Random Acts Page 19

  “I can’t believe it. I thought you loved your job,” he teased, stepping closer and cupping her cheeks in his hands. “What about your townhouse?”

  “I’m letting Jenny live there so she can take classes at Georgia State. Get a fresh start. It’s my turn to be here for Gram.”

  “Well, I guess now is a good time to tell you they made me police chief.”

  “And you were willing to give that up for me?” Her heart soared.

  “I’d do anything for you,” he whispered, his breath caressing her warm cheek.

  “I know that…now. After I went home, I prayed a lot about the future. I want us to have another chance. Get to know one another again.” She cleared her throat. “But I don’t want you to feel—”

  Patrick put a finger on her lips. “I know how I feel.” He grabbed Danielle’s hand and pulled her toward the door. “Come here. Let’s talk outside.”

  He grabbed his coat on the way out the door. Danielle walked out ahead of him. Large white snowflakes danced in the sky. Her heart filled with joy. “Oh, I love the snow.”

  Patrick gently grabbed the lapels of her coat and pulled her close so that their bodies were touching. He feathered a soft kiss across her lips. “I love you,” he whispered in a husky voice.

  “I love you too.” Excitement fluttered in her stomach. The words came so easily.

  “Then marry me, Dani.”

  “What?” Overwhelmed with emotion, she bowed her head, resting her cheek on his warm chest. His heart was beating as fast as hers. She lifted her face to meet his hooded gaze. “I thought I’d move back here, set up my practice and become part of this community. Take some time.”

  “You are part of this community. I don’t need anymore time to know what I already know. I’ve missed you terribly these past few weeks. I want to spend my life with you.”

  Joy blossomed in Danielle’s heart. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  A bright smile lit his face. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned in close to press his warm lips to hers. A delightful shiver swept through her body. He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss. A peacefulness filled her soul despite the winter wind whistling through the empty branches.

  “Look at the snow.”

  They broke off the kiss in unison at the sound of Ava’s delighted squeal. Heat warmed Danielle’s cheeks when she noticed Ava standing in the doorway pointing to the snow.

  Huge snowflakes danced and fluttered to the ground, making her dizzy in a good way. A magical way. One landed on her eyelash, making her blink. A tear—a happy tear—rolled down her cheek. Patrick kissed it away.

  Some things you can never escape.

  Danielle looked into Patrick’s green eyes, so much like his daughter’s. “I’m so happy to be home.”

  About the Author

  Growing up, Alison Stone never imagined becoming a writer. She enjoyed math and science and ultimately earned a degree in engineering. Go Yellow Jackets!

  After the birth of her second child, Alison left Corporate America for full-time motherhood. She credits an advertisement for writing children’s books for sparking her interest in writing. She never did complete a children’s book, but she did have success writing articles for local publications.

  Finally, Alison got up the nerve to try her hand at full-length fiction. After completing a handful of manuscripts, she sold her first book to Samhain Publishing in 2011, followed a few weeks later by a second sale.

  Now, Alison has the best of both worlds. From her home office in Western New York, she writes fast-paced romantic suspense while her four children are in school. It never fails to amaze her how soon the afternoon bus arrives.

  Alison loves to connect with her readers. Visit her at her website, www.AlisonStone.com, or meet up with Alison on Twitter, www.twitter.com/Alison_Stone, or Facebook, www.facebook.com/AlisonStoneAuthor, or write to her at Alison@AlisonStone.com.

  Look for these titles by Alison Stone

  Coming Soon:

  Too Close to Home

  They say you can never go home. If you do, better watch your back.

  Too Close to Home

  © 2012 Alison Stone

  Ten years ago, after her father’s gruesome death was ruled a suicide, Kathryn McNabb left her hometown, vowing never to return. And never to let anything—business or personal—break her heart.

  Now an overachieving manufacturing engineer, she thrives on order, control and solitude. But an unexpected inheritance makes her the co-owner of the company her father founded, forcing her to face the ghosts of her past. Including Ben Nowak, childhood friend, secret crush, and son of the man who ruined her father.

  Ben hadn’t planned on returning home either, but with his own father’s death it falls to him to continue the family legacy. When he learns Kathryn plans to sell the plant out from under him, his quest takes on new urgency—Midport Industries is the main source of jobs in town.

  Butting heads strike sparks of attraction that entangle business and pleasure into a hopeless knot. And someone is watching. Someone with a darker reason to prevent the deal from going through. Someone desperate enough to kill…

  Warning: Beware of the shadows, disgruntled employees, and childhood crushes all grown up.

  Sometimes the only way to leave the past behind is to ignore the voice of reason—and leap.

  Past Promises

  © 2009 N.J. Walters

  Jamesville, Book 7

  For Linda Fletcher, the sign in front of her new business says it all. Past Promises Antiques is her declaration of independence from her powerful and manipulative family—and a vow to herself that her future will be different.

  She never considered herself the no-strings-affair type, but the chemistry between her and her newly hired handyman is too intense to ignore. Moving to Jamesville was a bold step, so what’s the harm in taking one more—into his arms?

