Rockies Retreat: Destination: Desire, Book 5 (16 page)

He smiled. “Yeah, I did, though Cara gets half the credit, of course.”

“Of course.”

The image of Laurel, round and ripe with his child, came unbidden to his mind. Equal parts desire and fear lanced through him. “If…if you wanted kids, I might be convinced to try having another one. I’d probably sweat bullets the entire pregnancy and be a fucking nervous wreck.”

“Understandably.” Her expression softened and she laid a palm against his jaw.

He leaned into the contact and closed his eyes. God, he loved her. “So, I would say…not opposed to more children, but it would be hard to risk going through that again. I’d be terrified that if something happened, I’d be shut out. I’d lose something that meant the whole damn world to me.”

“We don’t have to jump into anything,” she assured him. “Once we survive your deadline madness, we can discuss it. I’ll put it on the calendar twelve to eighteen months from now. Sooner, if you land a really bad-ass assistant who can manage the shit out of everything but your writing.”

He liked how she said it—as a
when
and not an
if
. When they got through all his current contracts, they’d still be together and they’d have a future to plan. That was all he could really ask for. “I’ll be sure to put bad-ass in the job description.”

“You do that.” She leaned up to pop a kiss on his mouth, but he followed her down for a longer, sweeter, more lingering affair.

They were both breathing hard when they came up for air. Damn, she got to him in the best possible way. “Well, there’s only one thing left to do.”

Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “Tell Violet I’m moving in with you?”

“Yep.” He tucked her under him, mounting her in one smooth motion. “At breakfast, I think. She’ll only just be coming out of hibernation then. Telling her sooner seems unfair.”

Laurel looped her arms around his waist and grinned up at him. Love and need reflected back at him. “What will we do until then?”

He smiled. “All the good stuff.”

About the Author

Crystal Jordan began writing romance after she finished graduate school and needed something to fill the hours that used to be eaten away by homework. Currently, she serves as a librarian at a university in California, but has lived and worked all over the United States. She writes contemporary, paranormal, futuristic and erotic romance.

To learn more about Crystal please visit
www.crystaljordan.com
. Send an email to Crystal at
[email protected]
or join her mailing list to get updates about Crystal’s contests and new books!
www.crystaljordan.com/newsletter
.

Look for these titles by Crystal Jordan

Now Available:

Edge of Night

Demon’s Caress

Wasteland: The Wanderer

Treasured

Forbidden Passions Series

Stolen Passions

Fleeting Passions

Illicit Passions

Unbelievable Series

If You Believe

Believe in Me

Make Me Believe

In the Heat of the Night Series

Total Eclipse of the Heart

Big Girls Don’t Die

It’s Raining Men

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Destination: Desire Series

Vegas Vacation

Hawaiian Holiday

Italian Interlude

Roman Reunion

Alaskan Adventure

Coming Soon:

Ensenada Escapade

Gatlinburg Getaway

Sydney Sabbatical

Don’t miss the other titles in Crystal Jordan’s Destination: Desire Series!

Love is the best souvenir.

Destination: Desire,
Book 2.5

While studying abroad for a year in Rome, Karen Hudson meets the man of her dreams. Tate Patton is everything she’s ever wanted—tall, smart, handsome, ambitious. Unfortunately, their year is coming to an end, and he’s dragging her along to spend their last week in a rented villa on the Amalfi Coast…with his parents.

Just what she was hoping for—to meet the family right before she gets dumped.

Tate can’t imagine his life without Karen in it. But his parents are a lot to take, and he wants to make sure she knows what she’s getting into when he asks her to marry him. Being a Patton is a responsibility, and he has huge shoes to fill, but he knows he can do it with Karen by his side.

Now he just has to convince her that their love wasn’t a temporary fantasy, but something strong enough to survive the real world.

Warning:
Very practical people doing impractical (and very naughty) things together, Like falling in love and having sex in exotic villas…and hoping the parents don’t catch them!

When in Rome…“I do” as Romans do!

Destination: Desire,
Book 3

Karen Patton’s life is falling apart. She signed divorce papers, quit her job, and moved back to her hometown into an apartment that couldn’t feel less like home. With two weeks of free time before she starts work at the Half Moon Bay Public Library, she’s crawling the walls, trying desperately not to miss the man who chose his career over her.

When an old college friend invites her to Italy for an impromptu wedding, she jumps at the chance to focus on something other than her own misery.

Tate Patton is doing his best to ignore the divorce papers that just landed on his desk. A rational, reasonable man would sign and be done with it. Instead, he seizes upon a wedding invitation to do something completely impetuous—ignore the papers and fly to Rome.

When they lay eyes on each other, the sparks fly as hot as the first time they met. Maybe the more mature versions of themselves can fix what’s broken. Their love is too strong not to try…

Warning: Contains intoxicated one-night stands with an almost-ex-husband (which may or may not result in an accidental baby), and sneaking around to hide naughty goings-on from friends. It’s not technically illicit, but delicious fun all the same!

Sometimes to escape the drama, you have to create a little of your own.

Destination: Desire,
Book 4

Anne Kirby is the queen of suck-it-up-itude. Thanks to her unreliable, drama-llama mama, it fell to Anne to raise her three little sisters. Now that the youngest is off to college, it’s her turn to spread her wings.

She’s looking forward to three solid weeks cruising Alaska’s Inside Passage, with plenty of kayaking, hiking, and ice climbing. Until her tour guide turns out to be not—repeat,
not
—her type. A scruffy bum who can’t hold down a real job. Never mind he’s the only man who’s ever kept up with her trademark, rapid-fire sarcasm.

Thanks to some timely computer programming patents, Gabe Warren is free to live his life as an adrenaline junkie. But nothing has ever gotten his blood pumping like the beautiful, smart, sassy PE teacher.

When their spirited arguments land them in bed, passion flares like the Northern Lights. Soon he can’t imagine life without her. Now if he could only convince her that her perfect job isn’t safely inside a school gym. And that a vagabond like him is the perfect travel—and life—companion.

Warning: Outdoor adventures that lead to subterranean rescues. Two stubborn people butting heads, then doing very naughty things to each other in bed and out of it…all while hoping the matchmaking parents don’t find out.

eBooks are
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transferable.

They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

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

Rockies Retreat

Copyright © 2015 by Crystal Jordan

ISBN: 978-1-61923-018-7

Edited by Holly Atkinson

Cover by Valerie Tibbs

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: September 2015

www.samhainpublishing.com