by Vi Keeland
Until Trevor
Trevor Mayson had his life planned out - make the family business successful and play the field for a few more years before eventually settling down. Then he sees her. Liz Hayes was beautiful, shy and everything that he could ever want...but she didn't fit into his plans. After Trevor painfully rejects her, Liz finally starts to move on, but Trevor is finding it difficult to truly let her go. It seems the more he tries to stay away, the more intense his feelings for her become. Like a stretched rubber band, he can only take so much before snapping.
Liz Hayes is done waiting for Trevor and isn't interested in getting her heart broken by him again, but Trevor is making it difficult for her to forget him when he shoves his way back into her life.
Can Trevor prove to her that he is worth falling in love with again, and is he ready to change his life plan to let her into his heart?
Until Lilly
When Cash Mayson was forced to choose between the love of his life and his unborn child, he knew exactly what he had to do. No matter how broken it left him.
When Lilly Donovan was forced to accept that the guy she loved wasn’t who she thought he was and became a single mother, she knew exactly what she had to do. Proving just how strong she was.
What happens when years later you find out that everything you thought you knew was a lie?
Can two people who once loved each other overcome the obstacles that are thrown at them and fall in love all over again?
Cash Mayson had forgotten how it felt to be loved Until Lilly came back into his life. And now that he remembers, he will do everything within his power to keep not only the woman that he loves, but also his children.
Until Nico
Sophie Grates has never had it easy, but she’s finding her way through life one step and one day at a time. That is, Until Nico comes in and flips her world upside-down. He forces her to see you cannot live life from the outside looking in, and sometimes you have to step out onto the ledge so you can really enjoy the view.
Nico Mayson knew the moment he saw Sophie Grates that she was the one. His whole life, he has been judged by what’s on the outside, so finding a beautiful woman who sees the real him only makes his feelings that much stronger.
Nico knows the kind of man he is, and the things he is capable of, and he will do everything in his power to help Sophie fight her demons so they can have their happily ever after. Everything in life worth having is worth fighting for.
Assumption
as•sump•tion:
a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof
They say when you assume that you make an ass out of you and me. Kenton Mayson learned this lesson firsthand when he made assumptions about Autumn Freeman and the kind of woman she is based on what little information he had. What he finds out is she’s not only beautiful, but also smart, funny, a fighter, and exactly the kind of woman he wants to share his life with. Autumn made assumptions of her own about Kenton, and now he needs to prove her wrong in order to protect her and their future.
About the Author
Aurora Rose Reynolds is a navy brat whose husband served in the United States Navy. She has lived all over the country but now resides in New York City with her husband and pet fish. She’s married to an alpha male that loves her as much as the men in her books love their women. He gives her over the top inspiration every day. In her free time, she reads, writes and enjoys going to the movies with her husband and cookie. She also enjoys taking mini weekend vacations to nowhere, or spends time at home with friends and family. Last but not least, she appreciates every day and admires its beauty.
For more information on books that are in the works or just to say hello, follow me on Facebook:
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Pick A Book!
Playing With Her Heart
By Lauren Blakely
Copyright 2013 by Lauren Blakely
LaurenBlakely.com
Cover Design by © Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This sexy contemporary romance is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. This ebook is licensed for your personal use only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with, especially if you enjoy sexy alpha males. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
ALSO BY LAUREN BLAKELY
The Caught Up in Love Series
A NYT and USA Today Bestselling sexy and fun contemporary romance series
(Each book in this series follows a different couple so each book can be read separately, or enjoyed as a series since characters crossover)
Caught Up in Her (A short prequel novella to Caught Up in Us)
Caught Up In Us
Pretending He’s Mine
Trophy Husband
Playing With Her Heart
Far Too Tempting (A spin-off, this book also ties into Stars in Their Eyes, since the hero is the brother of the Stars in Their Eyes hero)
Wrapped Up in Love
(A Caught Up in Love new adult spin-off series)
A Starstruck Kiss (A short prequel to introduce readers to the series and the start of William and Jess’s love story)
Stars in Their Eyes (A full-length novel about William and Jess)
21 Kisses (A full-length new adult novel about Anaka’s cousin, Kennedy, releases February 2015)
Stealing Her Love (A full-length novel starring Anaka and her love interest Jason, releases in summer 2015)
Untitled Novella (December 2015, a new adult novella starring 21 Kisses characters)
The No Regrets Series
An angsty, addictive, intense USA Today Bestselling new adult series
(These books should be read in order)
The Thrill of It
The Start of Us
Every Second With You
The Seductive Nights Series
A sexy, hot, scorching NYT and USA Today Bestselling erotic romance series
(The first four books follow Julia and Clay and should be read in order)
First Night
Night After Night
After This Night
One More Night
Nights With Him (November 2014 - a standalone novel about Michelle Milo and her lover Jack Sullivan)
Sweet, Sinful Nights (Brent’s book, March 2015)
The Fighting Fire Series
Burn For Me (Smith and Jamie)
Melt for Him (Megan and Becker)
About
Playing With Her Heart
Intended for 17+ due to sexual content.
