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“Why don’t you just grab a bottle and bring her over here? I’ll rock her and you can be my stand-in. We’re helping Erin figure out sexual logistics for her book,” Linda said.

“That’s not going to work. Danny’s too tall,” Paul added loudly.

Good god. She had really wanted to keep everything quiet. She needed to make sure her friends knew that and didn’t tell another solitary soul. Not until the book was polished, submitted and hopefully accepted.

“You’ll have to pretend to be me, baby,” Linda said, looking at her husband as she slid her legs from around his hips to stand on the floor. “Danny can be the hero.”

Paul reached over and pulled the pages out of Erin’s hand.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No way. As soon as the face-to-face scene is done it says the earl…blah, blah, blah…kisses heroine into senselessness. Bends her over the side of the bed…blah, blah, blah…her pale, heart-shaped ass—I like that, Erin. Great imagery. Here! I knew it had to be leading quickly to her proceeding to take ‘every glorious inch of his hard, throbbing cock’.”

Paul shoved the pages in Erin’s direction and offered his wife a mock scowl.

“I’m not bending over in front of your brother. We both know he didn’t get laid on his tour of Tokyo. He sees a nice ass, male or female, and he’s likely to drop the cloak of conservatism and get his freak on.”

Erin smiled and slid off the bed. It was clear the choreography was over for the night. But for a second she thought, strangely enough, about Linda’s brother getting his freak on and what that might entail.

“No
no
no
,” Linda said into the phone. “Don’t bounce her. I
did
tell you Erin was writing a book. You probably had your ear attached to that damn
Crackberry
. I’m playing the sexy heroine and Paul’s an English lord who’s about to breach my maiden hymen.”

“It’s a maiden
head
,” Erin groaned but Linda ignored her.

“No, smartass, the heroine hasn’t given birth to a howling toddler,” Linda said hotly into the phone. “If that were the case, Daniel, her
freakin
’ cherry wouldn’t be intact, now would it? My literary virginity is still there, Erin, right? Her ladyship hasn’t been doing every Mr. Darcy in sight, has she?”

“Oh my god. Just tell Danny I’ll meet him at the front door,” Erin said, hurrying from the room.

She heard Linda’s voice trail off. “It’s an
erotic
romance…”

Erin rounded the corner of the foyer when she heard the doorbell chime. Danny must have been walking and talking at the same time to traverse the expanse of lawn that separated their homes so quickly. She opened the door to find Laurel at eye level, thumb in her mouth, tear stains on her chubby cheeks and her other hand grasping her bottle. Danny was holding her against his chest, his chin resting atop her blonde head.

“I’m here with the ‘secret baby’ delivery,” he said in a smooth voice that sent an unexpected jolt through Erin’s body. She looked up into his twinkling green eyes and took a step backward, heart hammering. “That is what they call it, right? In those stories? When a baby shows up out of nowhere?”

When the
hell
had he become so
freakin
’ sexy? She’d just seen him a little less than a month ago, for shit’s sake. He’d been dressed in khakis and a loose polo shirt. His garb had all but screamed “tee time at two o’clock”. But now, wearing a worn T-shirt and snug, faded jeans, he seemed a hell of a lot more approachable and even more attractive.

Holy shit!
She’d never had the urge to actually check out her friend’s sibling—not in a lustful way, at least. Not in a manner that had her thinking how wonderful it would feel to have him back her up against the wall and press the bulge of flesh his jeans were cradling to the tiny pulses that had begun to throb at the juncture of her thighs. He’d probably rock in the sack.

Cougar alert! Cougar alert! Cougar alert!

There it was. That’s what this was all about. Her unusual reaction was simply the result of the ramblings on the internet dating forum where she had been secretly lurking for the past three months. A little acorn of an erotic idea being planted in very fertile imaginations. Just because the others yearned to fulfill their fantasies of sex with younger men didn’t mean Erin would. Or could.

Why the hell not?

Because as brave as she’d been, more than a little of her self-esteem had been shattered with the divorce. It was so much easier to turn her attention to writing instead of to real men. The men in her stories weren’t shitheads. They didn’t cheat on their wives or roll over and fall into an immediate deep sleep after perfunctory sex. While they did tend to get her juices flowing, they weren’t flesh and blood. Not like the man standing before her.

