Harmony Evans - Stealing Kisses

Derek wouldn’t be the first person who hadn’t bothered to look beneath her expensive clothes and runway-model looks. No one but she knew that she existed within a carefully crafted persona, designed over the years to avoid being hurt by anyone.

She’d given up on the dream to be loved for who she was a long time ago.

Nothing personal, huh?

Fine. She could keep it real. Real superficial.

Besides, keeping it casual was just the way she liked all her relationships to be, business or otherwise. She hadn’t been called “Ice Queen” back in her skating days for nothing.

She met his eyes and plastered on a confident smile that belied her true feelings. “All I want is to get you back on that court. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

He ran a thumb along her jawline and she shivered at the gentleness of his touch.

“Is that a promise?”

She had a feeling that despite his imposing presence and competitive spirit, there was a soft and tender side to him that was rarely seen. She was always a sucker for teddy bears, especially a big, hard-muscled one like Derek.

She tilted her head, trying not to lose her professional composure. “You want to play me for it?” she challenged, not realizing that her voice had dropped to a low whisper.

He moved even closer and put his other hand against the wall where she leaned, barely able to breathe. She was trapped, although not unpleasantly, in a dual firestorm of will.

Her nose twitched. Something that sometimes happened when she got nervous or excited. In this unusual situation, she was both.

“So, what’s in it for you?”

His question hit her rock-square in the gut. It wasn’t the money she’d make, that meant nothing to her. Instead she thought of Jamal, her grandparents and her parents. All gone now. Nothing left for her but memories, dead dreams and wishes for more time.

How does one explain all that?

Yet, for the first time in a long time, she felt hope.

Her eyes met his and her voice was strong. “A chance to see a family come together instead of being torn apart.”

Derek punched in the security code and slid the elevator door open. “I’ll have a car pick you up this evening.”

There it was again. The alluring sound in his voice making her skin tingle in all the places it shouldn’t.

But how to resist the rest of him? The hair she longed to twist around her finger, the broad shoulders she wanted to trace, the full lips that looked too delicious not to kiss. She certainly couldn’t work with a blindfold on her face.

She nodded, but didn’t say anything else as she entered the elevator. When she turned around, their eyes locked and she froze, not in fear, but in anticipation. As she descended to the ground, she hoped she wouldn’t pay for digging into his past with her heart.

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