#3 in the Take a Chance Series
Available October 7 2014
Teaser
Excerpt
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Teaser
There was only one thing he wanted to do before going back to war . . .
It’s been over a year since Marine Lieutenant Trevor Mason and his father have spoken. After nearly losing his life during a Taliban attack in Afghanistan, Trevor wants to end the rift between them so he can return to active duty with some peace of mind. But a visit to his father’s office only serves to show Trevor that his father isn’t as eager to reunite. If not for the intervention of Samuel Mason’s spunky and very sexy intern, Trevor would probably be returning to Afghanistan with his one wish unfulfilled.
She doesn’t know what to make of the hard-edged soldier that replaced the smiling teen she once knew . . .
Trevor Mason had used to do all kinds of things to Maggie Sullivan’s insides when she worked at the country club his family used to attend. Five years later, there is little left of the teen she knew in the stoic Marine who only wants some time with his father. When Trevor’s father backs out of his son’s dinner invitation at the last minute, Maggie does the only thing she can: she goes to Trevor’s apartment to deliver the news, but she can’t leave him alone on his one last night before returning to duty.
An act of compassion leads to unexpected pleasure . . .
Thrown together, Trevor and Maggie can’t ignore the sexual heat between them. As they satisfy one set of needs, another slowly develops as passion breathes life into other emotions. Will Trevor and Maggie’s one last night together possibly lead to many other nights in the future?
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Nothing could have prepared Maggie Sullivan for the sight of Trevor Mason standing there in his Marine uniform.
Nothing.
He waited patiently by the floor-to-ceiling windows in the anteroom to his father’s office. Incredibly broad shoulders filled out the khaki fabric and tapered down into a lean waist and hips. His legs were thick with muscle and braced slightly apart while he waited, his hat tucked under his arm.
His face was in profile and the morning sun cast bright light on his features and the short strands of his sandy-colored hair. He had a strong resolute jaw. Full lips and a straight slash of a nose that all came together on a face which would tempt most women.
By her guesstimate, Trevor had been there for at least fifteen minutes while his father finished up a conference call. In reality, his father could have ended the call as soon as his son had arrived, but for some reason he’d kept on chatting as she’d sat in the room, watching Trevor through the office’s glass wall.
He’d changed a great deal physically since the last time she’d seen him nearly five years ago at his high school graduation party. She’d been sixteen at the time and working as a waitress at the country club to save money for college expenses.
Trevor had been part of the pack of rich kids who spent the summers hanging out at the club, but unlike some of the others, he’d always had the time to say hello and offer up a smile. Maybe it was because he was nouveau riche and not as spoiled as the teens from old money.
She remembered that smile, full of life and so warm, like summer sunshine. It had always caused a funny skitter in her heart and lower. She wondered if it still would.
His father finally hung up the phone and turned his attention to her. “Please prepare a memo of the discussions we just had for the file.”
“Yes, sir,” she said and shot a look out the glass wall to where Trevor still waited. “I’ll let your son know you’re free.”
“No,” Samuel Mason blurted and reached out for her as she rose from the chair where she had been taking notes. Mr. Mason’s regular administrative assistant was on vacation and she was filling in for the woman.
At her confused look, he dropped his hand to the desktop and said, “Please let him in, but if you don’t mind, I’d rather you stayed while we chat. I think the two of you knew each other back in high school.”
If serving Trevor lunch or handing him towels counted as knowing each other, she supposed that they did. “I met him at the country club while I was working there.”
“Fine, then,” he said and leaned back in his chair to wait, obviously forcing himself to remain calm. Like his son, he had a strong jaw, but that was where the similarities ended. Samuel Mason was thin, elegant, and dark-haired. Almost effeminate compared to his very masculine and robust son.
Maggie closed the portfolio with the pages of notes she had taken and walked out to the anteroom. As she entered, Trevor faced her.
She waited for that warm smile that did such delicious things inside her. Instead, his full lips were in a grim slash across that handsome face and she realized that Trevor had changed in more ways than one.
There was little left of the high school kid she remembered. From the sheer physical size of him to the hard chiseled lines of his face, Trevor was all man and not a happy one at that.
