And Best Friend Makes Three

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An Excerpt From: AND BEST FRIEND MAKES THREE

Copyright © LYNN LAFLEUR, 2004

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

Chapter One

Brenna West loved spring. She loved to see the flowers blooming, the grass turning green, the trees filling out with leaves. The feel of a gentle breeze on her face always made her smile. With the cool, cloudy weather being the norm for several months, spring came later to the Pacific Northwest than in other parts of the country. That made the unseasonably warm weather with temperatures in the high sixties even more enjoyable. Spring meant a time of rebirth, a fresh start.

A time for love.

Lowering the window of her BMW, she sniffed deeply of the fresh, sun-scented air. This sixteenth day of April was extraordinary for another reason-it meant one year with Eric.

Meeting Eric McFarland was the best thing that ever happened to her.

She´d walked into his real estate office, intent only on looking at listings for houses. Instead, she´d taken one look at Eric and her heart had started pounding. When he offered to show her the houses in her price range, she´d quickly agreed.

By the time they´d toured the third house, she had no doubt she was already falling for him.

Brenna had never imagined she could love a man as much as she loved Eric. His dark, wavy hair, gray eyes and husky body had sent her hormones into a frenzy. His movie star looks naturally drew her attention first, but his caring heart had made her fall so hard for him.

The amazing, wonderful thing about loving Eric was the fact that he loved her, too.

Tonight would be special. Brenna had planned an anniversary dinner for them, including the baked salmon, au gratin potatoes, and spinach salad Eric enjoyed so much. She´d left work early after telling her boss, Carey, that it was her and Eric´s special day. She wanted to give herself time to prepare the meal, her house...and herself.

Oh, yes, she had plans for her amazing lover. She glanced at the large sack that she´d picked up from her girlfriend in Tumwater. Once a month, she restocked her candle supply from her friend´s boutique. She´d gone a little overboard this time and bought double what she usually did, but she planned to use most of them this weekend. She always burned candles while she and Eric made love, and she intended to make love with him many times over the weekend. Work had taken her out of town for three days. She´d missed being in his arms, feeling him inside her. Tonight, she would start making up for those three days without him.

Her cell phone rang as she pulled into a parking spot at the grocery store. She turned off the ignition and fumbled for her bag. As usual, her phone lay somewhere in the bottom of the large tote she used as a purse.

"Keep ringing," she mumbled. "I´ll find you." She pushed aside her calendar, compact, notepad, a tube of mascara, a package of tissues and several pens. "Aha!" Grabbing the phone, she quickly punched the "Yes" button without looking at the display to see the caller´s number. "Hello?"

"Is this Ms. Brenna West?" a sexy male asked.

The sound of Eric´s voice made Brenna smile. "It is."

"The Brenna West who is an incredible kisser?"

"I do love kissing."

"The Brenna West who has the most amazing brown eyes?"

"The color of chocolate, I´ve been told."

"The Brenna West who has a cute little birthmark on her left thigh?"

"I do have one of those."

"The Brenna West who has the sexiest body in the world?"

"I don´t know if I´d go that far."

"The Brenna West who makes love as if she can´t get enough?"

Brenna giggled. "I have to say yes to that."

"So everything I´ve heard about you is true. Well, then, you sound like the perfect woman for me. I think we need to get together."

"That could be arranged."

"There are many advantages to being the boss. One of those advantages includes leaving the office early. I can be at your place in an hour."

"Don´t you dare! You can´t get there before six. I have plans."

"Aw, come on, sweetheart. Six o´clock is hours away. I don´t think I can wait that long to hold you. I haven´t felt that luscious body against me for three whole days."

"You´ll survive a little while longer."

"You´re completely heartless, do you know that?"

Brenna snuggled down in her seat. "I´ll make it up to you, I promise."

"How?" His voice dropped to a husky purr. "What will you do to make it up to me?"

"Do you want details?"

"Oh, yeah. Explicit details."

