Runaway: A One to Chase Prequel (One to Hold #6.5) Read online

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  “Runaway” was originally published as the Epilogue to One to Save, available on all eBook retailers.

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  Books by Tia Louise

  NOTE: All are stand-alone novels. Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to strong language and sexual content, books are not intended for readers under the age of 18.

  One to Hold

  (Derek & Melissa)

  Derek Alexander is a retired Marine, ex-cop, and the top investigator in his field. Melissa Jones is a small-town girl trying to escape her troubled past.

  When the two intersect in a bar in Arizona, their sexual chemistry is off the charts. But what is revealed during their "one week stand" only complicates matters.

  Because she'll do everything in her power to get away from the past, but he'll do everything he can to hold her.

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  One to Protect

  (Derek & Melissa)

  When Sloan Reynolds beats criminal charges, Melissa Jones stops believing her wealthy, connected ex-husband will ever pay for what he did to her.

  Derek Alexander can’t accept that—a tiny silver scar won't let him forget, and as a leader in the security business, he is determined to get the man who hurt his fiancée.

  Then the body of a former call girl turns up dead. She’s the breakthrough Derek’s been waiting for, the link to Sloan’s sordid past he needs. But as usual, legal paths to justice have been covered up or erased.

  Derek’s ready to do whatever it takes to protect his family when his partner Patrick Knight devises a plan that changes everything.

  It’s a plan that involves breaking rules and taking a walk on the dark side. It goes against everything on which Alexander-Knight, LLC, is based.

  And it’s a plan Derek’s more than ready to follow.

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  One to Keep

  (Patrick & Elaine)

  There’s a new guy in town...

  “Patrick Knight, single, retired Guard-turned private investigator. I was a closer. A deal maker. I looked clients in the eye and told them I’d get their shit done. And I did...”

  Patrick doesn’t do “nice.”

  At least, not anymore.

  After his fiancée cheats, he follows up with a one-night stand and a disastrous office hook-up. His business partner (Derek Alexander) sends him to the desert to get his head straight—and clean up the mess.

  While there, Patrick meets Elaine, and blistering sparks fly, but she's not looking for any guy. Or a long-distance relationship.

  Patrick’s ready to do anything to keep her, but just when it seems he’s changed her mind, the skeletons from his past life start coming back.

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  One to Love

  (Kenny + Slayde)

  Tattoos, bad boys, love...

  Boxing, fame, fortune...

  Loss.

  It’s the one thing Kenny and Slayde have in common. Until the night Fate throws them together and everything changes.

  It’s a story about fighting. It’s about falling in love. And it’s about losing everything only to find it again in the least likely place.

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  One to Leave

  (Stuart & Mariska)

  Some demons can't be shaken off.

  Some wounds won't heal.

  Until a pair of hazel eyes knocks you on your ass, and you realize it's time to stop running.

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  One to Save

  (Derek & Melissa)

  “I lost myself in the darkness of trying to protect you...”

  Some threats come at you as friendly fire.

  Some threats take away everything.

  Family won’t let you go down without a fight.

  The Secret isn’t as secure as Derek’s team originally thought it was, and a person on the inside of Alexander-Knight is set on exposing him, breaking him, and taking away all he holds dear.

  Refusing to let anyone suffer for his crimes, Derek takes matters into his own hands. He’s exposed, he’s defenseless, but his friends are determined to save him.

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  One to Chase

  (Amy & Marcus)

  Amy Knight, meet Marcus Merritt.

  Patrick’s ambitious, over-achieving little sister has just landed an interview with one of the top law firms in Chicago. The only problem is the sexy, high-powered attorney interviewing her is the same green-eyed player she hooked up with after a certain wedding in Wilmington.

  He’s also Elaine’s older brother. Is this even legal?!

  Complications everywhere, and the more they run, the less they’re sure who’s chasing whom.

  Coming June 25, 2015!

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  One to Chase

  (Marcus + Amy)

  © TLM Productions, 2015

  Marcus

  Amalie Knight.

  Amy.

  The girl from the wedding.

  What are the chances?

  I guess the chances are pretty damn good, considering our families are connected. She’s just back from Paris, and she’s living in Chicago. God, she was so fucking gorgeous walking in here, just as sexy as that night at the bar when she called me an old man. It still makes me chuckle. Old man. Baby.

  Picking up my phone, I look at the little red indicator saying I have a text. Sliding my finger across the face, I stare at her number and without hesitation save it to my contacts. I don’t need to read her resume to know she’s good at what she does. She walked in here in that silver business suit looking as fierce as her older brother Stuart when we faced the prosecutor.

