Table of Contents

Look for these titles from Rhonda Laurel

~ Dedication ~

~ Also by Rhonda Laurel ~

Look for these titles from Rhonda Laurel

Now Available

The Blake Boys Series

For the Love of the Game (Book One)

MVP (Book Two)

The Blake Legacy (Book Three)

Texas Heat (Book Four)

Love Notes and Football (Book Five)

The Perfect Storm (Book Six)

Ebb Tide

Shutter

Star Crossed

“Masquerade” Halloween Heat IV

In Print

The Rhonda Laurel Collection

“Masquerade” Halloween Heat MF

The Blake Boys Collection

The Perfect Storm

The Blake Boys Book Six

Rhonda Laurel

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The Perfect Storm

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First Etopia Press electronic publication: October 2014

~ Dedication ~

To J.J. and Samantha Jane

CHAPTER ONE

J.J. Blake woke to find his bed empty and a note from Eden on the pillow saying she didn’t have it in
her to say goodbye. He stared at the ceiling, wishing he could stay in bed for the rest of the day with
the memory of the heady, lust-filled night with his ex-wife. He’d danced with her at Seth and
Morgan’s wedding. Four dances later, they’d swiped a bottle of champagne and retired to the house
for one last night of passion. As soon as J.J. opened the door, years of angst let loose like a broken
dam as they stripped each other and made love into the wee hours of the night. It was the perfect way
to end their otherwise disastrous marriage. Sex was only time the two of them weren’t at each other’s
throats.

He roamed around his living room, taking one last look at the place. After two weeks of scouring

the house he was pretty sure he’d removed anything of sentimental value. A picture of Eden and him
on their wedding day sat on the mantle. It hadn’t been there yesterday. She must have brought it with
her. He picked it up and smiled, thinking how happy and clueless he’d been back then. Still, it had no
place in the house anymore, so he snagged it and put it in the kitchen trash. Satisfied, he went outside
to put a few things in his truck.

“Mr. Blake, we should be ready for phase two in about a half hour.”
He nodded at the foreman. “Thanks, Jesse.”
A truck headed toward them on the road. He could see his mother’s red hair peeking over the

steering wheel. She parked and cut the engine.

J.J. helped her get out of the vehicle. “Good morning, Momma.”
“Good morning baby. Is Eden here? I saw you leave with her last night.” She looked around for

her daughter-in-law’s car.

“She left hours ago. Did you want to say goodbye?”
“No, we said our goodbyes. We had a long talk last night.”
J.J. furrowed his eyebrows. “You did?”
Teri-Lyn touched his arm. “I told her that I’m sorry things turned out the way they did and I

wished her the best.”

“Wow. Thanks for saying that Momma.”
“Just because the two of you didn’t work out doesn’t mean there isn’t true happiness out there for

each of you.”

“If this relationship has taught me one thing, it’s that I’m just not cut out for marriage.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do. It took seven years to figure that out and I will not go through it again.”
“Promise me you’ll think about it some more before you cast that die into the universe.”
The rest of the family was beginning to arrive. J.J.’s brother Seth pulled up and was helping his

wife Morgan and their kids out of their truck.

Morgan came over and kissed him on the cheek. “Hey, J.J.”
“Can’t wait to see this surprise you have for us.” Seth laughed as he balanced his twin boys

Connor and Colby in each arm.

“Just a little spring cleaning.” J.J. scooped his Jake nephew into his arms.
It was time to begin anew and it felt right to have his family with him when he did it. The rest of

the family began pulling up. John Jacob, Tyler and Channing arrived together in his dad’s truck while
Tate and Isabelle came riding up on horseback. J.J. scanned the Blake clan, who were all assembled

on his front lawn. Morgan’s mouth gaped open when she spied the button in his hand. He winked at
her and she nodded back, apparently she understood what he was trying to tell her. She gave him the
inspiration, after all. He’d laughed for a half hour when he’d found that steamy romance novel she’d
snuck into his briefcase during his visit to Philadelphia, but when he’d read it, he’d realized what
was missing in his world.

“Thank you for coming out this morning as I bid goodbye to the past.” J.J. pressed the button and

felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders when the house began to crumble. He’d
gotten the idea to start over with a literal clean slate while he was traveling for business. He visited a
prospective property for a land deal and was overtaken by the serenity of the open space with nothing
but the blue sky and luscious greenery all around. When he saw the blueprints Morgan’s brother Jared
had drawn up for Jake’s tree house, he knew he’d found the right architect to help him design his new
home.

No one really knew what to say; the look of shock and awe was plastered on their faces. Finally

his brother Tate started clapping. The rest of the family, including the twins, Connor and Colby,
joined Tate.

“Uncle J.J., your house go boom.” Jake clapped.
“It sure did. Now I get to build a new one that will have a great room for you, Connor and

Colby.”

“Yay!” Jake clapped harder.
“Is this your way of announcing your separation?” Channing raised an eyebrow.
“Eden and I are divorced. It was finalized last month.”
“And you waited a month to tell us because…?” Seth asked.
“I didn’t want to disrupt the festivities of your wedding,” J.J. replied.
Tyler raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you two leave together last night?”
J.J. shrugged. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, I wish you the best on to the next chapter in your life,” Channing quipped.
“All I ever wanted was for you to happy.” Tate patted his shoulder.
“Me too. So what now?” Seth added.
“It’s time to rebuild.” J.J. looked on as the construction men started clearing debris.

* * *

Blowing up the house he’d shared with Eden was therapeutic, but he’d rendered himself

homeless. Now he was back living with his parents and Tyler and Channing, who were home for the
summer. By the end of the evening he’d settled into his old room at his parents’ house. It was smaller
than he remembered, and still decorated the same as it had been when he was in high school.

His father, John Jacob, appeared at the doorway. “How are you handling all this?”
“You know me, Daddy. I’ve been knocked down by bigger things than this.”
“Your mother said you’re going back to work on Monday. You sure you don’t need more time?”
“There are some things that need my attention.”
“There will always be something that needs handling, that’s the nature of business. You have

pretty good employees who can take care of things.”

“Work is the best thing for me right now.”

“If you say so. The annual audit with Regency Private Security Group is coming up. Bubba

normally does it, but he and Bo are going on vacation. Think you could cover for him?”

Bubba was Bodine Jamison, Jr., the chief financial officer for Blake Enterprises. He was an old

friend and Bo senior’s son.

“What does it entail?”
“Sam Carson, our Regency liaison, does a check of security at all Blake properties for

vulnerabilities and fine-tunes things when necessary.”

He didn’t know the specifics of how the security remained as tight as it did, but now was his

chance to learn. Maybe it was time for a meet and greet with the man both his dad and Bubba gushed
about.

“I welcome having something new on my plate.”
“Good.” John Jacob scratched at his beard. “Don’t go working extra hard to avoid having a

social life. When you finish licking your wounds from the divorce, get back out there and have some
fun. This is just a hiccup. Pretty soon you’ll be in a new house and getting on with your life.”

“You’ve never voiced your opinion about the marriage or the divorce. Why is that?”
“A man’s gotta make his own decisions about his life. Consider yourself lucky there wasn’t a

whole lot of collateral damage. Aside from the five-million-dollar house you just tore down.” John
Jacob shook his head and walked off.

A few minutes later Tyler and Channing stopped by.
“Now that you’re single, we thought we’d get you a bachelor’s survival kit.” Tyler flashed a

cheesy grin and handed him a gift bag.

The contents of the bag included a bottle of tequila, dirty magazines, flavored lubricants and a

box of condoms. Yeah, it was going to try his patience living with these two idiots again.

“Considering how much thought the two of you probably put into this, thank you.” J.J. threw the

bag on the bed.

“If you’re looking for any pointers on women…” Tyler smirked.
“Tyler, I do recall you trying to get away from Michelle a few days ago.”
Tyler held up his hands. “I can’t help it if women find me irresistible.”
Channing interrupted. “The dating world has changed since you were last out there. It couldn’t

hurt to get a refresher course. Besides, we don’t want you doing something stupid like falling in love
with the first woman you sleep with.”

“Out.” J.J. hustled them out of there and closed the door.
He ran a hand over his face. He was officially a teenager again. Hopefully he’d dodge the angst

and constant boners this time around.

* * *

Blake Enterprises was just the distraction J.J. needed from the upheaval of his personal life. He

enjoyed the serenity and sweeping, lush landscape of the Twelve Horseshoes ranch, but he also loved
the hustle and bustle of Dallas. It had been four years since his father turned over the reins of the
company to him, and in that time he’d taken the company into a new stratosphere with aggressive,
innovative land and construction deals that, as of last year, had made them a billion-dollar
corporation.

It was good to be back in the office. The spacious office had a magnificent view of downtown

Dallas. There was a conference room table and a sitting area with a couch and arm chairs. The door
on the other side of the room led to his private bedroom suite, equipped with a shower. There were
plenty of nights he’d opted to stay at the office rather than go home and face the emptiness that
awaited him.

“Good morning Mr. Blake. How was the wedding?” Anna Beth, his executive assistant, beamed

as she followed him into his office.

“It was great. I’ve never seen my brother happier. Did you do something with your hair?” J.J.

hung his Stetson on the rack in the corner.

“I was in the mood for a change. Thought I’d try something new and exciting.” She smiled and

ran a hand through her new short locks.

“It looks good on you.”
“Thanks.” She cleared her throat. “I received a reminder from Governor Thorpe’s office about

the RSVP for the garden party he throwing next month. What do you want me to tell them?”

“You know I hate Ethan’s extravagant parties. See if Bubba can go in my place.”
“I asked, he said to remind you that you still have two IOU’s that he intends to cash in on soon.”
J.J. ran a hand through his hair. “Let’s use ‘my schedule is booked.’”
“Sorry, but you used that excuse last time. Besides, you told me the next time you tried to avoid

one of the governor’s parties, to ignore you.”

J.J. chuckled. “Then I guess I’ll be going.”
“I’ll say that you’re attending. What about a plus one?” She bit her lip.
Plus one? Fancy parties were Eden’s thing, so he never had to talk her into attending social

functions outside of the ranch.

“That’s fine. I’ll see if my Momma wants to go.” He mused.
“OK. Great.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “The audit with Regency begins this week. Since

Mr. Jamison will be on vacation, would you like me to reschedule?”

“No, I already told my dad I would take care of it. Why would I reschedule?”
“I think Mr. Jamison looks forward to it.” Anna Beth gave him a sly grin.
“We’ll let him enjoy his vacation without worrying about the audit.”
“Maybe you should remind him. He’s in the office right now. He dropped off the Jacob Springs

report a little while ago.” She pointed to the binder on his desk.

“If you see him again, tell him he’s supposed to be on vacation. Tell him you’ll call security and

have him thrown out if he doesn’t leave.” J.J. turned on his computer and smiled. The screensaver
was a group photo of the Blakes.

“I’ve also taken the liberty and cleared your calendar this morning. I thought you’d want to catch

up on some things before you jumped back into meetings.”

“Thanks Anna Beth. What would I do without you?”
“Luckily you’ll never have to find out.” Her cheeks flushed a pretty pink as she scooted out of

the door.

J.J. perused the first year report on Jacob Springs. The resort was a phenomenal success and

was already yielding great profits. He had his sights set on a project in Montana after the deal with
Affinity was wrapped up in his old home state Colorado. He had been a quarterback for the Denver
Colts before a knee injury sidelined his career. Those had been the best three years of his life. He
was playing the sport he loved and life was filled with so much promise. Ten years later, he was
retired from his beloved football and divorced, nursing a bad knee and a broken heart.

A thunderous knock at the door brought him out of his bittersweet daydream.
“Come in.” J.J. looked up from the report. “Bubba, what are you doing here?”
“I remembered a few notes I had on my desk that needed addressing, so I here I am.” Bubba

plopped down in a chair. “I thought we agreed you’d call me Bo in the office.”

“Why would I do that when I know it pisses you off so much?” J.J. laughed.
“Why are you giving me grief? You haven’t taken a vacation in the four years since you took

over the company.”

“I don’t take vacations so my father can remain happily retired on that ranch spending his days

with my Momma and chewing the fat with your daddy.” J.J. quipped.

“Are you sure I’m not taking too much time off?” Bubba winced.
“It’s only a month. Enjoy your road trip with your father. Besides, you are casually scouting land

in Arkansas, remember?”

“That’s right.” Bubba breathed a sigh of relief. “How did the demolition party go?”
“Jesse and the boys are almost done clearing everything away. They begin new construction next

week.” J.J. tapped his pen on the edge of the desk.

“I still can’t believe you demolished a perfectly good home.” Bubba took a seat.
“It wasn’t as simple as selling the house and moving. I knew Tyler or Channing wouldn’t want it,

and daddy wouldn’t want a stranger living on the ranch. Besides, I want to sleep in a house that
doesn’t have ghosts running through it.”

“I saw you sneaking off with Eden at the wedding reception. I thought for sure you’d reconcile.”
“Eden and I were saying goodbye the only way we knew how. Naked.” J.J. shrugged.
“You should have been prepared for that. You know how weddings make women all…” Bubba

coughed.

“Horny?” J.J. grinned. “Speaking of horny. How did the evening end with your date? Felicia

was it?”

“It was a very pleasant evening.” Bo winked. “Seth is making the rest of us look bad. My dad’s

been talking about grandkids and asking me when I’m going to settle down.”

“If you came out to the ranch more often, you could join the debate. It meets on Tate’s porch and

new members have to bring the beer.”

“Does this esteemed group of men make any progress?”
“No, not really.” He chuckled.
“I’ll try to make the next one.” Bubba laughed. “So when are you going to get back out there in

the dating pool?”

“How about letting the ink dry on my divorce papers?” He shot him a look.
“You’ve been off the market for seven years. Enjoy the single life and have some fun.”
“I think I’d rather have you read the annual report to me line by line than getting into another

relationship right now.”

“Nobody said anything about a relationship. I’m talking about cutting loose and seeing as many

women as you please. I would say take a cue from your brothers, but they’re turning into respectable
citizens. I wouldn’t be surprised if I heard wedding bells from Tate soon.”

“He’s working on it.”
Tate’s confession at the reception that he wanted to take his relationship with Isabelle to the next

level was refreshingly mature. J.J. was proud of him for grabbing the happiness he finally realized he
was worthy of having.

“It wouldn’t hurt for you to pick up where Tate left off. Can you play a guitar?” Bubba made a

strumming motion with his fingers.

“Get out. And enjoy your vacation.”
Bubba exited the office and J.J. was left with his thoughts. It had been five days since he’d seen

Eden. Their last night together intruded upon his daily thoughts. Before that evening they hadn’t slept
together in months. There was a time when he couldn’t go a day without rushing home and falling into
bed with her for hours. Towards the end, touching each other had begun to feel uncomfortable.

He laughed to himself when he thought about her first visit to the ranch. She’d screamed and

complained the whole day, then he’d had to rub her feet because she’d opted to wear stilettos instead
of comfortable boots. That had been the first glaring clue that she didn’t belong there.

His cell phone pinged with a text message of another offer to fix him up. Well-meaning friends

had popped out of the woodwork poised to introduce him to the perfect woman when the news broke
that he and Eden were divorced. That juicy tidbit made the evening news, a shocker for him because
he prided himself on being below the media’s radar these days. His friend Steve’s wife had been
trying to set him up with her friend Heather. She attached a picture to the text, and he had to admit
Heather was gorgeous. Maybe Bubba was right. Maybe it was time to take the plunge and get that first
date under his belt.

CHAPTER TWO

Sam Carson felt like she was being called to the principal’s office and she didn’t know why. When
she got the call that Jack Stanton, the owner of Regency Private Security Management, wanted to
meet, her mind raced at the possibilities. Not only was the globetrotting president in the building,
he’d requested to see her. Could it be because she was assigned to the Blakes? There were some
pretty heavy hitting names on the company’s list of wealthy, elite clients and the Blakes were the most
prestigious family. Jack took a personal interest in all his clients but she knew for a fact he was close
friends with John Jacob Blake.

She had on a nice, yet understated tailored black suit and there wasn’t a hair out of place. Her

only business attire fashion offense was the shoes she wore. She took every opportunity she got to
wear her fancy high heels when she wasn’t in the field. It made her feel like she’d maintained some
femininity while dressed in her security garb.

“Hello, Mr. Stanton. Happy to be back home in Dallas?” Sam closed the door behind her.
“I sure am. Would you believe it’s the politeness I miss the most? Well, politeness and good

barbecue.” Stanton chuckled.

She smiled. “I know exactly what you mean.”
“How is the Blake account going?”
“Everything is running like clockwork. I’ll be starting their annual audit this week. I’m going to

do a surprise inspection at some of the sites around the country. I’d like our cyber division to take a
look at the servers at Blake Enterprises and check any vulnerabilities. I’ve been thinking about having
someone over there full time.”

“Good. The Blakes are old friends of mine, and I want to make sure we’re giving them the best

technology and services.”

“The safety of the Blake family is my top priority. I’ll make sure they have everything they

need.”

“I plan to play golf with John Jacob while I’m in town. I like keep abreast of anything going on

when I meet with clients who happen to be friends.”

“Mr. Blake has been diligent in adding security since his grandkids started coming along. We

came up with services that allow him the peace of mind he wants, without the ranch turning into a
full-blown compound.”

“That’s great.” Stanton poured himself a scotch. “Would you like one?”
“No, thanks.”
“Ron Sheffield was your mentor, wasn’t he? He took you under his wing and lobbied for me to

hire you.”

“Yes, he was. Partly as a favor to my dad.” She blushed. That was something she could never

live down, that her dad was instrumental in getting her the job. Despite the fact that she was on the
Dallas police force for six years, her father’s name always carried more clout than anything she could
achieve. Deke Carson was a retired Texas Ranger and had a reputation for being an all-around bad
ass until the day he died.

“Well, Deke wanted to make sure his little girl was in good hands. Don’t get me wrong, you

have a hell of a reputation yourself. Must be that Carson blood running through your veins.”

“Dad was a dedicated lawman,” she replied. “If I become half as good as he was by my

retirement, I’ll consider myself lucky.”

“I have no doubt you will be. Keep up the good work.” Stanton slapped his drink down on his

desk and extended his hand.

“Thank you sir.” Sam shook his hand and made a beeline for the door.
By the time she made it back to the fifth floor where her office was located, her team waiting for

her by the elevator. Rafe Kendrick, her partner in the field, started firing off questions.

“What happened? Did you get fired?” Kendrick joked.
She rolled her eyes. “No. Wipe the drool from your mouth. You won’t be getting my job today.

The Blakes are personal friends of Stanton and he wanted to make sure things were good with the
account.”

“Yikes.” He cringed. “What else did he say?”
“Sounds like he may be in town for a while. He’s planning on golfing and catching up with

friends. So you have to be on your best behavior.”

“That’s no fun.”
“Tell me about it. I oversee the Blake account, so I’m officially in a fish bowl.”
“All you have to do is make sure the Blakes are happy.” Kendrick followed her to the break

room.

Sam grabbed her Badass Princess mug from the shelf and fixed herself a cup of coffee. “Won’t

be too hard. I’ve worked with them for a while and they’re good people.”

“And they got you face time with Stanton. He’ll remember your name.”
She stopped. “He already does. He remembered my dad.”
“Who wouldn’t? That man is a legend. If Deke Carson were my dad, I’d run the streets telling

everyone.”

“Well, when you’re the relative of a legend, there’s a giant shadow that follows you around and

casts a shadow over your whole existence.” She sighed.

Kendrick shrugged. “What’s wrong with that? It opens doors.”
“When a shadow looms over you, you never to get to see the sun.”

* * *

J.J. told himself that an evening out at the Bright Star was just what he needed. There were

plenty of pretty ladies there all interested in having drinks, dancing and having a good time. After
being hit on three times, Tyler and Channing complained he was now their competition. Seth and Tate
were on the dance floor most of the night with Morgan and Isabelle. But J.J.’s heart wasn’t in it. He
felt like the old man of the group. It was only ten thirty, and he decided to throw in the towel and go
home.

Not quite ready for sleep, he went into the study hoping to find something to read that would lull

him to sleep. Their library was comprised of an impressive collection of military biographies, books
on corporate strategy, and thanks to Jake, an array of children’s books.

It was the perfect time to read the new spy thriller Morgan had brought to the house. He kicked

off his boots, went into the kitchen to pop some microwave popcorn and grab a cold beer. Tyler and
Channing hadn’t come home yet and his parents were upstairs in bed. He reached for the microwave
handle when the timer dinged and noticed that the thin pale strip on his ring finger that was once
covered with his wedding ring was fading.

He was fifty pages into the book before he laid the book on his chest and fell asleep. He only

stirred when he felt a feather like kiss on his forehead. He opened his eyes to see his mother Teri-Lyn
put a blanket on him.

“Hey Momma. What are you doing up?” He yawned.
“I came downstairs to get a cup of tea and heard you in here snoring like a bear. Did you have a

good time at the Bright Star?” She took a seat in an arm chair.

“Yes, I did, but I was tired so I called it an early night. But I got the assurance that the boys

would stay out of trouble.” He ran a hand over his face.

“I’m sure they won’t, but it was nice of you to remind them to be good.” She laughed.
“I missed hanging out with those rug rats.”
“They missed you too. Hell, I missed you the most. You are my first born, after all. I learned

how to be a good mom by practicing on you.” She smiled.

“Don’t tell them I said it but I don’t mind being pestered by Ty and C.J. It brings back fond

memories.”

“That’s always been their way of getting your attention.” Teri-Lyn coughed. “So did you meet

anyone tonight?”

“I’m still ruminating over my failings with the divorce.”
“It’s not about a failure, it’s about realizing it just wasn’t mean to be.”
“I miss Eden sometimes and heaven only knows why. Most of the time she was pouting and

surly.”

“You were together for a long time. You just need time. But don’t stew too long. Jump back into

the dating pool in with both feet and swim around.”

Sure he could jump back into the dating pool, but what if he’d forgotten how to swim?
“I think I’ll turn in.” J.J. got up and reached for the beer bottle and popcorn bag.
“I’ll take care of that.”
“Thanks. You are too good to me.”
“If ever need anyone to talk to, I’m here.”
“I know. Good night Momma.” He kissed her on the cheek.
“Goodnight John John.”

* * *

After a week of staring at the phone number, J.J. took the plunge and called Heather, the woman

his friend Steve’s wife insisted was perfect for him. He was more nervous than he liked to admit. But
what harm could it do having dinner with a nice woman as a segue to full-fledged dating? Too bad he
made the mistake of mentioning the date during the poker game with the boys the other night and found
himself overrun with condoms. There were condoms left on his bed, in his car and somehow they’d
managed to sneak some into his desk drawer at Blake Enterprises.

J.J. wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into the bedroom to find Teri-Lyn, Morgan

and Isabelle rifling through his closet.

“Hello, ladies.” He tightened the towel.
“Hey, baby.” Teri-Lyn held up a blue dress shirt. “We thought we’d come help you pick out an

outfit for your date tonight.”

“How did you know I had a date?”
Morgan came at him with a bottle of cologne. “Channing told us. You know he can’t keep a juicy

detail like that a secret. Where are you taking her? Is it a formal or casual atmosphere?”

“I made a reservation at Clifford’s.” J.J. waved away the cloud of cologne Morgan spritzed at

him.

“Clifford’s is kind of formal. How about a suit jacket with a pair of jeans? You have so many

clothes it’s so hard to choose.” Isabelle held up one of his gray suits.

J.J. watched as the women put together an entire ensemble right down to the boxer shorts.
“Try this on so we can get a good look at you.” Teri-Lyn handed him the clothes.
He stood there for a minute waiting for them to exit, but no one budged. He cleared his throat.

“Ladies? A little privacy?”

“What are you being so shy about? I’ve seen every body part you have, mister.” Teri-Lyn

wagged her finger at him.

“Please, it’s a sausage fest at my house.” Morgan shrugged.
“Tate sent his stinky work handkerchief to use as a blindfold so I didn’t accidentally see your

junk. But I’m not putting it on.” Isabelle’s nose twitched as she dangled the cloth in her hand.

J.J. felt his cheeks heat. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d appreciate it if you all could at least turn

around.”

The ladies mumbled about his modesty but finally faced the wall. J.J. slipped on the pair of

boxers under the towel before he took it off. So, this is what he missed growing up without sisters?
The cologne Morgan sprayed on him did smell pretty good, and he did like the suit jacket Isabelle
selected.

“So J.J., you’ve been out of commission for a while. Need any pointers?” Morgan stole a glance

at him.

“Eyes forward.” He motioned with his hand. “Women still like to pay their own way and hate it

when men try to do open doors for them?”

They all gasped.
“I’m kidding.” He burst out laughing and continued buttoning his shirt.
“I didn’t know you had a sense of humor.” Isabelle giggled.
While he dressed, the ladies continued to chatter about the things they wanted to do together

before Morgan headed back to Philadelphia. It felt good seeing his mother surrounded by daughters;
he was seeing a side of her that must have been suppressed from being in a house full of males most
of her life. Her relationship with Morgan and Isabelle was refreshing compared to the combative
stance she and Eden had taken. He often wondered if the rift between them would have been mended
if he and Eden had given her grandchildren.

“You can turn around now.”
He turned in the mirror to assess his attire, but Teri-Lyn beat him to the punch by stepping in

front of him and straightening his collars and running a hand through his hair.

“There you go. You look so handsome.” She pinched his cheeks once the spot check was

complete.

“Yes, he does.” Isabelle nodded.
“Before I forget”—Teri-Lyn picked up a bag and handed it to him—“I bought you something for

the occasion.”

