Seducing Mr. Right

Book 1: An Unlikely Love

by Rebecca Rose

Genres: Women's Fiction; Contemporary Romance; Erotic & Steamy Romance

Synopsis

Only love can heal his wounds . . . Gunnery Sergeant Jake Sanders made it through the war in Afghanistan, but he's struggling to survive the peace at home. Still scarred by his experiences overseas, Jake now spends most of his time working out and tending to his brother's bar and grill. He's not looking for a girlfriend and avoids intimate relationships . . . until he meets the bar's gorgeous new manager. Ex-ballerina Sophie Agnés couldn't take her eyes off Jake the moment she saw him-he was, after all, sleeping half-naked in her new office when she arrived on her first day of work. The chemistry between them is immediate, and soon it's not clear who is seducing whom. But Sophie fears that something is keeping Jake from opening his heart to her. And a man with dark secrets may not be the right man for her after all. Approx. 60,000 words.

Release date: April 1, 2014

Publisher: Forever Yours

Print pages: 240

Sample

The first step and the hardest step are often one and the same. Sophie repeated this pep talk while her insides shook and her stomach turned ripe with bile. She was ready for this change and had been working toward it despite everyone’s objections and her own apprehension. After all, Greenwich, Connecticut, was a long way from the outskirts of Boston, and many of the socialites in her parent’s circle believed only a lower class of people worked in bars.

“This is the bar. Obviously.” Sophie’s new boss, Dave, turned and grinned at her. “We open at two and close at one-thirty Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Two to ten every other night. We serve small meals, typical bar food stuff.”

Sophie listened as the man before her went down the list of what her manager job would entail at the Hungry Lion Bar-n-Grill. Excitement bubbled inside her as nerves danced beneath her skin. Deep in thought about what she could bring to her new position, she ran her hand along the silky wheat-colored bar counter. The sun streamed in through the stained-glass window, which portrayed a fierce lion battling a man with a sharpened stick. The walls were a light tan and the stool covers and booth seats bloodred. Her heels clicked on the scarred, wood-paneled floors as she walked to the back.

“And this is the office.” Dave opened a door and nodded for her to enter.

At first, nothing seemed unusual. The walls were mostly bare and a drab blue. Under the only tiny window in the room sat her desk with multiple piles of papers laying in wait. Everything was clean and—Sophie stopped abruptly at the sound of snoring to her left.

“Lord’s sake!” Dave yelled. He turned and gave an apologetic smile to Sophie. “My baby brother, Jake.” Dave lifted a booted foot and pushed on the sleeping man’s bare back. “Jake! Where the hell are your clothes?”

Feeling a little flushed, Sophie examined the slumbering man. Jake was covered only by his boxers, and his muscular back and legs were left bare for her hum of approval. A harsh scar—that must have been a nasty wound—stretched down his left side, while a cleaner, surgical one ran just below it. When he shifted and threw an arm over his head, Sophie took an appreciative glance at the tree-trunk arms peppered with pockmarks.

“Jake.”

Jake made an inaudible noise and burrowed deeper into the cushions.

“Don’t disturb him on my account. We can work around him.”

“Well, I don’t think we’ll be able to move him, anyway. Damn kid. Must have been celebratin’ pretty hard last night to stay here. He’s got a key to let himself in since he’s been helpin’ with the books. As much as I’d like to tell you this doesn’t happen, it does from time to time. I was just hopin’ you wouldn’t find out until you were here for a while. This doesn’t change your mind about the job, does it?”

Sophie looked at the mostly nude man sleeping on her office couch. If she wanted this job, then she was going to have to get used to the ways of the bar-n-grill scene. “Oh, I don’t know, Dave. Coming into work every now and then and finding a naked man on my couch doesn’t seem like such a hardship.”

Dave laughed and gave Jake another hardy push with his foot. “At least you have a sense of humor about this. Okay, let me get the computer booted up and I’ll show you what we’ve screwed up.”

“You’re screwing up my sleep, right now,” the strained voice from the couch announced.

“Where the hell are your clothes, Jake?”

