An ironic smile touched the corners of her mouth. In more ways than one. She looked up at her friend, pleading. Summer’s eyes narrowed into bright green slits.“You know what? My house, my rules. So, no! I won’t turn it off. Not a chance!” She took the harshness of her words away with a gentle smile. Dropping back onto the pillow stuffed behind her, Rowena rolled her head against the arm of the couch and stared up at the ceiling.“You do realize it’s over between Heath and me, right? I mean, it was only supposed to last for a few days, anyway. What can I say? I was nothing more than a pet project to him. And I don’t want another few days with him just because he feels guilty his father tried to kill me.” A launched throw pillow landed squarely on her chest.“Oh, Rowe… I adore you! You’re the strongest, most determined woman I know but right now, you’re so full of shit. I think you’re just scared to open yourself up and let him in. You’re scared shitless t
Heath pulled her beneath the surface of the lake. His hands trailed up her body from ankle to calf to thigh. One played rogue beneath her bathing suit as he pulled her face to his for an underwater kiss. Surfacing moments later, Rowena was light-headed from lack of oxygen and pleasantly giddy with desire. Her gaze raked the shore, where her family had gathered to enjoy the long holiday weekend. She was glad Heath had talked her into coming, into getting away. While the media frenzy had quickly died down, things were still a little crazy back in Seattle. At least, they no longer had to worry about Steven Lockwood. At the moment, he was rotting in some tiny little prison she hoped to God was very unpleasant. Even with everything that had happened, the man still had the audacity to ask Heath to post bail. He’d delighted in declining. Rowena, on the other hand, had taken advantage of this trip to mend fences with her mother. Thin
Hi, Y'all!!!! Welcome to Emma’S Romantic Book Nook! Thank you so much for choosing 'Speaking of Sex & Lust' as your current reading. I hope you will enjoy it! Feel free to comment as much as you like. Any comment, question, or constructive criticism is more than welcome. And also, feel free to reward this book with gems, if you think it deserves any. There is no specific updating schedule. I usually update my stories EVERY SINGLE DAY, 1-2 chapters/day. You just keep an eye on your libraries! Therefore, remember to add this book to your libraries in order to get info about every update! Since English is not my first language, you might find some errors… Please, be kind and patient with me. I’m still learning while writing! That’s all from me, for now. I'm going back to my writing. Have fun reading this story! Stay safe! XOXO Emma. (Book Nook - A place you like to be when you read).
“Rowe, babe… As much as I enjoy this girly ritual, I’m really starting to resent you taking over my Friday nights.” Rowena Killian looked up from her half-painted toes and rolled her eyes at her best friend, Summer.“Funny, ‘babe’, but I don’t remember inviting you, anyway.”“Well, I know what you’d be doing if I wasn’t here…”“Uhm… Enjoying a nice, long, relaxing bath?” Rowena replied, raising a pointed eyebrow.“Please… So damn boring...” As she flopped down onto the sofa beside Rowena, ice cubes rattled in Summer’s fresh drink.“You’ve been here almost two years, Rowe… Don’t you think it’s time to see something besides your cubicle and this apartment?”“I like my apartment.” There was nothing wrong with it. Or the fact that she preferred to spend her time safe inside it. Taking a sip of her drink, Rowena tried not to let the familiar irritation surface. Summer meant well… as always.“And junk food… apparently. You need to find a man… Pronto!”
That request nearly made Heath Evans fall off his chair. Was this some kind of a prank call? Considering the timid way this woman had started her phone call, that last statement had been a shocker. Jerking up, he mouthed ‘What the hell, dude?!’ to Timothy, his forty-two-year-old producer. The man supposedly screening his calls just shrugged and went back to playing with switches. Heath fought down the urge to strangle him. He’d wrangled with that sensation often over their five-year friendship. There was something about the other man’s laid-back attitude that tended to grate against his nerves. Especially during the past few months. Timothy knew he didn’t like to deal with this sort of thing on air. Heath could barely walk out his door without being approached by some primped-up, sassy woman looking for him to rock her world in every single way possible. All they ever really wanted was an instant catapult to notoriety… or money.
