Envy(159)

“When you kissed me, it was so familiar, it was as though you had kissed me like that a thousand times.” Adoringly, she touched every feature of his face. “I have loved you for so long, Parker. For years. From the day I first read The Vanquished.”

He swallowed hard. “When you talked about it with such passion… You got it, Maris,” he said with glad emphasis. “You got exactly what I had wanted to get across with those characters and that story. God, listening to you talk about it, my heart nearly burst. Can you imagine how hard it was for me not to tell you that I was the author? That it was me, not Noah, you’d fallen in love with?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I couldn’t. Not then. Not yet. Besides, I was afraid I wouldn’t live up to your expectations.”

She ran her fingers through his hair. “You surpassed them, Parker. You created my fantasies. Now you’re fulfilling them.”

They kissed long and deeply and when they finally pulled apart, she asked him what his original title had been.

And he told her.

And she told him that she liked it much better.





About the Author


Sandra Brown is the author of over sixty New York Times bestsellers, including most recently Low Pressure; Lethal; Rainwater; Tough Customer; Smash Cut; Smoke Screen; Play Dirty; Ricochet; Chill Factor; White Hot; Hello, Darkness; The Crush; Envy; The Switch; The Alibi; Unspeakable; and Fat Tuesday, all of which jumped onto the New York Times list in the numbers one to five spots. There are over eighty million copies of Sandra Brown’s books in print worldwide and her work has been translated into thirty-four languages. In 2008, Brown was named Thriller Master by the International Thriller Writers Association, the organization’s top honor. She currently lives in Texas. For more information you can visit www.SandraBrown.net.