Excerpt one:
The heroine, Amanda, has spent the night with the hero and this is the morning after:
---------
Someone shook her shoulder and a masculine voice kept saying something into her ear. Amanda curled tighter against the solid warmth that enveloped her. She recognized that voice. It was part of her dream. Grudgingly, she allowed herself to awaken. The instant she did, she regretted it, for the persistent drone of four words gained a meaning.
“Wake up. Must go.”
“Wake up. Must go”
Amanda opened her eyes, turned her head, and saw a man’s face leaning over hers. Sandy crew-cut. Square jaw. Blue-green eyes. Karel was stretched out on the bed beside her, braced up on one elbow, and the body that cocooned hers was so powerful it felt like sheltering in the lee of a mountain.
Oh. My. God.
Not a dream. She almost catapulted from the bed, then realized she was completely naked, and instead she burrowed deeper beneath the covers. Recollections crashed through her mind. She blushed with such intensity it felt as if her whole body sizzled with heat.
She’d never behaved with such abandon.
Like any normal, liberated woman, she’d had her share of lovers, but all those encounters been in the safe confines of a long term relationship. Perhaps it was easier to lose your inhibitions with a man you never expected to see again. Or, at least a man whose haughty mother you would not have to face across the dining room table for lunch on most Sundays.
The hand on her shoulder gave her another gentle shake.
“You stay in bed,” Karel said. “You sleep. I go.”
The hand lifted away. The covers rustled as Karel climbed out of bed. Amanda rolled over on the mattress and let her gaze drift over his naked form. Broad shoulders, arms corded with muscle. During the night she had felt his strength, but she had also learned that he knew how to be gentle.
Karel finished picking up his clothes. He straightened, shirt and jacket and trousers dangling over his forearm, and headed out of the room.
“Are you leaving?” she called out after him.
Stupid. Shouldn’t have
said that. Of course he’s leaving.
He turned and studied her with those solemn eyes. “Bathroom. Wash and put on clothes.”
Amanda scooted along the bed to a sitting position against the headboard. The covers slipped and she hastily tugged them upward, to hide her breasts from view. “I…I need to use the bathroom, too.” She spoke like a squeaky mouse. “You go first.”
He took a step back toward her. “You want go first?”
“No, no. You go first. Let me know when you’re done.”
“Sure,” Karel said, and raked a thoughtful glance over her.
The instant he was out of sight, Amanda jumped up and pulled on a set of sensible cotton underwear and a blue jogging suit with the firm’s logo on the front. It would not do to give the man the impression she was trying to seduce him into staying.
“Bathroom free,” Karel called out less than ten minutes later.
Amanda darted out through the hall and took care of the essentials. No makeup. Hair in a ponytail. She wouldn’t be caught preening for him. Policemen probably did this kind of thing all the time—bedded willing witnesses. Probably saw it as a perk of the job. He’d been prepared with a condom, and during the interview he’d studied her like a burglar gazing a joint.
And boy, had she been ripe fruit. Ready for the picking.
A textbook case of on-the-rebound, after being jilted by her fiancé.
She marched into the kitchen, almost hoping he’d be gone. She had no idea of the correct morning-after protocol for one night stands.
He wasn’t gone.
He was very much there, a formidable presence, seated at the kitchen table, dressed in a suit and tie. He was sipping water from a tall glass. His sandy hair was neat, his blue-green eyes alert. Apart from the shadow of stubble on his jaw, there was no visible evidence that he had made an unscheduled overnight stop.
“Good morning.” He gave her a hesitant smile.
Amanda sank into the chair opposite him. Questions sprang into her mind, but she brushed them aside and merely replied, “Good morning.”
Karel lifted the glass. “Thirsty.”
“Would you like some orange juice, or coffee?”
That had to be the correct morning-after protocol. She would offer him breakfast, they would exchange telephone numbers, and he would depart with a mumbled I’ll give you a call. Of course, both of them knew that he’d crumple up the piece of paper with her telephone number on it and toss it into the first rubbish bin he saw down the street.
