Dawn Atkins - Tease Me

Heidi’s gaze shifted at Jackson’s words, became deeper, sharper, hotter. “But you don’t like me that way?”

He felt his jaw go slack. How could she not know how he felt? The evidence was clear. He could fix her doubt with one kiss, right now. Just a taste. A feeling swept over him, an eager hunger that made him feel surprisingly alive. He pulled her close and kissed her. She moaned and wrapped herself around him, kissing back eagerly.

Slow down, keep it short, just enough to reassure her, he kept telling himself, while he let the kiss go on and on and on. His hands itched to touch her in secret places.

She made a needy sound that threatened to push him over the edge. If they kept this up, he’d start ripping off her clothes—and they were sitting in the convertible in the driveway, the traffic a white-noise roar that made this seem like a hot dream.

Catching the tail end of his sense before it slipped away, he pushed back, holding her by the upper arms. “I think that’s enough.” His voice felt shaky and he knew he was holding on by a thread.

“Oh, no, that’s not even close to enough.”

Dear Reader,

Imagine packing up all your worldly goods and setting off for a new life with hope, excitement and jitters all a simmering stew in your stomach. Will you love your new life or hate it and run home, tail between your legs?

As if that isn’t scary enough (can you tell I like security?), imagine losing everything you dragged with you—money, belongings, car. Talk about starting over. Stark naked. Almost. The idea makes my heart pound and my hands go clammy. That’s what my heroine, Heidi, faced.

I’m so proud of how she handled it. She struggled, she worried, but she kept at it and made her own way. With a helping hand from hunky Jackson McCall, of course. He offered a boost when she stumbled on her borrowed stilettos.

I hope you enjoy Heidi and Jackson’s story. Drop me a line at dawn@dawnatkins.com and watch my Web site for upcoming releases—www.dawnatkins.com.

All my best,

Dawn Atkins

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To my Aunt Wanda,

Your generous spirit will live forever in my heart

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

MY NEW LIFE STARTS NOW, Heidi Fields thought, pulling up to the darling sky-blue town house with white gingerbread trim, her heart so happy it almost hurt. She braked her new Outback with such force her beautician’s kit slid forward and bumped the back of her head.

She’d filled the SUV her brothers had given her floor-boards to moon roof, trunk to dash, with everything she owned, which made her exodus from Copper Corners, Arizona, all the more dramatic.

Leaving her old life completely behind, she’d bid farewell to her overprotective brothers, her station at Celia’s Cut ’n’ Curl, where she served as amateur therapist, and headed off for a future she chose, not one she just fell into.

She wanted to counsel people face-to-face, from a sofa or chair, not looking into a mirror, wielding a ceramic curling iron, blinking against the flash off the foil squares of a weave or shouting over the dryer roar.

She’d helped many a hair client through child-rearing hell, marital strife and personal crisis, and more than one came in for unnecessary touch-ups just to get Heidi’s take on a new development, but she wanted a degree—proof that she knew the science behind her art.

She’d had to leave, before she got stuck in a limited life. She wasn’t going to end up like Celia, who’d sold herself short in a tiny salon in a tiny town instead of becoming a Hollywood stylist, as she’d dreamed when she was Heidi’s age. Sure, college would be hard and it was tough to make a living as a psychologist these days, but Heidi was giving it all she had.

She was on her way at last. Sweaty and stiff from the three-hour drive up from Copper Corners to Phoenix—fried-egg-on-a-sidewalk hot at the end of July—but happy because right outside the factory-tinted window of her brand-new car was her brand-new home.

Which she could no longer afford. She flinched at the thought. Her friend Tina had the lease on the place and Heidi had intended to rent the second bedroom and small bath. Except Tina got a great job offer in L.A. she just had, had, had to take—Tina was so dramatic. She’d left to do just that three weeks ago.

Heidi had decided to take over the lease. She’d get a roommate or work more hours at the new salon where she’d snagged a part-time slot. She had no spare cash at the moment. She had a cashier’s check in her wallet from emptying out her savings account on the way out of town that she would sign over to Arizona State University for tuition in three weeks.

If she had to find a cheaper place, she’d do it. She wasn’t waiting a day longer to start her new life. She was too afraid she’d lose her nerve altogether. She hadn’t told her brothers about Tina’s exodus because they liked and trusted Tina and that made them feel better about Heidi being in the city. She was twenty-four, but they treated her as though she were twelve.

Their parents had died when Heidi was just six, her brothers thirteen and sixteen. Though they’d grown up with their aunt and uncle, Michael and Mark had clucked over Heidi like parental stand-ins, and they saw no point in her leaving the safety and comfort of Copper Corners. She had her associate’s degree from the nearby community college. What more did she need? Small-town boys inside out, neither brother had attended a four-year university.

Mike, Copper Corners’ mayor, had offered to hire her as his secretary, and Mark, a real estate broker, wanted to train her as an agent. Mainly, they wanted her close to home.

And she wanted to get away. She wanted her own place and a private life. A sex life, frankly. No more hurry-up-before-your-brothers-get-home sex with guys intimidated by her brothers’ physical size and political importance.

She’d convinced them she’d worked out the details and they’d accepted her plan. No way was she backing out now. She would solve the rent money problem on her own.

There was a slight slope to the street, so she yanked her steering wheel sharply to the right so the tires bumped the curb. Wouldn’t that be awful? Letting her car slide downhill into traffic or a mesquite tree or a house? Talk about one mistake ruining everything….

She loved the car—a going-away gift from her brothers. High safety ratings and terrific value, they’d told her somberly. If they could have dressed her in combat gear and a flak jacket and trailed her all the way here, they would have. She’d wanted to refuse the gift, but they were so anxious to do something for her that she’d given in.