Playing With Her Heart Read online

  When he breaks the kiss, I am still stunned. Because kisses from him only get better, and I can feel this one in my knees, in my toes, all the way in my fingertips. “You’re such a romantic,” I tell him.

  “You don’t know the half of it, Jill,” he says with a note of mischief in his voice.

  “What do you mean?”

  “This is what I mean,” he says, as he bends down on one knee, reaching for my hand. I gasp when I realize what he’s doing. “I fall more madly in love with you every day and it’s never going to stop. I want to be with you always, to laugh with you, and work with you, and love you more than any man has ever loved a woman. And when we come here tomorrow night, and walk that red carpet, I don’t want to go in as the director and the actress. I want to go in there with you as the man you’re going to spend the rest of your life with. Will you marry me?”

  I fall to my knees too, wrapping my arms around his neck, and kissing him in between happy tears and my reply. “Yes, yes, yes,” I say as I plant kisses all over his beautiful face. “I don’t think I can stop kissing you right now.”

  “How about for ten seconds so you can let me put this ring on you then?” he says with a grin.

  “I almost forgot about the ring,” I say because I am overcome. I hold out my hand and he slides a gorgeous diamond onto my ring finger. I don’t know anything about diamonds, and I can’t tell the cut or carats, but I don’t care because it’s from him, and it’s about us, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever worn. “I love it so much. I love you so much. I love being yours.”

  “You are. Now, and always.”

  THE END

  Check out my other sexy contemporary romance novels!

  Caught Up In Us, a New York Times and USA Today Bestseller! (Kat and Bryan’s romance!)

  Pretending He's Mine, a Barnes & Noble Bestseller! (Reeve & Sutton’s romance)

  Trophy Husband, a New York Times and USA Today Bestseller! (Chris & McKenna’s romance)

  The Breakup Album, my next sexy contemporary romance novel releasing in October and starring Jane Black, who sang at the gala at the Plaza, is now available for pre-order.

  And coming to an eReader near you in September, get ready for TRICKED AND TREATED, starring a scorchingly-hot firefighter who melts hearts and panties…in the Entangled Brazen anthology LOVERS UNMASKED, now available for pre-order.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I am grateful for the support of so many amazing people. First and foremost, I am in mad love with all my readers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this possible. I love you all like crazy!!! I owe a huge thanks to my early readers for Playing With Her Heart. My friend Cara tirelessly read draft after draft, chapter after chapter, sharing her feedback every step of the way and shaping this into a much better book. Melody Grace is my plot wizard, and without her as a sounding board I would have been lost. Love ya, girl! Violet Duke provided keen insight to smooth out the story. Kelly’s feedback made me smile, and I desperately needed it. And Michelle provided the final piece of the puzzle.

  I am fortunate to work with the best cover designer there is in Sarah Hansen. I am grateful for Ryan Orange, whose fantastic photo graces the cover. And I must thank Steve Boyd’s parents for creating such a fine specimen. Steve, you’re gorgeous!

  My publicist Kelly at Inkslinger PR is a cheerleader, a momma bear, a marketing genius, a shrink and a fabulous friend.

  Big thanks as well to my indie besties—Violet Duke, Lexi Ryan, Emma Hart, Kendall Ryan, Sawyer Bennett, Kristen Proby, Michelle Valentine, Monica Murphy and, of course, Miss Melody Grace. (Go read Unafraid, it’s awesome!!) Tara Simone is a fab brainstorm partner and a helluva romantic comedy writer. (Her book Vacationista is hilarious!)