When you’re acting the role of a lifetime, how can you know if love is real—or all just a part of the show?
Twenty-three-year-old rising theater star Jill McCormick has built a life out of pretending. Pretending she’s happy, pretending h
er long-distance crushes add up to something real, pretending she’s not haunted by the dark secret that shattered her world six years ago. Cast in her first Broadway show, she desperately needs to keep her façade intact, but that’s before she comes face to face with her devastating new boss…
Hot-shot director Davis Milo knows the first rule of directing: never fall for your leading lady. Captivated by Jill’s raw talent, he fights his feelings, but watching Jill onstage with another man is more than his jealous streak can take. Keeping things professional isn’t an option. He wants all of her.
Soon the ingénue and her director are staying late in the empty theater, their private rehearsals spiraling into new, forbidden territory. Caught up between fiction and reality, Jill struggles to find the truth in all their staged kisses. But how can she be sure that what she feels is real, and not a part of the play? And when two people spend their lives pretending, what happens after the final curtain falls?
Dear Readers: I hope you enjoy PLAYING WITH HER HEART. This is one of my favorite novels of mine for so many reasons, but especially because I love the theater. I grew up attending plays and shows, and to this day Broadway remains one of my great loves. I had always wanted to write a falling in love story set against the backdrop of the stage, and that’s what PLAYING WITH HER HEART is. This novel also is the bridge between two series of mine. While Jill and Davis’ love story is part of the CAUGHT UP IN LOVE series and can be read as a standalone novel in that series, it also spins off my SEDUCTIVE NIGHTS series. You will meet characters from both of those worlds in here, and if you enjoy I hope you’ll go on and check out the other titles in both series.
xoxo
Lauren
This book is dedicated to all my readers.
Thank you for making this possible, especially
my early readers – Violet, Melody, Cara,
Michelle, and Kelly.
Prologue
When the lights go down in the theater, I am ready to pretend. I leave the past behind to become the character on the stage. I share a lingering look with the handsome man across the crowded room. I turn back to the others. Then a hand brushes against my shoulder. I shudder. Close my eyes. Feel him near me. Everyone else fades away. He’s suddenly the only one there. He kisses me. I kiss him back, and I can feel the kiss in every single cell in my body. Deep, and fevered, and possessive. My head is spinning, my heart is jumping. I am that woman on the stage and I’m having what she’s having. Love without reason. Love without fear.
For two hours under the spotlights, I’m living someone else’s life.
Then the play ends, the curtains rise, and I am back to being me. I come down from my temporary high, still wanting, still wishing, knowing only that I’ll need another role, another part to feel this way again.
I take my bow, and say goodbye to the character, to the kiss, to the possibility of that kind of love.
Because love like that only happens when it’s make believe.
At least, I’ve always thought so.
Then I met Davis Milo and everything in my life changed.
Irrevocably.
Chapter 1
Davis
The moment she emerges from the wings and steps on stage at the St. James Theater to sing her solo, I know—without a shadow of a doubt—that she’s my Ava.
Her voice gives me chills. She starts small, as the song calls for, in a trembling kind of tone, and then through each verse her voice strengthens, matching the lyrics, the tone of the song, the story the music is telling: a young woman who was all alone, but who had to find her own way to her dream, and found it through pain and patience and heartache.
When she reaches the chorus, her voice is all I feel, and it’s got arms and fingertips that stretch from the center of the stage all the way around the theater to the balcony. A voice that surrounds you, and mesmerizes you with color and heat. The voice has layers and hurt all in one and so does this actress, her face, the way she wrings the emotion from the words.
