Ella
Mayhew’s always appreciated the beautiful view of Seneca Lake from the spa
window of her family’s hotel. But the view improves dramatically when a hot
stranger runs across the grounds—shirtless. He’s the first man to kickstart her
hormones in the three years since she lost her parents, and she doesn’t even
know his name.
Graydon
Locke’s on his umpteenth undercover assignment. The routine’s always the same:
assess a business, recommend it for closure, then roll out before anyone
discovers his decisions impact hundreds of lives. He’s always believed nothing
good comes out of small towns. Why would this one be different? Then he makes
two classic rookie mistakes—falling for the sweet, sexy girl who owns the very
business he’s on the verge of axing. And letting the town’s residents get
involved in both his life, and his relationship with Ella.
Ella’s
the best thing to ever happen to Gray, but he’s lied to her from the start. If
he pulls the plug on Mayhew Manor, the entire town may crumble. Ella couldn’t
save her parents, but it’s up to her to save their hotel. Even if that means
turning her back on true love.
Here's a little peek at it:
“Come do yoga with me tomorrow.”
“I’m a guy. We’re all about being hard
and stiff, not soft and bendy.”
Ella blinked rapidly to clear the images
of a naked, hard-muscled Gray that popped into her mind. And hardness…other
places. “Don’t be so close-minded. Didn’t you end up enjoying the massage I
gave you?”
“Yes.” He sounded adorably sulky at
being forced to acknowledge it. Why was it that men found it so hard to admit
when they were wrong? Definitely a topic of discussion for her next margarita
night with the girls.
“See? You can’t dismiss something out of
hand without at least trying it.”
Gray wrinkled his nose. “Do I have a
choice?”
“No.” Ella brought up her other hand to
cup his face. “You deserve to be looked after. It’s not much, I know, but let
me help you in the only way I can.”
“I’ll do it—”
Ella bounced a little. “Terrific.”
“—on one condition. I’ve just come up with
a good plan for stress release. Let’s try my way first.” Gray wove his fingers
through the loose knit of her turquoise sweater. In one swift move, he pulled
it off over her head and tossed it into the corner. “Come swimming with me.
Right now.”
Was he serious? To stall for time while
she processed the preposterous suggestion, Ella stammered, “We…we don’t have
suits.”
“You said the pool’s still officially
closed. No one will interrupt us.” He toyed with the strap of her matching
tank. “You’ve got this thing. I’m wearing boxer briefs. We’ll be more covered
up than in suits. Unless you don’t think you can control yourself around me?”
That was it in a nutshell. Not that
she’d admit it to Gray. Not when he had that sharp eyebrow arched and a smug
quirk to his lips. If he was trying to shock her…well, he had, no denying that.
But what better way was there to embrace life fully than to embrace a dripping
wet, mostly naked Gray? While she’d never work up the courage to tell him, this
was the kind of activity Dr. T. would probably applaud. Or at least give her a
gold star. He had asked her to email him with progress reports if anything big
happened. Unable to resist, she glanced down at Gray’s crotch. Ella expected
something very big, indeed, was about to happen.
“Water’s extremely therapeutic,” she
said in her most serious, I’m massaging
you but not judging your naked body in any way professional voice.
“Swimming is a good counterpart to yoga. They use the same long muscles.”
Yup. Her matter-of-fact delivery dropped
his eyebrow back to its usual straight line and wiped the smug from his lips.
Ella kept the surprises rolling. She stood, unbuttoned her skirt and let it
slide the floor into a big blue puddle. Then she reached out, grabbed his
wrist, and yanked him sideways into the pool with her.
The simultaneous body flops slapped
noise and water all around the room. Ella recovered first, treading water while
waiting for Gray to get his bearings and surface. Keeping her head above water
was easy. Breathing, however, was not, as she was laughing her head off at
catching him off guard. Finally, with much thrashing and churning of the water,
Gray popped up near the middle of the pool.
“What the hell?” he yelled, his voice
bouncing off the rocks with a hollow echo. “I’m wearing clothes!”
“So take them off,” she yelled back.
Geez, it was his idea. Ella had just implemented it without talking it to death
first. She’d thought he’d appreciate her spontaneity.
Gray stared at her for a minute, totally
unreadable. Then his head disappeared beneath the water again. In fact, he sank
straight to the bottom. It worried her. But just until a heavy, sodden pair of
jeans landed like a giant blue spitwad in front of her. Laughing, she tossed
them over her shoulder in the general direction of their shoes. Then Gray’s
shirt appeared, floating near the filter. Something she’d have to remember to
retrieve before morning when maintenance would make their final sweep before
reopening the pool.
She felt Gray first. His head brushed
against her stomach. Using her body like a swim ladder, he climbed it with his
hands until just those brilliant blue eyes broke the surface. Blinked at her
once. Then he tilted his head back and arced a stream of water from his lips to
the dead center of her forehead. Laughing even harder, Ella reached under his
shoulders to pull him the rest of the way up.
That’s when the laughter stopped. When
buoyancy slammed his oh my God so hard
cock right against her. When it was the most natural thing in the world to wrap
her legs tight around him to keep him nestled against all her heat and what
felt like every freaking nerve ending in her body. And when she twined her arms
around his neck just for the thrill of rubbing her breasts across his chest.
With two powerful kicks, Gray propelled
them to the wall. He sandwiched Ella against it and hung on to the rocks to
keep them both afloat. “I’m on board with your idea. As you can tell.” He
ground against her in a way that absolutely proved not only that he was
enthusiastic about stripping, but that there was definitely nothing between
them other than two thin, skintight layers of cotton. Gray’s impressive length
was no longer just an impression or wishful thinking. It was hard and long and
she couldn’t wait to impale herself on him. For now, she locked her ankles
together and let the water do most of the work of bobbing her up and down in a
rhythmic, full-body caress.
Water glistened at the tips of his
lashes. Ella kissed it away, then just kept heading south. Over his
early-evening stubble. Down past the Adam’s apple that jerked reflexively.
She’d always thought them sexy. So uniquely masculine.
A nibble in the hollow of his
collarbone. Down till her lips were just underwater, closed around his nipple.
Ella flicked it against her teeth. Gray…growled? Whatever the noise was, it
came from deep inside him and turned her core body temperature up by about
twenty percent.
Bio: Christi
Barth earned a Masters degree in vocal performance and embarked upon a career
on the stage. A love of romance then drew her to wedding planning.
Ultimately she succumbed to her lifelong love of books and now writes award-winning
contemporary romance. Christi is President of the Maryland Romance
Writers and lives in Maryland with her husband.
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