Morgan and Isabelle furiously made hand signals that he couldn’t decipher behind Teri-Lyn’s

back trying to give a clue of the contents of the bag. He prepared himself for the worst and gingerly

opened the bag to find an economy size box of condoms.

“The ranch is a skank free zone. We’d like to keep it that way.” Teri-Lyn said.
“Momma, do you know what a skank is?” He raised an eyebrow.
“The girls told me what that means. Keep it covered at all times.” Teri-Lyn glared at him. “Have

a good time.”

Morgan and Isabelle both bit their lips trying not to laugh. J.J. made a quick exit out of his

bedroom and headed downstairs. He passed his father, who was on his way to study. John Jacob
offered him a big smile.

“Have a good time.”
“Thanks, Daddy.”
He headed out, hoping all the excitement wasn’t going to be all for nothing. Then again, the date

couldn’t possibly be worse than getting condoms from his mom.

* * *

J.J. stared at his fork, contemplating whether or not to jam it into his eye. Heather hadn’t stopped

talking since he’d picked her up. She was a pretty, poised investment banker who enjoyed golfing,
tennis and going to the symphony.

The text messages from his brothers didn’t stop. He could just imagine them sitting in Seth’s

living room taking bets on whether or not he’d get laid. Heather’s incessant blabbering had
diminished any physical interest he had in her. He muddled through dinner and was relieved when she
said she didn’t want dessert because she was watching her weight, which was ridiculous, because
she was a waif. He liked a woman with some meat on her bones. Heather looked like she’d snap like
a twig if she stepped off a sidewalk too quickly.

He took her home after dinner despite her protests that it was still early. She wanted to go

dancing. He marveled at her energy, but he didn’t know people still went out to nightclubs on a week
day. He’d been feeling so old and out of touch lately.

J.J. walked Heather to her door and thanked her for a lovely evening. He kissed her on the cheek

and bid her a goodnight but she had other plans. She pressed him against the door and gave him a
tonsillectomy. His body was trying to convince his mind to relax and enjoy the sensual assault but he
knew it was wrong. She slid her hand down the front of his trousers and caressed him. J.J. froze when
his dick rose to attention.

“Heather, we’ve only had one date.” He gripped her shoulders, trying to gently push her away.
“J.J. Blake, are you a prude?” She smirked.
“No. Just a man who likes to take his time when I’m getting to know a woman.”
“I’m a Scorpio. My natural hair color is brown and I’m on the pill and the patch to make sure I

covered all the bases.” She threw her arms around his neck.

“Wait a minute now.” He held her off. “I need to know a little bit more than that.”
Heather folded her arms over her chest. “I got a Brazilian wax just for the occasion. I thought for

sure we’d have some toe curling sex tonight.”

“How about getting to know me better?” Geez, how things had changed in seven years.
“I already do. You have the resume a woman dreams about. A rich, gorgeous, ex-pro football

player who is now the head of a billion dollar company. You need someone on your arm who can

complement your lifestyle. My family is wealthy. Not as wealthy as yours but I know the ins and outs
of high society and could be very good for you. People will forget you were ever married to Eden
Masterson.” Heather ran her hand through his hair.

He didn’t want to forget he was married to Eden. Right or wrong, she’d been a part of his life

for a long time and helped shaped the man he is today. It felt wrong to bad mouth her or act as if she
were some unfortunate disease he’d survived.

“Heather. I’m just not ready for this.” He kissed her on the cheek and walked away. He wasn’t

sure, but he thought he heard her call him a jerk under her breath.

J.J. turned on the radio to the sports station when he got into the car to drown out the horny voice

in his head telling him he’d just made a big mistake. Maybe he should have let her have her way with
him. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have enough condoms. But he knew better than that. He just wasn’t ready
to jump back into the dating pool if it meant swimming with the sharks.

CHAPTER THREE

Sam Carson checked her reflection in the decorative mirror as she pushed through the glass double
doors leading to the reception area of the executive offices. The Blakes were one of the richest
families in Texas, and one of Regency’s most esteemed clients. One couldn’t tell from driving by the
Twelve Horseshoes ranch that the security was so state of the art, only a few people in the country
had it. Their patriarch, John Jacob, had ramped up his already tight safety measures when Jake, his
first grand son, was born. They looked, for the most part, like a hard working family of ranchers who
lived a quiet life. But it took a lot of money and man power to maintain that illusion of simplicity.

“Hi, Anna Beth. Nice to see you again.” Sam smiled at the executive assistant.
“Hi, Sam. It’s audit time again, isn’t it?” Anna Beth mused.
Sam looked around. “Where is my favorite CFO?” Bo Jamison normally greeted her in the

reception area with a present when she came for the audit.

“Mr. Jamison is on a forced extended vacation. Mr. Blake instituted a new policy that everyone

had to take a vacation this year, even though he never does.” She laughed.

“Good for Bo. When is he returning? I can adjust some things on my calendar and reschedule.”

Sam whipped out her cell phone and opened the appointment app.

“That’s not necessary. Mr. Blake will be filling in for him. He’s waiting for you in his office.”
“I thought Mr. Blake didn’t come into the office anymore? Isn’t he semi-retired?”
“John Jacob, Jr. The other Mr. Blake.”
“Oh. OK, thanks.” She tried to keep her smile intact. In all the years she worked with the Blakes,

she’d never met the elusive John Jacob Blake Jr. Sam strode down the corridor draped with
expensive artwork and football memorabilia, stopping when she reached two huge oak doors, and
gingerly knocked.

“Come in.”
“Hello. Mr. Blake. I’m Samantha Jane Carson, the security specialist assigned to your family. I

hear you’ll be replacing Bo for the audit.” She extended her hand, and then swallowed hard when the
man stood up. The six foot three, broad-shouldered ex-football player turned corporate magnate was
as deliciously rugged in person as he was in photos. There had to be a law against a man that good
looking just roaming around Dallas, hell the state of Texas. His freshly divorced status was becoming
the talk of the town. Women far and wide were vying to become the next Mrs. John Blake. His body
was still in remarkable shape, even though he long since retired from football. Those trademark green
eyes, beautifully intense and probing, were looking at her like she had two heads.

“Is something wrong?”
“Call me J.J.” He pulled out a box of cigars from his desk drawer and handed them to her. “I

thought you were a man.”

“I get that a lot.”
“The cigars Bo told me you liked certainly was a misdirect.” He raised an eyebrow.
“Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a good cigar.” She folded her arms

over her chest.

J.J. gave her a once over. “I wouldn’t peg you as a cigar smoker.”
She shrugged. “Well, I use them to barter for things.”
“Like what?”
“Favors. This brand is very hard to come by, and they give me leverage when I need it. It’s helps

to have a leg up in this business.”

“How does Bo know your taste in cigars?”
“I mentioned this brand to him during one of my visits and he was thoughtful enough to track

them down.”

“He speaks very highly of you. But he left out a crucial detail.” He quipped.
“You have a problem working with women?” She raised an eyebrow.
“No, ma’am. I believe women are capable of just about anything, and I wouldn’t dare

underestimate you, Samantha Jane.”

“Good to know. Now that we’ve cleared all that up, do I get a handshake now?” She gave him

an expectant look.

A small jolt of electricity flowed between them when his big, strong calloused hand engulfed

hers. It was rough like he worked them a lot, not the hands of a man who sat in an office all day long
making executive decisions. He had a firm grip, but she could tell he was holding back. When she
tried pulled away, he relaxed his hand and his thumb lightly caressed the back of hers. He motioned
for her to sit down so she did.

“What exactly does Regency do for Blake Enterprises? I must admit I never get involved in the

security aspect of the company. Give me a complete rundown, but take it slow and be gentle with
me.” He smiled and canyon-deep dimples appeared.

“Well…” she stammered. “We provide security for Blake Enterprises and all of its subsidiaries,

including your homes. Regency patrols all properties, vets employees and provides protection details
when necessary. I personally manage the more sensitive investigative needs of the family that requires
discretion.”

“Give me an example of something that would require discretion.” He ran a hand through his

hair.

“Well, let’s use you as an example.” Samantha leaned forward. “You’re a hot commodity since

your divorce. I would collect data on the women you date to make sure no one is taking advantage of
the situation.”

“So you ferret out gold diggers?” He laughed.
“And keep away the crazies. I just ask that as you bask in the glow of singledom, I would

consider it a personal favor if you took pity on my staff and tried to behave. We all took a collective
sigh of relief when Tate settled down, but Tyler keeps us plenty busy helping him escape the clutches
of some poor girl who thinks she’s love with him.”

J.J. shook his head. “My brother has a robotic pelvis. One of these days it’s going to get him in

trouble.”

“I hear Michelle gives him a run for his money.”
“You know about Michelle?” His eyes widened.
“I know many things. All of you have had your fair share of exploits. Your files read like an

action movie.”

“So how often do you have eyes on us?”
“We do occasionally pop up at public appearance events or at your favorite haunts like the

Bright Star. We dress in plain clothes, blend in with the crowd and keep our distance. We can
discreetly imbed ourselves deeply into our clients’ lives to make sure you’re safe without you feeling
like your privacy is being violated.”

“How deep do you go?” He scratched at his beard.
“As deep as I need to get the job done.”

* * *

J.J. tried his best to concentrate on what she was saying, but frankly it was hard. How could

everyone have neglected to tell him that Sam was a woman? Bubba’s enthusiasm for the annual audits
was now becoming clearer to him. When he read the note attached to the box of cigars, he thought it
had a flirty tone but tossed the notion aside because he assumed Sam was a man. Did Bubba have the
hots for her? If so, why hadn’t he made a move in three years?

He thought he’d be meeting with a crotchety old man who had a pension for drinking whiskey

and smoking expensive cigars, not a drop dead gorgeous woman in four inch heels. The stuffy
conservative suit she wore couldn’t hide the contours of her firm, full breasts, petite, tapered waist,
and perky ass. She was slightly taller than average, and the heels she wore gave her some extra
height, but she still only managed to be eye-level with his shoulder. Her pretty brown eyes sparkled
and her smile radiated warmth. He wanted to lick the plum lipstick she wore off her full lips—
luscious lips—and unpin her long hair that she wore pulled back into a simple ponytail with a
barrette. He wondered if his five o’clock shadow would tickle her if he ran his cheek along the nape
of her neck.

Damn, when she looked up at him with those arresting eyes to see if he were paying attention, his

dick twitched. How the hell was he going to make it through the audit working with her? If his body’s
involuntary tension was any indication of what was in store for him every day for the next month, he
was in big trouble. And he looked forward to it.

He’d regained control of his body and was able to escort her out of the office by the time she left

for the day. Then he’d gone back to his office in a daze.

“Do you need anything else tonight Mr. Blake?” Anna Beth appeared in the doorway.
“Anna Beth, I thought I sent you home hours ago.” J.J. rubbed the back of his neck.
“I thought I’d hang around in case you needed me.”
“That was nice of you, but I was just about to call it a day.” He put some files in the file cabinet

and locked it.

“How did things go with the audit?”
He broke into a smile. “So far so good.”
“Sam sure is a…beautiful woman. It’s hard to believe she used to be a police officer.”
A cop. That wasn’t surprising.
“Well, that just goes to show we shouldn’t stereotype people.” He got his car keys out of the

drawer. “Why are you still here? You should be out with your friends having fun, enjoying the single
life.”

“Is it really that much fun?” She crinkled her nose.
“I know what you mean. I’ve just been plunged back into it and I don’t understand nearly as

much as I thought I did.”

“I’d prefer to find that one person who appreciates me.” Anna Beth tucked her hair behind her

ear.

“Maybe we should start a club.” He held the door for her and walked her out.
“Oh.” She cleared her throat. “I forgot to tell you that your wife—I mean ex-wife—called while

you were in the audit.”

J.J. tensed. “Did she say what she wanted?”
“No, she did not.”
J.J.’s light hearted mood after engaging with Sam all afternoon suddenly got very heavy. He’d

promised himself he wouldn’t have any contact with Eden for three months to help the transition out
of each other’s lives. It wasn’t going to be easy, not reaching for the phone to see what she wanted.

* * *

J.J. got out of the truck and splayed the blueprints to his new house on the hood. The construction

was on schedule, he was confident they’d finish by the fall. Thanks to Jared, his new five-bedroom,
five-and-a-half-bath home would be built to his exact specifications. This was a fun project for him.
He’d given full control of the last house’s design to Eden.

He had a date tonight, but he really didn’t feel like going. Rebecca was a beautiful, sexy woman

that he’d met at a business luncheon last week. She was the perfect person to help expunge a certain
security specialist from his mind.

J.J. opened the door and let Rowdy out of the truck so he could stretch his legs. It was now easy

to locate the pooch on the ranch with the GPS locator Regency had fitted on his collar. So he’d swung
by Tate and Isabelle’s to pick him up for their outing with Jake today. The sound of a golf cart coming
down the road made him turn. It was Morgan and Jake. As soon as she parked and unclipped his seat
belt, Jake bolted from the golf cart and ran to him.

“Uncle J.J., it’s meeting time!”
“Hey Jake. I was on my way to pick you up.” J.J. lifted him up in the air.
“This is coming along nice.” Morgan surveyed the construction. “Jake has taken an interest in the

construction. He has his father’s inquisitive nature. He wants to know the mechanics of everything.”

“That’s a good sign.” J.J. tickled him.
He reached in the back of the truck and got them hard hats. He held Jake with one arm and took

Morgan’s hand and gave them a tour of the perimeter, but not inside, explaining to Jake why the men
put up foundation walls. By the time they made it back to the truck, Jake had a million more questions.

Morgan did too.
“So how’s the love life?” she asked.
“I’ve been seeing a few women. Nothing serious.”
“Funny, you don’t seem like a swinging single type of man to me.” Morgan eyes twinkled.
J.J. laughed. “And what type of man do you think I am?”
“You’re the kind of man who knows exactly what he wants the moment he sees it. Seth said

that’s why you were so success in football and in business. Your gut is never wrong.”

J.J. put his arm around his sister-in-law and gave her a hug. “Are you always so insightful this

early in the morning?”

“I have three kids, my brain never shuts off. Well I have to get back to the house. The last time I

left Seth with the twins for more than a few minutes he was teaching them words like conglomerate
and shareholders.” She shook her head.

“Jake and I are going to the pet store to get a new collar and some toys for Rowdy.”
“Sounds good. Enjoy your big brother’s club meeting.” Morgan kissed both Jake and J.J. on the

cheek and headed back to the golf cart. “And J.J., trust that gut when it starts talking to you.”

* * *

Sam was pleased with the progress of the audit so far. It had been a busy three days in Montana,

and Sam and J.J. got to work visiting Blake Enterprises sites as soon as they touched down. The
audits were going smoothly, with a few minor wrinkles that could be worked out with training. Most
of the company heads were accustomed to seeing her, but when she walked in with J.J., the tone of the
audit became immediately serious. Roy Sachs usually asked her out to dinner, but this time he kept his
mouth shut and barely said ten words. They were scared of the man and it showed. J.J. was firm and
no nonsense when he visited the offices, but he would relax and become lively once they made it back
to the hotel. They had separate rooms on the same floor and they started each day with breakfast and a
run through of the day’s itinerary. She would give him time to return phone calls to the office in
Dallas, and then they were on their way. She expected him to get a limousine or maybe a town car,
but he simply requested a spacious SUV. He was surprisingly capable for a CEO.

He was pleasant, attentive and charming when they dined together, and he was receptive to some

of the changes she had in mind to streamline security of his business ventures across the country. He
let her take the lead in meetings and often deferred to her when asked an intricate question about the
security aspect of the company.

Tonight she would be dining alone in her room. He was meeting with an old friend and she

declined the invitation to join them. She needed to review her notes and frankly, some time away from
the gorgeous man with the contagious smile.

The vibration of her cell phone jutted her out of her thoughts. It was a text from her sister Kaitlyn

updating her on the family reunion plans. She was trying to find a nice way out of this year’s
festivities to avoid the same questions she’d been asked every year since she graduated college. No
one told her that a husband and a baby were all that she should have strived for after completing
college and the police academy. Women had gone to outer space, for Pete’s sake, but her family
would ask if she cooked her husband a good meal after she returned.

Instead of being the perfect June Cleaver wife, she’d opted for a law enforcement career and a

steady boyfriend. It had been two years since Ray died in the line of duty and brought her world to a
grinding halt. They’d discussed living together two weeks before he’d gotten killed. Somehow people
seemed to forget that she lost the love of her life in a police shootout. She always felt because they
weren’t married or engaged, the family’s sympathy just wasn’t strong as she’d hoped for when her
world was falling apart.

* * *

J.J. sipped on his beer at the hotel bar while waiting for his friend, professional race car driver

Scott Norwood. Scott was in town doing promos for his next race. Scott had been spending time with
Tyler on track as a favor to J.J. Tyler’s interest in racing, unlike many other things he’d fancied in the
past, didn’t seem to be waning. Scott was one of the best drivers around and knew the industry well.

He promised he would give Tyler the skinny on the dedication it took to be a pro driver.

“Blake!” Scott approached the bar.
“Scott, you old dog. How the hell are you?” J.J. gave him a hearty hug.
“Can’t complain. How’s the family?”
“They’re fantastic. The family is growing, my mom and dad couldn’t be happier.” J.J. smiled.
“How the world can change in three years.” Scott rubbed the back of his neck.
“I want to thank for letting Tyler spend time with you and your pit crew. I hope he wasn’t too

much trouble. But I knew you could give him a great perspective on racing.” J.J. said as the hostess
led them to a table.

“Never too much trouble to help a friend. But I don’t think you’re gonna like what I have to say.”
J.J. sat down and ordered another beer when the waiter appeared, preparing himself for the bad

news. It was not his intention to dash his brother’s dreams. He just wanted him to be safe and
understand the perils involved in racing. He and Scott looked at the menu and ordered quickly. After
Scott took a big gulp of his longneck, he started talking.

“I’m not going to sugar coat it Blake. I’ve been with Tyler for three weeks now and I feel like I

got a good sense of the type of man he is and why he wants to race. Once you get past that need-for-
speed energy of his, the depth of his knowledge about racing is immense. He has a natural instinct and
the potential to be a great driver.”

“What?” J.J. stammered.
“Yeah. I think it would be a good fit for him.”
J.J. scratched his beard. “I wasn’t expecting that. Tyler’s always been a bit of a rolling stone. I

could never see him sitting at some desk pushing papers around. Heaven knows I’ve tried to get him
to work for the family business.”

“I know how you feel. I have a baby brother too. But this may be good for Tyler. He’s asked to

hang around for a few more weeks and I said yes. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No. If he wants to do this, he should learn from the best.”

* * *

J.J. bid Scott farewell and headed to his room. The ping of the elevator jutted him out of his

daydream. He was sure Scott was going to say Tyler was more interested in chasing women than
learning about the racing industry. Instead Scott continued to sing Tyler’s praises and assured J.J. he
wouldn’t let his baby brother get in over his head. This description of Tyler was new to him. Perhaps
his brother was maturing? They were all growing and changing. Hell, Tate was in committed
relationship with Isabelle. J.J. pulled out his ringing cell phone as he reached into his pocket for his
hotel key card.

It was Seth. “Hey J.J. How was the talk with Scott?”
“Very enlightening.” J.J. removed his shoes and took a seat on the sofa.
“Let me guess. Tyler isn’t goofing off. He’s actually interested in racing.”
“Scott says he has a natural instinct for it and asks all the right questions.”
“I am the last person that wants to see Tyler do something potentially dangerous, but I also

believe in him. For whatever reason, racing is resonating with him.”

“You’re right.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Sam and J.J. had a productive day at his office strategizing the itinerary for the next group of facilities
they’d visit. His old stomping grounds Denver was on the list. Blake Enterprises had a construction
company that was manned by a good friend of J.J.’s, Russ Sparks, who was also a former Denver
Colt. She couldn’t help notice the look of excitement and dread when they discussed Colorado but he
didn’t say anything.

Sam sipped on her wine and listened as J.J. tried to let some woman named Paige down gently.

It was the third time she’d called today and from what she could get out of the conversation, he and
Paige had been on a date recently and she was anxious to see him again, but J.J. was dragging his feet.
She knew it didn’t look good for Paige when he answered the phone like he was talking to one of his
staff. Code words like “tied up at the office” and “swamped with work” were a nice way of letting
her down, but Paige was fighting the inevitable.

Sam glanced around the restaurant, surveying the patrons, hoping to spot an anomaly. Looking for

what was wrong in the landscape was an unfortunate hazard of security work.

There was something peculiar going on in the backdrop of the restaurant. A finely dressed

gentleman had just bumped into the fifth patron at the bar tonight. He was acting tipsy even though
he’d been drinking club sodas for the last hour. She was so fixated on the man she didn’t notice J.J.
had gotten off the phone.

“Am I boring you Ms. Carson?” J.J. drawled.
“Do you see the guy in the blue suit?” She point to the end of the bar. “I think he’s lifting

wallets.”

“How can you tell?”
“Well, I’ve never seen anyone get drunk off club soda, and he’s had three the past hour.” Sam

stood.

“What are you going to do?” J.J. caught her hand.
“I’m going to tell the manager to call the police.”
Sam found the hostess and asked for the manager. While waiting at the hostess station for the

manager to return, she noticed the guy had done it again, but now he was getting closer to the door. He
was ramping up his drunk act so he could leave before detection. He fake stumbled to the door, but
she moved into his path to block his exit.

“Hold on now. We can’t have you leaving here inebriated. Can I call you a cab?”
“Can I call you beautiful?” He winked at her and leaned on her shoulder.
“I stopped dating criminals in high school,” she quipped.
“Excuse me?”
“Give back the wallets.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He tried to push past her.
“I’m calling the police.”
“The hell you are.” He took a shot at her face.
Sam blocked it, grabbed his wrist, and twisted with such force, he fell to his knees in pain.
“You bitch!” he yelled.
She felt someone coming up behind her, and turned around in time to see J.J. grab another guy.
The guy turned and tried to punch J.J. but he moved out of the way, caught him in the jaw with

the right hook and sent him flying into the wall.

“The manager called the police. They should be here any minute.” J.J. adjusted on his tie.
Sam nodded. “Thanks for assist.”

* * *

J.J. sat at the bar nursing a beer while Sam finished giving her statement to the police. It wasn’t

the night he’d had in mind, but it was exciting none the less. He gave a quick statement to the police,
but when they realized they were talking to John Blake, former quarterback for the Denver Colts, that
conversation took an additional half hour. He appreciated meeting people who were fans of his
football career, but sometimes that got in the way of more important things. Like getting back to his
evening with Sam. When she’d finished giving her statement to the officers, a few of the patrons were
thanking her for getting their wallets back. J.J. tightened his grip on his beer when one of them leaned
in, whispered something in her ear and handed her a business card.

“Bet you’ve never had a business meeting like that before,” she said as she approached J.J. at

the bar.

“I see you have a fan.” He pointed to the business card.
“He wants to take me on his yacht this weekend to thank me personally for saving his American

Express black card.” She laughed.

“What did you say?”
“I don’t like men who try too hard.” She looked at him for a moment, then looked away to glance

at her watch.

“Don’t like the thrill of the chase?” J.J. smiled.
“Dating is a slow, deliberate dance. I don’t like feeling rushed.” She leaned against the bar.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” J.J. mumbled and stood. “It’s late. We haven’t had dinner and I need to

get you home.”

She waved him off. “I think the kitchen is closed and I can get a cab.”
“Absolutely not. The manager was kind enough to pack up our dinner.” J.J. rose and led her out

of the restaurant before she could argue again. Man, he wanted to kiss her right now. He didn’t know
if it was the excitement of the evening or a feeling that had been buried that was clawing its way out
of his subconscious. A hot kiss from the lady who just beat some crooked asshole down would be a
great way to end the evening.

J.J. enjoyed the conversation with Sam on the way to her condo. They didn’t talk about work, he

made sure of that. He got her to open up about the moves she made on the pick pocket. He learned that
she worked out regularly and kept the fitness standards of the Dallas police department even though
she no longer worked for them. She said her job at Regency required undercover work and sometimes
she had to get physical. He tried to mask his displeasure, but he couldn’t imagine a beautiful woman
like her with such a rigorous, dangerous job. What could be so perilous about protecting a bunch of
rich fat cats?

He felt invigorated as soon as he walked into the condo. It was furnished with bold colors that

awakened the senses. Reds, blues, greens and earth tones ran rampant through the rooms and down the
hallway.

“What was this for?” He pointed to a picture of her receiving a medal.
“Bravery.”

“What happened?”
“Stopped an armed robber as he was exiting a bank he’d just held up. I’m starving. Would you

like some wine to go with dinner?” Sam padded into the kitchen with their bag from the restaurant.

“Sounds good.” J.J. could see she tensed a little bit so he dropped the subject. He continued to

peruse the room and saw a stack of files on her coffee table. “Regency makes you take a lot of work
home?”

“I work with a group of retired law enforcement people who work on missing people and cold

cases.” She pulled plates out of the cupboard.

“That’s quite a hobby.”
“It’s never too late to find the truth and get justice for the victims.”
He looked around. There was no evidence that a man lived there, but he had to ask. “Does your

boyfriend mind you working such late hours?”

“You worried some big burly dude is going to come in here and toss you out?” She handed him a

glass of wine.

He laughed. “No. You could do that all by yourself.”
“Hence the non-existent boyfriend.”
“How so?”
“The nature of my job and the late hours wears thin after a while. It’s hard for a lot of men to

understand why I do it.” She leaned against the counter.

“Why do you do it?” He forked some of Sam’s penne pasta with vodka sauce into his mouth.
He’d called Jack Stanton and found out that Sam had been a police officer for six years before

she decided it wasn’t for her. Jack didn’t know the exact reason she resigned, but he was happy to
add her to his payroll. She was the daughter of Deke Carson, legendary lawman. Apparently his
daughter was just as formidable as her father.

