Read Vibrant Heart: Book 1 in the Great Plains Romance Series for Free Online Page A

she’d been trying to block these thoughts all afternoon and it hadn’t done any good. Maybe letting her thoughts run wild would finally get it all out of her system and make it easier to at least be in the same room as Jake.
    Jake had shown her that he could arouse her excitement in an instant, but he had also been playful at times. No doubt he would be intense in bed—passionate and skilled, yet his polite charm suggested he would be caring about his partner. If she had let the kiss continue, their tongues probing and twisting and dancing while their hands explored each other’s bodies—his muscular arms and chest, his abdomen tightening reflexively as she swirled her fingers across it in gentle circles, his hands moving down her back, pressing her tighter to him, her breaking their kiss to lean back and expose her neck while she moaned his name....
    “Oh, darlin’.”
    His voice, deep and husky, penetrated her ecstasy as if from a distance. He dotted her throat with love nibbles, leaving a hot path of arousal until he reached her earlobes.
    “Oh, Mel.”
    His hot breath in her ear created molten lava deep inside her, and she turned toward him, moaning softly, begging for more, but unable to form the words. Luckily he didn’t need words. His mouth was no longer tender, but voracious as it seared down her neck and across her shoulder.
    Melanie frowned. His kisses were no longer passionate sparks aimed at exciting her senses. They felt wet, sloppy even. She tried to clear her thoughts, return them to the moments before, when her skin felt like it would start on fire, but the sticky wetness on her neck wouldn’t go away.
    “Oh, Mel.”
    Melanie’s eyes flew open. She wasn’t dreaming, there really was someone in the room with her. She jerked away, throwing herself onto the floor on the far side of the bed. How dare he come into her room, uninvited! The nerve of him—did he just think all women would drop their panties for him? “Just what do you think you’re doing?” she shrieked, standing up to face the bed.
    “Mel, honey, what’s wrong?”
    She blinked several times, trying to adjust to the shadowed room. Had she actually fallen asleep? The darkening windows indicated that the sun was setting outside.
    “Sweetie, it’s okay.”
    She took a step toward the bed. “Raymond?”
    “Of course it’s me.” He laughed. “Come on back to bed.” He patted the bed lightly. He wasn’t wearing a shirt.
    Melanie suddenly wanted a scalding hot shower. She hoped he hadn’t removed any other articles of clothing. “What are you doing? You’re married!”
    “C’mon, Mel. Don’t worry about that.”
    “Worry about it? Worry about it!” She couldn’t stop herself from yelling. All the emotions of the day boiled up inside her, and her frustrations were aimed at the half-naked man lying in her bed. She moved around the bed, snatching up his shirt from the floor and throwing it at him. “Get your sorry ass out of my bed right now, mister—take your clothes and just get out!”
    Raymond jumped up and grabbed Melanie in a tight embrace, pinning her arms down by her sides. “Oh, Mel, honey, it’s okay.” He drew out each syllable, creating a sickeningly sweet whine. “Don’t tease me like this. You know it makes me crazy.”
    When she struggled against him, he tightened his grip. “Let me go,” she hissed, but he only laughed. Frustrated, she did the only thing she could think of: She bit his shoulder. Hard.
    Raymond squealed and jumped back. “Jesus, woman. What are you doing?”
    “What I should have done a long time ago.” She smiled in victory as he rubbed at his shoulder, checking for blood.
    He grabbed his shirt from where it had fallen on the bed and hastily shrugged into it. “I don’t know who you think you are, Miss Big Shot, but I don’t play that way. I’ve got a wife, remember?” He nodded to Jake, who was standing in the doorway, his hand on the doorknob, his face contorted in black