Free Second Chances: Novella One by Jo Briggs Page A

businesswoman who everyone else thinks I am. He always had a way of seeing right through any facade.
    Deep in thought, and with the noise of the water running in her ear, Layla did not notice the glass door open. Suddenly she became aware of pair of strong hands snaking down the sides of her body and a voice whispering in her ear, “Mind if I join you and save on water?”
    “ Oh, my God, Evan, you scared me,” Layla exclaimed, almost jumping out of her skin, but she quickly turned to face him while remaining in the confines of his embrace.
    Pulling back for a second she drank in the delicious sight of his naked flesh, her eyes drifting to the taut abdominal muscles that shaped into a downward V where his magnificent appendage hung semi-erect. Her core clenched and quivered with desire at the thought of him, filling her completely with its hardness as he pounded her against the wall.  
    Their lips met, shyly at first, but quickly deepening into old familiarity; his tongue daring to dart forward to tangle with hers as his hands rubbed against her softness, sending tingling sensations that jolted every nerve end in her body to life as the water rushed over them.
    Evan pinned her against the tiled wall with his upper body, whispering words of endearment against her ear before reclaiming her lips as he kissed her more frantically. All too soon, he pulled away, leaving her breath ragged with the exhilaration of the moment.
    Stepping out from under the water, Evan looked her straight in the eye and said, “Never doubt that I adore you and am done with pussyfooting around.” With that, he was gone, presumably to dress for their dinner reservation.
    Layla was left feeling overwhelmed by the interaction. Her skin was still warm from the man’s touch, her lips puffy and pulse racing. It took her quite a few minutes to peel herself off the ceiling. One word flashing through her mind: wow!
    Half an hour later, Evan knocked on her bedroom door and called out, “Are you ready or shall I go downstairs and wait?”
    “ No, come in. I’ll be right with you,” she replied.
    Before stepping into the sitting-room area of her suite, where Evan was lingering, Layla checked her appearance in the full-length mirror one more time, eager to impress him with her dress.
    Evan was wearing a smartly tailored suit, which had been cut from an expensive-looking, navy pin-stripe material and brought out the azure gleam of his eyes. Layla’s heart swelled with pride at the man standing in front of her; he had surely earned the title of ‘One of the sexiest men in the world’ that had appeared in a recent magazine.
    Layla had chosen a one-shoulder, deep chocolate dress that ended at her ankles, emphasising her curves in all the right places while not being overly figure-hugging, and a pair of silver Louboutin high heels on her feet making her as tall as Evan.
     “ You look stunning, Miss Keyes,” Evan stated, placing several kisses on the curve of her neck, which left her stomach doing cartwheels and made her knees weaken in anticipation. There was already a visible red mark on her neck from their shower scene earlier, as though he had marked his territory. She rewarded his compliment with a pearly white smile.

Chapter Six
    Evan
    As Evan’s car emerged from behind the electric gate at the end of his driveway, and waited for an opportunity to join the moving traffic, a couple of photographers popped up out of nowhere and started snapping photos of the alarmed occupants. Swearing, Evan wanted to get out and make them delete the images, but Layla persuaded him to just drive on.
    “ God damn it!” he swore again, pounding the steering wheel in frustration.
    “ Why are you letting it bother you so much? You must get photographed all the time.”
    “ I have my reasons,” he said tightly, and Layla did not ask anything further. 
    Evan could not think of anything worse than having a photograph of Layla and him leaving Winster House together