“I do it because I think everyone has the right to feel safe,” she said. “No one should be able to

take that away.” She folded her hands across her chest. “I owe you an apology. I should never have
put you in danger like that. I want to assure you that’s not how I work. I get these impulses. I guess it’s
from being a cop. It will never happen again.”

“If you hadn’t noticed half the patrons at the bar would have been ripped off.”
“True, but I don’t work for the patrons in the bar. I work for you.” She shook her head.
J.J. came closer and touched her chin with his hand. “You made the right call. I’m not some

pampered executive who can’t handle himself. As a matter of fact I can—”

“I know all about your exploits.” She raised an eyebrow.
“It’s in the file?”
“Yep.”
“Then you know I can handle myself,” he whispered against her lips. The need to kiss her right

now overrode his thinking. He swept his tongue into her mouth and tugged at the giant clip holding her
hair in place, running his hand through her locks as they cascaded down her shoulders. The smooth
feel of her fingers moving up and down the back of his neck sent shivers down his spine. He gripped
her waist and planted her on the counter. He reached between them and undid the buttons on the pale
pink blouse. It spilled open and exposed a lacy black bra firmly holding her full breasts in place. J.J.
ran his thumb over her nipple through the material. He groaned at the soft, throaty sound that escaped
from her lips.

Sam’s cell phone started vibrating in her pocket.
“I’ve wanted to do that ever since you walked into my office.” He caressed her chin with his

thumb.

“I have to take this call.” She held up a finger and answered the call.
J.J. listened as she told someone named Kendrick that she was on her way.
“I have to go to work. A client’s daughter has run off and we have to go look for her.”
“At this hour?” J.J. looked at his watch. It was nearly midnight.
“Part of the job. I’m dedicated to your family the same way. I—”
He stopped her with a kiss. Five minutes later she pulled away with an enigmatic look on her

face.

“Excuse me, I have to change,” she said as she scooted out of the kitchen.
J.J. shook his head as Sam left her own kitchen like it was on fire. She’d barely touched her food

and was gearing up to track down people in the middle of the night on an empty stomach. She needed
something to keep her energy up. He looked around the kitchen and saw an open box of energy bars,
then opened her fridge to find bottled water, Gatorade and an assortment of fruits and vegetables. He
started shoveling bottled war, energy bars and an apple into a fancy insulated lunch bag he’d found in
one of the cupboards. He was still a little hungry himself so he continued to eat the pasta. Fifteen
minutes later she emerged dressed in jeans, a black shirt and a pair of running shoes. It looked more
like she was going jogging, not to a work assignment. J.J. must have been staring laser beams through
her because she started fiddling with her clothes.

“I need to be comfortable in case I’m running around in the dark all night looking for her.”
“Take a few bites before you leave.” J.J. held up the pasta.
“I don’t have—”
J.J. took the opportunity to slip a forkful of food into her mouth. She looked mad at first but then

chewed the food. He did it again and she accepted but she held up her hand when he tried a third time.

“I really do have to go.”
“I packed you a few things. You need something to sustain you while skulking around in the

middle of the night.”

“That was very thoughtful.” She accepted the bag.
“Will you have back up?”
“Of course.”
“That’s good. Be careful.”
“Thanks, I will.” She smiled. “Listen, about what just happened in my kitchen. We had a pretty

lively night and I’m sure from being an athlete you’re familiar with bursts of adrenaline. So no
apologies necessary. It was an accident and it shouldn’t have happened.”

“I’ve never apologized in my life for kissing a woman and I’m not about to start tonight.” He

folded his arms over his chest.

“So that’s how you’re going to be about it?”
“Yes, it is.”
She looked like she wanted to smack him, but she didn’t have the time. Sam stalked off to her

SUV and pulled away without so much as a wave goodbye. J.J. smiled. That kiss had been totally
worth whatever hell she would give him later.

* * *

By the time he made it home, he knew he’d be in no shape to go to work the next morning. When

he awoke, he sent a text to Anna Beth letting her know he wouldn’t be in the office.

Afraid his momma would burst into his room if he didn’t show his face for breakfast, he slipped

on a shirt and a pair of jeans and went downstairs. The animated sounds coming from the kitchen
meant one thing: Momma and Daddy had his nephews. He loved it when Jake, Connor and Colby
were in the house.

“Good morning. Uncle J.J.” Jake smiled. His baby brothers tried to emulate his greeting.
“Good morning, family. How are my handsome nephews today?” J.J. rubbed Jake on the head.

Teri-Lyn handed him Colby so she could pour him a glass of orange juice.

“You’re in a good mood.” Teri-Lyn said as she sat down to the kitchen table.
“I had a very interesting night.” J.J. took a seat and put seven-month-old Colby on his lap.
“I noticed you got home pretty late.” Teri-Lyn set the juice down on the table.
“How did you trick Morgan and Seth into letting you have the boys again?” J.J. balanced Colby

as he clumsily tried to stand up by grabbing his shirt.

“Please, they were happy to get some quality time. I’ll take him.” Teri-Lyn smiled.
“No worries. Colby and I are fine.” He began spoon-feeding his nephew pureed bananas and

peaches while taking bites off his own plate. J.J. got Jake and Connor into the fun as he made faces
and played with them. He started singing one of those songs from Jake’s favorite children’s show,
Doodles the Bear, and they’d gotten into a good groove when he looked up to see his parents staring
at him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.” John Jacob forked some eggs into his mouth.
“You should stay out late more often.” Teri-Lyn chewed on a piece of bacon.
He took a sip of his juice. “I intend to.”
“I rode past the house yesterday,” John Jacob said. “Construction is coming along. I think they’ll

be finished ahead of schedule.”

“You hear that boys? The play room Uncle J.J. is having built for you will be ready ahead of

time.” J.J. smiled.

He helped his mother get the boys cleaned up. Connor and Colby took off in their walkers after

Jake, who went into the living room to play. J.J. remembered the days of Seth and the boys following
him around everywhere he went. The last seven years he’d hadn’t spent as much time with them as he
would have liked, but that was changing.

He wanted to see Sam again and he had to figure out how it could be done. He needed to feel her

soft skin and the silky smooth feel of her hair. He still didn’t have a date for the governor’s party. He
could invite her to escort him as a security assignment. It was the perfect excuse to see her again
before they left for Denver.

* * *

Sam put on her eye and ear protection, loaded the gun, then took a deep breath and aimed at the

target. As soon as she felt the bullet leave the chamber, she felt like a piece of herself had been
restored. Last night she’d made the biggest mistake of her life, making out with J.J. Blake. She

worked for him for heaven’s sake! So what if she got to run her hands over those well-defined arms
and perfect ass, and he smelled so good that she could swear that his scent had attached itself to her
skin. But she was a professional. All she had to do was get his assurance of discretion and they could
put it behind them.

She was content with her three-year man drought but she knew you didn’t come back into the

game and get sacked by the star quarterback. You had a few inconsequential dates with some nice guy
who you didn’t care if you saw again.

Surely, it meant nothing, J.J. had been on a dating spree the last few months and she doubted his

libidinous pursuits would end with her. He was gorgeous, charming and had a wicked sense of humor
when he wasn’t being super serious, which was most of the time. She wondered why his relationship
with his ex-wife failed. There weren’t many notes on his marriage in his file but there were plenty of
receipts for her jewelry for insurance purposes. He’d dropped a fortune in baubles on the woman and
he let her take it all with her when she left.

Sam reloaded the gun and continued firing, hoping to shake this off the mania because she had a

lot of work piling up at her office. A few more clips ought to help get the dull ache of sexual
frustration out of her system. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so troublesome if the feel of J.J.’s lips weren’t
lingering on hers.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Kendrick.
“I hear you took down a pick pocket while you were on your date with Blake.”
“It wasn’t a date, it was a business meeting.”
“You keep telling yourself that.” He grinned.
“What’s the matter Kendrick, you jealous?”
“I can’t imagine you holding out for one of these rich guys you babysit. If lascivious looks were

against the law, half of your clients would be in jail.” Kendrick changed the empty magazine in his
gun.

“It doesn’t mean I’m looking back.” She was adamant about her no-fraternization policy.
“Of course, why would you look at one those bozos when you’ve been working with me so

long?” He grinned.

“Never gonna happen, Kendrick.” Sam shook her head. Kendrick had an ego the size of the great

state of Texas.

She started firing again. It would have taken little coaxing to make an exception for J.J. She had

to keep her wits about her before she did something stupid like sleep with the man.

CHAPTER FIVE

J.J., Tate, and Seth walked through the jewelry store looking for the perfect ring for Isabelle. Today
they were in an upscale jewelry store. The owner was a family friend who assured Tate he’d find the
ring of his dreams. Tate still hadn’t decided when he was going to pop the question.

“This is nice.” Seth pointed to an enormous pear shaped diamond.
“I like this one.” Tate pointed an even bigger princess cut ring with diamonds on the band as

well.

“Good, then I can use that to get the sports channel instead of having a satellite dish installed.”

J.J. mused.

“What are the rules for buying an engagement ring, anyway?” Tate asked.
“Daddy said the smaller the hand, the bigger the diamond,” Seth quipped.
A salesperson appeared and put J.J. out of his misery.
“So have you thought about what you’re going to do after you retire from football?” he asked

Seth as he looked at a nice pear of pearl earrings for their momma, who had a birthday coming up.

“I’m looking at all options that don’t take me away from Morgan and the boys.”
“Well, there’s a big office down the hall from mine waiting for you when you’re ready.” J.J.

smiled.

“Thanks. It would be nice to work with my big brother. How are things at the office?”
“Regency is doing their annual audit of security protocols.” J.J. picked up a brochure and

thumbed through it.

“So you’ve met Sam?” Seth gave him a knowing grin.
J.J. rubbed the back of his neck. “Am I the only person who didn’t know Sam was a woman?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I think Bubba has a thing for her. He bought her a box of these expensive cigars that are hard to

get.”

“Bubba’s been doing those audits with Sam for three years. If he hasn’t made a move by now, I

don’t think it’s going to happen. Besides, he’s been dating Felicia for six months now. So do you like
her? Or are you curious about Bubba’s love life for another reason?”

“What’s not to like? She’s beautiful, smart and knows how to handle herself in a fight.”
“Sounds like a great combination to me.” Seth laughed.
J.J. motioned to the sales clerk that he wanted the pearls.
“I’ve meaning to mention this to you. Sports Now contacted my publicist and asked if we’d be

interested in doing an interview together.”

“Really?” J.J. blinked.
“They’d like to do a highlight of your football days and we’d get to do a joint interview. I think

it’s a great idea.” Seth beamed.

J.J. didn’t know what to say. Those were some dark years, the injury and the recovery. He’d

buried the regret and disappointment in the recesses of his mind when he learned he’d never play
again. The end of his career was also when he and Eden had begun to unravel. The idea of revisiting
all that was nauseating, but maybe Seth was right. Maybe a joint interview—the two of them moving
on, and life after football—would fit right in with the new house, the new life, the new outlook.

“If you’re in, I’m game. Sounds like fun.”
Besides, spending time with Seth sounded great to him. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do

for his brothers.

Tate waved them over, when they got there he was holding up the bauble that would cement his

future with Isabelle. It was an exquisite ten-carat Asscher-cut diamond ring.

“That’s quite a statement. Will it affect how she plays the violin?” Seth laughed.
“She may need physical therapy again to wear it.” J.J. quipped.
“It’s her.” Tate grinned.
“It’s an excellent choice. You done good.” J.J. patted his brother on the back. “And I’ll be able

to pick up the sports channel when you two come over.”

* * *

J.J. had no trouble getting Sam to agree to attending the governor’s party as his plus one. She

opened the door and he was not surprised that she looked stunning in an elegant black dress that
silhouetted every luscious contour of her toned body.

“You look nice,” he murmured.
“Just nice?” she said as she picked up her purse.
“Sometimes a few simple words are all that’s needed to convey beauty.”
If he’d said what was really on his mind she would have slapped him. Part of his plan to

neutralize his attraction to Sam was to keep it strictly professional until he could figure his out next
move, and that included compliments. He couldn’t afford to act stupid. The issue of the undeniable
chemistry between would have to wait. But not too long.

Anna Beth had received a heads up that Eden would be attending the party. He knew she

wouldn’t be coming alone, so he expected some awkwardness tonight.

“Eden’s going to be here tonight,” he blurted out as he drove to the party.
“I see.” Sam looked at him for the first time since he picked her up. “How do you feel about

that?”

His jaw ticked. “Like it’s going to be a long night.”
“It doesn’t have to be. An hour is a respectable time to mingle and get out of Dodge. I would tell

you not to engage, but I suspect that’s not your style.”

“I don’t hide,” he said.
“How could you? A big man like you sticks out like a rabbit at a rodeo.” She laughed.
He gave her an amused look. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. My grandmother used to say things like that all the time. I may have misquoted

her.”

“I spent enough time in the confines of Eden’s machinations. I won’t be doing it again.”
J.J. pulled up to the governor’s mansion, gave the valet the keys to his Porsche Cayenne, and

rounded the SUV to assist Sam. When she placed her strappy, sandaled foot onto the pavement, the
slit on the side of the dress opened to reveal her soft, toned sexy leg. He took a deep breath and tried
to focus on the matter at hand. Meet and greet with Ethan and a few other people, and then he was out
there. He was wedged between a woman he was immensely attracted to and his ex-wife who was at
the same party. He couldn’t think of a worse place to be.

Damn his resolve not to do anything stupid. He was exactly where he wanted to be.
“How about beautiful?” he said as he offered his arm to her.

“What about beautiful?” She stopped their stride.
“You look beautiful tonight. And it’s not just the dress. That’s just the wrapping.”
“Thank you. I take back what I said about you looking like a troll.”
He laughed. “You didn’t say that.”
“I was thinking it when you said I looked nice. You don’t look so bad yourself. You do know

how to wear a suit. It’s like your body was made for fine clothing.”

“I could say the same about you.” J.J. grabbed two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter.

“A toast to good tailoring.”

“Amen.” She smiled.
J.J. and Sam made their way around the room and he wasn’t surprised she knew many of the

people. He knew some of the client names she rattled off and was impressed and a little peeved. At
least two of those guys were infamous skirt chasers who hit on every woman in a fifty mile radius.
And they would make a play because she was a beautiful, capable woman who made a man’s dick
hard just by walking into a room. They’d been mingling and making a polite conversation for an hour
before they finally saw the governor.

“J.J., thank you for coming!” The governor gave him a firm handshake.
“Good to see you again, Ethan,” J.J. responded.
“Sam, it’s always a pleasure seeing you. My parties are so much more interesting when you’re

here.” The governor greeted her with a hug.

“It doesn’t really feel like work when I’m here.” Sam smiled.
“And you’re here with one of my favorite people.” The governor turned to J.J. “It’s been so hard

lately for J.J. to come to my parties.”

“It’s been hard to get away from the office these days.”
“It seems you’ve been busy with other things as well.” Ethan winked and looked at Sam.
“Sam is the assigned security specialist from Regency.”
“If you say so.” Ethan smiled.
Out of the corner of his eye J.J. spotted Eden with Dax Howard. Dax was an all-around jerk and

a womanizer.

“I guess you and Eden had a civilized divorce. I see you both have moved on. But if you ask me,

I’d say she traded down.” The governor nodded and went on to the next party guest.

“Dax Howard is a jackass,” Sam murmured.
“You know him?”
“I used to be assigned to his account before the incident.”
J.J.’s jaw ticked. “Did that asshole do something to you?” He noticed her posture stiffened and

the grip on her champagne flute tightened.

“Do you remember last year when he had a broken arm and told everyone he’d injured it while

surf gliding in the Caribbean?” She sipped her champagne.

“Yeah.”
“He collided with me.” She waggled her eyebrows. “So how do you want to do this?”
“Do what?”
“Forgive me.” She shook her head. “Force of habit from spending time with your brother Tyler. I

always assume a fight will ensue.”

“One of these days we have to talk about what my brother does when he’s away from the ranch.”
“That’s a violation of his confidentiality.”
“You’re not his shrink or his priest.” He chuckled.

“True, but confidentiality is part of the agreement. And I promised your brother that as long as

his antics don’t trigger an international incident, I would refrain from tattling on him.”

“Now I’m curious about why you agreed.”
“Tyler has that same smoldering charisma that runs in your family. He just hasn’t learned how to

control it yet.”

A waiter passed by with a tray of appetizers.
Sam offered J.J. a mini quiche but he refused. “You need to eat something.”
“If the wait staff passes by with something edible, then I’ll eat.” He moved his head back and

forth like a child an unappealing vegetable.

“Just a bite. Stop acting like a baby.” Sam laughed.
J.J. held her hand steady, gulped down the appetizer then lightly nipped the tip of her manicured

finger. “Not bad, but not good either.”

“Hello, J.J.” A voice said behind them.
J.J. turned around to see that Eden and Dax had snuck up behind them.
“Eden.” He kissed her on the cheek and gave her a hug. J.J. glanced at the glittering bling around

her neck and saw the diamond necklace he’d bought her for their first anniversary. He turned to her
jackass of a date and simply nodded. “Dax.”

“J.J. It’s been a long time.” Dax extended his hand but J.J. wouldn’t shake it.
“Samantha Jane, this is Eden, and you already know Dax.” J.J. smiled when the color drained

from Dax’s face.

“A pleasure, Eden. Very nice to meet you.” Sam extended her hand to Eden but she didn’t shake

it. Touché. “Dax, I would shake hands with you but I’m not sure if that restraining order you had filed
against me is still in effect.”

Dax cleared his throat. “I dropped that complaint. I thought I’d cleared that up with Jack Stanton.

After all, it was a big misunderstanding.”

“Some things do get lost in translation, but most things don’t. If Eden finds herself in need of a

translator, I’ll be back for another visit.”

The next few minutes were painful for all involved. J.J. knew from his wife’s pouty look that his

reaction to Dax was not what she’d expected. Not to mention her obvious confusion about what Sam
said to Dax. The longer he stood there, the more he had to temper his anger. He wanted to beat the
man’s face in for making an advance on Sam that caused her to defend herself physically, and for
preying upon Eden. But the idiot’s grasp on Eden’s arm did lighten up. Sure, she was a big girl and
she was no longer his responsibility, but that didn’t mean he wanted her to get hurt.

Dax finally herded Eden towards the governor, who was holding court about a recent fishing

expedition. It was a great time to get some fresh air.

“Would you like to take a walk around the garden?” J.J. asked Sam.
“I’d like that.” She wrapped her hand around his forearm.
They started the path that began as a small maze of shrubbery.
“So,” she asked. “On a scale of one to ten, how uncomfortable were you in there?”
“Two.”
“Wow. Seeing the ex-wife in public for the first time since the divorce with a world class

douche bag only warrants a two?”

“The purpose of a divorce is to rid yourself of anxiety like that. It would be second guessing the

decision I made, and that decision did not come lightly. I loved her for a long time, and I still do. But
as corny as it may sound, sometimes love isn’t enough to sustain a relationship when two people want

different things. Life is much simpler than people make it. Either you give your all to someone, or
you’re wasting their time.”

“Feel better?”
“Yes, I do.” He shook his head. Letting go of it felt good, saying it in front of Sam, the object of

his desire, not so much.

“I think it’s nice that you still love her.”
“Now, wait a minute,” he protested.
She rolled her eyes. “Can I finish my motivational speech? I think it’s nice that you still love her.

That means you separated before any ill will cemented itself into your heart. Why would you love
someone one minute and despise them the next? I think sometimes people don’t ask themselves
poignant questions like that when they’re sifting through the rubble of past relationships. It shows you
know what love means, if you were able to let go of it. For her sake and yours.”

“Thanks. I have my momma and daddy to thank for that. They made loving each other look so

easy.” He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Listen to me, I sound like some mushy greeting card. I
need a beer.”

“How about a big juicy burger to go with that beer? I know a great place. My treat. And before

you say anything, I’m not one of those dainty salad-and-yogurt-eating women. I like good food and a
keep a balanced exercise program so I can offset the calories.” She nudged him gently in the ribs with
her elbow.

“No surprises there. Salad and yogurt doesn’t exactly go with cigars and hard liquor. Let’s go

get us some real grub that doesn’t taste like papier-mâché.”

She snorted in response. “Cool.”
“Sam, thanks for the warning you gave Dax. You beat me to the punch.”
“I know all you Blakes like the back of my hand. I intervened to prevent the fist fight I saw

coming. You are my charge, after all, and no matter how devastating I look in this dress, I’m always
ready to provide excellent customer service to my clients.

“I may designate you as my plus one for the foreseeable future.”
Sam smiled and he led her outside to the valet stand. He saw Eden engaged in a conversation

with a group of people. She did look good tonight, and wearing the necklace he gave her for their first
anniversary could have been a coincidence. But he noticed she also had on the matching bracelet and
earrings. She looked at him with those damn eyes that held him captive for far too long, as if she
wanted him to come over and snatch her away from Dax. Perhaps Sam did save him from lighting the
powder keg that surrounded them, but Dax wouldn’t be so lucky if J.J. ran into him in less formal
circumstances. Too bad Dax didn’t frequent the Bright Star…

* * *

It had been a week since Sam saw J.J. and she found herself oddly missing him. They had a great

time after they ditched the governor’s party and had gone for burgers and a beer. He didn’t mind
talking about Eden, and she was pleasantly surprised at how frank he was about their relationship.
She thought about the kiss they shared in her kitchen, but he’d seemed to be totally past it, so she filed
it away in her mental file cabinet as an impetuous moment between to healthy adults who were
attracted to each other.

Now they were headed to Denver. Sam wasn’t crazy about flying, but she’d been working on

calming her fears since she had so many high-profile clients that moved around the country and
sometimes internationally to work. A few days before she did plenty of yoga and listened to
relaxation CDs to and from work.

“Have you been hydrating?” J.J. greeted her when she stepped onto the private plane.
“Yes, I have. And why did I do that again?” Sam furrowed her eye brows.
“The high altitude and the hot weather in Denver can wreak havoc on your body if you don’t

drink plenty of fluids. I’ve found it helps if you start a few days ahead of time.”

“Oh. You learn something new every day.” She smiled.
Sam took a seat and fastened her seat belt when the captain informed J.J. they were taking off

soon. He looked good today, dressed business casual with a lavender dress shirt and a pair of jeans.
She wore one of her suits but packed some casual clothes just case she’d get to sightsee while she
was there.

They spent the plane ride going over the itinerary and discussing the weather, sports, just about

anything while they ate a nice lunch. It was so easy to talk to him, which was a change of pace from a
lot of her wealthy clients who were really out of touch about the world around them.

The minute the private plane touched down, Sam immediately fell in love with Denver. The

scenic mountains in the backdrop called to her, and J.J. maneuvered expertly through the city streets,
pointing out a few sights before reaching his home. J.J. punched in a code that opened a beautiful iron
gate, but she didn’t see a house anywhere in the distance. He made a left and ascended a sloping hill
that seemed to go on forever. When they reached the top she could see three huge houses, spaced out
but within a reasonable distance from each other. Now she knew why the Regency staff dubbed this
place Blake Ridge. He pulled in front of the house on the left.

“This place is magnificent,” she said.
He retrieved their bags from the trunk of the Range Rover. “Thank you. This is my home away

from home.”

“So what’s the itinerary for today? We got here in record time if you want to start working.”
“Today we take it easy. I thought we could go to the market and get some supplies and have a

nice dinner here.” He opened the front door and turned off the alarm.

“Sounds good.”
The house didn’t seem like he hadn’t been there in over a year. The fridge was stocked, there

were no coverings over the furniture, and the mail he received was neatly stacked in a pile on the
kitchen counter. There was a note next to vase of fresh flowers on the beveled mahogany table in the
foyer. J.J. read the note and snorted.

“My momma sent Tyler and Channing here a few days ago to remove any memories of Eden. I

thought those rug rats were in California.”

He gave her a tour of the enormous house, which had four bedrooms, two studies and an exercise

room that could have rivaled a chain of fitness gyms. There was a lavish spa hot tub that she was
dying to try. J.J. explained its specialized features were installed for when he played ball.

J.J.’s bedroom was beautifully decorated and had an elegant walk-in closet and a huge

bathroom. He gave her the pick of bedrooms and she chose the one at the opposite end of the hall, to
avoid any late night run ins. She normally preferred to stay at a hotel, but when she brought it up to
J.J., he flat out insisted she stay with him. The back yard went on for days. J.J. opened the gas grill to
air it out and checked the propane tank.

They made the trip to the market and stocked up on food for the week. He drove around, showing

her some of his old haunts from his football days. When they rode by his old stadium, a look of
nostalgia flashed across his face. By the time they returned back to the house it was early afternoon,
but she strangely felt tired.

“I apologize, my energy level is unusually low.” She yawned uncontrollably as she placed the

vegetables in the fridge.

“That’s why I suggested we start fresh in the morning.”
“So what’s on the menu tonight?” She asked.
“My famous buffalo chili.” He winked at her as through the meat on the counter.
Sam blanched at his choice. “I don’t eat buffalo.”
“Have you ever tried it?” He countered.
“Well…no, but—”
“You like beef, you’ll like buffalo. It’s just leaner and full of protein.”
She shook her head no, still not convinced.
“I ate that cardboard quiche thing at the party. You owe me.” He handed her a bottle of water

and shooed her out of the kitchen. “How about this, just give it a chance and if you don’t like it, I’ll
take you out to eat. But I promise you’ll like it.”

