Table Of ContentHard Shell Word Factory
www.hardshell.com
Copyright ©2006 by Catherine Sneyd
First published in 2006, 2009
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CONTENTS
Chapter One
"I LOVE YOU, DREW Garrick."
There was a long silence. To tell the truth, Taylor Moore hadn't really expected
any answer, but she was disappointed nonetheless. She knew she was being
foolish, but she just couldn't help feeling horribly alone and unloved.
She would just have to try again. She ran her hands down her naked sides, still
wet from her morning shower, shivering with pleasure at the touch of her cool
hands on her overheated body. The bathroom was so full of steam she could
hardly see more than two feet in front of her. “I really do. I've loved you for as
long as I can remember."
She sighed, bent her neck down, swept her hair over her head with a fluid
movement, and started to towel dry it vigorously. “For a start, you're the most
handsome man I've ever seen,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I adore the way you
look. Your hair is a beautiful color—not quite blonde, and not quite brown. I
really like to run my hands through it and feel how silky it is. You like that as
much as I would. I just know you would. It would turn you on.
"I don't think I've ever told you before how much I love your eyes,” she went on,
drying her shoulders now. The thick pile of the towel rasped her delicate skin as
she rubbed it roughly up and down her arms. “They're the deepest, darkest blue
I've ever seen on anyone. So blue they're almost purple. I could drown in them.
"I just love that square jaw of yours, too. Especially when you haven't shaved for
a day or two and it's covered with light golden stubble. It's soooo sexy. Your
mouth is the best, though. It looks so darn soft. So much unlike the rest of you,
which is hard all over. Your mouth was just made for kissing."
She leaned forward a little and pursed her lips to emphasize her point. Desperate
for his attention now, she'd lost any pretense she'd had of drying herself. “I really
want to kiss you. Not just a friendly peck on the cheek, either. A proper kiss. A
my-God-I-can't-get-enough-of-you kiss. A full body embrace. I want to feel you
getting hard for me in all the right places. So hard that you feel as though you're
going to explode if I don't let you come inside me right away.
"I'm getting all hot and wet just thinking about running my hands over your
beautiful body. All over it. I want to touch you and feel the smooth contours of
your beautifully muscled chest, caress your shoulders, slide over the leanness of
your beautifully muscled chest, caress your shoulders, slide over the leanness of
your hips. I'm going to touch you with more than my hands. I'm planning on
exploring you with my mouth and tongue. Everywhere. And you can have all of
me."
She cupped her breasts in her hands, begging him to touch and taste for himself.
She was so hot for him she could hardly bare it. “You're so sexy you should
carry a warning label,” she said. “Not suitable for minors. Do not attempt to
drive or operate heavy machinery while under the influence of this man.
"I'd like to have you naked. In bed. Inside me. I've had the hots for you ever
since I was old enough to know what having the hots meant.
"You're going to be mine. I've kept myself all bottled up for so long that I'm
going to be a tornado when I let myself go. Sooner or later, I'm going to rip your
clothes off and make crazy love with you. I've waited so darn long for you that
I'm going to knock your socks off into little pieces when you come.
"I'm going to be wild. Insatiable. And you're going to love every minute of it. I
promise you."
She stopped talking for a moment, hoping desperately for a response to her offer.
There was only silence.
Not even an answering thought wave.
Taylor sighed again and let her hands fall to her sides. She wanted to make love
with Drew more than she could say, but she just couldn't channel her lust-
provoking thoughts into Drew's mind, wherever he was, however hard she tried.
And no matter how often she practiced telling her bathroom mirror at home she
was in love with Drew, she'd never have the courage to tell him face-to-face.
He'd laugh at her. Or, even worse, suggest she come back and tell him again
when she was all grown-up and worth bothering with. Just like he'd told her
when she was fifteen, and already desperately in love with the handsome
eighteen-year-old brother of her best friend.
She flung on her robe and wiped the steam off the mirror with one sleeve. Her
face was red and shining, beaded with droplets of sweat. She knew they came
face was red and shining, beaded with droplets of sweat. She knew they came
more from the heat of her thoughts than from the heat of the shower.
