My Sinful Nights: Book One in the Sinful Men Series Read online

  My Sinful Nights

  Book One in the Sinful Men Series

  Lauren Blakely

  Little Dog Press

  Contents

  Also by Lauren Blakely

  Author’s Note

  About

  My Sinful Nights

  His Prologue

  Her Prologue

  His Second Prologue

  1. Shannon

  2. Brent

  3. Shannon

  4. Brent

  5. Shannon

  6. Brent

  7. Shannon

  8. Brent

  9. Shannon

  10. Brent

  11. Shannon

  12. Brent

  13. Shannon

  14. Brent

  15. Shannon

  16. Brent

  17. Shannon

  18. Brent

  19. Shannon

  20. Brent

  21. The Guy Outside the Building

  22. Shannon

  23. Brent

  24. Shannon

  25. Brent

  26. Mindy

  27. Brent

  28. Shannon

  29. Brent

  30. Shannon

  31. Brent

  32. Brent

  33. Brent

  34. Shannon

  35. Ryan

  36. Shannon

  37. Brent

  38. Shannon

  39. Shannon

  40. Brent

  41. Shannon

  42. Brent

  43. Brent

  44. Shannon

  45. Brent

  46. Shannon

  47. Dora

  48. Shannon

  49. Brent

  50. Shannon

  51. Brent

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  Also by Lauren Blakely

  Contact

  Copyright © 2020 by Lauren Blakely

  Cover Design by Helen Williams.

  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 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 book is licensed for your personal use only. This book 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 romance novels with 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

  Big Rock Series

  Big Rock

  Mister O

  Well Hung

  Full Package

  Joy Ride

  Hard Wood

  P.S. It's Always Been You Series

  P.S. It’s Always Been You: Part 1

  P.S. It’s Always Been You: Part 2

  P.S. It’s Always Been You: Part 3

  The Gift Series

  The Engagement Gift

  The Virgin Gift

  The Decadent Gift

  The Heartbreakers Series

  Once Upon a Real Good Time

  Once Upon a Sure Thing

  Once Upon a Wild Fling

  Boyfriend Material

  Asking For a Friend

  Sex and Other Shiny Objects

  One Night Stand-In

  Lucky In Love Series

  Best Laid Plans

  The Feel Good Factor

  Nobody Does It Better

  Unzipped

  Always Satisfied Series

  Satisfaction Guaranteed

  Instant Gratification

  Overnight Service

  Never Have I Ever

  Special Delivery

  The Sexy Suit Series

  Lucky Suit

  Birthday Suit

  From Paris With Love

  Wanderlust

  Part-Time Lover

  One Love Series

  The Sexy One

  The Only One

  The Hot One

  The Knocked Up Plan

  Come As You Are

  Sports Romance

  Most Valuable Playboy

  Most Likely to Score

  Standalones

  Stud Finder

  The V Card

  The Real Deal

  Unbreak My Heart

  The Break-Up Album

  21 Stolen Kisses

  Out of Bounds

  The Caught Up in Love Series:

  The Swoony New Reboot of the Contemporary Romance Series

  The Pretending Plot (previously called Pretending He’s Mine)

  The Dating Proposal

  The Second Chance Plan (previously called Caught Up In Us)

  The Private Rehearsal (previously called Playing With Her Heart)

  Stars In Their Eyes Duet

  My Charming Rival

  My Sexy Rival

  The No Regrets Series

  The Start of Us

  The Thrill of It

  Every Second With You

  The Seductive Nights Series

  First Night (Julia and Clay, prequel novella)

  Night After Night (Julia and Clay, book one)

  After This Night (Julia and Clay, book two)

  One More Night (Julia and Clay, book three)

  A Wildly Seductive Night (Julia and Clay novella, book 3.5)

  The Joy Delivered Duet

  Nights With Him (A standalone novel about Michelle and Jack)

  Forbidden Nights (A standalone novel about Nate and Casey)

  The Sinful Men Series

  My Sinful Nights

  My Sinful Desire

  My Sinful Longing

  My Sinful Love

  The Fighting Fire Series

  Burn For Me (Smith and Jamie)

  Melt for Him (Megan and Becker)

  Consumed By You (Travis and Cara)

  The Jewel Series

  A two-book sexy contemporary romance series

  The Sapphire Affair

  The Sapphire Heist

  Author’s Note

  I originally wrote Sweet Sinful Nights in 2015. Late last year, as I reread the book, I saw an opportunity to improve aspects of it. But improvements are never simple. Once I went into the story to change how it started, nearly everything changed.

