After This Night

 After this Night

Seductive Nights - 2

Lauren Blakely

This book is dedicated to Gale, who listens to my stories, and helps shape them. You are indispensable to me, and I am so glad our paths crossed.

ABOUT

AFTER THIS NIGHT

“Let me control your pleasure.”

Their world was passion, pleasure and secrets.

Far too many secrets. But Clay Nichols can't get Julia Bell out of his mind. He's so drawn to her, and to the nights they shared, that he can't focus on work or business. Only her. And she's pissing him off with her hot and cold act. She has her reasons though–she's trying to stay one step ahead of the trouble that's been chasing her for months now, thanks to the criminal world her ex dragged her into. If only she can get out of this mess, then maybe she can invite the man who ignites her back in her life, so she can have him–heart, mind and body.

He won't take less than all of her, and the full truth too. When he runs into her again at her sister's wedding, they have a second chance but she'll have to let him all the way in. And they'll learn just how much more there is to the intense sexual chemistry they share, and whether love can carry them well past the danger of her past and into a new future, after this night...

The sequel to the sensual, emotionally-charged erotic romance, Night After Night, from the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Lauren Blakely...

CHAPTER ONE

The dress was so perfect it brought a tear to her eye.

“He’s going to have the breath knocked out of him when he sees you walking down the aisle,” Julia managed to say while wiping her hand across her cheek.

Her sister, McKe

“It’s so playful and pretty at the same time,” Julia said.

“Speaking of pretty, do you like your dress still?”

“Of course,” she said with a wide-eyed smile, gesturing to the sleek black maid-of-honor dress she wore that McKe

“It’s totally you. I wanted you to have a dress you could wear again. Maybe to a date? A fancy night out?”

The words fell on her ears with a hollow clang. Because she could no longer wish for a night out with the man she wanted terribly.

Clay had left her that morning on the streets of San Francisco, ending their brief love affair and driving away in his town car. She couldn’t fault him for taking off. She couldn’t give him what he wanted—an end to her secrecy. That’s what Clay needed more than anything. More than her body, more than their chemistry, more even than their endless nights together. She couldn’t tell him the truth about why she’d lied to the guy with the gun who’d been waiting on her doorstep that morning when they had returned after breakfast. What could she say? He’s the mob heavy who’s been assigned to me to make sure I pay off a debt that isn’t even mine? If she told Clay, he’d be a target too, because that’s how these men operated: they circled you, ensnaring you on all sides until the people you loved fell into their crosshairs, too.

That’s why she’d claimed Clay was just some guy she’d met in a bar, rather than a high-profile entertainment lawyer with an even higher-profile list of clients. She wanted to protect his identity and keep him out of the line of fire.

“And I will wear it again. Again and again. I promise,” she said, tugging McKe

After they stepped out of their dresses, McKe

“Chris said the meeting with Clay went great today,” McKe

“That’s great about the meeting,” Julia said, as casually as she could.

“Did he tell you about it?”

“Chris? Why would I be talking to him?”

McKe

She shrugged and looked away, and those twin gestures were enough for her sister to stop in her tracks and park her hands on her hips. “Whoa. What’s going on?”

And with that, it was as if a tight knot started to unravel in her. She might not be able to tell her sister about her money troubles, but she could at least let her know about her man woes.

“I did see him last night. I don’t think it’s going to work out between us,” she said, and she didn’t bother to strip the frustration from her voice, or the residual sadness. A sob threatened to lodge in her throat and turn into a fit of dumb waterworks. But giving in to the tears was like kicking a brick wall. It didn’t do any good, and you were left mostly with a stubbed toe.

“Oh no. Why do you say that?”

“He’s too far away in New York. And I’m just busy here. And he’s all about work.”

“That stinks,” McKe

Julia was tempted to reassure her. To tell her it was nothing, just a night here, a weekend there. But it wasn’t. He was more, so much more.

“Actually, I really liked him a lot, so it’s a bit of a bummer.”

“Then we need to go drown our sorrows in French fries and cake. Let me take you out,” McKe

Julia said yes, and though the French fries were fantastic, they weren’t enough, not even close, to forget about the man she couldn’t have. The problem was she didn’t have any room in her life for him, and if she let him linger any more in her heart, she’d surely lose the game tonight.

Tonight was for wi

CHAPTER TWO

The venture capitalist with the laughing tell was back, and he spent most of the game staring at Julia. But Hunter must have gotten a tip to strike that laugh from his repertoire because the first time he chuckled Julia went all in, and lost a cool grand. He’d really had three kings. No bluffing.

He’d likely snagged himself a poker tutor, some former pro player who now trained eager wa

He wasn’t. No one was.

“I’m in,” he said, shoving a black chip into the pot, eyes on her the whole time. Like she was his prey.

So wrong.

She was the predator. They were all her enemies, every last one of them, and just because she’d lost a hand didn’t mean she was going to lose the game. She rubbed her index finger against a black chip, checked out her cards again, then sca