Be My Temptation
A Hot Holiday Novella
Book Two: Temptation Series
Ruth Cardello
Author Contact
website: RuthCardello.com
email:
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Twitter: RuthieCardello
What would you do if you discovered the man of your dreams was lying to you?
Would you leave him or would you make him pay?
When Kate Hale chose between two men, she picked the nice guy. He is every bit as wonderful in and out of the bedroom as she hoped he would be. Until she discovers his secret. He’s the man she wants to grow old with, right after she gives him a taste of his own medicine.
Brock Foster can’t believe how well everything has worked out. He won the heart of a woman he’s lusted after most of his life and is preparing to propose to her. When a game he thought had finished resurfaces and threatens to tear them apart, Brock must decide exactly how far he’ll go to be Kate’s Valentine.
COPYRIGHT
Be My Temptation copyright 2014 by Ruth Cardello
ISBN 978-0-9898610-9-0
An original work of Ruth Cardello.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, events, business establishments or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover art provided by Trevino Creative
http://www.trevinocreative.com
Dedication
Be My Temptation is dedicated to my sister, Helene. I am so grateful for all she has done for my writing career and excited to watch her embark on her own.
Special thanks to Becky Coward Turner. Thank you for suggesting, not only the title of part one of this series, but also, the funny G-spot line. All of my Roadies have a special place in my heart and I can’t wait to write you into one of my books. No promises on how you will be portrayed, though. . .lol
Ruthie’s Roadies Rock!
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Other Books by Ruth
About the Author
Chapter One
“Would you like another?” the bartender asked, even though Kate’s martini was still half-full. His eyes lingered on her cleavage as he spoke. Kate ran one of her fingers down the edge of the plummeting neckline of her top, which revealed more than it covered. A small smile curled his lips.
“I’m fine for now,” she said in a husky voice, and was rewarded with a flash of suggestive grin from the man who quite obviously wanted more than to refill her glass.
“My name is Rob if you need anything,” the man said. Their eyes met and held, and the air grew heavy with an attraction they both fought to deny. “Anything.”
Kate raised her glass, parted her lips, and watched for Rob’s reaction. He stood there, mesmerized by her. For fun, Kate flicked the tip of her tongue across her bottom teeth. Rob’s nose flared slightly, and his hand clenched on the bar between them. “I’m meeting someone, Rob,” Kate said.
Not deterred at all, Rob continued to hold her gaze. “Any man who makes you wait alone in a bar is an idiot. You’re too much of a temptation. Another man might swoop in and snatch you up.”
Kate arched her neck and flipped one side of her long blonde hair over her shoulder. She leaned forward and whispered in a conspiratorial tone, “Shouldn’t you be serving the other customers?”
“Yes,” he said, and a wide lusty smile spread across his face.
Kate looked down at her martini, twirled it between her fingers, then said, “Something tells me you’re trouble.”
Rob made her a fresh drink and pushed it in front of her. As he reached for her old one, he placed his fingers over hers, as if by accident. Their brief touch was electric. “Something tells me you like trouble.” He took her hand instead of her glass and held it up between them. “I don’t see a ring.”
“I didn’t say I was married.”
“Good,” Rob said. “I don’t sleep with married women.”
Kate pulled her hand free. “I told you—I’m meeting someone here.”
Rob leaned over the bar and growled softly in her ear, “You can pretend all you want, but we both know you need more than you’re getting from the douche bag you’re dating.”
“And you think you have what I need?”
“Oh, I know I do, sweetheart. My shift ends in five minutes, but if you’d like I can work all night long.”
Kate arched an eyebrow and mocked, “Your pickup lines are so corny they’re funny.”
Planting both elbows on the bar between them, Rob said confidently, “You won’t be laughing later when you’re calling out my name and begging me for more.”
Kate glanced over her shoulder, scanning the room as she did. She took out her phone and checked for messages. With heat flushing her cheeks, she looked back at Rob. “He sent me a text. Looks like he’s stuck at work for a few more hours.”
Without another word, Rob removed his vest and threw it on the counter behind the bar. He was standing beside Kate a moment later with his coat already on. “Let’s get out of here.” He took hers off the back of her chair and held it up while she slid her arms into it. As if he had every right to, he buttoned the front of it and said, “You’ll need this for now, but I’ll enjoy taking it off later.”
They barely made it out the back door of the bar before they were in each other’s arms. While kissing her, Rob half carried Kate to an unlit area behind the bar. They stumbled together until her back was pushed against the outside wall of the building. His tongue plunged deep, demanding and impatient. He pushed the hem of her dress up to her waist and, with one rough tug, ripped her lace panties off her.
She gasped even as their kiss continued. There was pleasure and pain in his touch. This was not lovemaking. It was sex at its most primal, a man taking a woman. She was already wet and ready for him, eager for the thick cock that was straining against the crotch of his pants. She shivered with anticipation.