Sam perused the house while he got to work in the kitchen. She patched into his system with her

tablet and began running a diagnostic. Eden was still listed as an authorized entrant in the home and
she would ask him if he wanted her removed. According to the logs, she’d visited the home about six
months ago. She wondered if he knew about it. Why wouldn’t she want this home in the divorce
settlement? It was their first house and the view from every window was spectacular. But then again,
Seth and Tate owned the other two homes on the mountain, it would have been damned awkward to
run into them periodically. She made her notes, put her gizmo away and went in search of the
magazine she’d brought with her. She peeked in on him in the kitchen and noticed he’d changed his
clothes. He was now sporting a T-shirt with his old team’s logo on it and a pair of running shorts. He
was lean, muscled, and sexy as hell.

She cleared her throat. “Um, I have a question for you.”
“Sure.” J.J. stirred the meat browning in a cast iron pot.
“Eden is still an authorized entrant on this security system and that stands to reason she’s still in

the system on other properties. Do you want me to revoke her credentials?”

He stopped stirring and scratched at his beard. That usually meant he was thinking hard about

something. It was also a trait she’d noticed in all of the Blake men. They all had the classic body
language tell.

“You don’t have to decide right now,” she added.
“No, I should have requested it be done a long time ago.” He picked up a cutting board with

chopped onions and added them to the pot.

“OK.”
He smiled. “Dinner will be ready in a couple of hours.”

* * *

J.J. knew Sam was trying to hang in there, so he made sure they didn’t do anything too strenuous

when they landed. He wanted a day to just relax and enjoy his return to Denver. In addition to visiting

Blake Enterprises locations, he was getting together with some of his buddies from his football days.
A few were still playing for the Colts, but some were retired like him. He’d dodged the informal
reunions for years but now seemed like a good of time as any to try new things. Besides, two of them
were heads of the construction company he owned.

The plane ride was pleasant, and he enjoyed chatting with Sam. She was well versed on many

topics and had a strong opinion about everything. She didn’t hold back in fear she’d bruise his ego,
and he didn’t mind when she called him on the carpet about some things. It was nice—different—to
be able to speak his mind and disagree with a woman without it turning into a fight.

Coming home to find the house Eden-free was a bittersweet feeling. He expected to be doing

some packing and reminiscing, much like he did before the house on the ranch had been demolished,
but his momma had beaten him to the punch. Bless her heart for helping him move on with his life.
The whole family seemed to be on a campaign of forward movement for him.

The timer on the stove dinged, which meant his cornbread was done. He called out to Sam that

dinner was ready, only to find that she too had changed. She wore a pink sweat suit, which was
undeniably cute, but he’d never tell her that. He suspected she liked the shark persona she exuded
when she wore one of her business suits.

Sam got out the bowls and eating utensils while J.J. put the finishing touches on the chili. He put

a few heaping ladles of the chili into her bowl while she protested. He loved her body, but she could
use some meat on her on bones. He’d seen her eat and suspected she had a high metabolism, because
she ate just as vigorously as his brothers. The feel of his hands on her waist when he’d kissed her
haunted him nightly. It was getting pretty hard to mask how turned on he was by her, but he thought he
was holding up well. So what if he had to sit down a lot or hide behind the center kitchen island to
conceal the megaboner she gave him?

Conservative suits or a soft-looking sweat suit didn’t matter—she started a sexual buzz in him

every time he saw her. This week was going to be a test of his resolve as he figured out a way around
this “not dating a client” quagmire.

He wasn’t going to give on exploring their relationship, and he didn’t like to lose.
J.J. watched as Sam reluctantly took a spoonful of the chili. She didn’t spit it out, so that was a

good sign. He watched her mouth, imagining other things that could be done with the seductive
movements. He had to stop hanging with Tyler and Channing. He’d become permanently tuned to the
Horny Channel like them. Sam took a bite of the cornbread and sipped on her red wine.

“Well?”
“The chili and the cornbread are great. I do taste a difference but it’s nothing to send my taste

buds into a tizzy.”

“So…” J.J. gave her an expectant look.
“What?” She put another spoonful in her mouth.
“Repeat after me. J.J., you were right about the buffalo. This is the best chili I’ve ever eaten in

my life. I will let you mold my taste buds like clay and defer to your judgment in the future about all
of my culinary selections.”

“Never going to happen, Mr. Blake.”
“I think we’re past formality. After all we did make out in your kitchen.” He waved his fork at

her.

“I plead temporary insanity on that one. And if you insist you on dispensing with professional

formality, I prefer John.” She reached across the table and ran her hand through his hair.

“John?” He instinctively reached up and caught her hand. Sam didn’t play by the rules.

“You call me Samantha Jane.” She mused.
“I like the way it sounds when it rolls off my tongue.” He held her hand, which smelled like the

cornbread, an inch away from his mouth.

“John suits you.” She pulled back her hand.
J.J. let it go. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

* * *

Sam was satisfied that the audit was going great. Her suggestions were received well by the

staff, especially when J.J. informed them he was there strictly to tag along and that he endorsed
whatever policies and systems she upgraded or changed. She was amazed at how the staff revered
him and were excited that he was in town. She couldn’t help but notice the not-so-subtle lustful looks
of a few of the women; one of them even wedged herself between them to say hello. She turned to
shake hands with Sam after J.J. introduced them, impressed that his eyes remained fixed on her face
even though her blouse was unbuttoned so low, Sam could see the front clasp of the black bra she
wore. Jeff Miles, the President of Blake Construction Denver and former running back for the Colts,
insisted on hosting a barbecue for J.J. before he returned to Texas.

A few more facility visits and it was the end of the day. J.J. had offered to show her some more

sights. They ate at a really nice restaurant on Blake Street, of all places.

Then he took her to the Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre. The layout of the stage was awesome.
“Tate performs here. The acoustics are kick ass.”
“I bet it is. There isn’t a venue around that doesn’t showcase his pipes.” She nodded.
“You’ve been to one of his concerts?” He raised an eyebrow.
“For work.” She laughed. “I even have my Tate’s Angels souvenir T-shirt to prove it. The

women in the crowd can get…very enthusiastic. Two girls had a fist fight in the first row because
they each thought the kiss he blew to the audience was meant specifically for them.”

“Tate does have a way with that guitar.” He murmured.
“Yes, he does. He’ll give you your money’s worth for the ticket. The screaming hasn’t abated

since he and Isabelle got together. Some women I know actually think it’s sweet that he changed his
wild ways to be with a classy violinist. And that Seth dropped his frivolous dating when he found
Morgan, a feisty bookstore owner of all things.”

“As wild as they may have been in their youth, they managed enough growth to find women who

were beautiful, independent and real, just like my momma. I at least got the beautiful part right with
Eden. One out of three ain’t bad.”

“You married Eden when you were barely out of college. Love bloomed early for you and you

acted on it.” Sam stopped walking. “And I’ve never had to get between you and a knife-wielding
groupie like I did with Tate that time in Albuquerque.”

“A knife?” He chuckled.
“When he released that song Bewitched two years ago, he had a really interesting summer.”
“So what about you? Do you have any past-love war stories?”
She shrugged. “I’ve tumbled down the rabbit hole once or twice, and I have the bumps and

bruises to prove it. But time eventually heals all, or at least that’s what they say.”

J.J. grinned at her. “Don’t worry. I’ll get it out of you eventually.”

* * *

J.J. and Sam had already had a busy morning hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park. He

thought it would be better to start her off slow with the Emerald Lake trail. Then they went back to the
house to get ready for Jeff Miles’s reunion barbecue. Sam declined at first, but J.J. was able to
convince her that she wouldn’t be uncomfortable around his friends. They were a great group of
people.

The party was in full swing when they arrived, and it felt like old times when they used to spend

time together in the off season. The marital landscape had changed as well; he wasn’t the only one
who had been divorced. Tony Perkins had been divorced from his wife for three years and J.J. hadn’t
even known. So much for feeling the stigma of a failed marriage. When he announced to the group that
he and Eden had split, there wasn’t too much love lost over her. As if on cue, when he went to the
restroom in the house, one of the wives cornered him in the kitchen and asked if he was interested in
dating anyone, unless of course he and Sam were dating.

“Trish, I told you,” he said. “Sam is the security specialist for my company.”
“Yeah, right. Keeping telling yourself that. You didn’t smile this much when you were with

Eden.”

Had he been smiling more? Maybe he was. Sam sat next to him at the table and doted on him,

asking he wanted food or another long neck. She even told him to drink as much as he wanted because
she’d drive home. Later that evening, his friend Max asked him to take a walk. Sam was chatting with
Trish, so he agreed.

Max slapped him on the back. “I’m so glad you could make it to this reunion. We’ve missed

you.”

“It’s good to see everyone.” J.J. smiled.
“Listen, I know you don’t like to talk about the football days but we were all damn proud to have

you as our quarterback. You were a good leader and an even better friend.”

“Sports Now is interested in doing a story on me and Seth,” he said.
“That would be great. Seth emulates you when he plays, so that would be a terrific story for you

guys.”

He shook his head. “He doesn’t emulate me. He has his own natural talent.”
“Do you watch your brother’s interviews? He mentions you all the time and credits developing a

good work ethic because of you. He worships you.”

“Seth’s just being Seth.”
“Seth’s just being honest. You know how many people would want your talent and greatness for

one minute?”

“Let’s change the subject. I don’t want to rehash what could have been, especially on the heels

of my divorce.”

“Instead of thinking of what you lost, think of how you saw the picture when you got injured and

went into business with your dad. Thanks to you, I can say I have a damn good job post-football. You
didn’t have to expand to Denver, but I know you did it to give some of us jobs. It’s hard to find your
new life’s work when you been a pro-football player. You did that, and you helped a lot of other
people to do it too. You finally divorced that horrible, bitchy, self-indulgent wife of yours and you’re

here with a gorgeous woman who’s intelligent and can play cards. From where I’m sitting, your life
still looks pretty damn enviable.”

“I keep telling everyone that Sam and I aren’t together.” He sighed.
“You’re sweet on her. It’s plain as day.”
“To everyone but her, maybe.”

* * *

They bid everyone a good night and headed back to the house. Sam drove, as promised. J.J.

looked around at the sights, proud of the work he’d done here. He still had roots and there was a part
of his life that would forever be entwined with Denver.

“So, a lot of your old teammates have jobs because of you.” Sam said.
“You’d be surprised how many players don’t have a backup plan once they retire from the game.

They needed direction and I was able to help.”

“That is an incredible thing to start a Blake Enterprises subsidiary here so they could move on

with their lives.”

“Half of them were builders and worked in construction. It wasn’t a leap that it was good for

business.”

“You’re a good friend.” As they neared the stadium, Sam looked at him. “Want to stop at the old

stadium and look around?”

J.J. looked at the stadium. It had been years since he’d stepped foot in the place where his

football career had crashed and burned.

“I’d rather go back to the house…and kick your ass at Scrabble again.” He laughed.
“Never gonna happen, Blake.”
They played Scrabble, drank too much wine, and talked for hours about his glorious football

days. Each time he felt like he wanted to kiss her, he’d take another gulp of his wine. Sam’s
knowledge of the sport was refreshing. She hadn’t been lying when she said she’d seen him play. Her
analysis of his performance was that of a sports announcer. When he began to lament how it all
ended, she reminded him of how much he’d achieved since leaving the sport. She even said the
greatest moments of his life were yet to come. When they retired to bed, J.J. hadn’t felt that good in a
long time. He didn’t try to kiss her, but his body buzzed just the same as if they’d made love for hours
on end. There had to be a way around the whole conflict of interest thing because she worked for
Regency. If there wasn’t, he’d find a way a pummel through it, just like he did every other obstacle in
his life.

CHAPTER SIX

Sam dressed comfortably in a pair of jeans and her work boots for her visit to the Twelve
Horseshoes Ranch. It had been a month since the trip to Denver with J.J. and she’d been kind of sad
to see it come to an end. They’d been having such a great time, and she’d learned so much about him.
He was a driven man who knew what he wanted out of life. But he seemed different when they
touched down at the airport. She was half expecting…something else when they said goodbye at the
airport.

The Regency installation team had already visited the ranch and implemented the changes she

requested, which included handprint recognition pads for all the residences. She was there to make
sure everything was installed and to do a few test runs of the system. She drove through the gates of
the ranch, behind a construction truck that made a left about mile in while she continued straight to the
main house. Examining the structure of J.J.’s new house was one of the things on her to-do list. His
house would be outfitted with the most up-to-date security tech money could buy.

As soon as she parked in front of his parents’ house, rain began to fall. Of all the days for a

storm to pass through Texas, it had to be on the day she had to meet him for the final assessment. She
closed her eyes and listened as the water symphony hit the roof of her SUV. This downpour would
spell disaster for her hairdo, but after ten minutes had passed, she decided she must look like a lunatic
for not getting out of the car.

Her door opened on its own.
“Need a hand?”
She grinned up at J.J.’s wet face grinning down at her with those dimples twinkling in his cheek.

“Yes. Thanks. Would you believe I don’t have an umbrella in my car?”

“There’s nothing wrong with getting wet every once in a while.” He flashed an even more

wicked grin.

“Like water parks, do you?” Samantha’s mouth went dry.
He laughed, and the deep rumble made her pulse quicken. Damn, he looked good. He was

freshly shaven and wore a blue dress shirt with a pair of jeans. Did the man know how handsome he
was? Sam tried to disconnect the seat belt twice but her hand kept slipping. She took a deep breath
and tried again. It was going to be a long day if she kept fumbled around the man like she’d just
learned how to walk and talk.

“How have you been?” J.J. asked as he helped her out of the SUV.
“Swamped with work. Did you test out any of the new improvements?”
“Yes, and I must say it’s all very high tech. My parents get a kick out of using their finger prints

to get into the house.”

“Everyone in your employ is finger printed, so it will be easy to decipher who did what if any

shenanigans should occur.”

“Good. It never hurts to be extra cautious.”
“Where do you want to begin?” She smiled.
“I can drive you around the ranch.”
“Sure.”
“Where is everyone?”
“My parents are off on a romantic weekend and Tyler and Channing went to check out some

racing event.”

“I took the liberty of riding around the outside perimeter of the ranch before I came in, and I must

say I’m impressed with the procedures already in place.” Sam ran a hand through her hair.

“Well that’s all Bo’s doing. He runs the ranch and is a stickler for those things.” He helped her

into the truck.

“Yes. I’ve talked to him a few times. I see where Bo Jr. gets his charm.” She smiled.
“Bo speaks very highly of you.”
“He’s a good friend.”
The sun was beginning to come out as they drove around. The first stop was Tate and Isabelle’s

house. The wonderful sounds of music coming from inside sounded like the makings of a good song in
progress, and she felt bad for intruding.

“You’re in for a treat today. Sounds like there’s a concert going on.” J.J. knocked then opened

the door.

“Hi, J.J.” Isabelle put her violin in the case.
“Hi, darlin’. What are you doing here? I thought Tate had a gig in New Orleans?”
Isabelle chuckled. “You know how he is, can’t stay away from home too long. We’re leaving

tomorrow afternoon.”

“I’d like you to meet Sam Carson,” J.J. said. “She works for Regency.”
“Nice to meet you, Sam. Pardon the mess.” Isabelle looked around the room.
There were music sheets on the strewn about on the table and Tate’s guitar was on the couch.

Hardly a mess. Sam watched as Isabelle cleaned up a bit and motioned for her to sit down. J.J.
wandered off on his own.

“You’re playing was lovely.” Sam beamed.
“Thank you. I’m back at seventy five percent range of motion. I’ve been getting better since my

physical therapy. With any luck I can audition for the Dallas Symphony next year.”

“Well, if that’s how you sound at seventy five percent, I can’t imagine them turning you down

when you feel you’re ready,” Sam replied.

She liked the cozy atmosphere of the cabin. This placed screamed of Tate. Well, of his profile

on paper. She could see the subtle influences of Isabelle woven into the mix. It was nice to see the
actual homes instead of the blueprints she reviewed.

“I hope you don’t mind the intrusion,” Sam said. “J.J. and I are making sure the security

improvements on the ranch are in place.” Sam held up her notepad. “Did you have any problems with
the new system?”

“Yes.” Isabelle laughed. “Tate played with it all night. I’m surprised no one came to see why

he’d entered the house fifty times in one evening.”

Sam laughed too. “We anticipate that. We call those entries the new toy phase.”
“This has to be the safest place in Texas. I’m surprised that no groupies have ever tried to sneak

onto the property to get to Tate’s cabin but he said the security is in place, even if I don’t see it.”
Isabelle laughed.

“He’s right. Regency’s job is to stay in the background so your way of living isn’t disrupted.”
“That’s good to know.” Isabelle gave her a strange look. “You seem really familiar to me. I feel

like we’ve met somewhere before.”

Sam was afraid this might happen. She had a close call with Isabelle when she went to Georgia

to check out her ex-husband, Ned. Luckily she didn’t get a chance to answer, because J.J. and Tate
had come into the living room.

“Hi Sam, I’m Tate. Nice to meet you. J.J. hasn’t stopped talking about you since he met you. It’s

hard to impress him, believe me.” Tate smiled.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Sam ignored the evil look shot J.J. gave Tate. “I’m a big fan and

I love your new CD. I like the subtle changes in the song selections. It’s refreshing to see a man open
up to being emotionally available.”

Well that put a smile on Tate’s face.
“I have my muse to thank for that.” He winked at Isabelle.
“Tate has invited us to lunch to have his famous gumbo. He’s a really good cook.” J.J. said.
“Sure. It smells good.”
The four of them had a great time on the deck while dining on Tate’s terrific eats. The

relationship between J.J. and Tate was a joy to watch. They teased each other, but it was all in good
fun. You could tell how much Tate looked up to his big brother. Isabelle gave her a tour of the cabin
and everything was in order. There were no broken windows or intricate ways a person could
maneuver themselves into the house. Sam caught Isabelle looking at her again like she was trying to
place her face and felt confident she wouldn’t remember their shared elevator ride. Isabelle had filed
the restraining order against Ned, and Sam had followed her to the police station. She’d stayed in
Georgia a few weeks to make sure Ned was cooperating. Her orders were only to intervene if
necessary, but Isabelle did fine on her own.

Afterward, Sam and J.J. thanked them for lunch and headed out to inspect Seth and Morgan’s

house.

“That gumbo was divine. Tate is a man of many talents.”
“Are you a closet McGill groupie?” J.J. eyed her.
“No. And before you ask, I don’t have a crush on Seth, either. It’s more of a healthy, adult

admiration for one of the greatest quarterbacks of our time.”

“Well, you’re possibly the only woman on the planet who doesn’t.” He tapped on the wheel.
“But he is my favorite fantasy football pick. I’d have to be a lunatic not to choose him. I do know

a few women who cried when they found out he was married.”

J.J. rolled his eyes. “Totally understandable.”
“He reminds me of a quarterback that used to play for the Denver Colts. He was fast as

lightening and had career stats in his short career that any football player would kill to have. He was
a hell of an athlete and sports analysts still talk about him today.” J.J. pulled into the driveway, and
Sam jumped out of the truck.

He grinned and headed out after her. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were a fan.” He

mounted the steps and rang the doorbell.

“Maybe,” she said, grinning.
The door opened.
“Sam, this is my sister-in-law Morgan. Morgan, I told you Sam would be visiting today.” J.J.

said.

“You said you’d be stopping by with the pretty—”
Sam couldn’t hear the rest of Morgan’s sentence because J.J. “accidentally” leaned on the

doorbell.

Morgan swatted at J.J.’s arm and ushered them into the house. “Nice to meet you, Sam. Seth is in

the living room with the boys. I’ll get you two some lemonade.” Morgan went in the direction of the
kitchen.

“Uncle J.J.’s here.” Seth said to his boys.
As soon the boys caught sight of Uncle J.J. they made a beeline for him. He surprised her by

scooping all three of them up in his arms into a big bear hug and sat on the couch. The boys got a big
kick out of that.

“Sam, this is Jake, Connor and Colby.” J.J. tickled each one of them.
“Hi guys. Can the three of you get any cuter?” Sam waved at them.
“Nice to see you again Sam. I don’t think you how much you trouble you started with the new

technology around here.” Seth repositioned the fort he’d made on the floor.

“That’s what I like to hear. Using it won’t be a problem since everyone is getting familiar with

it.” She sat on the couch and immediately had company. Connor and Colby were climbing over J.J. to
get a better look at her. Jake helped his brothers then parked next to her. “Well. Well. I’m surrounded
by handsome men.”

Connor grabbed hold of her shirt with a chubby fist and tried to steady himself, inadvertently

copping a feel.

“Connor Blake, let that nice lady go!” Morgan blushed with embarrassment as she came into the

living room with the tray of refreshments.

“Connor’s just improvising. He didn’t see anything else to steady himself, so he went for it.”

Sam laughed.

“I apologize, Sam. They have that affliction that all the Blake men have; my son’s a breast man.”

Morgan shook her head.

“Babe, those boys have another year before they realize they’re doing it on purpose.” Seth

flashed his wife a cheesy grin.

“I got him.” J.J. leaned over to get his nephew.
Sam held her breath as the back of J.J.’s hand brushed the top of her breast while trying to get

Connor to relinquish the hold on her shirt. He tugged gently at his little hand but the baby didn’t want
to let go.

J.J. wanted to buy his nephew a new car for putting up a good fight to keep his hold on Sam’s

shirt. When his hand brushed against her soft skin, he had to control the ripple of shivers traveling
through his body. He’d wanted to touch her since she got out of her SUV but wasn’t sure if it was a
good idea. But now he had to deal with his biggest competition—his nephews. They were fascinated
with Sam. Jake had managed to nestle himself between him and Sam and was showing her his toy
airplane. If Jake mentioned that tree house in the back yard, he knew Sam would say yes and he would
be royally screwed. He’d planned on asking Sam to take a ride with him after the audit was
concluded.

“Ms. Sam,” Jake said, “you want to see my tree house?”
Jake said it innocently enough but he seemed to have a smirk on his face. Was it possible the

toddler was reading his mind? There may some truth to Seth’s tales of Jake’s attempts to thwart any
more procreation from his parents.

“I sure do,” Sam said. “You have a new security system on your tree house too.”
The next thing he knew, Morgan, Sam and Jake were headed outside. They weren’t out of the

room five seconds before Seth started in on him.

“Is Sam going to check under your bed before she leaves? Just to make sure there aren’t any

scary monsters under there?” Seth tried to suppress a grin as he put Connor and Colby on the floor.

“You’re enjoying this way too much.”

“I enjoy seeing my brother smitten with a woman.”
“Why do you think I’m smitten with Sam?”
“It took you ten minutes to remove Connor’s hand from her shirt. Wait until I tell the boys you’re

using your nephews as your wing men.” Seth laughed.

J.J., Seth and the twins joined them outside. Sam was serious when she said she covered all the

bases. He wasn’t aware she’d had the tree house outfitted with its own system.

“Jake, put your hand on the screen.” Sam showed him what to do.
The security system acknowledged Jake’s handprint and stated, “Handprint identification of Seth

Jacob Blake Jr. confirmed. Welcome back, Jake.”

“That is so cool.” Morgan beamed.
“Morgan, it’s your turn.” Sam instructed her to put her palm on the scanner.
The security system stated, “Handprint identification pending, you are not Seth Jacob Blake Jr.”
“Morgan and Seth, you should be getting a notification from your Regency app right now.” Sam

said.

Morgan looked at her phone and there was a message from Regency asking permission to let her

into the tree house.

“You confirm yes and the system continues in ten seconds.” Sam looked at the screen.
The security system stated, “Handprint confirmed, welcome back Jake’s mom.”
J.J. looked on as the family played with the device. Sam explained that Connor and Colby’s

prints were in the system too and would be updated as they grew. He had to hand it to her, she was
good at her job.

“Your new house will be equipped with the same features,” Sam said to him.
“I’m surprised you don’t have thermal image scanning equipment,” he joked.
“The cameras at the stables are equipped with it,” she replied.
“Damn, you’re good.”

* * *

Sam didn’t want to leave the boys, but there was still work to be done. The next stop was the

stables, and J.J. gave her a tour and introduced her to his horse Midnight. When he asked if she
wanted to take a ride to the site of new house, she happily said yes. A ranch hand saddled a horse
named Blue for her, and J.J. looked on in shock when she easily mounted.

“Yes, I know how to ride.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
“There may be hope for you yet.” He laughed.
The site for his house was just a few miles down the road. J.J. gripped her by the waist and

helped her off the horse. When she grabbed onto his shoulders to steady herself, the scent of her
perfume traveled up his nose. From the look of the floor plans the house, it was going to be an
impressive piece of architecture. The foundation had been laid, the frame was in place and the steps
were completed.

“When will construction be complete?”
“We’re looking at October.” He tapped on one of the wood beams.
“There’s a state of the art alarm system I tested the other day. I think it would be a good fit for

your house. It has all the bell and whistles and handprint verifier like the other houses. We could start

the wiring now provided you approve of it.”

“OK, I’ll take it.”
“Don’t you need to see a demonstration first?” She raised an eyebrow.
“I trust your judgment.” He moved closer to her. “Isabelle seemed sure she’d seen you before in

Georgia. Did my father send you down there?”

She nodded. “I went to Atlanta to investigate Isabelle’s ex-husband. I was at the police station

when she filed the restraining order. We had a near miss in an elevator. I think she recognized me this
afternoon.”

“What did you learn about her ex?” J.J.’s jaw ticked.
“There was a history of violence.”
“So, he’s abused women before.”
“Yes. But he got the message to stay away from her. I made sure of it.”
J.J. shook his head. “I can only imagine what you said to him.”
“I just pushed a few of Ned’s buttons and he became belligerent. He’s an intimidating little

bastard when he’s not getting his way.”

