The Perfect Solitaire. Carmen Green

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      “Zoe, you okay in there?”

      “Yes. Come in. I’m just finishing up.”

      Ben walked in. “You’re determined to tame your hair. Leave it alone. It’s pretty down.”

      “It’s a squirrel’s tail. I need another band,” she said, unable to find the one she’d had before.

      Seeing it on the floor, she picked it up and snapped it around the ends, when Ben caught her around the waist.

      “Just what do you think you’re doing?” she whispered.

      “Collecting on a piece of my debt.” He leaned against the sink and brought her against him.

      “That’s unfair, Ben.” She lost her grip on her hair and the band spiraled off, falling onto the floor again. “You made the rule of no fooling around while we’re working together.”

      “I love that you have such a good memory. But if you remember correctly, our business concluded with the arrest. We declared the case closed.”

      CARMEN GREEN

      National bestselling author Carmen Green was born in Buffalo, New York, and had plans to study law before becoming a published author. While raising her three children, she wrote her first book on legal pads and transcribed it onto a computer on weekends. She sold her first novel in 1993. Since that time she has written and published more than thirty novels and novellas, and is proud that one of her books, Commitments, was made into a TV movie in 2001. In Commitments, Carmen even had a cameo role.

      In addition to writing full-time, Carmen is now a mom of four, and has just completed her master’s degree in creative writing. She’s a founding member of the Femme Fantastik Tour, a group that tours military bases promoting their literary works throughout the United States and Europe. In her spare time, Carmen likes live music, gardening, vacations in quiet, tropical places and long cruises that don’t require her to do anything but read, sleep and eat. Her next novel for Kimani Romance, Sensual Winds, will be available in July 2009. You can contact Carmen at www.carmengreen.blogspot.com or [email protected].

      The Perfect Solitaire

      Carmen Green

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Danielle Alexandria Green

      You’re such a blessing to my life.

       I’ll always love you.

      To the Sparrow. You are always with me.

      Dear Reader,

      I’d like to introduce you to the Hoods. They’re a wonderful family of handsome, intelligent and sexy men who are on the right side of wrong, and who practice their own brand of street justice against those who’ve slipped through the loopholes of the legal system. My Hood family give their own special twist to the infamous fairy tale Robin Hood. I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoyed creating them. The first book is Ben’s story, but later you’ll meet his twin, Rob, and then Zachary. I assure you that the women in their lives love these men, and I hope you will, too. Please be sure to drop me a note at [email protected]. You can also keep up to date on the happenings in my world by visiting my blog at www.carmengreen.blogspot.com.

      Many blessings,

      Carmen

      Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Chapter 20

      Chapter 21

      Chapter 22

      Chapter 23

      Chapter 1

      Zoe lay on her back in the center of his bed, as Ben Hood teased her womanhood with the sixteen-inch strand of multi-colored Tahitian pearls she’d borrowed from her jewelry store for the White Linen Party. He smelled of man and cologne, and coupled with the yearning in his eyes, she couldn’t resist him any longer. Her nipples were like radar beams pointing right at his chest. And it seemed, under their own volition, that the hardened tips lifted her thirty-year-old body, and her arms circled his neck.

      The room was bathed in candlelight, yet she could still see his triumphant smile. “I thought you could resist me?” he teased, his knees dropping to her sides, his arms circling her back as he pulled the black bra off. His left hand palmed her breast before his luscious lips covered the caramel-colored tip.

      “You’re too hard to resist.” A low guttural moan tore from her throat as he ravaged one breast then the other. She shook with wanting. “Oh, goodness,” she moaned, and he laughed deep in his chest, his hand straying down between her legs. There was this direct connection between her breasts and her essence, and she’d never met a man who knew how to make them work together like him.

      “Who knew I would meet someone as fine as you at a conference?” Zoe laughed. Ben chuckled.

      His hands moved over her body as if he’d known her for years, yet this was their first time. Still, the shyness she usually felt was gone. Stripped bare, he rolled onto his back pulling her on top of him, his lips never leaving her breasts. She loved the way he appreciated them, as if there was some type of life substance coming from them. She felt the tugging inside, the warmth of sexual desire filling her, making her want him to have her in any way he wanted.

      Ben released her breast and looked into her eyes. She descended for a kiss, his mouth claiming hers. The word carnal came to mind. Dizzying and potent, his tongue sought hers and she met him with a passion she hadn’t felt in a long time. This was what she’d been wanting for so long, and had been missing in relationships in her twenties. At thirty-five, Ben was a man. A real man. There was no escaping that fact, and the way he wanted her, the way his hands held her against his sex and his mouth claimed hers, well, she was nearly ready to come right then. She grabbed his chin, his day-long growth of beard tantalizing her palm.

      “Yeah, baby? What you want?” He caught his bottom lip between his teeth and gave her a look so sexy, her heart skipped a beat. Having him ask as his hands played the guessing game between her legs with her pearls was sexy as hell. She sucked in her breath and nodded when he guessed just right. His thumb glided over the heart of her sexuality and she pushed against him.

      “You’re gorgeous. You know that?” he asked. His gaze roamed her as he caressed her most intimate parts.

      She smiled down at him. “You’re biased.” She stuck out her tongue and he was up in a flash and had captured it between his lips. They were again chest to chest, sex to sex, and she had to have him.

      Zoe wrapped her legs around his back and pushed, and he shook his head and murmured, “No.” “Why?” she whispered, nipping his ear, backing up a little. She reached down and took him in her hands.

      He muttered an expletive as he watched her and she wrinkled her nose at him, laughing. “Aren’t you about to do that?” she teased.

      “Woman,