FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR DESIREE HOLT

A newly edited version!

A freezing winter’s night, a hot stranger and a sexy female with erotic plans. One hot Valentine’s Day coming right up.

When Jessie Rawlins’ boyfriend dumps her just before Valentine’s Day, she ends up by herself at her isolated cabin in Maine with all the trappings for the holiday—including a bag of kinky toys—and no one to celebrate with. Then a snowstorm dumps gorgeous Riley Malone on her front porch. Running from a broken relationship himself as well as a business partnership gone bad, Riley thought his good luck had run out. Until fate—and Cupid—strands him at Jessie’s cabin.

What woman hasn’t fantasized about having a sexy, handsome stranger come out of nowhere and rock her world? When Riley shows up on her doorstep, frozen half to death, Jessie knows exactly how to warm him up. But will Riley want to play along with the games she’d planned for her Valentine’s celebration? A night of hot, erotic, sizzling sex answers that question. But what will happen when the day for lovers is over, the storm is gone and it’s time for him to be on his way? Will he take a piece of Jessie’s heart with him, or will Cupid’s arrow strike them both?

Buy it now!

 

Excerpt

Chapter One

Jessie Rawlins didn’t know which depressed her the most—the unexpected snowstorm that raged outside her little cabin, the calendar that reminded her another Valentine’s Day would be here tomorrow and she still hadn’t found a man to send her heart and senses into orbit, or the fact that she was turning into a sex-starved maniac. Snow had not been predicted when she decided to escape the holiday festivities and all the couples sucking face everywhere. But here she was, snowbound. How trite. Even her cell wasn’t working.

She looked around the cabin. Her hideaway. Her present to herself when she received a huge commission on a house sale. Real estate was hard damn work and she felt she’d more than earned the bucks. It was really just one big room, with a four poster bed on one wall, a conversation grouping around the stone fireplace where a fire now blazed, a tiny kitchen and a small bathroom. But it was all hers and a great place to get away from things.

She kicked at the gym bag on the floor by the couch, cursing her luck and raining curses down on every woman who’d be locked in sexual bliss on February 14. Everyone but her.

Not that she wasn’t willing, mind you. She just couldn’t seem to find a man as adventurous in sex as she was. Strike that. As she wanted to be. She’d given up looking for love. She’d just be happy to find a man who could ring her chimes. But every man she’d met in the past three years had turned out to be a dud in one way or another. Or else they were always dumping her for leggy blondes with size two figures. She’d never even gotten to the point of hauling out her toys yet. Except for herself.

Jessie sighed. Her third Valentine’s Day alone with her bag of sex toys, most of which hadn’t been outside their wrappers. Oh, she’d given what she called her Purple Pleaser a good workout, a brand new vibrator with tiny rabbit-like ears that clamped onto her clit and easily drove her over the edge. And the waterproof minivibrator was great, especially in the shower. But she wanted to use all the others. Not by herself, either. And she wanted to find someone she really trusted who’d help her use the handcuffs.

What was wrong with her, anyway? Every man she started a relationship with eventually left her behind and the next thing she knew they were sporting Miss Size Two with a long sweep of blonde hair and legs that went all the way to the sky. Her mother had always told her good things came in small packages, but apparently no one else believed it.

She looked at herself in the full length mirror opposite the bed and very slowly removed her tee shirt and jeans, then her bra and thong. She turned from side to side, examining herself. Not bad, she thought. Thighs a little too heavy, maybe, ass a little fuller than she liked and her breasts not what you’d call pert. But all in all, she didn’t think it was a body to turn up your nose at.

She ran her hands over breasts, testing their weight, then massaging her nipples between thumb and forefinger. As always, tiny frissons of pleasure raced down her spine and into her pussy. Moving her hands lower, she pressed them against her flat stomach—the result of constant hard work—and onto her naked, freshly waxed cunt. Moving her feet further apart, she let the tip of one finger crush her clit and immediately felt the wetness gather inside her cunt.

Her eyes took on a glazed look as she separated the labia, scraping them gently with her fingernails and slid two slender fingers into her slit. Yes, she was right. Nice and juicy. With a familiar rhythm she began to stroke up and down, her breathing faster, the pulse deep in her vagina setting up its needy throbbing.

She was about ready to grab the Purple Pleaser from the gym bag when a sharp rap on the door scared her out of her reverie. She jerked, almost impaled herself on her fingers and nearly fell back on her ass.

Who the hell was that? In this snowstorm? When she turned her head she saw a face peering in the large window and nearly fainted.

Her first thought was not that he might be a killer or a rapist, but that he’d seen her naked playing with herself. She grabbed her robe which lay across the foot of her bed, shoved her arms into the sleeves and belted it tight around her waist. She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart and searched for some kind of weapon.

How crazy was she to be up here alone with no protection? No, how crazy was it for someone else to show up in the isolated spot.

Just then he rapped on the window again and shouted at her.

“I’m harmless, I swear it. Please open the door.”

Jessie grabbed the poker from the fireplace, held it tight in her fist and opened the heavy wooden door.

* * * * *

Riley Malone thought for sure he was having a heart attack. For one thing, he should be back in Florida where it was warm, not up here in the godforsaken wilds of Maine. But the fight with his business partner in the hotel in Boston had been the final straw in a rapidly disintegrating relationship. He’d offered to sell out his share and Curt had jumped at it. Good riddance. He could start another construction company. Building was going on in all fifty states.

