Wicked Nights

Winner takes it all…off

Former diving champion Piper Clark never loses. Unfortunately, if she doesn’t land this lucrative contract, her diving business will fail. Worse still, it will be at the hands of her childhood nemesis, Cal Brennan—six feet of hard, rugged former Navy SEAL. So Piper proposes a wager: whoever loses the diving contract must take orders from the winner…in bed.

Cal needs this contract for his own reasons. A former rescue swimmer, he may be having a few issues with diving since his last mission ended, but Piper doesn’t need to know that. Something about her impulsive nature makes Cal rise to the bait, and there’s nothing he’d like more than to show Piper exactly what rules are good for.

All bets are on. And someone’s about to start playing dirty….

“I’d like to propose a bet...”

Piper had to stand on tiptoe to reach Cal’s ear. Since she was pressed against his butt, he wasn’t complaining.

“What are we negotiating?” His voice sounded gruff, but some things were definitely beyond his control.

“The Fiesta contract.” She didn’t retreat. Nope. If anything, she pressed in tighter.

“I’m not stepping away,” he warned. If he wanted to bring more veterans out here to Discovery Island to work, he had to have that business.

“I wouldn’t ask you to do that…more than once.” He felt rather than saw her smile against his throat. Piper had always been honest. It was one of the things he liked about her. Her next words were a whisper meant for him alone. “Loser takes orders from the winner for one night—in bed.”

And…whoa.

He hadn’t seen that one coming.

“We’ve always had a certain…chemistry. Aren’t you curious?”

Oh, yeah.

“I accept,” he growled.

Dear Reader,

My husband calls my Discovery Island books my vacation books, and he may have a point. I wrote much of my first Mills & Boon Blaze book, Wicked Sexy, sitting on the bathroom floor of a Tahitian bungalow with a large albino gecko for company. It was the only room with electricity where I wouldn’t disturb my sleeping kids—although I’m pretty sure they woke up the first time I spotted Mr. Gecko staring down at me from the thatched roof and nearly launched the laptop at his head.

Pieces of our vacations also made it into Wicked Nights. I’ve always been a fish lover, and not just served up on my plate. I fell in love with snorkeling when a very sexy, itty-bitty-swimsuit-wearing French man in Bora Bora told me to jump into the current and look at the fish. I did, and, despite almost drowning, I was hooked. I’ve tried to share some of the beauty of that underwater world in Piper’s dives. While Discovery Island is a figment of my imagination, the kelp forests and damselfish Piper sees are not. And hey, just for you all, I made sure to do my research and swim with sharks before I included them in the book.

There will be a third book—Tag deserves a happily-ever-after—and I’m thinking it’s time to vacation again. Where do you think we should go?

Happy reading,

Anne Marsh

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ANNE MARSH writes sexy contemporary and paranormal romances because the world can always enjoy one more alpha male. She started writing romance after getting laid off from her job as a technical writer—and quickly decided happily-ever-afters trumped software manuals. She lives in Northern California with her family and six cats.

For Gwen and Kimberley. Books definitely don’t write themselves—and you’ve been with me every step of the way on the road to Mills & Boon Blaze!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Extract

Copyright

1

PIPER CLARK CUT hard right, the prow of her motorboat slicing through the clear blue water, yards in front of his. He’d have recognized that impish, take-no-prisoners grin anywhere.

Plus, she flipped him the bird as her wake hit his deck, soaking both him and his gear.

Definitely Piper.

Good thing for her he’d grown up in the past twenty years. Cal Brennan’s ten-year-old self would have gunned his motor and gotten even, racing her for Discovery Island’s marina until he’d swamped her deck every bit as much as she’d swamped his. Tit for tat—those were the rules of engagement they’d always competed by. Still, he picked up speed, hugging her wake—and was just in time to watch as she maneuvered her boat into the last decent slip. Mentally, he readjusted his assessment of his maturity. Score one for Piper. He forced his fingers to unclench from the wheel, counted to ten and concentrated on searching out an empty slip. She waved jauntily as he motored past her, close enough to read the name painted on the boat’s side. What kind of name was the Feelin’ Free anyhow?

She’d always named things badly. He distinctly recalled being hit over the head with a stuffed teddy bear named Grand Poo-bah. There had also been a rescue puppy named Mr. Cuddles. Mr. Cuddles had been a mostly deaf white Boxer with a severe drool problem. Mr. Cuddles had moved on to the Happy Hunting grounds some years before, but apparently Piper’s lack of naming skills had stuck.