Silently, she turned away again. She was getting all hot and bothered for
nothing. Just thinking about making love with Drew wasn't going to make it
happen. She'd tried positive visualization for weeks and weeks, and Drew
Garrick still hadn't noticed her as anything other than Morgan's pesky friend.
She had to have a plan. A good plan. A really great plan.
Then Drew wouldn't stand a chance against her.
TAYLOR ONLY JUST MADE it to the office where she worked as a publicity
and promotions executive by nine o'clock. She'd gotten a little too carried away
during her morning self-help session in front of the mirror.
She'd barely had time to throw on a pair of jade green silk pants and quickly pull
an orange silk-knit T-shirt over her head before dashing to her car. She'd had no
time to put any makeup on, and her breakfast was a rock-hard onion bagel she'd
grabbed out of the freezer on her way out of the door.
A howling gale was blowing outside, making the treetops sway and sending big
puffs of dust careening down the sidewalk and into her eyes. Newport, on the
Oregon coast, was always windy, but today the air was more violent than usual.
Her hair flew into her face, and she brushed it roughly out of the way. She
tripped over her morning newspaper on the sidewalk, but she didn't stop to pick
it up.
Luckily she worked for herself, so she had no one looking over her shoulder
watching the clock to see when she came in. But if she didn't work, she didn't get
paid, so she usually tried to get into the office bright and early.
By the time she arrived at her office, the beneficial effects of her early morning
session of positive visualization had completely worn off. The office block felt
stuffy and close after the freshness of the air outside, nibbling on the ice-cold
bagel made her teeth hurt, and she badly wanted a cup of coffee.
Her day was not starting well. She had a heat rash in all the wrong places, and, in
the two minutes it took for her to walk from her car park to her office door, the
wind had whipped her hair into a mass of tangled knots that would take her half
the morning to comb out again.
Worst of all, she was still lusting after Drew big time. She would have to stop
sending out such sexual thought waves or she'd expire of heatstroke in less than
a week. Maybe tomorrow she'd try cuddly, cozy thoughts of love and affection.
This morning she was so darn hot she itched. More than anything else, she
wanted a long, cold shower.
Morgan, her secretary and best friend, greeted her cheerfully as she walked in.
“Drew just called. He wanted to see you right away. I made an appointment for
him at 9:15."
Which was, Taylor saw with a quick glance at her watch, exactly seven minutes
from now.
All of a sudden her mood did an abrupt turnaround. Drew never came to see her
unless he had a really good reason to. Maybe he'd finally realized she was
definitely Newport's best PR consultant, and he was coming to offer her a
contract for all the advertising and PR work for the cannery he owned.
Or maybe, if her luck was really running hot, her thought waves had finally
gotten through to him.
The very thought of Drew wanting to touch her body with his hands and mouth,
made her feel like singing. Of course, a contract would certainly be nice, as it
was always a struggle to pay the rent and have enough left over for optional
extras like food, but a contract was only money. Sex with Drew would be
something else all together.
She felt her face grow warmer still, and a shiver of anticipation ran through her.
Maybe, just maybe, her early morning sessions of sending lust waves through
the air to Drew were starting to work. Maybe he was feeling as hot and
uncomfortable as she was this morning.
She eyed the carpet on her office floor. It was a little thin and bare for lying on,
but if Drew really wanted to rip off all his clothes and make love to her on it, she
wouldn't complain.
She was gambling for big stakes. She didn't just want Drew's body. She wanted
his heart and his hand as well. Love, marriage, kids, the works.
Getting Drew to lust after her was the first step. That was what the author of The
New Century Guide to Love, Sex and All That promised. He swore it was old-
fashioned to think the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. The
quickest way to his heart was found just a little lower down.
And the author of Mind over Matter was quite positive one could influence the
course of worldly events with a concerted course of thought wave emanation. So
sending thought waves to make Drew lust after her seemed to be the obvious
thing to do.
It didn't seem to be working, though, Taylor noted with a frown, as Drew, a
newspaper in one hand and a black look on his face, walked in the door. Darn.
The carpet in her office wouldn't be getting christened this morning. And she
didn't like her chances of getting even a juicy, fat contract as a consolation prize.
He still took her breath away when she saw him, even if he was in a bad mood.