  Then there are the bloggers who make my world go round. Bloggers rock! My books would quite simply not be in the eReaders in your hands without them. Thank you to Book Whores Obsession, Shh…Mom’s Reading, Rock Stars of Romance, Romance Addict, Little Black Book Blog, Flirty and Dirty Book Blog, After the Final Chapter, Britt Blabs Books, Two Crazy Girls with a Passion for Books, HEA Shelf Blogger, Fictional Book Boyfriend & Book Whore, Angie’s Dreamy Reads, Becky at Reality Bites! Let’s Get Lost, KellyVision, Geekery Book Review, Reviews by Tammy and Kim, The Book Enthusiast, Book Nerds Anonymous, True Story Book Blog, BestSellers & BestStellars, Chapter Break, LoveNBooks, Such a Pretty Face, Lovin' Los Libros, Book Addict Mumma, All Booked Out, Just Booked and many more. Thank you Kim, for your eagle eye and your much-needed final save. Also, a big thanks to Michael Cerveris, the Tony-Award winning actor, who graciously let me give him a cameo in this book. Go check out his band Loose Cattle—it’s a real band! I also owe a thanks to my parents, who introduced me to the theater long ago. Like Jill, the first show I saw was Fiddler on the Roof and I fell in love with the theater. I have no talent for the stage, but Broadway remains my first love as a spectator. The inspiration for Patrick’s fictional two-day rehearsal for Guys & Dolls stemmed from Marcus Lovett, who learned the lead role in Carousel on Broadway in a similar time span back in 1994 when the star fell ill. I saw his performance in Carousel—he was magnificent.

  Finally, thank you to my friends and family. My friends in real life put up with my madness, and my awesome family lets me spend all this time with imaginary people who feel so real.

  RESOURCE GUIDE

  While Jill wasn’t able to help Aaron, if you see someone struggling with depression, there are resources to help the people you care for. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at AFSP.org offers a range of information on risk factors and warning signs, as well as strategies if you are worried about a friend. You can also find insight on grieving if you’ve lost someone to suicide, survivor support programs, and ways you can help friends or loved ones who may have lost someone. If you are feeling in crisis yourself, here is the hotline number: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Please know you are not alone. Thank you to the Keith Milano Memorial Fund at KeithMilano.Org for raising awareness about mental health and suicide prevention.

  SNEAK PEEK AT The Breakup Album (OCTOBER 2013)

  Dear Readers: Remember the gala event Jill and Davis attended at the Plaza? Jane Black, the singer who performed Falling Slowly, is the rock star heroine of my next novel, The Breakup Album, releasing in October. Here’s a sneak peek of her first kiss with Matthew.

  Xoxo

  Lauren

  About the book…

  Jane Black has written the break-up album of the century earning her a Grammy, a huge legion of new fans, and the pressure to repeat her success. Sure, the heartbreak from her husband’s unconventional abandonment might have been her inspiration, but it hasn’t done her any favors in the dating department. So when Matthew Harrigan, the toughest music journalist out there, asks for an interview, Jane agrees—as long as her personal life is completely off-limits.

  British, gorgeous, and way too tempting, Matthew’s the first guy Jane’s been attracted to since her husband. As she spends more time with him and their relationship heats up, though, so does her writer’s block. How can the queen of the break-up pen the perfect follow-up when she’s seriously in love?

  * * *

  “Yes, I would,” he says in a soft voice that borders on a whisper.

  My body is racing, and the moment is full of so much anticipation, so much possibility that I could bottle it. But still, I feel like the sidewalk under my feet is swaying, and I need to know which way is up.

  “You would what?”

  “I would want to take you out. Much like how I want to kiss you.”

  I can barely process his words. They’re so heady, so woozy, so utterly foreign to me. No one has wanted to kiss me in the last seven years.

  “May I?” he asks, and I am in a blissful bubble of his accent, his blue eyes, and his total classiness in asking me, like a proper gentleman, which turns me on even more. I want this sliver of time to be suspended so it lasts, but I desperately want to be kissed. I want to be kissed by som
eone who wants me, by someone who knows what he’s doing, and by someone I am immeasurably attracted to.

  By Matthew.

  Who’s holding me tight with those dark blue eyes, the color of a lake in my perfect Maine, and I can’t let go. I can’t look away. I can barely speak. This feels so unreal, but yet here he is—wanting to kiss me. I would go into shock if I weren’t completely tingling all over.

  “Yes,” I say, grinning, but then my smile is erased by his lips as he presses gently against mine with such softness, such sexiness that my knees go weak, and I loop my arms around his neck so I don’t fall.

