Authors: Wynter Daniels
Sex advice columnist Dear Annie—aka Suzanne—shuns
relationships after growing up in a dysfunctional family. She takes care of her
sisters and her mother but refuses to indulge in pleasures of the heart. When
she meets a man who makes her toes curl, she’s terrified of letting him hang
around long enough for her to start caring about him.
All Alan wants is a chance, but the blonde beauty keeps
putting a time limit on their relationship. He charmed his way into her bed,
but now must convince her to let him into her heart.
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Dear Annie
ISBN 9781419939570
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Dear Annie Copyright © 2012 Wynter Daniels
Edited by Shannon Combs
Cover design by Syneca
Photography by Shutterstock.com
Electronic book publication March 2012
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Chapter One
Suzanne Weston reread the letter as she pondered how to
respond.
Dear Annie,
My boyfriend and I have been considering asking his
friend to join us for a threesome. I’ve always been attracted to the friend and
I’m afraid that having sex with him will awaken a dangerous passion inside me
that’s been brewing for a while. But I can hardly say that to my boyfriend.
Should I tell my boyfriend to find someone else for the ménage à trois or
should I take my chances?
Sincerely,
Confused in Connecticut
Suzanne stretched her back against the padded coffee shop
booth seat then placed her hands on the keyboard.
Dear Confused,
Sounds to me like what you’re afraid of is discovering th
at someone might turn you on more than your boyfriend. If
that’s the case, shouldn’t you explore that possibility? If you don’t, you
might always wonder what could have been. Don’t do anything that makes you
uncomfortable, but you know Dear Annie’s credo—if it feels good, go for it,
baby.
She sipped her iced latte then set the plastic cup on the
table. Glancing up, she noticed a tall, dark-haired guy making his way down the
aisle.
His aquamarine eyes were fixed on her as he walked right
into an elderly woman with a walker. “Oh God, I’m so sorry,” he told the lady.
His voice was deep as a trombone.
The woman shook off his apology. “I’m fine. I think you were
a little distracted.” She tipped her chin toward Suzanne. “She’s awfully
pretty.”
The man threw Suzanne a crooked smile that made her feel as
if she’d just downed a glass or two of champagne. After the older lady passed,
the man offered Suzanne his hand but knocked her coffee over in the process.
The flimsy plastic lid popped off and the thick, caramel-colored liquid spilled
over her laptop.
Suzanne’s heart seemed to stop. The screen went dead and she
let out a gasp. “No! Oh please, no.”
The man plucked a stack of napkins from the next table and
started mopping up the sticky mess. “I don’t know what to say. Sorry doesn’t
seem to cut it.”
That was an understatement. She poked the power button but
the machine refused to come back to life. “It was an accident.” An accident
that cost her hours of work on her upcoming Dear Annie columns, not to mention
the cost of a new computer. That was all she needed.
Just when she thought she was going to get her head above
water after paying her sister Laura’s college tuition payment and helping her
mother with her mortgage payment. She shook her head. Going even a few days
without a computer was out of the question.
“Look, there’s an office supply superstore a few blocks from
here. Let me buy you a new laptop.” He sat down beside her. The empathy in his
expression made her chest squeeze.
She set her hand on top of his and a zing of attraction rang
through her. “You don’t need to do that. It’s not like you purposely broke it.”
He shook his head. “I won’t take no for an answer. Plus I
have a friend who might be able to retrieve whatever’s on your hard drive. It’s
the least I can do.”
A glimmer of hope lightened her gloom. “I’ll tell you what.
If your friend can get my work off the hard drive, great. But I insist we go
halvsies on the new computer.”
Without a word, he stood then offered her a hand up. Again,
his touch started a riot of arousal inside her that spread to every nerve
ending. How could she say no when they had such obvious chemistry.
“I’m Alan,” he said as he gathered the soaked napkins and
the sticky cup.
“Suzanne.” She picked up her dead computer and wiped the
bottom. They left the coffee shop and Alan led her to a late-model pickup
truck.
He opened the passenger door and she brushed past him to
climb inside, breathing in his evergreen scent. Maybe she wasn’t meant to
finish writing her column today. Suddenly there was something—or someone—she’d
much rather spend the day doing.
* * * * *
Alan handed the cashier at the office supply store his
credit card despite Suzanne’s protests.
