Sinful Desires Read online

  The

  SEDUCTION FACTOR

  Book 5—Sinful Desires

  Scarlett Avery

  Copyright © 2015 by Scarlett Avery

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  Scarlett Avery / Absolutely Naughty Publishing

  Edited by RJ Locksley

  Proofread by Chrissy Becker

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental. This book is for sale to adults over 18.

  The Seduction Factor / Scarlett Avery.

  ISBN 978-0-9940233-4-6

  Foreword

  I can't thank you enough for purchasing this sizzling read.

  I’m absolutely passionate about what I do. Once I start writing, I just can't stop.

  It's taking me a whole lifetime to get to the point where I’m able to live out my dream every single day.

  The captivating stories and the enigmatic characters live with me throughout the writing process. I think you'll quickly notice how much care and attention I put into each one of my romance novels.

  Another thing you’ll discover about me is how much I love my readers!

  To thank you for buying this romance novel, I’d love for you to lose yourself in even more sultriness, sexiness and seduction!

  When you sign-up today, I’ll send an exclusive

  Secret Chapter for this book in this series.

  Sign-up TODAY! www.RomanceBooksRock.com

  ***

  The Seduction Factor Series

  Book 1—Casual Encounter

  Book 2—The Billionaire's Desire

  Book 3—Broken

  Book 4—Love Tangle

  Book 5—Sinful Desires

  Book 6—Always & Forever

  ***

  BOOK 5—SINFUL DESIRES

  Chapter One

  My blood is boiling to dangerous levels. I can’t believe the man who broke my heart into millions of pieces is standing in the same room as me. How the hell did this happen when I swore to myself I’d do everything in my power to never cross his path again? How can God punish me by bringing Luke Elliot Rutherford back into my life?

  “You look beautiful,” Luke says.

  He’s as devastatingly gorgeous as I remember. Luke hasn’t changed a bit. He’s still tall, dark and handsome. His deep blue eyes, his rugged looks and his Southern magnetism have always contributed to my demise. I can tell from his tight-fitted dark blue jeans he still trains as much as he used to.

  Here we are seven years later and he still has an unmistakable effect on me.

  “What are you doing here, Luke?”

  I desperately try to control the tremble in my voice because I don’t want him to see how shaken I am. I fist my hands at my sides to give me courage to face the man who destroyed my life.

  “I never got used to your New York City directness. In the South we like to chat up folks when we haven’t seen them for a while.”

  “Yeah, well, this ain’t Texas, cowboy.” I can’t believe he’s standing in front of me looking as cavalier as he did on the day he came to my apartment to announce the wedding was off.

  “Bella, is this how you greet me after so many years?”

  He strides in my direction and I put my hand up. “Don’t even think of getting closer.”

  “Okay, hun,” he responds with an exaggerated Southern drawl. “I wouldn’t want to get you upset. I’ll tell ya, women from Manhattan are so darn feisty.”

  “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  “Which one?”

  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “No need to swear. You’ve become such a New Yorker. Georgia Manning and I are business partners. We’ve recently joined forces and we were waiting to piggyback on this major event to make it official and tell the press. Georgia is seven weeks pregnant and her morning sickness has been more severe lately and her energy is so low she can’t make it through a full day of work anymore. Her doctor advised her to stay off her feet yesterday and I jumped in at the last minute to make sure this night unfolds without a hitch.”

  I take him in suspiciously from the corner of my eyes. Luke has always been a master liar.

  “What? You don’t believe me?”

  “Why should I? You bullshit so well.”

  “I flew in from Nashville this morning when Georgia called me to let me know she was too sick to oversee tonight’s event. I dropped a big weekend wedding for an up-and-coming country artist with an expected guest list of over two hundred and fifty. My team and I were getting ready for a huge event and I had to turn over the workload to my assistant to make sure I covered for Georgia—this night is way too important for both of us. If you don’t believe me, we can ask Walter to validate my story, Bella.”

  “Don’t call me Bella,” I spit out, fuming inside.

  Damn, I thought I was over him. I promised myself I’d never allow him to make me feel like crap again and here I am feeling like I’m unraveling stitch by stitch.

  “You used to love your little nickname because it’s a diminutive of your middle name and I was the only one who used it.”

  “Yeah, there are a lot of things I used to love before you pulled the carpet from under my feet.”

  “Come on, Ciara. You can’t possibly still be bitter? All this is water under the bridge. We’ve both moved on. In any case, I have.”

  He could slap me across the face and it wouldn’t hurt this much. “Don’t you dare minimize what you did to me. Of course you’ve moved on. You weren’t the one who got unceremoniously dumped four weeks before her wedding day because her blood wasn’t Southern enough.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, my mother, rest her soul, was so wrong about you—about us. Emmylou and I were not a good match, even if Mama thought she was a perfect catch for me—and of course Southern. The marriage didn’t even last a year. I couldn’t stand living in the same house as her. I should have never listened to my mother. I should have married you instead. I loved you, but my mother had her own views.”

