Except Cade's not playing by her rules anymore.
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CAGED IN WINTER EXCERPT
cade
I wonder if Winter realizes I’ve taken the long way to get to her apartment. Even though it’s April, that doesn’t mean shit in Michigan, and it’s cold out this time of night, the wind bitter against me. My coat and gloves don’t even keep the chill out, but I don’t care. Her body hugs mine, her breasts pressed flush to my back, her legs against the outside of my thighs. I slipped Winter’s hands under my coat before we left so she’d stay warmer. And I won’t deny the appeal of her touching me with a few less layers between us.
She’s been driving me crazy all night. Her cheeks flush when she gets tipsy, and she chews on the inside of her cheek when she’s thinking or nervous, the act making her lips even more prominent. And, Jesus Christ, those lips. I think about them wrapping around her fork, pressed to the rim of her wine glass, plump around her teeth as she offers me a shy smile… If I’m going to hold it together, refrain from pushing her further than what she’s ready for, I need to stem those thoughts immediately.
As soon as I stop at the curb in front of her place, her hands are out of my jacket and she’s off my bike, holding out my helmet before I can even kill the engine.
“Well, um, thanks. For dinner. And the ride. Good night.” She spins and hustles down the sidewalk to the front door, yanking it open without a backward glance.
“Winter, wait.” I go after her, following her into her building, down the stairs, and around the corner into the hallway. “Hey, what’s up?”
She turns, her eyes wide as she watches me until I’m standing in front of her, just outside her door. “Nothing. You didn’t need to come in.”
“Why’d you take off like my bike was on fire?”
“I didn’t…”
I cock my head to the side, brow furrowed. “Did my sister say something to freak you out?”
She shakes her head. “No.” Pausing for only a second, she sighs and closes her eyes. “Yes. I don’t know. It wasn’t anything I wasn’t already aware of.”
“What’s that?”
Leaning against the door, she blows out a deep breath. “This was just dinner. It’s not anything else. It can’t be anything else.”
“Why the hell not?”
“We’re different, Cade. I’m not…I don’t do this.”
“This…what? Dating?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I just don’t. I never have. I’m not good at it, and I don’t like it.”
“If you’ve never done it, how do you know you’re not good at it or you don’t like it?”
“Don’t attempt to spin this around in your favor. It’s not going to work.”
“Well, I’m sure as shit going to try.” I reach out, even though every inch of her body is coiled, warning me not to touch her, and take her hand. “I like you, Winter.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“Yes I do. You’re a web design major. You work five nights a week at The Brewery. You spend the rest of your time studying. You never go out, don’t have many friends, and hide in your apartment when you’re not at school or work. You love to be alone, but you’re lonely. You’re stubborn and strong and determined, and you don’t like taking help from other people. How am I doing so far?”
Her eyebrows are drawn down, her face pulled into a scowl. “Don’t be smug.”
I bend my knees so we’re eye level and tug on her hand until she meets my gaze. “I don’t know what we could have. It might be nothing. But I’ll be honest…I haven’t felt like this in a long time, and that’s enough for me to know I want to see where it goes. Can’t we just see where it goes?”
With a deep sigh, she says, “I’m not right for you, Cade.”
“How about you worry about if I’m right for you. Let me decide the other.”
And then before she can stop me, before she can utter another word of opposition, I slide my hand up her arm, over her shoulder, until it’s wrapped around her neck. With my other hand, I swipe a piece of hair back with my fingers, and then lean in, brushing my lips against hers. After only a moment, I pull back just enough for her to be able to tell me to stop. When nothing comes, I close the distance between us once again, taking her bottom lip in between mine. I brush my tongue against it, coaxing her mouth open, and she breathes this sexy little gasp as I slip inside. She tastes like cookies and wine, and I want to fucking devour her.
She grips my shirt with both hands, clutching me to her, and I stop holding back and mold every inch of my body to hers, groaning as my cock presses fully against her. The moment a whimper comes from her, I know she feels it. And I can’t muster up any embarrassment, because I want her to feel it. Even with all her brass balls and fuck-everything attitude, something tells me she needs reassurance, so I give it to her. In every stroke of my tongue against hers, every brush of my thumb along her jaw, I show her how much I want her.