“Did he put his hands on you?” J.J. caressed her cheek.
“No, he did not.” She put her hand over his. “I had two team members in the restaurant as back

up, but I didn’t need their help. I handled it. I’m pretty good at what I do.”

“I saw how capable you were in the restaurant with the pick pocket, but that doesn’t mean you

should confront dangerous men alone.”

“I was on the Dallas police force for six years. I’m an excellent marksman and have extensive

hand-to-hand combat training. I bet I can even kick your ass, Blake.”

Sam turned to walk away when she felt J.J.’s hand on her shoulder. This was the perfect

opportunity to prove her point. She twisted out of his grasp and flipped him onto the floor. But her
victory was short-lived. J.J. grabbed her leg and she tumbled and fell on top of him. Sam giggled
when J.J. grabbed her ass and pulled her onto his erection.

So maybe he wanted to kiss her today too.
She slid her hand under his shirt and let her hand glide over the smooth skin of his chest.
“Now we’re both on the floor.” J.J. murmured as he leaned up for a kiss.
Sam sighed. “I’ve been waiting for you to kiss me since Denver, you jerk.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” Sam ran her hand through his hair. “I think we should talk about this.”
“OK.” J.J. rolled her over onto her back.
“Maybe we should do this standing up like two rational adults and out of the view of the horses.

I think we have an audience.” She moved her head in the direction of the stallions.

“I like where we are just fine.” He nipped at her earlobe. “So I guess this concludes the audit?

You said the ranch was the last property to be inspected.”

“Yes, it does.”
“This also means that we won’t be working together anymore, so there’s no more conflict of

interest?”

“In a way. I still work for your family.”
“Correction, you work for Regency, who works for my family.” J.J. furrowed his eyebrows.
“Yes, that’s also true.”
“So we won’t have direct contact anymore. I can turn the duties back over to Bubba. End of

conflict.”

The smell of his woodsy cologne was traveling up Sam’s nose. It was hard to concentrate when

those damn intense green eyes were peering into her soul.

“I just want you to know I’m not the kind of woman who jumps into bed with someone. That

night in my kitchen was a bit of a surprise. I haven’t felt those kinds of carnal feelings for someone in
a long time.”

“So are you saying if you hadn’t been called away to work, I could have gotten lucky?” He

stroked his chin.

“I was leaning toward an idiotic, hard yes, but I’m glad we were interrupted. I don’t think it

would have been wise to rush things. My professional reputation was at hand, and it’s been a hard
row for me to hoe. Being constantly in my father’s shadow, and all. I didn’t want you to lose respect
for me.”

“The last thing I’d ever want is make you feel uncomfortable, or put your reputation at risk. I feel

there’s something between us that I’d like to explore, but I totally respect that your career comes
first.” J.J. stood up abruptly and held out his hand to help her.

“You mean that?”
“Yes.
The sincere look on his face told her that he was serious. He was willing to abandon the

attraction they felt so she could do her job? Well, that sucked.

She didn’t want an upstanding man who was conscientious of the situation, she wanted someone

who could convince her to follow her heart.

She huffed. “That’s all I get? Some sincere, understanding bull crap? I thought you’d try harder.”
“Well, there’s always plan B.” J.J. pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all he had.

CHAPTER SEVEN

They were barely back inside his parent’s house when J.J. picked her up and pressed her against the
wall, placing kisses all over her while she wrapped her legs around his waist. She could feel the
bulge in his pants and looked forward to the pleasures yet to come. Sam caught his face with her
hands and looked at him.

“Last chance to opt for the sincere, understanding bull crap,” he murmured.
Sam laughed and nipped at lip, then kissed along his jawline as he carried her upstairs into his

bedroom.

He kicked the door closed with his foot and plopped her down on the spacious bed. Sam

watched as he removed his boots and shirt, revealing that well defined chest she’d imagined beneath
those expensive suits. J.J. covered her body with his, and the excitement grew within her as she
watched him slowly undo her buttons and remove her blouse. Then he unhooked her bra and slid the
straps down her arms.

“So soft.” J.J. smiled.
Sam closed her eyes as his rugged hands roamed her body. She tried to touch him too but he

captured her hands and placed them above her head with one of his. He kneaded her breasts before
taking a taut nipple into his mouth. The methodical, languid strokes of his tongue felt too good for
words. He unzipped her jeans and slipped his fingers beneath her lace panties, then caressed her
clitoris with his thumb. Gently, he inserted two fingers into her. Ripples of sensation rocked her as he
increased his strides, and she could feel the climax coming too fast, too soon. She wanted the feeling
to last as long as it could.

How long had it been since she was last with a man? It had been a while. How long had it been

since she’d been with a man who made her body feel like a live wire? Never. She tried to wiggle
away from his hand, to get him to slow down. He broke contact with her breast but continuing his
manipulations of her clit.

“Wait,” she breathed.
“Relax, Samantha, and let go. I promise to make you come as many times as you want.” J.J.

leaned in for a searing kiss.

She did as he said and felt like she’d left achieved some sort of sexual nirvana. Before she could

come down from the explosive wave of pleasure, J.J. had started priming her for the next one.

“Why aren’t you naked?” was all she could manage to say.
“Patience.” He grinned.
Sam lifted up as J.J. removed her jeans. As soon as his tongue made contact with her clitoris,

she grabbed a fist full of his hair. He flicked his tongue rapidly across her clit as he inserted three
fingers this time into her and slid them back and forth. She reached a fevered pitch again and
climaxed. J.J. took his time and lapped up her juices before standing up. He was sporting a very
satisfied smirk for someone who claimed he didn’t get any action. She reached for the snap on his
jeans, but again he stopped her.

“Samantha, what did I tell you?” He leaned over her with a hand on each side of her.
“You have too many clothes on.”
Sam squirmed as J.J. removed his jeans and boxers then reached pulled a condom out of the

drawer of the nightstand. Giving him an appreciative once over she understood why he took the time
with the lengthy foreplay. He was getting her ready for him. She’d suspected he was well endowed

when she rubbed him through his pants but she’d grossly underestimated his girth.

When he kneeled on the bed and slipped on a condom, Sam closed her eyes and braced herself

for impact. But she opened them when he stilled. He was looking at her, that’s when she knew she
was in more trouble that she could probably handle.

She gripped the comforter to anchor herself as he skillfully delved into her, the powerful upward

thrusts making her move a little each time. She leaned forward for a kiss and he met her half way,
sweeping her tongue into his mouth. It was too much, yet not nearly enough, and it was clear he was in
charge of everything. She didn’t like it, but she wasn’t about to stop him and tell him. When she felt
the next climax coming on, she grabbed hold of him and rolled, sending them both onto the floor.

* * *

J.J.’s body was still buzzing as he lay in bed, listening to the melodic sounds of Sam’s soft

breathing. He ran his hand along the smooth curve of her hip and continued his journey upward until
he reached her collar bone. That was when he saw it—a circular scar on her shoulder. He ran his
fingers across it. The texture of the wound was different from the rest of her skin.

She shifted and tried to move but he pulled her back to his side, locking her in place.
“It’s getting late. I should get going,” she murmured.
“Stay with me tonight,” J.J. whispered against her temple.
“How would it look if your family saw me?”
“I’ll tell them you were checking under the bed for monsters.” He chuckled, remembering what

Seth had said earlier.

“I’m debating about jumping out the window to go home.” She propped her chin up on his chest.
“That won’t be necessary.” He traced her lips with his finger.
She looked around the room at the shelves that still held his high school memorabilia. “You

were quite the athlete in school.”

“I don’t know why my momma insists on keeping this stuff on display.” He put a hand behind his

head.

“She’s proud of your accomplishments. My mom has the bow I used to win my first archery

competition mounted on the wall.” She giggled.

“You are not a traditional woman, Samantha Jane.” J.J. laughed.
“Did you choose your legacy or did your legacy choose you?”
J.J. let out a deep sigh. “I always had a natural affinity for sports. Football felt right to me the

first time I picked up a ball, and I didn’t put it down until I injured my knee.”

“Am I hurting your knee?” Sam tried to untwine her leg from his.
“I’m fine.” He kissed her.
“I was watching that game. My heart went out to you. That must have been excruciating pain.”

She stroked his face.

“So that kindness and concern I felt was coming from you?”
“Me and a million other sports fans.” She nestled closer to him. “I’m glad you were able to

come back from that.”

“Well, not exactly. I did have to retire from the game.”
“Yeah but I bet the retirement preserved your quality of life. Something so life changing would

have devastated the average person. You funneled that energy into running your family’s company. It’s
not about what you do so much is how you harness that energy in you to succeed. I’m sure you didn’t
think you’d be a football player all your life.”

“At the time I couldn’t see past the age of thirty.”
“I think you sold yourself short with that limited thinking.” She sat up and stretched. “I’m hungry.

Would you have anything to snack on?”

“I think I can do better than a snack.”
“How about a Denver omelet like one you made when we were in Colorado?” She rubbed her

tummy.

“Whatever the lady wants.” J.J. wrapped Sam in his shirt, slipped on his jeans, and they headed

downstairs.

He was much better in the kitchen, thanks to his mother. Cooking lessons gave them time to talk

when he came home from work. He wanted to be independent in every way in his new home, and
cooking was a necessary skill. J.J. got out two beers and proceeded to get ingredients he needed for
the omelet. She searched the drawers for a whisk and retrieved cooking utensils and a skillet from the
overhead hanging rack. Once he got into the groove of preparing the meal, he looked up to see her
staring at him.

He kissed her. “What’s on your mind?”
“I had a great time today getting acquainted with your family. It was fun. You have the most

adorable nephews.” She took a sip of her beer.

“You mean your new boyfriends? Connor got to second base with you.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s doing.” She laughed.
“Connor is a Blake. He’s just testing the waters.” J.J. added the ham, onions, bell peppers and

cheddar cheese to the skillet.

“Maybe Regency should start a file on the second generation of Blake boys too. The kiddy

chronicles.”

“It’s probably a good idea. I just hope they’ll be better behaved than me and my brothers.” J.J.

slid the huge omelet out of the pan and onto a plate so they could share.

“One can only hope.” She sighed.
Sam leaned on the counter and the shirt she was wrapped in opened a bit. There was that scar

again.

“Did you get shot in the line of duty?” He stroked his thumb over the area.
“Yes.” She took a bite of the omelet.
He stilled. He hadn’t expected her to answer so honestly. “What happened?”
“Got into a shootout with a robbery suspect. Luckily I had my vest on and it helped stop bullets

from hitting vital organs.”

“Is that why you quit the force?” He looked at her.
“No. Someone I loved, who was also a cop, was killed in the line of duty that day. He died

trying to protect me.” She stopped chewing.

The look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. “How long were you two

together?”

“Five years.”
“I’m so sorry you lost him.” He caressed her hand.
She gripped his in return. “Thanks.”
“Can we talk about it?” He asked.

“Maybe another time.”
“Fair enough. Will you stay with me tonight?”
“Only if you make love to me again.”
“That is a given.” He picked her up and headed for the bedroom.
J.J. made it as far as the staircase when Sam reached into his jeans and began stroking him as

she trailed kisses down his neck.

“If you keep that up we won’t make it to my bedroom,” he groaned.
J.J. placed her on the step and leaned in for a kiss. Sam jammed her fingers into his hair and

pulled him closer. He gently laid her against the steps and unbuttoned the shirt, exposing her gorgeous
body to him. He took a nipple in his mouth and sucked gently at first, but his patience was wearing
thin. He increased the pressure and took more of her breast into his mouth. The sexy noises she made
only spurned him to give equal attention to the other breast.

“You think you’ll get grounded if your parents caught us right now?” She chuckled.
“No work for a month as punishment, I could live with that,” he quipped.
“You have the greatest tongue in the world.” She gasped when he stopped at looked at her.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet.” He waggled his eyebrows and kneeled two steps below where she

sat.

J.J. kissed the length of her calf down to the ankle before placing her legs over his shoulders.

She instinctively opened wide when he licked her, giving him the angle he needed to slip his tongue
inside her. He lapped up her juices with each skillful stroke and dipped further inside, making her dig
her nails into his shoulders. He knew she was close, but he wasn’t done with her yet. He rubbed his
thumb over her clit as he continued to pleasure her.

“John,” she moaned in appreciation.
“Hold that thought.” He stood up abruptly and dug in his jean pocket, pulled out a condom and

sheathed himself. When he entered her, he felt happy and complete.

“How’s the knee?” Sam broke their kiss to ask.
“I really don’t give a damn right now.” He covered her mouth with his and began a fast, pulsing

rhythm with her. He pulled her forward so he could go deeper, hitting what he knew had to be her g-
spot. She shuddered and wiggled for him to hit the target again, and he obliged her over and over
again. By the time they both climaxed, they were drenched with his sweat.

Sam giggled and nipped on his shoulder. “I think I have rug burn on my ass.”

* * *

The next morning Sam got ready to leave, and this time, J.J. couldn’t convince her to stay longer.
“Sure you don’t want breakfast?” J.J. opened the car door for her. It felt nice waking up with her

in his arms.

“I would love to take you up on the offer but I have to be work in a few hours.”
“Runaway kids again?” he asked.
“No, it’s a soccer game. I serve as the referee for the ex-wife and current wife of a client.

They’ve had some public altercations before and he figured it was just cheaper to have someone
running interference to save on court costs.”

“How about I take you out after you’re done? We can go anywhere you like.” J.J. caressed her

arm.

She fastened a button he’d missed on his shirt. “You wouldn’t happen to know of any nice,

intimate gun ranges?”

He raised an eyebrow. “A simple lunch date too boring for you?”
“I have to qualify my weapon in a few weeks. I could use the practice.” Sam slid into her SUV.
“As a matter of fact, I do know of a range that would suit you.” J.J. kissed her and closed her

door.

J.J. heard the coughing sounds behind him, but ignored them. When the noise got louder, he

slowly turned around to see Tyler and Channing standing in the doorway.

“Good morning.” Tyler and Channing waved.
He tried to block their view of her, but it was too late. When Sam waved back and got out of the

car, his brothers took it as a sign to come over.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Channing smiled.
“Samantha Jane, you know Tyler and Channing,” he mumbled.
“Nice to meet you, Channing.” Sam shook Channing’s hand. “Tyler and I know each other.”
“Kick Ass Sam, what brings my favorite private security specialist to the ranch?” Tyler moved

in for a hug, but J.J. stepped in front of her.

“Oh, hanging out with your big brother. Are you staying out of trouble?” She smiled.
“I try. But just to be sure, you keep that passport updated.” Tyler grinned.
She raised an eyebrow. “I always do. What woman are you running from now?”
“Last month he did an undignified sprint down the road….” Channing tried to get out but Tyler

jabbed him in the ribs.

“I’d stop running for you, Sam. Just say the word.” Tyler winked.
J.J. gave Tyler a deadly look.
“There’s never a dull moment with you, Tyler.” Sam got back in the car and looked at J.J. “The

soccer game should be over around twelve.”

“I’ll pick you up at one.” J.J. ducked his head in and gave her a quick kiss. He watched as she

drove down the road, missing her already.

“She is hot.” Channing grinned.
Tyler whistled. “You sly dog. What were you doing with Kick Ass Sam Carson?”
“How long have you two been home?” J.J. barked.
“You first. Why don’t you tell us all about her while you fix us breakfast? Unless you want

momma and daddy to know you snuck a girl into the house.” Channing folded his arms across his
chest.

J.J. sighed and counted the hours until one o’clock.

* * *

J.J. slammed a dozen eggs onto the counter so hard half of them cracked in the carton. He was a

grown man and didn’t have to offer any explanations, but he didn’t want to add his parents to the mix.
Tyler and Channing thought they had the upper hand, and he let them think it. But by the time they’d
made their way to the kitchen, Seth and Tate were walking through the door.

“I want some waffles too. Don’t forget to add an extra dash of love.” Tyler smirked as he leaned

against the counter.

Tate plopped down in a chair. “If you are doing the bidding of those two, I’m almost glad I got

out of bed.”

“Good morning. What’s the non-emergency, emergency?” Seth yawned.
J.J. looked at his brother who looked frazzled. “Late night?”
“I spent most of the evening assembling that Little Tots Gymboree that Uncle Tate bought the

boys this weekend.” Seth rubbed the back of his neck.

“Gymboree?” J.J. looked at Tate.
“The boys need something to help sharpening their motor skills.” Tate shrugged.
“They’re cutting in on his private time with Isabelle.” Channing made eyes at Tate.
“Let’s get back to the reason we’ve come together. We caught J.J. escorting our Sam out of here

a little while ago.” Tyler spied J.J.’s technique as he mixed the batter.

“So I guess there are no more monsters under your bed.” Seth snagged a piece of bacon off the

serving tray.

“Shut up.” J.J. rotated the waffle maker.
“Finally, he’s getting laid. You didn’t forget how that all works, did you?” Tate grinned.
“And she is hot.” Tyler took a bite out of an apple.
“Well, she is. There’s a reason her name rhymes with ‘damn.’” Channing began setting the table.
“Tyler, how often does Sam save your neck?” J.J. asked.
Tyler flashed a cheesy grin. “I plead the fifth.”
“Forget about his shenanigans. Are you dating Sam or what?” Tate grumbled as he got out the

silverware.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, we have a date this afternoon.” J.J. shook his head as the brothers did

celebratory high fives. “Alright, sit down and let’s eat. Who’s saying grace?”

“It’s Seth’s turn.”
Seth nodded. “We are fortunate to have a bounty of good food and family at this table. As we

change and grow we are thankful that the bond of this family expands and is fortified with lots of
love, patience and understanding. We are especially grateful that our big brother has met a great lady
that makes him smile, something we haven’t seen in a very long time.”

“Amen,” the brothers shouted.

* * *

J.J. was elated that he and Sam decided to give their relationship a chance, and even though she

confirmed that she thought of Bubba as a friend, he had the feeling Bubba may have felt more for her.
The way he talked about her, and hunting down those cigars she liked were indicators that he was
sweet on her, whether he acted on it or not. Bubba had been back to work for a while, but J.J. was out
of town with business meetings. He decided it would be better to have the talk with his friend face to
face, so it was the first on his to-do list when he went into the office on Thursday.

Bubba’s office was down the hall but today it felt like it was five miles away. J.J. knocked on

the door to find Bubba knee deep in work, as usual. Files lay strewn about his desk and he was
frantically tapping away at his keyboard.

“Hey, Bubba. How was your vacation?”

“My dad and I had a great time.”
“Well you look good. I see got a tan too.” J.J. looked him over.
“My dad has mellowed a lot. It was good to sit down and talk.”
“That’s good. Did he bring up settling down again?” J.J. took a seat in a chair.
“As a matter of fact he did. I told him about Felicia.” Bubba pulled at his collar.
“You did?” J.J. raised an eyebrow.
“We had such a great time at the wedding then I went away for a month, and all I did was think

about her.” Bubba smiled.

J.J. breathed a sigh of relief. This wasn’t going to be hard at all. “I’m glad to hear it. Felicia is a

great woman. I think she’s perfect for you.”

“I don’t mean to rush you, but I have to get ready for my appointment with Sam Carson from

Regency. It’s time for the annual audit.” Bubba smoothed straightened his tie.

J.J. was taken aback for a moment. “Anna Beth should have removed that from your calendar.

The audit has already been done. As a matter of fact, that green folder over there is the analysis as
well as the changes Sam wants to implement.”

“Oh. You met with Sam?”
“Yes, I did. Funny, you never mentioned that Sam was a woman all these years.” J.J. crossed his

arms over his chest.

“I’m sure I did.”
“No, you didn’t.” J.J. shot back.
“What difference does it make?”
J.J. rubbed the back of his neck, then cracked his knuckles. For some reason the words just

wouldn’t come out of his mouth.

Bubba glared at him. “What did you do?”
“Sam and I worked on the audit together and we got to know each other. Now we’re…sort of

seeing each other.”

“Sort of? That’s like being sort of pregnant. Either you’re seeing her or you’re not.” Bubba

snapped the pencil he’d picked up.

“OK. We’re dating.”
“You’re dating my Sam?”
J.J. balked. “Your Sam? I thought you had a Felicia? Besides, it’s been three years. When were

you going to make a move? Year four?”

“You don’t just run up on a woman like that. It requires a calculated approach, and frankly I lost

my nerve.”

“Look, I feel like I had to tell you what happened.”
Both men went quiet for a few minutes. J.J. didn’t know what else to say, and Bo looked like he

wanted to strangle him.

“You lucky bastard,” Bo finally said, grinning.

* * *

Deciding to take things slow was harder than J.J. thought. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t go

rushing in like some love-sick fool because he was attracted to the woman. He’d made that mistake

with Eden. Sam was beautiful, funny, and sharp as a tack. Her attention to detail was amazing, and she
was very intuitive with people. But if he liked her, why play games? Why not just tell her how he
felt? Because it was way too soon.”

But he totally ignored his own advice and asked if she’d wanted to attend their family barbecue.

When she said yes, he started thinking maybe he’d put too much thought into a simple invitation.

The ladies were setting up the backyard by the time J.J. came downstairs. Today’s activities

included damn good food, music, dancing and of course a grueling but friendly game of touch football.
His knee had been feeling much better since he returned from Denver and he was jogging with Seth
whenever he could to exercise it.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” J.J. asked as he walked into the kitchen.
“I think we have everything covered.” Teri-Lyn said.
“So whose idea was it for a spritely game of touch football today?” Morgan asked.
“I thought it would be good for Seth to work that ankle before training starts.” J.J. smiled.
“And you get to show off for Sam. She is coming today, isn’t she?” Isabelle said as she pulled

bowls out of the cupboard.

He popped a potato chip in his mouth. “I’m on my way to pick her up now.”
“John John, you should take her some flowers,” Teri-Lyn said. “I bet she’d like that.”
“Get her something with lilies.” Morgan mused.
“Will do.” J.J. grabbed his Stetson.
“I can’t wait to meet her,” Teri-Lyn said. “Hard to believe she’s been working with Blake

Enterprises all these years and we’ve never met.”

“She says that’s part of their job, to stay in the background,” J.J. replied.
“Well, we won’t have any of that today. She’ll be front and center. But just to be sure we make a

good impression, I told the boys to behave and not give you a hard time.” Teri-Lyn kissed him on the
cheek.

J.J. was feeling optimistic about the day. It was funny how happy a simple gathering with the

family made him feel so good. He stopped at the florist, as instructed, and picked up a lovely flower
arrangement filled with pink roses, lilies and lilacs. He was going to spend the day with his family,
and a woman who made his pulse quicken and his dick stand at attention every time he saw her. Life
didn’t get any better than that.

“What beautiful flowers!” Sam smiled as she opened the door. “I just want to put these in water

and—”

J.J. didn’t let her finish. He pulled her in for a kiss. Sam relaxed against his body as he put his

hands on her waist and put her flush against his erection.

“I missed you,” he whispered. So much for playing it cool.
She chuckled. “I may have thought about you once or twice this week.”
“Do I have you all to myself today?”
“All clear,” She cooed. “I have someone else covering my emergencies today. So…when we’re

finished at the barbecue, you’re welcome to come back here so I can take advantage of you.”

“Hell, let’s skip the barbecue.” J.J. backed her into the living room.
“As much as I’d like to take your belt off with my teeth, I’m hungry.” She rubbed her cheek

against his.

“Fair enough.” His chest rumbled with laughter.
“I just have to get the banana pudding I made.”
“Hmmm. How about we take that banana pudding and a spoon into your bedroom and call it a

day?”

She poked his stomach and shooed him toward the door. “Nice try.”
By the time J.J. and Sam returned, the party had gotten underway. He held her hand led her

through his parents’ house and into the back yard.

“Everyone, you remember Sam.”
“Hi everyone, so nice to be here today.” Sam waved to the crowd of Blakes.
“Sam, nice to meet you. Let’s get you something to eat.” Teri-Lyn came over with one of the

twins in her arms, who lunged at her immediately.

“Hi, Colby.” Sam smiled as she caught the toddler and handed J.J. the dessert.
“How did you know that he was Colby?” Teri-Lyn asked.
“Connor takes a few minutes to warm up, but Colby dives right in.” Colby grabbed onto the

pockets of her shirt and giggled.

“Told you they know what they’re doing,” J.J. mused.
“Hi, Sam!” Tyler and Channing flashed cheesy smiles and waved.
Before he could blink the Blake women had absconded with Sam. J.J. walked over to the table

where his brothers were sitting. Bubba was there too.

“Glad you could make it.” J.J. beamed.
“It’s good to see him back on the ranch,” Tate agreed.
Bubba sighed. “You know, I never had a passion for ranch life.”
“That’s why we did all the ranch chores and you did the homework.” Tate laughed.
Bubba was always quiet and more introverted than the rest of them. He excelled at intellectual

pursuits while they rough housed and played sports. But he was family. They always included him in
the group and didn’t push when he begged off.

“You ready to get your butt whooped?” Tyler yelled.
“Talkin’ trash already?” J.J. yelled back.
Jake rounded the corner of the house soaking wet, holding a brush. Seth and Rowdy followed.

“Uncle J.J., I gave Rowdy a bath.”

“You did?” J.J. took a look at him. “Or was it the other way around?”
“I’ll be in the house in a minute to clean you up.” Seth put a towel around Jake. Rowdy followed

behind him wagging his tail.

“What the hell happened?”
“Rowdy snagged a hotdog on the table and damn near took all the food with him. Jake wanted to

give him a bath and you know we have to chase Rowdy across half an acre to get him clean.” Seth
laughed.

Channing took a big bite out of his burger. “We gonna play some football or what?”
J.J. started. “We have to pick teams. I’ll take Tate and Bubba.”
“OK, I have Ty and C.J.” Seth rubbed his chin.
“We need alternates. Daddy, Bo, you want in on this?” J.J. looked at the older men relaxing in

lounge chairs.

