Sweet the Sin is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Loveswept eBook Original
Copyright © 2015 by Claire Kent
Excerpt from Darker the Release by Claire Kent copyright © 2015 by Claire Kent
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Loveswept, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
LOVESWEPT is a registered trademark and the LOVESWEPT colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book Darker the Release by Claire Kent. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
eBook ISBN 9781101886274
Cover design: Lynn Andreozzi
Cover photographs: Claudio Marinesco (man), Mayer George/Shutterstock (woman)
www.readloveswept.com
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Interlude
About the Author
The Editor’s Corner
Excerpt from Darker the Release
Chapter 1
Kelly Watson heard her phone buzz with a new text as she was pulling into the parking lot of one of the city parks.
It was almost eleven on Saturday morning, and Jesse’s flight back from Paris would have just landed, if it stayed on the schedule he’d mentioned. Kelly had met Jesse in a bar last weekend, and they’d gone back to his place afterward. The sex had been pretty good—standard-issue, nothing special—and she’d been hoping that the business trip he was leaving for the following morning meant she wouldn’t hear from him again.
She hadn’t given him her number, but she’d told him she painted pet portraits—which was obviously a mistake. There weren’t that many pet portrait artists in the DC area, so she wouldn’t have been hard to look up.
Maybe the text was from someone else. Maybe the client she was meeting at this park was running late.
When she shifted her car into park, she reached for her phone and glanced at the screen.
Hey, I’m back in town. Want to get together again? Got any time this weekend?
Jesse.
Damn it. He must have texted her as soon as his plane had touched down.
A familiar tension roiled in her gut as she stared at the words. She hated when guys did this.
She never pretended that her one-night stands were anything but casual, so there was no reason for anyone to try to turn them into something else. She didn’t do relationships, and doggy style on the bed while he tried to talk dirty certainly wasn’t going to change her mind.
She sat for a minute, wondering if she should just ignore him. But he hadn’t been mean or inappropriate with her, and she didn’t like to be rude, so she tapped out a reply. Thanks. I had a good time too, but it was just the one time. Take care of yourself.
She reread it, making sure there were no undercurrents of encouragement in the brief lines. She hit send and dropped the phone into the front pocket of her bag.
Getting out of the car, she glanced down at herself to make sure she looked presentable. She had on one of her work outfits, consisting of a long, flowing, casual skirt, a tank top, and a thin tunic sweater. She’d set up her business when she was twenty-one, so she’d been doing this for seven years. In that time, she’d learned that clients expected a certain look from pet artists, and the slightly bohemian style—as long as it wasn’t too over-the-top—satisfied their expectations nicely.
Pet portraits weren’t exactly a booming business, so she did anything she could to give herself an advantage. She’d done all right for herself, considering. The first few years had been slow, but she’d used her adoptive parents’ wealthy contacts in the area and had slowly built up a business. She’d made a living out of it for the last four years, but if her adoptive parents hadn’t left her a sizable inheritance, she never would have been able to afford her lifestyle.
She swung her leather satchel over her shoulder and headed toward the entrance of the park. She was supposed to meet her client at eleven, so she was exactly on time.
There was no sign of a man and a German shepherd hanging around the entrance, which was where she assumed they would meet up, so she waited for a few minutes, watching all the approaching cars.
It was the weekend and a warm, sunny day in April, so the park was crowded. She’d never been to this park before, since she lived on the opposite end of town. There was a wide stretch of grassy lawns and several different trails that led into a wooded area.
Her breath hitched at the sight of the woods. If this client wanted her to walk those trails with him, she would have to tell him no. She’d make up something about how she needed open areas like the lawns to get a good picture of the dog.
She hadn’t gone beyond the edges of any woods since her father had been murdered eighteen years ago.
When she felt a flash of overwhelming emotion at the memory, she pushed the thought away with a practiced mental strategy, breathing out, clearing her mind, and looking at the family of four approaching with their golden retriever.
The dog had a good build, so she studied it, mentally sketching out a portrait of it in her mind.
After a few minutes, the threat of the memory had cleared.
At fifteen after eleven, she started to wonder if her client was waiting elsewhere in the park, since there was still no sign of him at the entrance. She walked down the main path and searched the wide lawns for a man with a German shepherd.
She had to walk over the slight hill toward the trees before she saw him, throwing a Frisbee to the dog.
She sighed, thinking it would have been polite had the man waited near the entrance for her like a normal person, but the wealthy types she catered to often weren’t thinking about what was convenient for her. She swallowed her faint annoyance and walked over to him.
The dog was beautiful. Well-bred and healthy, with thick fur, good lines, and a powerful run. He would make a beautiful portrait, even if his owner was rather inconsiderate.
Kelly pulled out her camera and snapped a few pictures as she approached. She usually painted from photographs, since that was easier for everyone—aside from the occasional client who mistakenly thought the portrait was “purer” when painted from real life. She always got to know the animals before she painted them so she could invest the paintings with personality, as well as get the visuals right.
The man saw her approaching and taking pictures of the dog, so he stopped throwing the Frisbee and waited until she reached him.