Excerpt of Your B&B or Mine? by Melissa West

Easing down the stairs, she found the smoke alarm in the common room blaring like a baby who couldn’t reach his pacifier. Searching the room, she grabbed a chair and placed it under the alarm, then stood on it to press the reset button, feeling pretty darn pleased with herself, until nothing happened. She pressed it again, held it down, counted to five, then did it all over again, but the freaking thing refused to stop. “Ugh! Shut up!” “When you’re done screaming at it, can you turn it off?” Savannah spun to see Logan a few feet away from her, his hair sticking out in random directions, a lazy grin on his face. Her gaze drifted from his hair down to his bare chest, over the simple black cross tattooed on his left pectoral muscle, to his low-hanging flannel pajama pants and how very clear it was that he wore nothing else beneath them. She swallowed, suddenly not at all concerned with the alarm or its refusal to do what she asked. “Anna? The alarm?” “What? Oh—right. I can’t turn it off. It won’t listen to me.” A smile played at his lips as he neared. “Maybe that’s because you’re wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt.” He leaned in closer and thumbed the hem of her nightshirt, his fingertips grazing her thigh. And holy shitake mushroom. Warmth spread from that tiny point of contact, up her leg, settling in her stomach, her breathing suddenly very uneven. “And no pants. To be honest, I’m having a hard time focusing, too.” “Funny,” she said, attempting to control her voice— and her out-of-control heart—but a blush crept across her cheeks all the same. She’d been so eager to get the wailing to end, she didn’t stop to think about what—or how little — she wore. Her eyes dropped to her bare legs, the T-shirt barely covering her lower goods. So not the kind of thing she should be sporting around Logan, especially with all the extra tingles and inappropriate thoughts running around in her brain. “Hit the reset button.” Savannah placed her hands on her hips, which caused the shirt to hitch up. Logan’s gaze dropped. “Right, because I’m a complete idiot and didn’t think to hit the reset. Try again.” The grin spread. “All right. Then how about this.” He swept her into his arms, one hand dangerously close to her breast, the other griping her thighs, her body pressed firmly against his rock-hard pectoral muscles. Forget the alarm. Forget the B and B. Forget everything. She’d just as soon stay right there, cradled in his strong arms. Her already heated insides burst into flames, desire tempting logic, until it was all she could do not to lean toward him—see if he’d take the prompt and kiss her.