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Watch out for SEAN, book #3 in the Coded For Love series – coming soon!
Read on for an excerpt.
SEAN
Rowan Vaughn doesn’t need a man. All men do is break your heart. So when Sean Rattigan drives into town on a Harley Davidson—ripped and brooding—she has to lift her jaw and act like she doesn’t care. Sean is the one who stole her heart and promptly disappeared with it. She isn’t going to give him the satisfaction of falling on her back for him all over again.
Fresh out of jail for cyber crimes—and with a pack of hungry gangsters on his trail, slavering for his hacking skills—Sean Rattigan heads to Wales, determined to lay low in the land of the dragons. Seeking only a bed for the night, he calls on his stepsister, Rowan. But the magnetic attraction between Sean and Rowan is more powerful than ever, and their passion is quickly reignited.
Rowan has a confession to make, but Sean disappears again without hearing her out. Furious, Rowan vows to give him a taste of his own medicine and follows him to London. What she doesn’t know is Sean left her behind to protect her, and she’s about to walk into the mother of all gangland showdowns.
EXCERPT
Nan and Gladys had conspired to trap them together. It didn’t surprise Rowan, but she could just walk away, couldn’t she?
What if Sean didn’t let her? The thought turned her on, wildly. Then there was the fact his presence strolling behind her was totally magnetic. You need to have sex, that’s all. But she wanted him, always had. And he was so bad for her.
She pushed open the door to the spare bedroom, which Gladys and Nan had spent all afternoon primping and preparing. It looked as if it’d been set up for royalty. Rowan pointed out several times that a six-foot biker fresh out of jail had no need for crochet cushion covers and goose down comforters.
She ushered him in from the safety of the landing. “Your room.”
He smiled, and lifted his eyebrows. “Why don’t you come in and help me get settled?”
There it was, without a moment’s hesitation, the assumption. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. “No way.”
“Why deny it, Rowan? I can see you want me as much as I want you.” He put one arm up against the door frame, his massive physique towering over her.
The creak of his leather jacket brought back memories she thought long buried. She shook her head. “Damn you, Sean.”
There was a wicked gleam in his eye. “You always did look hellishly sexy when you’re annoyed about something. I never could resist you, stepsister or not.”
“Arrogant prick,” she muttered. It was like the past three years hadn’t even happened. “That was a long time ago, and you expect to come here and have me fall on my back for you when you haven’t even sent me much as text message from three years.”
“Two and a half.”
“Three.”
“You always did love to exaggerate.” He moved closer to her. “Be honest,” he whispered against her ear, “you missed me.”
Defiant, she tried to move out of his grasp.
Before she could dart away, he wrapped his large hands around her shoulders and walked her back against the wall. Overwhelmed, she grasped and thumped his chest. She hated that her body responded so keenly to his proximity. She could smell him, soap and beneath it, his scent, so familiar, doing bad things to her
With a husky laugh, he shook his head. “A lot has changed, yes but some things never change. You want me every bit as much as I want you.”
She thumped his chest with her fist. All that did was assure her the muscles under the jacket were solid, making her hands itch to check them out. “Stop assuming! You don’t know me any more, Sean Rattigan.”
“You admit I knew you well enough back then though. Knew how to make you happy. How to make you laugh. How to make you come.” His fingers were around the back of the neck, thumb stroking her under her chin.
It was a good job the wall was behind her, because Rowan was so turned on by his actions, she was practically melting down the surface. How did that happen? How did the mere touch of his fingers stroking her take away the strength and independence she was so proud of, the qualities she clung to on pain of death. “How dare you? What we had back then was nothing but a teenage fling. Doesn’t mean you can come in here and expect me to drop my panties for you.”
“I’m not expecting you to do anything you don’t want to do, but I always could tell when you were turned on. Something about your eyes, sweetheart.”
His Irish brogue tapped deep into her psyche, and he was holding her so she couldn’t look away, forcing her to look back into his eyes while he confronted her.
“Besides,” he continued, “you wouldn’t deny a man fresh out of prison the chance to hold a woman in his arms.” His eyes darkened, his expression turning deadly serious. “The woman he thought about for a whole year behind bars…the only thing that kept him alive.”
