STORY EXCERPT

She’d made the mistake of falling in love with a man she could never live with, and it hurt. Afraid that she would start crying in front of him, she swallowed the lump in her throat and pushed him away. “Please. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I can’t take any more today. Please.”

Beau released her, his face hardening as he stepped away from her. “Fine. I’ve had enough of this conversation myself. I’m tired of wasting my time with a woman who doesn’t love me enough to believe in me—a woman who’s too embarrassed about loving me that she doesn’t even want her family to know.”

Shaking his head, he smiled sadly. “It’s funny. Our relationship is the only thing in this world you don’t take seriously. I’m just a man who knows how to satisfy you. When you do decide to take what I feel for you seriously, you know where to find me.”

Sucking in a breath at the sharp stab of pain and fear, she stared up at him, chilled by the distance he’d put between them, both physically and emotionally. “What are you saying?’

Beau eyes narrowed, becoming hard and cold. “I’m saying that I’m tired of playing your games. You know how I feel about you. You know that I want to marry you. I’m not going to let you keep putting me through this emotional wringer, Charity.”

The lump in Charity’s throat threatened to choke her. Even though she swallowed heavily, her voice didn’t come out as more than a ragged whisper. “Are you saying that you don’t want to be with me anymore?”

God, it hurt!

It hurt even more than she’d expected—more than she thought she could bear.

Beau’s sad smile made her stomach hurt even more. “No, Charity. I’m saying I want to spend my life with you. You say you don’t want to play games—then commit. To this. To us. When you’re ready to do that, I’ll be waiting. I don’t want to hide what we have anymore. I don’t want to wonder if I’m going to see you, and wonder what you’re going to do when people find out about us. I love you, Charity, and because I do, I can’t live this way anymore.” Turning, he started out the door.

Charity stared after him, stunned. Jumping to her feet, she held on to her desk, her knees turning to rubber. “Beau! You can’t do this. You like to play. We play. Why the hell do you have to want more?”

Pausing, he braced a hand on the doorframe, sighing as he half turned. “I told you. Because I love you, cher, and I want a life with you. I want it all. I’m tired of trying to convince you of that. You’re just going to have to figure it out on your own.”

Stunned, she watched him turn and walk away.

She stood for several heart-pounding seconds, her breath coming out in rapid gulps as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. Panicked that she’d ruined everything and just lost the man she loved, she leapt forward, hitting her leg on the corner as she raced to the doorway of her office just in time to see him close the front door behind him.

What had she done?

Furious at him, and at herself, and more scared than she’d ever been in her life, she moved on shaky legs around her desk and dropped into her seat.

What the hell had she done?

She’d ruined everything. She couldn’t let it end. She just couldn’t.

The phone rang, startling her so badly she jumped, a sob escaping. Whipping her head around to look at it, and surprised that her vision blurred, she waited for it to ring again before she reached for it with hands that shook.

Picking up the receiver, she swallowed a sob and cleared her throat. “Hello?”

“Miss Sanderson?”

Disappointed—devastated—that it wasn’t Beau’s voice, she swallowed again, fresh tears blurring her vision.

“Yes. Who’s calling?” She hoped whoever it was didn’t notice that her voice cracked.

“This is Joe, the manager of Carpet Mart. I wanted to apologize again for the misunderstanding, and I just wondered if you were still going to be able to come in today.”

Taking a shaky breath, and then another, she stared toward the doorway as if Beau would magically appear again, and struggled to focus on the conversation.

Blowing out a breath, she forced a calmness into her voice, while her insides shook. “Yes, I’m leaving now. Thank you, Joe.” She looked at the clock. With the snowstorm expected the next day, she didn’t want to be stuck, unable to get to Tulsa. “I’ll be there in about an hour.”

“Are you sure?”

Reaching for a tissue from the box on her desk, Charity attempted to keep the anguish from her voice at the realization that her plans with Beau tonight had been cancelled. “Yes.”

She hung up on whatever Joe said to her, finding it impossible to focus.

Taking several deep breaths, she dropped her head in her hands and struggled to stop shaking.

She couldn’t believe it was over. Doubling over, she squeezed her eyes closed, unsurprised that tears ran down her face.

God, it hurt.

Suddenly finding it hard to breathe in the confines of her office, she got to her feet and wiped her eyes, grabbed the checkbook for the club, and shoved it in her purse.

She needed some air, and hoped that a drive would help her calm down. Maybe if she had some time to think, she could figure out what to do about fixing the mess she’d made of things with Beau.

