Showing posts with label Contemporary Romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contemporary Romance. Show all posts

Saturday, July 6, 2019

Chapter One Preview: How Long Is Forever? by Erin M. Leaf

HOW LONG IS FOREVER?
Erin M. Leaf 
Copyright © 2019

Chapter One


“Charlie, I have a towel for you,” Eva called from the relative shelter of the front door overhang. She’d squished herself up against her house, hoping to keep from getting wet as she held the cotton fabric in front of her like a shield.
The man on the ladder spared a moment to fake scowl at her as the rain continued to pour down on him without mercy. A towel would do him no good at all until he finished his task and they both knew it, but she had to offer, right? It was only polite, after all. She held the towel out, half apologetically. Charlie shook his head at her, light brown eyes amused, then plunged his hands back into the clogged gutter.
Eva blushed and awkwardly tucked the towel under her arm. Embarrassment had her ducking her head. She wasn’t sure if it was his expression, the water plastering every piece of clothing to his sculpted, muscular body, or her stupid comment, but it didn’t really matter, did it?
“Sorry,” she mumbled, knowing he couldn’t hear her. She wished her dad were still alive to spare her this situation.
“I’ll be done with this side in a moment, Eva,” Charlie said, instead of yelling at her like another guy might. Then he coughed as dirty rainwater ran into his mouth. Eva cringed in sympathetic horror—those gutters were full of rotting leaves—but he shook his head like one of those dudes in a shampoo commercial, and all her sympathy went out the window as the spectacle of Charlie wet through to the bone registered against her retinas. The man was fine. He was more than fine, actually. He was the stuff girls’ dreams were made of: all wet, flowing hair, solid muscle, and competence rolled up into a tight, teasing package of male awesomeness.
Eva bit her cheek, hoping the pain would jolt her out of her fixation on him, but all it did was make her wince. Charlie was a hell of a man, and he was here, right now, helping her out of a nasty situation.
“Girlhood crush, still ongoing,” she muttered to herself, almost resentfully. If there was one thing she had always known in her life, it was that her father had loved her deeply and unconditionally, and she’d loved him back just as much. Growing up, that was all she’d needed. If he were still alive, he’d be the one up there on that ladder, and she wouldn’t be stuck here staring at his best friend, Charlie Greenwood: wet as hell and just as hot.
Because the second thing that she’d always known in her life was that her dad’s friend Charlie was probably the nicest man in the world. Certainly nicer than her stupid Uncle Albert, her mother’s brother, who had made himself a nosy, leering pest ever since her mother had died a year and a few months after her dad. Fuck cancer. And fuck sepsis. The infection had got her dad, and the cancer had taken her mother a year ago after he’d died. And so, after three horrible years of illness and hospitals and grief and railing against the unfairness of it all, Eva was alone, at the ripe old age of twenty-one, in the little house she’d inherited from her parents. And the gutters were clogged all to hell after the torrential rain this autumn. To top it all off, she hated heights, and that meant she needed help.
Enter Charlie, stage left, she thought, looking at his butt. His wet jeans clung in all the right places. She bet it made for a great handhold during sex, not that she’d know. She hadn’t had time or inclination or opportunity for anything even remotely resembling a relationship, let alone a hookup in the past few years. Grief had a way of stopping life in its tracks. She hadn’t even really begun life yet, anyway, before everything happened. She’d never been on a date. Never kissed anyone. She glanced down at herself, frowning at her generously-sized figure. And it’s not like anyone’s ever lined up to play footsie with me, anyway.
“Almost done,” Charlie called out as he balanced on the ladder over top of the front walkway. Water cascaded down over his ridiculously ripped body while he dragged out huge handfuls of rotting leaves from the top of the downspout. Charlie was hands down the hottest man she’d ever met in her life, and she remembered well her utter dismay at age fourteen when she’d first realized that she’d have a crush on him forever. That knowledge was enough to squeeze her insides into a tight, uncomfortable knot whenever he was around, which was more often than she’d ever expected him to be now that her dad was gone.
You shouldn’t be staring at his ass, she told herself, but she couldn’t seem to help it. He’s probably twenty years older than you, you idiot, the voice of reason in her head also said, but it didn’t matter. Her gaze was firmly stuck on Charlie as he stretched out his arm again—insane muscles bunching under his sopping wet, faded green t-shirt. He reached into the clogged gutter to haul out a stinking, evil wad of decaying leaves and God only knew what else and flung the mess onto the ground. Of course, it was still raining. It was always freaking raining these days. The roof had started leaking into the living room above the bay window because the gutters were blocked. And because Eva’s mom had been just as afraid of heights as Eva, no one had gone up there in several years to pull out the leaves. Charlie was who she’d had to call for help, and there he was right now. Soaking wet, right in front of her.
In all his glory.
Another thing Eva had always known was that she was abominably tall for a girl, and she definitely weighed too much, because the size sixteen jeans she used to wear didn’t go up over her hips right anymore. And she didn’t fit into normal sized bras. And most guys looked tiny to her as she stared down at them, so she had never managed a date, let alone a first kiss or any of the other normal things teenage girls did with boys. She’d been too large and too smart most of her childhood in comparison to the other girls at school, and then she’d been grieving, and so now here she stood, staring at Charlie because he was so damned perfect and she couldn’t help herself. Charlie was the only man she knew who towered over her.
Eva was twenty-one years old, and everything about her life sucked right now, except her dad’s best friend, who, at six feet five inches of gloriously muscled manhood, was taller than she was.
Charlie made her feel positively petite. And he always came when she needed him. And that was why, as she stood under the eaves of the front porch, watching him throw stinking, awful gunk from the gutters onto the ground in the pouring rain, that she suddenly decided that enough was enough.
She was going to ask him for help with something far more embarrassing, and much more bothersome than her stupid gutters.
****
Charlie reached his arm into the gutter for the umpteenth time

