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One Good Man
Lacey Thorn and Cindy Spencer Pape
One of the most enduring of all urban legends is the story of the phantom hitchhiker. Young or
old, male or female, in need of help or just needing a ride, the legends vary. A helpful driver offers
a ride and the passenger gives directions. When they arrive at the destination however, the
driver discovers the passenger has vanished, sometimes leaving behind a piece of clothing or
some other memento to mark his or her passing. A stormy night, a deserted country road, a
blown tire, and a woman on the run from a killer. Is the handsome young Marine here to save
her? Or is he just a figment of her imagination?
Casey is caught between a murderer, a ghost and the wounded soldier who could either save
her life or break her heart. Grant can deal with Thanksgiving snowstorms and determined killers
but not his brother’s ghost, and not a woman who makes him start thinking about the future.
Can Grant let go of the past to embrace the explosive passion he finds with Casey? He’s willing
to risk his life for hers, but what about his heart?
Excerpt is unedited and subject to change in final book.
Casey jumped out of bed suddenly deciding that she needed the comfort of her own clothes on
instead of Grant’s shirt and her panties. She was just bending over to pick up her stuff when she
heard a deep groan from behind her. She turned and there was Grant filling the doorway with his
big frame. His gaze zeroed in on her breasts and she blushed even as she felt her nipples
harden and press against the cotton of his shirt. Her gaze dropped to his jeans and there was no
missing the prominent bulge behind the fly of his Levis.
He started toward her and she noticed the glass of water in his hand. It was a paper cup she
seemed to recall from the bathroom which explained why he was back so quickly. He stopped
when he was in front of her, so close that she could feel the heat radiating from him.
“Drink,” he grunted and she grasped the cup and carried it to her mouth. She almost dropped it
when she felt his knuckles graze the tips of her breasts. She did drop it when he pinched both
nipples and pulled on them.
Casey moaned as the sensation speared her from breasts to belly and all the way down. God
she wanted him.
“Damn,” she heard him mutter before he locked gazes with her and stated bluntly, “I want you
Casey. I want to throw you across my bed and take you hard.”
Casey shivered with her own carnal need. It had been a long time and something about Grant
increased her need, her hunger. “What’s stopping you?” she tossed out before sitting on the
bed and reclining back on her elbows. Her knees draped over the side and he spread them wide
with his body when he stepped between them.
“I don’t like people wearing my stuff Casey,” Grant stated matter-of-factly nodding at his shirt
plastered against her chest. Since he’d already said he didn’t care, she recognized the command
as purely sexual. “Take it off.”
Casey couldn’t stop the grin that tugged at her lips as she caught the hem and pulled the shirt
up and over her head. She tossed it behind her and leaned back once more letting him look his
fill of her breasts. She could tell he liked them by the lust that flared in his eyes.
“Now the panties,” Grant ordered.
“Are they yours too?” Casey said with a laugh that made him growl. She reached down and
eased the bikinis over her hips and down her legs hooking them on one foot before extending it
out to Grant as an offering.
Grant took the panties and she gasped when he carried them up to his face and inhaled deeply.
It was more erotic than she would have ever imagined to see him breathing holding her arousal
soaked undies to his nose. She rubbed her legs together feeling more moisture seep from her
slit to coat her thighs.
“Open your legs and show me how much you want me.” He stuffed the undies into his front
pocket then proceeded to unbutton the dark flannel shirt he was wearing.
She spread her legs wide and lay back on the bed enjoying the view just as much as his
expression said that he was. He had a deep grey thermal shirt under the flannel that made his
eyes appear almost silver in the soft light. She brought her hands up to her breasts and pinched
lightly at her nipples making them both groan. He pulled the thermal up and over his chest and
Casey shivered at the sight of his naked chest covered in a light peppering of blondish brown
hair that thickened in a line from belly to the top of his jeans. She knew it was pointing the way to
the Promised Land.
“We’re still going to talk later, Casey.” Grant flicked open the top snap on his jeans. “You’re not
going to leave ‘til I get some damn answers.”
“Whatever you say.” Casey was willing to agree to anything as she watched his hand finally
reach for the zipper and pull it down.