Sweet Surrender — Georgette St. Clair

Poppy Donovan has been roped in to helping her half-sister Penelope run her new bakery for the summer while she recovers from a car accident - but as usual, Penelope's been keeping secrets.

Like the fact that Sweet Surrender is actually an erotic bakery that sells desserts so naughty they make Poppy blush. And the fact that there's an overly-muscled, macho hunk living next door who has suddenly developed an intense interest in everything about Sweet Surrender �" including Poppy. Or the fact that Penelope's accident may not have been an accident.

With Poppy's life suddenly in danger and the future of the bakery at risk, Poppy may be forced to seek safety in the form of dreamboat-next-door Rafe McGovern �" but Rafe's been keeping secrets of his own.

EXCERPT:
She sighed and held her hand up in a “stop it” gesture. “Don't, Rafe. You don't have to do that. Flirt with me, I mean. Pretend to like me.”

He looked genuinely baffled. “Who's pretending?”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she blinked hard, humiliated. A lifetime of memories of handsome men looking through her as if she were invisible, and then lighting up when they spotted her beautiful, reed thin half-sister, burned inside her and threatened to choke the words from her throat.

“Really, Rafe. There's got to be a million skinny, beautiful women out there who'd love to jump you. Guys like you don't go for girls like me. And I'd like you to leave now; I need to get some sleep.” As if she could sleep.

She turned to walk away from him, headed towards the kitchen. She wasn't hungry, but it was the only other room in the apartment aside from the bathroom.

Suddenly, faster than she would have thought possible, he was on her, blocking her, backing her into the wall, and his hands were on either side of her face, tilting her head up again and forcing her to look at him. His eyes burned with intensity, and a deep, carnal hunger.

“Stop it, Poppy. Stop doing this to yourself. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You've got a beautiful face. You've got a beautiful figure. No, you're not freakishly thin; you've got boobs and an ass and a stomach that I want to kiss and nice round thighs that I want to run my tongue along. You understand me? I want you. I know there's plenty of women out there that I could have, and I'm here with you.”

Poppy's lips parted in shock, and before she could say a word, he'd plunged his mouth onto hers, hot and hungry. He sucked at her, claiming her mouth with his probing tongue, and she found her trembling hands on his shoulders, fingers sinking in and clutching him tightly.

Warmth spread slowly throughout her whole body until she was hot and tingly all over, and her sex was throbbing with desire and need. She could feel moisture seeping between her lips, soaking her panties. She ached for him to fill her, to slide between her legs, to thrust inside her…

His hands on her face were gentle and strong, and his tongue swept through her mouth, probing, conquering her. She responded by tilting her head back, sucking on him hungrily, her tongue meeting his.

She imagined his mouth moving lower, lower…tracing kisses down her body, suckling her breasts, trailing his lips over her stomach…