Grounds for Seduction
Shelli Stevens
Publication Date: March 27, 2017
Genres: Adult, Entangled: Select, Contemporary, Romance
Madison Phillips is focused on making her new coffee shop a success. She also wouldn’t mind if the sexiest cop in Seattle, Gabriel Martinez, would start seeing her as more than just his best friend’s little sister. When her shop gets robbed and she’s the only one who can identify the increasingly violent Espresso Bandit, Gabe’s there to keep her safe. Having Gabe act as her personal bodyguard is certainly no hardship, and Maddy’s ready to try anything to tempt him into providing some hands-on protection.
Damn. She would have to make the drinks. What a way to
lose a new customer.
“Hello,”
she called out and glanced up. “What can I— Oh, it’s you.” Her tone lost all
trace of friendliness as the chaotic emotions from Sunday resurfaced.
Obviously,
Gabe was working, because he was dressed in his police uniform. Gun, badge,
tight pants, and all. And, Lord, he looked good in it.
“Don’t
you have some bad guys to chase or something?” she queried with false
innocence. “Or if this is your break, shouldn’t you be at the local donut
shop?”
“Out
to draw blood this morning, aren’t we, Maddie?”
And
he still insisted on calling her Maddie. She forced a smile. She might be
trying to get him into bed, but that didn’t mean she had to forgive him for
Sunday night.
“Can
I get you anything?”
His
eyes darkened, and she realized she’d said the same thing to him on Sunday. And
look what it had led to.
“I
want to apologize,” he admitted after a moment. “Again.”
“All
right.” She gave a slight nod and then her smile widened. “Let me make you a
mocha.”
There
was a flicker of panic in his eyes and reveled in it as she started to prepare
the shot for his drink.
“I
thought you had some other girl working with you,” he asked, an obvious attempt
to sound casual. “Someone else who was making the drinks?”
“Oh,
yeah.” She gestured out the door. “She’s on her lunch and just ran to get food.
But you seemed to like mine on Sunday?”
She’d
meant her statement to have a double meaning, and he must have noticed it.
“Well,
I sure as hell liked your outfit better on Sunday.” His voice had dropped an
octave as he took a step closer to the counter.
“Aprons
are practical.” She added chocolate syrup and the grated chocolate to the
drink. “I’m impressed. I thought I might have scared you off after what
happened.”
“You
kicked me out.”
“You
deserved it.” She handed him the mocha. “I made it to go. I’m sure you have a
route to be patrolling or something.”
He
took the mocha with a tight smile and reached for his wallet. “How much do I
owe you?”
“It’s
on the house.”
“Maddie—Madison,”
he corrected. “I just wanted to make sure there weren’t any hard feelings about
Sunday. I mean, I don’t want this to affect my relationship with you and your
family.”
“Oh,
it won’t.” She put on her most saccharine smile. “I have no problem with having
you—my brother’s best friend—give me an orgasm. Even if you seem to. And I have
no plans to tell my family about it, either. So, look at that, we’re fine.”
He
seemed skeptical. “So all is forgiven and forgotten?”
“Yes
and no. Yes, you’re forgiven.” Madison stepped out from behind the counter and
took the few remaining steps that separated them. “And, no, nothing’s
forgotten,” she whispered against his ear, pressing herself against him.
“Maddie.”
He groaned.
“I
see, or feel, that I missed out on quite a bit Sunday.” She stepped back and
smiled. “You are nowhere near being forgotten.”
Shelli is a New York Times Bestselling Author who read her first romance novel when she snatched it off her mother’s bookshelf at the age of eleven. One taste and she was forever hooked. It wasn’t until many years later that she decided to pursue writing stories of her own. By then she acknowledged the voices in her head didn’t make her crazy, they made her a writer. Shelli currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her daughter. She’s a compulsive volunteer, and has been known to spontaneously burst into song.
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