Jasmine Grey is an up and coming country rock star, just completing a successful tour opening for a top country rock group. If only her bass player, Cobra, would leave her alone. When he attacks her the last night of the tour she is so shaken she retreats from everything and buys a home in the Texas Hill Country. She is still spooked, however, by memories of Cobra and his vows of vengeance. Her cousin, Libby McCoy, Aron’s wife, insists she needs protection. Enter Caleb Branam, former Delta Force now an agent for The Omega Team.

Caleb took himself off the active roster after a hostage rescue went wrong and members of his team were killed, but Aron manages to persuade him to take on the job of Jasmine’s bodyguard. As the days go by and she is writing music for her new album, the attraction between them grows more and more intense. When she returns to the road and Cobra begins his campaign of harassment, it will be up to Caleb to stop it for good and for both of them to realize what they feel for each other is the real deal. But will they be able to?

  

EXCERPT

“I have unusual hearing. I had to strain a little, but it was nice listening to you.”

“Careful, Caleb.” She giggled. “I think you just gave me a compliment.”

He almost got that closed-up look on his face again. Almost.

“I can say nice things when the moment arises.”

“Yes, you can.” In fact, his compliment made her feel positively giddy. “And thank you very much.” Then something he said clicked in her brain. “Have you been listening to my other music?”

He dropped his gaze to his plate. “I might have downloaded a track or two,” he mumbled.

“Why, Caleb Branam. Thank you so much. I’m flattered.”

“Yeah, well, don’t let it go to your head.” He bit into his hamburger, killing any further exchange of words.

Jasmine swallowed her smile and dug into her hamburger. By the time they finished eating and he’d had one beer to her two, she was a little mellow but still excited. She could feel it in her blood. These songs were good. Maybe the best she’d ever done. She couldn’t wait until they hit the studio tomorrow and she heard the guys play the tunes.

On the way home, she leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes, and hummed the tune she’d just finished that afternoon. She couldn’t wait to get into rehearsals tomorrow. She was so busy thinking about it all she didn’t realize they’d pulled into her driveway until the truck stopped.

“Oh!” She opened her eyes. “We’re here.”

“Yep. Have nice snooze?”

“I wasn’t sleeping,” she denied. “I was just imagining my music.”

“Okay. Let’s imagine it inside.”

In the house, she dropped her keys on the counter, put her purse next to them, and whirled around with her arms in the air. She was just so jazzed, just as she always was when she completed new songs. She wished she could soar through the air. She paid little attention to her actions until she lost her balance and stumbled into Caleb. He wrapped his arms around her to catch her, and every pulse point in her body began to thunder like a herd of elephants.

Jasmine wrapped her arms around his neck to balance herself and found herself staring into dark eyes that seemed to see right inside her. He cupped his palm to her head to hold it steady and pressed his mouth to hers. His lips were cool and firm, yet, at the contact, heat flooded her body. The tip of his tongue traced the closed seam of her mouth, and when he added pressure, she opened for him without thinking.

And practically detonated right there. His tongue scorched the inside of her mouth, coaxing her own tongue to dance with his. Everything faded away, leaving only the two of them and a kiss that trumped any she had ever had in her life. It went on and on, stealing her breath and making her nipples harden and her pussy tingle. She held on for dear life as the world spun around her.

Then, with the same suddenness, he broke the contact and lowered her to her feet. She stared at him through glazed eyes, trying to make her brain function again.

“What—”

“What is the right word.” He took two steps back, putting distance between them. “I’m sorry. That was a mistake”

Jasmine licked her lips, the taste of him still lingering there as she struggled to get her breathing under control. “It didn’t feel like a mistake to me.”

Shut up, Jasmine. You know it was a mistake. Wrong guy, wrong time.

“Trust me, it is.” He had rearranged his features into his perfected expressionless mask again.

“But—”

“Listen,” he interrupted. “There is no but. I haven’t kissed anyone in more than a year, and this is not the place to start.” He took another step backward. “This can’t happen. We have a business arrangement requiring my entire focus. And the last thing I need in my life is some kind of entanglement here.”

ABOUT DESIREE:

Known the world over as the oldest living author of erotic romance, and referred to by USA Today as the Nora Roberts of erotic romance, Desiree Holt is three times a finalist for an EPIC E-Book Award (and a winner in 2014), a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, winner of the first 5 Heart Sweetheart of the Year Award at The Romance Studio as well as twice a CAPA Award winner for best BDSM book of the year, and winner of the Holt Medallion for Excellence in Romance Literature. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The (London) Daily Mail, The New Delhi Times and numerous other national and international publications.

“Desiree Holt is the most amazing erotica author of our time and each story is more fulfilling then the last.” (Romance Junkies)

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