Reckless Exposure

An eRedSage Publishing Publication

This book is a work of complete fiction. Any names, places, incidents, characters are products of the author’s imagination and creativity or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is fully coincidental.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form whatsoever in any country whatsoever is forbidden.

Information:

Red Sage Publishing, Inc. • P.O. Box 4844 • Seminole, FL 33775

727-391-3847 •
eRedSage.com

Reckless Exposure

An eRed Sage Publication • All Rights Reserved • Copyright © 2009

eRedSage is a registered trademark of Red Sage Publishing, Inc.

Visit us on the World Wide Web:
http://www.eRedSage.com

ISBN: 978-1-60310-354-1 • 1-60310-354-6 • Reckless Exposure • Adobe PDF

ISBN: 978-1-60310-355-8 • 1-60310-355-4 • Reckless Exposure • MobiPocket ISBN: 978-1-60310-356-5 • 1-60310-356-2 • Reckless Exposure • MS Reader ISBN: 978-1-60310-357-2 • 1-60310-357-0 • Reckless Exposure • HTML

Published by arrangement with the authors and copyright holders of the individual works as follows:

Reckless Exposure © 2009 by Anne Rainey

Cover © 2009 by Rae Monet, Inc.

Printed in the U.S.A.

Book typesetting by: Quill & Mouse Studios, Inc. • quillandmouse.com

Reckless Exposure

* * *

To My Reader:

Bad boys from the wrong side of the tracks and small town good girls, there’s nothing sexier! Rand and Lucy are so different it’s crazy. Of course they belong together. I hope their erotic tale makes you sweat!

Reckless Exposure: Prologue

Rand had one rule. Never get involved with a model. For five years that rule had stayed unbroken. But this dark-haired beauty with the innocent eyes and sweet smile did things to him, wicked things. He groaned as she posed for his camera. There were times when rules needed to be tossed, and this was one of those times.

Later he’d probably kick his own ass, but for now all that mattered was spending more time with Lucy Flemming.

A newbie in the business, Lucy could easily end up devoured by the many vultures that inhabited the fashion world. Hell, they could chew her up and spit her out within weeks. Rand had a feeling about Lucy, though. She possessed a quality that would push her right to the top. It wasn’t just her naivety, her naughty girl grin or her killer legs. It was the intelligence in her eyes. There was more to Lucy Flemming than a pretty face, and that was something every modeling agency craved.

After Rand snapped the last shots and put the camera down, Lucy let out a long breath, as if she’d found the entire session diffi-cult. Why would a woman so unused to modeling be in
his
studio?

He had a reputation as one of the best fashion photographers in New York. He took on professionals, not little girls from Zanes-ville, Ohio.

Lucy pulled the ruby-red robe he’d laid out for her over her ala-baster shoulders. Rand found himself stepping closer, his curiosity getting the better of him. “So, George told me you wanted to get into modeling. I usually don’t photograph newbies, but for George I made an exception.”

Lucy smiled and Rand’s gut clenched. Jesus H, she was a beauty. The real thing, too, not some product of a surgeon’s knife.

After five years of staring at women through a camera lens, he could easily spot the surgically enhanced from the naturals. Lucy was a gift straight from heaven.

“Thanks. I really appreciate you seeing me on such short notice.” She tied the robe closed, hiding the bikini she wore. “I know about your reputation, Mr. Miller, and I’m grateful you took the time to see me tonight.”

“How do you know George, anyway? He’s not exactly a sociable guy.” That was putting it mildly. The millionaire fashion designer had all of two friends and they were both of the canine variety.

“Ah, now that’s a funny story.”

“I’m all ears.” And he was. She had his full attention. God, she was breathtaking. Her genuine laughter felt like sunshine on a cold winter day. And the habit she had of biting her lower lip was fucking adorable.

“George knew my mother.”

It shocked him that the arrogant, aloof George could know anyone on a personal level. “Really?”

“Yep. A few years ago, they were in the same hospital together.

My mother went in for gall bladder surgery, George was there for—well, maybe I shouldn’t say. It’s probably private.” Rand winked. “I promise not to tell.” He led her into the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge for each of them, and handed her one. She took it and chugged down half the contents.

His attention was so focused on the way her little pink tongue swiped at her lower lip that he lost track of what she’d said. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Colon surgery,” she repeated. “He went in to have some polyps removed.”

Rand had to fight to control his laughter. The stick up George’s ass must have been a little too much for him to handle.

Lucy placed the bottle on the counter that separated his studio from the kitchen area and sat on one of the stools. “I still don’t know how it started, but when I came to pick up mom, I met George. He’d been talking to my mother for a while. I think he was a little enamored of her. Mom tends to have that effect on men.

Anyway, before he left he gave me his card and told me if I was ever in New York and needed anything I should give him a call.” She stretched her arms. “And here I am.”

Something about her story didn’t add up. He stepped closer and propped an elbow on the counter. “George never leaves New York, ever. So how could your mother and George end up in the same hospital?”

