His to Seduce is a work of fiction. Names, places, and
incidents either are products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resembl...
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His to Seduce is a work of fiction. Names, places, and
incidents either are products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is
entirely coincidental.
A Loveswept Ebook Original
Copyright © 2017 by Stacey Lynn
Excerpt from Love, Always and Forever by Alexis
Morgan copyright © 2017 by Patricia L. Pritchard
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Loveswept, an
imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin
Random House LLC, New York.
LOVESWEPT is a registered trademark and the
LOVESWEPT colophon is a trademark of Penguin
Random House LLC.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming
book Love, Always and Forever by Alexis Morgan.
This excerpt has been set for this edition only and
may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming
edition.
Ebook ISBN 9781101967980
Cover design: Caroline Teagle
Cover photograph: © Kisilev Andrey
Valerevich/Shutterstock
randomhousebooks.com
v4.1
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
Dedication
Acknowledgments
By Stacey Lynn
About the Author
Excerpt from Love, Always and Forever
Chapter 1
Camden
My back hit the metal shelf behind me and I
cringed.
“David.” I gripped his shoulders tighter.
His hands squeezed my backside as he
moved us.
“Fuck, sorry.” In the darkness it was
almost impossible to see, but my eyes slowly
adjusted as he pushed aside a stack of
tablecloths and placed me on a table.
“Better?”
His hand gently brushed down my cheek
and goosebumps popped on my arms.
What was I doing?
The salty Jamaican air had scrambled my
senses.
Or I was tired of being alone. Tired of
being the outsider among all my friends who
had recently found the loves of their lives. I
was thrilled for them, especially Tyson and
Blue, whose marriage we had celebrated
earlier on the beach of a Jamaican resort. In
the last year, I’d watched three of my closest
friends fall in love and find the men of their
dreams, along with their happily ever afters.
I was genuinely happy for them, but I was
also tired of being the one who always went
home alone.
This…whatever it was with David…gave
me a break, if only for a moment.
“Please,” I whispered, and leaned into his
palm now cupping my cheek. His hands were
strong. Long, tanned fingers that had made
me think of naughty things like this for
months.
In the darkness, I saw a flash of his white
teeth. “I like it when you beg. When you
need me.”
Tonight’s need was selfish. A moment to
forget the loneliness. A moment to take what
I’d been too chicken to go after for months
even though it was right in front of me.
He’d been right before my eyes, flirting
relentlessly and trying to break me down.
Tonight, I was tired of fighting the pull I’d
felt for him despite how wrong I knew he
was for me. This was one night. A moment of
wildness I didn’t usually indulge in, but who
didn’t enjoy getting laid at a friend’s
wedding? It was almost a requirement.
His hands dropped to my knees, spreading
them wide so he could step in between them.
His fingers teased my thighs, running up
and down my bare flesh until I shivered from
the softness of his touch.
My eyes were half-lidded when I forced
myself to look at him. I saw only his lust for
me, and my heart rioted against my rib cage.
Damn…he wanted me. It was as thrilling
as it was terrifying.
One of his hands left my leg and cupped
the back of my neck. He pulled me to him
until our foreheads touched.
“I want this,” he said, his voice thick and
gruff. “Tell me you want this.”
“I want it.”
“Tell me you want me.”
I couldn’t. A long time ago I swore to
myself I’d never be vulnerable again. I
certainly wasn’t about to make that
admission when all I currently wanted was a
night of pretending and forgetting.
“Camden, I want you to know that when I
sink into you, when I push your panties to
the side and run my fingers through your
wetness, this isn’t a one-time thing for us.
This is the beginning.”
I shivered again. From his words, his
promise—something I so desperately craved
but was too terrified to take hold of.
I shifted my hips, pulling him to me until
his erection brushed against my center.
“Tonight.” I gasped as he rubbed against
me in the perfect spot. “It’s all I can
promise.”
He chuckled, moving his mouth against
my cheek, down to my jaw and my throat.
“We’ll see about that.”
—
My breathing was still erratic as I pushed
down my gray silk dress, the same dress
everyone in the bridal party had worn for the
wedding.
“You okay?” David asked.
I couldn’t look at him. My pulse pounded
and my fingers were trembling when they
went to my hair to smooth it back. It was no
use.
“I look like a mess,” I said, unable to see
myself in the darkened closet where we’d
just had sex. But I knew I did, based on the
hair that had escaped my clips and pins. God.