and cursed under his breath as he dragged out another handful of stinking leaves. He should’ve come here a month ago and cleaned out the damned things, but he’d forgotten, and now he was paying for it. He’d promised his buddy Phil he’d look after his wife Mary and their daughter Eva, and he’d done his best, but clearly, his best wasn’t good enough. Phil had died, and then Mary had died, and Eva was the only one of the family left. She was barely grown and living in their house all by herself.
And now Charlie was here, in the rain, wet through to the bone. From the corner of his eye, he could see Eva watching him, fingers twisted in the towel she’d grabbed. She looked embarrassed and uncertain. She looked adorable. He gritted his teeth and made himself reach in and pull out another handful of stinking mess.
She’s not for you, he thought to himself. No. Nope. Not gonna look. Eva had grown up into just the kind of woman he liked best but almost never met: tall, curvy, and gorgeous as hell. Even worse, she was ridiculously intelligent, and if there was one thing Charlie liked even better than boobs and ass, that was a woman with a brain. She’d managed to finish college early, despite her parents’ illnesses and deaths. It had been difficult, but somehow, she hadn’t broken under the misery of it all. He admired that. He admired her. If he were twenty years younger, he’d say he had a crush on her, but he was a grown man of thirty-five. Adult men did not crush on girls Eva’s age.
“Do not look at her,” he muttered under his breath, even as his eyes disobeyed him and shifted down and to the right. She stood under the front porch, hands crossed over her glorious boobs, curly hair in a wild mess around her shoulders. She’d slung the towel over her shoulder, and he could tell she’d used it to wipe rain off her face. He wanted to leap down off the ladder and toss her over his shoulder, towel be damned. He wanted to take her home and show her exactly
what a man like him enjoyed doing to a woman like her, but she was his dead best friend’s daughter, and that meant hands off.
“Looks like you got it all,” she called out, eyeing the lack of water fountaining over the top of the gutter. “I’ve still got that towel for you.” She uncrossed her arms and dangled it from her fingers. Of course she’d fetched a red towel. It was like waving a flag at a bull.
Frustrated, Charlie grunted, hand still in the freezing cold water now flowing through the gutter. Maybe if I leave it in there a little longer it’ll keep my dick under control, he thought, but then conceded that it was a losing battle all around. Eva was just too damned enticing. He moved his hand around, mostly to buy himself some time to get his shit under control. The clog was gone. When he’d arrived, water had been gushing over the front of the bay window, and a leak had started inside on the ceiling. He’d be fixing that later after everything dried out. Now, though, the water was sluicing down into the downspout like it was supposed to, and he had no reason to stay up here on this ladder. Where he was safe. And fucking freezing.
“You coming down?” Eva called to him.
Charlie sighed to himself, then nodded, and then he carefully stepped down the slick ladder. He should’ve worn his work boots, but he’d dashed out the door so quickly he hadn’t bothered. His sneakers slipped on the bottom rung, but he caught himself and landed on the walk. He tipped the ladder back and drew the extension down. Eva’s gaze bored a hole into his back. He had no idea what she was looking at. She’d seen him messing with ladders a hundred times.
“You want the towel now?” she asked.
