Kimberly Dean - Courting Innocence

KIMBERLY DEAN

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Mischief

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London, SE1 9GF

www.mischiefbooks.com

An eBook Original 2015

1

Copyright © Kimberly Dean 2015

Kimberly Dean 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, down-loaded, 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 e-books.

Ebook Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780008148768

Version: 2015–06–09

Contents

Cover

Title Page Courting Innocence KIMBERLY DEAN A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright Mischief An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London, SE1 9GF www.mischiefbooks.com An eBook Original 2015 1 Copyright © Kimberly Dean 2015 Kimberly Dean 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, down-loaded, 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 e-books. Ebook Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780008148768 Version: 2015–06–09

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

More from Mischief

About the Publisher

October 23, 7.00 a.m., 55 degrees.

It was going to be a beautiful autumn day, even if she wasn’t getting married.

Erin blew out a breath that beat across her lips. She eyed her bedroom door. The forecast predicted sunshine and moderate temperatures. The leaves on the trees outside would be blazing with colour. Now, she just had to face it.

‘Eye of the tiger.’

She’d been dreading this day for a month – ever since the whole thing had been called off. Once she had powered through the next 24 hours, she could finally move on. To what, she had no clue, but she was bound and determined to find out.

She was even excited about the possibilities.

Fluffing her damp hair, she headed for the kitchen. Quiet sounds met her ears the moment she stepped out into the hallway. Jason and Sienna must already be up. Her roommate and her boyfriend had spent the night here, and Erin knew why. They hadn’t wanted her to be alone.

She sighed. She was so tired of people tiptoeing around her. Maybe that would end after today, too.

She turned into the kitchen with a ‘good morning’ on her lips.

All she got out was a ‘ guhhhh ’.

Her eyes sprang open in surprise. No wonder she’d heard only soft sounds and no talking. Her friends’ mouths were currently involved in something infinitely more pleasurable.

Heat streaked through Erin unexpectedly. That was one more thing that wouldn’t be happening today.

Her wedding night.

Her toes curled in embarrassment, but she couldn’t stop watching. Jason had Sienna trapped against the kitchen counter. The kiss they were sharing was hot, with Sienna arching back until her head nearly bumped against the cabinets. Jason had his hand shoved under the tank top of her pyjamas and was playing with her breast intimately. Sienna wasn’t being shy either. She had one hand in Jason’s hair and another wrapped around…

‘Oh, my,’ Erin squeaked.

The two sprang apart as if she’d just pulled a fire alarm.

‘Erin!’

‘Shit!’

Jason bumped into a chair, and Sienna knocked her purse off the counter. It went flying and hit the floor with a resounding thud, sending its contents everywhere.

‘I’m sorry,’ Erin gasped. She turned to leave, but bumped into the wall.

‘No, no.’ Jason was fast. He caught her wrist and stopped her. ‘My bad. I shouldn’t have started anything.’

‘We weren’t thinking,’ Sienna said in a rush. She straightened her clothes and ran a hand through her hair. Gathering it together, she looked around for her ponytail holder. She spotted it on the counter by her hip, but Jason got to it first. He put it in his pocket and pulled his girlfriend close again.

‘Erin doesn’t want us celibate,’ he said firmly.

‘No!’ Erin agreed.

‘But it’s –’

‘The day she was supposed to get married’ hung in the air like a sagging balloon.

Erin rolled her eyes. And there it was. She didn’t want anyone’s pity. She was over the humiliation and past the anger. She was even past the surprise. ‘I don’t want you guys to stop your lives, just because my plans were derailed.’

‘Are you sure?’ Sienna said cautiously. ‘It doesn’t bother you?’

‘She’s positive,’ Jason said.

Erin choked back a laugh. He wasn’t about to stop having sex on her account.

And they shouldn’t. It didn’t bother her…not that much. Her gaze took in how close they still stood together. There hadn’t just been sparks when she’d walked in the doorway, there had been fire. She could still feel it low in her belly.

Forcibly, she uncurled her toes.

‘It’s just this new apartment,’ she said. ‘I didn’t hear you two in here.’

Jason sent a grin in Sienna’s direction. ‘Not like your old place, huh?’

Sienna’s colouring flared. ‘Shush.’

Erin knelt down to help pick up the things that had fallen out of Sienna’s purse. Their old apartment had walls made of paper, and a former roommate hadn’t been shy about having her lover spend the night. The two hadn’t been the quiet types. Moans had echoed off the walls, one of which had been regularly beaten by a headboard.

The heat in Erin’s belly started to spread, and she was horrified when her nipples pinched. She missed sex. She missed being touched. She and Marty hadn’t been nearly as vigorous, but she missed the contentment a physical connection could bring.