“Are you cold, baby? I know how to warm you up.” He slid his fingers inside her slit, caressing her intimately. “You’re a naughty one, aren’t you? You’re so wet already. You like it rough like this, don’t you?”
Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth back to hers. This time she led their tongue dance, caressing his, sucking it, giving him a preview of how she could bring him even more pleasure.
He moaned and shoved her back against the wall. Kate clung to him. He hauled her up, wrapping her legs around his waist, while continuing to stroke her clit. Warm from where their bodies touched, from the shelter of his coat that hung around her legs, and from a desire that was building within her, Kate didn’t care where they were or who he was.
He thrust one finger inside her, then another, all the while rapidly stroking her clit with his thumb. He seemed to sense when she was approaching climax. He lowered her back to the ground and turned her around. She heard the sound of his zipper, then a condom wrapper being torn open. She looked over her shoulder at him, but he roughly turned her to face the wall. He took
both of her hands and placed them against the wall in front of her. Then he shoved a leg between hers and parted them. He leaned forward, his breath hot on the back of her neck. He wrapped one arm around her waist, lifted her onto her tiptoes, and thrust his cock deeply into her.
Kate bit her lip to stop from screaming out in pleasure. He didn’t start slow. He didn’t plunge and withdraw. He pounded into her, deeper and deeper, with an animalistic abandon that had Kate half sobbing as she left behind the world of civilized sex and was taken to place where pleasure was found in submission.
She climaxed with an explosion of heat, clenching around his shaft as she came. He moaned but didn’t join her. Instead, he withdrew, turned her so she was facing him, and entered her again. She was weak from her first orgasm, but he was relentless and skilled. He sat her on the edge of a pile of empty wooden pallets and lifted one of her legs to his side, using the position to reach her in a new and just-as-satisfying way.
His mouth was on hers again, ravaging her lips as he claimed her. He unbuttoned her coat and caressed her breasts, finding and teasing her hardened nipples. She slid her hands beneath his coat and dug her fingers into his shoulders. There was no him. No her. Only the growing, wild need to come again. “Oh, Rob.” He paused and Kate writhed feverishly against him. “Don’t stop now. God, don’t stop.”
Rob raised his head. “Look at me.”
Kate struggled to focus on his face. “I’m so close.”
“You’re mine. Even in a game, no other man fucks you. Who am I?”
“Brock.”
Her reward was a mind-shattering series of thrusts. She called out his name again and again, not caring that patrons in the parking lot might overhear her. He gripped both of her hips tightly as he drove himself into her. She spread herself wider for him, jutting her hips up to meet him each time. She came again, and this time he joined her with one final, deep thrust.
He held her in his arms as they both came back to earth. After he had pulled out, cleaned himself off, and adjusted his clothing, he rebuttoned her coat, then his own. “It’s fucking cold out here. Let’s go back inside, Kate.”
Kate rose to her tiptoes and kissed him gently. “Everyone will know what we were up to.”
He chuckled against her lips. “I’m sure they knew when I tipped the bartenders a hundred dollars each to let me stand behind the bar with them.”
Kate blushed. “Then we really can’t go back in.”
“No one knows us, Kate. That’s why we drove all the way out here. Come on, let’s get something to eat before we head home.”
When he looked at her that way, like a little boy asking for a cookie before dinner, Kate could never refuse Brock anything. “Are we staying at your place tonight or mine?”
Brock put his arm around Kate’s waist and guided her back to the entrance of the bar. “Either. I don’t care where we sleep, as long as you’re with me. Although living out of luggage at each other’s places is getting old.”
Kate tensed. The past month with Brock had been amazing. He didn’t set boundaries in his life, as her ex-husband had. Brock enjoyed being with her, and he didn’t hide it. He was good-looking, successful, and passionate in and out of the bedroom. Kate had never been as happy with anyone as she was with him. More than anything, she wanted to agree to move in with Brock, but the idea of living with a man—even him—less than a month after her divorce was terrifying. “Soon.”
He pulled her in for a quick kiss before they stepped inside the bar again. “Hey, take all the time you need.”
Right there in front of a full bar, Kate kissed Brock with a combination of gratitude and the feelings she had for him. She knew how lucky she was to have met someone like him. He was everything she’d ever wanted in a man: attentive, sweet, and playful. Her attraction to him bordered on a sexual addiction. Even after a month, things kept getting better and better. That night, for example, had been part her idea and part his. They had been swapping sexual fantasies, and she’d told him she’d always wondered what it would be like to have a one-night stand with a stranger. They’d hatched the idea of meeting at this bar and pretending not to know each other.
She and Brock were perfect together.
And that’s what scared Kate.
In her experience, perfect had an ugly way of not lasting.
