relationship so off-limits,

  It could cost her everything...

  Real estate agent Tara Sterling jumps at the chance to start fresh when she inherits part of her late ex-husband’s company. But claiming her rightful place at Sterling Enterprises means working side-by-side with CEO Grant Singleton, her ex’s best friend. Their long-simmering heat spells trouble as both vie for control of the business—and lose control of their thirst for each other...

  “The view is so much better close-up.”

  You’re so much better close-up.

  He sat back and draped his arm across the back of Tara’s seat. He’d worked too hard to let a romance with Tara get in his way.

  Still, he was all kinds of tempted. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, even when she was distracted by the game and everything going on around them.

  A chant of voices broke out, growing louder and louder. One word, over and over again. Tara looked up. She pointed at the mammoth television monitor nearest them and laughed. Grant followed her line of sight and there they were on-screen, just the two of them. They looked amazing together.

  Before he knew what was happening, Tara’s mouth was zeroing in on his. “We have to kiss.”

  “What?”

  “We’re on the kiss cam.”

  * * *

  Once Forbidden, Twice Tempted by Karen Booth

  is part of The Sterling Wives series.

  Dear Reader,

  Thanks for picking up book one in The Sterling Wives trilogy, Once Forbidden, Twice Tempted!

  The series starts when a wealthy, enigmatic man dies unexpectedly and leaves controlling interest of his company to his current wife, along with his two ex-wives. The three women are thrust into a partnership, but none of them are sure they can trust the others.

  In Once Forbidden, Twice Tempted, Tara, the first wife, who is fiercely independent, is vying with her ex-husband’s best friend, Grant, for ultimate control of Sterling Enterprises. Tara never banked on Grant having carried a torch for her for years. Their chemistry is off the charts, but the company is already on unstable ground. Will they connect or won’t they? And what happens when the other wives find out? I can’t wait for you to discover the answer!

  I hope you enjoy Once Forbidden, Twice Tempted and continue to read the trilogy. In the meantime, drop me a line anytime at karen@karenbooth.net. I love hearing from readers!

  Karen Booth

  Karen Booth

  Once Forbidden, Twice Tempted

  Karen Booth is a Midwestern girl transplanted in the South, raised on ’80s music and repeated readings of Forever by Judy Blume. When she takes a break from the art of romance, she’s listening to music with her college-aged kids or sweet-talking her husband into making her a cocktail. Learn more about Karen at karenbooth.net.

  Books by Karen Booth

  Harlequin Desire

  The Eden Empire

  A Christmas Temptation

  A Cinderella Seduction

  A Bet with Benefits

  A Christmas Rendezvous

  Dynasties: Seven Sins

  Forbidden Lust

  The Sterling Wives

  Once Forbidden, Twice Tempted

  Visit her Author Profile page at Harlequin.com, or karenbooth.net, for more titles.

  You can find Karen Booth on Facebook, along with other Harlequin Desire authors, at Facebook.com/harlequindesireauthors!

  For my agent, Melissa Jeglinski, who never fails

  to come up with the craziest good ideas.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Excerpt from Secret Crush Seduction by Jayci Lee

  Excerpt from Here to Stay by Adriana Herrera

  One

  The greatest joy of Tara Sterling’s professional life was watching happy clients sign on the dotted line for a multimillion-dollar home.

  “The family is over the moon about the house.” That might have been the case, but today, this particular family wasn’t on hand to complete the purchase. The Bakers were spring skiing in Aspen and had sent a woman from their escrow company as proxy. “They’re so thankful you got it for them at such a good price.”

  “I’m happy to help.” Tara waved off the compliment as her assistant gathered and reviewed the paperwork. “It’s my job.”

  “Very well done. There were an awful lot of bidders on this property.”

  Tara smiled and nodded, thankful for this blip of appreciation. Even if it wasn’t directly from the buyer, she’d always accept some gratitude. Tara worked incredibly hard for it—her reputation in San Diego real estate was that of miracle worker. She had a knack for hunting down dream homes, and the negotiation skills to get them at the right price. Reportedly, other agents hated having to face her. They whispered words like ruthless. Tara felt that was an unfair characterization. She saw herself as simply unwilling to lose. She’d already lost so much—her mother when she was only nine, her marriage seven years ago, and last year, her beloved father.

  The death of her dad had been an especially crushing blow. He’d been her guiding light through childhood and adolescence, a presence so solid that it had been devastating to lose him. It had been fourteen months and she couldn’t forget one of the last things he’d said to her—Don’t wait to be happy. She hadn’t realized it until that moment. She wasn’t happy. Despite meeting new people every day, her world had somehow become smaller—more acquaintances, fewer true friends, and zero love life. Most men were intimidated by her success, and she was disappointed by their lack of vision. If she was ever going to find love again, she needed a trailblazer. A maverick, like her ex-husband, Johnathon Sterling. He had vision. He was passionate and exciting. Unfortunately, he also had a wandering eye and was easily bored. Their marriage had only lasted three years. Half of it had been thrilling; the other half made her feel as though she’d never measure up. At least not as a woman.

