My Stand-In Lover

Book excerpt: PREVIEW Ditched by a fiance. Betrayed by a friend. A desire for revenge. One life-changing weekend. *** He’d broken her heart once. Would she give him a chance to break it again? “What do you want Aaron?” Farrah asked. “Why are you really here?” “What if I said I made a mistake letting you go?” “Wh—what do you mean?” Farrah stammered, not believing her ears. He did not just say that? Did he? Her heart rate picked up speed. “What if I said I realize what a big mistake it was to let you go?” her ex-fiance, who was scheduled to be married in two days, said. Aaron walked over to the bed and sat beside Farrah. He took one of her hands in his. “This doesn’t make any sense,” Farrah said, almost to herself. His declaration totally threw her off balance. It was the last thing she expected. The very last. She looked at her hand in his. His touch. She’d dreamed about this for months. And her dream was miraculously coming true, but … Was her stand-in lover determined to become a more permanent fixture? The Irishman Their mating had been vicious, savage, barbaric … and beautiful. And Farrah wanted more of him. So much more. She hadn’t been consumed by this kind of desire since – since forever. Even Aaron, the man she’d loved for almost a decade, had never come close to making her do some of the things she’d done last night with this perfect stranger. He was wickedly beautiful. Sinfully sexy. Rakishly seductive. Soulfully encompassing. And all of this made him the perfect stand-in lover; the perfect man to show up with to her ex-fiance’s wedding. Aaron would be able to smell another man’s scent on her. She knew he would because the kind of mind-blowing coupling she’d experienced last night didn’t stay confined to the bedroom. It seeped out of your pores and brought a stupid grin to your face for the world to see, smell, crave, and wonder about. *** Her living room wall served as a bed. He pushed her up against it, lifted her off her feet and slammed himself home one last time – all without breaking the kiss that had ignited it all. Farrah release was so hard that her legs, which were wrapped tightly around his waist, fell limp against him. Finn grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head to the side. He whispered in her ear, “He was a fool to let you go.” He zipped his jeans, planted a hard kiss on her lips and left her standing there, practically naked as he closed the door softly behind him. Farrah dropped to her knees and sobbed. The handsome Irishman left her body satiated, and her soul ripped to shreds. *** How could a perfect stranger recognize her value, and Aaron, the man she’d given everything to for years, discard her without even so much as a goodbye? God she hated him. And he would pay. Or, was the all-knowing Irishman right when he said she wanted her ex back? “There’s a thin line between love and hate, Farrah Jane,” he said, moving his hand up to encircle her waist. It didn’t help that he was helping her blur that line so wickedly.