A Kiss in the Dark: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance
A bad boy can make a girl feel so good.Grace’s attraction to her new web designer, amateur boxer and all-around playboy, Ryan Granger, is off the charts. But the bad boy of programming is not someone she needs to get entangled with. She’s got too many responsibilities and no time for games. She has deadlines to meet and a sick father to care for. Ryan is tempting, but being with him is completely unrealistic. Still, a girl can fantasize, right?Ryan wants Grace badly, but while he’s building her website, they have to keep things strictly professional. Thankfully, walking her home during a city-wide blackout is on his own time and whatever happens in the dark doesn’t count. He’s falling hard for Grace and he is a man used to winning. The only problem is, he’s got to convince her that he’s worthy of her trust.
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First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2015
Copyright © Lisa Fox 2015
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Cover design by Becky Glibbery
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to be identified as the author of this work.
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available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are
the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to
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entirely coincidental.
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Ebook Edition © May 2015 ISBN: 9780008115517
Version 2015-05-28
I am incredibly blessed to have so many supportive and wonderful people in my life.
Thank you Sara Brookes, Chris Cinelli, Jessie Cinelli, Allison Gibbons, Kacey Hammell, Dori Koch, Peggy Morgan, Jennifer Probst, Fred Urfer, Liia Ann White, Sabrina York
And my editor, Charlotte Ledger, who made this all possible.
Contents
The alarm clock cut through Ryanâs blackout dreams, and he reached for it from under the covers, slapping it silent. He groaned, opened one eye, then quickly shut it. The morning light was way too bright, like needles in his eyeballs. His next breath awoke searing pain in his chest, which ignited a chain reaction of agony that shot through his shoulders, neck, and head.
âToo early,â a groggy female voice grumbled beside him.
Ryanâs eyes snapped back open. There was someone in bed with him. He lifted his face off the mattress and slowly turned toward the sound. Every inch of the journey was an exercise in misery. The room spun nauseatingly around, and it took a moment before his eyeballs finally settled in his head enough for him to see the pretty blonde woman beside him. Traces of last nightâs makeup still rimmed her wide brown eyes and accentuated her high cheekbones. She had a salon tan and a gym body and he had no idea who she was.
She smiled and stroked his face, a gentle caress of her long, acrylic nails. âYou were incredible last night.â
She grazed his eyebrow, and the flash of pain brought the memories back with razor-sharp clarity. The smell of the gym, sweat and aggression, bright lights on the ring, fists and blood. Three long rounds, a hard-won fight. His opponent was good, heâd made Ryan work for every point. Despite the regulation headgear, he was sure his face had paid some of the price. Then victory, his arms raised high into the air, and the announcement that he would advance to the finals. There was laughter and champagneâhis gaze refocused on the woman in his bedâand the Ring Card Girl from the match.
She touched her fingertips to his lips, then rested her hand on his chest. âYouâre going to be the champion for sure.â
Prickles of heat cascaded down his spine as her hand moved lower, tracing the path of dark hair over his pec to the center of his body. The scrape of her nails was intensely erotic, almost too much for his bruised body to handle, and every pleasurable shiver set off another wave of pain. She brushed his navel, but he caught her hand before she could do something he would not want to stop. This was nice and all, but the alarm clock had woken him up for a reason. He had to get to work.
He lifted her hand and kissed her fingertips. âNext timeââ His chest seized up. Oh God, what was her name? He didnât know her name! He smiled, trying to cover up the unexpected pause. ââDarling.â He kissed her fingers again. âIâd love to stay in bed with you all day, but duty calls, and my landlord is not a forgiving or generous man.â
âCall in sick,â she said, sex in her eyes.
It was tempting, but Ryan had a firm no ditching responsibilities policy. Drink hard, play hard, work hard. The playing had been fun last nightâreally fun as he was beginning to recallâbut today it was time for work. He threw back the covers and got out of bed to remove any further temptation. The hardwood floor was cool beneath his bare feet, the morning air chilly on his naked skin. He took a deep breath to quell some of the heat sizzling in his blood and bring his body temperature back down to normal.
