STORY EXCERPT

Janice Dedrick was next. Butterflies flitted about in her stomach. She questioned her own sanity. Whatever had possessed her to volunteer for this auction, even if it was for a good cause? The lights dimmed and the announcer said her name.

“Go on, Janice.” The coordinator gave her a gentle push. I’ll never put myself in this position again. She took two steps onto the stage and a spotlight hit her full force. A murmur rose from the crowd. The light followed her as she slowly walked across the platform to the catwalk.

Not being able to see the audience because of the lowered lights gave her the sensation of being lost in an unfamiliar place. Hundreds of eyes looking at her, but she didn’t know who they were. Her skin prickled with uneasiness.

“One hundred dollars,” the first bidder spoke out.

Finally, he’d have a chance to make her notice him. He’d win the date and take her for a lovely dinner. She’d look into his eyes and realize, as he had many years ago, that they were destined for each other. He’d have her full attention.

The emcee encouraged other bids. Janice tried to ignore the bidders and turned to walk back toward the stage.

“Five hundred,” a faintly familiar voice spoke with authority. But it couldn’t be Drake. He was miles away, doing whatever it was he did.

“Seven-fifty,” the first bidder said.

The man leaned forward to see who had dared to bid against him. The other bidder would ruin the perfect, beautiful plan he had to seduce the fascinating Janice. His hands curled into tight fist.

Shocked by the high bid, Janice tried to see who had bid, but the lowered lights hid his identity.

“One thousand dollars.” Total silence after that.

“Going for one thousand dollars,” the emcee said.

“Five thousand.”

There, he’d been pushed to his limit, but that ought to shut up the tall, dark man to his right. Who was he? He’d find out and make him rue the day he dared to try and win Janice, his Janice.

Both voices sounded familiar. One more so than the other. Janice was almost certain the higher bidder was Drake Terrell. But the other, she couldn’t quite place.

“Ten thousand,” said the man she suspected was Drake. His firm, decisive tone was meant to discourage the other bidder.

“We have ten thousand dollars bid by the gentleman standing to my left,” the emcee spoke, shock evident in his voice. “Going once, twice, and you have bought a dinner date with our delightful Janice Dedrick.”

Janice practically ran off the stage. Her face was hot and must look as red as a lobster. The other women crowded around, congratulating her on earning so much money for the hospital. But all Janice saw was Drake’s mocking smile the last time they’d met, and his words echoed in her head.

“I’m a determined man,” he’d said. “Someday, some way, you’ll give in and go on a real date with me. Those foursomes with our best friends don’t count.” Then he’d bent low and whispered, “I want you all to myself.”

She had no doubt Drake had bid that ridiculous sum of money. She’d avoided him as much as possible this past year. Ever since she’d met him at her best friend, Samantha, and his best friend, Jackson’s, home. She wasn’t certain why she didn’t want to date him. The man was handsome and rich, but he had a reputation for being a playboy, the last kind of man she needed to fall for. Perhaps her avoidance was a natural defense mechanism.

His determination had won out. She was obligated to let him take her on a dinner date. Still, ten thousand dollars seemed like an exorbitant amount even for him.

She wondered who the other man was that bid for her. She’d probably never know.

Janice changed into comfortable jeans and a sweater, excused herself, and hurried out the side exit. She’d parked her car two rows over. As soon as she got close, she saw Drake leaning negligently against her car door. He didn’t move aside. Just gave her that lazy smile that always kicked her heartbeat up a notch.

“I decided seeing you tonight and arranging our date in person was preferable to the telephone.” He glanced around the dark parking lot. “You shouldn’t walk to your car alone.”

“I know. Tall, dangerous men might be waiting in the shadows.”

He ducked his head toward her. “You think I’m dangerous?”

“I’m certain you could be.”

“What do you fear I might do to you?” His tone had gone low and seductive.

Steal my heart. “Nothing,” she said firmly. “I’ve taken karate. No one will mess with me.”

“Don’t be overconfident.” Without seeing him move, he had rolled, swung his arms, and held her tight against his hot body.

“See. At this point, I have you at my mercy. Go ahead, try to escape.” He whispered the taunting words in her ear.

She tried to head butt him, kick him, all the moves she’d been taught, but it was too late. He had her totally controlled. She felt his hard arousal against her buttocks.

