Authors: Kate St. James
A Little Wild (38 page)
Yet the intense heat can’t burn away the doubt pestering the back of her mind. That the gap between their ages is too large, even for the most determined leap of faith…
Warning: Features a boy-next-door who won’t take no for an answer, more than one sexual fantasy (including some outdoor self-loving!), and a burning romance that proves age is just a number.
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Keeping Pace:
Josh took the corkscrew from me gently. “There is definitely an art in handling this task.” Fascinated, I watched him slice the foil around the cork and then dig the metal screw into the spongy plug. After a few quick twists, he pulled upward with ease, dislodging the cork.
The amazement must have shown on my face. Wine sommeliers and connoisseurs tended to be the only people I knew of who moved with such deft confidence. “I waited tables as an undergrad,” he said with a wink. “If a table ordered wine, they tended to tip bigger. I learned how to pour a bottle properly in a hurry.”
“I take it you’re no longer in school?” His confirmation would help me feel a little better. Despite the casual atmosphere we’d generated between us, his youth still taunted me.
“Grad school. Almost done.”
“That’s amazing.” And I meant it. My education didn’t go further than undergraduate schooling, despite my constantly telling myself I should return for a higher degree.
“Oh. I’m sorry… I should have asked…”
His sudden change of topic and subsequent confusion baffled me until I followed his line of sight. In my excitement, I’d forgotten the glass of wine sitting next to the telephone. Not far beyond it, the open bottle of wine I’d set there earlier told a story of its own. Now there were two bottles open. “Don’t worry. Good wine never goes to waste.”
“It looks like you were going to order dinner too, though.” Joshua looked chagrined. “I can’t seem to do any of this right.”
“Any of what?”
“It’s just me over there, and I was kind of wondering if maybe you’d care for some company.” He dropped his gaze, something on the parquet flooring suddenly needing his immediate scrutiny. “I mean, if you weren’t busy.”
My pulse began to race. I tried to put him at ease because I was touched by his boyish charm. “I’d love to, and since you brought the wine, dinner is on me. Take your pick from the menu, and we’ll place an order.”
Conversation flowed easily as we waited, which seemed odd to me. I thought there would be lots of stops and starts, all awkward.
By the time the food came, the bottle Joshua brought was empty. I can’t say who had most of it, but I couldn’t recall my glass ever being empty. Making my way to the door to pay the deliveryman took a slight bit of concentration on my part. I didn’t want to appear buzzed in front of Joshua, despite the very same being true. His gaze rarely left me, to the point I felt its heated caress as I walked away from him.
He made himself at home, opening the containers and sorting through my kitchen drawers after I placed the bags on the table. My mouth watered as we were assaulted by the scents of meat swimming in rich sauces and smoky char-grilled vegetables.
“So wait, you did all the work and they gave your project to someone else? What a slap in the face,” he said, continuing the conversation we’d had before we’d been interrupted by the doorbell.
“Exactly!” I don’t recall when I’d started telling him about Beth. Maybe sometime around when he’d asked what I did for a living. Tongue loosened with alcohol, I’d easily dished every bit of the office rivalry with him. I don’t know if I would have been so bold under other circumstances, but his attention made talking to him about it too easy.
“So what are you going to do about it?” He dished out the food onto plates, and settled into his chair.
I bit into an asparagus spear. “That’s the problem, I don’t really know. The PC thing to do would be congratulate her and take a back seat.”
We ate in silence for a few minutes, taking sips of wine between bites. Finally he said, “But you’ve worked hard on a project you’re passionate about.”
“And that’s why I’m tempted to
assist
.” I gave an exaggerated shudder as I said the last word.
Joshua laughed, then turned serious. “It wouldn’t make you less of a person to help the project succeed. It’s about the kids. Not about what’s going on between you and Beth.”
Of course he was right, but to hear him say it made something inside me melt. At once he didn’t seem as young as I’d thought only yesterday, but on par with any of my peers. Sure, some wrinkles around the eyes or a few strands of gray hair would have helped, but my uneasiness seemed to have vanished. “You think and act very much like an old soul. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Not at all,” I murmured.
