Lisa Fox - A Kiss in the Dark - HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance

LISA FOX

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Harper Impulse an imprint of

HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2015

Copyright © Lisa Fox 2015

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

Cover layout design © HarperColl‌insPublishers Ltd 2015

Cover design by Becky Glibbery

Lisa Fox asserts the moral right

to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is

available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are

the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to

actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is

entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International

and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

By payment of the required fees, you have been granted

the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access

and read the text of this e-book on screen.

No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted,

downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or

stored in or introduced into any information storage and

retrieval system, in any form or by any means,

whether electronic or mechanical, now known or

hereinafter invented, without the express

written permission of HarperCollins.

Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress.

Ebook Edition © May 2015 ISBN: 9780008115517

Version 2015-05-28

I am incredibly blessed to have so many supportive and wonderful people in my life.

Thank you Sara Brookes, Chris Cinelli, Jessie Cinelli, Allison Gibbons, Kacey Hammell, Dori Koch, Peggy Morgan, Jennifer Probst, Fred Urfer, Liia Ann White, Sabrina York

And my editor, Charlotte Ledger, who made this all possible.

Contents

Cover

Title Page A Kiss in the Dark LISA FOX A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright Harper Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2015 Copyright © Lisa Fox 2015 Cover images © Shutterstock.com Cover layout design © HarperColl‌insPublishers Ltd 2015 Cover design by Becky Glibbery Lisa Fox asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress. Ebook Edition © May 2015 ISBN: 9780008115517 Version 2015-05-28

Dedication I am incredibly blessed to have so many supportive and wonderful people in my life. Thank you Sara Brookes, Chris Cinelli, Jessie Cinelli, Allison Gibbons, Kacey Hammell, Dori Koch, Peggy Morgan, Jennifer Probst, Fred Urfer, Liia Ann White, Sabrina York And my editor, Charlotte Ledger, who made this all possible.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Also by Lisa Fox …

Lisa Fox

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

The alarm clock cut through Ryan’s blackout dreams, and he reached for it from under the covers, slapping it silent. He groaned, opened one eye, then quickly shut it. The morning light was way too bright, like needles in his eyeballs. His next breath awoke searing pain in his chest, which ignited a chain reaction of agony that shot through his shoulders, neck, and head.

“Too early,” a groggy female voice grumbled beside him.

Ryan’s eyes snapped back open. There was someone in bed with him. He lifted his face off the mattress and slowly turned toward the sound. Every inch of the journey was an exercise in misery. The room spun nauseatingly around, and it took a moment before his eyeballs finally settled in his head enough for him to see the pretty blonde woman beside him. Traces of last night’s makeup still rimmed her wide brown eyes and accentuated her high cheekbones. She had a salon tan and a gym body and he had no idea who she was.

She smiled and stroked his face, a gentle caress of her long, acrylic nails. “You were incredible last night.”

She grazed his eyebrow, and the flash of pain brought the memories back with razor-sharp clarity. The smell of the gym, sweat and aggression, bright lights on the ring, fists and blood. Three long rounds, a hard-won fight. His opponent was good, he’d made Ryan work for every point. Despite the regulation headgear, he was sure his face had paid some of the price. Then victory, his arms raised high into the air, and the announcement that he would advance to the finals. There was laughter and champagne—his gaze refocused on the woman in his bed—and the Ring Card Girl from the match.

She touched her fingertips to his lips, then rested her hand on his chest. “You’re going to be the champion for sure.”

Prickles of heat cascaded down his spine as her hand moved lower, tracing the path of dark hair over his pec to the center of his body. The scrape of her nails was intensely erotic, almost too much for his bruised body to handle, and every pleasurable shiver set off another wave of pain. She brushed his navel, but he caught her hand before she could do something he would not want to stop. This was nice and all, but the alarm clock had woken him up for a reason. He had to get to work.

He lifted her hand and kissed her fingertips. “Next time—” His chest seized up. Oh God, what was her name? He didn’t know her name! He smiled, trying to cover up the unexpected pause. “— Darling .” He kissed her fingers again. “I’d love to stay in bed with you all day, but duty calls, and my landlord is not a forgiving or generous man.”

“Call in sick,” she said, sex in her eyes.

It was tempting, but Ryan had a firm no ditching responsibilities policy. Drink hard, play hard, work hard. The playing had been fun last night—really fun as he was beginning to recall—but today it was time for work. He threw back the covers and got out of bed to remove any further temptation. The hardwood floor was cool beneath his bare feet, the morning air chilly on his naked skin. He took a deep breath to quell some of the heat sizzling in his blood and bring his body temperature back down to normal.

His nameless lover sat up and the sheet pooled around her waist, offering him a view a man would rightly die for. She was rumpled and tousled and sexy, and the sight of her made him want to seriously reconsider his decision.