Hottie Read online

  He took it and pulled her to her feet. “Yes. I love you.”

  “I believe you,” she breathed, tracing his handsome face with her fingers. “I can’t believe I’m so lucky, but I do believe you.” The tears streaking her cheeks dropped onto her chest, and her heart swelled with happiness. “I don’t know how it happened so fast, but neither do I care. I want to stay, Hottie.”

  “Stay?” Hope played across his face. “Here?”

  “Yes. In Deer Creek. With you.”

  “Thank you…yes…thank you…” he repeated in between kisses. “I want you to stay.”

  “But you need to let up a little.” Placing her palms against his chest, she met his gaze. “I’m a big girl and can take care of myself. You can be a caveman in the bedroom, that I welcome, but you need to have some faith in me out of bed. You can’t smother me.”

  “I lost a good friend because she refused to listen, and it changed my life forever. I can’t lose the woman I love. It’s so hard to let up a little.”

  “I’m so sorry for your loss and for the pain you’ve had to endure.” Her heart twisted into a knot, considering his feelings. “But that was a very different and very sad situation. You were in the middle of a war zone.”

  “He messaged you. Called you a bitch.”

  “I blocked him,” she answered confused.

  “He knows your passwords.”

  “Fuck.” She stepped back, holding her fists against her thighs. “I forgot about that.”

  “He also knows my face, and I know his.”

  “You video-chatted?”

  “Hell, yeah. I needed to know what he looks like.” Dane rubbed his fingertips across his forehead. “He’s not getting anywhere close to you.”

  “Eric doesn’t scare me. He doesn’t even know where I am.”

  “Still, you’re not making yourself available to be reached by him. I’m installing an alarm as soon as I can get it delivered. When I’m not with you, you’ll—”

  “I’m renting a room at the Maxwell House.”

  Shock colored his face. Shock filled her, too. She hadn’t even seen the room, she hadn’t even met Beatrice Maxwell, but she knew she couldn’t move in permanently so fast. She wanted to give them a real chance—time for a true relationship—past the physical attraction.

  “I want to be courted,” she said, holding her ground and refusing to listen to her yearning heart. “Properly.”

  His mouth formed into a gorgeous smile. “You’ve been speaking with Mrs. Brady?”

  “Yes. And she also helped me get a job with Doc Jenkins.”

  “Okay.” He took a deep breath, but the smile held steady. Sliding his palm down his face, he paced the room.

  “Dane?” Phoebe said after a long silence. “Please.”

  He cleared his throat and returned to stand before her.

  “I’ve been waiting for you a long time, sweetheart. I can wait a little longer. Plus, I think I’ll enjoy courting you—properly.” He wrapped his arms around her and lowered his mouth to hers, taking his time to wet her lips, then slowly passing through them and exploring her desire with gentle and seductive caresses of his tongue. “Yeah, I know I’m going to enjoy it.”

  “Me, too,” she added against his mouth.

  Chasing any negative thoughts away with his kisses, she welcomed Master Dane into her life. She couldn’t wait to get to know the man she’d fallen in love with at first sight. “I guess there was more to our initial connection than lust.”

  “There sure was, sweetheart,” he agreed. “Now, you need to be patient with me and help me learn how this trust needs to go both ways. Be gentle with me, Phoebe.”

  “That will be my pleasure,” she repeated his previous words and snuggled against him.

  “But,” he said, lifting her chin with his thumb, “will you at least humor a control freak of a man and let me inform the Sheriff’s office? They need to know what to look out for.”

  “I don’t want to waste my energy on getting any court orders against him.”

  “No need,” Dane agreed. “Strangers stand out in Deer Creek, and we protect our own. If he gets anywhere near the town, he’ll be in the hands of the locals before he can blink.”

  “Fine,” she said, shrugging. “He won’t bother. All he keeps asking for is a stupid bracelet he gave me for my birthday. He doesn’t even want it. He just wants to break me, or maybe pass it on to the next woman. I really don’t care what he does. He was a bleep of a mistake in my life, and he’s faded off the screen.” She motioned for Dane to follow her as she walked out of the room. “Want to help me prepare lunch?”

  “No,” he said, following behind her.

  “No?”

  “No. I’m starving, woman. We’re going to the Bluebonnet for lunch and some pie.” He walked ahead of her and double-timed it down the stairs. “We’ll use the groceries for dinner when we get back.”

  She laughed and agreed. “Can we stop by the Maxwell house so I can see my room?”

  “Of course,” he replied. “It’ll allow me the opportunity to arrange for an alarm to be installed at Beatrice’s.”

  “You’re overbearing,” she said, shaking her head, but eagerly taking his hand. “How do you know that she’ll agree to it?”

  “Because Deer Creek women are exactly like you, sweetheart. They know when to listen to their men and when to question them. That’s why you belong here. That’s why you belong with me.”

