The First Time Again: The Braddock Brotherhood, Book 3 (36 page)

“Red in the far right pocket,” Raven announced, surveying the remaining balls on the table as she calculated angles and lined up her shot.

Nicholas studied the shot. “A bit cocky, aren’t you?”

“Confident. A little number-one fact of my own,” Raven said, her grin pure recklessness.

“Five bucks says you don’t make it,” he challenged back.

“That’s all you can afford?” Raven teased. “Wouldn’t you like to up the stakes?”

Nicholas studied her. “What have you got in mind?”

“All or nothing.” Raven threw the words down like a challenge.
 

“Like the game you were playing tonight?” Nicholas asked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

His eyes narrowed. “Jackson.”

“Lorianne,” she snapped back.

He ran his finger over his top lip. “Ah, Lorianne.”

When he said no more, she finally asked, “What’s up with you and that little blonde? I thought you let that stupid flirting idea go before you left the barn.”

“I did.”

“Didn’t look like it.”

“Darling.” Nicholas smiled. “I do believe you’re jealous.”

“Of what? Of you?” Raven pushed her hair back. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Oh yes, that’s usually a role the men in your life play, isn’t it?” He offered a look that managed to be disappointed, accusing and amused all at the same time.

Raven stabbed her finger at him. “You’re a fine one to talk. You haven’t been living like a monk.”

Nicholas grinned. “There might have been a few—”

“Blondes. In the past, you were partial to blondes.”

“Maybe that’s why I find Lorianne so delightful.”

Raven stared at him for a moment. Then she leaned close to him. “Did you want to kiss her, Nicholas? You looked very attentive. Did she put her lips up and tease you until you wanted to break?”

He said nothing, just looked at her with an impassive expression on his face. At least he hoped so. With her alluring mouth so close, his juices were starting to stir.

She leaned even closer, bringing her lips against his as she nipped his bottom lip then withdrew an inch. “Can she make your blood boil like I can?”

“What makes you think you can make my blood boil?” he asked, hardly hearing the words because of the roar in his ears.

“Because of what happens when I do this.” She threw her pool stick to the floor, rose on her tiptoes to slip her arms around his neck and kissed him. What started as a teasing gesture on her part quickly turned into something else as he pulled her against him, sliding his palms down her back to cup her buttocks, pulling her up to press against his growing erection.

Raven freed her mouth long enough to say, “This is only a demonstration not a—”

“Shut up,” Nicholas replied, tilting his head to slant his mouth across hers. His tongue teased her lips, opening them as if he was the only man who had the key.

His lips met hers, sinking into the velvet of them, letting the feel of them soothe him even as they excited his senses. He felt as if he was rounding third and coming home. Here, now with Raven in his arms, with her lips caressing his, with her tongue tangling hotly in his mouth, he lost control. He dropped his guard and just felt, let himself live in the moment. There was no yesterday, no tomorrow, there was only now and—

“Raven,” he groaned as he pulled her tighter, swinging around to lift her so she sat on the polished cherry ledge of the pool table. He stepped forward, nudging her legs apart until he pressed against her. With a gasp, Raven spread her legs wider then rocked forward against him to clasp her legs around his hips. He fit there as if he’d been born to do so. Just as his hands were born to caress her, he thought, as he slid them up her back and into her hair to hold her head still for his deepening kiss.

It wasn’t enough.

Lips, tongue and emotions plunging, he removed the soft cashmere cardigan she wore. His hands returned to caress the warm satin of her skin as he slid them over her shoulders. He drew back and looked at her, taking in her tousled hair wound into wild curls by his restless fingers, her flushed cheeks, her hot swollen mouth and eyes stunned with surprise, dreamy with secrets and clouded with desire. The heart-shaped bodice of the little black dress molded lovingly to her breasts, held there by gravity and the slender straps that caressed her shoulders, straps that his fingers toyed with before sliding underneath.

“Do you own any clothes that aren’t sexy as hell?” he breathed in complete wonder.

She focused on him for a moment, eyes suddenly glinting with humor, voice husky with arousal. “Scooby-Doo flannel PJs.”

“Even that doesn’t deter me.” He smiled back as he slipped her straps off her shoulders and followed them down her arms. His gaze shifted to the neckline of her dress as it dipped low, the black jersey practically begging to continue its fall. His fingertips traced the edge of material, meeting in the center cleavage, that mysterious shadow hinting at hidden delight. He bent his head and traced the neckline with his tongue as his hands came up to her breasts. Raven stirred under his touch, pushing forward to spill over his cupped hands. He rubbed his knuckles over her hard nipples and she moaned. The moan did it. He snapped, leftover edges of control were gone as he pulled her dress to her waist and replaced his knuckles with his mouth.

“I could get drunk on the taste of you,” he murmured.

The First Time Again

Barbara Meyers

There’s no defense when love blindsides your heart.

The Braddock Brotherhood, Book 3

Once Trey Christopher was the small-town golden boy. Now he’s just another burned-out, washed-up ex-quarterback with a bum knee, a tarnished reputation, and a simple wish. To be the kind of man he can face in the mirror.

Moving back home is a start, as is hiring a down-on-her-luck local woman to help him out around his grandparents’ old homestead.

The last thing Baylee Westring wants is to clean house for a high school crush who barely remembers her name, but Trey’s money will finally top off her get-out-of-Hendersonville-forever escape fund.

Before she hits the road, though, Baylee’s got something for the man she still finds wildly attractive: the virginity he almost—but not quite—took during a drunken teenage party.

Neither is prepared for the emotional impact of that encounter. But just when Baylee dares to believe in happy ever after, an old enemy turns up to even the score. And Trey finds his heart left in the red zone, with his last chance for love ticking down to zero.

Warning: Contains an overeducated housekeeper who’s open to receiving a pass or two, and an ex-football player who can’t seem to stop himself from showing her all his moves.
 

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Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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The First Time Again

Copyright © 2013 by Barbara Meyers

ISBN: 978-1-61921-532-0

Edited by Christa Desir

Cover by Angela Waters

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Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: May 2013

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