Page 2 of Taming a Heartbreaker

He could clearly recall the day he’d first seen Carmen at Sloan and Leslie’s wedding rehearsal two years ago. He would admit that he’d been intensely attracted to her from the first. It was a deep-in-the-gut awareness. Something he had never experienced before. He hadn’t wasted any time adding her to his “must do” list. He’d even flirted shamelessly after they’d been introduced, with every intention of making out with her before the weekend ended.

Then he’d gotten wind of her bold claim that he was the man she intended to marry. Like hell! That had wiped out all his plans. He was unapologetically a womanizer, and no woman alive would change that.

Carmen wasn’t the first woman to try, nor would she be the first to fail. Granted she was beautiful. Hell, he’d even say she was “knock-you-in-the-balls” gorgeous, but he’d dated beautiful women before. If he’d seen one, he’d seen them all, and in the bedroom they were all the same.

Then why was he letting Carmen Golan get to him? Why would heat flood his insides whenever he saw her, making him aware of every single thing about her? Why was there this strong kinetic pull between them? It was sexual chemistry so powerful that, at times, it took his breath away.

Over the years, he’d tried convincing himself his lust for her would fade. So far it hadn’t. And rather recently, whenever he saw her, it had gotten so bad he had to fight like hell to retain his common sense.

Although Sloan had given him that warning two years ago, Carmen hadn’t acted on anything. Was she waiting for what she thought would be the right time to catch him at a weak moment? If that was her strategy then he had news for her. It wouldn’t happen. If anything, he would catch her unawares first, just to prove he was way out of her league...thanks to Candy Porter.

Contrary to her first name, he’d discovered there hadn’t been anything sweet about Candy. At seventeen, she had taught him a hard lesson. Mainly, to never give your heart to a woman. Candy and her parents had moved to Skagway the summer before their last year of high school. By the end of the summer, she had been his steady girlfriend, the one he planned to marry after he finished college. Those plans ended the night of their high school senior prom.

Less than an hour after they’d arrived, she told him she needed to go to the ladies’ room. When she hadn’t returned in a timely manner, he had gotten worried since she hadn’t been feeling well. He had gone looking for her, and when a couple of girls said she wasn’t in the ladies’ room, he and the two concerned girls had walked outside and around the building to find her, hoping she was alright.

Not only had they found her, they’d found her with the town’s bad boy, Sherman Sharpe. Both of them in the backseat of Sherman’s car making out like horny rabbits. The pair hadn’t even had the decency to roll up the car’s window so their moans, grunts and screams couldn’t be heard.

Needless to say, news of Candy and Sherman’s backseat romp quickly got around. By the following morning, every household in Skagway, Alaska, had heard about it. She had tried to explain, offer an excuse, but as far as he’d been concerned, there was nothing a woman could say when caught with another man between her legs.

Heartbroken and hurt, Redford hadn’t wasted any time leaving Skagway for Anchorage to begin college that summer, instead of waiting for fall. That’s when he vowed to never give his heart to another woman ever again.

That had been nearly nineteen years ago, and he’d kept the promise he’d made to himself. At thirty-six, he guarded his heart like it was made of solid gold and refused to let any woman get close. He kept all his hookups impersonal. One-and-done was the name of his game. No woman slept in his bed, and he never spent the entire night in theirs. He refused to wake up with any woman in his arms.

Redford knew Carmen was his total opposite. He’d heard she was one of those people who saw the bright side of everything, always positive and agreeable. On top of that, she was a hopeless romantic. A woman who truly believed in love, marriage and all that bull crap. According to Sloan, she’d honestly gotten it in her head that she and Redford were actual soulmates. Well, he had news for her, he was no woman’s soulmate.

When his wineglass was empty, he snagged another from the tray of a passing waiter. When he glanced back over at Carmen, he saw she was staring at him, and dammit to hell, like a deer caught in headlights, he stared back. Why was he feeling this degree of lust that she stirred within him so effortlessly?

There wasn’t a time when she didn’t look stunning. Today was no exception. There was just something alluring about her. Something that made his breath wobble whenever he stared at her for too long.

He blamed it on the beauty of her cocoa-colored skin, her almond-shaped light brown eyes, the gracefulness of her high cheekbones, her tempting pair of lips, and the mass of dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders.

Every muscle in his body tightened as he continued to look at her, checking her out in full detail. His gaze scanned over her curvaceous and statuesque body. The shimmering blue dress she wore hugged her curves and complemented a gorgeous pair of legs. The bodice pushed up her breasts in a way that made his mouth water.

“Now you were saying,” Sloan said, returning and immediately snagging Redford’s attention.

“I was saying that maybe I should accommodate Carmen.”

That sounded like a pretty damn good idea, considering the current fix his body was in.

“Meaning what?” Sloan asked.

A smile widened across Redford’s lips. “Meaning, I think I will add her back to my ‘must do’ list. Maybe it’s time she discovers I am a man who can’t be tamed.”

Sloan frowned. “Do I need to warn you that Carmen is Leslie’s best friend?”

“No, but I would assume, given my reputation, that Leslie has warned Carmen about me. It’s not my fault if she didn’t take the warning. Now, if you will excuse me, I think I’ll head over to the buffet table.”

He then walked off. At least for now, he would take care of one appetite, and he intended to take care of the other before the night was over.

“I wish you and Redford would stop trying to out-stare each other, Carmen,” Leslie Outlaw leaned over to whisper to her best friend.

Carmen Golan broke eye contact with Redford to glance at Leslie and couldn’t help the smile that spread across her lips. “Hey, what can I say? He looks so darn good in a suit.”

Leslie rolled her eyes. “Need I remind you that you’ve seen him in a suit before. Numerous times.”

“Redford wore a tux at your wedding, Leslie, and he looked good then, too. Better than good. He looked scrumptious.” Carmen watched him again. He definitely looked delicious now.

She knew he was in his late thirties. He often projected a keen sense of professionalism, as well as a high degree of intelligence far beyond his years. But then there were other times when it seemed the main thing on his agenda was a conquest. Namely, seducing a woman.

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