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eBook Category: Erotica/Romance
eBook Description: Blake Alexander has always had a thing for his best friend's kid sister, Laura. But he never acted on those feelings because of his friendship with her brother, Matt. Leaving for the army had put much needed distance between Blake and temptation. But he's home now after years in the Special Forces, and he's opened a skydiving business with two of his army buddies. Fortunately, Laura had, long ago, moved away to New York. His crush is nothing but a guilty little secret he wishes he could forget. Laura Cameron has just landed a job with the corporate office of Martin's Department Store and is moving home to San Francisco. When she arrives, she is both shocked and surprised to find Blake has returned as well. When she was a teen, Blake had been the man of her dreams--the one who treated her like a kid and ignored her flirtation. But that was then and this is now ... Blake is about to find out just how much woman she can be.

eBook Publisher: Atlantic Bridge/Liquid Silver Books, Published: 2005
Fictionwise Release Date: January 2006

90 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [91 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [108 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [64 KB] , Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [510 KB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [70 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [101 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [129 KB] , hiebook (KML) [196 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [128 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [58 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [72 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [113 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [95 KB]
Words: 22140
Reading time: 63-88 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
ISBN: ISBN 1595781749

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 than 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 mother 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 hands 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?

"Blake?" His name was a question. Did he want her like she always had him?

Memories seemed to walk from her mind to his and his to hers. All the times they had spent together over the years...

Late night talks when her brother was asleep on the couch ... those had been her favorite times. She and Blake would sit on the floor talking for hours. Then there were the nights when she, Blake, and Matt would make popcorn and watch scary movies.

Sometimes Blake would force her to watch the same old movies over and over. Her brother would bail time after time, saying he couldn't watch the same movie again. But even then Laura had loved Blake. They had been friends, and so much more.

Watching a movie ten times with him was fun.

Yes, there had always been something between them. They simply hadn't allowed it to bloom. No. He hadn't let it. Suddenly, she understood why she had never been able to dismiss Blake as a crush. He had been so much more. But he hadn't let it evolve, holding her at arms' length. She had been forbidden, and he had known it.

She had been his best friend's sister. That made her untouchable.

But that was then, and this was now.

And there was no question they wanted each other. It was like a low, hot simmer that threatened to go up in flames.

"Hey, Blake, Laura, come check out the pre-show. That damn quarterback from Utah is in a monkey suit, acting like he knows football when he can't even complete a pass."

Matt, as usual, had crummy timing, appearing beside them. He had successfully ruined the moment. Blake looked away. Laura scowled in Matt's direction, fighting the urge to throw her beer on him.

Matt looked at Laura, and then at Blake. "I can't believe you're both here. It's just like old times. Us guys can cut up, drink beer, and listen to my kid sister tell us we don't know what we're talking about." He made a cheering motion with his beer bottle. "Life is good."

Blake looked at Matt and then eyed Laura. There was none of the prior warmth in his look. She'd been shut out. "Yeah," he said. "Life is good. I guess it is just like old times." He paused. "I need a beer."

As Blake walked away, Laura tried to calm the explosion of thoughts erupting in her brain. He had just dismissed her like a bad habit. No matter what had just passed between them, she was Matt's kid sister. Always was, and always would be. But Blake was wrong. Everything wasn't just like old times. She was older and wiser. In the past, she had dismissed their attraction as schoolgirl fantasies.

Not anymore.

She saw what was in his eyes. He wanted her. And damn it, she had wanted him a long time.

All she had to do was prove just how womanly she was, and the kid sister would be forgotten. And why wait? She'd start today.