Playing with Danger by Joya Ryan

Table of Content

• 1. Unnamed
• 2. OTHER TITLES BY JOYA RYAN Desire Bay Series Playing with Trouble Captured Series Break Me Slowly Possess Me Slowly Capture Me Slowly Chasing Love Series Chasing Trouble Chasing Temptation Chasing Desire Chasing Mr. Wrong Search and Seduce Series Tell Me You Need Me Tell Me You Crave Me Tell Me You Want Me Serve Series Rules of Seduction Reign Series Yours Tonight Yours Completely Yours Forever Sweet Torment Series Only You Breathe You In Sweet Hill Series Sweet Hill Homecoming Sweet Hill Temptation Hot Addiction Series Crave
• 3. Unnamed
• 4. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Text copyright © 2017 Joya Ryan All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle www.apub.com Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake Romance are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. ISBN-13: 9781542048224 ISBN-10: 1542048222 Cover design by Letitia Hasser
• 5. To Mom and Dad, All the trips to the Oregon coast for softball let me envision this entire town. Thank you for your support and endless memories.
• 6. Contents Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Epilogue Acknowledgments About the Author
• 7. Chapter One Hannah closed her eyes and tried to drown out the low sounds of the bar she was currently tending. These tension headaches were getting worse and were now starting in her neck. As if she needed another pain in the neck. Placing her hands on the glossy wood bar top, she slowly bent her neck to the left, bringing her ear to the top of her shoulder. Her black hair swayed across her back, and she made a mental note—she needed a trim before the jokes about looking like the local Morticia Addams started in from the regulars. Pop! She exhaled and rubbed her nape. Damn, she was stressed. And it wasn’t just her neck popping—it was her brain. The smells of beer and sea air drifting in off the surf just outside made for another typical Friday afternoon. She opened her eyes and got back to work. Though it was slow for midday, it’d pick up when everyone started to get off work for happy hour. She was working alone, as usual, and was the main bartender slinging drinks for this place. Six
• 8. Chapter Two Hannah threw the door to the small Yachats Sheriff’s Department open harder than she’d meant to. Thankfully, she’d gotten the rest of her shift covered so she could be there before midnight. It was just past eight and dark, but the station was still open, because the single cell had someone in it. Her dad. The light was on in the lobby. Which was two square yards of blue linoleum with a single chair next to a small table with year-old magazines on it. “Hey, Hannah,” Gabe said, getting up from his desk in the back. She could see the entire station from where she stood in the doorway. A small partition where Bette, the busty receptionist of sixty-five, sat during regular hours didn’t hide the three desks and open area behind it. Because that’s all it really took to run this small town. Nothing happened here. Except when the drunks in town didn’t know when to stay out of town. “Sorry about my dad,” Hannah said. A line she’d uttered well over a million times over the past two d
• 9. Chapter Three “Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. You’re married?” Laura Baughman asked Hannah with big eyes. “I’m your best friend, and I’m just now hearing about this?” Hannah slumped over her friend’s kitchen table and rubbed her temple. She’d sneaked out of her own house this morning without a word to Grant. Who was still sleeping in her bed. His big, naked body looking all hard and delicious and . . . That’s when she’d hauled balls out of there. It had been just past dawn, but thankfully, hiding at Laura’s house came with complimentary coffee and a ton of questions. “It was on the cruise I took last summer,” Hannah admitted. Her one and only vacation. And it had ended with several voice mails that her father was in jail and her real life was calling her. When the ship had docked, everything had changed. Something she hadn’t thought through then and didn’t want to now. “So now your hubby is back here looking for you?” Laura asked with a half-shocked, half-intrigued smile, and got up to get
• 10. Chapter Four Grant shifted between dream and waking and, through the fog, wondered if last night had been real. He smiled, not opening his eyes because he felt the soft flannel sheets of the bed. Not his bed. His sheets were pressed and cold and back in a sterile penthouse apartment in New York. These sheets were warm and soft and well loved. His wife’s sheets. His wife’s bed. His smile widened, knowing last night had been real, and he opened his eyes, hoping to be met with the sexy, warm body of his wife . . . Empty. He looked around the small room. The dresser had random jewelry, a sweater, and two coffee mugs on it. The little chair in the corner held a basket of clean laundry. And Hannah was nowhere to be found. The sun was shining through the window, and the slightest smell of ocean air wafted through the entire place. He was in his wife’s home, small town, and bed. And yet, he was alone. “This will not do,” he mumbled to himself. He missed her. After last night he was sure she mi
