Sunset Beach Sizzle

By Carol Burnside

When their intense attraction proves irresistible in a “strictly no fraternizing” law firm, divorce attorneys Julia and Cisco find a sweet recipe for relief: a week’s summer vacation on Oahu, sunny beaches and all the sex they can stand. But neither can predict the depth of feelings that grow from their increasingly sensual encounters. Cisco’s plans to leave the Denver firm for one closer to his hometown in Atlanta quickly throw him into a quandary. He’s falling in love and wants more, but will one week be enough time to convince Julia to give their relationship a chance?

Julia has witnessed her share of ugly, bitter break-ups, including her parents’ marriage and her own with Cisco’s controlling older brother. She’s dismayed to discover Cisco has captured her heart with his optimism, charm and the hottest sex she’s ever known. She hides her feelings while Cisco uses his full arsenal of seductive tactics to make her see that what they’re experiencing together is rare and worth fighting for. With time running out, Julia must decide whether to take a chance on love and a risky career move, or play it safe and lose the man she loves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: B&R Bookery
• Release date: Sep 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310515491

Carol Burnside

Carol Burnside is an award-winning author traditionally published in short stories. Five of her novel length manuscripts have placed in numerous RWA chapter contests and won five, including the prestigious Maggie Award for Excellence. Her personal second-chance-at-love story resulted in a marriage to her high school sweetheart of thirty-plus years. They reside in northern Arkansas, where Carol enjoys the Ozark foothills from her office windows and drinks sweet iced tea year round.Writing as Annie Rayburn, she produces speculative fiction, erotic romances. Imagine our world today with a humanoid race very much like us (Crainesians) living peacefully among us here on Earth and searching for their life-mate. They have the ability to communicate telepathically, can project visions and share dreams. Can you imagine? Not just phone sex, but dream sex? That's why they're also labeled soft sci-fi and lite paranormal. Talk about cross-genre sizzle!While Carol/Annie enjoys the adoration she receives from her furbabies, what she really loves is hearing from her readers. Browse around her website for blog posts, excerpts, review snippits, and more about her sexy characters. Subscribe to her (free!) newsletter for all the lastest and see her blogs with a group of great authors at www.PetitFoursAndHotTamales.com.

Book preview

Sunset Beach Sizzle

(A Tropical Heat novella)

by Carol Burnside

When their intense attraction proves irresistible in a strictly no fraternizing law firm, divorce attorneys Julia and Cisco find a sweet recipe for relief: a week’s summer vacation on Oahu, sunny beaches and all the sex they can stand. But neither can predict the depth of feelings that grow from their increasingly sensual encounters. Cisco’s plans to leave the Denver firm for one closer to his hometown in Atlanta quickly throw him into a quandary. He’s falling in love and wants more, but will one week be enough time to convince Julia to give their relationship a chance?

Julia has witnessed her share of ugly, bitter break-ups, including her parents’ marriage and her own with Cisco’s controlling older brother. She’s dismayed to discover Cisco has captured her heart with his optimism, charm and the hottest sex she’s ever known. She hides her feelings while Cisco uses his full arsenal of seductive tactics to make her see that what they’re experiencing together is rare and worth fighting for. With time running out, Julia must decide whether to take a chance on love and a risky career move, or play it safe and lose the man she loves.

Sunset Beach Sizzle

Published by B & R Bookery at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Carol Burnside

All rights reserved.

Edited by Emily Sewell

Cover Design by Dar Albert of Wicked Smart Designs

This is a work of fiction. People and locations, even those with real names, have been fictionalized for the purposes of this story..

Discover more about Carol Burnside and her alter ego, Annie Rayburn at http://CarolBurnside.com/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

To My Readers

About the Author

Connect with the Author

Books by Carol Burnside

Writing as Annie Rayburn

CHAPTER ONE

Getting lei’d wasn’t high on Julia Abernathy’s list of things to experience during her week in Hawaii. Getting laid was. Hard and fast, slow and sensual, multi-orgasmic, a little variety or a lot. That wasn’t so much to ask, was it?

She pulled into the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and left her rented Jeep with the valet, smiling at the appreciative heat in his gaze. Sorry, Charlie, no can do. This low cut, slit-high-up-the-thigh outfit was carefully chosen with one man and only one man in mind. Cisco Phillips.

They’d been dancing around an affair for months, driving each other crazy. Late at night on the 23rd floor of the Hessler building, located in the Denver Technological Center, they traded smoldering looks, flirted and played footsies under the conference table while preparing legal briefs and going over witness testimony.

Footsies, for crying out loud. At twenty-nine, she was too old for this shit. Twelve weeks of waiting and wanting and creaming her panties. Eighty-four days of circumspect, professional behavior on the surface until she’d wanted to scream.