“We agreed we’d split the cost,” she said. Her lovely
pale-blue eyes sparked with determination.
“
You
agreed. I overrode you.” He had to stifle a
laugh when her jaw dropped.
Her eyes grew huge. “Over…overrode? Did you really say
that?”
Grinning, he signed the electronic signature pad and the
cashier handed him a receipt. He promptly gave it to Suzanne then grabbed the
computer box from the counter. “I did. Let’s go.”
She huffed, a gesture he found completely adorable.
Without waiting for her rebuttal, he headed toward the door.
Her heels clicked on the polished floor as she marched
behind him. “You seem to think you’re somehow in charge of this…this
transaction. I’m not one of those women who allows a man to control her. No
sir. I watched my father walk all over my mother until she finally threw the
bastard out. So don’t think just because you paid for my new computer, you own
me. You don’t. I’ll bet you’re used to making all the decisions just because
you’re big and obviously strong with all those…muscles and that deep voice. I’m
just speechless at your gall.”
He chuckled. “Obviously you’re not.”
She bristled as he let her in the truck. There was something
so feisty and fun about her. She was going to be a challenge. He didn’t want
their time together to end. “My computer geek buddy lives in Falls Church. Mind
if we stop for lunch on the way?” He shut the passenger door before she had a
chance to answer. He got behind the wheel. “What do you say?”
“Do I have a choice or are you going to make another executive
decision?” A hint of a smile played on her rosebud lips.
He turned toward her and slung his arm over the back of the
seat. “I’d never force a lady to have lunch with me.” He couldn’t keep his eyes
from roaming over her body—full, high breasts and small waist. And those legs,
Christ. Long, shapely, tan and made for sin. His pants grew decidedly tighter
in front. “But I might beg.”
Her slender neck bulged with a swallow. She parted her lips
and dropped her gaze to his mouth.
He slid a few inches closer. “Say I did beg. What would your
answer be?” He toyed with a strand of her blonde hair, wound the silky lock
around his finger.
She licked her lips. “W-what are you begging for?”
“I think it might have been lunch a few minutes ago. Now? A
taste.”
The softest moan slipped out of her. She moved toward him,
so close he could smell her vanilla scent, feel the heat of her breath on his
skin. He’d never experienced such a quick connection with a woman. Something
about her—or maybe everything about her—drew him like an oasis did a thirsty
desert nomad.
Need quickened his pulse as he covered her lips with his.
Then her hands were on his chest, his head, her fingers tangled frantically in
his hair. She opened to him and he seized the opportunity to plunder her mouth.
She tasted sweet, like coffee and chocolate and desire. God,
he couldn’t stop kissing her. Yet he didn’t want it to be just a kiss. Need
flared to life. His cock strained against his pants and he had to shift to
accommodate its growing size.
He broke from her lips and trailed his tongue down the
column of her neck, tasting the sweet, soft skin, nibbling when he yearned to
devour. But he didn’t want to rush through the moment. She deserved more and so
did he.
Forcing himself to back away, he broke free and grasped her
shoulders. “I live less than twenty minutes away.”
She shook her head and his hopes crashed to the ground.
Suzanne straightened her blouse, smoothed down her hair. She
cleared the dust from her dry throat. “My apartment is closer, just a few miles
from here.”
Alan nodded and the relief was evident in his smile. She
didn’t normally take home a guy she’d just met, but her hormones were screaming
for relief. It had been months since she’d indulged in a fling and she
instinctively knew this one would be amazing.
His bossy nature combined with his boyish charm and hulking
size made him a mass of walking contradictions. Nothing about Alan seemed
predictable. She loved for a man to keep her guessing, not that she kept any
around long enough to bore her.
Hell no. After watching her parents’ train wreck of a
marriage, all she was interested in was the here and now. “Take a right at the
end of the street,” she told him. “Here, the blue building on the corner.”
He parked around the back and she led him inside, a little
embarrassed that she lived in such a tiny place in not the best part of town.
But how was she supposed to help her younger sisters if she paid any more for
rent? She knew someday her column would be picked up by more newspapers and
she’d be able to afford a better apartment, maybe even buy a house.
All thoughts of her sisters flew out the window when Alan
wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her against the wall of muscles
that was his chest.