“Breakfast,” he told her with a solemn nod.
“What would you like?” she asked. “Toast? Cereal?”
“You decide.”
Amanda could feel Karel’s eyes on her as she fixed a simple breakfast of coffee and toast. It crossed her mind that a big, physical man like Karel might prefer something more substantial. Bacon and eggs. The full works. However, it wouldn’t do to let him think that she was trying to lure him into staying with food. Anyway, her fridge contained nothing of the sort.
While the coffee was brewing, Amanda leaned back against the counter. She folded her arms across her chest, settled her attention on her overnight guest, and prepared to find out the worst.
“I’m not sure we got this clear last night. Are you married?”
“No. Not married.”
“Engaged?”
“No.”
“Girlfriend?”
“No.”
Her panic eased. At least she hadn’t strayed into another woman’s territory.
“Pets?” she asked, lifting one eyebrow.
“Pets?”
“Cats or ….no, never mind.” Amanda flapped her hand to brush aside the question. Karel hadn’t understood, and humour that needed explaining never worked.
The coffee machine finished dripping, giving her an excuse to forget her previous question and move onto another topic. She poured into a pair of china mugs and settled opposite Karel at the square oak table.
“When do you fly back to Prague?” she asked.
“Today. One o’clock. Ryanair from Stansted.”
She glanced at the clock on the wall. “That means you’ll have to leave…”
“Thirty minutes,” Karel said. “Must go to hotel first.”
The words slipped out against her will. “Can’t you stay? Just until tomorrow?”
Karel shook his head.
Amanda bit her lip. She shouldn’t have said it. Okay, so he had no wife, no fiancée, no girlfriend, and perhaps even no pets, but she was supposed to have had it up to here with men. And yet, here she was, asking him to stay, even though she hardly knew him and had nothing in common with him except one night of steamy sex during which they had hardly exchanged a word.
“I ask something?” Karel said.
She shrugged one tracksuit-clad shoulder. “Sure. Ask away.”
“You go to America? Soon?”
“Yes. I have to go next week, and one more time before Christmas.”
“You do something for me in New York?”
Her body tensed in the wooden seat. “What is it you need done?”
“You go here.” Karel dug in his shirt pocket and slid a piece of paper across the tabletop.
Amanda leaned forward and studied the handwritten address. “Brooklyn?” She lifted her attention back to his face. “What is this place? What do you want from there?”
“Make inquiry about Peter Holec. He live there. He leave things behind. Papers, in box. Maybe more. Family things. You look. You look and bring back what you can.”
“You want me to go to this address and seek information about Peter Holec, and bring back any papers and other things that he might have left behind?”
Karel nodded, his expression guarded.
Amanda frowned. “If they have something, why would they give it to me?”
“You take picture. You show.” Karel took out the snapshot of Peter Holec with the other five old men and handed it to her.
Amanda took the photograph and studied it. The chilly autumn air in the room closed in on her, replacing the warmth of the night. Yesterday, she had told the two policemen that she often travelled to New York on business. How long had Karel been thinking of asking her for this favour—how long had he been waiting to put the question to her?
Since he took her to bed?
Before he took her to bed?
The bitterness of past betrayals flared up in her.
“If I find anything, how do I get it to you?” Her tone was cool.
“You telephone, or write me. Here.” He handed her another piece of paper.
Amanda gave it a cursory glance. It contained an address written in neat block capitals, with a telephone number underneath. Americka 13, Praha II. The address seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. Perhaps it had been on his police ID.
“All right,” she said finally. “I’ll do it. But only if you promise to contact them first, in your capacity as a police officer investigating the death of Peter Holec, and instruct them to release to me anything that they might have of his.”
Karel shifted his shoulders in a vague shrug that made no promises. Either he hadn’t understood her request, or he did not intend to comply with it. The mood around the table grew edgy. Everything between them seemed tainted, for Amanda couldn’t help thinking that Karel had planned the seduction, made them lovers, so he could ask her to help him.