I’d just let David, a man I’d avoided for
months despite my physical attraction to
him, sweep me into a darkened supply closet
and screw me senseless during a wedding.
A wedding! My friend’s wedding!
Panic rolled through me and I flashed my
eyes to David.
He was calm as a cucumber, tucking his
white linen shirt back into the waistband of
his gray dress pants.
“What did we do?” I asked. I pressed my
hand to my chest to calm my heart rate, but
it was useless. “They’re going to know. And
—”
He curved his arms around my shoulders
and slid his lips against mine. It did nothing
to quell the stampede I felt inside me.
Instead, everything increased…the heat
flooding my veins, the pounding in my ears.
“We did what I’ve been wanting to do ever
since I first saw you. That’s what happened.”
He pulled back to whisper in my ear, “It was
incredible, and I want more of you. On my
bed, in the light so I can see you.”
I shook my head. “We can’t.”
“Oh. We can.”
I squeezed my eyes closed before forcing
myself to look at him. David was gorgeous.
Lean and handsome, with short sandy-blond
hair that was cropped in a professionally
styled cut. His blue eyes were beautiful, even
though I couldn’t see them clearly at the
moment. When he’d first showed up at
Fireside Grill months ago, I’d barely been
able to pull my eyes off him. It was still
difficult, but months of practice had helped
me at least act like I wasn’t affected by him.
He wasn’t only sexy, but calm and laid back.
He laughed easily and often. He’d shown up
in Latham Hills after his friend Aidan’s son
died in a skateboarding accident and then
made himself at home behind the bar at our
friend Declan’s Fireside Grill restaurant.
For months now, he’d made it clear he
wanted me. My resolve to stay away was
dwindling by the day, especially after this.
He was my complete opposite. And
absolutely wrong for me.
“David,” I sighed. “That was a—”
He pressed two fingers against my lips.
“Don’t say mistake. It wasn’t. It was
wonderful. And besides,” his lips lifted into a
grin, “you promised me the night and it’s not
nearly over yet.”
“Everyone will know.” This wasn’t me, and
everyone knew it. I didn’t succumb to
temptation, despite how good the promise of
it was. My life was controlled and ordered.
Planned out to the letter. I couldn’t afford to
let myself get swept away in the silliness like
the rest of my friends. I didn’t have that
luxury. It was my lists and organization and
neurotic planning that had kept me sane for
the last sixteen years.
“I don’t care.” His fingers slid to my jaw
and then to my neck before sliding around to
the back. I shivered from his gentle touch.
From the way he made me feel. “Turn
around.”
“What?”
“Your hair’s a mess and I want to fix it.”
“Oh.” My hands went back to my hair but
he stopped me, taking my hands in his and
tugging them to my side. “I can do it.”
“I know, but I want to.”
Turning me around, his hands glided up
my arms to my hair and I began to relax. My
auburn hair was long and thick and held
back with dozens of pins, half of it up and
the other half curled in a way that would
have taken me hours to do had I done it
myself.
Fortunately, Blue had covered the cost for
all of us at a salon at the resort where she
and Tyson had swept us away for their last-
minute wedding. Not having much family,
and a small circle of friends, they’d decided
to forgo a typical wedding and whisked
everyone to Jamaica for a long weekend.
We’d arrived yesterday but hadn’t had much
time to relax. Most of the day and night and
then this morning had been busy with
wedding preparations.
“That feels good.” I sighed as David began
releasing pins and gathering them in his
hands. I relaxed, leaning forward and holding
on to the table in front of me. The table
where I’d sat minutes ago and had sex. I
inhaled a deep breath, calming myself before
I panicked again. “Thank you for helping me
with this.”
“My pleasure,” he whispered, as if now he
cared about anyone hearing us. “We’ll get
this done and then say our good nights.
Think anyone missed us?”
I laughed awkwardly. “If they noticed we
were gone at all…”
The only reason I’d allowed David to take
me away from the reception was because it
had been just the two of us. He’d walked up
to me at the bar, bought me a drink, and then
before I knew it, after flirting like he’d been
doing for months, he was tugging me down a
hallway. I’d thought maybe we were going
for a walk when he asked me if I wanted to
get away for a moment; I hadn’t expected
him to guide me into a closet and kiss me.
But what a kiss it had been.
“They noticed. They’re probably thrilled.”
“I’m not sure I can talk about this.” He slid
his hands into my hair and I groaned. My
head fell forward as he massaged my scalp
with his strong fingers. I didn’t typically like
having my hair touched and played with. His
sure and confident touch made me forget
why for a moment.