“I don’t know, but I’m cold.”

After much effort to suppress it, Sophie let out a good-natured snort. “Sorry,” she told Dave.

“Not your fault.” Dave grabbed a threadbare blanket from the office closet and covered Jake’s massive body. “You’d never know we were brothers. This man works out like it’s his job.”

Sophie really tried to look disapprovingly at Jake but knew she didn’t quite pull it off. The few men of her past never had physiques like that, and they each tended to have more of a feminine build.

“And that. That sparkle in your eye,” Dave said, while pointing a finger at her, “is why he does it.”

She glanced down at the sleeping man, now covered up by an afghan. She desperately wanted to uncover him but didn’t dare. So instead, Sophie relived the memory of his strong naked torso and legs. She would definitely have a little fantasy about him later. After all, Sophie was a woman who appreciated a good-looking man.

Two long hours later, after sorting through old paperwork and files on an even older computer, Sophie realized they were in a bigger mess than Dave had let on. Maybe this job was exactly where she was supposed to be. Promotional ideas popped into her head for how to create more income and spend less—problems the Hungry Lion seemed to be having.

She eyed the sleeping figure across from her. They could always host a woman’s night with male dancers. A sly smile crept across her face. Maybe Jake could make up this terrible first impression by hosting it… or dancing in it. Who knew, maybe it was one of his side jobs. With a body like that, he must be doing something that requires plenty of strength.

As if on cue, Jake rolled over and off the couch. He landed with a loud thud and grunt. Sophie sprinted out of her dilapidated office chair and to his side.

“Are you okay?”

Jake looked at her with red-rimmed eyes. She could see him trying to focus on her face and not quite getting the control he needed. “Who are you?”

“The new manager. Are you all right?”

“Yeah.” Jake brought his knees up to his chest and rested his head on them.

Feeling the need to soothe the giant, Sophie petted Jake’s curling brown hair. It was shoulder length and in bad need of a cut. “Jake,” she whispered.

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

Sophie snatched her wastebasket. “Here.”

“Jesus. Where are my clothes?” At her chuckle he turned to her. “This is not funny.”

“Oh, it absolutely is. Your clothes are on the side table.”

“How did I…” His eyes rolled a little, and Sophie put an arm around the massive man to keep him from falling over.

“This is what I want you to do. I went out and got you some Gatorade and you need to drink it. You’re probably dehydrated, and that’s making you even sicker than whatever it is you drank.”

“Maybe I don’t want to.”

“Maybe you don’t have a choice.”

“Okay.”

He sounded pathetic and Sophie couldn’t help chuckling. She grabbed the bottle and gave it to him with the cap off. The container looked unbelievably small in his hands, and a flash of what it would be like to have them on her caused a heated blush to rise to her cheeks.

“Let’s get you back on the couch.” He moaned when she put his arm over her shoulder. “Now, you need to help me Jake, you’re a big boy and I’m a small girl.” Who would love to be under you, over you, wherever it is you’d like me to be positioned. She gave a small giggle at her perverse thoughts. If Jake was one of the perks to working at the Lion, she was really going to enjoy her new job.

* * *

Jake woke a few hours later. The bugles in his head were finally silenced, and the drums had ceased to play. But Jake felt as if they had been replaced by the vice now squeezing his skull. At least he’d slept, even if it hadn’t been a fully restful slumber. He didn’t wake up soaked in sweat from fighting imaginary demons trying to kill him.

He rolled to a sitting position and sniffed. The cook seemed to be making something greasy. The delicious smell of cooking oil filled his senses, and Jake briefly wondered if his new recipe was being tried out. At least his stomach didn’t turn and lurch at the aroma. He would take that as a good sign.

Bit by bit, Jake scanned the old storage room that became their office. Something was different, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. But then again, he wasn’t really in the right frame of mind to be concentrating on anything. His brain began to clear, and the distant memory of a lady’s voice broke through the fog. She had helped him drink the power drink and given him a damp cloth on the back of his neck when he heaved in what he assumed was the wastebasket next to him. The embarrassment of someone taking care of him caused nausea, once again, to threaten the reversal of his already empty stomach. Jake was a military man—he took care of people, not the other way around. With one hand holding his head and the other reaching for his pants, Jake heard the door open.

