Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (153 page)

Mason pulled her in and hugged her, awed, grateful and completely in love.

And like that the answer to the fertilizer mix came to him.

“Do you have a pen?” he asked.

She pulled back, not looking a bit surprised. She reached into her jacket pocket and handed him a felt tip. Then she pushed her sleeve up.

He grinned at her and quickly jotted down the notation.

“Hey, Lauren,” Mason said as his friend joined them. “You’re going to have to grab a cab.”

“You’re going to have sex in the limo?” she asked with a groan. “Come on. It’s only like twenty minutes to the hotel.”

“That’s twenty minutes I don’t want to waste talking with you about the press conference and Haiti,” Mason told her.

“I am a very good friend,” she informed them both. Then she gave them a wink and headed after Ryan McDonald. No doubt to talk the young press secretary into giving her a ride home.

“Please tell me you’re not wearing panties,” Mason told Adrianne as they slid into the backseat of the limo.

“A thong,” she told him with a giggle.

“I can work with that.”

“I brought you a present though,” she said, reaching into her bag. She pulled out a jar of caramel sauce.

He went from aroused to ready in three seconds. “I didn’t think I could love you any more than I already did.” He took the jar from her. “But in this moment, I do.” He unscrewed the top and dipped a finger in. “Let’s see some skin, babe.”

She shrugged out of her jacket and started to unbutton her shirt. A minute later, he was pulling the cup away from her breast—where he fully intended to start with the caramel—when an entirely new equation popped into his head.

“No,” he groaned, letting his head fall back against the seat.

Adrianne laughed lightly. “It’s been a few days. There’s a lot to shake loose.”

“Where’s the pen?” he asked, licking the caramel sauce off his finger so he could write.

She held it up. He took it with a sigh and uncapped it. “You better keep undressing. This is a big one.”

She shifted and moved to straddle his lap. “I know.”

He couldn’t believe it was all coming together like this. Except that he could.

He started writing as she undressed, scribbling notations he hoped he could read later over her stomach. She unhooked her bra and let it slide down her arms, obstructing his view. He switched locations to her right breast.

“Good enough,” he said when he had the basic idea down. He’d remember the rest. Or not. He really didn’t care once Adrianne dipped her finger into the caramel and swirled it around her nipple. He took the hard, sweet tip in his mouth and in that moment wasn’t sure he could even remember how to spell Haiti.

Adrianne got rid of the caramel jar and tangled her fingers in his hair as he sucked harder, arching into him and moaning.

“I love you so damned much,” he told her gruffly.

“Show me.”

She lifted up off of his lap and quickly undid his belt buckle, pants button and zipper. She pulled his throbbing erection from his underwear, rolled on a condom and then reached under her skirt to move the thong to the side. As she sank down on him, their groans were almost loud enough to rattle the partition between them and the driver. She was hot and wet for him, as ready as he was.

“I love you, Mason,” Adrianne gasped as he shifted, causing sweet friction and intense heat.

“I’m going to need reminding of that for the next sixty years or so.” He held her hips as he thrust upward.

“My pleasure,” she gasped, lifting and lowering herself in rhythm with his thrusts.

He was in the midst of making love to her and he was hungry for her. Unbelievable. Giving her pleasure, making her make those sounds he’d never get enough of, causing that look of love and lust on her face, would now forever be a part of what he needed too.

Mason pulled her down for a deep, slow kiss and then held her gaze as he surged up into her. “You’re mine. Tell me you know that.”

She barely had breath but managed, “You know, being demanding and possessive isn’t very nerdy.”

He thrust up hard and she groaned.

“Maybe you’ve saved me from my nerdiness again,” he told her. “Because I intend to be very demanding and possessive.” He thrust again to show her. “Come for me, Ad.”

She groaned. “Yes, Mason.”

“Yes, you’re mine or yes, you’re about to come for me?”

“Both,” she gasped.

And she did. Right along with him. Just as they pulled up in front of the hotel.

Mason tipped the maid extra the next day when they checked out. He was sure the caramel sauce made the sheets pretty sticky.

THE WEEK IN HAITI wasn’t easy—physically or emotionally. The devastation was still clear and the living conditions were far from ideal.

But Adrianne loved it.

Watching Mason in action was inspiring and made her positive that with him, wherever that was, was exactly where she wanted and needed to be.

She ate strange food, had a very weird routine and certainly hadn’t seen a treadmill, but she was sleeping wonderfully next to Mason every night and feeling better than ever.

Her chest hadn’t hurt since seeing him in DC

They met with local farmers, talked with relief workers and discussed their plans with scientists from other countries.

