Free Seduce Me Sweetly (Heron's Landing Book 1) by Iris Morland

She’d worn a deceptively simple gown that had cost more than the house he stood in. But he didn’t see the gown: he saw her smile, and he saw his own. He’d adored her. And now, he missed her with a fierce, all-consuming ache.
    After the accident, the reporters and journalists had hounded him. They’d dug deep into his history and hers, bringing up any possible sordid detail to be consumed by the fascinated public. An arrest when Adam had been seventeen and stupid, a shoplifting arrest when Carolyn had also been young and stupid. But it was when the headlines had turned vicious that Adam had had enough: he’d seen his family suffer enough from the constant barrage of whispers and questions and paranoia, fearing that someone would be listening and report their findings to the media. They could barely leave their house without being hounded.
    Adam shook his head, shaking away the memories. He couldn’t let them take hold of him again. Going into the kitchen, he grabbed the decanter of whiskey and poured himself more than enough for the night. He didn’t normally drink much, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Slugging back the liquor, the burn of it slid down his throat, settling like a stone in his belly.
    The night waned away as he drank more and more whiskey, his vision going hazy. Muttering to himself, he paced around the house. How dare Joy do something like that? How could she lie to his face? And after they’d kissed! He’d so stupidly thought there was something between them, despite their initial dislike, but apparently that had been a mere illusion. Had she let him kiss her to lull him into a false sense of security?
    At the thought, he shuddered. He was becoming paranoid again, like when Carolyn had died. He couldn’t let himself go into that place again, when he was checking his house for wires like the goddamn CIA was on his trail and investigating him. Finishing off the whiskey, he went to the bathroom before falling into a restless sleep.
    In the morning, he opened his eyes and groaned. His head pounded. How much had he drunk? He took a hot shower, trying to clear the cobwebs from his mind. When he checked his phone, he saw a text message from Jaime: Don’t do anything stupid.
    He replied, Of course.
    Going through his contacts, he pressed his thumb on Joy’s number. He listened to it ring, and ring, and ring, and then her voice saying, “Hello?”
    “I need to see you. Are you available now?”
    Silence. Then, “Uh, I guess so. I just woke up, though.”
    “Good. I’ll be there in fifteen. See you at Trudy’s.”
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Joy hadn’t expected Adam would be thrilled about her doing a story on the vineyard. But she hadn’t expected he’d be quite so steamed, either.
    Sitting across from him in a booth at Trudy’s, twenty minutes after he’d called and mysteriously asked to see her, she sipped her coffee, waiting for him to say something. Instead, he seemed intent on having a staring contest with her. If she’d known he just wanted to glare at her, she would’ve stayed in bed, made her own coffee and maybe watched a movie.
    Feeling peevish and tired, she asked, “You wanted to talk to me about something?”
    He ripped open a sugar packet with more force than strictly necessary, and thus the majority of the granules ended up on the table. He swore. “Are you writing a story about the vineyard?” he asked in clipped tones.
    Joy sipped her coffee. Grace wasn’t working today, and she could tell that Terry had made the coffee today because it tasted like bitter lukewarm water. She dumped more creamer in it, slowly stirring, watching Adam stew. She rather liked watching him stew.
    How had the man sitting before her kissed her so tenderly not so long ago? It was like he’d been a completely different person that evening. One who didn’t look like he’d murder puppies from his scowl alone.
    She took another sip of coffee. Sighed. And then replied, “I am