Phone sex. In the grocery store parking lot. That would be a first. Brenna glanced around to see if anyone happened to be close to her car. She didn´t see anyone, but turned on her key long enough to raise her window, just to be sure no one overheard her.

"We´ll start with a candlelit dinner. I´m making baked salmon just the way you like it."

"Mmm, sounds good."

"I´ll play my slow, smoky jazz CDs while we eat. After dinner, it´ll be cool enough to build a fire. We´ll sit on the floor near the fireplace and have coffee. There will be candles lit everywhere, of course."

"Of course. Will there be some kissing in there somewhere?"

"Lots of kissing. First on the lips, then on other body parts."

"What body parts? Remember-specific details."

His voice sounded strangled. Brenna hugged the phone closer to her ear. "On your neck. I love kissing your neck. I´ll nip your throat with my teeth, just a bit, then soothe it with my tongue."

"Then what?"

"I´ll run my hands under your shirt and comb my fingers through your chest hair. Have I told you how much I love your chest hair?"

"Yeah, you have."

"I´ll touch your nipples with my fingertips, then take off your shirt and lick them."

Brenna would swear she heard him swallow. "Then what?"

"I´ll push you back on the floor so I can unfasten your pants. By this time, you should have a very nice hard-on."

"There´s no doubt about that."

Brenna smiled. Eric never had a problem getting hard. "I´ll take your cock in my hands and caress it. Then I´ll lick you from your balls to the head, over and over."

"Then what?" he croaked.

"When your cock is nice and wet, I´ll take off my blouse and bra and slide it between my breasts."

"Jesus, babe."

"You said you wanted explicit."

"Yeah, I did." He cleared his throat. "Do I get to do something to you?"

"Not until you come in my mouth."

"Okay, that´s it. I´ll be at your house in fifteen minutes. I can make it in ten if I ignore all the stop signs and red lights."

Brenna laughed. She´d made him crazy, and she loved it. "I´m not at home."

"Where the hell are you?"

"I´m shopping on the Westside."

"Shit," he muttered, then released a heavy breath. "I can´t leave now anyway, unless I hold a ream of paper in front of my fly."

"You don´t want to shake up the office?"

"Hardly. The people in this office gossip enough as it is."

Brenna giggled. She could imagine Eric sitting behind his desk, unable to do anything about the erection pressing against his zipper.

"I´ve missed you," he said softly.

His sweet words and gentle voice brought a lump to her throat. "I´ve missed you, too."

"Are you sure I can´t come over before six?"

"Please don´t. I have a very special evening planned for us."

"Do you need me to bring anything? Vibrator, lubricant, nipple clamps-"

A bubble of laughter caused her to release an unladylike snort. "No!"

"How about a bottle of wine?"

"That you can bring."

"Dessert?"

"No, I´ll take care of that."

"Then I´ll see you later. I love you, babe."

"I love you, too. Bye."

Brenna dropped the cell phone back in her tote. She inhaled deeply and released her breath slowly as love swelled up in her heart. It must be illegal to be this happy.

Shaking her head to get her thoughts back on track, Brenna grabbed her tote. She had a few things to buy inside the grocery store before she went to Capital Mall. This special evening called for a sexy new bra and panties set from Victoria´s Secret.

* * * * *

Eric replaced the receiver and leaned back in his chair. He tapped his chin with one finger while thinking about his conversation with Brenna. A smile touched his lips. She was incredible. Sexy, beautiful, intelligent, caring...

And surprising.

He tugged on the fly of his pants to adjust his erection. After a year of dating Brenna, Eric would swear he knew her as well as a man could know a woman. Then she would throw him a curve he didn´t expect, like the episode of phone sex they´d just had. She´d never done anything like that. While she had no problem telling him what she wanted or needed in the bedroom, she didn´t throw around words like "cock" and "balls".

Hearing her talk that way was arousing as hell.

The swelling of his cock made him groan. Remembering the way she´d talked to him wouldn´t help his condition one bit.

Contracts, man. Think about contracts and new listings and selling that monstrosity in Lacey that´ll bring in a really nice commission.