STORY EXCERPT

Victoria Rose Aldrich de Alvarez reclined against the tan leather upholstery of her white Sierra pickup truck which was pulled to the side of the Florida Turnpike in southern Palm Beach County with a flat tire. Head tilted back, Tori covered her eyes with her forearm in the manner of a Victorian heroine who was being sorely tested.

It was eight o’clock on a brisk and sunny Friday morning in early February. Her morning, however, had begun before sunrise many miles to the south. Tori, the senior litigation partner in the well-known Miami law firm of Barlowe, Cannon, Alvarez & Robertson, P.A. was on the road pursuing her greatest passion—dressage competition at the international level. At the moment, however, things were looking a little grim.

The white, custom-designed three-horse slant-load trailer hitched to the pickup carried Tori’s 17-hand Dutch Warmblood stallion, Rachmaninoff, and his stall mate, Rosebud. How did this happen? She moaned to herself. In many years of pulling a horse trailer, Tori had never had an accident or roadside mishap. Good maintenance, a good plan, and good luck had paid off. Nonetheless, here she was, disabled on the side the road with her first ride time quickly approaching.

Tori considered her options, but liked none of them. She could call for help, but waiting for the auto club to come and change her tire would most likely make her late for her first class of the day at the Global Dressage Festival horse show at Wellington, Florida. The twelve-week Winter Equestrian Festival was the premier event of the international winter horse show season. She could unload Rachmaninoff, tie him to the side of the trailer, and attempt to change the truck tire herself. She liked the idea of unloading Rocky on the busy Florida Turnpike even less than waiting for help. She wouldn’t even consider trying to change the tire with Rocky in the trailer. That would be a recipe for disaster.

It was unlike Tori to be helpless. She was generally very much in control of her life, her environment, and her emotions. After the weekend horse show, Tori planned to head upstate to her farm in Ocala for some “R & R.” Since this was the first day of a much needed vacation, she had not brought a groom along. She was entirely on her own.

As Tori was wallowing in self-pity and misery, muttering to herself about the “Rocky Horror Horse Show” this outing was turning into, she smelled an enticing masculine scent and felt a presence beside her. Slowly she lowered her arm and gazed into a pair of ice blue eyes framed by spiky black lashes and winged black brows. The stranger had a very suntanned, rugged face with a killer smile and deep, enticing dimples. Out of the corner of her eye, in her rearview mirror, she spied a black dually pickup pulled to the side of the road behind her rig. The very tall, muscular, dark-haired man wearing a black cowboy hat, well-worn denim jacket, and jeans leaned his forearms on the window, grinned, and said, “Can I be of some assistance here, ma’am?”

“You can’t possibly be the good fairy…but you could be the answer to my prayers,” she replied with a grin, noting his masculine aura cautiously. “I’m competing in a horse show at The Stadium dressage annex show grounds in Wellington. I have to get there by eight thirty at the latest if I’m going to make my first class, and I don’t know what to do about the flat tire on my truck. I didn’t want to unload the trailer to change the tire.”

“I could hook your trailer up to my truck and give you a lift if you like,” he answered, his killer dimples popping when he smiled. “If you drop the trailer and pull your truck out of the way, I can have it hitched up in a minute. We can change the tire later. I’m headed in that direction anyway, and we ‘horse people’ have to stick together, you know.”

I think I’ve met the Marlboro Man.

ADULT EXCERPT

Zack was stretched out on a chaise lounge when Tori pulled its twin around to face the sun and made herself comfortable. “Robert sends his regrets. I could hear the smirk in his voice long distance.”

“He got the picture, did he?”

“Oh, yes. There’s nothing slow about our boy, Robert.”

I’ll bet. Another close call. This is getting entirely too hairy. “Would you like some sunscreen? I’d love to do your back…or your front.”

“Behave. You’re as horny as a mountain goat. How about a swim?”

“Is that still ice water in there?”

“Yes….but I think it will do you some good.”

“You are a cruel woman. Care to join me?” he said as he stood up. Before Tori could reply, he pulled her up off the lounge, lifted her giggling into his arms, and held her tightly to his chest as he quickly walked down the steps into the pool where he unceremoniously dropped her with a splash. She sputtered to the surface with a fighting look in her eye, wet strands of hair streaming around her face. Determined to get even, she gave chase. Zack, as supple and powerful as a seal, slipped away, and in a strong Australian crawl, he headed for the deep cove and waterfall at the other end of the irregularly shaped pool.

“Bad move, buddy. Now I have you trapped.”

“Not a chance,” he returned as he submerged and swam underwater toward the other end again. As he passed, he grabbed Tori’s waist and pulled her under. This time he held her struggling, slippery body as he pulled the bow securing her bikini top, and when he had taken the prize, let her bob to the surface.

“That was not fair…”

“All’s fair in love and war…”

“Is this love or war?” she asked with a grin.

“I’m sure it’s going to be a little of both before all is said and done,” he said, his voice subdued. “But that’s another story, wench!” Zack felt his expression lighten, and he pulled Tori against the iron muscles of his chest.

His hard chest rubbed against her chilled nipples as he crushed her mouth in a breath-stealing kiss. Zack ran his hands down her sides until his fingers slid beneath the elastic of her bikini bottom, and in a flash he had taken that prize as well. He tossed both top and bottom onto the patio.

“Now you,” she whispered as her hands caressed his washboard abs, and she quickly divested Zack of the skimpy black bikini that rode low on his hips. Tori rubbed herself against him urgently as she wrapped her legs around his waist. “I can’t wait, Zack.”

Zack cupped his hands beneath her bottom and made his way to a secluded corner of the pool where the fronds of a low-growing palm hung over the water. Dappled sunlight made shifting patterns on their skin as he backed up to the side of the pool for balance. He buried his face in the soft mounds of Tori’s ample breasts, breathing in the intoxicating scent of sunlight, water, and woman. He eagerly engulfed the cold, engorged tip of one breast in his hot mouth. He pulled and worried the aching nipple until she cried out, and then he gave his loving attention to the other.

Zack lifted her body away from him for a moment, and her bereft expression tore at his heart as he lowered her slowly onto his straining cock.