Sweet Talk Boxed Set (Ten NEW Contemporary Romances by Bestselling Authors to Benefit Diabetes Research plus BONUS Novel) by Linda Lael Miller, Sherryl Woods, Brenda Novak, Steena Holmes, Melody Anne, Violet Duke, Melissa Foster, Gina L Maxwell, Rosalind James, Molly O'Keefe, Nancy Naigle

come out. “And I’m most certainly not the kind of woman to jump into bed with a man just because he thinks it somehow inevitable.”
    “Why would you fight it? I can feel the way your body’s reacts to me,” he told her. His eyes weren’t angry, but curious.
    “You kiss me once and then assume I’m ready to jump into your bed? What sort of world do you live in?”
    “The real world, Whitney. If you don’t want me, then that’s one thing, but it’s more than clear that you do.” He finally moved away to a cabinet in the corner. Pulling out two glasses, he poured them each a drink.
    “I’m the one living in the real world, Liam. You live in some sort of fantasy land where you get everything you want at the snap of two fingers. And I’m not enjoying being here in your sad world. I would like to go back now,” she told him as he approached.
    Just then a boom of thunder exploded right over them, or what felt like it, and the lights went out. A shiver of fear ran through her as she looked at Liam in the gray light coming in through his windows.
    “It doesn’t look like we’re going anywhere for the moment,” Liam said, his smile of victory perfectly clear.
    “I think I’d rather face a storm than face the evening in here with you,” she said, surprised when she said those words aloud.
    “You would probably be safer,” he told her before setting down his glass and moving back toward her.
    Whitney had no idea what to do. She only knew that if he touched her again, she just might melt right into his arms, so she panicked and did the only thing she could think of — turned and ran.
    She didn’t make it far before Liam caught up to her, and when he hauled her into his arms, his look was perfectly clear. He was willing to use any and all means to seduce her.
    She hoped she had the strength to resist.
     

 
    Chapter Ten
     
    “Where were you last night, Auntie?”
    Whitney rubbed the sleep from her eyes with one hand and used to other to try to contain a very wiggly niece. She wasn’t a morning person on the best of days, and really not a morning person when she’d spent a night of tossing and turning.
    She’d somehow managed to resist falling into Liam’s bed the night before, but she would never know exactly how. Such temptation…
    He’d kissed her to the point of making her knees grow weak, and her blood had been boiling, and then the power had flashed back on and the phone had begun ringing. When Frederick sent Mr. Smotter over to his son’s house to see whether she was okay, she’d run away like lightning.
    But she hadn’t been able to escape before seeing the look in Liam’s eyes, a look that promised her they weren’t yet finished with whatever he’d decided to start with her. Just thinking about it again sent her into a near panic.
    “Auntie? Hello? Are you okay?”
    “I’m so sorry, Ally. I zoned out. I just didn’t sleep very well last night. You see, I got stuck in the storm, and then the thunder kept me awake…” She trailed off at the innocent look on her niece’s face. Why was she trying to explain herself? Ally wouldn’t and shouldn’t have a clue about the kiss her aunt and uncle had shared.
    Just the thought of that horrified Whitney even more.
    “You promised to make a snowman with me today; remember?”
    “Yes, of course I do, baby girl. Why don’t you go and get snow clothes on? I’ll take a shower. Then we’ll have some breakfast and go outside.”
    Ally jumped from her bed, more than happy to accommodate her aunt now that she knew she was getting what she wanted. Whitney threw herself back on the pillows on her niece’s bed and took several deep breaths. She couldn’t keep staying with this family. It was messing with her mind.
    But the thought of taking away the kids when they were doing so well made her heart ache. And the thought of leaving them there, even though she knew they would have a much more privileged life than she could give them — well, even