“I’ll leave the running around in the hot sun to you young boys. Bo and I are going to finish this

game of dominoes and watch the grandkids.”

“Well, we still need alternates,” Seth said.
“OK, I’ll take Jake,” J.J. mused. “You get Connor and Colby.”
“My babies are not playing football with you burly men.” Morgan yelled from the food table.
“It’s only if one of us gets hurt,” Tyler said.

“Which may happen sooner rather than later if you keep it up,” Morgan shot back.

Sam didn’t know what to expect when the women came over and whisked her off to a separate

table, but she soon relaxed when J.J.’s mother handed her a hearty plate of food and didn’t start in
with a thousand questions. Instead they tried to coax Colby out of her arms so she could eat, but the
baby wasn’t having it. Soon Connor came over and she juggled the two of them while taking bites of
the tasty potato salad.

She waved hello to Bo again but he wouldn’t look over at her. He was a nice, handsome,

sensitive guy, and she enjoyed the time they’d spent together. She knew he was attracted to her, but he
was never obnoxious about it; as a matter of fact, he went out of his way to be polite and respectful
and kept a safe distance. There were a few times when she thought he’d ask her out, but he never did.
She’d known him longer than anyone here, but they were acting like strangers. Perhaps he wasn’t OK
with her dating J.J. There was only one way to find out what was on his mind.

When Morgan put the boys in their foot-peddled toddler cars, Sam bolted over to the cooler

where Bo was getting another beer.

“Hi, Bo. How are you?”
“I’m good Sam, and you?” Bo held out a hand for a shake then put it back down immediately.
She smiled. “I guess it’s strange seeing me out of the office, huh?”
“There’s never a bad time to see you.” A pink sheen spread across his face.
“I heard you took a road trip to Arkansas for vacation. Did you have a good time?”
“I did.” He nodded. “I spent some time with my dad. It did both of us good to connect again. I…

uh…brought you something back. I haven’t had the chance to send it over to Regency.”

“I can’t wait to see what it is. You are one of the most thoughtful people I’ve ever met.” She put

her hand on his shoulder.

When he smiled at her, she got the feeling everything would be alright. Bo was a great guy and

one of the smartest people she’d ever met, but he wasn’t really her type. All was well until J.J. came
bounding out of the house and asked Bo if he was ready to get his butt whooped. Something in Bo’s
eyes flickered. She got the feeling that J.J. had just waved a red flag in front of a bull and he didn’t
know it.

The showdown of the century got underway once Teri-Lyn sprayed all the players with insect

repellant. It was kind of funny to see these grown men still being babied by their mom. She doted on
them, but she didn’t smother too much. Morgan and Isabelle joked about how their men were blatant
momma’s boys.

Sam took a seat with the ladies and helped Jake into the seat next to hers. John Jacob and Bo

were the designated armchair referees. The game started with a lot of trash talking, and it was clear
the rivalry had been going on for years now. Seeing all those gorgeous men playing football certainly
was an ideal way pass the time on a sleepy afternoon.

When they were in the thick of the game Teri-Lyn moved closer to her. Sam took a deep breath.
“So Sam, J.J. tells me you took down some pickpocket in a restaurant.” Teri-Lyn smiled.
“Yes. He was never in danger. I—”
“I’m not worried about my son. I’m worried about the man stupid enough to take him on. I was

wondering if you would teach me and the girls some self-defense moves. It would help the men not
worry so much if we had some kind of formal training.”

“I doubt they’ll stop worrying.” Sam smiled.
“No, they won’t, but I’d like to know what I can do as a precautionary measure.”
“Well, I have taught self-defense classes in the past. I could put together a class for you.”
The sound of Morgan and Isabelle clapping brought her attention back to the game. Although he

hadn’t played professionally in years, J.J. hadn’t lost a step. His form and technique was flawless.
Sam suspected he may have been putting in some extra effort to impress her. He didn’t need to, her
eyes had been glued to his ass since the game started. She saw him rubbing his knee a few times and
hoped he wasn’t over doing it. Things were going great until J.J. turned to throw a pass to Tate for a
touchdown. That’s when it happened. Bo came out of nowhere and tackled him good.

Sam went over to check on him.
“Hey.” She leaned over him. “Is everything alright? Did you hurt your knee?”
“No, I’m just trying to figure out why my best friend, who’s on my team, just tried to kill me.” He

propped himself up on his knees and looked over at Bo.

“I think Bo may be letting off a little steam. You’ve been showing off the whole game. And, he

and I were friends before you and I…”

“I talked to him. He said he was OK with it. Besides, he has a girlfriend.”
“You talked to him and asked what? If you were clear for takeoff?” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t

tell me you have some sort of archaic bro code?”

“We’ve never fought over women and never will. Bo’s sweet on you. Why else would he track

down those expensive cigars and buy you presents? I wanted him to know I wasn’t being dismissive
of his feelings.”

She wanted to be mad at him but right now, with that light sheen of sweat dripping down his face

and beneath his T-shirt, he looked sexy as hell.

“You actually make that macho drivel sound logical.” She laughed and held out her hand. “Let’s

get you up. Does anything hurt?”

“No, I’ve been tackled harder than that by Jake.”
She shrugged. “Too bad you’re not injured. I was going to take you into the house and kiss all

your boo boos.”

“I call time out.” J.J. yelled over to the boys.
Sam braced herself when he gripped her hands to pull himself up. J.J. was a solid man but it

wasn’t his weight that concerned her. When their hands connected, she could feel the same rush of
charged energy, an electrical current running between their hands. She thought it would be fun to date
him, to let herself be open to dating again. But there was nothing fun about the way he looked at her
today when he picked her up.

J.J. was about to speak, but something going on over her shoulder caught his eye. She turned to

see Tate talking to Isabelle. She could tell by his body language that they were having a serious
discussion. When Tate got down on one knee, the barbecue became so quiet all that could be heard
were the trees rustling in the wind.

“Oh my,” Sam muttered.
Isabelle said yes and began bawling, and the Blakes started applauding. Tate picked her up,

twirled around in the air, and gave her the sweetest kiss she’d ever seen a man give a woman.
Morgan was the first to embrace the couple. The rest of the Blake family chimed into the huddle.

“He said he wanted to pick the right time. What better time than being surrounded by family and

friends? I thought for sure he’d do it at one of his concerts.” J.J. shook his head.

“I’m pretty sure that huge rock could be used as a door knob.” She laughed.

“Let me guess, Regency had it insured?”
“Well, we wouldn’t want a three million dollar gem being unprotected, would we?”
“If Isabelle finds out how much it costs she’ll never wear it off the ranch. I’m proud of him. He’s

working toward the life he wants and deserves. Isabelle has made such a difference in his life.”

“Let’s go congratulate the happy couple.” Sam pulled him toward the crowd admiring the

audacious rock on Isabelle’s hand.

“I don’t think we’ll be finishing this game. Want to go for a ride?”
“I’d love that.”

* * *

J.J. smiled at Sam’s relaxed attitude. The barn was nearly a half mile from the house, but she

insisted she was fine with walking because it was such a lovely day. Come to think of it, she hadn’t
fussed when they walked the hiking trail in Colorado either. Eden would throw a tantrum if she had to
walk beyond their driveway. He found out that Sam was quite active, partially because of the
physical demands of the job, but also because she’d had asthma as a child. She’d been working all
her life to strengthen her body, because the asthma had made her feel helpless and weak. As an adult,
she’d even run a few marathons. Running was the primary way he kept his knee in shape. It was nice
that they had that in common.

Inside the barn, J.J. stroked the horse’s mane. “Midnight, you remember Sam don’t you?”
“Hi, Midnight. Am I riding Blue again?”
“How about you ride me instead?” He grabbed her waist and guided her to an empty stall and

closed the door.

“We can’t have sex in the barn. Where is the staff?” She gulped as they fell onto a pile of hay

bales.

“Gone for the day.” J.J. sunk his teeth into the nape of her neck and pulled at the buttons on her

blouse. He cupped her breasts and brushed his thumbs along her nipples.

“So that’s where your nephew learns his moves,” she mused.
“He is a Blake, after all.”
J.J. reached for a blanket hanging on the stable door and placed it under her so the hay wouldn’t

scratch her soft, beautiful brown skin. He slowly liberated Sam from her clothes, his erection
growing by the second as the unveiling progressed. He rose up to remove his shirt and jeans, and
couldn’t help admiring her physique. She was toned and had good definition in her arms and legs like
she worked out on a regular basis but it was those D-cups held in place by the lace bra that held his
attention. Her stomach was flat but it was also soft and prompted him to give her a kiss on her outie
belly button.

He moved to venture lower when she caught his face in her hands and said, “You first this time.”
J.J. stood up and watched as Sam pulled his zipper down and tugged at his jeans until they

reached his knees. She locked eyes with him as she skillfully rubbed his erection. He struggled to take
a relaxing breath when she took him into her mouth. Her small manicured fingers encircled the base of
his penis. He stroked her hair and pulled her closer. The deeper she went, the more he struggled to
pace himself. Sam dug into him with her nails as she placed her hands on his thighs for support. He
thrust forward for several minutes knowing he’d have to stop at any moment. Finally he’d had enough

and gently pulled out of her mouth, sheathed himself with a condom he had in his wallet, and slid into
her with such force that a few of the bales of hay fell away from their makeshift bed.

“I think the earth just moved.” Sam giggled and ran her tongue across his nipples.
“Patience.” J.J. murmured.
He positioned himself and started moving in rhythm with her attempts to get him going. He

pumped harder and faster and suddenly realized he was so deep within her it was hard to tell where
he began. He looked into those sparkling brown eyes of hers and could see pleasure, intensity, but
most of all a longing that he’d only seen in his reflection in the mirror. She’d lost a man she loved
deeply and she didn’t want to get hurt. He got that. It was currently his life motto.

He lifted her up into his arms before the last thrust that would send him into oblivion, taking her

with him.

* * *

J.J. and Sam came back to knowing smiles as they joined the family. J.J. and Bo looked at each

other and with a silent nod, agreed to forget about the tackle. Tate and Isabelle were bickering about
the wedding date because Tate was still touring, but he knew they’d work it out. Tate was so happy
and content he didn’t even notice that the boys had taken his guitar Loulabelle out of her case and
were using it to pack up their toys.

There was one last surprise for Sam for the end of the evening. Teri-Lyn and John Jacob agreed

to clean up and watch the grandkids so the Blake boys grabbed their women, jumped into their
individual trucks and drove down the road to the west side of one of the barns. When he turned the
corner, the surprised look on Sam’s face to see they’d created a drive-in movie theater confirmed it
was well worth it. J.J. rolled his window down and someone handed him an old fashioned, clunky
speaker box to put on the car window. Someone else appeared and asked if they wanted popcorn and
refreshments.

“This is so cool,” Sam gushed. “What’s playing?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea.” He pulled her into his lap.
When the movie started, J.J. began his own sensuous journey around Sam’s body. The cozy

feeling she evoked in him made his body scream as they shared kisses and long looks into each
other’s eyes. He wanted to make love to her again, but he knew it wasn’t the right time, especially
with his brothers not too far away. He was content feeling like a…teenager again. He was falling in
love with her and if they were moving too fast, then the hell with the new era dating guidelines. He
wasn’t going to hold back his heart anymore.

When she cuddled closer to him and stroked his arm, he knew she felt the same.
J.J. took Sam home that night but he didn’t stay. He dropped her off, but not before he let her

know how good a time he’d had today.

“You don’t know how badly I want to stay with you tonight, but I think its best I don’t. I want to

be with you and I think you should spend some time sorting out if you want that too. When I come
back, there’s no turning back from here.”

“I’ll be waiting.” She kissed him on the cheek and closed the door.

CHAPTER EIGHT

After Sam suggested Bubba’s impromptu tackle may mean he wasn’t truly over the situation, J.J. felt
compelled to talk to him again. He couldn’t risk letting any lingering jealousy come between them.
Bubba acknowledged that there were old feelings of jealousy from high school, when all the girls
wanted J.J. but Bubba was just too shy to talk to any of them. He told him that Sam represented an
ideal, which he’d ultimately failed to follow through on. She was beautiful and smart, the kind of
woman who turned heads and commanded respect. But she just wasn’t the one.

J.J. returned to the office ready to tackle the rest of the day. He was headed to New York with

Seth to do the interview on Sports Now.

“Anna Beth, I brought you back a piece of that red velvet cake you love.” J.J. set the bag on his

executive assistant’s desk.

She turned around, the stricken look on Anna Beth’s face meant something was terribly wrong.
“Are you OK?” J.J. went over to her and put a hand on her forehead.
Anna Beth closed her eyes and sighed.
“If you’re not feeling well, go home.”
“It’s not that. I have some distressing news. I was internet surfing on my lunch break and I came

across something I don’t think you’ll like.”

“What’s that?” He was used to seeing inflammatory things online about one of his brothers. It

was the price one paid for being famous. He hoped it was nothing derogatory about Tate’s
engagement. His fans understood but some were still seething that his latest CD wasn’t the panty
dropper they were expecting.

Anna Beth pulled up the site and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The entertainment

news post was dated today, and the headline read:

Eden Masterson-Blake Joins the Cast of the New Reality Show, Texas Tycoons Ex-Wives

He didn’t bother to read the article. Right now he was trying not to lose his cool. What the hell

was Eden thinking?

“Anna Beth, get my divorce attorney on the phone.” He yanked on his tie and went into his

office.

Two hours later he was sitting with a scotch in hand, looking out the office window. The divorce

attorney assured him that Eden appearing in a reality show was a blatant violation of their lengthy
divorce settlement, and that everyone involved in the production would be put on notice. It did little
to appease him, because he knew that Eden would just find another way to get his attention. He knew
her well enough to know the campaign to get his attention started with the phone calls he wouldn’t
answer. Then the governor’s garden party with that jerk Dax and the anniversary diamonds. She had
to know that once she started playing that game, that he’d lose any interest in discussing anything.

* * *

J.J. watched as the camera crew made final preparations for the interview. He hadn’t done one

in a while, but one look at Seth’s calm demeanor and he felt at ease. This part of the job always
seemed tiresome to him, but he was proud of Seth for always handling situations with finesse.

“You OK?” Seth said as he took a seat.
“Yeah. It’s just been a while since I’ve been in front of the camera.”
“You get interviewed all the time.” Seth laughed.
“And I always stray from the topic of football.” J.J. smiled.
The interviewer, Tom Sherman, entered the room and introduced himself. J.J. knew of the

sportscaster and appreciated the tact he’d taken with his comments after the accident. Many other
reporters relentlessly flooded the gate of his Colorado home hoping to get a shot of him in a
wheelchair. The press became so obnoxious that he’d moved back to Texas for his rehabilitation.
Eden hadn’t been happy about it, but he knew the serenity of the ranch would help him heal.

“Seth, John, good to see you. It’s a rare treat to do an interview with two great quarterbacks

from the same family.” Tom shook both their hands. A few minutes later he began the interview.

“I am here today with the infamous Blake Boys. John and Seth Blake are part of a football

dynasty that has seen some legendary moments. I had the pleasure of sitting down with him for an
extensive interview after he renewed his contract with the Philadelphia Titans, in case you missed it.
But what we’re here to talk about today is the inspiration for his stellar career: his brother John, who
had a successful career in his own right with the Denver Colts until a life-altering injury took him out
of the game. His injury and subsequent retirement has truly been a loss for the sport of football.”

J.J., stunned by the interviewer’s comments, let Seth take the lead in the conversation. Listening

to his brother go into detail about how proud he was of his brief career and modeled his after him,
made him feel good. Seth joked that he followed J.J. around when they were kids and always looked
up to his big brother and appreciated his guidance. Seth had even provided them with the old home
movies that their father used to shoot of them.

“J.J. was the greatest inspiration of my life to pursue football professionally. He’s a great big

brother and a terrific friend.”

“So there’s never been any sibling rivalry between you two?” Tom joked.
“No, our parents didn’t tolerate that. We were raised to look out for each other and be happy for

each other’s successes.” J.J. laughter.

“Seth, you took time off from football to be with J.J. when he injured his knee, with no regard for

any backlash of your own budding career. Why did you do it?” Tom continued.

“My brother needed me and that was more important than my career.” Seth smiled.
When he got injured, Seth had just started out with his first team. Despite the damage he could

have done to his own career, he left to return to ranch to help J.J. work through the agony of the injury
and the recovery. They never talked about it, but the gesture was never lost on J.J. He’d been the big
brother all his life, whenever one of his siblings were down, he’d go over and dust them off and tell
them everything would be alright. It was strange at first to see their roles reversed, but Seth staying by
his side was one of the most touching things anyone had ever done for him. It was a shining example
of the family values their parents had instilled in them.

As the footage rolled of his last great game, bittersweet memories rushed to the surface. For a

moment the world had been his oyster. Tom asked questions focusing on the bond between brothers
and made a few comparisons to their stats. He closed with saying that the Blakes were a fine family
who groomed great football players and joked that maybe someday one of Seth’s sons would carry

the torch.

When the interview was over, J.J. and Seth decided to have a quiet dinner at the hotel. J.J.

checked his messages while Seth called to check on Morgan and the kids. Sam had called and left a
message. It felt so good to hear her voice. The waitress came back to the table with their drinks and
took their meal order. Seth disconnected the call.

“How are Morgan and the boys?” J.J. asked.
“Good. Momma’s doing all she can to spoil them before we return to Philadelphia.”
“It’s amazing how the two of you manage. Morgan still doesn’t want a nanny?”
“No. She’s still plagued with scenarios of seductive, killer nannies. Even though I’ve told her it

would never happen.” Seth laughed.

“We both know no other woman has a chance in hell.” J.J. clinked glasses with Seth. “Thank

goodness you didn’t model your personal life after mine.”

“I don’t doubt for a moment that you didn’t love Eden. It was a good marriage for you at the

time.” Seth shook his head.

“But it wasn’t good for the family. I should have picked up on Eden’s abrasiveness towards

everyone else.”

“Well, we’re not going to collectively get along with every new member of the family. But if it

makes any difference, we all think that Sam is great.” Seth winked.

J.J. sipped his scotch. “Thanks.”
“How are things progressing?”
“It’s a new experience for me, dating a strong-willed woman who gets into fist fights and carries

a gun. Her job can get dangerous and I don’t like it. Some of her clients are high profile people who
have threats against them. She sweeps rooms for bombs and crazed lunatics concealing weapons.”
J.J. put his drink down on the table with a little more force than he needed to.

“Don’t forget she rescues Tyler every now and again.”
“Don’t remind me. I don’t know what I’d do if—” J.J.’s voice trailed off.
Seth’s eyes widened. “She can handle herself. I know that doesn’t stop the worrying, but she’s

good at her job.”

The waiter came with the food, and once everything was placed on the table, they dove in.
J.J. put his fork down and looked at Seth. “Am I a chauvinist for not wanting her to do that job

anymore?”

“No. I think you’re a man in love who doesn’t want his woman hurt.” A jaw breaking smile

flashed across Seth’s face.

In love?
J.J. picked up his drink and downed it.

* * *

Sam opened the door to her condo and collapsed on her couch. She wanted to take a shower and

make herself a big bowl of ice cream, but right now she couldn’t move. It had been an adventurous
day teaching self-defense techniques to the Blake women. They were nice, down to earth ladies who
were very friendly, and it felt more like she was spending time with friends than protecting one of her
most important clients. There were a few subtle questions about her intentions towards J.J.—she

knew they didn’t want him to get hurt. But she took it all in stride and enjoyed them, especially the
boys. Children normally made her nervous, but when Morgan thrust Colby into her arms so she could
go to the bathroom, it felt good to hold him. She was amazed at how Morgan juggled all three of them
with ease.

Since J.J. had been out of town for the Sports Now interview, being with his family quelled

some of the loneliness from missing him. They’d only been seeing each a short time, but he was
quickly becoming part of her everyday landscape. It had been a long time since she’d been in a
relationship but it felt good. She constantly reminded herself that history wouldn’t repeat itself. The
situation was different. She was different. J.J. wouldn’t be shot in the line of duty. He worked on the
top floor of an office building with security she’d overseen, for heaven’s sake.

Sam kicked her sneakers off and reached for the remote. Her cell phone rang. The display said

Blake Enterprises.

“Hi, Sam.” Anna Beth said cheerfully into the phone.
“Anna Beth, how are you?” Sam sat up.
“I hate to bother you at this late hour, but I didn’t know who else to call. Mr. Blake is away

doing that interview.”

“No problem. What’s up?”
“I got a call from someone named Gerard at the Trinity Health Spa. Mr. Blake’s ex Eden was

there and left a diamond necklace and earrings behind after her spa treatment. Gerard said he didn’t
have a current number for her so he called Blake Enterprises. He assured me that he would put them
under lock and key until someone could pick them up.”

“Thanks Anna Beth. I’ll take care of it.” Sam ended the call. How the hell does someone simply

forget expensive trinkets like that?

She had a full schedule tomorrow but it wasn’t an issue to pick up the jewelry from the spa. She

could stop by an appraiser friend to make sure none of the stones had been switched. The difficult
part would be delivering them to the former Mrs. Blake. Eden now lived in a million-dollar home in
a posh gated community about two hours away from Dallas. She couldn’t wait to hear the explanation
of how a small fortune in jewels was left at the spa.

* * *

Sam rang the doorbell for the third time. She’d had a long drive and she was anxious to get back

on the road. She’d done things for clients before; she just wished it wasn’t J.J.’s ex-wife. Finally the
door opened. Eden seemed pretty dressed up for the late hour, wearing a fuchsia, off-the-shoulder
sequined top and a pair of white pants. She wore a ruby necklace with matching bracelet. Her hair
was pulled into a ponytail that flowed over her shoulder and her makeup looked like it had been
applied by a professional stylist.

“Eden Masterson?”
“That’s Eden Blake.”
“I apologize. I don’t know if you remember me. My name is Sam Carson. I work for Regency

Private Security Group, the company that oversees security for the Blake family. We met at the
governor’s garden party.” Sam put on a tight smile.

“I remember you.” Eden swished around the contents of the drink in her hand. “What do you

want?”

“We got a call that you left a necklace at the Trinity Health Spa.” Sam handed her a jeweler’s

box.

“Come in.” Eden pouted.
Sam followed her into the living room where the ex-Mrs. Blake proceeded to mix another drink.

It looked like Eden had faired pretty well in the divorce. In addition to letting her retain all the luxury
items he’d bought her, J.J. also bought her a lovely house. A Mercedes and a Jaguar were parked in
the driveway. The house was furnished with expensive furniture and there were a few paintings on the
walls that Sam remembered being insured. What stood out the most is a picture Eden had on the
console table of her and J.J.

The living room had an intimate feel to it, candles were placed around and soft, romantic music

came from the premium sound system. Eden picked up a remote control and turned on the lights then
proceeded to walk around extinguishing the candles with a snuffer. Had she been expecting someone
else?

Then it clicked. She’d been expecting J.J. to deliver the jewelry himself.
Eden threw the box on the couch. “Would you like a drink?”
“No, thanks.”
“You came an awful long way to deliver this. Doesn’t Regency have secured couriers?”
“Such expensive pieces of jewelry required a personal delivery. We took the pieces to the

jeweler and had them cleaned and made sure none of the stones had been replaced with fakes.”

“J.J. must be pleased with your…full service.” Eden gave her a once over.
“I’m committed to overseeing the security of the entire Blake family.”
“Funny, I’ve never seen you on the ranch before.”
“Our paths may never have crossed, but I assure you we keep a watchful eye over you.”
“That explains the Regency cars I see cruising by the house.” Eden rolled her eyes. “So you’re

on J.J.’s personal security detail now?”

“Mr. Blake doesn’t like to travel with security. As you well know, he’s more than capable of

handling himself.”

“He was too busy to bring it himself?” She said.
“He’s out of town.”
“That must be why he hasn’t returned my calls.”
“Well, I must be going.” Sam headed for the door.
“Are you sleeping with him?” Eden asked.
“Excuse me?”
“It’s a simple question.”
“It’s an inappropriate question.” Sam fired back.
“I can tell. Once you’ve been with a man like him, it’s hard to miss the signs, and it’s even

harder to forget.”

“You sound rather sentimental for a divorced woman.”
“I miss the man he used to be before he blew his knee out. He was passionate, arrogant as hell,

and he was on his way to greatness.”

“And you don’t think being the President of a billion-dollar company fits the bill?”
“He should be playing ball, not stuck behind some desk in a stuffy office to make his father

happy,” Eden snapped.

“Continuing to play could have crippled him after the surgery. Surely you knew that he was

trying to preserve his quality of life so he could enjoy it with you,” Sam said.

“He could have taken the chance for me.”
Sam couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could her lust for power and limelight

supersede her husband’s health and well-being? But by the looks of the failed seduction setting, she
still wanted him.

“I have to be going. It’s a long drive back to Dallas.” Sam went for the door but she couldn’t

leave without some parting advice. “The next time you want to get your ex-husband’s attention, just go
see him. Don’t leave a million dollar necklace in a public place or try to sign up for a reality show.
You should know he doesn’t respond to things like that.”

Sam left Eden standing in the living room and saw herself out.

* * *

When Anna Beth called and told him Sam had to go to Eden’s house to deliver a necklace Eden

left at a spa, J.J. felt like the world was coming to an end. Her assurance that all was well did little to
quell the feeling that something was horribly wrong.