My lids were heavy from our libation, and I chalked up Joshua’s even more vibrant appeal to having consumed more wine than I should have. I saw from the corner of my eye three empty bottles, which tattled on just how heavily we’d been drinking tonight. All of it caught up to me, and my head swam with luxuriant intensity. Unfortunately, that was also my signal. Once I started feeling this way, my inhabitations would soon fall by the wayside.
With both our plates cleared of food and the wineglasses truly empty, I pulled the uneaten containers closer. “It’s getting late, Joshua—”
“Josh. Please.”
“Josh.” I smiled. It felt lopsided. “I need to put these things away and get ready to face Beth in the morning.”
“Sure, I understand.” He put his knife and fork on the plate next to him. “But I hope we can do this again. You’re great company.”
“I’d like that.” And I meant it. It dawned on me that we’d spent most of the night talking about me, and I knew very little about him still.
I rose on unsteady legs, unprepared for when they refused to support me. Josh jumped to his feet, obviously in a much better state than I, and wrapped his arm around my waist. Without his support, I would have hit the floor hard. “Whoa. Steady there.”
My breasts pressed against his chest, our faces only inches apart. I smelled the remnants of the gourmet delivery surrounded by subtle hints of alcohol. Desire swelled within me, and I weakly fought it into submission, though it would not die without a struggle. I saw a hint of lust reflecting in his eyes and prayed I didn’t imagine it.
Josh’s gaze dropped to my lips before travelling to meet my eyes again.
No. Not imagined at all.
“You’re so young,” I said softly.
“Twenty-six. Not that young.”
Fifteen years my junior. A full generation between us. The realization didn’t stop me from wanting him to lower his face to mine and devour my mouth in a kiss.
He brought his mouth to mine, brushing it with the gentlest caress that sent a shiver rippling through me instead. I ached for more and released a soft whimper of protest when he didn’t give in to my wants. Intense green eyes searched mine before he said, “Not like this, Regina.”
The use of my first name brought the reality of this evening crashing into me. He didn’t understand.
This
was exactly how I needed it. How I wanted it. With this lonely life, I’d earned the right to throw responsibility out the window and let my id run rampant. I’d promised Patrick I would live. And I wanted to do so now.
I threaded my fingers into Josh’s short brown hair and brought his lips to mine. I opened my mouth against his, the urgency of connecting to him on a physical level driving me until I knew nothing else. It crossed my mind only seconds after our tongues connected that he might reject me. When he breathed into me, tasted me, that thought shattered.
Finding his unoccupied hand, I brought it to my breast, offering more than just a kiss to him.
“You’re tempting,” Josh muttered after breaking away. “So very tempting…but you’ve also been drinking.”
I licked his bottom lip. “I’m fully aware of what I’m doing.”
“I need you to be able to say that in the morning.” He kissed me again. “I won’t be satisfied with just one night.”
Guiding his hand beneath my shirt, I let him touch my bare skin. “But what an amazing one night it could be.”
A Little Wild
Kate St. James
She wants a piece of his rock. He needs her, rock steady, in his heart.
Tess Sheridan won’t let anything stop her from making partner at a prestigious law firm, especially her notoriously soft heart. The result? She’s a handful of clients away from getting her name on that brass plate. And she hasn’t had sex in over a year.
When her best friend dares her to test-drive her erotic fantasies with a gorgeous stranger, she figures, why not? Loosening the reins will give her inner nympho some well-deserved pampering without jeopardizing her career goals.
Zach Halliday has enjoyed his bad-boy reputation to the fullest, but now it’s time to leave the relative safety of the family corporation and prove he can stand on his own in the business world. That doesn’t mean he’ll pass up an opportunity for some incredible phone sex with the beautiful strawberry blonde he met in a bar.
When business overlaps with the bedroom, Zach sees something special in Tess and is determined to convince her he’s the man she needs, anytime, anyplace. She can backpedal, but come hell or high-climbing-wall, he wants the fascinating, complicated sex bomb in his bed. Over and over again…
Warning: This book contains explicit, melt-your-panties sex (phone and otherwise), and inappropriate use of wild cherry ice cream. Insights on rejuvenating your own inner nympho may be inspired upon reading.
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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.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
Cincinnati OH 45249
A Little Wild
Copyright © 2011 by Kate St. James
ISBN: 978-1-60928-624-8
Edited by Sue Ellen Gower
Cover by Scott Carpenter
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: November 2011
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