He smiled wryly and tilted his head up as the rain continued to pound down on him. “I don’t think your little towel is going to help much, Eva.” He hefted the ladder and headed for her tiny garage, ignoring the water streaming down his face. It was a bit of a tight maneuver to get the damned thing down the stone steps on the side of the house, but he managed it. When he’d finished hanging it on the garage wall, he muscled the old, squeaky door closed and headed back up to the front of the house. Eva waited for him at the door. She looked adorable clutching the bright towel, but God help him, he wished she was wearing something less attractive. He’d always had a thing for women in sundresses, and Eva had a habit of wearing them often. The light cotton, though not form-fitting, hugged her curves in
a way that left nothing to the imagination. He bit the inside of his cheek, hoping the pain would distract his libido.
“I can’t believe it’s still pouring down,” Eva said, making a face at the sky. Even though she was under the overhang, it was raining hard enough to dampen her hair.
“Your curls are looking a little wild,” he said, smiling. He couldn’t help himself. He reached out and lifted the strand sticking to her cheek. She’d always had unruly, curly hair. He wanted to sink his hands into it and— No. No, you do not, he reminded himself, abruptly dropping the lock of hair.
“My hair is always a mess. You know that.” Not seeming to notice his sudden irritation with himself, Eva sighed, impatiently pushing the mass of her hair over her shoulder. “It’s been coming down for the past hour. And all day yesterday, too.” She opened the door and held it for him. “Come on inside. The least I can do is feed you. I have a lasagna in the oven.”
Charlie had just been planning on leaving so he could get home and dry off, and stop imagining my friend’s little girl naked, he reminded himself, but lasagna was the magic word, and Eva knew it. He couldn’t resist pasta. “You didn’t have to make dinner,” he said to her, following her into the house helplessly. The delicious aroma of sauce and garlic hung in the air, and he sniffed appreciatively. “Oh, God, that smells fantastic.”
She flashed a grin at him.
Charlie smiled sheepishly. Eva’s lasagna was to die for, probably because she used the same recipe her dad Phil had. Charlie had always loved his friend’s cooking. His stomach growled embarrassingly, and she smirked. Charlie rolled his eyes as he paused just inside the front door, dripping onto the small square of ceramic tile. “I’m going to make a mess, honey.”
Eva handed him the towel, not even blinking at the endearment that’d slipped out unintentionally. Get a fucking grip, man, he told himself.
“Go on into the bathroom. Take a hot shower. I can throw your clothes in the dryer while you warm up,” she said.
Charlie looked at her for a moment, trying to wrap his brain around the idea of being naked in her bathroom, but then a shiver wracked his body. She was right, damn it. It might be summer, but the rain was cold, and now he was cold.
“Go on,” she said, poking him until he moved away from the front door. She closed it behind them.
Charlie took the towel she held out and rubbed it over his face and hair. “Hang on.” He toed off his shoes, then stripped his wet socks off his feet. The least he could do was minimize the damage as he walked through the house. He’d take off his pants and shirt, too, if he were alone and not sporting a massive erection. He hoped to God she didn’t recognize the bulge pushing against his wet jeans. He knew she’d never had a boyfriend, never dated, so odds were she was still innocent about ... stuff. He winced internally. That thought did nothelp calm him down in the least.
“I’ll take those,” Eva said, holding out her hands.
Charlie stared at her. “You want my dirty socks?”
She glared at him and snapped her fingers. “I want all of your