&nbs
p; She’s smart, and she’s fucking gorgeous. Every detail of that night in Wilmington had raced to the front of my brain. I had to divert my eyes when she crossed her long legs. I barely even heard her words for fighting the memory of them wrapped around my waist.

  Amy Knight. She left me hanging at that hotel in Wilmington, but perhaps we can revisit what happened between us. In the meantime, I’ll check with Paul and Chris. Perhaps it’s time Merritt, Hampton, and Donnelly revisited our corporate marketing plan.

  Shaking my computer awake, I flip over to the firm’s website. Looks pretty dated. Maybe we should add a short interview section with the founding partner, meaning me. Perhaps we need a slogan.

  A total brand revamp such as this requires full-time work, planning meetings. Brainstorming over dinner and drinks, and perhaps a visit to my loft. I like this idea more by the second.

  The way she left puzzles me. Women don’t run from me. Not when I want to take them. She projects a hotshot image in her power suit and heels, but one thing I know about runaways. They’re afraid.

  What are you afraid of, beautiful? What will it take for me to find out?

  * * *

  One to Chase is LIVE June 25, 2015!

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  One to Hold

  (Derek & Melissa)

  © TLM Productions, 2013

  Chapter 1: A One-Week Stand

  In the cool darkness of the semi-crowded bar, I could allow the last year to dissolve into a hazy fog, a far-off memory. Each low thump of bass that disappeared into the dull roar of voices beat it further down. With a little more alcohol, it could even become a dream—something that never occurred in real life. Something that could be brushed aside like a phantom, not a true form. Not a reality that burned shame, low and deep in my stomach.

  Bars had become a thing of my past, along with flirtatious passes from unfamiliar men, but sitting alone in this hotel club, hundreds of miles from home, I felt wonderfully liberated. I could be anyone. Any anonymous woman having a drink before bed. I could pretend to be free.

  My eyes traveled to the dance-floor where younger women in shiny slip dresses and chunky stilettos twisted and swayed, their smooth blonde or red hair matching their movements. They squeal-laughed when songs they liked came on, and the lines around their eyes disappeared as soon as their cheeks relaxed. They could dance all night and still make it to work tomorrow, eyes sparkling.

  A bitter laugh slid from my throat as I stared back into the amber drink I’d ordered. The thought of dancing all night made me tired.

  The bartender didn’t notice me. I’d stood for almost five minutes trying to get his attention to order this drink, and it was gross. “Seven and seven” was all I could remember from the days when I used to order drinks for myself. It was a popular combination then, but I never liked the flavor. Refreshing citrus dragged down by a heavy undertone of bitter syrup. I took a long pull from the tiny red straw and winced.

  I should’ve gone back to the room with Elaine. My best friend since childhood said what I needed was a trip to the desert. She’d booked us a week at the Cactus Flower Spa in Scottsdale, where we could get massages, sit in steam rooms, soak in mud, and let our tensions melt away with hot-wax pedicures. She said it would break me out of my “funk,” as she called it.

  I didn’t have anything else to do this week.

  It was with those sunny thoughts in my head that I saw him. At first I thought it was an accident, my eyes flickering across the square-shaped bar at the same time as his. Blue eyes, strikingly blue because of the way they stood out beneath his dark brow, coupled with collar-length, thick dark hair. He had a beard. I didn’t like beards—not even close-trimmed ones like his. He was huge. I could see his muscles from where I sat. His chest strained against the tight, black shirt he wore, and his biceps stretched the sleeves. I preferred smaller men, long and lean model-types.

  But he didn’t look away. And like a deer caught in headlights, I couldn’t either. My breath stilled as my eyes stayed on his, as I waited for him to release me. He would release me. I knew he would. I simply had to wait.

  Men in bars were after those baby-faced innocents on the dance floor, not me. They wanted energetic young ones with their tight bodies, high-pitched breasts, and even tighter vaginas. Those were the girls men wanted to fuck. They would scream and moan all night and tell them they were the best ever, the king. I wasn’t looking for a king. Still, in the next moment, when the mountain of sex holding my gaze stood and began his slow glide in my direction, all I could think was maybe...

  I watched as he passed the patrons facing each other, talking and laughing. Some were more animated than others, waving their arms and putting their drinks in peril. They all shone in the yellow lights hidden above, in the recesses of the wooden shelves that held dozens of upside-down glasses in all shapes and sizes. Liquor bottles were arranged on the top shelf. For some reason, though, the lights didn’t seem to reach him. Or me. We were in our own secret, shadowy place.