They finished breakfast in silence. Karel was still drinking his coffee when Amanda got up from the table and went into the bedroom to fetch Peter Holec’s suitcase. She returned into the kitchen and propped the tan leather valise on the floor beside Karel.
Of all the emotions that churned inside her, she focused on shielding her pride.
It’s no big deal, her posture said.
I do this all the
time—sleep with strangers.
Karel rose to his feet and patted his pockets to make sure he had collected all his possessions. He picked up the suitcase, lowered it back down to the floor. His eyes searched hers. It seemed to Amanda that he wanted to say something, but gave up because he couldn’t find the words.
She pointed to the clock on the wall. “You’ll miss your flight.”
Was that a flicker hurt she caught on Karel’s face? The unshaven jaw and the shadows beneath his eyes gave him a bruised, dangerous look. Amanda conquered the impulse to step up to him, to wrap her arms around his neck and pull his head down for a kiss, even if just to say goodbye.
Karel lifted the suitcase from the floor and turned to go.
She followed him into the hall. “Why do you need me to go to this place in Brooklyn?” she asked him at the door. “Why can’t the police send someone?”
“Not police business,” he told her. “For me. Peter Holec my uncle.”
As Amanda digested the startling news, Karel bent his head and gave her a quick, firm kiss on the lips. Caught by surprise, she had no time to react—either to return the pressure of his lips on hers, or to reject the intimacy. Then he lifted his mouth from hers and straightened, so that his broad shoulders no longer blocked out the stairwell light, the way they had done a moment ago, and he turned around and hurried down the steps.
Amanda was left standing in the open doorway of the apartment, staring at the empty stairwell. As she listened to the sound of Karel’s footsteps fading away, she told herself it was ridiculous to feel so forlorn after saying goodbye to a man she barely knew.
-------------------
Excerpt two:
The hero, Karel, has come back to London for a few days, and their romance gets going:
Amanda teased the crisp hairs on Karel’s chest with her fingertips. “I love this,” she said. “Can you believe, some guys wax it all off, so they’re smooth like babies.”
Karel rolled over to his side and kissed her on the lips.
She kissed him back, then pulled away and hid beneath the covers, her face buried in the crook of his neck. “Time to go to sleep.”
“No sleep,” Karel said. “Not tired.”
She replied with a throaty laugh. “Speak for yourself. I’m shattered.”
Karel rose up on one elbow. He pulled the covers from her face and regarded her with concern. “Shattered? You hurt?”
Amanda shook her head, smiling lazily. “No. Just tired.”
Karel eased his body on top of hers. “Too early to sleep.”
Amanda tried to slide out from under him. “I might be too sore.”
“We try. We find out.” Karel gripped her wrists. He dragged her arms over her head and pinned them against the pillow. His knee pressed between her legs and nudged them apart.
Amanda’s stomach tightened and her breath caught in her throat.
“You say stop if hurt,” Karel said. He extended his arms, until they were locked straight at the elbows, lifting him above her.
Their eyes met, and Amanda nodded.
The first thrust caught her by surprise, making her cry out.
“You hurt?” Karel said. “I stop?”
“Don’t stop,” she told him.
She pushed at the headboard with both hands, until she was there to meet him.
“Open your eyes,” Karel said. “Look at me.”
His face rocked above hers. Lips parted, eyes intent, stubble darkening his jaw.
“I stop?” Karel asked, watching her closely.
“Don’t.” She arched her back and moved with him, against him, until the heat welded them together. Karel froze in front of her, inside her. Then he groaned and sank down, covering her body with his.
Passion.
For the first time in her life, Amanda understood the meaning of the word. There was no yesterday, no tomorrow, only now. Only Karel. He filled her world. Adrian had been all technique and finesse. Smooth hands and manicured nails. She understood now it had meant nothing. Karel was hunger and yearning. Rough edges and hard muscles. The look in his eyes when he touched her made her feel as if his life depended on her.
She understood the risks of getting involved with Karel. It was too soon after Adrian, she was too vulnerable, and there were too many practical complications. And yet, she chose to brush her doubts aside. It would be fine, provided she took care not to get in too deep.
------