A Little Harmless Surprise Read online

  “I paid.”

  She sent Evan a snarky smile. “Yeah, well, who would have paid if we had been alone?”

  “You’re as bad as your brother so I know I would have.”

  She laughed and walked to him. She leaned down, hugged him from behind and kissed his cheek. Kai knew it was a brotherly affection, but he felt a jab of irritation when Evan whispered something in her ear. Nodding, she stood up and looked at him.

  “Ready?”

  He nodded and followed her through the door. It was hard to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. It had taken every brain cell he had to concentrate since he’d walked into Dupree’s and seen her sitting across the table from his brother-in-law. What she was wearing didn’t help. As usual, it was bright. Neon pink sleeveless shirt, tucked into very worn blue jean shorts. And those legs…they went on for fucking forever. He had been dreaming of them wrapped around his waist.

  “I hope you don’t think I planned what happened tonight.”

  His brain wasn’t really working so it took him a minute to figure out just what she was saying. It was kind of hard to form words when there was no blood in your brain.

  “Uh, I didn’t think that.”

  She relaxed as she walked beside him. “Good. While I’ve gotten to be very fond of your father, I would never work with him to trap you into spending time with me.”

  He looked at her profile, trying to figure out if she was joking. When he saw nothing on her face to tell she was, he shook his head.

  “You don’t have to trap me to spend time with me.”

  They reached the rental he recognized. She rummaged through her purse.

  “You could have fooled me.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  She pulled her keys out of her purse and frowned at him. “You haven’t called me in over a week. I kissed you and you gave me the crap about me being ready.”

  He almost reacted to the anger but he could see the pain beneath it. He had never expected to hurt her.

  “I told you to let me know when you were ready for more.”

  She narrowed her eyes and even in the dim parking lot light, he could see her irritation. “Really? So you’re not avoiding me?”

  Of course he was. If he had spent any time with her, he wouldn’t have been able to keep his hands off her. But he knew better than to tell her the truth.

  “No.”

  “So you just avoid the days I’m working at the bakery?”

  He couldn’t think of anything to say.

  She brushed past him to the driver side of the car. “Never mind. Listen, I am not some kind of charity case. I won’t bother you anymore.”

  He grabbed her arm and she froze. He silently cursed himself, but he wasn’t going to back down. He eased her around to face him.

  “I didn’t say I didn’t want to spend time with you.”

  “Then what? What the fuck is up your ass?”

  “If I spend any time with you, I want my hands on you. Hell, I was close to touching you under the table at dinner. It’s embarrassing.”

  He let go of her and paced back and forth, frustration riding his back. He had made sure to leave her alone, let her have her time. And what did he get? Nastiness. Women never change. They say they want a good man, a nice man, and you give them that and get shit.

  “So you’ve been avoiding me because you’re afraid I’m not ready?”

  He stopped and looked at her. “You just got here, and let’s be honest, I’ve heard some of the stuff that has been talked about. Hard to avoid. So yeah, I was trying to be good and not bother you.”

  She let out a frustrated sound that sounded more like a growl than a sigh. “I am sick to death of people deciding what is best for me.”

  “I—”

  “No. You can hide behind that, you can say that you were trying to give me time, but you weren’t. Let’s be honest. You can’t keep your hands to yourself? Like I’m so pathetic I can’t say no?”

  He opened his mouth but she rolled right over him. She grabbed his shirt and yanked him to her. Before he could react, she was kissing him. Her tongue slipped past his lips, slid over his and then she pulled back. She was breathing heavily, her breasts rising above the neckline of her shirt.

  “Ask me now. See if I want you in my bed tonight.”

  “Jocelyn.”

  “Yeah. Never mind. At least I don’t have to hear excuses from my batteries.”

  With that, she marched to her car, slid in and started it. He was still trying to get his brain to function again and she was pulling out of the parking lot, almost running over his toes in the process. By the time he could, he cursed.

  “Having trouble with the ladies?” Evan asked.

  Fuck. “No.”

  Evan chuckled as he walked toward him. “I came out here to keep an eye on you, but apparently I need to keep an eye on Jocelyn.”

