cas Donovan's background that she had tasked Marissa with. Every morning, she arrived at the office with steely resolve to

her concentration splintering after only a few minutes, her mind hopelessly adrift on fa

ity, absorbing new impressions to inform his writing and jotting down snippets of overheard dialogue in one of those tattered moleskin journals writers always seemed to carry around for just such purposes

ks that haunted her waking thoughts. Then perhaps she could make sense of this utterly distracting obsession and lance the

sort of meaningful online presence - no author website or social media footprint beyond the barest stubble of a Facebook page that hadn't been updated in years. His journalistic wo

Syracuse University on an academic scholarship before moving to New York after graduation just over five years ago. Beyond th

d debut sci-fi novel by one of Kleinfeld Publishing's rising literary starlets, she abruptly gave up and tossed the manuscript aside with an exasperated grunt.

pushback as she swept out from behind her desk with sudden determination. "I'm going to get to the bottom o

the office. "Where should I say you've gone?" Marissa asked, struggling to keep up as A

lia shot back with only the faintest

*

rhood. The cream-colored facade and wrought iron railings practically radiated Ye Olde New York charm, the picturesque urban ideal professed b

is was hardly her usual methodology for vetting a prospective new literary submission or author - no, this unorthodox house call s

ndishly elusive author, had chipped away at her congenial armor until she had been laid emotionally bare. The only rec

, there were footsteps approaching from the other side of the door. And when it swung inward to reveal a shirtless, sweat-glist

back the damp locks of chestnut hair that clung to his foreh

lding an oasis spring in the desert. His sculpted torso and washboard abs glistened with perspiration like he had been carved from expensive marble by a m

her unraveling professional composure. In one fluid motion, she brushed past th

n aura of imperious control despite her thundering heartbeat. "Leading on this crazed literary chase, dangling

pulled the front door closed behind Amelia, locking out the

re flustered in Lucas's presence now that she was confronting him directly. This whole debacle was utterly unlike her, a complete vi

ting wildly with her arms as she railed against the object of her psychic torment. "You just can't stand there in your... your sweat-glistened underwea

in his chiseled direction. The look of dumbfounded shock etched a

ublished manuscript and its insufferably cryptic author! I've been distracted, obsessing over every minute detail of our encounters, desperate for

he experienced this level of complete emotional vulnerability, never had her deepest psychological hang-ups and personal insecurities be

ly unlikely that status may have been. In the span of just a week, this unpublished stranger had managed to penetrate the icy layers of her emotional def

in the ensuing silence. Amelia averted her gaze, feeling her cheeks flush hot with residual embarrassment even as an

utburst. Then, much to her surprise, his full lips slowly quirked into a lopsided half-grin - the same

h an unmistakable mix of amusement and something altogether more smoldering in his warm bro

mingling with the crisp, invigorating top notes of some subtle cologne or body wash. The combination was

ued in that deep, resonant baritone that somehow conveyed both playful irreverence and dusky masculine allure. "You made quite an

t. Amelia could actually feel the body heat radiating from his bare torso, the erratic cadence of he

re was no ignoring the electricity I felt whenever I replayed our first meeting in my head. Or the tho

s jaw before cupping her chin in a gossamer touch that somehow

ween us," Lucas said, his voice dropping to an intimate rumble. "Because I feel it too.

raveled entirely. Before she could fully process her actions, she was crashing herself against Lucas's muscular fr

agerly reciprocating the firestorm of their mutual desire as he returned the liplock with unmistakable fervor. His tongue slid insistently against

ring out as Amelia surrendered fully to her newly awakened passion. She gloried in the feel of Lucas's chiseled musculature pressing against the soft contours of her body, the

ut the unadulterated experience of being utterly consumed by another, succumbing to the torrential pull of pure desire and need with reckless abandon. To fall

ted moment of unspoken understanding - a silent acknowledgement that whatever this unexpected attraction was between them, it had become all-consuming to th

w, her nail scraping lightly across the day-old growth. "So..

pulling her lithe body flush against his own as th

honey-brown eyes. "We stop overthinking so much and jus

across the living room in a tangle of roving hands and smoldering need. Amelia barely registere

as frantically clawing her way to the surface. One driven not by cold calculation or profess

cas Donovan's intoxicating embrace, the only coherent thought her lust-addled mind