Click on image to enlarge.

You Pay:

$5.00

Category: Romance/Humor
Description: Taylor has been in love with Drew for ever, but he has never noticed her. Her biological clock is ticking and she is running out of patience. She wants him--now--and she isn't prepared to wait a second longer. She turns to her self-help books to help her plan a war against his heart. Unfortunately all of her self-help books suggest a different battle strategy. One by one, she tries and rejects their tactics. Only when she has thrown the last of her books away and vowed to be true to herself does she discover that Drew has loved her all along. [Cover art by Mary Z. Wolf]
eBook Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory/Hard Shell Word Factory, 2009 2006
Hard Shell Word Factory Release Date: October 2006

33 Reader Ratings:

Great	Good	OK	Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [145 KB], ePub (EPUB) [145 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [128 KB], Portable Document Format (PDF) [491 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [143 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [137 KB], Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [185 KB], hiebook (KML) [337 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [190 KB], iSilo (PDB) [117 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [147 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [185 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [189 KB]
Words: 45863
Reading time: 131-183 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Portable Document Format (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

"I was very impressed with my first taste of a Kate Adair novel. She is an exceptional writer that kept me interested from start to finish. Top Pick!"--Kristal Gorman, Romance Reader at Heart

"Oh, how can I relate to Taylor Moore--for I see MANY of her traits in my own personality! Taylor's zany character possesses many of my own tried and true methods of finding my soul mate. It was a pure delight to find such a highly entertaining novel. These wonderful characters will have you cheering for their togetherness right up until the end. Very highly recommended."--Suzie Housley, My Shelf Reviews

"I LOVE YOU, DREW Garrick."

There was a long silence. To tell the truth, Taylor Moore hadn't really expected any answer, but she was disappointed nonetheless. She knew she was being foolish, but she just couldn't help feeling horribly alone and unloved.

She would just have to try again. She ran her hands down her naked sides, still wet from her morning shower, shivering with pleasure at the touch of her cool hands on her over-heated body. The bathroom was so full of steam she could hardly see more than two feet in front of her. "I really do. I've loved you for as long as I can remember."

She sighed, bent her neck down, swept her hair over her head with a fluid movement, and started to towel dry it vigorously. "For a start, you're the most handsome man I've ever seen," she said, matter-of-factly. "I adore the way you look. Your hair is a beautiful color—not quite blonde, and not quite brown. I really like to run my hands through it and feel how silky it is. You like that as much as I would. I just know you would. It would turn you on.

"I don't think I've ever told you before how much I love your eyes," she went on, drying her shoulders now. The thick pile of the towel rasped her delicate skin as she rubbed it roughly up and down her arms. "They're the deepest, darkest blue I've ever seen on anyone. So blue they're almost purple. I could drown in them.

"I just love that square jaw of yours, too. Especially when you haven't shaved for a day or two and it's covered with light golden stubble. It's soooo sexy. Your mouth is the best, though. It looks so darn soft. So much unlike the rest of you, which is hard all over. Your mouth was just made for kissing."

She leaned forward a little and pursed her lips to emphasize her point. Desperate for his attention now, she'd lost any pretense she'd had of drying herself. "I really want to kiss you. Not just a friendly peck on the cheek, either. A proper kiss. A my-God-I-can't-get-enough-of-you kiss. A full body embrace. I want to feel you getting hard for me in all the right places. So hard that you feel as though you're going to explode if I don't let you come inside me right away.

"I'm getting all hot and wet just thinking about running my hands over your beautiful body. All over it. I want to touch you and feel the smooth contours of your beautifully muscled chest, caress your shoulders, slide over the leanness of your hips. I'm going to touch you with more than my hands. I'm planning on exploring you with my mouth and tongue. Everywhere. And you can have all of me."

She cupped her breasts in her hands, begging him to touch and taste for himself. She was so hot for him she could hardly bare it. "You're so sexy you should carry a warning label," she said. "Not suitable for minors. Do not attempt to drive or operate heavy machinery while under the influence of this man.

"I'd like to have you naked. In bed. Inside me. I've had the hots for you ever since I was old enough to know what having the hots meant.

"You're going to be mine. I've kept myself all bottled up for so long that I'm going to be a tornado when I let myself go. Sooner or later, I'm going to rip your clothes off and make crazy love with you. I've waited so darn long for you that I'm going to knock your socks off into little pieces when you come.

"I'm going to be wild. Insatiable. And you're going to love every minute of it. I promise you."

She stopped talking for a moment, hoping desperately for a response to her offer.

There was only silence.

Not even an answering thought wave.

Taylor sighed again and let her hands fall to her sides. She wanted to make love with Drew more than she could say, but she just couldn't channel her lust-provoking thoughts into Drew's mind, wherever he was, however hard she tried.

And no matter how often she practiced telling her bathroom mirror at home she was in love with Drew, she'd never have the courage to tell him face-to-face.

He'd laugh at her. Or, even worse, suggest she come back and tell him again when she was all grown-up and worth bothering with. Just like he'd told her when she was fifteen, and already desperately in love with the handsome eighteen-year-old brother of her best friend.

She flung on her robe and wiped the steam off the mirror with one sleeve. Her face was red and shining, beaded with droplets of sweat. She knew they came more from the heat of her thoughts than from the heat of the shower.

Silently, she turned away again. She was getting all hot and bothered for nothing. Just thinking about making love with Drew wasn't going to make it happen. She'd tried positive visualization for weeks and weeks, and Drew Garrick still hadn't noticed her as anything other than Morgan's pesky friend.

She had to have a plan. A good plan. A really great plan.

Then Drew wouldn't stand a chance against her.

TAYLOR ONLY JUST MADE it to the office where she worked as a publicity and promotions executive by nine o'clock. She'd gotten a little too carried away during her morning self-help session in front of the mirror.

She'd barely had time to throw on a pair of jade green silk pants and quickly pull an orange silk-knit T-shirt over her head before dashing to her car. She'd had no time to put any makeup on, and her breakfast was a rock-hard onion bagel she'd grabbed out of the freezer on her way out of the door.

A howling gale was blowing outside, making the treetops sway and sending big puffs of dust careening down the sidewalk and into her eyes. Newport, on the Oregon coast, was always windy, but today the air was more violent than usual. Her hair flew into her face, and she brushed it roughly out of the way. She tripped over her morning newspaper on the sidewalk, but she didn't stop to pick it up.

Luckily she worked for herself, so she had no one looking over her shoulder watching the clock to see when she came in. But if she didn't work, she didn't get paid, so she usually tried to get into the office bright and early.

Copyright © 2006 Catherine Sneyd.