He shifted Laurel to one arm and offered his hand. “Nice to see you again, Erin. Sorry for the interruption.”

Uh-huh. Right. The interruption.
The interruption by a totally different Daniel than she was accustomed to. She couldn’t help herself, it was terribly rude she knew, but she let her gaze drift down his long body and up again. When she reached his face, his smile had tightened.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, shaking his hand. It was warm and he gave her fingers a little squeeze that had her watching him closer. “You look so much different than the last time I saw you.”

“At Laurel’s party,” he said, tilting his head at a sexy angle.

He remembered
. Erin found the fact odd. He’d barely spoken to her. He had seemed more interested in visiting with his friend.

“Yes. At the party,” Erin said, motioning for him to come inside. He handed Laurel to her and walked a few steps into the foyer and then turned.

“Do I look better? Or worse?” he asked, sticking his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “I’m still a little jet lagged.”

Jet lagged? Where the hell were the dark circles under the eyes? The overall look of exhaustion?

No. He didn’t look anything except totally sexy. Erin’s eyes dropped to his waistband. If only the top few buttons of those jeans were undone, he’d give any one of the guys posted on the dating site a run for their money in the yum-o-
licious
department.
Dear god!

“Y-you look good, Danny.”

“Wow,” he said, pulling his right hand out of his pocket and running it slowly up his long torso until it covered his heart.

Erin’s gaze followed the journey and met his hot gaze.

“Just good? That hurts, Erin. It really does.”

She could tell he smiled by the way the lines around the corners of his eyes deepened, but she was so hung up on the way he’d said her name. How it sounded like a soft caress. How a stab of desire shot through her body.

“Y-you look great,” she said, clearing her voice when it threatened to squeak. “Danny.”

Could he hear her heart thumping? He must have because he gave her a huge grin and she found the wherewithal to walk toward him. Laurel waved her free hand, brushing it against Erin’s head a few times before laughing loudly, sticking the bottle into her mouth and sucking furiously.

“The munchkin refused to eat. Apparently she likes you better than me. You look great too. I like the shorter hair,” he said, brushing the strands that Laurel had disrupted behind Erin’s ear. He paused, ran the pad of his thumb against the bottom of her lobe. Inadvertently, she was sure, yet she couldn’t contain the shiver that floated down her spine.

“I just had it trimmed a little. For the conference I went to.” Small talk. That was good. A lot better than holding his niece while thinking how good it would feel if he wrapped his palm around the back of her neck and pulled her in for a long kiss.

“Ah, the writing one. In Ohio, right?”

She stared at him, making a concentrated effort not to allow her mouth to drop open in shock. “How did you—”

“It’s a gift,” he said with a quick wink. “I tend to pay attention to the small stuff when Linda or anyone else is talking. You never know when some tiny little detail will help you out down the road. Get you a little advantage. Let you—”

“There you are, my precious one.” Linda’s voice put a stop to whatever else he was about to say. She took Laurel from Erin’s arms and continued to coo. “After all these years, doesn’t Uncle Danny know what a sweet little lady needs to make her happy?”

Erin shot a sideways glance at Danny, shocked to find him staring straight at her and not their goddaughter.

“I know exactly what a lady needs, Linn. I bounced her a little bit. Up and down. Over and over. That generally works. But for once it didn’t seem to satisfy.”

What the hell was going on?

She was either delusional or her friend’s brother—her friend’s tall, toned and suddenly sexier-than-anything brother—was flirting with her.

Her!

“Well, she’s content now. That’s all that matters. I love it when she’s blissful.”

“A little bliss right now would be perfect,” Danny added, his gaze hitting Erin from head to toe and every point in between.

“I’m sorry she was a handful,” Linda said, totally missing the byplay. Erin was thankful for small miracles. She wasn’t sure what Linda’s reaction might be if Erin told her she was having impure thoughts about her brother. She knew for a fact her friend was rabidly protective of her twin when it came to matters of the heart. Or even matters of the penis.

Erin had been on the eavesdropping end of more than a few of Linda’s sisterly telephone conversations. That thought was sobering. Danny might not be a player, per se, but the man wasn’t lacking in companionship. Not at all.