wet clothes, Charlie.”Ha. If only. Charlie snorted and handed her the socks. She
didn’t seem to realize it, but she had the slightest hint of a blush high on her cheekbones. Embarrassed? he wondered. He smirked. She was the one who’d told him to strip.
“Go on to the bathroom. You know the way,” she said, looking down at his feet. A tiny frown marred her brow.
Charlie shook his head, grimacing at the water that streamed off his hair. “Sorry,” he said, looking at the droplets now decorating her tile entryway. He took off his shirt. That was safe, right? And the less clothing he wore to the bathroom, the less water he’d drip on the way there. When he looked up, he caught Eva staring fixedly at his chest. He held out his shirt. “Eva?”
“What?” A full-blown flush bloomed on her face. “Oh, yeah. Thanks.” She took the shirt from him.
She was ogling my chest, Charlie realized, surprised. He’d been noticing her for a while now, but he had no idea that Eva looked at him that way. In a sexual way. He looked at her face. She’d captured her lower lip between her teeth as if she were trying not to bite into a delicious candy bar. And that’s not a good thing, he told himself, but it didn’t help. His cock jerked despite the clammy, wet jeans he wore. The last thing he needed right now was for his erection to grow bigger. He had a difficult enough time controlling himself around her without trying to walk through her space with a giant hard- on that wouldn’t fucking quit.
“Go on,” she told him. She looked like she wasn’t going to budge until he headed for the bathroom.
He sighed internally. “It won’t take me long,” he said aloud, striding through the comfortable living room and through the dining room. Like all the ranch houses built on this street, the floor plan consisted of a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen each leading to the other, and then a short hallway behind the kitchen that held three bedrooms and a bathroom. The house was small, but cozy. It was nothing like the airy, soaring modern cabin Charlie had built himself on ten acres of forest north of town. But he liked Eva’s house. He’d liked it when it had been his friend Phil’s house, and Eva had been just a child. Somehow, he liked it more, now. Eva had done something with it to make it her own, although he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what.
“Hand me your jeans after you take them off so I can put them in the dryer,” Eva said when he reached the bathroom.
Instead of answering, he closed the door most of the way and took off his pants, careful not to catch his dick in the zipper. He pursed his lips, wondering what she’d think when he didn’t hand her any boxer shorts, then shrugged. What did it matter? She was off limits. It didn’t matter what she thought. “Here you go,” he said, slipping his arm with the sopping jeans through the cracked door.
She took them, and Charlie heard her open the basement door. He smiled wryly as he looked down at his erection. He hadn’t wanted to come here and clean out gutters, but he’d made a promise to his friend. He hadn’t wanted a hard-on, but now he had one of those, too. He turned on the water and stepped into the shower, rolling his eyes at himself when the scent of Eva’s soap wafted up in the hot water, making his cock ache.
I’m not going to be able to cold shower this thing away, am I?
he mused, then took himself in hand. He could jack off in ten seconds flat, especially in this shower, with Eva’s stuff all around him. He groaned quietly as he recalled the blush on her face. She was twenty- one, but he’d bet his left ball she’d never touched an aroused man. Somehow, that thought just made him harder. He hissed as his fist squeezed the tip of his erection, and then his hips pumped once, twice, and it was all over. Jizz coated the pretty white tile of Eva’s shower, and Charlie hung his head in the warm spray, panting and just a bit embarrassed. Had he ever come so fast in his life? He didn’t think so.
“Fuck,” he said a long minute later. His cock was still half- hard and sensitive, but at least now he could stuff it into clothing without injuring himself. At least, he hoped he could. Eva had a way of inspiring his body to new heights of stupidity.
“Hands off,” he muttered, thinking of Eva and her gorgeous body and her pretty blush. “Fuck it all to hell.”