• 11. Chapter Five Hannah was on her second drink, and the dress she wore felt foreign against her skin. The last time she’d worn it, she’d been with the man who was now making her life complicated. “You look great,” Laura said as she picked up her fruity pink drink off the bar and glanced around. She was in a dress as well and looked way more comfortable than Hannah felt. They were at the Crow’s Nest. The big bar held dance lessons, events, and concerts. Not massive, but not small like Goonies. It was the main place people came when they wanted to have more than just a drink in a bar. They wanted to move. And although Hannah wasn’t a dancer, the upbeat swing of the band playing popular cover songs made her toes tap and her hips sway just a little. “Don’t look now, but I think you’re starting to relax,” Laura said. Hannah just raised a brow and looked around at all the people. The place was packed, and she was actually liking being out in the world beyond her home, Goonies, or Main Street. S
• 12. Chapter Six She still loves me . . . Grant hadn’t gotten that thought out of his head since Hannah had uttered those words to him a few nights ago. And what a night that had been. He wanted Hannah more than damn near anything, and the way she pushed him, wanted to see all of him, made him want to give it. And he wanted to give her more. But she’d been tired, and in her defense, he had exhausted her. He smiled and gave himself a mental high five that he still got his wife off so well that she almost lapsed into unconsciousness from the pleasure. That’s when she’d said it . . . “I love you.” He replayed those words over and over and over. It had been present tense and the most honest, best thing he’d ever heard in his life. He missed hearing it from her. Missed knowing it. But he did know it. Deep down, she loved him, and that was the hope he kept clinging to. And his stubborn wife was giving him crumbs to add to that hope. “You talented son of a bitch,” Jake said from the other side of
• 13. Chapter Seven Hannah pushed the shopping cart and glanced at Grant, walking next to her. “You look like you’ve never gone grocery shopping before,” she said, watching him examine the off-brand box of macaroni and cheese for a weirdly long time. “I live in New York, baby. I usually grab a quick bite out.” “So you never cook?” she asked. He shook his head. “I can’t remember the last time I cooked.” She raised a brow and filed that fact away for later. He looked good, tall and built with lean muscle, and even his dark blue jeans were made perfectly for his butt. She didn’t know if he was trying to dress a bit more casually for her or because he was in a small town, but she liked it. She also loved the blue suit pants he wore with a button-down. Okay, she loved everything he wore, because the man was sexy has hell. “Something making your mouth water, baby?” he asked and winked at her. Damn. He’d caught her ogling him. Again. She’d been doing it more and more since he’d been, well, in front
• 14. Chapter Eight Hannah sat quietly across a white linen–covered table from Grant. She looked lovely but said almost nothing. Like her mind was racing. And Grant would give just about anything to know what the woman thought of. What troubled her. What she loved. He’d spent more time with Jake. Between taking calls and working remotely by e-mail, he found Jake becoming a good friend, and grabbing a beer to shoot the shit before Hannah got home was nice. Grant had never had a real friend before. Jake talked about his life, his wife, the future. Every topic garnered a wide smile while he discussed the woman he loved and the future they had. Made Grant think about Hannah. Well, he always thought about Hannah, but being around another man he respected who was married and in love made Grant think in different ways. He’d gone into this ruse with the sole intent of getting Hannah to agree to stay married to him and come to New York. But there was more to his grand plan. Items he’d tackle as they
• 15. Chapter Nine A soft mumble was coming from the living room. Hannah frowned, her eyes still closed, her body still sated from the incredible night with Grant. Only Grant wasn’t in bed. She slowly opened her eyes and saw it wasn’t even 5:00 a.m. yet. Her bedroom door was cracked, and she could hear Grant’s low voice coming from the living room. She slowly got up, the cool floor hitting her feet, and she pulled Grant’s T-shirt on to ward off the chill in the air. She’d been so warm. So comfortable. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so soundly. And she’d been next to Grant. But this kind of chill went deeper than the air. “Grant?” she asked, seeing him sitting with his back to her. He turned, his cell phone to his ear, hair still tousled like he’d just gotten out of bed himself. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll discuss this more next week,” was all he said into the phone before hanging up. “Sorry, baby, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said, coming to stand before her. His bare chest was war
• 16. Chapter Ten Grant was running down the beach for the fourth time in two days. He needed some way to reset his mind. But with every thump of his feet in the sand, he only thought of Hannah more. It was clear she was giving him the silent treatment lately. He’d felt it the past few days since the “scuffle at the bar,” as she’d called it. He’d call it a brawl that got her hurt. And every time he looked at his beautiful wife and saw the light blue bruise lining her cheekbone near her eye, he wanted to kill that drunk. He didn’t give two flying asses that the man hadn’t technically hit her. She had gotten hurt. Put herself between two men in a fucking bar fight! His mind was screaming at him, and Grant just ran faster. With the way he was feeling, he could be halfway to Washington by now. Staying along the beach and pounding sand until he got this rage out of him. Faster still. Thinking of all the things he wanted to do to Hannah. He wanted to smack her ass and tell her that she was never t