I rest my elbows on my thighs, my hands clasped together, seeing only her from my seat in the second row. I want to hold onto this moment, this feeling of being the director who discovers the next big star, because it comes around so rarely.
She has it all, everything I want, but she also has something more. She has sex appeal and she doesn’t even know it. Something in the way she carries herself, in how she looks at you, a torch singer sort of sensuality in her gaze. She’s all innocent blond on the outside, but deep down she can pull off the provocative with that fantastic body and the way she moves on stage. That’s what I need. That’s what I want.
She’s going to bring down the house. She’s going to make the audience cry and cheer. She’s going to make them want her.
And it sure as hell doesn’t hurt that she’s absolutely fucking beautiful.
When she finishes, I want to stand up, shake her hand, and tell her she’s been cast in this love story. But I restrain myself. “Thank you so much. Now, the scene and song with Mr. Carlson.”
Patrick Carlson, the actor who landed the lead role in Crash the Moon, jumps from the red upholstered chair next to me. He’s here at the final auditions, along with the producer and Frederick Stillman himself, the most revered composer in the last quarter century, who’s collected armfuls of awards for Best Musical. Actors fall all over themselves to star in his shows, directors fawn at his feet.
I would have fawned to land this gig, but I didn’t have to.
I’ve won three Tonys, one Oscar, and my Broadway shows have all returned on their investors’ dollars. I directed a film too—that’s how I nabbed that golden statuette. So Stillman called my cell one fine afternoon six months ago, and told me he was offering the directing job to me, only me, and to no one but me.
I said yes on the spot.
Now I want to say yes to her.
Jill
My twenty-three years on earth have led me to this moment. Every singing lesson I ever took.
Every acting class I ever went to.
Every play I read, song I heard, emotion I called forth from deep inside for a part.
Here. Now. Today, as I wait center stage on the creaky floorboards in this gem of a Broadway house, for him.
But really, more than anything, it’s the fact that I finished five marathons that matters most right now. Because of that, I have the training, the perseverance, and the composure to not freak the fuck out as Patrick Carlson joins me under the spotlights that shine on us. I can barely see the powers-that-be because the seats are shrouded in darkness, and the lights are on the stage. But I can make out the silhouette of the hotshot director Davis Milo in the second row, along with the producer, and the God I bow down to—Frederick Stillman himself, who wrote this anthemic musical. I’d enter the Hunger Games for a chance to perform in something he’s created, but fortunately all I have to do is nail a scene with Patrick, the man I’ve been in love with from afar for the last six years.
So, as if I’m running with the kind of focus I need for 26 miles—blinders on, nothing but blinders—I ignore the fact that Patrick is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, that his honey blond hair looks thick and soft and that his light brown eyes draw me in with their warmth, just as they did all the times I skipped class in college to see matinees of Rent to watch him play Roger, or Wicked to see him as Fyero. All the moments I was mesmerized by him, and fell deeper under his spell.
But I let go of that now. Because I am no longer Jill, aspiring New York actress auditioning for her first Broadway role, and he is not Patrick, the man who exudes talent and charisma every second he’s on stage.
He’s Paolo, a mercurial and captivating artist, and my teacher. And right now I am Ava, a twenty-two-year-old painter without a family. I face the audience—nearly 1,600 empty seats and only a few occupied ones, the spotlights from above beaming brightly, the antique gold auditorium with high-flying balconies surrounding us.
He steps behind me. He says not a w
ord. Instead, he breathes out, “hmmm,” as he places his hands on my arms, as if he’s considering Ava, then runs his palms sensuously from my wrists to my shoulders.
“You must let go, Ava. You try too hard to make your paintings perfect. You need to make them you.”
I nod, breathless, speechless, because this man Ava has admired, looked up to, is touching her. He brushes my hair away from my neck, and I lean my head to the side, letting him trace the vein in my neck with his finger. Then, as if I’ve just remembered that I’m a good girl, that I don’t do this, I jerk away.
Because I am, shockingly—me—a good girl.
“I am only here to learn.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “I am teaching you.”
Ava wants to correct him, to tell him he’s not, that he’s crossing lines, even though the crossing of them feels good to this young woman who’s felt far too much of the not-good in life for far too long. Ava’s not ready for this yet. She wheels on him, fire in her eyes, lashing out with the first sung lines in a heated duet.