J.J. was stuck in a meeting with Mike Simon, a business contact who’d been trying to get him to

invest in a new commercial building while he was in New York. The meeting droned on, but J.J.’s
mind was fixed on Sam and Eden. Mike insisted on taking him to lunch but he declined, determined to
talk to Sam. J.J. opened the door, grateful for an end to a long day. He was barely back in his hotel
room when he called Sam.

“Hello, Mr. Blake.”
He could hear her smile over the phone and it made it his heart flutter.
“How are you? Sorry I haven’t called all day. The meeting went much longer than I expected.”

He loosened his tie.

“That’s fine. I know you were busy wheeling and dealing.” She laughed.
Laughter was a good sign. It hopefully meant she wasn’t scarred from her experience with Eden.
“Anna Beth told me you picked up a necklace Eden left at a spa and returned it to her.”
“Yes, I did. I think she was expecting you to return it.” Sam quipped.
“I’m sorry about that.” He ran a hand over his face.
“Don’t worry about it. That’s my job, remember?”
“Are you still at the office?”
“Yes.” Sam sighed. “I just received notification of an unexpected business trip of a client and I

have to organize things.”

“I was hoping we could have dinner when I got back tomorrow.”
“Sounds like we’re having dinner when I get back.”
“I was looking forward to seeing you the second I got off the plane.”
“The second?”
“Well, yeah. I was going to call Regency and tell them I needed an escort from the private

airport.”

“What an abuse of power,” she teased.
“So, this trip…is it dangerous?” He tried to sound as casual as possible.
“No. We’ve got all the bases covered.”

“How long will you be gone?”
“Two weeks. John Blake, you sound like you miss me.”
“Maybe I do.” He chuckled.
“So we have a dinner date when I return?”
“I’m looking forward to it.” He grinned. “And Sam?”
“Yes?”
“Be careful.”
“Of course.” She laughed then ended the call.

CHAPTER NINE

J.J. juggled the bags in his hands as he rang Sam’s doorbell. She had arrived home late from the
airport after her two week security excursion, so he picked up dinner.

“Hi, John.” Sam wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
“I like the way you say hello.” J.J. returned the kiss and guided her into the house. He kicked the

door closed with his foot.

“I thought you’d like that. What did you bring for dinner?”
“I brought Chinese food and a couple of bottles of wine and beer, of course.”
“I’m starving.”
“Me, too.” He rested the bags on the dining room table. J.J. cupped Sam’s ass and pulled her

against her erection so she could feel his enthusiasm.

“Oh, no, you don’t. We eat first, then hanky-panky.” Sam pushed against his chest.
“Then let’s get this date started.” J.J. headed to kitchen to get plates.
“How was your day?” She searched the draw for a corkscrew.
“Meetings and boredom. Anna Beth called in sick again today. I’m beginning to worry about her.

How are things at Regency?”

“Status quo. You do know what’s wrong with Anna Beth right?” She looked at him.
“No, should I?”
“I think she’s suffering from a broken heart.”
“What? Who broke it?”
Sam sat beside him and made a face. “You, dummy. The girl looks at you with stars in her eyes,

for heaven’s sake.”

“I didn’t realize.” J.J. sank down on the stool.
“Think of it from her perspective. She took care of you in her own way while you went through

your divorce. It would have been a happy romantic coincidence if you realized you’d loved her after
all this time.” Sam gave him a pat on the shoulder. “The good news is that you can help her through it,
otherwise you’ll be looking for a new assistant and I know you like her.”

“How did you know?”
She shrugged. “She looks like she wants to throttle me when I come into the office to see you.

How’s the family? Tyler’s been pretty quiet.”

“Tyler’s spending some time with a friend of mine, Scott Norwood, who’s teaching him the

ropes of race car driving.”

“You know Scott Norwood? No, of course you do.” She chuckled.
“He said Tyler’s been a good student.”
“Good for Tyler. If he channeled have his energy from chasing women to a career, he’d be

unstoppable.”

“How about your family? You never talk about them.”
“I love them dearly but distance is best. They don’t approve of my career, my lifestyle. But I’m

being berated for not wanting to attend the family reunion so they can vilify me for not being a good
wife to someone, and holding me up as an example to the younger women of what not finding a man
will lead to.” She rolled her eyes.

“You’re just ahead of your time for them, that’s all. I’ve been thinking.” J.J. scratched at his

beard. “I instituted that damn mandatory policy about taking vacation, and half of my staff is giving me

the fish eye. So I thought maybe we could go away.”

“Where would you want to go?”
“Lady’s choice. Where ever you want to go is fine with me.” He caressed her hand.
“I will make a list and we can narrow it down together. I’ll go get my laptop.” She smiled.
He stopped her. “After dinner. New rule: no electronic devices at the table. I’d like to have you

all to myself for an hour or so, sans technology.”

“It’s a deal.”
After dinner they sat cuddled on Sam’s couch and perused the internet for destination ideas. J.J.

fed her chocolate ice cream as she went to every travel site imaginable.

“I don’t want you to get a headache over this.” He kissed her neck.
“I’m not. I like to research. What if we end up in some nightmarish resort?” She giggled.
“You have a week to pick a destination.”
“You are such a bossy boots.”
“I like to call it effective leadership skills.” He scooped her up and headed for the bedroom.

“Feel like taking a shower with me, cowboy?” Sam kissed his jawline as J.J. bounded up the

stairs.

“I thought you’d never ask.”
Sam whipped around the room lighting candles and fished for mood music on her CD player.

She then turned on the shower and play with the settings until she got the water at a cozy temperature.
When she went toward the linen closet to get extra towels, J.J. jumped in front of her and caressed her
arms.

“This would be even more romantic if you took off your clothes and got into that shower with

me.” He suppressed a smile.

“Are you making fun of my attempts at spontaneous romance?” She narrowed her eyes.
“Setting the mood is nice, but all I need is you.”
Sam took perfectly still as J.J. took his time undressing her. The buttons coming undone on her

shirt made a loud thudding noise or maybe that was her heart being out of control? She’d seen him
passionate and playful, but there was something different about the way he looked at her tonight. She
could tell asking her to go away on vacation was a big deal to him, and when she agreed, she was
juggling a bout of nerves herself. What was the big deal? They’d gone to Colorado together on his
private plane. But that was business. This voyage would be about intimacy and their growing
affection for each other. She hadn’t had such a bad case of puppy love since ninth grade, but here he
was, captain of the football team in her bathroom wearing nothing but his birthday suit and it was
spectacular. The man’s muscled body felt like granite covered with smooth, soft skin.

J.J. stepped in front her in the shower and took the brunt of the power stream. The water

cascaded over his shoulders and down his chest, creating a waterfall effect. Sam’s gazed dropped to
his erection. He’d been hard ever since they were snuggling on the couch. His breath hitched when
she slowly glided her index finger over the tip.

She was torn between wanting a kiss from those devilishly delicious lips or pressing him against

the wall and swallowing as much of him as she could, just to hear that deep guttural sound he made.
Perhaps sensing the debate within her, J.J. reached for her face and pulled her toward him for a kiss.
A tender peck on the lips at first, then another more insistent kiss to get her to open up, and then the

all-consuming melding of their mouths. Each time his tongue swept in, he went deeper into her mouth,
stealing her ability to speak or cry out.

Sam gripped his ass and pulled him toward her, his cock pulsing between them. This wasn’t like

their last encounter. There was something new and more definitive each time they connected. She
wanted to be with him like no other man she’d been with before. Next to him, on top of him, the
compulsion to be one with him was maddening.

J.J. retrieved a condom from the soap dish to put on, but Sam stopped him. It was only fair that

she repay the sensual kindness, after all. J.J.’s hands roamed her body as she delicately put it on and
began to roll it down his shaft ever so slowly. She looked up and his eyes were closed, his head
leaning back into the water cascading against his face. Sam pulled him down for another kiss. He
complied, and then hoisted her into the air, bringing down on his penis. She placed her hands around
his neck and locked her legs around his waist. She gasped when J.J. lifted her ass a bit with his
hands, bringing her back down on him over and over again. There was nothing else to do but hold on
for dear life, for each time he rocked her forward, he made a connection within her she’d never felt
before. Her whole body tingled. Their mouths connected again, and she felt his body spasm too. He
leaned back as he climaxed, and let the water hit them both on the face.

“John.” She tightened her grip on his neck.
“Hmm?” He turned off the water and walked them out of the shower.
“Nothing. I just thought the moment called for something to be said.” She buried her face in his

shoulder.

* * *

J.J. reached for Sam but she wasn’t in bed. He propped himself up on his elbows looking around

the bedroom when he heard noises coming from her closet. When she emerged she was pulling a
black T-shirt over her head and talking on her cell phone.

“OK. I’ll be there in fifteen.” She kneeled on the bed and gave him a quick kiss. “Hey did I wake

you?”

“No. Why are you dressed?” He reached for her hand. “It’s three o’clock in the morning.”
“I got a call from the office. There’s an emergency with a client and I have to go in to handle it.”
“Can’t someone else handle it?”
“I wish they could.” Sam went over to her wall safe, opened it and retrieved a gun.
J.J. eyes widened. Before he knew it, he was standing naked in front of her, gripping her arm.

What the hell did she need to do in the middle of the night for a client that required a gun?

“What’s going on?”
“You have to promise me you won’t tell anyone. This is supposed to be confidential.” She

caressed his cheek.

“Of course.”
“I have a client whose daughter is into drugs and they’ve been trying to keep it a secret. She’s

missing, and I think I know where to look for her. It’s always the same place, but in a very bad area. I
have to go in and discreetly retrieve her or they’ll be forced to call the police. Then it will become a
public matter.”

“You can’t go by yourself,” J.J. barked.

“I’m not. My team is waiting for me. I’m fine. This is just part of the job.” She reached into a

drawer and pulled out a box with a bow on it. “I was going to give you this in the morning over
breakfast, but since we’re both up, now’s as good a time as any.”

J.J. opened the box to find a set of keys and the instructions on how to program his own code

into her alarm system.

“This is great…” The keys to her condo. It was as if something clicked into place that had

always been there, but just out of reach. He loved her and he didn’t want to lose her.

Sam continued. “You can let yourself in and don’t have to wait for me to come home. I made

room in the dresser and even weeded my wardrobe so you can fit some things when you leave for
work from here.”

“Thank you. But I’ll always wait for you to come home. I sleep better when I know you’re safe.”

He grumbled.

“The erratic hours aren’t permanent. It’s just a strange time right now with clients.” She caressed

his hand.

The thought of her putting herself in danger got the best of him. “What if I asked you to quit your

job?”

“Don’t ask me to do that.” She kissed him on the cheek and left.
He wanted to stop her. Who knows what she might encounter when she got there? She

downplayed a volatile situation like she was going for a jog in the park.

He slipped on his jeans, went to the kitchen, and grabbed a beer. He looked around and saw

dishes strewn about. An open cereal box sat on the counter. He wondered how often she had to fly out
of the house on a moment’s notice to cater to some rich, pampered jackass who couldn’t handle his
own problems. He knew she was capable and good at her job, but what if someone came out, guns
blazing?

J.J. held up the key. She wanted him here, in her house and in her life. What a giant leap they’d

just taken. It should have been perfect. But seeing her leave in the middle of the night with her gun
filled him with dread. If something happened to her, he didn’t know what he would do.

Well, there was something he could do, but he knew she wouldn’t like it.

CHAPTER TEN

J.J. watched as Tyler’s car, number nineteen, came roaring down the track. He asked Seth and Tate to
accompany him to the raceway and get their opinions on their brother’s continued interest in racing.
He was pleasantly surprised at how well he handled the car and the limelight, after the women in the
family went on their scouting expedition and came back with positive things to say about Tyler’s
aspirations. It may have seemed like the family was being obsessively overprotective, but it was done
all out of love.

“Here you go.” Tate came back with beers and junk food. “So how’s he doing?”
“Really good. So far, he’s in third place and his momentum is increasing each time he does

another lap.” J.J.’s eyes were glued to the track.

“Scott said he was a natural.” Seth popped a nacho in his mouth.
J.J. took a swig of his beer. “There’s only one thing left to do.”
Tyler came in second place. They waited until the crowded began to thin out and made their way

down to the track. J.J. noticed Tyler’s smile brightened when he saw his brothers. He was doing a
television interview, so they went over to take a look at the car while he finished up. Tate popped the
hood and he and Seth began inspecting the engine. The last thing they wanted was for someone to
recognize them and steal their little brother’s thunder. Tyler came over to the car after signing a few
autographs.

“What are you guys doing here?” Tyler said as he approached.
“We came to see you race,” J.J. said. “After Momma and the ladies spoke so highly of your

performance, we thought we’d come down and see for ourselves.”

“Congratulations.” Tate said as he poked around the engine.
“Momma came to a race?” Tyler’s eyes widened.
“Yes. Last month. Morgan thought it would help ease her reservations if she saw you in action.

Lucky for you, it was a good racing day. You placed third.” J.J. smiled.

“I have to give Morgan a big kiss the next time I see her.” Tyler chuckled.
“She’s been rallying for you for a long time,” Seth said.
“I like this engine,” Tate said as he raised his head from under the hood.
“So what did you think?” Tyler scratched at his temple.
“I was impressed,” J.J. said. “You did damn good today. I apologize for discouraging you when

you set out to do this. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt.”

They all looked up at him as if he were speaking another language.
“What?” J.J. asked.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say so much in your whole life. Having a good woman in your

life agrees with you,” Tyler remarked.

He had to admit that since Sam came into his life, he was more open to the world around him.

He sang to his nephews and played with them, and he was even taking cooking lessons from his
momma. There was no need to keep everything bottled up anymore and he had Sam to thank for it.
That’s why the dangerous nature of her job bothered him so much. He was happy and one day she
could walk into a dangerous situation and get hurt or worse.

“Enough about me. We’ve been talking. How would you like a sponsor?” J.J. asked.
“Are you kidding me?” Tyler yelled.
“If this is what you want to do, we’re behind you one hundred percent.” Seth replied.

“We just want you be safe and happy. If you get hurt, momma is gonna have all our asses.” Tate

laughed.

* * *

Sam slipped on her suit jacket and headed for the elevator. When Jack Stanton’s secretary called

and said he needed to speak with her, she got a knot in her stomach. So much had been happening
lately, there was a list of things he could reprimand her for. Busting into a drug den and dragging a
client’s daughter out kicking and screaming, then dropping her off to a rehab treatment center instead
of sending her home. Screw the publicity, the clients would have a dead child within a year if she
kept his habit up, and frankly, Sam was tired of going to get her. She or one of her team took great
risks each time they searched for her. Luckily no one had gotten hurt.

This time.
Sam took a deep breath and wrapped on Mr. Stanton’s door. He responded immediately for her

to come in.

“You wanted to see me, Mr. Stanton?”
“Yes, Sam. We need to discuss your future here at Regency.”

* * *

Sam saw J.J.’s face appear on her cell phone screen and hit the ignore button. She was still

seething about her talk with Jack Stanton. She got the shock of her life when the reprimand didn’t
come, but instead, he offered her a promotion. The new position was more administrative than field
work. It was less dangerous, and she’d keep bankers hours. And it had John Blake written all over it.

She was so mad at him she didn’t return his call last night. Thank goodness he didn’t come over

to the house. She needed some time to process his betrayal. The dangerous nature of her job had been
the sore spot in all her relationships, but she was hoping it wouldn’t be a deal breaker for J.J. She got
it. He was a tough, rugged cowboy who was accustomed to protecting a woman. Eden was the
quintessential damsel in distress, whom he treated like a pampered queen. But Sam didn’t need his
protection. Quitting her job wasn’t an option. It was a part of who she was and she’d hoped he accept
that.

Right now she had to keep her head in the game. She didn’t like these big, public events, but she

tried to focus on the task at hand. Her client, an aspiring senate candidate, was a firm believer in
interacting with large crowds despite the recent death threats he’d received. Regency did recon and
cleared the room, and there was law enforcement present as well. But still something was gnawing at
her.

As the event commenced, she could still sense something in the air she couldn’t describe and that

kept her on alert from the moment she arrived. Sam stood on the side of the stage while the client took
to the podium to give his speech. The noise was deafening, and she could barely hear the chatter on
her ear piece. She walked onto the stage and looked to her right. There was a duffle bag sitting in a

corner that hadn’t been there when they did the morning sweep.

She casually walked over and inspected the bag. She kneeled down and carefully unzipped the

top.

There was a bomb in the bag, and according to the timer, it had less than ten seconds before it

detonated.

“Bomb!” Sam yelled into her surveillance device as she sprinted across the stage toward her

client.

She tackled her client as the bomb went off. The overhead lights on the stage came crashing

down and then everything went black.

* * *

J.J. saddled up Midnight and rode out. He’d been calling Sam and she hadn’t returned his call.

That could only mean that Jack Stanton offered her the promotion. He thought she’d go off the rails
and yell at the top of her lungs, but instead she chose silence. He was certain that was worse.

He needed her to hear his side of the story, but he also knew she needed to cool off. A heated

argument could lead to the saying of unforgivable things, and he didn’t want that.

He took the day off from work. Whether she wanted to see him tonight or not, he was going to

Sam’s condo and wait for her to come home. In the distance he could see someone coming his way,
riding like the world was on fire. J.J. turned Midnight around and headed that way when he realized it
was Channing calling out his name.

“What’s wrong?” J.J. yelled as he came closer.
“There was some kind of explosion at a political fundraiser in the Lakemont Hotel,” Channing

panted. “I thought I saw Sam on the news coming out on a stretcher.”

* * *

After being poked and prodded by the latest round of doctors, Sam eased off the hospital bed,

anxious to see what was going on. She reached for her clothes that were hanging on a chair; she
refused to flit around the ward trying to ask official questions in a hospital gown.

She eased into the hallway and saw several members from the Dallas police force and a few of

her co-workers standing outside the client’s room. As soon they saw her, the clapping started.

“What the hell are you all clapping for?” she said to Kendrick.
“You saved his life. If you hadn’t gotten him out of the way, he would have died.” Kendrick

patted her on the shoulder.

“Oh. Well. How is he doing?” She peeked into the room as a nurse exited.
“A few bruises, but he’s doing alright.”
“Good.” She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Samantha Jane!”
She knew that deep voice anywhere. But the hell was he doing in the hospital? She turned and

saw him bearing down on her.

Sam didn’t get a chance to say anything.
“Are you OK?” J.J. grabbed her arms and looked her over.
“I’m fine, John,” she stammered.
“What happened to your head?”
“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”
“They told me you had a concussion.” J.J. cupped her face in his hand and examined her

scratches. “I’m taking you back to your room.”

Sam could see Kendrick and the rest of her team enjoying the show. If anyone hadn’t known she

was seeing him, they did now.

She dug in her heels and stopped him from urging her forward. “Did you tell Jack Stanton to give

me a promotion that would remove me from field work?”

“Yes, I did, and obviously, with good reason. You were almost blown up today.” He caressed

her face.

“Do you how many levels of wrong you are in this scenario? You went behind my back and

embarrassed me in front of my boss. I guess he knows we’re sleeping together now. Please don’t tell
me it’s because you’re concerned about my safety. You’re trying to control me.”

“Dammit, Samantha Jane, I will not apologize for loving you. I have a right to be concerned for

your safety and want to keep you from harm. If that makes me seem like a controlling asshole, so be it.
I went horribly wrong with my marriage to Eden because I didn’t put my foot down on important
issues, and this is damned important. I need help to make this work. I need someone who wants to be
an equal partner in a relationship based on mutual respect, or it won’t work.” He gave her a tender
kiss on the lips, reached into his pocket to retrieve her house key, and handed it to her. “I can’t do this
anymore.” Then he turned and walked out of the room.

Sam looked on, dumbfounded. The man just told her he loved and left her in the same breath. She

put her hand over her mouth, suppressing the sob that was buried deep within her throat. She could
tell from his face that he wasn’t coming back.

* * *

J.J. felt like a different man after returning from his month-long vacation to Denver. When he

walked out on Sam at the hospital, he went home and packed a bag. He needed to be as far away from
her as he could be, and his second home seemed like a logical choice. Too bad when he got there,
every room he went into reminded him of her.

Maybe he was wrong for talking to Stanton about a promotion that would put her behind a desk,

but dammit, he had to try to do anything in his power to protect the woman he loved.

He’d told Sam once that he still loved Eden, but love wasn’t enough if two people didn’t want

the same things. It seemed he and Sam were equally doomed.

When he came back to Texas he planned on ramping up the dating campaign. No feelings

involved this time; he just wanted to have a good time and get laid. Ironically, that was the advice he
was given when his divorced was finalized. He could have saved himself some heartache if he’d just
listened to everyone.

To quell the worry of his family about what they were calling his “erratic” behavior, he agreed

to meet his dad at the Texas Tomcats stadium for lunch. John Jacob was having a golf game with
T.K., the owner of the team, and they would dine together at the exclusive restaurant at the stadium.

The panoramic view of the Tomcats football field from T.K.’s office was nothing short of

spectacular. J.J. remembered how awe inspiring it was to see it the first time he visited. He, like
Seth, had a near miss with playing for the Tomcats, but fate stepped in the way and sent him to
Colorado instead.

Irene, the owner’s executive assistant, had been a family friend for many years as well. She

escorted him upstairs while cheerfully recounting the last time she saw him.

“Can I get you some coffee J.J.?”
“No thanks, Irene.” J.J. smiled at the older woman.
“T.K.’s helicopter just landed; he should be here in a few minutes. Things ran late at the club.

You know how it is when he plays with your father. You play too, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. My game has improved tremendously in the last year, but I’m not foolish enough to

play with my dad and T.K.” He grinned.

Irene leaned on T.K.’s huge oak desk. “So how are things after the divorce? If you don’t mind

me saying so, you need a good woman who appreciates you. I hate to think of you being alone in that
gorgeous new home you’re building.”

J.J. laughed to himself. Irene was ramping up her sales pitch to foist off another delightful,

beautiful young woman on him. What was is it with all of his mother’s friends trying to fix him up on
dates?

“You don’t have to worry about me, Irene. The divorce has given me some time to think about

things and focus on what I really want in life.”

“What else do you want besides finding a good woman and having kids? For us older folks, it’s

a symbol of hope for the future of our family, that long after we’re dead a part of us will still be
living.”

“The Blake family tree is in no danger of losing any branches as long as Seth and Morgan are

within breathing distance of each other.” He mused.

“J.J.! You’re bad!” Irene swatted at his arm.
They all kidded Seth about his enthusiasm for procreating, but he thought it was nice that his

little brother found someone to love who fulfilled him in ways that made him want to have kids. Seth
never really talked about kids until he’d met Morgan. The flash of a line on T.K.’s phone caught both
their eyes.

“That’s my cue his helicopter is nearby.”
“Well, thank you for keeping me company Irene. It’s been too long.” J.J. rose up and gave the

woman a bear hug.

“My pleasure. I can’t believe what a handsome man you turned out to be. You’re gorgeous like

your daddy. Don’t tell your mother I said that.” Irene laughed. “By the way, I have a niece named
Melissa who would be perfect for you.”

“I think I’m going to be by myself for a while. But thanks for the offer.” J.J. smiled at her.
“Melissa is going to be pissed.” She let out an exaggerated sigh.
J.J. escorted Irene to the helipad. As soon it touched down, a man in a black suit got out and

began helping the passengers exit. John Jacob, who didn’t like flying around in what he called tin
canned contraptions, seemed to have fared well with the ride. Jack Stanton, the owner of Regency,
exited next, and then T.K., who turned around to assist someone else. J.J. was in shock when he saw
Sam getting out. T.K. put an arm around her and smiled as they walked toward them.

Sam thought she was seeing a mirage when she got out of the helicopter. She’d spent a month

crying over that man when she wasn’t at work, and here he was looking refreshed and handsome as
usual. He told her he loved her and then walked out on her—shouldn’t be a wreck sitting around in
the same flannel shirt for a month with a mountain man beard? She hated that he left, but she had to
stick to her guns. It was her life and nobody told her what to do.

If she didn’t stand her ground, he’d spend the rest of their lives engineering things behind her

back to get what he wanted in the name of love. That’s wasn’t love. It was unhealthy lunacy.

She wished she could say that she’d moved on, but she slept in one of the shirts he’d left at her

house. The pillow on the right side of the bed still had a hint of his scent, and she was contemplating
buying his cologne once it faded away.

When she received the assignment this morning to escort her clients T.K. Holbrook and John

Jacob Blake on a golf outing, she assembled her team and tried to remain calm. John Jacob was
polite, as usual, and that enigmatic smile of his didn’t indicate whether he knew what happened or
not. But of course he knew. The Blakes were a close bunch of people; that’s one of the reasons she
loved them all. It was the kind of close knit family most people dreamed about.

The closer they got to J.J. and T.K.’s secretary, Irene, the more pronounced the scowl became on

J.J.’s face. So now, what? Exchange pleasantries like they barely knew each other? She was a
professional. If she could get through this loaded afternoon, there was hope they could be civil to
each other in the future.

“Hello, Samantha Jane.” He walked toward her.
“J.J., nice to see you again.” She cleared her throat and moved out of the way.
“I’m ready chow down!” T.K. said.
“Gentlemen, lunch is being served in Mr. Holbrook’s private dining room. We can head that way

now.” Sam turned in an effort to herd them to the doors of the stadium but no one moved. “Gentlemen,
good food waits for no one. I suggest we get a move on.”

Sam tunneled on and glanced back to see the crowd had finally started moving. She pressed the

button to call the elevator and kept her gaze forward, but she could see those probing eyes in the steel
reflection of the elevator doors. Irene was chatting about what a lovely day it was and how life was
full of surprises. It was an interminable three minute ride but they were finally on the private floor of
the clubhouse. As soon as it looked like they were settled, she excused herself.