  “You grew balls after your mother passed away?”

  Wow, I didn’t know Patty Mae Rutherford had died. His mother was the devil personified. She hated me so much. She was determined to keep Luke and I apart and in the end she won. She only stood four feet eight inches, but her wrath was ten feet tall and it was all directed at me.

  “Ciara, you got it all wrong. I couldn’t keep butting heads with my mother about us. She kept threatening if I couldn’t give her Southern grandkids, she’d disown me. My family is very rich and I wasn’t about to go work at McDonald’s. I mean, what if things hadn’t worked between us? I couldn’t risk everything.”

  What an asshole. He loves the family money more than he ever loved me. “Yeah, and since my family didn’t conquer the South, I wouldn’t have been able to live up to her ridiculous standards.”

  “I’ve thought of you every day since I made the mistake of letting you go.”

  He reaches out to touch my face, but I turn my head. Any contact with him would be fatal to my heart. “Don’t touch me and please don’t talk shit. You made yourself very clear. You didn’t want to upset your dear mother and risk losing the family fortune. I get it.”

  “We were so young. I was too afraid to stand up to my mother.”

  “You didn’t have the courage to fight for me. You didn’t love me or else you wouldn’t have been afraid.�
��

  “I’ve never been able to love another woman after you.”

  “You’re so fucking full of it, Luke.”

  My phone rings and I ignore my sister’s call. She’s most likely losing her mind with worry right now, but I need to confront this bastard once and for all.

  “Well, from what I see, you haven’t been able to love another either.”

  If eyes could kill, Luke would be six feet under. How dare he? “You know nothing about me,” I growl.

  “It’s a new era, baby. It’s all on the Internet. I’ve been following your career as closely as you’ve been following mine. You’re the toast of New York and I’ve seen your pictures at the many events and galas you attend. Funny how there’s always a new guy hanging from your arm. I guess you haven’t found the right one yet.”

  “You’re dead wrong. I’ve made it a point to avoid finding out anything about you since you humiliated me and my entire family.”

  I love Google, but I knew if I looked him up and followed his career, I’d be sucked into the vortex of the past. I never wanted to find out anything about him, personally or otherwise. I walked away from my promising career as a chef to avoid any risk of bumping into him at events—the idea of working side by side him in the kitchen of any restaurant in the country was enough to make my skin crawl. I had to give up cooking to keep what was left of my sanity.

  I’ve been extremely careful about avoiding him and it’s paid off for me, so why in God’s name is Luke standing in front of me right now?

  He takes a step forward and I stumble back to avoid any physical contact with him.

  “It’s all a shock right now, but why don’t you come as my date tomorrow night and we can catch up. I’m sure we can rekindle where we left off.”

  Is he delusional or simply the biggest idiot on the planet? “I’d rather eat crow. Not to mention I’m not coming alone,” I lie.

  My God, if I have to hire a guy for the night, I will. I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me alone at the event.

  I can’t believe Nikolaj can’t make it.

  “I guess my blood isn’t noble enough? You’re refusing me on the pretext I’m a commoner?”

  “Excuse me?” He’s making no sense whatsoever.

  “Fuck, Ciara, those photos of you on the Internet sitting on your king’s or duke’s or whatever’s cock… Wow. You were smoking hot, darling. You obviously have been hitting the gym hard. I’ve jerked off looking at those photos for months. Just thinking about them right now makes me hard,” he says, grabbing his crotch. “Maybe tomorrow night you could straddle my humble cock after the gala,” he says with a slimy grin on his face.

  The rage boiling inside me is indescribable. I deck him so hard with my left jab I hurt my wrist.

  “Ouch. Are you saying you don’t want us to get back together again since we’re both single?” He laughs, wiping off a trail of blood from his cheek.

  “You’re such a lowlife,” I hiss between clenched teeth.

  I can’t believe this jackass. How could I ever have been in love with him?

  I’m about to raise my knee to his balls when I see Walter standing behind Luke. His eyes lock onto mine as he approaches us. He looks dead serious, but he manages to curl up his lips into a warm smile.

  “I recognize Ciara has an irresistible charm and if I were a much younger man, I’d go after her like you’re doing now, Luke, but you might want to soften your approach, boy. It’s never a good sign when a woman hits you.”

  Luke takes a step away from me, still holding on to the right side of his face.

  Did I hurt him badly? Good. I hope I broke his teeth.

  “Walter, it’s nothing. Ciara and I go way back, right, babe? We’re reminiscing.”

  Walter gets close to Luke and it’s only when they’re nose to nose I realize how tall Walter is. “Son, does she look like she’s happy to see you? This doesn’t look like a stroll down memory lane to me.”

  “We have a few differences. Big deal. We’re working it out.”

  “I like Georgia Manning a lot, but I can’t say the same about you. Now you’re going to listen to me real good because I don’t want to have to repeat myself. Are you following me?”

  “Yes, sir, I’m all ears.”

