Tempted

By Jami Alden

Though he smolders with sexuality, Lauren knows better than to give into her wild attraction to her best friend and co-worker, Tony Donovan. She's been down that route before and knows the hurt that comes when she tries to push past the boundaries of friendship with a player like Tony.
Then and out of town party finds them sharing a hotel room together, and Lauren finds herself tempted beyond reason.

Praise For Jami Alden:
“Jami Alden always takes you on a wild ride!
- New York Times best seller Catherine Coulter

“The perfect balance of emotion and romance.”
-New York Times best seller Maya Banks

“Hot and emotionally charged, Jami Alden always delivers.”
-New York Times best seller Shannon McKenna

“A fantastic story that will keep you hot and bothered.”
-Romantic Times Book Reviews for Private Party

“Alden can wring every emotion from her characters.”
-Romantic Times Book Reviews

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jami Alden
• Release date: Sep 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9780986304644

Jami Alden

Like so many romance readers, my first romance novel was by Kathleen Woodiwiss - The Flame and the Flower, to be exact. I was thirteen. I spent the next month ignoring my friends while I worked my way through her back list. Shortly thereafter I discovered Judith McNaught, Johanna Lindsey, Karen Robards, Catherine Coulter, Shirlee Busbee among others, and devoured their lavish historical epics full of overbearing alpha males and the women who brought them to their knees. I was hooked. My high school teachers marveled at my ability to read romance novels under the desk and still score straight A's. I started to imagine myself, living in a cabin in the mountains somewhere, writing romance novels.It took me quite awhile to pursue my dream. After graduating from Stanford with a degree in English Literature, I worked in a variety of not so interesting admin jobs before I began my career in marketing. It wasn't exactly my dream job, but at least my writing appeared on several web sites and in many software marketing brochures. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fit the phrase "and her loins melted like hot wax" into any of them.During my stint as the world's surliest receptionist, I took my first stab at writing. The result was a very melodramatic western historical which reads like a bad Elizabeth Lowell rip off. It's currently languishing on my hard drive, forever stuck on page 330.Then in fall 2001 I had an incredible stroke of luck and got laid off from my marketing job. I decided it was time to stop saying I wanted to be a writer and to actually give it a serious go.Four years later, I sold my first book and now I'm pretty much living the dream of getting paid to write romance. I don't live in a cabin in the mountains, but I do live in a rural-ish town near San Francisco (hey, we have deer and bunnies, along with the occasional coyote) with 2 sons, and a dog who patiently listens to my dialogue and helps me work out plot points. When I'm not writing, I enjoy running, reading, cooking, and watching a brain numbing quantity of food network programming.

Book preview

TEMPTED

By

Jami Alden

Smashwords Edition

TEMPTED

Though he smolders with sexuality, Lauren knows better than to give into her wild attraction to her best friend and co-worker, Tony Donovan. She's been down that route before and knows the hurt that comes when she tries to push past the boundaries of friendship with a player like Tony.

Then and out of town party finds them sharing a hotel room together, and Lauren finds herself tempted beyond reason.

Praise For Jami Alden

"Jami Alden always takes you on a wild ride!

- New York Times best seller Catherine Coulter

The perfect balance of emotion and romance.

-New York Times best seller Maya Banks

Hot and emotionally charged, Jami Alden always delivers.

-New York Times best seller Shannon McKenna

A fantastic story that will keep you hot and bothered.

-Romantic Times Book Reviews for Private Party

Alden can wring every emotion from her characters.

-Romantic Times Book Reviews

TEMPTED

First published by

Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2007

Copyright Jami Alden 2007

Ebook copyright Jami Alden 2015

Ebook published by Jami Alden 2015

Cover Design by Seductive Musings

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products or the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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Chapter 1

"My darling, I want to touch you everywhere," Lars whispered.

Miranda shivered as his long, elegant fingers slid down the flat plane of her belly, his skin so dark against her own pale flesh. His hardness stirred against her bare leg and she gasped. Soon he would drive that thick column of flesh inside her. Could she possibly bear it?

A soft mewl escaped her lips as his hand drifted to the delta of springy curls between her thighs. She squirmed in embarrassment as his fingers tickled the entrance of her body, finding her shamefully wet, aching for his touch.

"Oh, Miranda, Lars sighed, groaning in approval as he felt her wet welcome. Have you any idea how long I’ve wanted to touch you like this, how I’ve ached to slide inside the sweet petals of your womanhood…"

Lauren put the book facedown on her bedside table and closed her eyes. Her hand slid down to the waistband of her pajama bottoms and inside her cotton bikini panties. In her mind, Miranda’s silvery blond hair became a mass of cinnamon curls, and her petite, delicate figure became Lauren’s own strong, curvy form. Lars morphed too, his burnished gold hair turning thick and black, his burning blue eyes melting into deep, dark chocolate.

She bit back a cry as her fingers found her slick, hot center, circling her clit, teasing herself so this wouldn’t all be over in less than a minute. Her hand became his—huge, strong and callused from work, rubbing, circling her clit, sliding inside her just enough to tantalize. Just enough to make her ache to feel the hot, huge length of his cock driving deep inside her.