She had to fix it. She didn’t have to rely on someone to take care of her. She didn’t care if he wanted to play all the time. She had to have him in her life.

The alternative was inconceivable.

ADULT EXCERPT

Sliding his thumb slowly in and out of her pussy, he rose slightly. “Look at me, cher.” He waited until she met his gaze, the slow strokes to her pussy never faltering. “That’s it. Hmm, look at you. That glazed look in your eyes makes me just as crazy. It’s the look you get when you’re ready to come. Needy, helpless, and yet with a spark of attitude. It gets me every time.”

Clenching on his thumb, Charity kicked at him and used the pressure of the backs of her knees on his shoulders for leverage to rock her hips. She wanted more. She wanted him to move, but even though his need for her shone clearly in his eyes, he continued to stare down at her, turning his head to brush his lips over her inner thigh while stroking her pussy.

The pressure inside her became so intense she bowed, thrashing her head from side to side in frustration. So close. The warning tingles started, simmering just below the surface and driving her wild. Her inhibitions had long since deserted her, and in the confines of the dimly lit room, she didn’t feel the least bit shy about voicing her demands. “Beau. I need to come. Take me, damn you! I want you inside me.”

Beau chuckled, a deep throaty sound filled with satisfaction. “I’m not finished with my dessert yet.” Raising a brow, he smiled, a dark, devious smile that sent a thrill of erotic anticipation racing through her.

Whimpering in frustration when he slid his thumb free, Charity struggled to sit up, crying out in shock when the tip of his thumb, wet with her juices, pressed against her puckered opening. “Beau!”

“I love the way you respond. Let’s go a little farther, cher.” He pushed into her bottom at the same time his lips closed over her clit.

The dual sensation stunned her so much that it took her several heart-stopping seconds before her mind could process the pleasure that had already taken over her body. The shower of sparks that radiated from her clit outward astounded her, as did the realization that her bottom clamped down on his finger, milking it as though trying to suck it in deeper.

“Dear God!” Her orgasm slammed into her so hard and fast, it took her mind several seconds to catch up. The slow slide of his devious tongue over her clit wouldn’t let her down, holding her at the peak with an expertise that she couldn’t fight.

She didn’t want to fight it. She wanted it to last forever.

The hot tingling spread and rolled through her, wave after wave of delicious heat that held her in its grip as Beau continued to work his tongue over her clit and move his thumb inside her.

Paralyzed by the ecstatic pleasure, she had no choice but to endure it, and the swells of bliss rolling through her.

She cried out, but nothing emerged except a throaty gasp.

Every nerve ending in her body felt as if it shimmered, the warm swells of erotic pleasure seeming to consume her everywhere.

The intense pleasure made her body jerk once, and then again, as if touched by an electric cord.

“No!” Whimpering as the pleasure began to subside, she writhed on the covers, reaching for Beau as the stimulation of her clit became too sharp and more than she could bear. “No more. No more. Oh, Beau. Please, I can’t take it.” She couldn’t stop clamping down on the thumb inside her, rocking her hips to take it deeper.

Tears stung her eyes. She wanted the warmth and steadiness of his arms around her. She wanted him to hold her. She wanted him inside her.

Beau seemed to know just what she needed. With a low murmur of approval, a rumble of caring that danced over her senses, he lifted his head and withdrew his thumb to gather her against him.

Her ass and pussy still clenched at the rippling waves of pleasure that just wouldn’t stop. Trembling, she reached for him as he rose over her, gasping at the full, delicious feeling of his hard, hot cock thrusting deep inside her pussy.

He filled her completely, his steely, thick heat stretching her inner walls and warming her from within. Holding himself deep, he slid a hand under her bottom, and slid impossibly deeper while raining kisses over her cheek, her jaw, and even her now-healed shoulder.

Holding her to him, he murmured in French, the silky cadence of his words a sharp contrast to his harsh, deep, almost tortured tone.

So weak, and trembling so hard she could barely move, she finally managed to thread her fingers into his hair, moaning softly with each decadent stroke. Thrilling at the feel of solid muscles bunching and shifting against her, she lowered her hands to his shoulders, tilting her head to the side as he nuzzled her neck in a particularly sensitive spot.

Beau groaned, his teeth scraping over her neck. “Your pussy’s so tight. So hot. So wet. Yes, cher, move with me. Yes. So fucking good. If I had my way, I’d spend the rest of my life inside you.”

The hand at her bottom clenched tight, his finger moving with every thrust as he worked his way closer and closer to her bottom. “This tight little hole is begging for my attention, isn’t it, cher? Now that I’ve touched you there, that tight little ass of yours wants more.”