When her chest is heaving, her lips parted and swollen and so fucking hot, I trail kisses down her neck, seeking out every inch of skin that’s uncovered. Her head thumps back against the wall, one of her hands gone from gripping fistfuls of my shirt. Instead, she’s holding my head to her, and I don’t want to stop. I want to kiss and lick every inch of her, slip my hands under the material of her sweater, unbutton her jeans, and not stop until I feel her soft wetness against my fingertips.
But the knowledge that she’ll regret it if I don’t stop forces me to slow down.
I pull back, loosening my grip on her and putting an inch of space between us. I kiss the corner of her mouth, her cheek, and then her ear. Against it, I whisper, “Don’t say no.”
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OTHER TITLES BY BRIGHTON WALSH
Reluctant Hearts series
INTERCONNECTED STAND-ALONES
Caged in Winter
Tessa Ever After
Paige in Progress
Our Love Unhinged
Havenbrook series
INTERCONNECTED STAND-ALONES
Second Chance Charmer
Hometown Troublemaker
Pact with a Heartbreaker
Captive series
INTERCONNECTED STAND-ALONES
Captive
Exposed
Stand-alone titles
Dirty Little Secret
Plus One
Season of Second Chances
The Neighbor
HAVE YOU READ LONDON HALE?
Filthy, taboo, smart erotic romance is what you get when Brighton Walsh and Ellis Leigh/Kristin Harte team up. Ready to set your e-reader on fire?
MAY-DECEMBER ROMANCES
Daddy’s Best Friend
The DILF
Nanny With Benefits
OPPOSITES ATTRACT ROMANCES
Sinner (formerly Sinful Temptation)
Cuffed (formerly Sinful Attraction)
Talk Dirty to Me (formerly Sinful Distraction)
FRIENDS TO LOVERS ROMANCE
Reunion
ONE NIGHT STAND TO MORE ROMANCE
Tapping That Asset
TEACHER/STUDENT ROMANCE
Seducing His Student
STEPBROTHER’S BABY ROMANCE
Knocking Her Up
BILLIONAIRE BOSS ROMA
NCE
Bedding the Billionaire
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing this book came with a maelstrom of trials and tribulations, one of which was a life-changing loss that knocked me off my axis. Troublemaker would’ve forever sat in a partially-finished state were it not for a few pretty fucking amazing people, and I owe them my eternal thanks.
To Christina, forever and always. You are the glue that holds my crazy ass together, and I never ever want to find out what it’d be like to write a book without your advice, guidance, reassurance, and ass kicking. I love you like whoa.
To my Bitches™—Ann, Elizabeth, Ellis, Esher, Helen, Jen, Laura, Melly, and Suz—for reassuring me I could finish This Fucking Book when I was certain I couldn’t and for reassuring me I’d get there when I just couldn’t bring myself to write. A special shout out to Elizabeth, Ms. Fancy Pants Reporter/Interviewer/Editor/Whatever-they’re-called for writing a news-worthy headline for Rory and Nash.
To Lisa for making my words shine and not giving me shit when I’m so sure I’ve finally cracked the code on into vs in to but in reality have only created more work for you. You’re the real MVP.
To my Brigaders, for sticking by me and still clamoring to get this book after the long wait. I couldn’t do this thing I love if it weren’t for you, so thank you.
Finally, to my guys, for putting up with my crankiness the entire time I was writing this beast. (Special shout out to my teenager—WHO’D BETTER NOT BE READING THIS—for telling me I was “so crabby all the time.”) I love you even when I scream at you to STOP BUGGING ME WHILE I’M WRITING OMG.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brighton Walsh spent nearly a decade as a professional photographer before taking her storytelling in a different direction and reconnecting with her first love: writing. When she’s not lost in her own made up worlds, she’s probably either reading or shopping—maybe even both at once. She lives in the Midwest with her real life hero of a husband, her two kids—one taller than her, one not quite yet—and her dog who thinks she’s a queen. Her boy-filled house is the setting for dirty socks galore, frequent dance parties (okay, so it's mostly her, by herself, while her children look on in horror), and more laughter than she thought possible.
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www.brightonwalsh.com
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Hometown Troublemaker (Havenbrook Book 2) Page 28