  “Go back to the kitchen where you belong and leave this lovely woman alone. I don’t care if you’ve known her in a previous life, she doesn’t look like she wants anything to do with the likes of you and from what I know about her and you, I can’t blame her. You get to decide if I call in a new caterer for tonight’s press junket or not. I wouldn’t hesitate a second to drop you a few hours before the media is due to crowd this room. I’m a very rich man and I’m sure I can find another caterer in the Big Apple who would bend over backward to have the spotlight tonight.”

  “You can’t pull this catering gig from us. You won’t find anyone reputable. It’s way too late.”

  “Do you want to try me, young man?”

  My heart is pounding so badly I bring my right hand to my chest. I’m still clenching my left fist. I can’t believe I hit Luke. I’m such an emotional wreck I can’t even find the words to let Walter how grateful I am he showed up when he did.

  “Why don’t I go back to the kitchen like you suggested and I’ll go get some ice before my face swells up.” Luke casts a dark, disgusted look my way before turning the corner to the kitchen.

  Walter waits for him to get far away enough before approaching me. “My dear, are you okay? I heard some loud voices and by the time I came out of my office I saw you decking the jackass like a champion fighter.” He chuckles.

  “Walter…” I’m so shaken I can’t speak.

  “Oh, come on now. It’s over. The son of a bitch is gone,” he says, wrapping his arm around me.

  The second I nestle my head against Water’s chest, I let go. I sob for all those years I lost holding on to Luke’s memory, never realizing how much of an asshole he truly was. I wail for all the guys I wouldn’t let in because of the pain Luke caused me. And I exhale, finally able to put the past behind me once and for all.

  BOOK 5—SINFUL DESIRES

  Chapter Two

  The next night at the gala

  “My God, you look like a vision in your long purple dress.”

  I drop my fur cape on the coat check counter and turn on my heel when I hear my brother-in-law’s warm voice.

  “Bryce, we got here at the same time. I thought you were running late?”

  “I thought I would be late given the crazy day I’ve had,” he says, leaning in to kiss me on the cheek before hugging me. “At some point in the afternoon I got fed up and decided to call it a day. I went back home, relaxed a bit and after a shower and a quick change I decided to come and join you. You said there could be a lot of business opportunities in the room tonight.”

  “Translation, my sister called you to stand guard by my side all night long?”

  He flashes me a guilty smile. I can only love my big sister for wanting to protect me.

  After my unexpected run-in with Luke, Walter called a car to drive me to my sister’s place. I cried the whole way to Sofia’s place, unable to control the emotions from seeing the man who had broken my heart into three million pieces and who had caused me to raise a wall around my heart so high no other man would ever be able to climb it. By the time I arrived at her penthouse she was there pacing like a tiger. She’s always hated Luke for what he did to me, but now she really has a bone of contention with the idiot. After a lot of heated discussions, she begged her husband to accompany me since it was clear Nikolaj was too busy putting out fires his brother was instigating. My sister had to fly out this morning for an important business trip to Miami, but since Bryce was staying in town, she put her foot down and forced him to be my date for the evening.

  “I love you for being willing to drop everything to come to my rescue like this,” I say.

  “Listen, you know how angry Sofia was about your reunion with your
ex-boyfriend. She would have had my head on a platter had I allowed you to be here tonight at this gala alone.”

  “I’m so sorry I had to drag you out here.”

  “Are you kidding me? I’m married to an insanely gorgeous woman who pushes me to go out on a date with her model-like sister. It’s like dying and going to heaven.” He winks. “It’s every man’s deep-seated fantasy.”

  “You’re so bad. One thing is certain, you make for a very handsome bodyguard.”

  My sister married well. She snatched a notorious bachelor who fell in love with her the first time he met her. Not only is Bryce smart and extremely handsome, he’s also a self-made billionaire with a huge heart.

  “Seriously, Ciara, you look breathtaking in this purple dress. You’re as ethereal as a Greek goddess.”

  “I’m quite flattered,” I say, looking up at him from my under my lashes.

  I didn’t want to come tonight, but I’ve worked very hard to make this event a night to remember and I’m not going to let Luke ruin things for me. I selected this dramatic Gucci purple one-shouldered dress because it flows when I walk. The cutoff at the front of the dress is too revealing to wear a bra, which adds a touch of sin to a magnificent design. I’ve pulled back my long and wild hair into a tight low chignon to showcase my bare shoulder and I’ve popped in my go-to diamond studs to illuminate my face and hide the fact I barely slept last night. As a reminder of the man I yearn to be with tonight, I’ve adorned my left wrist with the diamond bracelet Nikolaj gave me a few days ago.

  My God, do I ever miss him. I’d bail out of this event in a heartbeat if I could fly to Denmark right now to be with him.

  “I’m sorry your Danish boyfriend won’t get to see you in all of your glory. It’s my honor to be your bodyguard tonight and let me tell you, I’m looking forward to seeing other men’s faces when they lay eyes on you and regret they’re not the one standing next to you.”