  Levi Mann’s shadowed past keeps his bags packed light and his feet on the move. But one look at Linda, and he finds himself willing to hang around—just long enough to figure out what it is that triggers their explosive passion.

  Warning, this title contains very explicit language, a dysfunctional family, a very large inheritance and lots of wild, hot sex.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Past Promises:

  “Are you okay?” A low, male voice startled her out of her daydreams of the past. Linda whirled around, hand on her chest, heart pounding.

  He stood just behind her. Watching. Waiting.

  She had no idea how long he’d been there. It should have been impossible for a man his size to sneak up on her. At six-and-a-half feet tall, Levi Mann took up a lot of space. His body was massive, but it was all solid muscle. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on the man.

  He was wearing his usual uniform of jeans and a T-shirt. The faded denim clung to his thick thighs like a second skin. The soft cotton of the shirt molded to his biceps and chest, leaving little to the imagination.

  And she had imagined him. A lot.

  Lying in bed late at night, Linda had wondered more than once what it would feel like to touch all that sculpted muscle. She knew what it looked like. Levi had helped her with much of the renovation work on the building, as well as the painting, often removing his shirt while he worked. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d stopped painting just to stare at him while he was working. Levi gave new meaning to the phrase abs of steel. His tanned flesh looked as though it was pulled tight over slabs of muscle.

  And the man was just as potent from behind. He had wide shoulders that tapered down to his thick waist, the muscles making a perfect V. His butt was first class all the way.

  “Linda?” The way he said her name gave her shivers. “Are you okay?”

  Oh, God. She was standing here like a ninny, staring at him again. “I’m fine.” She shook herself and dropped the letter in the garbage. “Just thinking about things.” That was vague enough for him to drop it. In her experie
nce, most men were just as happy to avoid lengthy, in-depth discussions with females.

  Levi stared at her, his golden-brown eyes sending a shiver down her spine. He had a way of watching a person that made you think he could see all the way to your soul. Then he blinked and the moment passed. “Excited about this morning?”

  She ignored the fact that his shoulder-length hair was down this morning, making him look even sexier. Usually, he kept it tied back while he worked. And there was no doubt about it. Levi was a man of action. If not for him, she’d still be working on the building instead of opening the doors on her new business.

  “Excited and scared.” She laughed and motioned to the coffee pot, which had just finished perking. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

  “Sure.”

  Turning her back to him, she struggled to regain her composure. He was one hot guy, no doubt about it, but she wasn’t looking for that kind of complication in her life right now.

  Not that he’d come on to her in any way since she’d hired him. The arrangement they’d worked out helped them both. When she’d bought the building that housed Past Promises, it had needed a lot of sweat and elbow grease to make it livable. Which wasn’t a problem. Linda wasn’t afraid of hard labor.

  The building was almost a hundred years old, three stories high and built of brick. The main floor was the retail space, but sometime in the nineteen-seventies someone had converted the two upper floors into apartments. Linda had revamped the top floor for her own use. She hadn’t planned on renting out the second floor apartment until Jonah Sutter had approached her about Levi.

  Jonah was married to Amanda Barrington, Amanda Sutter now, a friend of Linda’s from Vermont who had also relocated to Jamesville. Jonah had introduced her to Levi, who was looking for a place to stay and was willing to work in exchange for rent. It had saved her a bundle on the renovations. Levi could do the work of three men and there wasn’t much, if anything, he couldn’t do.

  Cyndi and Shamus O’Rourke, more friends who lived in Jamesville, had pitched in to help her as well. Shamus was a partner in B & O Construction, a local contracting company, so he’d given her great advice and a good price on work when she’d needed it done.

  Jonah had done his part as well, using his skill as an electrician to upgrade all the electrical work in the building. Not for the first time, she was thankful for her new friends and glad she’d made the move. The contrast between her friends and her family made her stomach ache.

  It was no good to question why her parents and brother couldn’t just be happy for her. They were what they were, but she was through trying to please them.

  She finished pouring the coffee into a paper cup and handed it to Levi. From past experience, she knew he took his black. Over the past few months of working together she’d gotten to know him fairly well. Or as well as anyone knew him. Levi was incredibly self-contained, keeping to himself when he wasn’t working. But she’d like to think they’d become friends, of a sort.

  “Thanks.” Their fingers grazed as he took the coffee from her. Heat shot down her arm and her breasts tingled.

  She dropped her hand and rubbed it up and down the fine wool of her dress pants. It was distressing how quickly her body reacted to Levi. It had been that way from the first moment she’d met him. All the man had to do was walk in the room and she felt her body temperature rise. She had to control herself. Levi was a friend, nothing more.

  She didn’t know his entire story, but she knew he’d been in the army with Jonah—Special Forces. He’d left the military and had come to Jamesville to help Jonah about six months ago and had stayed. She figured he was entitled to take some time to figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

  Besides which, he was the perfect tenant. He was quiet and he’d done more than enough work to pay for at least six more months’ rent. She had no idea how long he was staying and hadn’t worked up the courage to ask. The last thing she wanted to do was make him think she wanted him gone.