“We have to do something.” Heath’s voice echoed against the impersonal walls of the conference room. He sat in the padded seat to Timothy’s right and looked across at the two gentlemen he’d asked to join them, the station manager and their attorney. “We agree. The entire show was dominated by calls about… Alissa for the third day in a row. Even though your ratings are up this can’t continue. If we take no action, there will be a backlash against the show eventually. Your listeners want and expect you to do something.” “Something we all know I can’t do.” He leaned over the conference table and studied the two men opposite him. They walked around, their mouths pulled down into perpetual frowns as if their every decision affected the balance of the world. Only, today their decisions affected him. Heath hadn’t felt this out of control in years. Yes, he had money, fast cars, and a house he owned outright and had remodeled with his own two hand
Closing her eyes, she rested her head and just sat for a minute, soaking up a luxury she rarely made time for. After a few minutes of pure, unadulterated bliss, Rowena reached for a piece of brownie, letting the salted caramel melt in her mouth and slip down her throat. The bold, salty taste burst through her mouth, reminding her of the brownies her grandmother had always made every time she knew Rowena was coming to visit her. Times like these she missed her family… even her mother. Yes, she’d needed to escape Fairhaven, Massachusetts, to put s considerable space between her family’s overprotective tendencies and her mother’s inability to understand. This decision had been an important step in her recovery, one she’d needed to take. The anonymity she’d found in Seattle hadn’t hurt, either. Here, she wasn’t Rowena Killian… In Seattle, she was just another nobody.“Please, God… Let me remain nobody…” she whispered. Closing her eyes, Row
“Everything’s set with the girl?” Timothy met Heath at the door, pushing back a throng of women to let him into ‘Fog Room’, one of Seattle’s hotspots. These personal appearances were part of the job, something Heath loathed.“Yes. We’re meeting Saturday. We’ll have dinner at ‘Le Cirque’. I’ve already reserved a private room.”“Private, huh? Don’t tell me you’re considering her request... I know you’ve been off your dating game lately, but that’s low.” Heath frowned. He was not off his game, he was out of it entirely… by choice. He was tired of pasting on a smile and playing someone else, someone he no longer wanted to be.“Of course not. I’m trying to keep a low profile. Somewhere I can get in and out without anyone noticing me.”“Dr. Lovejoy!!!” Two women slipped past the bouncer holding back the crowd and raced toward him, yelling at the top of their lungs. Heath took a bracing step backward and held his breath. Before they could reach him, another boun
Heath pulled her beneath the surface of the lake. His hands trailed up her body from ankle to calf to thigh. One played rogue beneath her bathing suit as he pulled her face to his for an underwater kiss. Surfacing moments later, Rowena was light-headed from lack of oxygen and pleasantly giddy with desire. Her gaze raked the shore, where her family had gathered to enjoy the long holiday weekend. She was glad Heath had talked her into coming, into getting away. While the media frenzy had quickly died down, things were still a little crazy back in Seattle. At least, they no longer had to worry about Steven Lockwood. At the moment, he was rotting in some tiny little prison she hoped to God was very unpleasant. Even with everything that had happened, the man still had the audacity to ask Heath to post bail. He’d delighted in declining. Rowena, on the other hand, had taken advantage of this trip to mend fences with her mother. Thin
An ironic smile touched the corners of her mouth. In more ways than one. She looked up at her friend, pleading. Summer’s eyes narrowed into bright green slits.“You know what? My house, my rules. So, no! I won’t turn it off. Not a chance!” She took the harshness of her words away with a gentle smile. Dropping back onto the pillow stuffed behind her, Rowena rolled her head against the arm of the couch and stared up at the ceiling.“You do realize it’s over between Heath and me, right? I mean, it was only supposed to last for a few days, anyway. What can I say? I was nothing more than a pet project to him. And I don’t want another few days with him just because he feels guilty his father tried to kill me.” A launched throw pillow landed squarely on her chest.“Oh, Rowe… I adore you! You’re the strongest, most determined woman I know but right now, you’re so full of shit. I think you’re just scared to open yourself up and let him in. You’re scared shitless t