“I’ll give you gentlemen time to enjoy your meal. I’ll check back on you in about two hours.” She

gave them a tight smile and turned to leave.

“Sam, I would be honored if you joined us for lunch.” John Jacob stood.
“That’s right.” Jack Stanton stood. “Where are my manners? That sounds like a great idea.

Kendrick, take Sam’s post while we dine.”

“OK.” She gulped.
“Sure thing, Mr. Stanton.” Kendrick smirked and walked out of the dining area.
J.J. held out a chair for her but she ignored him and took the seat at the opposite end of the table

next to John Jacob. She peeked up at him from behind the menu and those intense eyes were talking to
her, telling her things he couldn’t say in front of his father and the other patrons at the table. Damn, she
wanted to be really mad at him right now. The men went back to talking about their golf game.

Soon the waitress appeared and began to take their orders. Sam, whose stomach was doing flip-

flops, was looking for something light.

“Sam, do you like spicy food? If you do, the buffalo wings are five-alarm buckets of sweat, but

they’re tasty,” T.K. said.

“That shouldn’t bother Samantha. She loves to live dangerously. In fact that may be her life

motto,” J.J. quipped.

“And we have to be careful with whatever J.J. orders, because he’s liable to go in the kitchen

and cook it himself. Going behind the scenes and manipulating things is what he does best.”

The table got uncomfortably quiet. John Jacob, T.K. and Jack were looking from her to J.J.
J.J. threw down the menu. “I talked to Jack because I was worried about you.”
“But you do realize you were wrong?”
“Maybe the execution was a little heavy handed, but it was necessary.” His jaw ticked.
She rolled her eyes. “So no, you can’t admit that you were wrong.”
“I love you. The thought of getting a call from someone telling me you were hurt or even worse,

dead, scares the hell out of me. Being without you for a month has been harder than my divorce.
You’d rather be out there protecting some stranger instead of protecting the heart of the man who has
loved you since the day you walked into his office for that audit. I over stepped my bounds going to
Jack. I apologize.”

The men kept looking at the two of them.
“You look pretty good for someone who’s been pining away for me.” She folded her arms over

her chest.

“Keeping fit is how I deal with stress.” He shrugged. “Are you gonna respond to anything I said

to you?”

“You said you loved me for the second time. That was nice.” She bit her lip.
“Is that the only thing you heard?”
“You don’t want me to get hurt and some other frilly sentimental things. But the most important

thing you said was that you loved me.”

“Heaven help me, I do.” He gripped his water glass.
“There may be hope for you yet, John Blake. If you can understand that ‘I love you’ does not

mean ‘I make all the decisions.’”

J.J. stood up but sat back down. “Before we go any further we need to get some things settled. I

was wrong for interfering in your job, and I promise I will never again try to influence Jack in any
capacity.”

“Do you think I believe that? Besides, being involved with you would change how I’m treated at

Regency. It’s the nature of people. Once everyone finds out I’m dating you, my normal life will go out
the window.”

“No it won’t.”
“Mr. Stanton, tell him.” Sam motioned toward the man.
“She’s right,” Jack said. “No one would admit it, but I’m going to be thinking that if something

happens to her, you’re going to come to Regency and wring a bunch of necks.”

“Fine. I’ll work on that.” He tapped his fingers on the table. “Next, I want us to live together

after my house is completed. We can give it a trial of…say six months, and then make it permanent.”

“Living together already?” she asked.
“You forget you gave me a key to your house, a drawer and some closet space. I even left my

favorite electric tooth brush over there.”

“Fair enough, as long as I keep my condo and you don’t take it as some kind of slight against you

if I sleep there some nights if I’m too exhausted to drive to the ranch.”

“No problem. I’ll just come to the condo those nights.” He grinned.
Sam nodded. “Very mature. Next?”
“I want to get married a year from the end of our six month trial and have two kids. We can

discuss when to have the kids after the honeymoon.”

“I was thinking married in six months and two kids, with a negotiable third, once we see where

the family is as a whole after the first two,” she countered.

“No, that’s unacceptable. I want—”
“Son, is your head cloudy?” John Jacob interrupted. “She offered you a better deal with a

possible third grandkid for me.”

“A third child?” J.J. asked.
Sam grinned. “I blame spending time with your nephews for that. Morgan and Seth make it seem

like manageable chaos.”

She clumsily stood up as J.J. rounded the table, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. They

came up for air when they heard applause. Not only were John Jacob, T.K. and Jack clapping,
Regency specialists and the wait and kitchen staff were there too.

“Son, that was the best deal I’ve ever seen brokered.” John Jacob said.
“She had me over a barrel, dad.” J.J. kissed Sam on the forehead.
“Congratulations, you two.” Jack Stanton beamed.
“Mr. Stanton, I don’t know what to say—”
“Everything’s fine, Samantha.”
“T.K., no disrespect but if I see your arm around Samantha Jane again, I’ll be forced to get

physical with you.”

“John!” Sam hit him.
“Sam, he’s just doing what men in love do. Sounds like what he’s been trying to do since he met

you.” T.K. laughed.

“I told you all we had to do is get these two together and they’d figure it out.” John Jacob

smiled.

“Daddy, you orchestrated all of this?” J.J.’s eyes widened.
John Jacob nodded. “I failed you once standing by the sidelines. I wasn’t about to let you lose

out on something that’s made you so happy. Maybe you boys could benefit from my advice every now
and again.”

“Gentlemen, we’re leaving. Sorry I have to take her off the clock, Jack. I promise this will be the

last obnoxious thing I do,” J.J. said.

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” She shook her head.
“When it comes to you, no.” J.J. took her hand and headed out of the restaurant.

* * *

The sound of the automatic shade rising jolted J.J. out of his sleep. He was still getting

accustomed to all the features of the new house. But the best feature of all was waking up next to Sam.
The weekend couldn’t come fast enough. They were embarking on a two week vacation to Paris,
France. But tonight they were having dinner with the family.

J.J. went downstairs to find her standing near the kitchen island, waiting for him with a cup of

coffee in one hand and her cell phone in another.

“Good morning.” She smiled at him and handed him the mug.
“Good morning. You snuck out of bed early today.” He leaned in for a kiss.
“We both know it’s counterproductive for us to both be awake and in bed in the morning. I’m

liable to get fired any day now.” Sam ran a hand through his hair.

She was right. Neither of them had been on time to work or any social function since they moved

in together. It was way too much fun remaining in bed.

“Will you be going into the office today?”
“No. I have to catch up on my chores around the ranch or Bo will have a hissy fit. He said he’s

let me slide this long because I was basking in the glow of love.” He sighed.

“Well, I have to go scout a venue for a client that wants to host a charity fundraiser. But I will be

home early to prepare for the housewarming. What time did you tell everyone to come?” She headed
for the door.

“Six o’clock.”
“Good, that’s gives me five hours to whip up the best dinner your family ever had. Don’t touch

anything in the refrigerator. Anything already prepared will save me some time. Tell Tyler and
Channing mitts off when they come by to visit.”

Family dinner. That had a nice ring to it. Family dinner with the woman he loved and the family

that loved her in return. The Blake women embraced Sam and never looked back. She golfed with his
mother and spent time with Morgan and Isabelle. Even the babies were smitten with their soon-to-be
aunt.

“Samantha Jane, aren’t you forgetting something?” J.J. leaned against the doorframe, watching

her put on her suit jacket.

Sam came back and threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the lips.
“That’s nice. But that’s not what I meant.” J.J. pulled a Kevlar vest from behind his back. “When

we had that lengthy discussion about me being an overprotective lunatic, you told me that you would
put on this vest every day and it would decrease the number of arguments we would have about your
safety.” He gave her an expectant look.

“I’m going to check out a banquet hall.” She huffed.
“With you there’s no telling when some client will call and make you change your plans.”
“Oh, fine.”
Sam complained the whole time while she took off her suit jacket and blouse and slipped on the

bullet proof vest.

“Thank you. Was that so hard?”
She glared at him. “The things I do for you.”
“I’m looking forward to spending time with you in Paris and I don’t want anything silly like a

bullet to ruin our getaway.”

“Paris? Yes! I want to visit the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower and…”
“I have the itinerary covered.”
“I love you, John Blake.” Sam leaned in and kissed him again before she walked out the door.
“I love you too, Samantha Jane. I’ll meet you back at the house at two.”
J.J. watched Sam drive off then went back into the house to get ready for his work day at the

ranch.

Life had changed so drastically in a year’s time. When he divorced Eden he was sure that he’d

never find love again. His relationship was different with Sam. It was honest and based on mutual
respect and consideration for each other’s feelings. She loved him just for being him and that made
him love her even more.

J.J. finished getting dressed and jumped in his truck. Tonight the Blakes were going to have a big

bash to celebrate his new home, new relationship and new outlook on life. He couldn’t wait to be a
father and he was happy Sam wanted a family too. As he drove around Twelve Horseshoes ranch, a
feeling of completeness and joy filled him that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He looked forward to the
future filled with Sam and his family and to all the new changes that had converged upon him like the
perfect storm.

~ About the Author ~

Rhonda Laurel is a contemporary interracial/multicultural romance writer whose two great

loves are writing and landscape photography. She uses both as a vehicle to convey the complexity of
the human spirit and the beauty of the world around her. Ebb Tide, For the Love of the Game and
Masquerade were released in 2012. Shutter, Memories of You , Star Crossed, MVP, California
Bored and Tourism and The Blake Legacy in 2013. The print anthology, The Rhonda Laurel
Collection, featuring Ebb Tide, For the Love of the Game and Shutter released June 2013. Texas
Heat, Love Notes & Football and The Perfect Storm, books 4, 5 and 6 in The Blake Boys Series
released in 2014.

The author is happily building her backlist.

Discover more about Rhonda Laurel here

http://www.rhondalaurel.com
http://www.facebook.com/authorrhondalaurel
http://www.twitter.com/rhondalaurel
http://pinterest.com/rhondalaurel/

~ Also by Rhonda Laurel ~

The Blake Boys Series

For the Love of the Game

The Blake Boys Book One

Rhonda Laurel

This quarterback is making the greatest play of his life…
Quiet bookstore owner Morgan Reed can’t wait to lie on the beach on her much-needed tropical

vacation, but getting tackled by a tall, green-eyed stranger playing touch football isn’t exactly what
she had in mind. Neither is falling for said stranger, or going along with the eccentric islander who
sends them off with a mock wedding. But all’s fair when it comes to vacation romance, and Morgan
has plenty of time to get back to reality when she gets home.

When he slams into the beautiful Morgan on the beach and sends her to the infirmary, superstar

quarterback Seth Blake insists on helping her recover—if she agrees to share his bungalow with him.
Seth is nothing less than smitten, and the best part is that the beauty has no idea who he is.

But when he finds out that their little “wedding” was the real thing, Seth finds himself in a sticky

situation. Especially when Morgan finds out the man she fell for isn’t at all who he made himself out
to be…

Buy For the Love of the Game here

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Game-Rhonda-Laurel-ebook/dp/B00A3X2NS6/

MVP

The Blake Boys Book Two

Rhonda Laurel

The game has just begun…
Morgan Reed-Blake discovers that being the wife of MVP quarterback Seth Blake has its

perks…and its challenges. Thrust into Seth’s high-profile world, she must wade through the celebrity,
status, and the ghosts of girlfriends past. So when Seth takes Morgan home to his ranch in Texas and
introduces her to his family and friends, she’s not surprised when his high school sweetheart comes to
call. Morgan suspects she wants to rekindle the flame, and how can she blame her? Distraught over
the changes their relationship has caused for Seth, Morgan wonders if maybe he’s better off without
her.
Pro quarterback Seth Blake is elated that his wife Morgan is giving their “fake” marriage a real
chance. But he doesn’t anticipate running into the woman who broke his heart years ago. He hasn’t
told Morgan about the complicated relationship with his ex, but as he guides Morgan through the maze
of his celebrity lifestyle, can he convince her the past is in the past? The MVP does not accept defeat,
and he’s determined not to lose. But winning Morgan might be the most difficult game of his life…

Buy MVP here

http://www.amazon.com/MVP-Rhonda-Laurel-ebook/dp/B00DI9WD3W/

The Blake Legacy

The Blake Boys Book Three

Rhonda Laurel

Two lovers. Two dreams. One hell of a hard decision…
NFL quarterback Seth Blake is having an unbelievable hot streak—he’s won his third Super

Bowl title the same day his wife Morgan gave birth to their son. Life couldn’t be better for the new
father and MVP. His contract with the Philadelphia Titans expires in a year, giving him a chance to
make a professional dream come true: to play in his home state for the Texas Wildcats and return to
his much-missed Twelve Horseshoes Ranch—this time, for good.

Morgan Reed-Blake has never been happier. She’s got the best husband, the cutest baby, and

she’s successfully juggling career and family. Her bookstore is expanding, her charitable organization
is growing, and she’s been offered her dream job on the literacy council. Everything in her
Philadelphia world is coming up roses. Until Seth’s contract with the Titans expires, and his dream of
returning home comes close enough to touch…and the powers that be in Texas start romancing Seth in
earnest. Morgan and Seth both have dreams. But a choice has to be made…

Buy The Blake Legacy here

http://www.amazon.com/Blake-Legacy-Boys-ebook/dp/B00GO4J81I/

Texas Heat

The Blake Boys Book Four

Rhonda Laurel

Isabelle Reed is having a bad year. The classical violinist is struggling with a divorce, and a

broken arm has left her unable to play. So when she receives a wedding invitation from her cousin
Morgan, her heart just isn’t in it. Going to the wedding will mean seeing everyone from back home,
and seeing everyone back home will mean facing the music about her divorce. Unable to miss her
cousin’s wedding, she bites the bullet and takes off—and lands right in the arms of Morgan’s brother-
in-law, country western music star Tate McGill. She’d heard about the singer and his bad-boy
reputation, but there’s something about those storm-filled eyes that made her yearn to look deeper.
Even though she should know better than to risk being the subject of a song on his next album.

Country western singer Tate McGill is living the good life. He’s surrounded by beautiful

women, hit music, and a great family. But he gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to
babysit his nephew Jake for his brother Seth Blake, and finds a beautiful woman in his way. Isabelle
Reed is talented and strong-willed, and she’s a natural with little Jake. But she’s keeping a secret
from Tate, and he’s determined to find out what it is...

Buy Texas Heat here

http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Heat-Blake-Boys-Book-ebook/dp/B00JRFGIQY/

Love Notes and Football

The Blake Boys Book Five

Rhonda Laurel

New baby. New adventures. Love deluxe.
Philadelphia Titans quarterback Seth Blake couldn’t be happier. Toddler Jake is growing like a

weed, and Seth’s wife Morgan is expecting another baby. He’s just signed a new contract to play
football for five more years and has a plan for retirement. Things couldn’t be better...until an
unexpected family crisis turns the world upside down for them all.

Morgan Blake is ecstatic to become a mom again. The bookstore owner is happily balancing

work life, homelife, and love life while preparing for their new arrival. But the family is keeping a
secret from her. And the secret will threaten the very happiness she’s worked so hard to find.

Buy Love Notes and Football here

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Notes-Football-Blake-Boys-ebook/dp/B00MPTF2HA/

Ebb Tide

Rhonda Laurel

Simmering passion at play.
Natalie Griffin is an attorney who is practical, smart and good at her job. Legalese is the least of

her worries, for much of her time is spent keeping her employer, playboy extraordinaire Evan
Darchon, out of trouble. Natalie has managed organize everything for him--his company, his home,
and his women--but if she could teach him to control some of his wilder impulses, her job would be a
heck of a lot easier.

But what about her impulses? Her cool, controlled demeanor is the perfect complement to

Evan’s wild side, but she craves the carefree way he makes her feel. His attraction is obvious, but
can either of them afford to rock the boat of their professional relationship?

Buy Ebb Tide here

http://www.amazon.com/Ebb-Tide-Rhonda-Laurel-ebook/dp/B008HQEIZC/

Shutter

Rhonda Laurel

Photographer Antonio De Soto’s life is out of focus. Everyone in his family thinks it’s time for

him to settle down. He doesn’t want to be strong-armed into domesticity, even if he does feel the
bachelor lifestyle is starting to wear thin. So when his friend invites him to do a pictorial on the
community theater, Antonio’s prepared to do his thing and follow his normal womanizing M. O.
Instead, he finds himself sparring with the resident artist, Lucy Marceloni. Lucy’s dime-store analysis
of his love life—and him—leaves him angry and shaken, but it’s too close to the truth to dismiss. The
quirky artist is not his type, but their passionate fights generate a deeper heat between them he can’t
ignore…

Lucy wants a man who’s sensitive and intellectual, the exact opposite of Antonio De Soto. The

moment she meets the handsome photographer she pegs him as arrogant and self-centered, but that
doesn’t protect her from the sizzling chemistry between the two of them. Being drawn to the rogue’s
charm and subtle seduction tactics is the last thing she wants. Working with him on the community
theater fairytale production could prove to be more than she can handle...

Buy Shutter here

http://www.amazon.com/Shutter-Rhonda-Laurel-ebook/dp/B00BJ8M4SI/

Star Crossed

Rhonda Laurel

When Hollywood’s sexiest secret explodes, stars are born.
Music mogul Kate Garrison’s husband is a leading Hollywood director. He also happens to be a

cheat. When he’s caught having an affair with an actress, Kate becomes the talk of the town—and not
in a good way. So when she stumbles into Hollywood’s new golden boy, Chris Cavanaugh—in the
men’s room, of all places—the gossip mill starts working overtime. Especially since Chris is starring
in her husband’s next film.

Chris Cavanaugh couldn’t imagine a woman would have such an effect on his life. But amid the

gossip and Hollywood politics, his only option is to ride out the media storm and play house. He
never expects to actually fall for her, but when illusion begins to look more and more like reality,
Chris has his hands full keeping his career intact and his eye on the target of making the Hollywood
A-list. So why does spending time with Kate suddenly seem more important?

Buy Star Crossed here

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Crossed-Rhonda-Laurel-ebook/dp/B00CB5J544/

“Masquerade” Halloween Heat IV

Rhonda Laurel

An Anthology of Erotic Contemporary Romance

Four erotic stories of contemporary romance with just the right amount of Halloween spice to warm

up those cool autumn nights.

“Party Games” by Mina Carter

“Punished by the Cowboy” by Sue Lyndon

“Unmasked” by Brooklyn Wilde

“Masquerade” by Rhonda Laurel

Buy Halloween Heat VI here

http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Heat-VI-Mina-Carter-ebook/dp/B009MBUIJ6/

More Romance from Etopia Press

Once a Marine

Patty Campbell

A one-night-stand, or the first day of forever?
BD James is on an upward career path. She works for a tyrant who has already cost her one

fiancé, so the last thing she needs is another manipulating man. She’s tired, angry, and ready for a
meltdown. What she isn’t ready for is Rafael Cruz—a retired Marine who lives a secret and
dangerous double life.

Rafi Cruz is a man who makes things happen, but his timing couldn’t be worse. He’s leaving on

a hostage rescue mission in two days, which means he won’t have time for a long slow seduction.
He’ll have to work fast, or the hot little BD will slip right through his fingers. She’s the only woman
in a long time who’s been strong enough to challenge him—a quality he values highly. He’s reluctant
to change his footloose life, but he’ll do whatever it takes not to lose her. She’ll understand.
Eventually…

But when BD learns Rafi has deliberately kept her in the dark about his black ops missions, she

questions whether he’s the kind of man she can trust, and if he can be as faithful to her as he is to the
Corps…

Buy Once a Marine here

http://www.amazon.com/Once-Marine-Patty-Campbell-ebook/dp/B00D8AXZWY/

Making Demons Purr

Selena Illyria

They will bind her to them in every way they can.
Seraphena, a black panther shifter and familiar, hasn’t had a night off in months. Between work,

dealing with her mother, and issues with her pard, her life is one challenge after the next. So when she
finally finds herself with a night to herself, the last thing she expects is spending it with her secret
crushes, Carver and Thorn, demons and owners of her favorite café, The Java Demon. Neither does
she expect what happens when you play high card strip with a couple of pros. They give her a hot
game, a night to remember with a little kink on the side. But Sera knows it can’t last with all the
complications in her life. The last thing she needs is having to explain two men at once—and demons
at that.

Carver and Thorn have wanted Sera from the moment she first strolled into the Java Demon for

that low-fat caramel macchiato. Now that they have her in their life, they refuse to let her go. They
will bind her to them in every way they can, fulfill her fantasies, and show her the love and support
she needs. Nothing will stand in their way—not work, not her mother, not her pard. But it might be
Sera herself who shuts them out if she can’t stand up to those who would dictate their love…

Reader Discretion Advised: Contains ménage, spanking, exhibition, and light BDSM elements

Buy Making Demons Purr here

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Demons-Purr-Flushed-Fevered-ebook/dp/B00O4JSJVA/

Nowhere to Run

Jeanne Bannon

What’s a girl to do when she falls in love with the man whose mission it is to bring her down?
With the murder of her only sister, Sara, just a few months past, Lily Valier—a woman of beauty

and substance—tops the sheriff’s list of suspects in small town Maine, and for a very good reason.
Dear old Dad had willed his fortune to Sara and only Sara, leaving Lily to fend for herself. However,
with no murder weapon or witnesses, the evidence against Lily is only circumstantial.

Enter P.I. Aiden O’Rourke, black-haired and blue-eyed, charged with gaining Lily’s trust and

learning her secrets, all to finally get the goods on her. Things move fast and feelings run deep, yet
when Lily discovers the truth about Aiden, everything begins to come apart.

Aiden’s torn. Despite his feelings for her, Lily is the most logical suspect, with a great big fat

motive. Except something’s not quite right. Aiden trusts his instincts and they’re screaming at him to
have a look at a former suspect with far more to hide than first appeared. With little left to lose, Lily
decides to stand her ground, and staying put has its consequences when the murder weapon finally
turns up—and it’s Lily’s gun.

What happens to love, when trust is betrayed?

Buy Nowhere to Run here

http://www.amazon.com/Nowhere-Run-Jeanne-Bannon-ebook/dp/B00NU9GF2K/

Above Par

Crystal Donahue

There are no mulligans in love.
Drew's life just got a whole lot harder. Her relationships are falling apart, her little sister is

failing math, and her parents are leaving for Florida to take care of Grandpa. Now not only does she
have to play surrogate parent, study to graduate from her last semester of college, and deal with the
looming threat of full-on adulthood, she has to do it all while running the family's mini-golf course by
herself. Even the upbeat Drew is starting to feel like she just drove her ball down the unfairway.

Her luck takes a turn when she meets Weston, the snarky geometry teacher. He's smart, capable,

dependable, and handsome—a real hole in one. But even Weston has a few hazards of his own. Now
Drew will have to decide whether his secret is the wedge that drives them apart, or pushes them
together.

Buy Above Par here

http://www.amazon.com/Above-Par-Crystal-Donahue-ebook/dp/B00HF95IIS/

Make or Break

Lori Whitwam

A writer, a musician, an unexpected love…and a killer who wants to destroy it all.
Abby never dreamed she'd meet her rock-n-roll fantasy, Seth Caldwell, by crushing his guitar

under the wheels of her Jeep. Twice. Seth wants to strangle her, but soon the snarks turn to sparks,
and he revokes his longstanding rule against getting involved with women on the road.

But when an attempt is made on Seth’s life, everyone’s a suspect. Abby’s determined to hang on

to the tenuous ties they’ve developed, but Seth’s determined to keep her safe...even if he has to push
her away in order to do it...

Buy Make or Break here

http://www.amazon.com/Make-Break-Lori-Whitwam-ebook/dp/B005L3KXPI/

Bidding Wars

Lacey Wolfe

A sheriff plus a nurse plus a house equals trouble…
Nurse Molly Harper has had a tough year. But when she decides to regain control of her life,

buying her dream house becomes her first priority. Finding the perfect house and falling in love with
it—that’s the easy part. The hard part is getting rid of the obnoxious man who thinks he’s going to be
the new owner. Even if he is gorgeous. And the sheriff…

Sheriff Luke Logan needs to buy a house. Getting out of the renting game will help in the custody

battle for his son, so when the perfect place pops up right on his street, he can’t believe his luck. But
there’s already an offer on the table, and the woman won’t back down. Too bad she doesn’t know that
he always goes after what he wants, and he has no intention of letting her have “his” house. Even if
she does make him feel that he might need more than just a house to make a home…

Buy Bidding Wars here

http://www.amazon.com/Bidding-Wars-Love-Strikes-Book-ebook/dp/B00CTO57OE/

Party Crasher

April Angel

She crashed his party and became his prize…
According to one annoying Drex Callum, Chris is a “nosy reporter.” And maybe she is. She’s

heard of the super secretive event known as the Seduction Party, and she won’t be content until she
finds a way in. The last thing she expects to find is that Drex is the host. She’ll never get an invitation
from her nemesis—unless she finds a way to get one herself. And breaking into his house is nothing if
it means getting the scoop. But what she gets instead is an eye-full of the man himself, half-naked and
more than she’d ever dreamed he could be in all her teenage fantasies.

Drex has been fantasizing about Chris forever, and now that she’s a grown woman, he still has a

hard time treating her like one. So when she shows up at the Seduction Party—on the auction chair!—
he’s got no other choice but to teach that nosey woman a lesson. He never dreamed sex could be like
this, with Chris in his room, tied to a bed, asking him for stuff that blows his mind…

But when things turn ugly, it becomes clear that someone wants the nosey reporter dead. And

Drex will have his hands full trying to keep his prize safe…

Buy Party Crasher here

http://www.amazon.com/Party-Crasher-April-Angel-ebook/dp/B00BJ8ERFQ/

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN

Document Outline

CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN

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