  And I believe those changes are for the better.

  If you’ve never read this sexy, emotional, and suspenseful romance, I hope you savor every page. If you’re reading it again, I hope you love the new characterizations of the hero and heroine, as well as the motivations, tension, and conflict. While the underlying details of the characters’ professions, hometown, relationships, and circumstances remain the same, nearly everything else is new—including the dialogue, how they interact, and why. All told, this reimagined storyline contains about 80 percent new material.

  About

  A sexy, emotional, heart-stopping romance novel from #1 New
York Times Bestselling author Lauren Blakely…

  Ten years ago, I let the love of my life slip through my fingers. It’s my greatest regret, especially since she’s all but disappeared. When she walks back into my world unexpectedly, I have one mission — win her back. Whatever it takes.

  But the gorgeous, brilliant, tough-as-iron Shannon has secrets of her own, and a family past she’s trying to escape.

  Slowly but surely, I break down her walls over our sinful nights together, with a connection more passionate than ever, an intimacy more fiery than it was before.

  But the past can only stay behind you for so long. And when the people who want a piece of her family start circling her, I’ll have to prove I’m the man to protect her from her suddenly dangerous present.

  My Sinful Nights

  By Lauren Blakely

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  His Prologue

  Ten years ago

  Here’s the thing about long-distance relationships.

  No one ever tells you how painfully hard they are.

  We’re talking run-an-ultra-marathon hard. Learn to write in Mandarin hard.

  I was seven months into one, and I still wasn’t used to the missing.

  Would I ever be?

  On Friday afternoon, I stared at the picture on my desk of my fiancée, gazing at Shannon’s bright blonde hair, short and sleek, pushed back in a slim silver headband. I took in her vibrant eyes, her smile.

  A smile I knew I’d brought back to her face, and damn, did that ever make me happy.

  To be the person who’d done that for her.

  One day more, and I could make my way to see her again.

  Twelve more hours till my flight.

  A knock sounded on the plastic wall of the tiny cube I called home from nine a.m. to midnight most of the time.

  There was always a rap on the proverbial door. There was always something I needed to do. There was never time to linger on Shannon, to think about her, let alone see her.

  The thing I wanted most in the world.

  I looked up from the picture and into the unshaven face of Jed Hawkins, head writer on Late Night Antics. He smiled, the kind of smile that said I’m about to ask you for a big-ass favor.

  Since I was low man on the totem pole, and more than thrilled to have that position here at a late-night comedy show, I put on my most professional grin. “What can I do for you?”

  I said it before he even had the chance to tell me what he needed.

  That was how you rose in this field. You did it by jumping on opportunities before they even came your way. Otherwise, you were too late. I’d learned that in the first six months at this job. There was always someone waiting in the wings.

  Jed scratched his jaw, heaving a sigh, like it pained him to ask the next thing. “Here’s the thing. That series of sketches on the new Marvel flick?”

  I nodded. I knew the sketches. I’d worked on them, written a few jokes for them.

  “The host wants us to rewrite them,” Jed said with a what can you do expression. His eyes were dark—or maybe it was the bags under them.

  There was nothing I could do about that.

  What I could do was this.

  Don’t let on that the request drives you crazy.

  It was just par for the course. Rewrites landed on your plate hourly. As a junior writer on a TV show, you just did them.

  “I’ll get started now,” I said.

  “And . . . we need the first one by morning. The second by noon. The third by—”

  “Tomorrow at this time,” I said, masking the heavy weight in my gut.

  I had a plane to catch in the morning.

