Queen of Hearts: (Family Stone #6 Shelley) (Family Stone Romantic Suspense) Read Free Page A

say I don’t want there to be strings. Just that I won’t attach any to dinner.”
    She traced the rim of her almost empty martini glass with one French-manicured nail. Her shoulders had hunched slightly and he knew she was getting ready to say no.
    “Take a chance.” Ric urged. “Throw the dice. It’s Vegas.”
    Acquiescence flowed over her body like a wave crashing on the shore of Coronado. “Where are we going to dinner?”
    For some reason, Ric felt as if he’d already won the war. “Follow me.”

Two
    Ric. The insanely hot man who’d just asked her to so much more than dinner lead her away from the bar, his fingers curled around hers loosely. She might be inexperienced but she wasn’t stupid.
    Shelley tried not to shiver but her body was lit up like the neon flashing, frenetic lights of the Strip and she buzzed with adrenaline and the anticipation of doing something wicked. She was so far outside her comfort zone right now she might never find her way back to the settled land of easy and comfortable.
    As he rubbed his thumb over the sensitive valley in her palm, Shelley wasn’t sure she cared.
    Her heart beat in her chest, pounding out an uneven rhythm as she realized that for the first time in years she was doing something strictly for herself. His forearm, muscled and thick and dusted with dark hair, brushed against hers, causing a cascade of tingles through her entire body. From his forearm. As if he was having a similar response to her, he gripped her hand tighter, possibly worried she might run away.
    Which was a fairly intuitive reaction, because with every other step she second-guessed her response. What was she doing? She was supposed to be meeting her kids and their significant others for dinner. Not running off with a stranger.
    A stranger whose bicep strained the ribbed hem of his short sleeve white Polo shirt. The bright clean white emphasized his darkly tanned, smooth skin. The pique shirt clung to the pectorals and rippled abs beneath the simple cotton. His khaki pants cupped an interesting, mouth-watering bulge. His quads bunched and released beneath the innocuous pants as he strode purposefully toward a small steak house hidden in the corner of the giant lobby.
    He wore the uniform of the casually rich, like so many of the men in her home town, but instead of a gym-toned body and slight paunch, he radiated power and a unconscious virility that had her weak in the knees.
    Her insides tightened and her sex clenched as she thought about all that power and strength between her thighs. She pictured him above her, his strong jaw tight with determination as he invaded her body with long luxurious thrusts and a fierce sexuality.
    She was crazy.
    She was imagining sex with a stranger.
    A stranger who evoked a pure intense sexual desire that she hadn’t felt in a very long time, if ever. She’d been an infant when Jackson Stone Sr. had swept her off her feet.
    Now, she was a mature woman.
    A mature horny woman who hadn’t had a man in a long damn time. And she wasn’t sure she’d ever had a man that was this much man. He exuded testosterone and radiated a sexual power that would be thrilling and overwhelming in the bedroom. That was still no reason to run away from her commitments and consider doing inappropriate things with a stranger.
    Or imagine a man she just met naked and sweaty and rocking her world.
    “We’d like a table in the back, if possible.” Ric smiled at the young hostess. His teeth were startlingly white in his swarthy face and emphasized his full, dark red lips. One smile and the girl scrambled to make him happy.
    Shelley couldn’t stop the instinctive eye roll at the girl’s obvious reaction to his sensuality. She tried to ease away but he anticipated the move and pulled her closer. So close the heat of his body seeped into hers. Her entire body sizzled as if he exerted some sexual force field that caused the air to whoosh from her lungs and the atmosphere around them to snap