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An Excerpt From: SEXY SWEET: TRIPLE PLAY
Copyright © RHYANNON BYRD, 2005.
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing,
Inc.
“I asked if you’d like to be a birthday present. How
‘bout it, beautiful?”
A birthday present?
Twisting in her chair, hands smoothing over her
skirt-covered, dimpled knees, Denny cocked her head to the side, wondering
what the sexy hunk was up to. Aware of the dangers that came with flirting
in the workplace, Jonah and his senior partners at Atlas Associates were
ever mindful of the lines they couldn’t cross in the office. But something
about his tone and that wicked, predatory gleam in his intense gaze warned
Denny that tonight was somehow different. A birthday present? What
on earth was he talking about? There’d been no office birthday parties that
day, and she remembered that Jonah had celebrated his birthday nearly three
months ago.
Plus, how could someone actually be a present?
Maybe if they were a stripper jumping out of some gaudy, oversized birthday
cake. No, she thought with a soft, inner sigh of relief, Jonah
surely wasn’t asking her to do something like that.
But what is he asking me?
She watched with wide eyes as he reached out, and then felt
as he smoothed one arched brown brow with the tip of his index finger.
Her breath sucked in on a sharp gasp as he moved on to flick the tiny silver
hoop pierced through the upper curve of her left ear, his blue eyes burning
with a fierce, seductive heat that had a warm flash of pink climbing up her
cheeks. Her female intuition was going on red alert as understanding dawned
and she suddenly realized this wasn’t just some sort of playful banter.
Crossing her suddenly nervous arms over her silk-covered
chest, Denny tried to quell the flutter of butterflies in her belly. “Just
what are you getting at, Mr. Cartwright?”
He gave her another one of those slow, sin-laced grins
at the formal use of his last name—and that unhurried twisting of his wide
mouth nearly—oh so nearly—made her moan with regret. If only she
dreamed of this gorgeous stud the same way she did of his best friend.
His best friend…not to mention her damn boss.
Jonah was fine, no doubt about it, but it was Mr.
Harrison, Gabriel, who made her ache with churning, desperate,
lust-filled hope that a miracle would be granted and the one man she wanted
for her own would someday wake-up and finally take an interest in her.
Well, an interest that went further than what she
ordered for lunch, she silently grumbled.
She was captivated by the wicked grin that curled the
edges of Jonah’s beautiful mouth, suggestive and teasing, and her pulse
quickened, despite the knowledge that he was just toying with her. He
has to be. Right? The guy could have any woman he wanted—any woman—and
she was willing to bet her life savings that he
had.
Moving that long-fingered hand across her cheek, he
brushed a wayward strand of mahogany hair behind the shell of her ear,
winking as he announced, “Today is Gabriel’s
birthday, Denny.”
She cocked her head to the other side and blinked in
surprise, wondering with heart-stopping expectation about his earlier
opening statement. “He didn’t mention it. No one mentioned it,” she
whispered lamely, nervously licking her bottom lip, her palms going damp
when she saw Jonah follow the movement like an alley cat eyeing a slow,
tasty meal of midnight mouse. “Er…how old is he?”
“Old enough, sweet stuff.” The tall redhead’s full smile
flashed, as wickedly sinful as his reputation. For all of Gabriel’s
brooding darkness, Jonah was the epitome of the consummate devil, and a
definite playboy. Hell, he’d even playfully flirted with her from time to
time, but she’d never paid it much attention, and she’d never acted on it.
Not that he wasn’t a great guy, but she’d been pining away, like the
lovesick idiot she’d become, for the one who made her heart shiver every
time she set eyes on him.
Yeah, old enough, she silently snorted. Lot of good it does me. Gabriel Harrison
could be ninety and he still wouldn’t want me.
“And old enough to know what he wants,” Jonah murmured,
as if reading her mind. “Only a little too stubborn to go after it.” He
spread his arms wide, his dark sweater pulling taut across the solid
muscles of his chest. At six-three, he was as tall and wide as Gabriel, and
just as deadly when it came to masculine beauty and hard-edged sexual
magnetism. “So, like any good pal, I’m here to get it for him.”
Denny chewed her bottom lip, worrying away the cranberry
gloss she’d applied during her last visit to the ladies’ room. “And that
would be what…exactly?” she asked with careful precision, almost afraid of
what he’d say.
“A certain Miss Denny Abbott.”
She couldn’t help it—she snorted loudly this time.
“Yeah, right.”
Jonah clucked his tongue, giving her another playful
wink. “I’m not teasing, Denny.”
Without conscious thought, her eyes narrowed with
beginning anger, even hurt, despite the unmistakable heat of anticipation
racing through her veins. No matter how fiercely she might have wished it
otherwise, men like Gabriel Harrison did not fall head over heels in
love with women like her. Hell, they didn’t even date them. They just stole
their diet bars and drove them crazy with aching, unbearable longing.
“I’m sorry,” she said tightly, her lips feeling
strangely numb, “but I’m not as stupid as you obviously think I look.”
“Cut the crap, Denny,” he suddenly warned, brilliant
blue eyes flashing with mild irritation at her words. “You know I think
you’re incredibly beautiful—inside and out—just like every other man who
sets eyes on you.”
As if, she silently laughed, wondering where he
was going with this, but he only ignored her pointed look of disbelief. “If
you trust me, you can have him. He’s yours for the taking, sweet stuff.”
Her heart dropped into her stomach with jolting,
head-spinning speed. “Have…him?”
“Yeah,” he said in that low, rough-velvet voice. “If you
want it, you can have it all, Denny. Both of us can.”
Both of us? Both!!!
“Just what do you get out of it?” she couldn’t
help but ask, still not really believing a word he’d said, though she was
positive it’d be fueling her late night fantasies from here ‘til kingdom
come.
Before she realized what he intended, Jonah leaned down,
braced his large hands on the padded arms of her chair, and pressed his
warm, honey-flavored mouth against hers. With a rough sound of hunger, he
slipped his talented tongue deep inside the warm recess of her mouth as she
gasped in sudden, reeling shock against his silk-roughened lips. He tasted
sexy and sinful, a heady combination that made her feel a little dizzy, as
if her balance had been ripped from beneath her.
Ohmygod! It’s a good
thing my backside is still planted firmly in this chair, she mused in
stunned disbelief, or she knew she’d have landed flat on her ass.
He took his time exploring the heat of her mouth, as if
savoring what he found there, breathing into her until she felt drunk—even
a little guilty with the flood of desire drenching her satin panties. Not
that she owed Gabriel Harrison her self-imposed celibacy, but it felt
somehow wrong to be kissing his best friend. Not to mention the fact
that she was getting embarrassingly turned-on in the process.
Nipping her bottom lip, Jonah pulled back, some of that teasing light replaced by a physical fire in his deep blue
gaze that she could all but feel stroking her tender flesh, making her
pussy swell with surprising need. “If this all goes to plan, then I
get to enjoy the pleasure of this—of you,” he rasped, rubbing her bottom
lip with his thumb, “at least until Gabe kicks me
to the street.”
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