“Good. You’re up.”

He couldn’t see who owned the sweet voice, but he knew it belonged to the woman who’d nursed him earlier. Slowly, he turned his head to look at her but she was out of his line of sight. Resigned to the fact that he was only in boxers and didn’t remember how he had been stripped down, Jake tried to pull on his pants.

“Oh, dear. Here, let me help you.”

Jake looked into his rescuer’s soft blue eyes and small freckled nose. The primal male in him wanted to see the rest of her, but the miserable head on his shoulders wouldn’t allow it. She smiled and helped him to put one foot in his jeans and then the next. With a little aid, Jake stood and she pulled them up.

“I think you can take it from here.”

“You’re not going to zip them for me?”

She scoffed at him. “And miss you struggling? No.”

He watched her walk around the steel desk and sit. “That’s my desk.” At her questioning brow, Jake elaborated, “I keep the books for my brother.”

“So I have you to thank for this mess?”

“Mess? No, they were like that when I got them. Where are my paper piles?”

“Organized.” She smirked.

He brought a hand to his head then sat back down. “Shit. What the hell happened last night?”

“That’s the million-dollar question in the bar right now. Apparently you came back here with Trixie.”

“Trixie? Do I know a Trixie?”

“Well if you didn’t, you do now.”

“I’m sorry. Who are you?” At the knock on the door Jake moaned and the woman in front of him got up to answer it.

“Thanks, Dave. No, you can’t come in.”

Jake heard his brother grunt, “I don’t see why not.”

“Because you can harass him once he’s off my couch. But right now I want him in a good mood in case he plans to camp out in here any longer.”

“I’m not camping out,” Jake grumbled. “And who the hell are you?” He watched her bump the door shut with her hip as she balanced a bowl of soup in one hand and a sandwich on a plate in the other. There was something graceful and precise about the way she did it.

“I’m the new manager. Dave told me to tell you, ‘You know, the one I told you about yesterday before I left.’ ”

Jake cringed. “I’m such an idiot. Sorry. If my head would just roll off I could get out of your hair.”

“Here, eat this. It’s chicken broth. Forget the sandwich.”

Taking the bowl from her, Jake looked at the woman before him. She had light brown hair, very tiny hands, and red glossed lips. He licked his own in response to staring at them. He supposed she must have seen him doing it, because she shifted on her feet and moved back behind the desk.

“Eat,” she urged him.

“Thank you… Umm, I still don’t know your name.”

“Sophia.”

“Just Sophia?” It amused him to see her roll those large doll-like eyes.

“Sophia Agnés. They call me Sophie. And, you are?”

“Jake Sanders.”

“Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“Eat your broth or it’s going to get cold.”

He saw it. The quick flick of the eye when it shifts to see something clearer and then moves back just as fast. Her gaze had gone to his chest. Uneasy, Jake tried to remember the last time a woman had looked at him bare-chested. Sophie sat with her hands folded in front of her watching him, clearly trying not to notice he was still half-undressed and scarred. Suddenly it felt like that dream where he was giving an oral report in high school, only to look down and notice the only thing he had on was his underwear. A strange feeling, seeing that up until a little while ago, that was all he had on.

Jake put the soup down on top of a small filing cabinet then gave her a weak smile. “I’m chilly.” He bent and picked up his shirt then slid it over his head. “Thanks for mothering me. Not much of a first day, eh?”

“You’re forgiven. Now at the risk of sounding rude… I need to get back to reviewing your revenue. Or lack thereof.” The look on her face told Jake of the hopelessness she felt toward balancing the books, then she started clicking keys again.

“If you need any help, just give a holler. Actually, please whisper today.” He discovered he liked making her smile. It brightened up her face and showed in her eyes. Jake hoisted himself off the couch and picked up his bowl of soup. As much as he would have liked to stay and make her flash that grin again, he knew he should get out of the way so Sophie could work. Besides, he probably smelled as bad as he felt.

