Irresistible Attraction: Secret Maneuvers, Book 2 E-Book

Amanda Adams

• Herausgeber: Tydbyts Media
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Josh Lanyon knew he'd made the biggest mistake of his life.

He'd slept with his best friend's sister and walked away. Problem was, while his head insisted he was doing the right thing, his body had other ideas. Since he'd returned to his SEAL unit, every touch haunted him. He could not forget her eyes, her smile, the way she'd surrendered in his arms. And now that he's come home, he is determined to make her his forever. Trouble is, she's not interested.

Sara Martin has had enough. Her teenage crush turned into a hardcore obsession when it came to the hot, muscled, and oh-so-sexy Josh Lanyon. They'd both fallen victim to the chemistry that sparked between them, and then he'd left her alone. He didn't call. He didn't answer her letters. He just...vanished.

Now he wants a second change. Now he wants to explain. Now he wants her to allow him back into her bed, and worse, into her heart.

He's dangerous. He's lied to her before. But the heat? The need? The attraction?

Irresistible.

Leseprobe

Irresistible Attraction

Secret Maneuvers, Book 2

Amanda Adams

Irresistible Attraction: Copyright © 2017 by Tydbyts Media.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, digital or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning or by any type of data storage and retrieval system without express, written permission from the author.

Published by BAWB, Inc.

Adams, Amanda

Irresistible Attraction

Cover design © 2017 by ebookindiecovers/Melody Simmons; modified by BAWB Inc.

Contents

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

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Also by Amanda Adams

About the Author

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1

Josh

I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. She was wearing a deep, red dress. Her shoulders were bare, showing creamy skin, and her blond hair coiled in a hairstyle that I knew must have taken hours. To describe just how flawless she looked to me would be impossible. I’d always found her beautiful, but it always surprised me that I could find her even more so than the last time I’d laid eyes on her. She was so beautiful that I had to stop myself from clenching my glass of champagne too tightly, otherwise I’d probably break the stupid thing.

Sara Martin was the one woman I wanted more than any—and the one woman I could never have. Life was funny that way. Especially for me. Unfortunately, life found itself to be quite a bit more hilarious than I’d ever thought.

But I wanted to change that.

At least when it came to her. God, I needed to change that. Surely, I’d done something in my life to deserve a creature like her.

“May you always lead each other in the right direction,” Sara said as she toasted the happy couple. My best friend, Daniel Martin—Sara’s brother—had just married the girl of his dreams, Chloe Nelson, now Chloe Martin. Sara was the maid of honor while Daniel had asked me to be his best man. While I was excited as hell to see something finally go right for my best friend, I couldn’t deny that seeing him get his happy ending made me a little jealous. Natural, I suppose, but that didn’t make me feel any better about it. I mean, what kind of a dick gets jealous of his friend’s big day?

Everyone at the reception clapped as Sara sat down, raising their glasses as they toasted the happy couple. Chloe looked radiant. She was a beautiful woman, and Daniel looked so proud I was half-expecting him to bust right out of his tux. He’d been through hell and back. This was absolutely long awaited and truly deserved. I couldn’t help but smile while I watched him and the way he looked at her.

To say that I was happy for him was an understatement. Deployment had claimed the lives of his friends—his brothers in arms—and destroyed his will to live. He’d just gone through every day, taking the steps but not understanding why. He had a bad case of survivor’s guilt, believing—no matter who told him otherwise—that it had been him that deserved to die instead.

That pressure and the PTSD caused him to almost lose Chloe a second time. We all rooted for him, coached him the best we could, and cheered from the sidelines while hoping he’d get his head out of his ass and fight to get her back. A woman like that doesn’t come around very often. He knew that, but he kept fighting with himself. Wanting her, but pushing her away. It took one hell of a misunderstanding to finally get shit done and tell her how he really felt.

Look at them now. Knowing his story gave me hope for my own, but I wasn’t so sure about that.

Somebody nudged me, and I realized it was my turn to toast. I grimaced, realizing that I’d been lost in my head and hadn’t been paying attention at all. I forced away the anxiety swirling in my gut. I’d taken on men with guns, IEDs, and basic training, but standing in front of a bunch of people at a wedding and giving a speech was too much for me?

Yeah, I’d rather eat nails.

I cleared my throat and took a deep breath, everyone waiting expectantly. I could see Sara in the corner of my eye. I refused to look like an idiot in front of her, but that would be inevitable if I didn’t grow a pair and speak like a man instead of a six year old in his first part in a play.

“Daniel,” I said, holding up my glass and doing my best to keep it from trembling, “you know you’re my best guy. I won’t talk about everything we’ve gone through—although, I’d like to say right here and now the snake in your cot was not my idea.” Everyone in the room laughed, Daniel smiling and shaking his head. “But seriously. I’m so happy for you. Chloe, you’ve got the best guy out there.”

Chloe smiled and rested her head on Daniel’s arm.

“I know you two will be so happy that we’ll all end up hating you.” Laughter again. “Best wishes to a long, amazing life.”