A muffled cry squeezed past her lips as she came, arching off the bed, pressing her hand firmly between her thighs to draw out her climax as long as possible. Before the last tremors of her orgasm had subsided, she flipped over onto her side, hugging a huge down pillow against her stomach. Wishing with everything she had that it was him instead of a pillow.

These ridiculous fantasies about Tony Donovan had to stop, or she was going to put her head through a brick wall.

Never mind that Lauren had been telling herself the exact same thing for seven months now, ever since she’d met him. And, she scolded herself silently, her steady habit of romance novels wasn’t helping matters. Could she help it if, no matter how the author described him, every damned hero ended up looking like Tony? She closed her eyes and allowed herself one more glorious vision. Six foot three, a body that should be on the cover of Men’s Fitness magazine. Thick, dark hair with just the tiniest hint of curl and an adorable cowlick waving off his forehead. And his eyes, big, dark, and liquid. Eyes that made a woman think about drowning herself in chocolate so he could lick her clean.

Cursing, she reached for the remote control and flicked on Sportscenter. Maybe that would distract her.

Tony. Her best friend. Her coworker. But not her lover. Never that.

She listened with half an ear as the host made his predictions about tomorrow’s Oakland Raiders game. But most of her brain was still occupied by Tony. Wondering where he was, what he was doing. Who he was doing it with.

She should go back to masturbating. At least those images of Tony didn’t twist her guts until she thought she might throw up.

Stupid jealousy. So unproductive, especially given how he felt about her. She cringed, remembering his invitation to join him and his brother Mike earlier tonight.

We’re going over to Pete’s in Tahoe City later on, he’d said over wings and beers at Sullivan’s pub.

Want to go?

Lauren cast a glance at Mike’s wife, Karen. Are you going?

No, the other woman said. I’ve been on my feet all day and I’m beat.

Mike rubbed her shoulders affectionately. Maybe you wouldn’t be so tired if you wore better shoes. He’d looked pointedly at Karen’s stiletto-heeled boots.

You love my shoes and you know it, Karen had replied and pulled Mike’s face down for a kiss that made the room temperature rise at least ten degrees.

Ugh, you guys are gross, Tony said, sounding like a twelve-year-old afraid of cooties. So, Lauren, he’d said. You want to go?

Go shoot the shit with Mike while she watched Tony roll up on some hot young thing? No thanks. She’d done plenty of that since she started working with the brothers at their building and renovation company seven months ago. But all she’d said was, Nah, sounds like you should have it be a guys’ night.

Aw, Mac, he’d said with a grin and a squeeze of her shoulder. You’re practically one of the guys.

She knew Tony loved to say things like that just to get a rise out of her, but that comment had stung. Even more than his usual jokes about her masculine profession as a carpenter and her customary workman’s attire.

Lauren thumbed the volume up on her remote, trying to drown out the evil voices in her head. Why are you surprised? You know exactly how he sees you. Just one of the guys. An athletic, tomboy of a girl who’s great to hang out and drink beer with, but not a girl he’d ever feel that way about.

She sighed and flipped over to Saturday Night Live. Hugh Jackman was hosting, and he was almost enough to keep thoughts of Tony Donovan at bay. She’d see him soon enough, her friend, her buddy, her pal.

His friendship meant the world to her, so she would continue as she had, concealing any inkling of interest and enjoy the time she did spend with him. From the moment she met him, she’d wanted to be his lover, but knew it would never happen. So she’d settled for friendship. Like she always did.

Tony settled next to Lauren on the couch and stretched his arm along the back of the cushion behind her. He snuck a quick, jealous glance at his brother Mike and his wife, Karen, snuggled together on the short end of the sectional. Karen didn’t even bother to pretend to pay attention to the game, but rested with her head in Mike’s lap as she read a paperback. Mike settled into the corner of the couch, absently playing with his wife’s hair.

It still surprised him every time he saw them together. Mike, the least physically affectionate person in the family, couldn’t keep his hands off his wife. As though he needed to have constant contact to make sure she was still here. Although, Tony supposed, considering their rocky path to love, he supposed he couldn’t blame them.

His lips pursed into a frown. This was his couch, his house. If anyone should be snuggling down in front of the game it should be him. But no, he had to content himself with sitting next to Lauren. Almost, but not close enough for his thigh to press against hers. His hand dangled off the back of the couch. Almost, but not quite touching the thick reddish-brown curls that hung down past her shoulders.

Yes! Lauren and Mike shot off the couch simultaneously, arms up in wide vee. GO GO GO, Lauren shouted, and Tony finally focused on his 60 inch-wide TV screen.

Did you see that pass? Lauren looked down at him, amber eyes sparkling with excitement.

He’d missed the entire play. Yeah, it was nice.

Nice? It was a thing of beauty. She and Mike settled back on their respective ends of the couches, and Tony was hard-pressed not to pull her flush against him. An urge that became even harder to resist when Lauren stripped off her fleece pullover. The mountain weather had turned chilly in the past week, but Tony’s house was plenty warm, just the way he