He always did. He was tall with broad shoulders and the cutest backside she'd
ever seen. She loved every cubic inch of that backside. Her life would be
complete if only he'd turn around so she could gaze lustfully at it without him
noticing.
Drew had a killer smile, too, when he chose to turn it on. It wasn't turned on
now. He looked as glum as the Grinch on Christmas Eve.
She would have to cheer him up. Men liked women to distract them from their
troubles. She'd learned that from Women Chasing Men Chasing Women. He
wouldn't care she'd had a rough morning herself; he'd be looking for positive
affirmations of his own bad experiences. Sex on her office floor would have to
wait.
So she greeted him with a sunny smile, despite her disappointment. “Good
morning, Drew. Nice to see you."
Drew wasted no time on polite greetings. He flung himself into the chair
opposite Taylor's desk and stared at her. “Fire your secretary.” His usually husky
voice was harsh and abrupt.
She blinked, her smile faltering. “Why would I want to fire Morgan? She's a
terrific secretary. Besides, she's my best friend."
Tiny frown lines appeared at the corner of his eyes. “I don't want my sister
working for you. I've just offered her a job working for me and she won't take it.
working for you. I've just offered her a job working for me and she won't take it.
So you'll just have to fire her so she has no choice."
Taylor curled her hands into fists as the walls of her small office seemed to close
around her. Drew hadn't come to seduce her. Instead, he was openly trying to
steal her only employee—the other half of her entire company. Sure, she lusted
after him with all her body and soul, but she wasn't going to knuckle under to his
outrageous demands.
"I'm not surprised,” she said, frustration making her voice sharp. “I wouldn't
want to work for you, either."
He raised his eyebrows. “And why not?"
"Because you're too grumpy. Grumpy, demanding, and a general pain in the
butt."
He blew off her insults. She hated that thick skin of his. She couldn't get through
to him whichever way she went about it. He continued as though she hadn't even
spoken. “Morgan says that you need her—"
"I do need her."
"And she won't leave unless you ask her to—"
"I'm delighted to hear it."
"So the only solution is for you to fire her."
"No."
There was silence for a moment. Then Drew sighed. “I should've guessed you
wouldn't make this easy for me. You've never done anything I asked you to do
before, so why should you start now? How much?"
Taylor blinked again. “How much what?"
"How much will I have to pay you to convince you to fire Morgan? One
thousand dollars? Two thousand?"
She pursed her lips together in thought. “Ten."
He shrugged. “You don't come cheap, do you? But then, with a brother like
Brian, what else should I expect?"
That stung. “Make it fifteen,” Taylor said, steel in her eyes. “To make up for the
insult, and it's a deal."
He opened his mouth to protest, but at the look on her face, he reluctantly shut it
again. He got out his checkbook, scribbled a check, and passed it over the desk
to Taylor.
She picked it up and looked at it. A check, made out to her, for fifteen thousand
dollars, signed by Drew Garrick. She never would have believed it. It was truly
absurd. Okay, so maybe she wasn't making a fortune as a consultant, but she
wasn't starving, either. Did he really think she would accept his money for
nothing?
She crumpled the check up into a ball and tossed it back at Drew again, aiming
straight for his heart.
He caught it as it bounced off his chest. “Hey, what's the matter? Don't you like
the color of my money?"
"You wrote me out a check for only fifteen thousand dollars."
"I warn you, I'm not giving you another penny more. Don't think you can screw
another five thousand out of me for another imaginary insult."
She gave him a venomously sweet smile. “I didn't ask for fifteen thousand
dollars. You misunderstood me. To get me to fire Morgan, you'd have to pay me
fifteen million. Even then you'd be getting a bargain."
"You think this is all a joke, don't you?” The coldness in his voice made her
shiver. “I assure you, I'm serious. I will pay you fifteen thousand dollars if you
will fire Morgan today. Now."
Taylor leaned back in her chair and regarded him steadily. He was still kind of
cute even when he was annoyed. She wasn't going to tell him that, though. It
would just make him even madder. Her office was decidedly too small to house
a mighty volcano in full eruption. “Why do you suddenly want Morgan to leave
here and come work for you?” she asked. “She's been working with me for two
years now, ever since Connor was old enough to start school, and you've never
