Overload Read online

  Quinlan sighed with satisfaction, then hauled her into his arms, literally dragging her across the table and knocking her mug of coffee to the floor. Oblivious to the spreading brown puddle, he held her on his lap and kissed her until her knees were weak. When he lifted his head, a big grin creased his face and he said, “By the way, I always know how to bypass my own systems.”

  She put her hand on his rough jaw and kissed him again. “I know,” she said smugly.

  * * *

  Over an hour later, he lifted his head from the pillow and scowled at her. “There’s no way you could have known.”

  “Not for certain, but I suspected.” She stretched, feeling lazy and replete. Her entire body throbbed with a pleasant, lingering heat.

  He gathered her close and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Six months,” he grumbled. “And it took a damn blackout to get you to talk to me.”

  “I feel rather fond of the blackout,” she murmured. “Without it, I wouldn’t have been forced to spend so much time with you.”

  “Are you saying we never would have worked it out if it hadn’t been for that?”

  “I wouldn’t have given you the chance to get that close to me,” she said, her voice quiet with sincerity. “I wasn’t playing games, Tom. I was scared to death of you, and of losing myself again. You never would have had the chance to convince me, if it hadn’t been for the blackout.”

  “Then God bless overloaded power grids,” he muttered. “But I’d have gotten to you, one way or another.”

  “Other than kidnapping, I can’t think how,” she replied caustically.

  He went very still, and the silence made her lift her head to give him a suspicious glare. He tried to look innocent, then gave it up when he saw she wasn’t buying it.

  “That was what I had planned for the weekend, if you refused to have dinner with me Thursday night,” he admitted a bit sheepishly.

  “Ah-ha. I thought you way laid me that afternoon.”

  “A man has to do something when his woman won’t give him the time of day,” he muttered. “I was desperate.”

  She said, “It’s six-thirty.”

  A brief flicker of confusion crossed his face; then he glanced at the clock and grinned. “So it is,” he said with satisfaction. She had just given him the time of day—and a lot more. With a lithe twist of his powerful body he tumbled her back into the twisted sheets and came down on top of her.

  “I love you,” he rumbled. “And I still haven’t heard the ‘yes’ I’ve been waiting for.”

  “I agreed. We made a deal.”

  “I know, but I’m a little more traditional than that. Elizabeth Major, will you marry me?”

  She hesitated for a second. Eric Landers had lost the power to keep her a victim. “Yes, Tom Quinlan, I certainly will.”

  He lowered his head to kiss her. When he surfaced, they were both breathing hard and knew it would be a while yet before they got out of bed. He gave the clock another glance. “Around nine,” he murmured, “remind me to make a couple of phone calls. I need to cancel the kidnapping plans.”

  She laughed, and kept laughing until his strong thrust into her body changed the laughter into a soft cry of pleasure, as he turned that relentless focus to the task of bringing them both to the intense ecstasy they found only with each other. She had been so afraid of that part of him, but now she knew it was what made him a man she could depend on for the rest of her life. As she clung to his shoulders, a dim echo of thought floated through her brain: “God bless overloads!”

  * * * * *

  If you’re looking for romance, sensuality and heart, don’t miss these great titles by NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author

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  Read on for an exciting excerpt of Susan Mallery’s #1 New York Times bestseller, THRILL ME!

  Maya Farlow learned the hard way to depend only on herself, so when she fell too deeply for the bad-boy charms of Del Mitchell, she did the only thing she could—she ran. Stunned, Del left Fool’s Gold to make his name and fortune in extreme sports. Now, ten years later, Maya’s been hired to promote her hometown’s new slogan, The Destination for Romance, but the campaign’s celebrity spokesman is none other than Del, the man she left but never forgot…

  MAYA HAD HOPED that hanging out with her friend would be enough to chase all the Del from her mind. But she’d been wrong. The night had been an uncomfortable experience of being awake more than asleep. And when she finally did doze, it was only to dream of Del. Not current, sexy, stubbly Del, but the twenty-year-old who had stolen her heart.

  She woke exhausted and with memory hangover. Funny how, until she’d seen him, she’d been able to forget him. But now that he was back, she was trapped in a past-present rip in the space-time continuum.

  Or she was simply dealing with some unfinished business, she thought as she stepped into the shower. Because as much as she might like to think the universe revolved around her, truth was, it didn’t.

  Thirty minutes later she was reasonably presentable. She knew the only thing that would make her day livable was lots and lots of coffee. So she left her tiny rental house, pausing to give her newly planted flowers a quick watering before heading to Brew-haha.

  Fool’s Gold had grown in the ten years she’d been away. Giving walking tours of the city as a part-time job in high school meant she was familiar with the history and layout. She had a feeling the schedule of festivals she’d once memorized still existed in her brain. Probably stored next to all the words to Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone.”

  The thought made her smile and, humming the song, she walked into Brew-haha.

  The coffee place had been decorated simply, with bright colors and lots of places to sit. There was a long counter up front, a display of tempting, high-calorie pastries and a tall, broad-shouldered man at the front of a six-person line.

  Maya froze, half in, half out of the store. Now what? She was going to have to face Del at some point. Thanks to Mayor Marsha, they would be working together. But she hadn’t thought she would have to deal with him precoffee.

  The downside to an otherwise perfectly lovely town, she thought, sucking up her doubts and joining the line.

  As Del finished placing his order, whatever he’d said had the cashier laughing. He moved over to wait for his order and immediately started talking to the barista.

  Had he always been so friendly, Maya wondered, watching him, while trying to appear as if she wasn’t paying attention at all. A trick that had her still-slightly sleepy self struggling to keep up.

  The line moved forward. Several other customers stopped to talk to Del, greeting him and then pausing to chat. No doubt catching up, she thought. Del had grown up here. He would know a lot of people.

  A few words of the conversations drifted to her. She caught bits about his skysurfing and the business he’d sold. Because when Del had left town, he’d not only gotten involved in a new and highly risky sport, he’d designed a board, founded a company, and then sold it for a lot of money. Which was impressive. And the tiniest bit annoying.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to have done great. But maybe he didn’t have to be so go