“I like that what we just did makes you
nervous. I bet when I pull you back into the
hallway and take you to my room for round
two, your chest will be bright pink.”
I was stuck on the thought of going back to
his room for round two and it took me a
moment to realize what else he’d said. “Don’t
tease me.” I pressed my hand to my chest to
hide the heated skin. Splotchy wasn’t
attractive.
“Hey.” He turned me around again and
cupped my cheeks with his palms. All the
lightness evaporated from his tone as he
moved close to me. “I’m not teasing you. I
think it’s sexy as hell when you blush. When
it starts at your cheeks and spreads to your
neck.” A finger trailed down my skin as he
spoke, making me shiver…and yes…blush.
“We should go back to the wedding.”
“We’ll wave to them as we leave.” He
licked his lips and grinned. One of his hands
moved back until the doorknob clicked, the
door opened, and light from the hall flooded
in. “I need you.”
Need. No one needed me. No one had ever
needed me. He might have been saying he
just wanted my body, but I didn’t care.
I liked the way the admission rolled off his
lips.
I grinned then, unable to stop it as he
pulled the door open and his eyes dropped to
my chest. He winked when he looked at me
and tugged me into the hall.
“Tonight,” I reminded him. “I promised
you tonight.”
“Sure, Camden. For tonight.”
He might as well have called me a liar.
We walked down the hall, back to the
reception area, and I clung to his hand
holding mine. I ducked my head,
embarrassed to see anyone, but when we got
back to the restaurant, it was empty.
My head snapped to him and he laughed,
throwing his head back. “Looks like everyone
had the same idea we did.”
He winked at me again, and darn it. He
was so cute when he was playful, which he
generally was. Strong jaw and cheekbones,
perfectly straight nose, David could have
been a model, admired by millions on a
billboard if he wanted to be with his long and
lean but finely formed frame.
“Well.” I grinned and shook my head in
disbelief. “I guess I don’t have to worry about
them seeing us together.”
The humor evaporated from his eyes and I
wanted to kick myself. I’d made it clear to
my friends for months that I wouldn’t date
David. I craved financial stability and safe
men. A bartender who swooped into town
could just as easily flee whenever the mood
struck.
In that moment, I wasn’t thinking about
David’s job or his lack of money or anything
except the fact that I’d done something
outside my comfort zone and my friends
would think it was hilarious.
I was twenty-nine years old and just had
my first taste of wedding sex in a closet that
could potentially lead to my first one-night
stand. In my mind, I heard Suzanne and
Chelsea’s unending, gleeful laughter.
Before I could explain that it was my
behavior I was embarrassed about, he turned
and tugged me forward. “I can take you back
to your room, Camden. I don’t want to
pressure you into this. If that’s all that was
for, just a way to get off with someone while
you were at a wedding and feeling emotional,
I get it. But I’m telling you now that I want
more.” He dropped his hand from mine and
stepped back. “Your choice.”
In for a penny, in for a pound. I’d agreed to
this, and not only that, I wanted it. I wanted
to see David’s body like he wanted to see
mine. I wanted to throw away my lists and
my carefully planned life, if only for a night.
I felt something with David, something I
had tried to ignore. It felt like freedom and
fun and a wildness I had never experienced
before. As he stood in front of me, waiting,
there was no choice.
For the night, I was letting go of
everything and taking what I was tired of
denying myself.
I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth
and stepped forward, pressing my palm to
his chest. It tightened beneath me, and David
peered down at me with beautiful blue eyes
brighter than the Caribbean Sea.
“Take me to your room, David. And show
me what else you have planned for me.”
Chapter 2
David
I slid my key into the door of my private
bungalow and pushed it open. As much as I
wanted to throw Camden over my shoulder
and not give her a choice, I could practically
hear her thinking. She was worrying. She
was debating turning around at any moment.
In the last five months, Camden had become
someone I studied, mostly from a distance.
Camden was uptight. She was more
serious than the rest of her friends, and she
regarded everyone with wariness. But I saw
something different in her, too. I had learned
that once you’d earned her loyalty, she’d die
for you. I saw the way she loved her friends
as if they were more important to her than
anyone else in the world. I saw the way she
fought for them and defended them. She
couldn’t hide everything beneath her
straight, professional skirts and blouses
always perfectly pressed, and her hair always
wrapped and tight at the base of her neck.
Since the first night I’d talked to her, I’d
had multiple fantasies about what her hair
would feel like, how soft it would be, how
beautiful if she simply let it down. My dick
was still hard from running my hands
through it. It was even softer and more
beautiful and longer than I could have ever
imagined.
