Lost in You: Petal, Georgia, Book 2 (24 page)

Yet the deception leads them in an unexpected direction, where their shared daily hells are erased by nights of heavenly distraction. It’s not supposed to be real, but once the gates are opened, there’s no denying they’ve found in each other a little bit of Paradise.

To break free of the past and face the future, though, will take more than temporary pleasures. It’ll take putting their hearts on the line.

Warning: Tortured hero with a guardian-angel complex, grief-stricken heroine willing to sacrifice everything for family. Break out the tissues, this trip to the ranch is a heartbreaker on the way to the HEA.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Rocky Mountain Angel:

He gave her a confused look. “What are you doing?”

She shook out the sturdy picnic cloth, placing the cushiony fabric on the grass beside where he sat. “You’re still tense. Take off your shirt and I can at least massage out a few of the knots.”

Gabe eyed the blanket warily, then nodded, rising on his knees to strip off his shirt and undershirt.

Allison pulled a small bottle of hand cream from her purse triumphantly. She dropped the bag to the side and turned to deal with Gabe.

Oh damn. He’d laid himself out on the blanket like she’d asked, resting his head on his hands. The position showed off his muscles beautifully—shoulders, biceps, and the firm bands that wrapped around his torso down along his waist.

A slick of sexual tension stroked her spine. A massage might help get rid of his tension, but it was going to increase hers.

“You ready?”
Gack
. Her voice sounded far too high-pitched and unnatural.

“Yeah, I guess.”

She knelt at his side and warmed up the cream before putting her hands on his shoulders.

For the next fifteen minutes Allison’s mind raced as she worked her hands over Gabe’s back. Her thumbs along his spine, fingertips digging into the hard bulges that slowly relaxed. She slipped lower, wondering why she was doing this to herself. What had started as an offer from a friend to another was making all kinds of more-than-friends ideas pop into her head.

No. They’d made it clear that this was about helping each other. The little bits of teasing they’d done at the start of their time together—she’d made sure that was put aside. Just ignored any of the sexual attraction she felt for the man.

But right now? Good Lord, she was getting turned on.

She’d straddled him shortly after she began, and now she sat on his legs, the edge of his jeans the barrier line for “go no farther”. Only she wanted to. Wanted to pull down the fabric and let her hands wander all over his warm skin. Wanted to press hard into his ass muscles and curl her fingers around his naked flesh.

Wanted what she shouldn’t want.

She swallowed and tried to ignore the lust. Focus instead on the sights and sounds around them.

Only the rush of the river and the nearby trees weren’t nearly as mesmerizing as his body. She smoothed her palms all the way up to his shoulders, wishing she were brave enough to lean down and set her teeth to his skin.

Suddenly she was no longer sitting on his thighs, but lying on her back as he loomed over her.

It was the little noises she made that finally broke his control.

He’d been riding hard on his frustrations as much as possible, not wanting to punish her for what Ben had stroked to a high pitch. Holding on to her and accepting her comfort had seemed like an innocent thing. Until she put her hands on him and all that adrenaline was directed away from anger at his impossible life. Now the fervour was firmly centered on his cock, and she was the reason for the change of locations.

He held her trapped, her dark hair spread out on the blanket as he examined her face for a sign he was about to get rejected. Little puffs of air escaped her lips, her chest rising and falling way too fast for someone who’d simply been giving a chaste rubdown.

She stared up, pupils dark and wide. Their bodies tight together, his groin solid to hers in a way that couldn’t possibly let her fail to recognize the state he was in.

She licked her lips, and this time he was the one who groaned in frustration. In need.

“Tell me no,” he whispered.

She caught his head in her hand, fingers threaded through his hair to hold him in place. “No.”

Then she dragged him toward her and lifted her lips.

The connection between his brain and his body shut down for the second time that day. He took the kiss she offered. Took her mouth and lips, their teeth knocking for a moment as they both went a little wild. Frustration, fire from whatever source, they both took and gave and god
dammit
if it wasn’t exactly what he had to have right then.

Allison squirmed, opening her thighs wider to let him settle tighter between her legs. He matched his hips and his tongue, pulsing slower now, making firm enough contact to tease them both. She dragged her hands through his hair and down his back, fingernails scraping over the territory she’d been rubbing so enthusiastically earlier.

When she clutched his ass, planted her feet on the ground and rose to meet him, he was caught wanting to take this way further than it should go.

He rolled them slightly, breaking their kiss. Keeping her against his body but pressing his lips to her face, to the hollow of her neck. “I should stop.”

“We should stop. Oh God, yes, Gabe…
ahhh
…” She held on too tight for her words to push him away. He sucked on her neck again, and she jerked as if he’d put a brand to her skin.

He smiled before licking the sensitive spot. “I found a hot button.”

She had thrown a leg over his thigh, keeping their groins in contact. “I think my entire body is a hot button right now.”

Lost in You

Lauren Dane

He’s faced down every demon…except one fast-talking Southern girl.

Petal, Georgia, Book 2

It hasn’t been easy for Joe Harris to live down his not-so-honorable past, but the military made him a better man. He’s determined to make up for past mistakes, starting with coming home to care for his ailing father.

Things are going as planned until his best friend’s little sister comes barreling into his life. Funny, quick talking, smart, beautiful, she’s a temptation he tries—and fails—to resist.

When Beth Murphy hears Joe is back in town, she makes sure she’s the first on his welcoming committee. Though he tries to pretend he’s gruff and unworthy of her, she sees the man who spoils his dog, who touches her like she’s precious. Cherished. But there’s one wall she can’t break down—the truth about what’s happening at home.

On the night the nature of his father’s illness becomes painfully, publicly apparent, Joe does the right thing—push Beth as far away as possible. But if he thought she’d go away quietly, he’s about to learn she’s made of sterner stuff.

Warning: Slow-talking, sexy mechanic with a drawl, looking to get a Murphy right out of her underpants. Quick-talking woman who knows what she wants and has a weak spot for the aforementioned slow-talking mechanic and his dancing dog. Bad words. Polly Chase behind the wheel again.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Lost in You

Copyright © 2013 by Lauren Dane

ISBN: 978-1-61921-285-5

Edited by Anne Scott

Cover by Kendra Egert

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: March 2013

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