Eighty-five, counting today.

Aloha, Miss Abernathy. Welcome to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The desk clerk beamed happily. She continued with her practiced speech and Julia nodded at the appropriate pauses, managing to go through the check-in process without snapping at the woman to get on with it. Cisco could be upstairs waiting for her right now.

Oh. One moment. There’s a notation here. You have a message. The young woman disappeared for a few seconds and returned with an envelope. Here we go.

Hotel stationery. Was Cisco here already?

What if he didn’t show? Unable to stand the gnawing hunger that ate at her every time he was within visual distance, she’d issued a cryptic ultimatum that could be explained away, should anyone else find it and question its content.

A window of opportunity is closing. Seize the day.

Subterfuge was necessary. Immediately after her divorce from Bruce Priddy, the partners suddenly issued a no-tolerance rule about fraternization among employees. At Bruce’s insistence, she was sure. Though the rule was largely ignored, Julia had no doubt her ex would be happy to make an example of her.

Having an affair with her ex’s younger half-brother would be salt in the wound. So, she’d been cryptic.

The next day, she’d found an all expenses paid vacation packet on her desk. A week on Oahu. The yellow sticky note inside had simply said, Join me? Si.

She loved the clever way he’d turned his initial into a Spanish yes. With his dusky skin, dark hair and eyes, he’d been mistaken for Latino more than once.

Taking charge was a good feeling. Unlike some men, Cisco hadn’t seemed to mind.

Enjoy your stay. And if there’s anything —

With her key card in hand, Julia waved the clerk into silence, ripped the envelope open and hesitated. What if he’d changed his mind? She didn’t want to deal with the disappointment in front of all these people.

Do you know when this message was left and by what means?

The young woman tapped her keyboard with rapid precision. It was left shortly after the reservation confirmed. Sent by e-mail.

Thank you. Julia breathed easier, crooked her index finger at a stout but handsome bellhop and met him halfway.

I’m in the Lagoon Tower. Is that far? She pointed at her stilettos. I’m in a hurry.

I’ll get a golf cart and meet you right through those doors, ma’am. There’s a bench just outside.

She took his suggestion and sat, letting her fingers glide over the surface of the envelope. Gentle sea breezes moved over her skin, lifting her hair away from her neck, drying a fine sheen of perspiration. At this rate, she’d need a shower by the time she arrived at the suite Cisco had reserved. Visions of them wrapped together filled her head — naked, steam rising, his erection nudging her opening.

She sucked in a deep breath, pressing one hand against the rapid thumping in her chest. His skin would make a fabulous contrast next to her fair complexion. She’d never seen him in anything but business attire, but she had a vivid imagination. From the excellent fit of his suits and tailored shirts, she knew his body was in excellent shape. After hours, he sometimes shed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Pitiful that the memory of such a small expanse of hair-dusted skin made her even hornier.

He topped out just under six feet, more streamlined than the muscle-bound guys that frequented her gym. Just the right height, even when she wore heels. And don’t even get her started on what his deep-set, soulful, coffee-colored eyes did to her.

Where was that damn bellhop? Her lashes fluttered down and she fanned herself with the envelope, willing the tiny throb in her clit to cease.

Ten minutes later she stood alone in a lovely, air-conditioned suite, more island-plush than richly luxurious. A suite. Two bedrooms. What the hell did that mean?

No more. She had to know what was in the note. Sinking onto a butter-yellow sofa, she withdrew a single sheet and unfolded it.

Arriving on a slightly later flight. Wait for me. C.

That’s it? A growl emerged from deep in her throat. She wadded the paper and threw it across the room. Though she’d do so for Cisco, Julia Abernathy ordinarily waited for no man. They came to her, eager to please, her fair, girl-next-door looks and big blue eyes giving them the impression she was approachable. At work, at the gym, at the grocery store. Out of necessity, she’d frozen them out, thawing occasionally for carefully selected choices. Carefully selected because they were career driven and unlikely to want anything more than casual and fleeting. It was the one area of her life where she felt like she had some measure of control. After she’d escaped her marriage to Bruce, she’d resolved to never again acquiesce to a man.

With Cisco, she’d melted into a puddle. He haunted her dreams and figured prominently in her days. He was all she could think about. But this was just a fling, the situation temporary. Like it or not, she had no choice but to wait.

*****

Hurry up and wait. Hurry up and wait. Cisco was damn tired of the concept by the time he reached the hotel just after 11 p.m. By rights he should be exhausted, and mentally, he was. An energy ran through his body that had nothing to do with what he’d eaten or drunk that day, or the nap he’d gotten on the plane. It had everything to do with the woman who waited for him, the woman he’d had