  Kai closed his eyes and willed embarrassment away. Damn, nothing like having another man witness Jocelyn bitching him out.

  “Have you really been avoiding her?”

  Kai opened his eyes. “Yeah. She’s…well, she’s a little too much to resist.”

  “I wouldn’t know.”

  He gave his brother-in-law a strange look. Evan shrugged.

  “She was like a little sister to me. I never had one, so I sort of adopted both her and Shannon.”

  “Is Shannon any sweeter?”

  “A bit, if you don’t mind her mouth. Woman is always telling people what to do with their lives. But you have to give Jocelyn some credit.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Before she came here, she was barely surviving from what Chris told me. She wasn’t acting like her old self.”

  “And now?”

  “Well, you are starting to see why she was good at her career. She did have the nickname of Queen Jocelyn when she was in the kitchen. She knows how to handle herself.”

  Kai blew out a breath.

  “You are going after her, aren’t you?”

  Kai looked at the exit to the street, “No. Not tonight. She needs some time to cool off.”

  Evan slipped an arm over his shoulder. “I’m not going to push, but I will say you have a lot to learn about women.”

  A Little Harmless Addiction will be available for download at the following retailers on June 7th.

  Samhain Publishing

  Amazon Kindle

  Barnes and Noble Nook

  Borders

  Books on Board

  Fictionwise

  Deisal Books

  Kobo

  Mobipocket

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  About the Author

  Born to an Air Force family at an Army hospital, Melissa has always been a little bit screwy. She was further warped by her years of watching Monty Python and her strange family. Her love of romance novels developed after accidentally picking up a Linda Howard book. Since her first release in 2004, Melissa has had close to 30 short stories, novellas and novels released with seven different publishers in a variety of genres and time periods. Those releases included an Eppie nomination, and two CAPA nominations, along with a multitude of best sellers. Her contemporary, A Little Harmless Sex, became an international best seller in June of 2005 and was named one of the 100 bestselling Nookbooks of 2010.

  Since she was a military brat, she vowed never to marry military. Alas, Fate always has her way with mortals. Her husband is an Air Force major, and together they have their own military brats, two girls, an adopted dog daughter and they live wherever the military sticks them. Which usually involves heat and bugs only seen on the Animal Discovery Channel. In her spare time, she reads, complains about bugs, travels, cooks, reads some more, and tries to convince her family that she truly is a delicate genius. She has yet to achieve her last goal.

  If you want to know more about Melissa, stop by her website, her FACEBOOK PAGE, or follow her for her latest ramblings on TWITTER. For Harmless
Fans, you can be a Harmless Lover on Facebook, or follow character tweets.

  She loves to hear from her readers so be sure to drop Melissa a note: [email protected]

  Other Books From Melissa Schroeder

  SAMHAIN PUBLISHING

  Harmless Series

  A Little Harmless Sex

  A Little Harmless Pleasure

  A Little Harmless Obsession

  A Little Harmless Lie

  A Little Harmless Addiction

  The Harmless Shorts

  A Little Harmless Fling

  A Little Harmless Kalikimaka

  A Little Harmless Surprise

  Once Upon an Accident

  The Accidental Countess

  Lessons in Seduction

  The Spy Who Loved Her

  Grace Under Pressure

  The Seduction of Widow McEwan

  Leather and Lace Anthology

  Coming Soon:

  The Last Detail

  Sept 6th

  ELLORA’S CAVE

  Seducing the Saint

  Hunting Mila

  Turning Paige

  Saints and Sinners anthology

  LIQUID SILVER BOOKS

  Cancer Anthology

  Water Print Anthology

  Operation Love Anthology

  SIREN PUBLISHING

  Texas Temptations

  Conquering India

  Delilah’s Downfall

  Hawaiian Holidays

  Mele Kalikimaka, Baby

  Sex on the Beach

  TORRID WHISKEY CREEK PRESS

  The Hired Hand

  Hands On Training

  A Calculated Seduction

  Telepathic Cravings

  Her Mother’s Killer

  Coming in August from the author:

  Bounty Hunter’s Inc

  For Love or Honor

  Sinner’s Delight