• 17. Chapter Eleven Hannah sat at the little desk in Laura’s flower shop. The front part of Baughman Home Goods was Laura’s display of various flowers and arrangements. It was small and cute and all her style. The back warehouse was where Jake worked. “These arrangements are looking great,” Hannah said. Laura was putting several centerpieces together for the event tomorrow night. Looked like the hiring company had gone local for not just the bar—which was Hannah’s job—but the flowers and food, too. Laura’s flowers would be on display at the event, and she was proud of her friend for all the hard work she’d put into making her business a success. “Thank you! I’m so excited for this job. I love getting to put arrangements together. I haven’t done it much lately, since I’ve been doing more landscaping stuff.” “Well, they look wonderful,” Hannah said, handing her another flower. “How do you and Jake do it? You two are different, yet you work together and live together.” “Great sex,” Laura said
• 18. Chapter Twelve Hannah walked through the front door of her home. She’d been practicing what to say to Grant since he’d left earlier. All day she’d thought of him. Of what the hell was going on. She didn’t have details and hated that his awful mother’s voice spun through her head. Why was he in this sudden time crunch? He’d bounded into the bar looking crazed and lost and sad. Was something happening in his company? Was he losing everything, like his mother had said? He wanted Hannah to jump blindly, and she had no idea what to think. Her heart was in pieces, because he had assumed she’d just follow him. Yet he wouldn’t entertain the idea of moving here. She’d worked her butt off for years, finally was closing in on owning the bar, and had an important event tomorrow that would allow her to do so. And he dismissed it like it was some hobby. But she loved him . . . She needed to talk to him. To figure things out once and for all without feeling like she’d been ambushed at work. There was
• 19. Chapter Thirteen A loud knock on the door made Hannah frown deep in her sleep. Her head was pounding. Her mouth was dry. Shit, I’m hungover. The knock sounded again, and she peeked open one eye to see she was on her couch in the living room, fully clothed, and it was sunny outside. She let out a loud breath and slowly got up. She had the event tonight, which meant she had several hours until then to think about all the shit that had rained down in the past twenty-four hours. Apparently five drinks at Goonies didn’t numb the pain of Grant lying to her, leaving her, then stealing her bar out from under her. The knocking sounded again, and she realized it was coming from the front door. She got up and ambled to the entrance. She opened the door to find the last person she’d ever expected to see. “Silas?” she asked her father, who was standing on her front stoop looking surprisingly awake. “I just stopped by to see how you were feeling,” he said. There was no slur in his voice. No staggeri
• 20. Chapter Fourteen Grant sat at the large rectangular table in the Laythem Inc. conference room. He sat back in his chair, his three-piece suit feeling a little constrictive. He glanced out at the view of Manhattan from the wraparound windows on the fiftieth floor. He wasn’t in Yachats anymore. And yet, he should feel comfortable. He should feel at home. But he didn’t. He thought of Hannah. Glanced at his watch and knew she was getting ready for the event. Knew she hated him by now. Or maybe she didn’t care. Either way, it wouldn’t be long before she realized what Grant had done regarding the bar. He’d meant it when he’d said she should have everything she wanted in life. Even if it broke his chest in half that he wasn’t one of them. She might not want him, but he trusted her. So much that he’d stake everything he had on it. Risk everything. Then why the fuck are you sitting here instead of being with Hannah? He glanced at the twelve board members around the table. He had come back for t
• 21. Epilogue Hannah wiped down the counter at Goonies and looked around. She smiled at the upgrades and remodel Cal had done over the past few months. The bar was busy, and Hannah was happy. Beyond happy. She had a little house, a little bar, and a very large man. All of which she loved. The latter more than the others. The only bummer was that it wasn’t her neck that was hurting anymore. It was her lower back. But that was to be expected when— “Hannah, can I get another drink here?” Larry yelled at her, interrupting her daydreaming. She huffed at Larry and poured him another round. His white beard was getting longer and scragglier. “Seriously, how are you not in the morgue yet?” “You should be nicer to your best customer,” the old man grumbled, and Hannah placed a bowl of peanuts in front of him. He had a point. The man did drink here a lot. “You should try an iced tea and a salad sometime. Good for your health. Some people may want you around for a while longer yet,” she said and patted
• 22. Acknowledgments Thank you, Lauren, for the wonderful edits; I enjoy working with you so much! Thank you, Jen and Jessica and the entire Montlake team. Thank you, Jill, for being a great agent.
• 23. About the Author National and international bestselling author Joya Ryan is the author of more than a dozen adult and new-adult romance novels. Passionate about both cooking and dancing (despite not being too skilled at the latter), she loves traveling and seeking out new adventures. Visit her online at www.joyaryan.com.