Heart & Soul: The Surprise (Heartland Series)

Heart & Soul – The Surprise

By Nicola C. Priest

Copyright © Nicola C. Priest

Other Books by
Nicola C. Priest

The
Heartland Series

Heart &
Soul: The Meeting

Disclaimer

All rights
reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from
the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

This is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either
the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Dedication

To the one person
I know I can always depend on to be there when I need them.
 
Thank you for your ongoing support and
friendship.

Dad. MYALYF

XXX

~
1 ~
 

Sam
couldn’t quite believe what was happening.  Her breath caught and her
pulse quickened as a storm of butterflies took flight in her stomach.  The
sheer beauty of the man who stood in front of her was astounding.  His
blue eyes twinkled as he made no attempt to hide his interest in her.
   
As he leant against the wall, he looked her
up and down, taking in every inch of her body.
 
The concentration on his face gave her the impression he was committing
her every curve to his memory.

Pushing
his jacket to the side, his hands nestled in his pockets as he crossed his feet
at the ankles.
 
It was a casual pose, yet
it still did delicious things to her insides as she felt the familiar heat
begin to spread throughout her body, heading south to the place she could only
dream he would touch.
 
After all the
fantasies she’d had about him in the last twenty four hours, he was here. 
He was actually here, with her, in an elevator.

Alone.

She
watched as he reached out and pushed a button on the console, the elevator
coming to a smooth stop.
 
He resumed his
relaxed position and Sam swallowed. He looked as sexy as sin and the
realisation she was alone with him had suddenly made her feel very self
conscious and hyper aware of his male potency. 

Sam
was drawn to him, no matter how much she wished she wasn't, she was, and for
the life of her she couldn’t fathom why.  She never reacted this way to a
guy, even the hot ones.
 
She’d met her
fair share of good looking men, some she’d been attracted to, others she
wouldn't give a second glance, but she’d always been able to control herself
around them, especially how her body reacted to them.

Not
this man.
 

Alistair
was different and her traitorous body never failed to let her forget it.
 
It would be easy for her to put it down to
his movie star status, but she knew that would be a poor excuse.
 
Deep down it was more than that.  There
was just something about him that she was finding increasingly difficult to
resist.
 

As
he continued to watch her, he saw him pull his cell from his inside jacket
pocket.
 
He spent a few moments sending
what looked like a text before sliding the device away, all the while acting
like she wasn’t there.
 
That soon changed
as his eyes continued their perusal and she began to see a hint of the
arrogance she’d heard so much about.
 
He
found her attractive, of that she was sure and he wasn’t doing anything to make
her believe otherwise.
 
His eyes were
taking in every aspect of her face, her body, lingering longer than was polite
on her chest, causing her to narrow her eyes slightly at his audacity.
 

Normally,
if a guy eyed up her chest like he was doing now, she would be offended.
 
There was nothing like holding a conversation
with a guy whose eyes were looking several inches lower than hers.
 
Guys that saw women as nothing but a pair of
boobs irritated her, yet with him, it gave her a thrill like nothing she’d felt
before.

Sam
began to take in his appearance for the first time, the sight of him only
serving to make her already laboured breathing almost non-existent.  He
was dressed in charcoal grey pants with a matching jacket.
 
The dark blue shirt he wore only made his
eyes look brighter and more vibrant.  Never before had she seen such a
stunning pair of eyes.
 
His ensemble
probably cost more than her monthly salary, but she had to admit, he looked
good enough to eat and downright dangerous to her health.

Sam
felt the familiar tingle in her fingers as she flicked her gaze upwards, seeing
his dark hair was swept back of his face.  Yet again she found herself
wanting to run her fingers through those silky strands and hold him tight
against her while his mouth plundered her own.

Sam
had always found kissing to be the best kind of foreplay. The right kind of
kiss could arouse her more than any other kind of oral stimulation.
 
She could imagine how Alistair kissed,
guessing he was the kind of guy who spoke volumes with just the briefest caress
of his lips.
 
Tender yet hard, soft yet
powerful, telling her how much he wanted her with just his lips and talented
tongue.
 

Sam
had to stop thinking like this.
 
It was
not doing her heart any good, not to mentioned completely destroying her
panties.
 
She was pretty sure they were
already ruined with the amount of moisture she could feel; moisture that had
begun to gather there since he'd stepped foot in the elevator.

Forcing
herself to calm her breathing, Sam knew she needed to say something. 
They'd only been in there for a few moments, yet she’d still not said a word to
him.  What could she say that didn’t sound inane and ridiculous?  She
couldn’t exactly tell him to drop to his knees, drag her pants down her legs
and use his tongue to fuck her pussy.

Could
she? 

The
way he was looking at her, his eyes several shades darker than when he'd
entered, had her believing he may just take her up on her suggestion.
 
Just the thought of the possibility caused an
involuntary shudder to wrack her body. She knew he'd seen her reaction as
his sensual lips curled into a small smile, revealing two deep dimples in his
cheeks.  He would have to have dimples wouldn't he? Her one weakness in a
man and he had to have them.  

God
this man is hot.  Say something Sam, before you make a complete idiot of
yourself.

“Mr
Lockwood.” 

Good
start Sam. 