Tipping her head to the side and back, he brushed his mouth across her lips. When she opened her mouth to protest, he switched her around where she faced him. He still held her body clamped tight against his, as his tongue slipped between her lips to caress the soft interior.

One of his hands slid down her back and held her buttocks firm, keeping her body snug against his cock. He raised his head. His dark, mysterious eyes searched her face. “I’ve wanted you since I saw you that day at the top of the plane’s steps, when you arrived at Jackson’s ranch. I intend to have you. And you’ll want me, too, and beg me to take you before I do.”

She stomped his foot. “When hell freezes over.”

“They’re expecting a blizzard.”

ADULT EXCERPT

They both agreed to skip the restaurant meal and head to her house. Their clothes started coming off just inside the door. By the time they entered her bedroom, they were naked.

Drake grabbed a condom from his jeans pocket and threw it on the bedside table. Janice waited beside the bed. He stopped to take a long, leisurely look at her. He started at her toes, painted pink, up her long, shapely legs, and then his eyes lingered at the apex between her thighs. His exploration continued over her flat tummy to her beautiful, full, breasts. Finally, he got to her flushed face. Her hazel eyes looked more green today.

She licked her rosy lips, and opened her arms. He held back for a second longer. Hunger rushed through his body. His cock pulsed with the desire to sink inside her hot pussy. He took two steps, and he was a breath away from being right against her skin. Neither touched each other. They were connected only by the smoldering lust shimmering in their glazed eyes.

He wasn’t sure he wouldn’t explode into a thousand pieces when she did caress him. Leaning down, he ran his tongue over her lips. She opened and he stroked along the soft, inner contours of her sweet mouth. His hands cupped her breast and his thumbs rubbed across the pebbled nipples. She sighed into his mouth.

Still she held herself just that tiny bit away as he licked, tasted, touched her wonderful, smooth, velvety body.

Janice took a tiny step back. Her sudden change in position had him looking at her, wondering what she wanted. She slid straight down in one smooth move, cupped his balls, and took his cock deep into her warm mouth. A jolt of sheer electricity shot from his cock to his head. “Janice!”

She didn’t stop what she was doing. Her mouth licked his cock, sucked on him, and gently caressed his balls. Hot pleasure rolled in waves from his feet to head. She ran her tongue around the ridge of his cock and licked the drop of liquid from the tip. Her tongue slid along the underside, leaving a trail of fire behind her.

He gently pulled her up and moved her back until her legs met the bed. She sat and scooted to the middle. His breath caught at the picture she made lying against her gold bedspread. Her fiery hair glistened, and her porcelain skin took on a golden hue.

“You are magnificent.” Drake crawled onto the bed and spread her legs apart. He bent and nuzzled the hair between her legs. With his fingers, he gently separated the wet, pink folds of her pussy and ran his tongue across her clit.

“Sweet-smelling, and sweet-tasting.” He tasted and nibbled along her lower lips. Heat swept along his nerve endings and his cock hardened even more.

Her body bowed, and she moaned, sending desire slashing through him. His cock pulsed with impatience to be deep inside her. Still, he waited, watching her face flushed with heat, feeling the slight tremble in her body, and enjoying the lush mounds with rosy tips heaving with her gasps of pleasure. The picture of her in complete abandonment spiked his hunger to ravenous heights.

Moving up her body, he settled where he could see, taste, and tantalize her breasts. He licked around her areola, took a nibble at the tip, and then suckled her breast.

“Drake, go in me.” She moaned and moved restlessly under him. Her soft mound rubbed against his almost painful erection, arousing his desire to a frenzied level. When he reached down and rubbed his finger against her nub, she rose against him and yelled his name. His control broke.

He struggled getting the damn condom to go on. Sensations of heat and hunger fueled his craving. He stared into her eyes as he pulled her legs wide apart. Finally he sank into her. Her tight, wet, hot pussy immediately clamped around him. Pleasure soared through him. She raised her body, seeking to be even closer. Her head thrashed from side to side. He quit thinking. All his awareness focused on the intensity of his enjoyment. Her sweet moans and movements inflamed his arousal into a roaring fire. He felt like a marauding conqueror.

Her hot, slick pussy clenched his supersensitive cock repeatedly. The pressure built and built, his breath came in raspy gulps, and then she put her legs up and around his waist and had his body exploding in pleasure.