“I wouldn’t go out there, if I were you.” He turned and saw she never looked up from her computer. “Stay. At least you’ll have peace and quiet. They’re planning on razzing the living hell out of you, and I don’t think you can take it yet.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you’re still green.”

He laughed because she was right. He felt a little green and besides… looking at a lovely lady sitting behind a desk wasn’t such a hardship. “Would it bother you if I went back to sleep?”

“Only if you don’t eat the soup first.”

* * *

The day went by quicker than Sophie thought possible. She made a mental note to bring in some small plants and pictures the next day to make her new office cozier. When Jake finally left for home to sleep off the remainder of his hangover, there’d been hoots and hollers from the patrons. Sophie felt kinda bad for the big guy. He’d only wanted to get out without being harassed, and he’d even contemplated trying to squeeze through the office window. Sophie had assured him there was no way he would fit.

Once home, she slipped on her pink fuzzy slippers and ran down the day’s activities to her childhood friend, Kathy. The one person she could always count on and would always listen to.

“Sooooo, how’s the new job?”

“Good.” Sophie took a bite of her lasagna while cradling the phone to her ear. “Dave, my boss, is pretty cute.”

“Really? Tell me more.”

“He’s tall, dark, and handsome.”

Kathy made a gagging noise. “Really? You can’t come up with anything better than that?”

“Okay, okay. He’s much more your type than mine. Dave is supernice, very considerate, and has nice lips. His brother has a great body,” she added under her breath.

“What? What! Speak louder, girl.”

“Dave’s brother, Jake, was passed out on my office couch for most of the day, and half-naked. Kathy, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man with a body like his before. I mean he turned me on just by lying there.”

Kathy giggled into the phone. “Yum. What do you plan on doing with this hunky brother?”

“Nothing. I wouldn’t know what to do with a man like that, and I’m terrible at flirting.”

“Oh, come on! Have a little fun. Plus, your parents aren’t here to reprimand you, so go wild.”

“He looks like trouble.”

“Even better.”

Sophie gave out a loud huff. “I’ll tell you what. If I change my mind and decide to start a little something with a man who can make you sweat with just a glance at his arms, you’ll be the first to know and my mother the last.”

“Promise?”

Sophie let the cloak of doubt guide her next words: “I don’t know, Kathy. Maybe it’s too soon.”

“Hmmm… maybe you’re chickenshit.”

“Could be that, too.”

“Yes Mom, I’m fine… Yes, I know I don’t usually drink like that… No, I’m not going to do it again anytime soon. Yesterday was just…” Jake walked into the Hungry Lion and saluted the patrons and Dave. They all called back to him in return. “There’s no need to worry, I’m fine.”

“Is your mommy on the phone givin’ poor Jakie a hard time?” Louie teased.

“I guess the boy can’t hold his liquor anymore,” Stuart hollered from his barstool perch.

Jake flipped them all off. “Yes, I love you too, Ma.”

He closed his cell phone and glared at the older patrons sitting at the bar. Louie smiled and said, “Did you find out who Trixie is yet, Gunny?”

“I heard she’s a real looker,” Stuart taunted.

Louie picked his beer up and pretended to examine the contents, “I heard he made a damn fool out of himself by throwing up on her, too,” he snickered.

Jake moved like a panther, his well-toned body quick and agile. Louie, his prey, sprinted around the bar as Jake moved in pursuit. One of Jake’s massive hands clutched the other guy’s arm and brought him down to the ground in good-humored fun. They knocked over a chair and table as they wrestled, and Jake could hear his brother yelling but didn’t pay any bother. Not until a shooting pain came from his ear. Jake instantly realized those eleven years as a Marine, most of which were on the front line, was no match for a woman with two fingers twisting his ear, and him, into submission. Disbelief carried embarrassment to the front of his thoughts and Jake had to push down the apology it left on the tip of his tongue. The woman standing over him looked spitting mad and devilish. . .