“Cute place. Not half as adorable as you, though.” He
nuzzled her neck and a pleasured shiver rolled over her skin.
“It’s a dump, but it’s home for now.”
He ran his hands up and down her back, inciting a needful
ache between her legs. He reeled her in for a blistering kiss that made her
knees weak.
“Bed,” she managed.
He lifted an eyebrow. “You’re sure? I don’t want to rush you
into anything.”
She smiled at his sweet gesture. “I’m a big girl. I know
what I’m doing and I know what I want.” The atmosphere between them grew even
more charged.
He followed her to the small bedroom and she wondered if
he’d fit on her bed or if his feet would hang over the mattress. Not that it
really mattered. He wouldn’t be staying long enough for it to bother him. She
wondered if she’d be bothered more than usual when he left.
Shoving aside the negativity, she faced him and started
undressing.
“Whoa. Slow down.” He took her wrists. “Let me help.”
She dropped her hands to her side as he unbuttoned her top
then slid it off her shoulders. Her nipples puckered and hardened under the
lace cups of her bra.
Alan sucked in an audible breath as he looked down at her.
He met her eyes, asking for permission to go on. She sat on the bed and he
kneeled on the floor facing her.
“Who’d have thought today would have turned out this way?
I’m sorry about your laptop, but in a way, I’m not.” He pressed a soft kiss to
the skin just above the front closure of her bra. Then unhooked the garment and
peeled away the fabric.
“Beautiful.” Cupping her right breast, he rolled the peaked
point between his fingers. A jolt of intense desire made her gasp.
Alan licked circles around her areola, getting closer and
closer to the needy erect point. Then he scraped his teeth over her taut flesh.
She moaned and sank her fingernails into his shoulders.
Ravenous cravings stormed through her. She eased herself
back onto the bed and waited as Alan stood then slowly opened his shirt, one
button at a time, his eyes never releasing hers. His chest and shoulders and
arms were everything she’d imagined and more—tan and cut. His strength and
power was evident in his imposing stance.
He reached for her, pushed her skirt up to her waist and
smiled down at her, turning her into a quivering mass of hormones. She caught
her bottom lip between her teeth, her breath ragged and her heart thudding
loudly.
Alan skimmed his big hands over her thighs. She bit back a
sigh at his gentle dominance. “I hope you didn’t have any plans the rest of the
day because I’m going to take my time with you. I want to see you come again
and again. And again.”
A squeak broke from her lips. She cleared her throat. “Um,
yeah, I’m free all day.”
He lowered his hulking form to her, settled half on top of
her, half next to her and kissed her deeply, thoroughly. Pushing the heel of
his hand between her legs, he rubbed her through her panties. Heat spooled
through her, from her core outward and inward, pulsing with a beat she knew
well.
The hard bulge in his pants shifted
along the side of her hip. She tried to twist toward it but Alan was completely
in control and he held her where he wanted her. He hooked the elastic string on
the side of her underwear and stole his hand underneath, against her skin. He
rolled her panties lower then ripped them right off her.
A calloused thumb strummed her cleft, right where she needed.
She fisted her fingers in his hair and moaned her longing. He stroked a deft
finger through her moist folds, sliding through the slippery confines. Then he
pushed deeper until he had two fingers inside her.
She arched against him, encouraging him farther inside. The
lush sensations were almost too much. Oh God, he’d found
The Spot
. She
bit back a gasp as she exploded in a whirlwind of ecstasy. Wave after wave of
joy crested as he stroked and rubbed and touched her exactly as she needed, as
if he’d lived in her head forever.
He used his clever tongue to carve a trail down her neck,
over her breasts. She whimpered with helpless need, her orgasm refusing to
subside. Finally, her climax ebbed, leaving her panting and breathless. “Whoa.”
“Not bad for the appetizer. But there’s a lot more to come.
I hope you’re hungry.” He scraped his teeth over her pebbled nipples, covered
her mound with his hand and continued to rub her. The pleasure never completely
died down before he’d brought her to the edge again.
He shifted so he was on top of her then slid his erection
over her, only his pants separating them. She tried to grab at his belt buckle
but he pushed her hands away. “Not yet, babe. I told you, you’ll have to be
patient.”
Suzanne had had her share of sexual encounters, but none of
the men seemed half as interested in her pleasure as Alan did.