Risky Moves

Adam’s clothes made a messy trail across the floor; the tub was filled to the brim, the water perfectly clear. Five feet ten inches of presumably naked man was sunk into it up to his armpits.

With his eyes closed.

Loath to disturb him, but drawn inside nonetheless, Julia inched closer. Adam didn’t move so much as an eyelash. She should wake him up, she thought, before his bones boiled down to jelly. Soon as she got a good long look.

The thought of all that exposed skin—wet, warm and male—made her fingers twitch. What would happen if she touched him? Very, very lightly?

She leaned over the tub, one hand extended, one finger unfurling….

“What are you looking for?” His eyes were open. Electric. She sprang back, but his fingers were already locked around her wrist. She didn’t try to escape. Why run when all she really wanted was to stay?

His quiet question hung in the air. What are you looking for?

“You,” she said. For the past ten years.

Dear Reader,

When I began writing Smooth Moves (Harlequin Temptation Heat #839), I wasn’t thinking of doing a spin-off book. But as I developed Zack Brody’s story, his somewhat mysterious brother Adam became a large part of the plot, even though he remained offstage. Then Julia Knox popped up, hinting at her history with Adam—what did happen on the night of her eighteenth birthday?—and I knew there was another story to be told.

So here we go again! Zack and Cathy are getting married. The admiral’s on hand, along with the Heartbroken, and you’ll get to read more about the Brody family, too. Would I forget Lauren? She deserves a “special” hero of her very own…though some might call him her comeuppance.

Welcome back to Quimby!

Carrie

P.S. I love to hear from readers. Please write to me in care of Harlequin, through www.temptationauthors.com, or by clicking on my name in the author pages at www.eHarlequin.com.

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

689—BLACK VELVET

704—A TOUCH OF BLACK VELVET

720—BLACK VELVET VALENTINES

839—SMOOTH MOVES

HARLEQUIN DUETS

25—CUSTOM-BUILT COWBOY

32—CONTERFEIT COWBOY

38—KEEPSAKE COWBOY

HARLEQUIN BLAZE

20—PLAYING WITH FIRE

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

“THIS IS THE BEST IDEA you’ve ever had,” Julia said, trying to convince herself. She sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to muss the spread, and folded her hands in her lap. “Quit fussing. Just sit and wait. He’ll be here any minute.”

A bottle of the most expensive champagne she could afford—fifteen dollars—was chilling in the motel’s plastic ice bucket. Red roses were positioned on the mirrored bureau so that the reflection made the bouquet seem doubly extravagant. She’d brought along every candle she could scrounge up and had placed them all around the room, giving the anonymous space a romantic glow. She’d even bought a box of condoms and put on the sexiest lingerie she owned—a peach silk robe and matching slip-style nightie.

The minutes ticked by. Julia tightened her threaded fingers. When her stomach fluttered, she told herself it was nerves, not misgivings.

The stage was set. She knew what she was doing.

Complete physical intimacy was the next step in a logical progression.

It was time for her to make love with Zack Brody.

Ten years later

EVEN AT THE BEST of times, Adam Brody didn’t care for wedding receptions. The clamoring crowd, the overabundant feast, the cloying scents of flowers, perfume and aftershave—not his style. But it was clear that rock-bottom bad had been achieved when the maid of honor walked up to him and said, “I want to defy death.”

The wedding had gone off without a hitch. And, really, Adam had nothing to complain about, considering that he’d tolerated far worse ordeals. Like three months in a hospital bed flat on his back. He’d been managing—aside from his stint as toastmaster general—to fly below the radar of most of the guests.

That is, until Julia Knox made her big pronouncement.

Adam nearly swallowed the toothpick from the little sugared grape and melting cheese thingamabob he’d just popped into his mouth. The Quimby Woodwind Trio was playing a reedy rendition of “Sunrise, Sunset,” which meant his slow torture was almost over. He was one round of goodbyes away from freedom.

First he’d have to deal with Julia. Of all the words he’d imagined she might say when they met again, “I want to defy death” weren’t among them.

Carefully he removed the frilled toothpick from his mouth. “Pardon?”

“I want to defy death.” She looked straight at him with serious hazel eyes. Julia was almost always serious. Which was why he couldn’t fathom—

“Teach me how,” she said. Forcefully. Without blinking. As if she weren’t wearing several hundred dollars worth of tulle and a floral headpiece that made her look like Heidi of the Alps.

Weddings did strange things to women’s heads, inside and out. After Adam’s one brush with the phenomenon had ended in catastrophe across the board, he’d renewed his policy to avoid contact with marriage-minded females whenever possible. The fact that his older brother, Zack, was today’s groom and that he’d played the best man had necessitated some pretty fancy footwork—especially for a gimp. Luckily Zack understood, having endured three solid months of his fiancée’s obsession with color matching, ribbon tying and invitation lists.