STORY EXCERPT

She wanted the man’s attention but not like this.

Brine Torin just made the biggest mistake of her life and there was nothing she could do to take it back. Cold wind rippled through the tree line, causing her to shiver. The chains that locked her down to the giant sequoia rattled.

She’d been desperately foolish. Desperation could make a woman do some pretty reckless things. Strong, independent women didn’t do this type of thing. Not when they were thinking with the rational part of their brain, she reminded herself.

Oh, she was starting to feel the consequences of this bad decision. The jagged bark of the sequoia dug hard lines into Brine’s backside. She couldn’t remember the last time she had such a rough ride. She tried to get comfortable but the chain that held her wrists out to her sides had little give.

Lights flashed from the cop car in the hazy mist. She was about to be arrested. She was sure of it. She hadn’t planned on the cops being called in so soon.

She’d wanted a chance to talk to Thane Elam first. Flatbed semis snaked down the access road with tree remains stacked five high. The logger lifted his binoculars to the redwood and adjusted the scope. She blew him a taunting kiss.

The man had dodged her calls, e-mails and stalking visits to his office for weeks. It was now a matter of professional pride that she get this story to bed. The logger lowered the binoculars, for a second, to say something to the man next to him. Brine caught his profile and her heart did a nervous flip.

It was him.

Brine wrapped the cold chains around each wrist and set her long legs wide, ready for round one of the fight that was about to begin. She needed this story. She wanted it so bad she could taste it.

Bring. It. On.

Brine turned her gaze upward to the Oregon thunderstorm pushing through. It was a cold, tedious rain drizzling through the redwoods. Brine’s dark-blonde hair was plastered to her face. She had that Audrey Hepburn thing going on with her bangs today but that was where the resemblance ended. Brine was more voluptuous in ways that Hepburn never was.

She could just make out Thane’s sneer as he lifted the binoculars again. Too bad she had to ruin his day. Too bad he was ruining hers.

Brine wasn’t about to let the tyrant known as Elam Industries bully her around. Not when she had them by the chainsaw. For now.

She was going to get this story, even if she made a few mistakes to get it. This was probably by far the biggest, most impulsive mistake of her career. Investigative journalists didn’t chain themselves to redwoods to get the attention of a reluctant source. She knew things would never be the same. Now, there was nothing she could do to go back to change the last few hours of drunken irresponsibility that would ultimately tarnish her reputation.

Elam leaned his thick forearms onto the truck as though he had all the time in the world. Maybe he did but so did she. She could just imagine all the nasty things he was saying. He brought up his binoculars again, and she flipped him off with both hands. The cop didn’t look too happy about that one. What could she say? She had an attitude problem today. She was under a deadline. Elam said something to the logger, who shook his head no.

The logger pointed and zeroed in on her granddaddy’s gun. The 1640’s Blunderbuss wasn’t loaded, but he didn’t need to know that. At least, she didn’t think she loaded it. Her memory of last night was a little fuzzy. Yes, she’d needed a drink to stay warm and get the balls to have her coworker, Stephanie, chain her to the redwood. She thought about her granddaddy’s favorite saying about grabbing life by the horns. Well, she could grab the bull’s balls and the horns.

Elam fine-tuned the adjustment. A bottle of Glenlivet was half empty on the ground a few feet away. Now that was a mistake not worth making again. Brine glowered at the handcuff key bobbing in the bottle. She remembered dropping it in at the time, thinking it was the safest place to put it. She’d been wrong when the bottle tipped and rolled away.

Elam set the binoculars into the back of the truck and traded them for a set of bolt cutters. He headed her way. It was so on.

She wanted his attention. Now she had it. She could do this.

“I’ll be right back.” He called over his shoulder.

“That’s what they all say in the movies right before they bite it!” The logger beside the truck yelled through the ravine.

Elam spread his arrogant arms wide as though the world was his playground and everyone in it his playthings. “She’s not going to shoot me. The gun is out of reach!”

Yes it was, to her annoyance. Ancient redwoods towered. They shadowed Elam as he navigated the thick, earthy terrain. He maneuvered around the downed trunks with the athletic edge of a man that worked out. He approached her slowly, the way a man might approach a wild deer.

An earthy scent of forest and water clung to the ground. Brine inhaled the land deep into her lungs, praying for patience. To her right, the work crew smoked and watched her every move. They wanted to get paid, and she was in the way.