  “That’s what Desired Granny said.” She laughed, brought his hand to her lips and scraped her teeth over his knuckles. “I think I’m really going to like it here.”

  “You are,” he confirmed and led her to a classic Corvette parked inside the garage. “You’re home, sweetheart.”

  About the Authors

  Demi Alex is a hopeless romantic who sits at her neighborhood café and fabricates stories of magical interludes between her fellow java worshipers. Even though her characters can be found in any town or city, their attitude sets them apart. They let loose and experience what life throws at them!

  When Tia Fanning is not lost somewhere in the exciting world of fantasy and romance, you might find her residing in the Midwest with her husband, Warren, and two dogs, Drew and Jack. However, according to her husband, she is usually lost…even the dogs can’t find her.

  “What would life be, if we didn’t take a few risks along the way and place our hearts on the line? Boring! So come on—let loose.”

  You can find both Demi and Tia hanging out at www.ResplendencePublishing.com.

  Want to read more from Tia Fanning and Demi Alex?

  Also Available from Resplendence Publishing

  Key West by Demi Alex

  Moresome Series, Book One

  What a time for a revelation!

  The moment Prince Charming proposes, Addison London realizes that she is about to say “yes” to a lifetime of love, stability—and constancy—having never really lived her life to the fullest, and runs.

  As a straight-laced good girl grown into a responsible, respectable woman, Addison is always prim and proper, and…well, boring. She always does the right thing, plays it safe, makes the right decisions, and suppresses her own longings to meet the expectations of others.

  But she will have no regrets.

  Before committing to a life wrapped in a white picket fence, she will have a little excitement and adventure, she will throw caution to the wind, and she will live out her most secret sexual fantasies—if only for a weekend.

  Desperate to break free, she travels to Key West and surrounds herself with willing, gorgeous men. All she has to do is pick one. But with only one weekend in the tropical paradise, and one chance for a hedonistic experience meant to last a lifetime, she discovers that “one” is not enough.

  After all, what happens in Key West stays in Key West, right?

  New Orleans by Demi Alex

  Moresome Series, Book Two

  Who makes life-altering decisions based on a for
tune cookie?

  Sans her family and sans a job, Lilly Marie is completely alone in the world. With only a broken heart in tow, she has nothing to lose by packing it up and starting over in the sultry Big Easy. And after all she’s been through the past year, encountering an eccentric woman in Jackson Square and actually following her instructions to “step onto Bourbon Street and into her future” doesn’t seem so weird. Who is she to question “destiny” when she’d uprooted herself because of a tiny piece of paper tucked inside a cookie?

  What Lilly doesn’t expect is for a hero to save her from a rampant bicyclist and whisk her away to a place called El Destino to meet his family— “family” being four of the handsomest men Lilly has ever seen. Whether it is fate or coincidence, the sizzling and sexy men of El Destino take her into their capable hands to prove that there is no such thing as happenstance, and that undeniable passion and true love can cure any ailment, including a broken heart.

  Las Vegas by Demi Alex

  Moresome Series, Book Three

  Determined to spread her grandmother’s ashes from the top of the Eiffel Tower, Angel embarks on a cross-country trip to Las Vegas. It’s not France, but it’s all her budget will allow. Too bad the screened observation deck hinders her plans, and when she attempts to slip her hands past the wire, the local authorities cuff her wrists.

  With the last of her money used to pay fines and court fees, a complimentary food voucher leads her to a casino pub for a bite to eat. There, a late night proposition arises. Baring her breasts for a bit of cash seems simple enough, but three intriguing strangers change the odds and raise the stakes.

  Angel discovers she doesn’t need Lady Luck when she’s got the Luck of the Irish. Laying all her cards on the table, she bets on a passionate night with Liam, Brody and Ryan. But come morning, the guys up the ante. The jackpot is tempting, but staying with the three men is the greatest gamble of her life and requires that she go all in.

  Will Angel fold and leave Las Vegas as she arrived? Or will she add her heart to the pot and meet their ante?

  Oriana and the Three Werebears by Tia Fanning

  Something WICKED this way comes…

  Oriana Ricci has taken over the family business—flying cargo and rich tourists around the barely inhabited Kodiak Archipelago. When her plane malfunctions and she’s forced to make an emergency landing, she finds herself stranded in the middle of a National Wildlife Refuge. With no civilization for miles and no hope of rescue, she thinks all is lost…

  Until she stumbles upon the entrance to an underground bunker.

  Jack, Jordan, and Jonathan McMathan own and operate a secret security firm contracted by the US Government. Hidden away in an old Cold War spy station located the middle of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, the brothers are not only able to do their top secret jobs safely without fear of discovery, but are better to protect their other, more personal secret: They have the ability to shift into Kodiak bears.

