Guilty Little Secrets by Lisa Renee Jones.pdf

Guilty Little Secrets

Lisa Renee Jones

ISBN 1-59578-174-9

Guilty Little Secrets

Lisa Renee Jones

Published 2005

ISBN 1-59578-174-9

Published by Liquid Silver Books, imprint of Atlantic Bridge Publishing, 10509

rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or

otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Liquid Silver Books

http://LSbooks.com

Email:

raven@LSbooks.com

Editor

Carol Guy

Cover Artist

April Martinez

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of

the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual

events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

Chapter One

Lust.

That was what she had felt for Blake Alexander so many years ago. It had been lust,

and nothing more.

She refused to believe that it had been something bigger, more meaningful. Biting

her bottom lip, she fought the disbelieving laugh that threatened to erupt, directed at her

own stupidity. Why, if it had been nothing more tha n lust, did hearing he was coming to

her brother's Super Bowl party make her heart race and her palms sweat?

Sitting on her brother's sofa, Laura Cameron took on the tedious task of peeling the

label from her beer bottle. Desperation spurred the need to do something with all the

nervous energy pouring through her body. Any minute now, Blake would walk through

the front door of her brother's house.

She would be face to face with the man who had inspired pretty much every

nighttime fantasy she had been privy to as a teen. Back then, she had easily conjured hot,

wet, steamy images involving her and Blake naked. Compliments of a wild

imagination—and good dream recall—she had done things with him she had yet—not

then or now—to do in the flesh.

Reality made her sink her teeth into her bottom lip, almost drawing blood. Okay, so

her little fantasies about Blake had lasted well past her teens. She just didn't like to admit

it, even to herself. Years after he had joined the army, leaving her behind—and angry—

she would wake wet with need. The times she had woken up, a near-orgasmic ache

between her legs, were too many to count.

Once she had gone away to college, her fantasies grew more explicit. The more she

evolved into womanhood, the more she played out sensual, tempting scenarios in her

sleep.

And sometimes even in the waking hours.

And he, Blake Alexander, her brother's best friend, the man who was about to be in

the same room with her, would be the focus of her arousal. It had been the move to

Manhattan that had seemed to calm her need for him. Her new life had brought with it a

refuge of sorts. She had been freed from her “Blake haunting.” She almost laughed at the

thought. That's how hot she had been for Blake. She had dubbed her obsession a

haunting.

She didn't want it to consume her again.

Shoving the thought away, she reminded herself that things were different now. She

was twenty- five and a grown woman with life experiences under her belt. Now back at

home in San Francisco, she was the proud owner of a corporate job with Martin's

Department Store. Blake would probably be nothing like she remembered. His impact on

her would be a big, whopping zero.

She frowned and tossed a piece of label on the coffee table. It was just so damned

ironic that Blake had left the army, and returned home only weeks before her arrival.

When her brother had told her Blake had bought a skydiving school with several army

buddies, she had been floored.

“Boo!”

Laura jumped so hard, her beer splattered out of the top of the bottle. Her brother

Matt, now sitting next to her, laughed. “You are too easy to scare, little sis.”

She made a face and wiped at the dampness now on her jeans. “And you are just as

childish as I remember, Matt Cameron. ”

Linebacker big and teddy-bear cute, Matt had blond hair, blue eyes, and a funny

sense of humor to complete the package. He winked at his sister. “But you love me, and

you know it.”

That was the truth. She did love him, and had missed him immensely. “Yes, you big

lug, I love you. ” She gave him a nudge that bordered on a shove.

He wrapped a big arm around her shoulder. “It wasn't the same, having football

parties without a girl here.”

Laura laughed. “Mom would have filled in for me if you’d asked her. She loves

football.” They both knew why he didn't want Mom present. Football made her get a little

crazy.

“Yeah, well, I get all I can take of Mom during the season, ” Matt said with a

grimace. As a high school football coach, Matt often entertained friends with stories

about players and fans. Unfortunately, their mo ther had created a few of his funnier

stories. “It's no wonder Dad took a dislike to the game. I've never seen a woman act like

that over football. Back in my days on the field, the referees knew her by name. She was

lucky she wasn’t banned.”