***
On Monday morning, Brock stood next to Tyler Cage, his architect, and zoned out while Tyler pointed out tiny changes he’d made to their proposed plans for their next mill renovation site. “So, you’ll notice I’m now suggesting leveling the building instead of renovating it.”
The sarcasm in his tone pulled Brock back from a pleasurably detailed daydream based on the bar he’d taken Kate to the night before and the romp they’d had outside of it. He and Tyler had worked together on several contracts, and had been friends for as long as Brock could remember. Throughout high school and college they had been each other’s wingmen. Brock looked down at the plans spread across his desk. “Sorry, I’m distracted today.”
“Obviously.”
Brock grinned but said nothing.
Tyler asked, “What do you think of what I did on the second floor? It’ll mean a few less units, but the area I created could be three stories high. My suggestion is to use it for a multifloor gym like we did in Barrington. I can design for a pool off to the side on the first floor. We can also add a walking track on the perimeter of each floor.”
Falling naturally back into his business mode, Brock looked over the plan with a critical eye. He discussed each of Tyler’s suggested changes and estimated the cost each would present to potential profit ratio. Some of the architect’s creative additions stayed, some were cut after a heated debate, and some were put off pending more information on the price of the materials needed. Brock was still smiling as they summed up how to move forward.
Shaking his head in disgust, Tyler said, “Would you please be miserable again? You’re already responsible for two of my relationships ending prematurely. They both wanted me to look as fucking happy as you do. I told the first one that sex has to be phenomenal to make a man as lovesick as you are right now. That did not go over well. The second one kept trying to sleep over at my house. It got awkward. Especially in that snowstorm. She really wanted to stay, but she made it home fine.”
“So it’s my fault you’re an asshole?”
“No, but stop making me look bad.”
“I can’t believe you sent a woman home in a snowstorm.”
“I can’t believe you let one practically move in with you.”
“Kate’s different.”
“Chris said that about Kim, and look what happened there.”
“They got married.”
“Exactly. You’re my last single friend. Do you know the kind of intense pressure I’ll be under once you cave?”
“I didn’t say I was getting married. I said Kate isn’t like the women I’ve dated in the past. I’m different when I’m with her. She makes me happy.”
Tyler threw his hands up in the air. “Fuck. Can you hear yourself? I’ll have to find a whole new circle of friends, or every woman I date will be picking out a wedding dress.”
Brock rolled up the blueprints and handed them back to Tyler. “Tell them your snowstorm story. That should ease their enthusiasm a bit.”
Tyler waved the rolled-up plans around for emphasis. “You’d think that, but they love to try to reform me. The more of an ass I am, the more they want me. Remember the twin I dated? Summer something. I don’t even remember why we broke up.”
Brock sat in his office chair, leaning back as he did. “Didn’t you tell her you wanted to screw her sister?”
Tyler rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “No, I said it was weird to be dating one when I found both equally attractive.”
“That’s not much better.”
“Well, anyway, the other one, Skylar, hooked up with me last night at Mick’s. At least I think it was Skylar. I was buzzed.”
/> “You’re an idiot. A talented architect, but an idiot.”
Tyler shrugged, then asked, “Will you be around for the game on Sunday?”
“I don’t think so. Kate and I rented a place on the ocean in Narragansett. It’ll be cold, but the house is beautiful, with incredible fireplaces in every room. We have it for the whole weekend.”
Tyler buttoned his winter coat. “You’ve got it really bad for this one, Brock. Maybe you should marry her. I’m picturing you if she dumps you, and it’s not pretty.”
“Bye, Tyler.”
Tyler paused at the door of the office trailer and said, “I’ll update the plans and send them over to you tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
“Hey, can you think of a smooth way to ask Skylar if she was the one I was with last night? Sometimes I’m too blunt.”
“I’m not getting involved in this one.”
Tyler frowned. “Don’t go getting all high and mighty just because you’ve finally dated a woman for longer than a week. You may have her fooled, but I know you’ve done just as much stupid shit as I have.”
Brock neither agreed with nor denied that claim. Long after Tyler had left, Brock was still thinking about what his friend had said. I have done stupid shit. Before Kate and with Kate. I’m just lucky Kate doesn’t know it.
He opened the drawer to his office desk, took out the prepaid phone he’d told himself to get rid of at least a hundred times, and checked to see if there was a new message on it. As always, he was filled with relief when there was none. It meant Kate still didn’t regret her decision.
Looking at the phone gave Brock the urge to confess everything. However, much like how there was no smooth way to ask a woman if you’d slept with her or her twin sister the night before, there was also no good way to tell Kate he had lied to her. Kate, you remember that letter you wrote Santa Claus requesting a good old-fashioned, up-against-the-wall, down-and-dirty fucking? Yes, that one. Well, I’m the one who found it. I was Mr. Elf.