  Like a fairy tale gone bad, the brothers return home to find their lunch tasted—or eaten, their computer chairs adjusted—or broken, and a beautiful blond sleeping in one of their beds. This situation poses a big problem for the brothers…

  Their location is now compromised, but more importantly, what are they to do with the lady?

  Also available from

  Resplendence Publishing

  Bottom’s Up by Eliza Gayle

  Snooping is risky business…sometimes it pays off in unexpected ways.

  Jenn has been in love with her best friend since college and despite their years apart she is determined to at least find out if he has any interest in her. When the opportunity opens up in the form of a job interview in his hometown, she jumps on a plane with a plan to see what happens.

  Riley walked away from Jenn after college to explore and understand the dark side of him that harbored needs he knew she was too young to understand. They kept in touch and after years of exploration into his kinks, he's decided the time for hiding the truth from the woman he loved has come to an end.

  When Jenn finds a BDSM book and a flyer for a local sex club in his condo, she is both shocked and intrigued. Riley catches her red-handed snooping through his things and dares her to give him and his lifestyle a chance. Two days to explore her potential submissive side and see where it leads.

  With no hesitation and barely a thought to how far he might go, she jumps at the chance to prove she’s the woman for him, even if it’s just for the weekend.

  Mr. Smith’s Whip by Brynn Paulin

  Librarian Olivia McKinnion’s life rarely changes as she oversees the Brandywine community library and archives, but when Colin Smith takes up residence to research his latest book, everything changes. She’s heard whispers of Mr. Smith’s whip and his dominant ways—whispers that make her tremble with need for her secret wishes to be fulfilled. And more than anything, she wants Colin to show her the darker side of sex, bent over his knee and begging for more.

  Infernal Devices by Abigail Barnette

  All Steamed Up: Book One

  The Two Aces. Victorian London’s most salacious secret, the club is a place where erotic fantasies are played out among clockwork automatons and aether powered machines. Where nothing is off limits and the pleasures are as wicked as the imagination will allow...

  Permilia Deering goes to The Two Aces looking for the sexual excitement that she knows she will not find with the man to whom she is affianced, notorious cold-fish Wallace Sterling. On her first visit to the club, she meets the Ace of Spades, a masked stranger who drives her to heights of passion she’s never dreamed possible—and makes her seriously reconsider becoming a mannerly society wife.

  When Wallace Sterling first glimpses his fiancée standing outside The Two Aces, he assumes she’s uncovered his secret identity—the Ace of Spades. But Permilia has no idea that her intended is living a double life, and Wallace worries that he’ll be out of the picture once she gets a taste of what the Ace of Spades can offer her...

  Possessing Eleanor by Tessie Bradford

  Eleanor Lewis is perfectly content with her comfortable, quiet, relationship free life until she finds herself on all fours at the feet of Jackson Royce. Eleanor is stunned by her instant and intense attraction to the power and confidence radiating from the devilishly handsome building contractor. He scrambles her brain and heats her body to the boiling point.

  Jackson always trusts his gut instincts. The ultra sexy woman sprawled on the floor is a sexual submissive. How intriguing that the all-business, sensible shoe-wearing office manager has absolutely no idea. The moment he takes her into his embrace, he vows to possess her mind, body and soul.

  From their first sizzling encounter, through a whirlwind courtship, Eleanor discovers being possessed by a man who loves her absolutely is what she had been searching for all along.

  Transparent Illusions by Melinda Barron

  Freelance writer Saffron Tyler needs work. When she offers her journalistic skills to Steele Publications, they suggest that she spend two weeks as a submissive at Fingertip Fantasies, an exclusive BDSM resort that caters to the ultimate fantasies of any customer willing to pay for the high-end service. She’s been tasked to come back with a titillating exposé guaranteed to enthrall the readers of Steele’s underground magazine, Salacious.

  But when Saffron arrives at the resort, she realizes nothing is as it seems, from the fact she doesn’t know where the resort is located, or anything about the man she is submitting to—except she’s to call him Master, with a capital M.

  What starts out as an undercover assignment soon becomes so much more. Immersed in the lifestyle, Saffron finds herself no longer acting the role of the submissive, but actually wanting to be the perfect sub her Master believes she can be. When all is said and done, will Saffron take her experience and her story and never look back? Or will she choose to stay with the man who commands her mind, body, and soul.

  Heart of Ice by Brynn Paulin

  Kai is perfect
ly unhappy with his life. Cast into a role as shop boy and forced into marriage to save his family, he sees nothing good in his future. In fact, his betrothed, Gerda, seems to hate everything he enjoys. Especially winter and his attraction to dominating his partners. His prospects look grim…until the Snow Queen arrives.

  Wyn has spent her life alone, living vicariously through those who love winter. When she learns of Kai’s predicament, she knows she must save him. If only she could save herself. She craves his dominance, but there’s one tiny thing standing in their way. No human can touch her without experiencing chilly agony. And that might bring any relationship to an icy death.

  www.resplendencepublishing.com