  “I think you’ve got your first customers waiting outside.” Levi’s quiet voice broke the silence between them. She looked at him and he canted his head toward the door. Sure enough, through the huge display window beside the front door, she could see Cyndi, Shamus, Amanda and Jonah waiting to get inside. All her friends had come to her opening.

  Smiling, she let all thoughts of her family and her sexual feelings for Levi slip away. Plenty of time to deal with them later. Or not. Taking a deep breath, she strode across the store and unlocked the door. “Welcome to Past Promises.”

  Levi set his coffee on the counter the minute Linda’s back was turned. Whatever was in that letter had upset her. He’d stood in the shadows watching her for several minutes before he’d spoken. He’d seen the way she unconsciously placed her hand over her stomach, the way her shoulders had hunched forward.

  He didn’t like it.

  Reaching down, he plucked the letter out of the garbage and stuffed it in his back pocket. He’d read it later and decide if there was anything he could do to help her.

  Some might consider it an invasion of privacy, but not Levi. He had skills that most people didn’t and if he could use them to help someone he cared for then that’s what he should do. Besides which, she’d thrown it in the trash without even tearing it up or shredding it. That made it fair game in his mind.

  Accept no substitute…for love.

  Take a Chance on Me

  © 2010 Kate Davies

  The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

  Jessica Martin is determined to earn a permanent teaching position at Summit High School. That means hard work, dedication, and even volunteering extra time to direct the school’s Shakespeare play. Which leaves no room for romance—especially with a co-worker. She didn't factor in the school's sexy security officer and the delicious fantasies he inspires.

  Too Much Of A Good Thing

  Former cop Tom Cameron likes his job. Or he did, until the new substitute busted his orderly life right open. Now, he can’t seem to avoid her—deserted hallways, empty theaters, classrooms after dark—but he’s got too many skeletons in his closet to risk his heart again. Asking her out to distract her from the play’s, well, drama is a friendly gesture. Nothing more.

  The Course Of True Love Never Did Run Smooth

  Their chemistry could melt down the science lab, and before long they’re burning up the sheets off-campus. And uncovering raw emotions—a stark reminder that love isn’t in their curricula. When a troubled student goes over the edge, though, the need to stop a tragedy brings them right back where they started—face to face with fate.

  Warning: This book contains sexy encounters in classrooms, inappropriate use of school facilities, backstage shenanigans, and illicit activities on a ferryboat.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Take a Chance on Me:

  Jessica was late.

  Her first day, and she was actually going to walk in late. She grabbed her blue canvas bag and strode toward the front of the school, checking her watch for the umpteenth time. Pull yourself together, she scolded herself. You need to make a good impression or—Oof! She pitched forward onto her hands and knees, tripped by a tree root poking up through the old concrete sidewalk.

  Papers flew out of her book bag, spilling into the gutter and fluttering across the street. She stomped after them, grabbing her papers out of random puddles and shoving them, damp and crumpled, back into the bag. Slinging it over her shoulder once again, she walked quickly to the front steps.

  How many steps were there anyway? They hadn’t looked this steep when she’d arrived for her interview last week.

  But then she was so excited to even have an interview, she’d practically flown up the stairs on her way to the appointment. After getting her certification in December, she’d assumed she would spend the remainder of the school year subbing. But here she was, two weeks into January, and actually starting a job teaching in her subject area. Of course, it was only through the end
of the school year, but still…

  Jessica shook her head and began the trek up the stairs.

  If only her alarm hadn’t chosen today of all days to give up the ghost. If only every stoplight in town hadn’t conspired against her. If only. She sighed. No use worrying about it now.

  At least she had prep for her first period, so her students wouldn’t be standing in the hallway knocking on her classroom door. But it would have been nice to actually have that prep time to, well, prepare.

  Jessica pulled the heavy door open and walked through, glancing down the hall in both directions. Where exactly was her classroom? The office, of course, was directly in front of her, but there was no way she could waltz in forty-five minutes late and ask directions.

  She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out page after page of dirty, crumpled paper until she found the school map, which had been included in her orientation packet. She squinted, brushing ineffectually at the muddy footprint obscuring the drawing. Heels clicking on the aggregate flooring, Jessica walked down the hallway. Okay, if this is the office, then the language arts wing should be down the main hall and to the—

  “Hall pass.”

  Startled, Jessica stopped mid-stride.

  A man in a charcoal-gray jacket leaned against a concrete support post, one hand in his pocket, the other stretched out in front of her. Puzzled, she started to speak, but a burst of static pulled his attention away. He tilted his head toward his shoulder, listening to the mumbled voice over the walkie-talkie, then muttered into the microphone attached to his lapel. Jessica sidestepped his outstretched hand and continued to walk down the hallway.

  “I said, hall pass.”

  Jessica turned around.

  He pushed away from the post and took a step toward her, arms crossed. “Don’t think you can get out of this just because I got a call.”