Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!Today we have a smooch from Once A Good Girl... by Wendy S. Marcus
Prim Victoria Forley’s perfect life changed forever the night she slept with Kyle Karlinsky, baddest boy in town. These days, single mum and uber-perfectionist nurse Victoria has goals that nothing – not even Kyle’s shocking reappearance! – can derail.
But behind Victoria’s oh-so-frosty exterior is a heat that only Kyle can unleash… maybe it’s the right time to be with the wrong guy after all?
[Setup: Head Nurse Victoria Forley has just overheard that the bad boy from her past, the father of her son who’d recently returned to town, got drunk last night and went home with the biggest tramp in the hospital.]
After hanging her coat on the hook behind her office door Victoria turned back to her desk to see Kyle, his hair more unruly than usual, his clothes rumpled and his eyes glassy.
“There’s something I need to -” he said, looking guilty.
“Shhh. Come here.” She motioned for him to move closer. “Bend down,” she whispered. He did. She moved her mouth close to his ear and yelled as loud as she could, “Rough night?”
“Jeeze.” He gripped his temples as if trying to contain the vibration of a gargantuan gong. “Sadist.”
“I’m working. Go away.” She tried to move past him to get to her desk.
He blocked her path. “I forgot how fast news travels here in Madrin Falls. Victoria, nothing happened.”
“That love bite on your neck tells a different story.” It shouldn’t matter, but it did. Hearing about Kyle and Leanne together was hard enough, but seeing evidence of their tryst made her want to strike out and hurt someone. And since Kyle just happened to be handy… “I don’t care what you do or who you do it with.”
“Based on how ornery you are this morning, one might think you care about what I do a little more than you let on.” He reached for her chin, tilted it up and looked directly into her eyes. “Nothing. Happened. When you’re ready to hear the details I’m happy to tell you everything. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Except for Leanne’s brand. I may have some concealer in my purse.” She studied the offensive discolored blotch on the left side of Kyle’s neck, tilted her head, pursed her lips, and tapped her index finger on her cheek, pretending deep consideration. “On second thought, flaunt it. It marks you as an easy lay. Maybe you can parlay it into a few more drunken encounters with loose women.”
Kyle’s response wasn’t at all what she’d expected.
He smiled then laughed. “God I’ve missed you.” And he swooped down and kissed her.
Only their lips touched. His soft and supple, sensual as he pressed them to hers. Familiar. He didn’t demand, he offered, exerted the perfect amount of pressure to draw her in. Exquisite. Each one of her protective instincts failed, her thought processes taken over, transported back to innocent times, consumed by rapture. This is what she liked, the promise of more, not the actual more.
A voice sounded in the hallway. Victoria pulled away.
Kyle gawked at her, stunned. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. I didn’t expect…”
“Go,” Victoria said. Half in a daze, her lips numb, her heart pounding. How could she have let that happen, at work, in her office? Anyone could have walked in. Her face burned with embarrassment and anger. How dare he put his moves on her. And why, after everything she’d been through because of him, did she lack the willpower to resist his kiss?
Once A Good Girl is available now in stores and online the UK and Aus/NZ, and online in the U.S. For links to purchase online, visit Wendy's website here.To win a signed copy of Once a Good Girl… answer one of these two questions.
1) Is there a bad boy from your past who you’d welcome the opportunity to kiss again? And I want names and details people!
2) Have you ever been the recipient of a heated kiss at work? How did you handle it? Please keep your answers PG rated! (Wendy says: But if you’d like to share the specifics in private, you can e-mail me at Wendy@WendySMarcus.com!)
Come back next Sunday for a smooch from Helen Lacey's Made for Marriage.