  When he rounded the final corner and I could see him in full, my breath caught. My eyes traveled quickly from his broad shoulders to his narrow waist, down his grey pants ending in sleek, black loafers. Just as fast, they were back to his face, and he was in front of me. I’d never been confronted with so much male presence focused on me in my life. He had to be six-two and twice my size.

  “Can I buy you a drink?” The low vibration of his voice shot a pleasing charge right between my legs, and my cheeks warmed.

  Blinking back to my glass, I poked the half-empty contents with the straw. “I have this,” I said, my voice softer and higher in contrast to his.

  “But you don’t like it.” A small smile was on his lips. It made him the slightest bit less intimidating.

  “How do you know?”

  He leaned against the bar in front of me, bringing his face closer to my level, his body almost touching mine. A faint scent of warm cologne swirled around me, tightening my chest.

  “You make a face every time you sip it,” he said. “I’ve been watching you since you walked in with your friend earlier.”

  My brows drew together. “Why?”

  His tongue touched his bottom lip, and my jaw dropped. I quickly closed it, thinking how insane it was the way my body responded to him.

  This was not me. I did not fantasize about hooking up with strange men in bars. And a cocky alpha who studied me like I was a frontier landscape he was ready to conquer had never been my type. He probably wanted to tie me up or handcuff me to something. A delicious shiver passed through me at the thought. I put my eyes on my drink.

  “Maybe I should introduce myself,” he said, holding out a large palm. I stared at it a moment. “Derek.”

  My eyes lifted to his blue ones, which were still holding me in that intense gaze. He had a small nose and a full mouth. A million pornographic images flooded my brain of that nose nudging into my dark spaces, of that mouth kissing areas long-neglected. That beard scratching the insides of my thighs as I moaned and twisted in white sheets, threading my fingers in his silky hair. I cleared the thickness in my throat, feeling heat everywhere in my body.

  “Melissa,” I said, placing my noticeably smaller hand in his. His fingers closed over mine, and instead of overwhelming, it felt... right.

  “Sweet Melissa,” he said with a little grin. The side of his mouth lifting the way it did made me want to kiss him.

  “I’m not so sweet,” I said, taking my hand back.

  “Aren’t others supposed to make that judgment?” His eyes never left me as he motioned to the bartender, who immediately came to us. Apparently it wasn’t only the perky blondes who got instant service.

  “Two glasses of your best cava,” Derek said, giving the boy a quick glance before turning back to me.

  “Cava?” I did love the crisp, Spanish sparkling wine. Why I hadn’
t thought to order that instead of my tan cocktail-disaster?

  “That’s sort of a celebratory drink, isn’t it?”

  “So let’s celebrate.”

  “Did you get a promotion or something?”

  He leaned closer, bringing his eyes to my level. My throat tightened, but I didn’t move away. “I met you,” he said in that low tone I felt in all the right places.

  Two slim glasses were placed in front of us, but I wasn’t sure I could lift mine without my hand trembling. Derek picked up both and handed one to me. I took it and carefully sipped, watching as he did the same.

  “Are you here on business?” I asked, trying to diffuse the ridiculous amount of sexual tension between us. I considered the possibility I was the only one feeling it.

  “Banker’s conference this week,” he said, taking another, longer drink and then setting the glass back on the bar. His muscles fought against the thin fabric restraining them with every movement.

  “You’re in banking?” I hated the tremor in my voice.

  It made me sound like a little girl, when I was striving to be an independent woman. A strong woman who was bigger than her past.

  For once, I wanted to forget what happened last year. Let it go and be somebody else. I was out of town, in the desert, in a bar being hit on by a gorgeous stranger. Fate was giving me my chance.

  “More like upper management,” he said, not seeming to notice my distraction. “I’m doing a workshop on international trade and finance tomorrow. You?”

  “Spa vacation,” I said. “My friend Elaine said it would be a week to change my life. Or at least my outlook.”

  A little spark hit his eyes, and I bit my lip. Did I just proposition him? Did I want to? It had been a long time since I’d wanted to be close to anyone in that way. Was I brave enough to let him in?

  Internally I shook myself. Yes. If that was what I wanted, of course I was. I had always been strong before, and I was still strong. I wouldn’t let that be taken from me, too.

  “Elaine is who you’re here with?” he asked.

  I nodded, taking another, longer sip. I allowed my mind to release the past and return to better thoughts, like those of him removing that shirt and setting that massive physique free. My desire to see what was under it grew stronger by the minute.