  A plane I didn’t think I was going to make now.

  Story of my fucking life. I’d had to cancel the last three trips. Shannon had offered to come here each time, but work had piled up and I wouldn’t have been able to see her even if she did.

  Just like I couldn’t see her now.

  Because of those damn sketches.

  But that series of sketches was the linchpin of the show, so I didn’t have a choice. Jed swiveled around, took a step, then spun back and said with a sigh, “One more thing. Host is going to need you on set this weekend after all. In case there are any other last-minute changes.”

  That weight? It was an anchor now, sinking me. Sinking my long-distance love affair. “Got it.”

  Jed had the decency to look rueful. He shrugged. “Sorry. I think you were going out of town, but—”

  “It’ll be fine. I’ll take care of it.”

  He left, and out of habit, I glanced at the clock. But I knew it was already the middle of the night in London.

  Too late to call.

  Instead, with my shoulders sagging, I sent an email to Shannon, telling her I would have to reschedule my trip. After I hit send, I gave myself a minute to be annoyed.

  It had been seven months like this. Seven months since college ended. Seven months since we’d promised to find a way to stay together. We’d known it wasn’t going to be easy. We lived thousands of miles apart, a country and an ocean between us. But we’d had a plan. When school had ended, we’d figured a once-a-month visit was doable. She’d fly here. I’d fly there. Every other month one of us would travel, maybe only for a weekend. But a weekend was worth it.

  When you loved someone to the depths of your soul, a weekend was worth it. That was what I told myself over and over and again and again.

  The problem was we’d only managed one damn weekend in seven months. All the every-other-month plans had flown out the window. Our schedules had never aligned. Our days off were never the same. And work kept shoving itself in the way, the bully in the lunch line.

  You had no choice but to let the bully cut in front of you.

  That was how it went at age twenty-two, cutting your teeth after college.

  Shannon had scored a golden opportunity as an assistant choreographer for a dance company in London, and I’d landed the chance of a lifetime as a writer on a late-night comedy show. These were the chances we had to take, even if it meant being apart.

  Those chances also meant missed chances.

  In the break room, I poured myself a cup of coffee.

  “Hey you,” Holly, a fellow soldier in the fight for a writer promotion, said with a waggle of her fingers.

  “Hi, Holly,” I said, turning around.

  “Did you get slammed with a rewrite too?” she asked, setting a hand on my arm.

  My gaze drifted to her hand. That was becoming par for the course with her. Little touches. I didn’t know what to make of them, or what to do with them. Did I shrug it off or ignore it?

  “I did, but I’ll get it done,” I said.

  “Then we’ll all go out to Fred’s to celebrate when the show is in the can,” she said with a dimpled smile, followed by a squeeze of my arm.

  “Like we always do,” I said, emphasis on always, since that was the MO for the dozen or so writers on the show. “See you then.”

  I returned to my desk, draining the coffee as I stared one more time at the picture of Shannon.

  Gritting my teeth, I cursed under my breath, shaking my head in frustration.

  This was what seven months of working my ass off had come down to. One opportunity to see my woman and many more canceled ones.

  And I had to get her out of my mind or I’d never get my work done.

  I dug into the script, shoving Shannon aside.

  * * *

  The next morning I’d finished the first sketch, and I found an email from her. No worries! I get it! Maybe I’ll find a way to see you soon.

  I smiled, tapped the screen, and blew a kiss across the country and the ocean, wishing it were a real one. But as I went into work that weekend, there was no break in sight, no change in sight, and I didn’t know what the hell to do about that.

  Or how much longer we could keep thi
s up.

  Her Prologue

  The lights flickered across the night sky as I peered out the window. I tapped my nails against the armrest. An older woman slumped on my shoulder, fast asleep. Lucky woman. She’d snoozed for ten hours, across the Atlantic and the heartland too. I envied her. I couldn’t sleep at all, not when I knew I’d be seeing Brent in a few hours. Not when I knew I’d be telling him something huge.

  Something life-changing. My stomach swooped with nerves as I practiced the words again, as I imagined how I would say them to my man.