Fuck, I wanted her. I wanted to be the man
that solved her puzzle, despite knowing I’d
been hiding something really big from her.
But like Camden had her secrets and
reasons, I had mine. I wouldn’t bare those to
anyone, either, until I knew I could trust
them.
Perhaps we actually had something in
common.
“You still doing okay?” I asked, as I held
the door open and gestured for her to enter.
She’d chewed on her lip so harshly I saw
marks on it when it popped from her teeth.
“Yeah.” She grinned and stepped inside,
tucking a chunk of her hair behind her ear
when she pushed past me. “Have anything to
drink in here, though?”
“At the bar.” I pointed in the direction and
followed her. God, she was pretty. Her hair
was curled and wild and draped down to her
waist at the back, hiding the openness of the
dress that exposed almost everything. The
skirt of her dress swayed back and forth,
curving around her ass and hips in the most
spectacular, teasing way.
I unbuttoned my white shirt at the wrists
and rolled them up, meeting her at the bar.
“What would you like? There’s some wine
and beer in the fridge.”
Her lips pressed to one side. “Beer would
be great, actually.”
Before I could get it for her, she squatted
down and opened the small fridge.
Everything clinked and clanked and she
peered up at me, smiling wide. “Red Stripe.”
She grinned and stood up, holding two beers
in her hands. “Want one?”
“Please.” I took it and opened a drawer
that contained a bottle opener. Once the
beers were opened, I nodded toward the
deck. “Outside?”
“Sure.” She took a healthy swallow from
her beer, closing her eyes as she swallowed.
A brief, pleasured moan escaped her lips
when she pulled the bottle away from them.
Hell. How did just that sound make me
hard? How did enjoying watching a woman
turn me into a horny teenager? I shook off
the thoughts and allowed her to go first. Just
like everything else about Camden since I’d
first met her, she turned me on. From top to
toe, she was the sexiest, most beautiful
woman I’d ever met. I didn’t care if it made
me a pussy to admit it, either. She was
beautiful in a pulled-tight, tense sort of way.
Intelligent, too, based on the fact I’d gleaned
she was some sort of accountant.
Her downside? She hated my damn job.
She also didn’t know shit about me, had
never asked about me from what I had
learned. None of that mattered when she
looked at me. Her pretty green eyes softened,
a wistful expression making her look like an
angel, and that flush crept up her cheeks.
She wanted me. She just didn’t know what
the hell to do about it.
When Tyson had sprung this last-minute
trip to the Caribbean for his wedding, I
decided two things. One, that I’d go,
obviously. He’d been one of my best friends
for thirteen years. And two, I’d spend the
weekend making Camden want me. Making
her see me. So that when she learned the
truth, we’d both know we were in this for the
right reasons. I was taking my chance, even
knowing I could be burned in the end.
I hoped like hell I wasn’t.
My last girlfriend had wanted nothing
other than the prestige that came along with
saying she was a doctor’s wife and the black
AmEx she assumed came with being a
McGregor. What she hated was the being-
alone part and the fact that my being an ER
resident didn’t exactly feed her desired
lifestyle.
On the surface, Camden was the same.
Wanting money, wanting a man who made
more than the tips I could carry in my
pocket, but I saw beyond it. I saw the guilt
she carried when she’d mentioned that she’d
never date a bartender. There was more to
the judgments she professed during her
night out at Fireside Grill, where I worked
and helped Declan. This weekend, I was
going to explore every inch of her, inside and
out, so I could find what it was she really
wanted.
Then, I’d do my damnedest to give it to
her.
“It’s so beautiful out here,” Camden said,
folding into one of the outdoor lounge
chairs. The white cushions were a stark
contrast to the chocolate wicker, and while
they were nice-looking on their own, seeing
Camden’s alabaster skin and auburn hair
draped over one made it more striking.
“It is.”
She was here. With me, and not running.
When she panicked in the closet after I
couldn’t keep my hands off her, I’d been
afraid she would run away.
She turned to me, tilting her head and
leaning back to look to me. I met her gaze,
not once looking out to the teal water that
seemed to sparkle through the gentle lights
on my deck.
I didn’t care about the view…she made it
beautiful.
Dipping her chin, she twisted back to the
water and took a drink of her beer.
I sat in the chair closest to her and tried to
relax. I wanted her in my bed, but she
needed to want it, too. It seemed like she’d
need some time to get use...