Download How Long is Forever? here:

Monday, September 1, 2014

PREVIEW the First Chapter of THE SUMMER HEAT by Elodie Parkes #FreeRead


The Summer Heat
by Elodie Parkes


Blurb:
When lifelong friends Nate and Evan watch the arrival of a new neighbor, they never expect to find their friendship rocked by the lovely Annabel who moves into the empty house next door.
Annabel likes both Nate and Evan the moment she meets them. As they all grow close, will she be forced to choose between these gorgeous men?
Be Warned: menage sex (MFM)

#####

The Summer Heat
Elodie Parkes

Contemporary, ménage romance

Chapter One

“Watch out, Nate. That thing’s lethal.” Evan burst out laughing as the chainsaw blade bounced off the tree stump and onto the grass, forcing his friend to cling on tight to the handle.
“Fucking thing has a mind of its own.” Nate turned the chainsaw off and laid it down on the gravel path. “I reckon the trunk’s short enough now to dig the roots out.” He picked up a spade that leaned against a neighboring tree.
Evan grinned. “Maybe we need to take the two remaining branches off.” He ran a hand over his forehead and took off the clear framed, safety glasses he wore. After tossing them down on the grass, he pulled off his T-shirt. Sweat trickled down between his muscled shoulders, and he wiped the back of his neck with his shirt, a frown creasing his forehead. “It’s already hot. Let’s get this finished.” He strode around Nate to the path, and retrieved the chainsaw. Within a few moments, the tree stump stood devoid of the remaining branches.
Nate shook his head at Evan. “You should be wearing the glasses and the gloves I gave you.”
Evan grunted. “It’s done. Don’t fuss.”
Nate grinned broadly at his friend’s gung-ho dismissal. “Hey, it’s not fussing. A flying sharp splinter could take your eye out.”
Evan’s returning grin held affection. “Yeah, I know, I just wanted it done.” He placed the power tool on the path and picked up one of the bottles of water standing next to Nate’s supply of work gloves and safety glasses. He poured some over his face and then took a drink. “Warm.” He grimaced at Nate, put the bottle down, and picked up a spade.
Nate shrugged and then drove the edge of his spade into the soil around the tree.
Evan joined him digging silently at the base of the tree stump.
The tree grew on the edge of their garden, and they’d had complaints from people because it dropped branches on the sidewalk. Nate had dutifully hired a tree doctor who discovered disease caused by a virulent beetle pest. The prognosis for the tree was bad. It needed cutting down, and the tree doctor informed Nate they were lucky the other trees hadn’t contracted the beetle.
The Saturday morning sun blazed in the June sky. Heat shimmered off the sidewalk. Nate and Evan were the only people out in their front yards. The noise of their work tools were the only sounds, as not even the seagulls that often wheeled overhead ventured from the cool of the ocean yet.
Nate and Evan’s house was one of the largest in the rows of three story houses built along the river in a modern development unimaginatively called Riverside Mews. Narrow lanes that led to the river path separated the rows. Somehow, patches of white sand always settled on the paths, though the nearest beach was a mile away. Each house had its own river access, through a gate at the end of the back yard to a riverbank public path, but there was no boat access, no jetties. The public path wound along by the river from the seaside town close by and on into the countryside. The house to the right of Nate and Evan’s place was occupied by a small family, but the house to the left had been empty and for sale all year.
The roar of a large van engine broke the hot, morning silence as it turned into the street and thumped over each speed hump in the road, until it drew up in front of the empty house next door.
Nate gave the van a cursory glance, but Evan leaned on his spade and watched as two men leapt out of each side of the van. He read the name of a removal firm and their logo emblazoned across the side of the vehicle and discovered it was from a city in the north of the state. It piqued his interest, so he continued with his unashamed staring.
The men who’d alighted from the cab walked to the back of the van and opened its double doors, just as a pale blue, old model Mustang drove up and parked a short distance away.
A young woman got out of the Mustang.
Evan liked her shapely body right away. He straightened up for a better view and admired the swing of her hips. Without taking his eyes off her, he murmured to Nate. “Check her out.”