  So she’d turned to her career for fulfillment, and for a while, it worked like gangbusters. She made piles of money. She took the beautiful home she and Johnathon had shared, and she’d given it a complete redo. She’d bought closets of designer clothes and leased a brand new Mercedes every year. She’d done her best to show the world that her divorce had not slowed her down. One man falling out of love with her did not define her. The only problem was very little of that was making her truly happy. And it hadn’t dawned on her until her father passed away.

  “If that’s everything you need from me, I’ll get out of your hair.” The woman from the escrow company stood and extended her hand across the meeting-room table.

  Tara rose to return the gesture when her sights were drawn to her phone, which lit up with a call from Grant Singleton. Luckily, she had her ringer on Mute. She’d let it go to voice mail. “I believe we’re all set.”

  “Perfect. The Bakers will be so happy to hear that. So will their contractor. He’s eager to get to work. He has an awful lot of it ahead of him.”

  Tara
showed the woman to the door. “Getting started on the kitchen right away? I know they weren’t happy with the size of the center island and were thinking of adding a pizza oven.”

  “Oh, no. They’re leveling the whole thing.”

  “The entire kitchen?”

  “The whole thing.”

  Oh.

  “New construction,” the woman continued. “They didn’t see any point in trying to salvage what was there. Once you opened up the kitchen, you might as well tackle the dining room, and it only snowballs from there. I realize the seller did a lot of work on the property, but it’s not quite to the Bakers’ taste.”

  This was a common occurrence in the more expensive areas of San Diego County. The land was often worth more than the structure standing on it. But it still didn’t strike Tara as any less wasteful to tear down a gorgeous home. “They told me they loved the house. We negotiated based on their personal plea that they wanted to raise their children there.”

  The woman shrugged. “They will raise their kids there. Just not in that exact house. Gotta get a good deal somehow, right?”

  Tara dug her fingernails into the heels of her hands. This was the exact kind of frustration that made her question what she was doing. Money wasn’t enough. How much satisfaction could she take in a job well done when clients turned around and bulldozed everything she’d found for them?

  “I hope they’re very happy,” Tara said and bid her farewell. She had to let this go. Just like she’d done dozens of times.

  As she turned back into the meeting room to grab her phone, the screen lit up again. Another call from Grant. Grant was an old friend, and business partners with Tara’s ex-husband, Johnathon. She and Grant spoke every now and then, but it was odd for him to call her twice in such a short span of time. She should answer.

  “Grant, what’s up? Is this a butt dial?” Tara could admit that the vision of Grant’s butt crossed her mind. She’d never seen it in the flesh, but the man looked amazing in a pair of dress pants, or jeans when he wore them.

  “Thank God you answered.” Grant’s normally deep voice was breathless and desperate. He was usually calm and always in control. But those few words hinted at trouble.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Johnathon had an accident. I’m at the hospital downtown. How fast can you get here?”

  Tara’s stomach sank nearly as fast as her pulse began racing. Adrenaline kicked in. She beelined for her office, cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder and grabbed her handbag. “I’m on my way. Twenty minutes if I don’t hit any traffic.”

  “Hurry, Tara. It’s serious.”

  She came to a halt. “This isn’t a joke you two cooked up, is it?”

  “No. Of course not. Just get over here. We might lose him.”

  Tara was back to running. “Lose him? What happened?”

  “There’s no time to explain. I have to go. Just get here.” Grant hung up.

  Tara raced down four flights of stairs in heels and sprinted across the parking lot to her Mercedes. The midday, early July sun was fierce as she fumbled for her sunglasses. She tried to ignore her heart’s thunderous performance in the center of her chest. She fought back waves of nausea. She and Johnathon had been divorced for seven years, but she still loved him and cared about him deeply. Even though losing him had left her hollowed out in the end, they’d had a magnificent ride. She couldn’t stand the thought of not having him in her life anymore. And if she was going to allow herself a purely selfish thought in a weak moment, she couldn’t live through another personal loss.

  But Johnathon was impossibly strong. If ever there was a fighter, it was him. “He’ll be okay,” she muttered to herself as she zigged and zagged her way through traffic. “He has to be.”

  Luckily, the hospital had a valet, and she zipped right up to the stand. Tara practically threw her keys at the attendant as she ran in through the sliding doors and up to the information desk to find out where Johnathon was. She rushed down the hall, breathing hard, which only made the antiseptic smell fill her nose more readily. These were not pleasant aromas. They made her think of losing her dad. And her mom. No more hospitals. She couldn’t stand them.

  There was a wait for the elevator, so she hiked up to the fifth floor, emerging from the stairwell, huffing and puffing. And duly disoriented. Where was she? This did not look like a surgical floor and it was miles from the ER. The nurses’ station was off to the right, but she only got a few steps closer to it before a hand was on her elbow, pulling her back. She turned to see Grant. All color had drained from his handsome face, making the contrast between his skin and dark stubble so much starker. He opened his mouth to speak, but in that split second, Tara knew, deep down, what he was about to say.

