Tempted. Kimberly Van Meter

muscles covering a solid, manly frame.

      Sensual lips that played with a flirty smile and begged to be kissed.

      How was a guy like Teagan single, anyway?

      Either the women in his circles were incredibly stupid or he had some heinous defect.

      Maybe he chewed his toenails.

      Maybe he picked his nose and ate his boogers.

      Or maybe he had some weird sexual fetish like armpit licking or he liked to dress up like a baby and be breast-fed.

      Yes, keep thinking of Teagan as a deviant, a voice encouraged, otherwise, you’re going to find yourself pressed up against him before you know it.

      How long had it been since Harper had enjoyed a real relationship? Been with someone because she wanted to be, not because he was a target.

      Just as she started to mourn her lack of true intimacy, the specter of the past rose to slap her.

      It was hard to forget her mother’s tears. The horrible sadness that clawed the personality out of Anna Riley, and Harper was sure that the subsequent drag on her immune system had eventually led to MS.

      Whereas Anna had once been sweet, kind and way too trusting, time and repeated heartache had left the woman a shell.

      The disease had robbed her of everything else.

      Harper had been twelve when Rex had conned her mother out of their savings, leaving them with nothing but bad credit, crippling debt and no way out.

      And her mom had gotten pregnant, too.

      Harper blinked furiously at the unwanted tears that threatened to fall.

      Some say that things happened for a reason.

      Losing Rex’s baby had been a blessing in disguise but it’d taken the final toll on Anna.

      Harper’s childhood had disintegrated, leaving behind nothing but cold, hard adulthood.

      And she had vowed to never let a man do to her what had been done to Anna.

      If anyone was going to suffer scars, it wouldn’t be Harper from that moment forward.

      She stilled for a moment to gather her focus.

      That’s it, remember the pain. Remember the reason men like Teagan are bad news.

      Releasing a long breath, Harper felt a renewed sense of purpose and returned to her research.

      Tomorrow...Stuart Buck.

       5

      VANESSA THOUGHT TO escape to her room, but when she was midway, she stopped. The point of this trip was to liberate herself from her past. To stop mourning a life she didn’t miss.

      Her and Dale’s relationship had been complicated, like most romantic relationships. They’d married young, and although there were too many bad times to count, there were good times, too.

      A lifetime together had seamed a jagged stitch but it had bound them just the same.

      One kid.

      A daughter.

      She’d done her due diligence as a wife and mother. Sabrina was off living her life as she should, but it’d left Vanessa alone to deal with Dale and their shortcomings.

      Just as things had become unbearable, Dale had done the honorable thing and died of a heart attack.

      Boom. No flash and bang. No long, drawn-out illness...just gone.

      Sometimes Vanessa still thought she could smell his Old Spice cologne.

      As much as Dale had been an overbearing, pigheaded jerk at times, he’d also been her best friend.

      What she’d thought was going to be a grand dating adventure after he’d passed, had turned into a sad realization that she’d never truly mourned the man who’d been her constant companion for thirty years.

      And somehow that young cutie at the bar had managed to activate that button that she’d been trying to hide for a year.

      Her best friend, Lola, said the best way to get over a man was to get under another.

      So far that had only worked temporarily.

      But since Vanessa didn’t have any other advice to follow, she’d booked her first cruise, and followed it with another.

      Right about now, she was thinking it all might’ve been a waste of money.

      She didn’t have the right mind-set to jump into another fling.

      She wanted...something more.

      So was it time to change her game plan? Look for something a little less transient? Maybe admit that Lola had been completely bonkers to suggest a series of one-night stands to heal her bleeding heart?

      Vanessa found herself on the upper deck gazing at the stars. The balmy air kissed her cheek as the dark waves lapped at the side of the massive ship.

      Being a cougar was fun for a time but stargazing alone was really unsatisfying.

      “Oh, pardon me.”

      Vanessa startled at the apology and turned to see an older gentleman turning to leave her to her solitude but she stopped him. “It’s okay,” she said. “I don’t mind a little company.”

      The man smiled and returned. “Are you certain? I don’t want to intrude.”

      “Being alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

      He nodded. “Man is not meant to walk alone.”

      “Or woman,” she added with a tiny chuckle. “Being with someone is a hard habit to break when you’ve been married for thirty years.”

      “My wife passed a year ago,” he said quietly. “She was my best friend. Sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing without her.”

      Vanessa nodded, the tears threatening to return. She laughed ruefully. “Now, don’t get the waterworks started or they’ll never stop.”

      “Okay, I promise, no more talk of sad things. I’m not sure why I came out here. I thought about going to the meet and greet but changed my mind at the last minute. I couldn’t bring myself to walk into the meat market.”

      “It does feel like that sometimes, doesn’t it?”

      He sighed. “Things are so different from when I was young. Dating was much more civilized. But listen to me, waxing nostalgic over times gone by. That’s what old people do, right?”

      The man’s self-deprecating laugh was very soothing. There was something about him that relaxed Vanessa in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time. “Are you here to meet your soul mate?” she teased lightly.

      “I doubt fate would be so kind as to grace me with two soul mates but I’m open to meeting someone I can share my life with. How about you?”

      Vanessa considered her answer for a moment. “I don’t know if soul mates exist, honestly. I want to believe in the idea but I don’t know... I’m just unsure if it’s truly possible. But I’m envious of those who come close to having that.”

      “You were married to a terrible man?” he inquired with a frown.

      “No, not really. He was just...Dale. Hardheaded, stubborn, pigheaded, my-way-or-the-highway kind of man. But he was a good provider,” Vanessa added when it seemed all she could focus on were Dale’s negative traits. “And a good father. I guess that’s more than what some women get.”

      The man regarded her with a smile in his eyes and she realized he had the kindest eyes she’d ever seen. “And your wife? What was she like?”

      “She