Excerpt of Hot and Bothered by Dianne Castell

Griff’s neck snapped as someone grabbed his tie and yanked
him inside the carriage house, the dark interior making it
impossible to see who did the yanking.

“What the...!” he gasped as the wood door clicked
closed. He stumbled, his body flattening a woman’s against
the wall giving him a soft landing that made the choking
worth it. He caught the faint aroma of coffee and doughnuts
as breasts swelled against his chest, his body reacting as
if he hadn’t had sex in months. Hell, maybe he
hadn’t. “Charlotte?” he croaked through a shrinking trachea.

“We need to talk.”

“Wish I could.” He loosened his tie and gave a quick
glance around the narrow hall, his eyes adjusting to the
dim light. “Consider using a telephone?”

“Someone might overhear and I know you don’t want
that and I was heading for my house to change and I saw you
coming and...” She took a deep breath, her face scrunched
in question as she peered up at him. “So why did you really
come to the office?”

“The will? The missing daughter? Keeping things
quiet? Stop me if you’ve heard this before. You sure you
didn’t whack your head when you fell off that chair?”

Her breath came fast and getting faster. Her eye lit
with fire, even in the dim light he could tell. “Why me?”
she whispered, the implication having nothing to do with
the case but the two of them together now in this hallway
after all these years of dancing around.

His brain refused to function probably because the
part of his anatomy below his belt was over
functioning. “You run an ad in the yellow pages.” Maybe? He
had no idea about anything right now except Charlotte and
wanting to kiss her and knowing he shouldn’t. Things
between them were complicated, always had been and getting
worse by the minute. He studied her delicious mouth wanting
and waiting for his. Make that getting more complicated by
the second and if his plan worked, complicated would be a
huge understatement and their lives would be totally fucked.

He touched Charlotte’s cheek, her skin soft and
smooth as her body leaned into his, setting him on fire.

“We don’t have an ad.” She bit her bottom
lip. “You’re right, I should have phoned,” she said with a
shiver. “But we’re here now.” She yanked his tie again,
bringing his face to hers and she kissed him right on the
mouth, her lips full and moist and delicious and opening.
Did they have to open! Closed lips were a lot easier to
dismiss but this was not a dismiss kind of kiss especially
since he’d wanted it for so many damn years he lost count.

She released his tie, her arms sliding around his
neck as his tongue toughed hers and he lost his mind.
Dumbass!

Their tongues mated and his hands dropped to her
sweet round bottom pressing her softness to his hardening
dick. There’d always been an attraction between them but
this was pure jump-her-bones-and-do-her-right-now lust...
and he liked it more than he ever imagined.

She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, the motion
suggestive as hell as her legs parted nesting his erection
tight against her heat. God she had great heat! He slid his
hands into the waistband of her skirt, her firm rump
fitting so well into his palms. His mind warped, there was
a ringing sound...no kiss or ass-grabbing had ever made his
head ring before, especially to the tune of Moon River...A
Johnny Mercer song...his favorite. Ah fuck! His cell!

It was like a bucket of freezing snow dumped on his
head and instant sanity punt gut-tightening lust through
the goalpost of are you out of your freaking mind? He
stepped back, his vision clearing, his body in big pain
from what it wanted but couldn’t have.

“I...I didn’t come here for this,” Charlotte panted
as she raked her red tangle of curls away from her flushed
face. “Least I don’t think I did, not that I’m complaining.
I am so not complaining.”

“It has nothing to do with thinking. In fact, not
thinking is what got us both to this point.” Did that make
sense? Nothing right now made sense.

She stared at him, her eyes liquid green pools, her
lips parted, Moon River jarring his brain. He wanted
nothing more than to stomp the phone flat and take her fast
and hard and deep right here against the wall satisfying
what they’ve both ached for, for half their lives. Instead
she yanked opened the door and ran off into the bright
sunlight leaving him with the biggest hard-on of his whole
damn life.

He knew when he stepped into that office only
Charlotte would be there, alone without RL, and that he
didn’t have a choice in what he had to do and that things
could get sticky. He hadn’t planned on it getting this
sticky this fast. Damn Otis! Damn his damn cock. Griff
snapped open the phone and growled, “What!”