  “I’m so sorry. They couldn’t save him.”

  No no no. This wasn’t possible. Johnathon was larger than life. He couldn’t simply die on a Tuesday with no warning. This made no sense. “What in the world happened? Was he driving too fast on the Pacific Coast Highway again? I told him a million times it was dangerous.”

  Grant shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It was a total freak accident. Line drive to the temple on the golf course. I guess he was still conscious in the ambulance, but he hemorrhaged.”

  Tara clasped her hand over her mouth, struggling to keep her balance. Johnathon was dead. It didn’t seem fathomable. He was not only so young—only forty-one—but he despised golf. None of this was fair.

  “Where is he?”

  Grant gestured with a backward nod of his head. “I had them bring him up to a private room. Miranda’s with him right now. I didn’t want her having to say her goodbye in the ER or even worse, down in the morgue.”

  “Who called you?”

  “Miranda. She was at the country club, in the middle of a tennis lesson when it happened. She was able to ride with him to the hospital.”

  Miranda was Johnathon’s third wife. She and Tara enjoyed a pleasant enough rapport. Miranda was a highly successful interior designer and had done some work for Tara, staging homes for sale. “This is awful. They’ve hardly been married a year.”

  Grant took Tara’s hand and led her over to a small waiting room so they could sit. “That’s the least of it.” His face adopted an even more somber look, something that Tara would not have thought possible. “Miranda’s pregnant and Johnathon didn’t know. She had to tell him in the ambulance while he was dying. She’d been planning to surprise him with the news. Tonight.”

  A profound wave of sadness hit her. Johnathon had wanted a family for a very long time. Children had been one of the bigger issues that came between Tara and him. She’d wanted to wait, but she’d assumed they were going to have a lifetime together. “Oh, my God. A baby. And now he’s gone.”

  “I know. I can’t even believe the timing. It doesn’t seem fair.”

  Tara felt as though they were all taking a master class in unfair. “Her only family is her brother.”

  “She’s really going to need a lot of support. Help with the baby.”

  Tara’s heart felt impossibly heavy. She and Miranda weren’t close, but Tara knew what it was like to be on her own. Adrift. With no one to lean on but herself. “I’m happy to help. Whatever she needs.”

  “Even as Johnathon’s ex-wife?”

  Tara nodded emphatically, even as memories of her short and tumultuous marriage to Johnathon flashed before her. Happy days. Sad days. Crazy, inexplicable days. “We were never right for each other. He wanted kids right away. I wanted to get more established in my career. He was always trying to squeeze everything he could out of life and I was too busy being methodical.”

  “For two people who weren’t right for each other, you certainly fell fast.” Grant cleared his throat. It wasn’t the first time he’d voiced his displeasure with the way Tara and Johnathon got together.

/>   Tara had met Grant and Johnathon on the same night, at a mutual friend’s birthday party, eleven years ago. It had been Grant who’d flirted with her all night, and Grant who’d asked her out. But it was also Grant who got called out of town for a family emergency the next day, and it was Johnathon who swooped in like a bird of prey, sweeping Tara off her feet. She’d always chalked it up to fate. And Grant never seemed to suffer. He’d had plenty of women in his life.

  “I know. That was just the way he was. Everything moved like lightning. It was stupid, and we were young, but I don’t regret it.” She heard her own voice wobble. Reality was finally starting to settle in. Johnathon was gone. Her first love.

  Grant pulled her into a tight embrace. “Of course you don’t. He was an incredible man. An unbelievable best friend.”

  Tara settled her head on Grant’s shoulder and allowed herself a few quiet tears. She didn’t like to cry in front of other people. There’d been too many times in her life when doing that had made her feel weak and vulnerable. But this was different. This was Grant. One of her oldest and dearest friends. A man she’d had a crush on for a day or two before his best friend took center stage. “He was also a human tornado.”

  “He was indeed.”

  “What’s going to happen to Sterling Enterprises?” Tara asked. Johnathon and Grant had built their real-estate-development firm into a true empire, but Tara had been there in the beginning. She’d thought she was a part of the team, but Johnathon eventually decided it was a bad idea for a husband and wife to work together. He’d pushed her to focus on selling real estate, rather than building. And so she had, because she loved him and he’d had a vision.

  “Sterling will be fine.”

  “You’re sure?” She was still holding on to Grant. She didn’t want to leave the cocoon of his smell or the comfort of his embrace. Being in his arms right now was like a soft wool blanket on a cold fall day. Nothing like the rest of the hospital.

  “There’s a plan in place for me to step in as CEO. I just never thought we’d have to use it.” Grant gently rubbed Tara’s back. “I’ll have to coordinate some things with Miranda, since she’ll be majority owner now, but I’m guessing that between her own business and the baby on the way, she’ll gladly let me steer the ship. I don’t see any reason for her to do anything different.”