Laura laughed. “I remember Dad taking nerve pills before your college games, afraid

she would embarrass you. ”

Matt grunted. “Me?” he said in disbelief. “He was afraid she would embarrass him. ”

The room was already bustling with activity, mostly male in nature. The doorbell

rang, and someone yelled for Matt. He kissed Laura's forehead. “Good to have you

home.”

He was up and gone, but not without showing off a contented smile on his handsome

face. It was good to be home. For a long moment, she savored the thought.

“Laura?”

She looked up to see the very man she had been fretting over just minutes earlier.

Blake.

He stood before her, looking every bit the sinfully handsome male she had

remembered. But better. Experience and age had given him a mature quality that clung to

him like a second skin; made him seem like he knew things. She could almost bet he

knew plenty about pleasing a woman. Laura inwardly cringed. He was already making

her have naughty thoughts.

“Blake.” She said his name as if confirming he wasn't a part of one of her dreams.

Try as she might, her eyes wouldn't stay fixed on his face. They traveled the length

of what had become a delicious display of pure male power. Blake had always looked

good, but now … now he was like a work of art.

His powerful legs rippled with muscles beneath his faded Levis. And then there was

the snug, black T-shirt. She had a new appreciation for the basic tee as of now. At least

this particular one. It did a mighty fine job of hugging a chest so broad and hard it made

her mouth water.

On his six- foot-two frame, his physical presence could easily be considered

intimidating. To Laura, it was like being injected with an instant dose of desire. With

lightning speed, she became aware of the prickling in her nipples. Her arms crossed in

front of her body, reacting to the tiny ache. She prayed her aroused state couldn’t be seen

through her thin, pink tee.

Only Blake did this to her. It was crazy.

Forcing herself to meet his gaze, Laura found Blake’s blue eyes darker, and far more

intense than she remembered. “It's been a long time, Laura,” he said, in that deep,

baritone voice that she had always loved so much.

Simple words, but they evoked much more than a simple response.

Her body quaked with the potency of her attraction to him; so long in the making, so

alive despite the darkness of time apart. All the while, her heart raced with the emotional

intensity seeing him evoked.

She sat her beer on the coffee table, forcing herself to unlock her arms from their

defensive posture, and praying her ha nds didn't shake. “Yes, yes, it has.”

He was staring at her with an indiscernible look in his eyes. She resisted the urge to

cross her arms again, feeling self-conscious under his scrutiny. What did he see? Little

girl … or woman?

“You've changed,” he finally said in a hushed tone.

Her knees were pressed primly together, a reflex reaction to the dull ache that had

traveled with excruciating accuracy from her breasts straight to her core.

She barely found her voice. “Have I?”

A slight smile played on his lips as he stepped forward. Anticipation rushed across

her nerve endings. Would he hug her?

“Yes,” he said as he sat down next to her. Close. He sat really, really close. She

could smell him. She'd always found his scent to be arousing. To touch him would take

nothing more than a raised hand.

It was tempting. Her fingers twitched with the need.

Instead, he reached for her.

Her breath caught in her throat as his hand gently touched her hair. Basking in the

moment, her lashes fluttered shut as his fingers traced a long strand of red. “You changed

your hair.”

Nervously, she forced her eyes open and a smile to her lips. He’d only seen her hair

short. In her youth, she’d wanted to fit in with everyone else. The bright auburn color had

seemed too bold, so she had kept it short to downplay its existence. She would have

colored it had her mother allowed it.

Now, as a grown woman, she felt the freedom of being unique and loved it. Her hair

was long, below her shoulders, and she liked it that way. Her voice was soft as she

replied, remembering his old comments about her fire-red temper to match her hair. She

wondered if he was thinking the same thing.

“It's been like this for years,” Laura told him.

His eyes seemed to go to her lips. It took effort to resist the urge to wet them. “I can't

believe how grown up you are.”

She wet her lips. She couldn't help it. His eyes followed the action, lingering and

then lifting to hers. What passed between them in that moment made her breath catch in

her chest. Hot, primal passion burned in Blake’s eyes, and she forgot everything but him.

Their attraction danced between them, alive and charged with heat.

It couldn't be real. Could it?

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