This story was too damn important to fuck up now. This was it. Her only chance to get Elam to talk to the media about the questionable land grabs their company was suddenly gobbling up.

He stopped several feet away.

The first thing she noticed about him was his thick thighs and predatory stare. She suspected he could ruin a virgin with a dirty look, and that girl would be willing to be ruined if it meant she had one wild night riding those thighs.

As he moved in closer, she noticed that Elam was bigger, harder than she expected. His face was rough with a scar slashing over his cheek. The scar knitted around the side of his cheek and disappeared around his neck.

Jet-black hair and hot-blue eyes whispered of an old-world Irish ancestry. Black eyebrows were bent down. His square jaw flexed in annoyance. He was intense and hard in a raw, manly way that left Brine feeling suddenly breathless.

He was gorgeous.

ADULT EXCERPT

He snapped his arm back, pulling her across his lap with an ease that showcased his strength. The horn honked when her backside slid against it. “If I let you go, I’d have to hunt you down again to do this.”

She gasped.

His mouth crushed against hers, taking, sexing her with the erotic edge of his tongue. Brine felt her pussy clench and his hand smooth down to squeeze her breast. His fingers pinched her pebbled nipple, pulling on it until shivers of desire quivered through her pussy. She fought with the cuff, but his hand was too powerful. His left hand tangled in her hair, wrapping the long, wet strands into his fists. He angled their heads to take her places she’d never been. He kissed her until she was dizzy, until she felt thoroughly owned.

Conquered and taken.

He nipped playfully at her love-swollen lips as he pulled away. She shuddered at the loss of erotic heat that she so desperately needed to live. How had she gone so long without?

She could see his want reflecting back. What was she doing? She had to get her senses back in check. Brine pressed her hands against his chest. She had to put a stop to this before it went any further. Erotic kisses were placed strategically over her ear. The heat of his breath seared her skin. Her eyes fluttered closed.

“I don’t want to do this with you,” she said.

“Yes you do.”

She squirmed. “I can’t.”

“You are.”

She tried to fight away, but he held strong.

“You have a strength that makes you the most stubborn woman I have ever met.”

“More reason for us to not fool around.”

“I think I made myself clear. I want you, and I plan on doing everything to have you.” He kissed the exposed skin on her breast. “I know you want me. Your heart beats wild for me. I can smell your sex readying. Your nipples are so fucking hard.”

He pinched and squeezed her aching flesh through the lace. She stifled a moan by biting her lower lip. “Because it’s cold.”

“It’s lust. You want what I have,” he countered. “We’re both adults. You can handle what I have.”

Brine felt the force of his cock pushing hard against the side of her thigh. She moaned as his hand smoothed down past her belly, to the crux of her thighs. The wedding dress was bunched up high. She’d lost one of her boots somewhere along the way. His hand pulled up the dress and found her silk panties. His hand seared as he cupped her thatch with his palm, moving his fingers around the thin barrier. Brine fought the urge to buck up into his hand as his fingers skimmed through her trimmed hair.

He could take but she wouldn’t give willingly.

She pushed against his chest, but it was useless fighting him. He was stronger and she was growing tired of the fight. He kissed her again in a long, lazy move to learn what she liked. His kiss was full of experience and longing. She never imagined that a man could be so thorough with his mouth.

He groaned as his fingers dove further through her folds and found her pussy weeping with forbidden desire. She bucked up hard from the sudden attention, making his finger push wildly inside. His thumb strummed her clit, causing her sensitive flesh to hum. Her hand gripped his wrist as he hammered her with sensations she’d never experienced before. Her legs fell open wider, giving more of herself over to his touch. She felt suddenly empty as his fingers pulled out of her pussy.

His hand twisted her panties around, positioning the fabric so that it slid up the crack of her ass. He rubbed, making her pussy quake with need. His thumb rolled her clit around in a tight circle that sent her body spiraling.

“Tell me you want me.”

She groaned. She wanted him, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of saying the words he wanted to hear.

He growled. “Tell me you want it hard and fast.”

Brine dug her nails into his wrist. She did want it. She wanted to fall from the edge he was dangling her off of, but she wouldn’t go like this. Not with a man she didn’t know taking more than she was willing to give. That thought taunted back like a boomerang. It was a lie. She wanted it hard and fast, slow and erotic. She wanted all of it with Thane, any way he was willing to give it to her.