She
inwardly chuckled to herself as he continued to watch her.  What was
running through that impossibly handsome head of his?  He was probably
trying to figure out what he was doing willingly getting himself stuck in an
elevator with a woman who was doing nothing but gawp at him, something she was
sure he was used to in his line of work.

He
remained silent as he shifted position and crossed his arms over his chest, the
movement causing the fabric of his jacket to stretch across his biceps. 
Sam forced herself to swallow, only now realising that her throat was bone
dry.  This man unnerved her like no other.

“It’s
good to see you again Samantha.  I had hoped I would, but I didn’t expect
it to be so soon.”

His
voice was just as deep and sultry as she remembered and it was doing wondrous
things to her insides, not to mention intensifying the tingle she’d felt
building between her thighs as soon as she’d clapped eyes on him again. 
He’d hoped to see her again?
 
They’d
barely said two words to each other when they’d met yesterday, what could she
have possibly done to make him want to see her again?

Probably the same
thing he did to you to make you want to see him again.

Silencing
her inner voice, Sam knew it would be easy to succumb to his charms; to let
herself get swept away in the sensations his presence created, but she also
knew it was something she couldn’t do, no matter how earth shattering she was
sure it would be.  She needed to pull herself together and behave
like the confident, independent woman she’d fought so hard to find again since
moving from New York.

"Really?
 
I can’t say I’d thought about it Mr
Lockwood."

As
soon as the words left her mouth, she felt the twinge of regret twist at her
gut. She was lying.
 
She’d done nothing
but hope to see him again since she’d left him at the hotel the day
before.
 
She was almost 100% certain it
had been him at the club last night and even though she hadn’t seen him, her
body had known without a doubt.

Sam
watched as he pushed off the elevator wall and took a step closer, a small
smirk on his lips.
 
Her comment had
amused him, and something in the way he looked at her told her he didn’t
believe her.  He was now only a foot away and Sam realised if she
stretched her arms out she would be able to touch him.  It would be so
easy for her to grab hold of that expensive jacket of his, pull him to her and
crush her lips to his.  

The
image of her doing just that sent a shot of pure heat through her body, halting
between her thighs as Sam shifted restlessly in her heels.
 
Trying to put some distance between them, she
found her back connecting with the hard steel wall of the elevator. She was
trapped, in a confined space, with a drop dead gorgeous man.  

The
possibilities were endless.  

Sam
could think of numerous ways that this scenario could play out but the only
ones filling her mind ended up with them wearing a lot less clothing than what
they wore now.
 
She felt her nipples
tighten at the thought and hoped that her reaction wasn’t obvious to his
perusing gaze.

Knowing
that she was taking a huge risk, she looked up at him.
 
As soon as their eyes connected, she knew her
initial assessment had been right.
 
Humongous mistake.  His eyes were almost black and for a brief
moment, she could have sworn he was holding his breath. Could he be as affected
by her and she was him?  

Whether
he was or not didn’t matter.
 
She was
definitely attracted to him, she couldn't deny it, didn't want to deny it.
 She knew what would happen if he so much as touched her; she would
surrender everything to him in a second, rules be damned, even if it meant
losing who she was in the process.

oOo

God
she was more beautiful than he remembered. It had been several hours since he’d
seen her at the club, but she'd been a fixture in his dreams all night.
 He'd had the best night’s sleep he’d had in a long time, not to mention
one of the most painful morning hard-ons since he'd been a teenager and hadn't
yet discovered the wonders of a woman's body. Sam was the physical embodiment
of everything he wanted in a woman and she was right here, standing in front of
him, watching him with those beautiful emerald eyes.

He
began to wonder what was running through that pretty head of hers, and what a
pretty head it was. As before, her makeup was simple, just mascara to emphasise
her bright eyes and a pale pink lip gloss adorned her soft lips.
 
He felt his breath catch as her tongue
flicked out and ran across the curve of her mouth.
 
It appeared to be an unconscious action as
her eyes were still fixed to his.
 
A
nervous reaction maybe?
 

He
wasn’t sure if the thought of him unnerving her was good or bad.
 
One thing he did know though, she’d been
lying when she’d said she hadn’t thought about seeing him again.
  
He’d always believed that if you really
wanted to know how a woman felt, just look in her eyes.
 
They responded involuntarily and they
couldn't be controlled.
 
Alistair knew
without a shadow of a doubt that his eyes told her how much he wanted her and,
judging by the now deep, green shade of hers, she wanted him just as badly.

He
didn’t care how obvious he was being as he let his eyes slide from her lips,
down to the creamy skin exposed by the open neckline of the red shirt she wore,
the silky material skimming over her breasts.
 
He had to hold in a groan as he saw the tight buds of her nipples
through her shirt.
 
Oh yeah, she was
clearly affected by him.
 
The question
was, what did he do about it?

His
head was screaming at him to reach out and touch her, to see if her skin was
really as soft as it looked.
 
Stretching
his fingers, Alistair fought the urge to run them along her cheek, down her
slender neck and along her collarbone.
 
Did she have any idea how much she affected him?
 
Taking a breath, but maintaining his
position, Alistair spoke.

"Why
Miss Westfield, you wound me, and please, call me Alistair."

When
her position didn't shift and her expression didn't change, he began to wonder
if she had heard him. That was until he saw her lips begin to curve into a
slight smile, one that he could tell she was fighting to hide.