Chapter One

      Elana awakened in slow increments, aware of her body’s lethargy and the stiffness of muscles well used. She lay curled on her side, hands tucked against her neck. Sunshine waited on the other side of her eyelids. She burrowed her face into the lavender-scented pillow and gave a soft groan.

      She was getting married today.

      If she opened her eyes, she’d have to meet reality head-on. Right now, she longed to retreat into the darkness and hold on to last night for as long as possible.

      Straining her ears for any sound, she decided she was alone. No sexy snores erupted from the bed beside her. Jarrod was gone. Bastard. The word rolled around in her mind like a caress. He truly was a wicked devil. The way he’d made her beg and plead last night. She’d nearly sobbed with desperation before he’d slid inside her and let her come. She burned at the memory, need flaring between her legs once again. Lust fogged her mind. She never felt anything close to that urgent wildness with Thom. Maybe that wasn’t bad. An orgasm was an orgasm. No need to be driven into frantic, unrelenting madness each time she made love.

      The room smelled of musk and Jarrod’s cologne. When she’d flung open the bathroom door and found him standing there, gorgeous, ripped, charismatic and fully aroused, he’d been impossible to resist. She’d called herself every sort of fool even as she dropped to her knees and laid claim to him with her mouth, taking him in the way she knew he loved.

      Before her mother had knocked on the door last night, Elana had planned to send Jarrod packing. But when that noise had come from the bathroom and her adrenaline spiked, so had her libido. If it truly was all about the excitement of the forbidden, wouldn’t she be even less able to resist him? Even though she was determined to be faithful to Thom, her addiction to Jarrod was impossible to stop.

      Yet she’d managed to say no to Jarrod when he’d demanded she call off the wedding. And when she’d refused, he’d spent the rest of the night showing her why she should.

      Elana punched her pillow. Oh, what had she been thinking to let Jarrod stay last night? If only she had been thinking. Instead, she’d let longing and passion overcome her better judgment. But oh, Jarrod’s hands on her. And his mouth. Driving her mad. The aching desire filled her again. She rolled onto her back, fingers sliding through the damp heat between her thighs.

      No.

      Last night had been goodbye. If he wasn’t going to change, she had to. Today she would speak vows, and she intended to keep them. She intended to be a good wife to Thom. Dear, blessedly unsuspecting Thom. He was a good man. They would have a good marriage. He would be a wonderful father to their children and a doting husband to her.

      Abruptly, an image popped into her head. The expression on Rafe’s face last night as he and Thom were talking at the bar flashed in her memory. Did her brother really have feelings for Thom? Could he be in love with her fiancé? It wasn’t possible. She’d misinterpreted the longing look. Perhaps Rafe merely regretted that he had yet to find someone he loved. He hadn’t met