She held out her hand and introduced herself. “Maggie Sullivan. I’m sorry you’ve had to wait.”
He eyeballed her hand, but finally shook it as he said, “Trevor Mason.” He paused and looked her up and down, narrowing his gaze as he considered her. “Have we met before?”
She was pleasantly surprised that he seemed to remember her. “I’m Maggie. I used to work – ”
“At the country club,” he finished for her and once again eyed her intently. “You’ve grown up, Maggie,” he said, the tones of his voice deep and exciting. The sound of her name on his lips sent a tingle of sexual awareness through her.
“So have you, Mr. Mason,” she said, earning a chuckle from him and the first hint of that enticing smile on his lips.
“Yeah, I guess I have and it’s Lieutenant Mason. Mr. Mason is my father.” He shot a look through the glass to where his father sat in his office, waiting for them, and for a moment, before he schooled his emotions, loneliness skipped across his features.
“Please come in,” she said with a smile and motioned in the direction of the office door.
* * *
Trevor took a deep breath to combat the mix of emotions roiling around in his gut.
It had been over a year since he’d either seen or talked to his father. The last words they’d shared had been filled with anger and hurt. That anger and hurt had been constantly simmering, especially in the last few months when he’d been healing from the wounds suffered during a Taliban attack on the medical facility he and his fellow Marines had been protecting.
He had hoped his father would call or write after the Marines notified him that he’d been wounded.
He’d been wrong to hope. Not a letter or a call or even an impersonal e-mail to say “Get well soon.”
He wasn’t even really sure why he was here and for shit sure he didn’t know what to expect from his father.
Following Maggie into his father’s office, he wondered how the kind of cute, but awkward teen he’d known had transformed into the beautiful woman sauntering ahead of him.
Did she have any idea what that sexy roll of her hips did to a man? he thought, but forced down his body’s reaction. It was better not to notice how the black fabric of her skirt molded itself to that amazing ass or wonder how her full breasts might look without the sedate white blouse she wore.
She was off-limits in multiple ways, chief amongst them that she was working for his father.
As she stepped aside to clear the way to his father’s desk, he waited for some kind of reaction from his dad.
Something. Anything for fuck’s sake, but his father just sat there, his classically fine features as smooth as stone. His deep blue eyes as flat and lifeless as a shark’s.
“Father,” he said with a dip of his head.
His father laced his fingers together, leaned back in his chair, and laid his hands across a midsection that was just starting to show a hint of paunch. “Trevor. To what do I owe this pleasure?” he said, although there was nothing about his tone, posture, or anything else that actually said that he was pleased to see his one and only child.
Rage boiled over inside of him and he wanted to shout out with the pain he’d kept bottled up for far too long, but it wasn’t in him to make a scene. Especially not with an almost total stranger present, which was maybe why Maggie was standing there, looking more and more uncomfortable by the second.
“Maybe I should go,” she said and took a step toward the door.
“No,” his father nearly shouted, freezing her in place.
Maggie shot him a quick glance and he forced a smile and said, “It’s okay, Maggie.”
Before his father could say anything else, he did what he had planned to do for the many months he’d been laid up in the hospital, alone except for his military buddies.
“I was hoping we could talk, Father. Spend some time together. It’s almost lunch hour.”
“I have a prior engagement that I can’t cancel,” he quickly replied. Too quickly.
Peeking at Maggie from the corner of his eye, he noted the way she looked down and away, clearly aware that his dad was lying.
“Then how about dinner at my apartment? I’m flexible. I’ll even cook,” he offered and looked toward Maggie. “I’m sure you can free up his schedule for tonight.”
“Actually, he has an important engagement tonight, but he’s totally free for tomorrow,” she said brightly, earning a glare from his father.
He met Maggie’s gaze and grinned, thankful for her intervention. “Wonderful. I’ll see you tomorrow night at six,” he said to his father and with a precise military pivot, he turned and left the office.
But as he walked out, he sort of regretted that he hadn’t had more time to spend with Maggie. In the very short time they’d just spent together, he realized she had spunk.
He liked that in a woman. Especially one as sexy and beautiful as Maggie.