Lucy slid her bottled water back and forth on the counter. “But George was in Ohio. His brother is a doctor there. He referred him to the surgeon who did the deed.”

That shocked him. “George has a brother?” Lucy laughed. “You sound so surprised. Did you think he was hatched in a lab or something?”

“That would be more believable.” Rand shook his head. “I had no idea George had any family at all, much less a brother. Just goes to show how well you know people, huh?”

She twirled the bottle and murmured, “I guess.” His hands itched to touch her. To untie the robe and feel the sat-iny skin of her belly against his fingers and lips. Rand cleared his throat and asked, “So, are you doing anything after this?” Lucy looked at the clock on the far wall. “It’s ten o’clock at night. What’s there to do besides go home and climb into bed?” He leaned across the countertop and whispered, “You’re in New York. This is the city that never sleeps, remember?” She leaned back, a subtle feminine retreat. Between her fast breathing and the way she kept biting that tempting lower lip, Rand recognized the signs of arousal. She might be hesitant, but she was still intrigued.

“Don’t remind me. I don’t think I’ve slept since I got here. The noise in my apartment building never stops.”

“You’ve been in New York how long?”

“A little over a month. I’m hoping to make some extra cash modeling so I can pay for college. I want to get into fashion design.”

“I know it’s rude, but how old are you?”

Lucy seemed to cringe at his question. “I’m twenty-two. I know, I know, I’m way too old to consider a real modeling career, but I have no intention of doing it after I finish college.” Thank God. Rand had started to wonder if she was underage.

She could be lying, but Lucy didn’t strike him as the type. Hell, at thirty years old Rand knew he had no business going anywhere near the innocent Lucy Flemming, but short of being run over by a bus, nothing was going to keep him from her. “You don’t look twenty-two. You look younger, and that’s all that matters in this line of work.”

“Thanks.”

He had to tamp down the urge to touch her, to taste her. A few inches closer and he’d be able to see for himself if her glistening lips were as delicious as they looked. He stepped back and forced himself to take it slow. “Want to go somewhere and grab a burger?” She propped her hand on her hip. “Are you trying to fatten me up?”

He tossed his empty water bottle in the recycling bin. “Go to the gym tomorrow and work it off. I promise it’ll be worth every ounce of sweat.”

“Throw in a beer and I’m there.”

Damn, he loved the way her mind worked. “Deal.” She got off the stool and started toward the dressing room. “Just give me five minutes!”

Rand watched her walk away, her heart-shaped ass beckoning him beneath the red satin. Christ, he wanted her. No way in hell was he letting her get away. Lucy Flemming had just been claimed.

She just didn’t know it yet.

Reckless Exposure: Chapter 1

Two Months Later

“Thanks for taking me to the movies. I know romantic comedies aren’t your thing, but I really had fun.”

“They’re usually not my thing, but I actually liked it. Don’t tell anyone, though. I’d lose my manly-man badge.” Lucy laughed. “Your secret is safe with me.” Rand held the door to the cab for her, slid in beside her, and gave the cabbie his address. Then he turned to her. “Good. Now, back to us.”

His softly whispered words slipped down her spine in a gentle caress. “Us?”

“Yeah. It’s been two months since we first met.”

“Yes.”

He placed his hand on her thigh and caressed her. She could barely see his midnight-blue eyes in the dark confines of the cab.

His shaggy sandy-blonde hair and muscled torso had her body spinning out of control. He was incredibly rugged and so very male. Her pussy flooded with heat every single time she looked at him.

“I care about you, Lucy. More than any woman I’ve ever known.”

Her heartbeat accelerated. “It’s the same for me.” He leaned toward her and Lucy’s flesh heated up at his nearness.

When his lips were mere inches from hers, he murmured, “I want you. I wanted to give you some space, I swear I did, but that just doesn’t seem to be the smart thing to do anymore.” It was now or never. In the two months she’d dated the wild man, he’d shown her things she’d never known existed. In her heart she knew he was way out of her league. He lived on the edge, always pushing the limits. When he wasn’t careening down the highway on his Harley, he was skydiving off some jagged cliff in Taupo, New Zealand. He was so worldly, and she was just a girl from Ohio. She’d never understood what he saw in her. But questioning it to death had gotten her exactly nowhere. It was time to act like a woman, not a child.

“I think the only smart thing to do is kiss me,” she murmured.

“Mmm, yeah, good idea.” He groaned, and then his lips covered hers.

Lucy melted. He was so tender, so warm, and she badly wanted it to last forever. As his tongue coasted over her lips, she let out a sigh and parted for him. He took his time, dipping and tasting her as if he had all the time in the world. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in deeper, edgy all at once for everything.

He groaned and suddenly his warm palm was against her bare mid-riff beneath her tank, inching upwards until the caress of his thumb had her breast vibrating with need. When she whimpered, Rand lifted his head, his gaze zeroing in on the cabbie. Lucy flushed with embarrassment. She’d all but forgotten they weren’t alone.