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WHEN WE KISS
Ribbon Ridge #5
Darcy Burke
Releasing on January 19, 2016.
Avon Impulse
Denver real estate mogul, Liam Archer, has always been a thrill-seeker, and the loss of his identical twin brother has only intensified his reckless behavior. Sky diving, heli-skiing, motorcycle riding…he’s tried everything once. Except falling in love. Liam doesn’t do relationships, but a no-strings fling with Aubrey Tallinger-the smart, gorgeous lawyer handling his brother’s estate-is totally his speed.
At first, hooking up with Liam whenever he’s in Ribbon Ridge is perfect; but Aubrey fears she could fall hard for the sexy daredevil, if he’d only stop refusing to acknowledge the demons he’s trying to outrun. To protect herself from heartbreak, Aubrey ends their affair. But this time, Liam isn’t leaving town and instead of seduction, he wants to be…friends.
The white hot attraction between them still sizzles but Liam knows that winning Aubrey back won’t happen in his bed. He’ll have to convince her that he’s more than the careless, adrenaline junkie she believes him to be. Because when they kiss, Liam feels whole again… and he isn’t ready to give her up without a fight.
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Aubrey Tallinger finished drying her hands and set the towel
down. Lifting her head, she caught her reflection in the mirror. Her hazel eyes
stared back at her and seemed to ask what she was doing dawdling in the
bathroom when a perfectly lovely wedding reception was going on.
Isn’t it obvious? I’m avoiding Liam.
She was proud of herself tonight. She’d done a good job of
ignoring the one person who always seemed to command her attention: Liam
Archer. It helped to have a date along. A date she should get back to.
She took a deep breath and opened the door. Liam stood on the
other side of the threshold.
He grabbed her hand and dragged her to the left through a
doorway. He let go of her to close the door, then stood in front of it, his
blue-gray eyes narrowed. “Who’s the loser?”
Aubrey registered that they were in a sitting room attached to
his parents’ bedroom. She wanted to turn and look at the sun setting over the
garden through the back windows but couldn’t tear her eyes from Liam. Dressed
in a crisp black suit with a natty striped tie, he was the sexiest best man
she’d ever seen. His dark wavy hair was perfectly styled, and as usual, she had
an almost irrepressible urge to mess it up.
She tensed as she forced herself to present a cool demeanor. “I
introduced you to him at the church.”
“Yes, Stuart the Accountant. But why did you bring him in the
first place?”
She cocked her head and gave him a sarcastic stare. “Was I
supposed to wait for you to ask me? You don’t take me on dates,
Liam. You never have.” The dinner he’d surprised her
with at her house when
he’d been home for the long Thanksgiving weekend didn’t count. Dates were public.
He frowned, and she was
shocked when he didn’t fire a snappy comeback. “I might’ve, actually.”
Ha! She’d believe that
when she saw it. “Too late. I told you on New Year’s that our little . .
. thing was done.”
“It wasn’t a thing.”
“No, I think you’re
right. It was a series of convenient hook-ups, and they are no longer
convenient to me.”
She called them
hook-ups, but they’d been more than that. Every time they were together, she’d
felt as though they’d connected on some sort of intimate level that went beyond
just sex. But that was stupid. While she’d come to know him at least a little
bit, they hadn’t spent enough day-to-day time together to allow anything
meaningful to spark. Except for Labor Day weekend. They’d spent the better part
of four days in each other’s company, and it had been bliss. They’d laughed,
they’d danced, they’d talked. And yes, they’d had a lot of sex. The physical
aspect of their connection was so far the most powerful.
He prowled toward her,
like a jungle cat on the hunt. She had no intention of being his prey. Nor did
she want to run. She stiffened her spine and crossed her arms over her chest.
Meager protection when she knew just how dangerous his weapons of mass
seduction could be.
“Come on, they were a
little more than hook-ups. We planned to hang out over Labor
Day.”
That was true, but
they’d both been going to the Dave Matthews Band concerts up in central
Washington anyway. It wasn’t like they’d formulated and executed the trip
together.
He stopped in front of
her, his lips curving up. “And you have to admit it was pretty great.”
Incredible. Right up to the point when she’d suggested they see
each other again soon.
He’d said, “Sure, I
always call you up when I’m in town.”
Like she was a
convenience. And there was that word again. She didn’t want to be anyone’s
hook-up girl. She’d quashed her burgeoning feelings, but it had maybe been too
late. She’d already been crazily infatuated with him. So much so that when
she’d seen him at Thanksgiving, she’d allowed herself to be the convenience she
didn’t want to be.
But no more.
She gave him an arch
look. “So it was a great weekend. You still can’t argue it was more than a
hook-up. I walked away from that without knowing when—or if—I’d see you again.”
He frowned at her.
“That’s absurd. You’re our attorney. Of course you’d see me again.”
Was he being purposely
obnoxious?
He put his hands on
his hips. “I suppose you’re going to tell me Thanksgiving was just a hook-up,
too? I brought you dinner.”
After they’d flirted
all day at a winery event they’d just happened to meet at. She’d accepted his
sister Tori’s invitation to attend without realizing Liam would be there. Wait,
had he known? “Did you know I would be at the winery that day?”
He arched a brow. “Who
do you think suggested we invite you?”
Damn it. She didn’t want
to know that. “Now you tell me,” she muttered.
He flashed her a grin.
“Am I wearing you down?”
She thought of what
had happened next, after yet another spectacular night together. She tightened
her arms across her chest. “No. Do you remember what we did after that night?”
She watched his expression go from thoughtful to confused to blank. “That’s
right. Absolutely nothing. You went back to Denver without a word.”
He winced. “Hey, I
tried to see you at Christmas, but you weren’t here.”
Because she’d gone out
of town with her aunt and uncle—the better to avoid Liam. With every hook-up,
she’d fallen a little more under the spell of their attraction while he’d
seemed impervious. She hadn’t wanted to lose her heart. She still didn’t.
“And I actually did try to ask you out for New Year’s, but you
wouldn’t return my texts.
Darcy Burke is the USA Today bestselling author of hot, action-packed historical and sexy, emotional contemporary romance. Darcy wrote her first book at age 11, a happily-ever-after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan who loved him, with exceedingly poor illustrations.
A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her guitar-strumming husband, their two hilarious kids-who each seem to have inherited the writing gene in some form-and two Bengal cats. In her "spare" time Darcy is a serial volunteer enrolled in a 12-step program where one learns to say "no," but she keeps having to start over. Her happy places are Disneyland and Labor Day weekend at the Gorge.
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