“Hey, Dan-o.” Paul joined them in the foyer, Erin’s manuscript and tape player in his hands. “You’re able to placate most of the movers and shakers in the business world but one two-year-old proves to be your downfall? This totally sucks. Linda and I were just getting to a good part in the literary action.”

“Sorry, Paul. I’ll make it up to you.” Danny laughed.

“Make it up to the author,” Linda suggested in a light tone. “She’s the one who has the vested interest in whether the earl is a god among men or just your everyday run-of-the-mill British
horndog
who blows his load in twenty seconds flat.”

Erin shot her friend a glance, about to tell Linda she had a gift with words when Laurel dropped her bottle then immediately hurled the contents of her stomach in an arc that projected through the air and onto the marble floor. Then the howling began.

“Oh my god,” Linda said in an apologetic tone.

“Oh, fuck! Erin, I’m so sorry. Here.” Paul shoved her manuscript and the player into Danny’s hands and looked around helplessly.

“Paper towels,” Linda said softly in an attempt to quiet Laurel.

“I’ll get them,” Erin said, hurrying to the kitchen. Paul was on her heels and took the roll from her hands.

“Can you get me a bucket of hot water and an old cloth? That stuff can eat straight through grout, I swear it can. Oh shit, Erin,” Paul groaned. “She got some on your sweater. You need to soak that, babe. Pronto.”

Erin looked down at her arm and shook her head. “It’ll be fine. Really.”

“No. Get the bucket then hit the laundry room. I’ll clean the floor. Seriously.”

“Paul,” Linda’s voice yelled from the other room. “She got some on the
Aubusson
.”

“Holy shit,” Paul muttered. “Rug cleaner too. Stat!”

“It’ll be fine.” Erin laughed. There was a time she’d have flipped over the thought of anything marring any surface of her home. But age and the dissolution of her marriage had helped her appreciate what was really important in life.

Linda sailed through the kitchen archway and tried to grab the paper towels from Paul’s hands.

“I had Danny take her home. Don’t worry, Erin. Paul’s amazing with stain removal. Let me help,” Linda said.

“Go home, honey. You know how she gets after this. If we ever want your brother to sit for us again, we can’t let him see the hellion that his niece truly is. I’ll get this.”

“Paul and I will get it done in no time, Linda. Go on,” Erin urged.

“I’m sorry we messed up the night,” Linda said.

“You didn’t. It was great. You guys helped me a lot,” Erin said, giving her friend a quick hug. They’d definitely assisted with the writing, but equally as important, they’d inadvertently presented her with inspiration if she decided to try her hand at an older woman and younger man tale. She could probably craft one. With the right inspiration from the right guy.

She laughed aloud at the ridiculousness of
that
thought and thanked her friend again.

“You actually helped more than you’ll ever know.”

Chapter Two

Erin couldn’t wait to get on to the forum. She’d been a lurker but maybe tonight she’d be daring and join in the conversation. It was all that preoccupied her thoughts while she and Paul were performing clean-up duty. She had bid him farewell on the heels of promising an immediate soaking of her sweater and, true to her word, she had done just that, not bothering to throw on another top before heading for her office.

There was every chance that nothing would come of her tossing out a comment that fate finally threw a younger man in her path. The looks Danny had given her were enough to convince her he might be interested. Erin had vacillated between rationalizing those looks as mere delusion due to his tiredness and the unlikely case of him actually wanting to hook up. She already knew what the ladies would say so her next hurdle would be figuring out how to meet him again if that was what she truly wanted. In a place conducive to seduction. Without a puking two-year-old dangling between them.

Erin laughed and powered up the laptop and signed in. The forum was always busy on Sunday nights. She wouldn’t be lacking suggestions on the five “Ws” of research. Who, what, when, where and why. She knew for a fact there would be a follow-up “H”—how did it happen? Followed by the sixth “W”—which positions were involved? The women were brutally frank.

The sensor-activated light attached to the back corner of the house flicked on and Erin typed away, not giving it a thought. She wouldn’t be sidetracked by one of the trash-raiding raccoons that was once again making its way toward her recently secured garbage bins.