Rowena stared at Steven as he was pacing through her living room. Her butt was numb from sitting on the wooden floor for the last several hours, her back was pressed tightly to the wall. It didn’t matter, though... She’d sit here forever if it meant this awful man wouldn’t point that gun at her again. She’d honestly thought her life would end the moment he’d realized Heath had called the police. Steven had stalked across the room, grabbed a handful of her hair, and pressed the hard barrel of the gun to her head. He’d ground it against her skin… the spot still throbbed. But he hadn’t pulled the trigger. Not at her, anyway… Instead, he’d shot several times through the front window. She didn’t think he’d been aiming at the cops, but… The more Rowena watched him, the less certain she was that he could do it. That he could… kill her. Yes, the man had issues, but was he a murderer? A killer? His goal w
Hi, Y'all!!!!! The end of this book is almost near... There are 2 chapters + Epilogue left that I'm going to publish later on or, maybe, tomorrow. Thank you so much for everything... for reading this book, for your gems. I must say I'm a bit disappointed about the comment section of this book. I would've loved to hear from you, to find out more about your thoughts and opinions about this story. Maybe have a few reviews... Nonetheless, thank you kindly for every single thing. I am preparing a new story that I hope to start publishing in a week or so. I'm not a spoiler fan, so I won't give up too many details. All I can say about it is... well, it's going to be a Romance story (as always). Hope to have you by my side in my future adventure. THANK YOU AGAIN! BACI E ABBRACCI (HUGS AND KISSES) Emma
“Just a minute…” Rowena pulled the warm, fuzzy bathrobe tighter around her body and jerked the knot to be sure. The pounding on her front door had been so loud she’d heard it all the way inside her bathroom, despite the closed door. Something about the noise set her spine on edge. She looked through the peephole but didn’t recognize the older man with black hair standing on her porch. “Who is it?” “Rowena? I’m Steven, Heath’s father. I need to talk to you.” Heath’s father? She didn’t even know he had one. He’d mentioned his mother, but never his father. She’d just assumed the man was either dead or not a part of his life. Just more proof that he had never seen her as someone really important. She’d shared the intimate details of her worst experience, but he… well, he hadn’t even mentioned a father living here in the city. Rowena looked back through the peephole again. She did recognize a certain resemblance between the two men.
Heath walked into his house, his stomach still rocking and rolling from that horrible encounter with his father. Steven was such a bastard but he was able to protect the woman who started to mean the world to him. The old bastard asked for 100k… Heath gave him the check so… Rowena’s identity would remain anonymous. It was over… He’d taken his father’s word. He hated to do it but didn’t have much choice. Aside from killing the man where he stood, something Heath wasn’t willing to do, much as he was tempted, he could never be certain.“Rowena? Baby girl, I’m here…” He called gently through the house. It was late, almost two in the morning, and if she had fallen asleep, Heath didn’t want to wake her.
‘A wild ride...’ Rowena turned her focus back to the paper in her hand and continued reading… or trying to.“‘Susan from Seattle is on the line. Let’s find that spark in your love life.’”“‘Dr. Lovejoy, how can I make a man commit? I’ve been dating the same guy for three years now, the sex is fantastic, we practically live together, but he will not propose.’”“‘Susan, I can honestly say this is the question women ask me the most. There’s a simple answer, but unfortunately, no one likes to hear it. Men who want to commit do, the ones who don’t… well, they won’t. There isn’t anything you can do or say. What you need out of the relationship is something he can’t or won’t give you. Get out
They drove back late that afternoon, stopping for a quick bite at a roadside place along the way. Rowena knew their weekend was coming to an end, but she didn’t expect the veneer of peacefulness she had wrapped around herself, thin though it might have been, to break almost the minute they walked through Heath’s front door. The abbreviated tour of his place, punctuated by stolen kisses and a brief bout of groping in the kitchen, came to an abrupt end in the back hallway when Rowena’s heel crunched on shards of broken glass.“Baby, call 911, then get next door.” Heath shoved his cell into her hand as he thrust Rowena unceremoniously out the door. She couldn’t decide whether to be pissed or scared because he hadn’t joined her.&nb
A bolt of lightning ripped open the sky, and the rain poured. They were soaked in minutes, puddles of water collecting in the seats and floorboards of his SUV when they finally made it there. Even as the day darkened and the rain came down, the air around them thickened with humidity… and tension. Rowena’s words hung between them. It was difficult to breathe against the band tightening his chest. He was so far out on a limb here that it wasn’t even funny. Heath didn’t want to return to reality, either. He’d done what she asked… He cured her sexual inhibitions and showed her there was absolutely nothing wrong with her sex drive. And now the thought of her sharing those moments with another man, of him touching her skin, kissing her mouth, sliding home deep inside her bod