Then, of course, there was Veronica the bitch. Too bad that she bought tickets for a Valentine cruise without telling him. When he told her he couldn’t get back in time to make it, she blistered the telephone line with a string of courses that would have made a longshoreman blush and hung up on him. Okay. Good riddance to her, too. He was tired of her selfish whining and demanding. And it would have been nice if just once in bed she’d asked him what he wanted. Veronica definitely was focused on her own pleasure, on her own terms, at times barely tolerating some of the things he wanted to do.

So he got in the damn SUV he’d rented at the airport and started driving. Just heading north. He had no idea how he even got where he was. And then the damn truck broke down in the middle of the damn snowstorm. Hiking to the only light he could see about killed him and the last thing he expected to see was a naked woman—a mouthwatering naked woman, with a slick, hairless pussy—pleasuring herself in front of a mirror.

He banged on the window again. If she didn’t open the door pretty soon, he’d freeze his damn balls off and then it wouldn’t matter who he went to bed with.

He watched her pull on a robe—too bad, she was an eyeful—and then pick up the fireplace poker. Jesus, was she going to brain him with it? As she walked slowly toward the door he stamped his feet and banged his hands together to stimulate circulation.

Finally the door creaked open and she eyed him through a narrow opening.

“What do you want?”

“For one thing I want to get out of this damn snowstorm before I turn into an ice statue. I promise not to rape or kill you if you just let me go stand in front of the fireplace.”

She frowned at him.

Come on, lady. Don’t take all day to make up your mind.

“A-All right. You can come in.” She opened the door wide enough for him to step inside.

“Thank you.” His throat felt frozen. “You’re an angel of mercy.” He pushed past her and planted himself immediately in front of the fireplace. Pulling off his jacket and gloves, he held his hands out to the warmth. “God, I was beginning to think I’d never get warm again.”

“What are you doing in this storm?” She kept her distance still holding the poker.

“That’s a long, unpleasant story, which I won’t bore you with.”

“You have to be out of your mind to go out driving in weather like this, Mr….Mr…”

“Riley Morgan.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. “And I swear you can put the poker down. I’m too cold to do anything but shiver.”

* * * * *

Jessie was trying very hard to keep her mind on business and be wary of the stranger, but she was sure the Fates sent him as her Valentine’s Day present. He was well over six feet tall, with slightly shaggy dark blond hair, a broad-shouldered, lean-hipped body that his jeans and shirt did little to hide and when he looked at her she almost melted into his chocolate brown eyes.

Cool it, Jessie. You know nothing about this guy.

Except that he was gorgeous and almost made her come just by standing near her.

“So. In case I die of hypothermia, were you planning to tell me your name? I told you mine.”

She stared at him.

“Your name. You do have one, don’t you?”

“Um, yes. It’s Jessie. Jessie Rawlins.”

“Well, Jessie Rawlins, if you’re the last thing I see before I expire, you’re a wonderful vision to take with me.”

She suddenly realized he was doing his best not to shiver.

“Your clothes are soaked. How far did you walk, anyway?”

“However far away that thing you call a road is.” He began rubbing his hands up and down his arms. “My rental car crapped out on me and I don’t think there’s such a thing as a cell phone signal in this part of the world.”

“No. I’m sorry. And the regular phone service is out, too.”

She couldn’t stop staring at him. If anyone was going to rape her, she’d choose him. With a sigh, she laid the poker on the coffee table. “You should get out of those wet clothes before you catch pneumonia.”

The corners of his mouth turned up in a grin. “Well, that would be a great idea, if I had something else to put on.” His grin turned wicked. “Of course, I could always sit around naked. Like you were doing when I banged on the window.”

Jessie felt herself blush over every inch of her body. “I don’t think we need to discuss that.”

“Why not, sugar?” His gaze raked over her. “That was one fine body you were, um, whatever you were doing.”

“I’m quite aware of my flaws, if you don’t mind, so you can keep the phony compliments.” She hurried into the bathroom and pulled two huge towels from a shelf, then handed them to Riley. “Here. Take a hot shower, then wrap yourself in these. They should cover you nicely. And we can pull the blanket off the bed, too. I’ll dry your clothes by the fire.”

“Why, thank you, Jessie. You make a great hostess.” He winked at her as he headed for the bathroom.

In a minute his wet clothes came flying out. Jessie pulled a chair up close to the fire and draped them over the back. Then she paced. While the shower ran. When it stopped. While she heard faint movement behind the door.

Then suddenly he was next to her, smelling of soap and maleness, one of the towels slung low on his hips. She felt liquid flood her pussy and she hoped it wouldn’t drip down her legs and embarrass her. At least any more than she’d done already.

“Thanks for the shower. It really helped.”

“No problem.” She moved to the tiny kitchen area. Standing next to him was dangerous. “Would you like something to drink? Coffee?” She yanked open the door to the fridge. “I have some wine if you’d rather.”

“Wine?” Golden lights flashed in his eyes. “Were you planning to drink yourself into a stupor?”

“I…That is…Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I was planning a little celebration.”

Riley looked around. “So where’s the lucky guy? I don’t want to cramp his style.”

She shook her head. “No lucky guy. Just me.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You’re celebrating by yourself?”

Jessie shrugged. “I’m beginning to think that’s the best way.”

He looked at the heart-shaped chocolate cake on the counter. “A cake and everything? Come on, Jessie. Someone was supposed to join you, right?”

She bit her lip and looked away. “No one. How pathetic is that? I seemed to get dumped just before every Valentine’s Day.” She twisted her lips in a bitter smile. “Saves them buying presents, I guess.”

His eyes took on an amazed look. “I can’t believe this. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to spend Valentine’s Day with you?”