Her breath caught in her throat. Intrigued, she stared at his face. It was so much more brutal and rugged than she remembered. Was it true? The only way to find out would be to hear him out, discuss things properly, but that wasn’t an option. Her emotions were all over the place and he was far too full on to have a rational conversation. “We’re not kids any more, Sean. You can’t make comments like wishes on the wind and expect me to fall under your spell. You used to think you could say anything to get between my legs, but we’re all grown up now.”
“I’m not easy any more,” she blurted, and then bit her lip, realizing what she’d said. Her body was at odds with her brain though. His arrival had unleashed her sexuality, as if his very presence in her life turned her into something she couldn’t easily control or push aside.
“You never were.” The sudden twinkle in his eyes indicated he was laughing at her comments.
As well he might, she admitted to herself reluctantly. What in gods name made her declare she wasn’t easy any more?
“There’s that look in your eyes again, Rowan. You aren’t convincing me you don’t want to try this bed out with me.” He nodded his head past the empty door into the room that had been prepared for him.
Meanwhile, he brushed his knuckles against the soft skin of her breastbone, a touch that electrified her—both gentle and brutal as it was. It was a reminder of what they’d been like, pent up desire had made them so hot for each other that they’d fuck with aggression, burning off the lust that’d been fuelled by the forbidden nature of the relationship. Stepbrother and stepsister, exploring each other intimately, while their parents thought they were simply hanging out and playing by the rules.
It had been good. The best. No one had ever lived up to Sean.
Chaos enveloped her, her thoughts unravelling. Even as his fingers cruised the surface of her skin, she grew damper between her thighs, her body anticipating him. She couldn’t bring herself to demand he stop touching her, because deep down she didn’t want to. “You walked out of here with so much as a goodbye,” she muttered under her breath, determined he feel some of what she’d felt.
“It was the wrong thing to do, I know that now. I apologize and, if you let me, I’ll show you how sorry I am. I never stopped wanting you.”
In a flash his hands moved, and he gripped the waistband of her jeans inside one tight fist. The sudden impact of her waistband tightening—and the brush of his knuckles against her sensitive lower abdomen—made her jaw drop. Quickly, she glanced over his shoulder, concerned that Nan and Gladys might be standing there witnessing all of this.
“If you’re worried about them witnessing this, let’s go inside.” His fingers dove deeper, and she felt him tweak the elastic on her panties.
“You wouldn’t dare —”
“Oh yes,” he interrupted, “I would. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.”
With a quick manoeuvre he thumbed open the button on her jeans. She heard the clickety-click of her zipper ratcheting down, as he inserted the tips of his fingers under her panty line. His other hand was on her lower back, encouraging her to enjoy.
“Oh God!” She murmured, shaking her head at him. There was no way she could go in there with him, she couldn’t risk it.
Then he ducked and his hand was under her thigh, lifting her foot from the floor.
She grabbed his shoulders and clutched at him while he shoved his hand up and down inside her panties. “You bastard, I haven’t had sex in a long time. That’s the only reason I’m allowing you to touch me.”
“The need for random sex, is that all it is?” He grinned, flashing his teeth at her. He hadn’t forgotten how easily he could push her buttons, even while she tired to forget.
She tried to still her erratic breathing. She was giving herself away here and she hated it.
He bent his head and brushed his mouth over hers.
“Don’t tease me Sean, please,” she begged.
“I’m not teasing you, believe me.” He shifted bodily, moving against her so she could feel the hard length of his erection through their clothing. “I came straight here the moment I got out of jail because I couldn’t stop think about you. More than anything in this world I wanted to hold you, to be inside you again.”
Her breath caught, need barrelling through her
“I came because I want to be with you…to fuck you slowly, hard then soft... just the way you like it. I’ve been thinking about it all the time. I want to watch you while I make you come.”
She whimpered.
“Don’t fight it. You know it’s going to happen as much as I do. It was there in your eyes the moment I saw you again.”
There was a little devil running loose in her mind, throwing out wild suggestions, trying to make her succumb. Would it hurt to have sex, it asked her, just one more time? Maybe it would be a mistake, but she’d already made enough of those because of this man. Regret was helping her, and she held tight to it. “No. Stay the night but—”