SINGED by Desiree Holt & Allie Standifer

SINGED - Book 3 in the Turn Up the Heat series by Desiree Holt and Allie Standifer

River Brody knows love exists, but every woman he dates seems to be lacking that special spark. Until he attends an engagement party for his brothers and sees the woman of his dreams.

Kendra Jacobs is coming out of a bad relationship. When she sees River, Kendra thinks he may just be the guy to try her new wiles on. As long as she leaves before he does.

After spending one memorable night together, River knows he's found the one person he's meant to spend the rest of his life with. However, convincing Kendra proves far from easy.

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An Excerpt From: SINGED

Copyright © DESIREE HOLT & ALLIE STANDIFER, 2010

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

Chapter One



So many women, so little interest, River Brody thought as he slowly sipped from his bottle of Lone Star beer. If he hadn’t known the exact source of his disinterest River would have been worried. As it stood he knew exactly who to blame for his nonexistent sex life.

His brothers Skyler and Reed along with their fiancées danced by his table, secretive smiles on all four of their faces. Ever since his two older brothers met the loves of their lives nothing had been the same in the Brody household. And River wanted the same chaos and devotion he saw mirrored in his brothers’ eyes every time they looked at their chosen ladies.

He wanted that connection. The bone-deep awareness that another person would always have your back. Someone to depend on and trust, someone he didn’t have to play games with or hide away from after a bad day at work.

Fuck, just watching them made him ache with loneliness he’d never been aware of until now. My damn brothers, he mentally cursed. They couldn’t leave well enough alone. As happy as he was for them, River still wished things had remained as they’d had been.

A quick slap to the back of his head jolted River out of his pool of self-pity. He flicked a dark look over his shoulder to find his only cousin, Grant Havers standing there smirking at him.

“What do you want?” River growled while his hands itched to repay the hit.

Grant kept a tiny smile hovering at the edge of his lips as he casually tucked his hands into the pocket of his black slacks and rocked back on his heels. “Nothing. You just looked like you needed a good jolt back to reality.”

No hitting at a formal event, River reminded himself. Sky, Reed and the girls would never forgive him for starting a brawl at their engagement party. Especially in the private room at this upscale hotel where all their friends and relatives were gathered.

He let out a deep breath. “Grant, you are lucky I like my soon-to-be sisters-in-law or else I’d take your superior ass down here and now.”

Instead of acting afraid, the dumb ass threw back his head and laughed. “Man, you must scare confessions out of all your suspects with a look like that.”

As hard as he tried River couldn’t hold onto his temper with Grant around. “You are an idiot, you know that, right?”

Grant nodded his shaggy head. “Yep,” he saluted with his beer, “but I’m a rich, retired idiot.”

Yeah, he remembered. At the ripe old age of thirty-eight Grant had been on top of the finance world until a heart attack brought him back down to earth. Within six months Grant sold out his shares of the company, put his condo on the market and moved down South to live with the only family he had left.

With too much time and money on his hands, his cousin had turned into a real meddler. “At least you admit that much of the truth.”

“Hey, I figured out how much energy and time it took to think up lies and then remember them and let me tell you, it’s not worth it.”

“Grant, we’ve got to find you a hobby or a girlfriend. You’ve got way too much time on your hands.” River mentally flipped through the faces of women he knew and came up with a few that might pique his cousin’s interest.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. After tonight I think I’ve got the girlfriend thing covered.” His blue eyes narrowed to a singular spot with so much intensity River wondered if the object of this rigid gaze might burst into flames.

“What are you…” His voice trailed off as he finally spied the woman who’d managed to capture Grant’s attention. His head started shaking before he found the words to object. “Oh no, Grant, hell no. That’s not a woman. That’s Kasey’s sister.”

“Kasey’s sister, hmm.” Those dangerous blue eyes never left the woman’s smiling face as she laughed with her sister and his brother. “Her name is Kira, right?”

“Grant, buddy, I don’t think she’s the one for you. I’ve got several women more your style. Why don’t we get together for dinner later this week and talk about it?”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve found the one who interests me.” He took another slow sip of his beer before he spoke again. “Keep your ladies to yourself. Now introduce me.”

River wanted to do many things right at that moment, but none of them included introducing his soon-to-be sister-in-law’s sister to his love-’em-and-leave-’em cousin.

Making the decision to introduce them then take Kira aside later to warn her, River gave a short nod. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Grant finally took his eyes off Kira long enough to cast a look of distrust at his cousin. “Why should you warn me?”

“Because if by some miracle she actually goes out with you, you’ll have sex and never call her again. She’ll tell Kasey. Kasey will complain to Sky and Sky will come whining to Reed and me. Then we’ll have to come kick your ass for making us put up with the unholy terror of hearing details of your sex life.”

Whatever Grant said next River didn’t hear. Not when his every sleeping and waking fantasy walked across the room. He swallowed thickly as his once loose pants grew tighter by the second.

“Go introduce yourself, Grant. I’ve got other plans.” He shoved his cousin away and dodged people in his effort to reach the paragon of perfection before the crowd swallowed her up.

Curves, curves and more curves. River’s mouth watered just thinking about getting his hands and tongue all over that body. He loved nothing more than a woman with a woman’s body. No skin and bones skeleton for him. He wanted to feel a female’s softness in bed with him, not to get poked by a stray rib. Those women only made him want to feed them. The woman he spied now inspired fantasies a lot more sensual than food.

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