Taryn Leigh Taylor brings The Business of Pleasure series to a steamy conclusion in this scandalous tale of old flames reunited. She can’t resist him...but can he forgive her painful betrayal?
After Wes Brennan is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, he’s rescued by hotshot lawyer Vivienne Grant: the woman whose heart he broke years ago. His bail conditions dictate he stays with his gorgeous ex while she proves his innocence. In close proximity for hours on end, the pair soon forgive old betrayals—and reawaken old desires.
Though he’s hurt to discover Vivienne’s illicit involvement in a spyware scheme led to his arrest, Wes is determined to give their relationship another go. But suddenly, the charges against him are mysteriously dropped and the prosecution announces a new prime suspect: Vivienne.
Wes knows Vivienne’s confession to him could land her behind bars...unless he can’t testify, that is. He proposes a convenient marriage to save her career and buy them time to investigate—the racy honeymoon getaway is a thrilling bonus. But the past is still clouded with secrets and Wes knows Vivienne’s holding back something huge. When the truth is revealed, will their reignited passion finally burn out?
Harlequin DARE publishes sexy romances featuring powerful alpha males and bold, fearless heroines exploring their deepest fantasies.
Taryn Leigh Taylor likes dinosaurs, bridges and space, both personal and of the final-frontier variety. She shamelessly indulges in clichés, most notably her Starbucks addiction (grande six-pump whole-milk no-water chai-tea latte, aka: the usual), her shoe hoard (I can stop anytime I... Ooh! These are pretty!) and her penchant for falling in lust with fictional men with great abs. She also really loves books, which was what sent her down the wild path of writing one in the first place.
Want to be virtual friends? Check out tarynleightaylor.com, Facebook.com/tarynltaylor1 and Twitter, @tarynltaylor.
If you liked Guilty Pleasure, why not try
Hot Boss by Anne Marsh
At Your Service by A.C. Arthur
Wild Wedding Hookup by Jamie K. Schmidt
Discover more at Harlequin.com
GUILTY PLEASURE
TARYN LEIGH TAYLOR
Thanks for helping me with my homework, Crystal.
And for Jo. We made it. Thank you for everything.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
Excerpt from Hot Boss by Anne Marsh
CHAPTER ONE
SOMEONE WAS GOING to pay.
Wes Brennan just had to figure out who.
Accepting the lumpy manila envelope the guard slid under the Plexiglas barrier, Wes ripped into it and dumped the contents on the stainless steel counter.
He grabbed his watch first, fastening the platinum band around his left wrist. His blue silk Brioni tie was unceremoniously shoved into his pants pocket, along with his keys. After a quick inspection of his billfold—one hundred dollars and all his plastic—it, too, was tucked away, this time in the breast pocket of his suit jacket. If he’d known he was going to end up in jail, he would have stopped at an ATM first. A hundred bucks probably wouldn’t even cover his cab ride home if traffic was bad, and in LA, traffic was always bad.
Wes picked up the last item on the counter. He barely recognized his bearded reflection in the black screen of his phone. Well, what was left of his phone, anyway. He’d watched an FBI agent strip it of its SIM card, which was still evidence in his active and ongoing case, the day they’d put him in cuffs. He pressed the power button a few times, but to no avail. Clearly no one had thought to turn his phone off after whatever the hell they’d seen fit to do to it during his incarceration. With a sigh, he slid it into the same pocket as his wallet.
The mandated hiatus from the digital world was probably for the best, he decided. Cybersecurity expert rips off his clients. Yeah, he could see the press getting some mileage out of that. He’d take the reprieve while he could get it.
Then he tossed the empty envelope in the designated bin and walked out of prison.
Ten days he’d been held like a mongrel at the pound, focused on this moment—liberation—but when he stepped beyond the squeaky metal door and back into the world, what he felt was not so much relief as wariness. A haunting certainty that the dog catcher loomed around the next corner, or the one after that. He wasn’t out of this nightmare yet. Not by a long shot.
It didn’t help that California’s famous sunshine was nowhere to be seen, swallowed by dank, gray clouds that reflected his mood. The air was foul with smog. Wes took a deep breath anyway, inhaling the tainted scent of freedom.
He wanted to incinerate the suit he’d been arrested in with a blowtorch.
He wanted to scald any remnants of the experience from his skin with a blistering shower.
But most of all, he wanted vengeance. With every cell of his being.
Odd, then, that he was so easily and thoroughly distracted when he caught sight of the woman who was waiting for him at the end of the sidewalk.
She’d been wearing a red dress the first time he’d seen her, at an overstuffed party, in a frat house that reeked of booze and pot and hormones. Her dress now was the same color, but streamlined and structured, tailored to perfection to skim the long, sleek lines of her body. Back then it had been short and flowy, fluttering around her thighs in a way that made his fingers ache to inch it higher.
Gone, too, were the wild brown curls of her youth, replaced by an angled bob that showed off sharp cheekbones and made the generous curve of her mouth look even softer and more inviting in contrast. Her lips were painted the same red as her dress.
Vivienne Grant.
The last person he wanted to witness his personal and professional nadir, and yet, an oddly fitting choice.
After all, what was hell without your very own devil incarnate?
“Hello, lover.”
Her voice still