They also posed for pictures, gave interviews and basically let the reporters follow them around for three days.

Finally though, Adrianne could tell Mason had had enough.

“Julia, I have someone you have to meet,” Adrianne said to the reporter who had cornered Mason by one of the trucks. She took the other woman’s arms and started walking her away from Mason. “There’s this woman who’s been making hats for all the children since the earthquake. Each hat is unique and enables each child to have something that is their very own that’s different from everyone else’s. She believes this gives them hope that they haven’t been forgotten and that they matter.”

It was a true story and Adrianne felt it was one that should be told. Julia was one of many reporters who should be picking up on these human-interest stories—and leaving Mason alone to get some work done.

“There you go saving me again,” he said, slipping his arms around her from behind as Julia knelt next to the Haitian woman and Adrianne waved over an interpreter.

She rubbed her hands over the backs of his. “I always will too.”

He set his chin on top of her head. “Someone has to.”

She laughed and turned in his arms. “You’ve saved me just as much.”

“Yeah? From what?”

“Never having a golden wedding anniversary party thrown by my five children and eleven grandchildren.”

His eyes crinkled at the corners. “Ah, Ad, of course I’ll marry you.”

“There’s one condition.”

“Uh huh.”

“We have to get married in Sapphire Falls.”

He pulled her in close and hugged her. “Of course we do.”

“At the new site of Sapphire Hills.”

“You have a new site?” he asked. “Ken Stevens sold you the land?”

“Yes, clear on the other side of town.” She didn’t mind a bit. That farm was now in her heart as much as it was in Mason’s.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” he said sarcastically. “It’s closer to the highway. People might actually stop and buy something now,”

She grinned. “Well, they won’t be stopping in for taxidermy services at least.”

Mason chuckled. “How’d you get the rest of the money?”

Her grin grew. “Dr. Lauren Davis.”

Mason’s eyes widened. “You know, I really think I need to hear what happened between you and Lauren on your way to DC.”

“It’s a little crazy,” Adrianne warned him. But she was smiling as she said it. They could handle crazy. They could handle anything as long as they were together.

“Bring on the crazy,” he said, his own smile huge. “I don’t know much about being normal anyway.”

OTHER TITLES BY ERIN

The Bradfords

Just Right

Just Like That

Just My Type

Just the Way I Like It

Just for Fun

Just a Kiss

Just What I Need: The Epilogue

Anything & Everything

Anything You Want

Everything You’ve Got

Counting On Love

Just Count on Me

She’s the One

It Takes Two

Best of Three

Going for Four

Up by Five

Single Titles

Hitched

No Matter What

Hotblooded

Sapphire Falls

Getting Out Of Hand

Getting Worked Up

Getting Dirty

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

www.ErinNicholas.com

Erin Nicholas is the author of sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines and happily ever afters. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books; her kids, who will never read the sex scenes in her books; and family and friends, who say they’re shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!).

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TEMPTING LOVE

By

Melanie Shawn

© 2014 Melanie Shawn. All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission in writing from Melanie Shawn. Exceptions are limited to reviewers who may use brief quotations in connection with reviews. No part of this book can be transmitted, scanned, reproduced, or distributed in any written or electronic form without written permission from Melanie Shawn. This book is a work of fiction. Places, names, characters and events are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

Cover Design by Hot Damn Designs. Book Design by BB eBooks.

Copyedits by Mickey Reed Editing. Proofreading Services by Raiza McDuffie and Melani Bruce.

Published by Red Hot Reads Publishing

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Independent, talented, and beautiful–inside and out–Haley Sloan knew exactly what she wanted out of life. With her designer lingerie business booming, her career was moving forward, but her heart stayed in the same place it had for four years…hopelessly in love with the single father across the street.

Former wild boy turned responsible adoring father, Eddie Thomas always made sure that the needs of his little girl Emily were his top priority. Being a single father meant sacrificing his wants and needs for that of his little girl and that meant sacrificing his want and need for Haley…no matter how tempting.

Will the oldest of the Sloan girls finally be able to break through to the heart of the man who has had hers prisoner for years? Will this single father finally realize that accepting his love for Haley may be just what his little girl needs to get the family they both deserve?

One choice. Three lives. All tempting.

CHAPTER ONE

“HOW DO MY BOOBS look?” Haley asked her sister as she stood up straight, rolling her shoulders back and skimming her fingers down her flat—because she was sucking it in!—stomach. As she turned from side to side, her eyes scanned every angle of her body reflected in the beautiful full-length, wood-rimmed, oval antique mirror that stood in the corner of her room.