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Books
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Embers of Lust
Genre: Contemporary
Series:
Red Willows,
Book 5
Format: Ebook
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They can only deny their
passion for so long.
Riya Hendrickson was just back from her around the world trip, relaxed
and happy right up until she walked into her job and found the one man
there who turned her world upside down; Firefighter Cameron Liaci. Being
away gave her time to move on, or so she thought.
Cameron’s thought that Riya
would be around when he got back to town had been a mistake. As he
waited for her to return, he realizes he doesn’t ever want to let her
go. It may have been a one-night stand between them but the heat is
still there, he feels it and knows she does as well.
Will he find a way to coax
the embers back into a full fledge flame? |
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Excerpt |
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Content below is not
suitable if under 18.
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Riya jogged from her car toward the back door of the diner.
Shit, my first day back and I’m almost late, because I
was too damn comfortable in bed.
She’d just returned the day before from her vacation. A word
that she swore was a misnomer because while it had been a
blast, she now needed to recover from it. So now, a vacation
was needed to recover from the very thing which was supposed
to give you rest. She rolled her eyes at her brain’s train
and hopped over the puddle in her way. The rain had
momentarily stopped but she had no doubt, given the dark
clouds floating around, that it would be in downpour status
soon enough.
Jiggling the handle, she stepped through into the back and
just as she closed the door behind her, the skies opened up
once more.
Thank God, I’m inside now.
She yawned and smiled at the dishwasher, Martin.
“Hey, hon. Glad to see you back. We missed you around here.”
She shrugged out of her coat and patted him on the shoulder
as she moved past. “Thanks, Martin. Missed you too.”
“Did you have fun?” he called out over the spray of water on
the plates as he rinsed.
“I had a blast. Didn’t want to come back.” She threw him a
smile and ducked around the corner to hang up her things.
When she walked back out, she was tying on her apron and
trying to get more in the mindset of taking orders instead
of being a visitor in places. “How are things here?” She ran
her gaze over him, noticing he looked a bit older than when
she’d left. She loved everyone here and they were family to
her. “How are you doing?”
“Had a bit of the flu for a while, so that’s why you are
looking at me like I aged ten years. I’m fine, promise.”
“Holding you to that,” she said, blowing him a kiss. Pushing
through the door, she waved at Todd, the owner and fry cook
of the joint.
The relief on his face nearly made her laugh.
“Thank God,” he said when she neared him. “No more vacations
for you.”
Riya smiled. “Missed me, huh?”
“That Molly is okay but she’s definitely not you. And your
boyfriend was having a hard time without you. I’m positive
he’s here today. Maybe you should take his food out to him
and cheer him up.”
Riya didn’t even bat an eye. There was only one man who Todd
called her boyfriend and that was octogenarian Emmett
McGinty. With his tufts of white hair sprouting out at all
angles, he reminded her a bit of just a crazy old loon, but
she loved him. He never failed to make her smile and laugh.
“You know, you could just say you missed me, it would be
okay.”
Todd narrowed his eyes at her and gestured for her to get
moving. Chuckling, she stepped out into the diner and swept
it with her gaze, locating Emmett in the back.
“I missed you.”
With those three words, her world slowed. The entire thing.
Her heartbeat grew loud in her ears while everything else
faded. No matter where she went, or what she did, who she
met in her life, this one voice had the power to render her
into a pile of mush.
And the man who owned it…Cameron Liaci.
She didn’t have to turn to see him beside her. This man she
felt all the way to the marrow of her bones. He’d ingrained
himself into her, her skin, blood, everything. Especially,
her mind.
She may not have had to look, but being the glutton for
punishment she was, she did. Then her breathing grew
difficult. |
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Copyright © Aliyah
Burke, 2017.
All Rights Reserved. |
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