I held up my glass, and the sound of glasses clinking filled the tent. I sat back down, but not before I caught Sara’s gaze. Seated on the bride’s side, she looked at me with something that I could swear was longing… but then when she saw me looking at her, her expression turned sour, the very sight of which stabbed me in the gut. She sniffed and turned around to talk to my sister, Melanie.

Guilt filled me, but I had absolutely no one to blame but myself. I deserved her cold shoulder for many reasons. A long string of them all stemming from the first mistake that I’d made. Last summer, we hooked up—that was the part that was magical and in no part a mistake—and I never called. That last bit was where I’d royally fucked up. That girl cared so much that she even sent me letters. Fucking letters! No one does that shit anymore, but she did.

At the time, I couldn’t let anything between us be legit. My head was so full of shit that the thought scared the hell out of me. Right then, I wasn’t the guy for her, not in the least. So, I told myself I had to ignore her. Somehow, I’d convinced myself that I was being some screwed up version of chivalrous. Saving her from a few weeks, months, or even years—however long she could withstand me—of hating my distance and instability until she finally had to make the call and end it.

And then, in some obnoxious twist of fate, I ended up moving into her house with Daniel and Melanie while we looked for a place here in Austin. Talk about some divine punishment.

I watched as Sara got up to go the dance floor, every movement full of grace. Then, the guy she’d brought as her date stood and tucked her hand inside his elbow. I scowled and would have full-on growled if I could have. He didn’t deserve to touch her. What was his name again? Charlie? Charlie Ferris? He was some hot-shot doctor or something, someone Sara worked with. Given his profession, his pretty-boy face, and his annoying condescending expression, I assumed he did a lot of playing doctor for high maintenance girls in private. More than likely even behind her back.

I wanted to punch him in his smarmy, doctor face.

The music came on, some upbeat, dance number, and almost everyone at my table got up to dance. I watched as person after person smiled and pulled someone else off right along with them while I sat there and drank more champagne, brooding. I probably had an actual black cloud hanging over my head at this point, but I didn’t give a shit. Seeing Sara dancing with Dr. Ferris made me see red, and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it, which only made it worse.

The music changed to something slower. I watched in silent rage as he stepped in closer, placing his arms around her, smiling at her like she was his prey. It made me sick.

I’d had enough.

Without another thought, I stalked across the dance floor, and before Sara could protest, I took her by the elbow. Taking a deep breath to control the hatred that I had for the man to my right, I looked at him and asked, “Can I cut in?”.

The man looked entirely confused, but I ignored him. It didn’t really matter what he said. As long Sara didn’t say no, I planned to take her away from him—even if only momentary. As my attention turned back to Sara, I found her glaring at me. Thank God looks couldn’t kill. Otherwise, I’d have been in intense pain for a while before I finally died.

“What was that about?” she hissed. Her cheeks were flushed a beautiful pink, and her full breasts pushing up against her low-cut, bridesmaid’s dress.

Attempting to break the tension, I tilted my head a little and gave her a flirty smile. “Can’t the best man dance with the maid of honor?”

Her eyes narrowed as she pulled her arm away and crossed both over her chest. “You practically shoved Charlie onto the floor to get to me.”

I shrugged, obviously not caring if he’d fallen and the floor had swallowed him whole. “He’s a big boy. He’ll be fine.”

My heartrate increased as I looked her over, studying everything from her intense, bright, blue eyes to the creamy curve of her soft shoulders all the way down her hourglass body down to those perfectly pedicured toes peeping through her sexy shoes.

I sighed softly as I smiled again. “You look beautiful.”

Her gaze softened, but only for a second. There was a pause as she looked away, scanning the room to avoid eye contact before turning back around. She exhaled heavily before pointing to my chest. “Your tie is crooked.” Her voice was surprisingly hard for such a short statement.

I looked down for a moment before gazing back up to her eyes. “Is it? Why don’t you help me fix it?”

Once again, she immediately went to death-dealing expressions, those narrowed eyes shooting daggers into mine. “I’d rather eat glass.”

My eyes widened a bit. Even with the tension between us, I didn’t expect something like that to come out of her. I was more than shocked. Then I noticed that she was completely rigid as she stood there. It was obvious that she wanted nothing to do with me, and I desperately wanted to bring down her wall.

There hadn’t been any doubt before, but looking at her now, there was no question. I didn’t deserve her forgiveness. I’d been a huge jackass to her after we’d hooked up last summer, and I’d done exactly nothing to remedy the problem. Because of that, I was still that jackass, but I wanted her to be able to at least talk to me without glaring daggers.

Stepping forward, I decided to be daring, confident. If it hadn’t been for the liquid courage in the form of several glasses of wine and champagne, I wouldn’t have been brave enough. Moving her further out to the dance floor, I placed my hand on her back, gently trailing my fingertips down her spine through the thin material of the dress as we moved. I wondered if she was wearing anything underneath and almost groaned at the thought.