  He wraps a hand around my waist, tugging me closer as he kisses me, and I’ve lost all awareness of my surroundings, of the city, of the last several days of my life because the second Matthew’s lips touch mine, I know it is one of those kisses.

  The kind you could write a song about.

  I hear the word amazing press into my brain. Amazing lips, amazing kiss, feels amazing, you’re amazing. At one point, I actually murmur the word in his mouth. Kissing him is like a Chris Isaak song. It’s not frenzied or frantic or a mad dash to the end. It’s slow and unhurried, dreamily unfolding over and over. It’s desire stretching out.

  His lips exploring mine, his tongue tangling with mine, his hands lacing through my hair. His sexy sighs that tell me he’s savoring this kiss as much as I am. He brings me closer, his long, lean frame terribly close to mine. For a brief second, I can feel him pressed hard against my thigh, and it’s thrilling to elicit this kind of reaction from a man.

  Arousal.

  Then he breaks the kiss, and I stumble. He catches me. “You okay?” he asks, and he’s back to that playful voice I know from the Grammys.

  “Yeah,” I answer, as if I’m waking up.

  Available for pre-order now.

  SNEAK PEEK OF Nice Girl to Love

  Dear Readers: I am thrilled to share a brief excerpt from Violet Duke’s Nice Girl to Love (The Complete Collection) that’s now available. Her books are sexy, romantic and heartfelt.

  Xoxo

  Lauren

  Nice Girl to Love (The Complete Collection)

  © Violet Duke

  Abby went mute as she felt Brian’s tongue lash across her skin, sensitizing the nerves to levels beyond pleasure.

  If he didn’t stop, there was a good chance she’d pull the towel he was wearing right off.

  “Do you want me to take it off?” he asked, his words tickling her skin.

  Yes. “No,” she stammered, unable to take her eyes off the portion of the towel that was tucked at his hipbone. Just one good tug—

  “I was talking about the ice, sweetheart. But if you have other things in mind…”

  Ice? What ice? “Oh! Ow.” The burning of the ice at her ankle finally filtered through to her brain. “Yes, actually, can you take it off? I’m a wuss when it comes to icing my injuries.”

  Brian quickly pulled off the ice and rewrapped her ankle before resuming his massage. “So back to the other things you wanted me to take off,” he teased.

  Okay, seriously? It was a really good thing the man had never flirted with her before because she was certain she’d never have survived it, especially not when his hands were kneading her muscles into butter.

  “You’re impossible,” she complained thickly, though it came out more like a purr. His massages should be illegal for how good they felt.

  She blinked slowly at him and started wondering idly what was so wrong with him losing the towel. A fuzzy smile drifted across her face.

  “Damn, you’re going to fall asleep on me aren’t you?” Brian’s voice floated over her hair softly as he pressed a smiling kiss to her forehead. “Go ahead and rest, sweetheart. You had a pretty eventful afternoon.”

  With that, he stood and walked over to the linen closet for some clothes.

  Shame.

  He was heartbreakingly handsome. Always had been. But ever since he’d gone back to coaching afterschool to supplement his teaching income, he’d gotten even burlier from the added lifting sessions before practice. It was almost unfair. Superhuman, really. His build was now more impressive than the average underwear model’s physique—a standard issue Sullivan trait it seemed—though every other aspect of him remained far gentler and way more mellow than Connor.

  She’d never thought of mellow as being the new sexy. But it so was.

  And nice was the new hot. With two T’s.

  Hearing Brian’s soft chuckles echoing in the room, she realized she must have said the last couple of sentences out loud.

  “I think you’re ‘nice with two T’s’ too, Abby,” he whispered before kissing her on the cheek. “Sweet dreams, honey.”

  CONTACT

  I love hearing from readers! You can find me on Twitter at LaurenBlakely3, or Facebook at LaurenBlakelyBooks, or online at LaurenBlakely.com. You can also email me at [email protected].

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Also by Lauren Blakely

  About

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Acknowledgements

  Resource Guide

  Sneak Peek of The Breakup Album (releasing October 2013)

  Sneak Peek of Nice Girl to Love by Violet Duke

  Contact