Claiming the Enemy by Lauren Hawkeye
Piper Dawson has spent a lifetime living by other people’s rules.
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Here is a short sample from the book:
It was the only explanation she had for what she did next. Or maybe it was the Kutie. Or maybe she just needed some sleep. But before she could think it through, Piper picked up her drink and slid smoothly from her booth into his.
“Muffin!” Wiggling against him to get him to move over, Piper set her drink down on the scarred wooden table and smiled brightly up at Ace. His mouth fell open, just a bit, as she finally succeeded in moving him over enough to make room for her. “I wish you’d texted me! I’ve been sitting right at the next table—I didn’t know you were here yet! Good thing you talk so loud.”
“Muffin?” Ace’s storm grey eyes narrowed dangerously, and he looked like he’d swallowed a mouthful of sour lemonade. “What are you—”
“And you must be Ace’s mother.” Beaming, Piper leaned forward, extending a hand toward the woman on the other side of the table, who looked just as stupefied as Ace. “It’s so nice to finally meet you. Ace talks about you all the time.”
“Does he now?” The woman forced a smile as she pinned her son with a capital L look before shifting her attention back to Piper. The once-over that the woman gave her was quick—Piper doubted that Ace, being a man, even noticed it.
But Piper certainly did. And though she rarely cared what other people thought of her, for some reason the cool granite stare of this woman had her feeling… less than.
It just made her more determined to extract Ace from this mess.
“Ace, aren’t you going to introduce me to your mother?” She beamed up at him, then clamped her hand down on his muscular thigh so hard that he winced. His eyes narrowed in warning, but she pretended not to notice.
The silence stretched out uncomfortably, and Piper knew he was debating whether or not to go along with her, despite the fact that he likely thought she was crazy. Finally, he exhaled a slightly exasperated sounding breath and turned back to his mother.
“Mom, this is Piper Dawson.” He smiled, and it looked a little bit painful. “Piper, this is my mother, Rosemary Lennox.”
Rosemary smiled tightly, though to her credit, she probably thought she had concealed most of the strain that Piper was nevertheless able to pick up on. “Alexander has never mentioned you.”
Ooh, you Wow. bitch. Piper wanted to narrow her eyes at the older woman, but instead forced herself to look up at Ace with what she hoped looked like puppy love. “Oh, he’s so bad.”
She punctuated the comment with a squeeze of his thigh and a slight narrowing of her eyes. I’m giving you a way out of this mess, big boy. Are you going to take it or not?
His dark slate eyes glinted, and an unexpected shiver skated over Piper’s skin. Spending time with him at the hospital had already taught her that he was a man not to provoke. She’d never paid much mind to that, delighting in poking the bear.
But the way he was looking at her right now? The nervous tension gathering in her belly told her that the consequences might be something more than she’d anticipated.
Tearing her gaze away from Ace, Piper again looked at Rosemary, who still looked as though she’d smelled something unpleasant and was doing her best to pretend she hadn’t.
Rosemary cleared her throat and Piper realized that she was still waiting to be told who she was. Piper arched an eyebrow at Ace, who managed something caught halfway between a smirk and a grimace.
“Dr. Dawson is one of my residents—”
Piper barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Jesus, she was trying to give the guy an out, and he was not making it easy.
Smiling wickedly up at Ace, Piper leaned in a fraction closer. “Dr. Dawson is a bit formal, don’t you think, honey bun?”
Damn, he smelled good. Surely it was that, the delicious cologne combined with the manly man scent of his skin, that drove her to do what she did next.
“Wha—” Those sexy bedroom eyes widened with incredulity, then darkened, an incoming storm. It was a look that Piper knew well.
She needed to head him off at the pass, and moved on instinct.
She kissed him.
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