Nate stopped hacking at the sun-baked soil around the remaining tree trunk and looked around. He gazed at the young woman for a few seconds and then turned back to his job. “Sexy. Don’t stare.”
Evan resumed digging, but he stole glances as the two workers unloaded the items from the removal van. When the young woman walked up her front path, Evan took in the attractive sight of her thighs in the cutoff jeans she wore, and then raised his gaze to her pretty face.
Her eyes met his.
Evan’s stomach muscles clenched. Surprise at the reaction in his gut and a shock of sexual attraction spiked through him.
The young woman’s expression held a hungry, lonely look that woke dormant emotions deep inside him.
****
She’d been halfway down the street, when Annabel saw the two guys working in their front yard. She took in the muscled torso of the guy who openly stared at the moving van, and the hard bottom of the guy digging. They’re yummy.
Edgy with pent up sexual energy, Annabel longed for a man in her life. The summer heat didn’t help. She eyed every guy with his shirt off. Every couple kissing on the beach or in the park as she walked caught her attention. In the six months since she’d split with her then boyfriend, she missed sex the most. She didn’t miss his moods and his lazy ass around her apartment. She didn’t miss waiting up for him at night, hoping he’d make love to her, only to find he’d sleep on the couch. When he’d confessed he’d found someone else, a kind of relief had flooded her. She wanted something different, real love, a passion so consuming she’d be rocked by it.
Annabel checked out the two gorgeous guys working in their garden again. She knew “bare chest guy” said something about her to “gorgeous denim clad ass” because he immediately looked around at her. She gazed back at the one whose admiring stare sent waves of pleasure through her as she went up the path to her new house. A huge pull of attraction to the men startled her, and as she opened her front door, she considered them. They’re so hot, wonder if they’re single. Maybe they don’t even live there. Maybe they’re gardeners. I hope not. I hope they live there. Even if we’re only friends, they’re someone beautiful to look at.
Her house waited cool and quiet. She raced through it, relishing the space, and the white walls where the sunlight bounced back and dazzled her as she pulled up the roller blinds. She opened the patio doors and dashed out, down the path, and through the gate to the riverside. The water, dappled in brilliant greens, sailed by, looking cool and deep. The river widened there on its way to the sea, and across it lay open countryside. Annabel had loved the house as soon as she saw it. She loved the street, the funny little access lanes, the palm trees in her back yard, and close to the lovely seaside town where she’d found her new job, the house exuded a welcoming atmosphere. Everything was perfect.
Annabel didn’t have much furniture and instructed the removal men about where to place it. She’d dropped into the place a couple of days before and turned on the built-in Westinghouse, piled bottled water in there and two six packs of beer, and then looked out at the river. The street had been silent, except for bird calls, and she’d assumed all the residents were at work. She was on vacation. Annabel went to the fridge and took out two bottles of water and two beers. She met the removal men in the hall as they placed the last item of her furniture there, an old, solid oak hall table.
“I guess you two could use a drink.” She held the bottles up against her chest, and as she handed them to the men, damp patches appeared on her T-shirt from the condensation on the bottles.
The younger of the two men gawked at her nipples peaking in the dampness and the cool of the air-con.
Annabel folded her arms over her breasts as she realized this. She gave them a polite smile. “Thank you. You’ve done a good job.” She directed a question at the removal man who’d taken charge of the proceedings, “Anything for me to sign?”
“I need to get the paperwork from the van.” They both turned to leave.
She followed them out of the door. As she walked down her path, she glanced over at the neighboring garden. Her breathing quickened at the sight of the gorgeous guys, both without shirts now, as they tugged at the tree stump. She hurriedly signed the form the removal man handed to her on a clipboard, and remained on the sidewalk as he and his assistant got in the van and started the engine. The van pulled away from the curb.
Annabel sauntered back to her front door. The noise of the van engine must have caught the attention of her possible neighbors. They both stopped work to look. She took the opportunity. With a smile, Annabel stepped across her lawn and crossed the narrow path to stand a short distance from the two men working in their garden.
“Hi, I’m Annabel, I’ve just moved in.” She waved at her new house unnecessarily, and continued, “Do you live here, are we neighbors?” As she said this, her gaze traveled over the naked torsos of first one man and then the other. Their faded and ripped jeans rode low on their hips. The taller man’s jeans hung especially low and a hint of his dark pubic hair showed. Annabel could hardly take her eyes off his hard stomach. Licking her lips, she tore her gaze away to look into the other man’s eyes as he shielded them from the sun with a gloved hand.
He’s lovely. Holy hell they’re gorgeous, both of them. I couldn’t choose one. I wouldn’t … it’d be both … if possible…Annabel waited for an answer, heart pounding. Being so close to such perfect specimens of manhood played havoc with her condensation-primed nipples, and she crossed her arms to hide the obvious hard peaks.
One of the men answered. His eyes held a smile, his voice, deep and breathtakingly sexy.
“Hi, yes, we live here. I’m Evan, this is Nate,” and he gestured at his companion.
Nate took off his work glove and offered his hand to Annabel.
She shook his hand, looking into his blue-gray eyes. Annabel soaked up the texture of Nate’s skin and the sexual heat in his expression. She enjoyed the quick clench that occurred in her pussy as he smiled invitingly. He’s delicious.
“Hi Annabel, it’s good to meet you.”
Then Evan offered his hand.
She left Nate’s sensual grasp reluctantly and put her hand into Evan’s. He cradled it, and his fingertips skimmed the inside of her wrist. The effect was so sexy her pussy drenched her panties. Fuck, I’d like to drag him down onto the grass and do wild things. It made her smile a little, when the thought, with both of them, popped into her head.
Evan gently let go of her hand as he spoke. “We didn’t think the house would ever be sold. These places go quickly usually, but that one lingered all year.”
Unable to help herself, Annabel stared wistfully at his lips and then into his eyes. Are they single? She questioned inwardly, but said, “I can’t think why it took so long to sell, but I’m glad it did, so that I could buy it. I love the place.”
Evan smiled. “We love it here. Close to our work, close to beaches, great place. If you need a hand with moving in let us know.”
A thrill of pleasure coursed through her at his kind offer. “Everything heavy is in place. The removal guys did that. I just have boxes to unpack. It’s a warm day. Do you want to come over for a cold drink when you’ve finished that job?” She nodded at the tree stump. “I’ll probably know if there’s anything I need help with by then, and need a break. Thank you so much for offering.” She glanced at Nate as she said this to make sure he knew she meant them both.
Nate answered. “Love to.”
She smiled at him. He’s so lovely. Both men had dark hair and blue eyes. Are they brothers? It’s too soon to ask. “Great, I’ll let you get on with digging out the tree.”
She left them and crossed the path to her house. Her heart beating fast, elated by the encounter, she sighed with longing. They’re both so attractive and seriously sexy. Imagine making out with one of them, or both. I definitely couldn’t choose which one. I’m desperate to kiss Evan or Nate, yeah … desperate.
****
Evan watched her walk away, and when she’d gone into her house, he let out a low whistle.
“She flirted with me. Did you see that, Nate? She kept looking at me and licking her lips.”
Nate stared at him for a moment. “She looked right into my eyes with meaning when I said we’d go around for a drink. I actually felt it in my balls. She’s hot. I might ask her out.”
A twinge of annoyance put a fleeting frown on Evan’s face. “I might ask her out.” Then he softened. “We’ll have to share her.”
With a laugh, Nate gave him a playful thump on the arm. “Let’s get this tree stump dealt with, and then we’ll go around to her place, and make ourselves indispensable.”
Evan accepted what Nate said, but as he dug, he determined that at the first moment an opportunity arose, he’d ask Annabel out. She sparked something in him. A deep need floated in his heart, and it made him want to see her again soon. Just set eyes on her.

Copyright Elodie Parkes 2014



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