Read Online All She Wants for Valentine's Day: A Contemporary Erotic Romance Story (All She Wants #3) by Nathan Stratton - Free Book Online

Chapter 1: Cupid, Kiss My…
     
    It was 6:30pm on a chilly Tuesday night in February, just before Valentine’s Day. And as usual, Tanya was just getting out of the gym.
     
    She’d been coming to the gym a lot lately, straight after work, for an hour a day. Work was so stressful; she needed some sort of release after eight hours of office hell. And let’s be honest, it’s not like Tanya had much else going on in the evenings these days.
     
    Six months ago, she’d broken it off with her live-in boyfriend, Warren – or as she preferred to call him these days, “He-who-shall-not-be-named.” Things had been going sour between them for a long time, but she’d wanted so badly to make it work that she ignored the warning signs, and she’d really given it her best shot. That is, until the day she caught him cheating on her – in their house – with his old college flame. Enough was enough. She moved out the next day.
     
    Tanya sighed, blowing her bangs up off of her forehead. She didn’t like to think of Warren, but it was hard not to remember the past, and to think about how different these past six months had been without him. She’d been so happy. Now, there was no one in the picture. And the prospect of heading home, once again, to her lonely studio apartment for another early night in front of the television – well, it wasn’t exactly thrilling.
     
    Especially with Valentine’s Day coming up right around the corner, Tanya was really feeling the sting of loneliness. As much as she tried to hide it from herself, she knew that the gym was just a form of distraction so she wouldn’t have to reminisce about the past, lament her lonely present, or worry about the future. But it was hard right now, with all the Valentine’s-themed decorations assaulting her in every corner of the office, and on every other television commercial. It seemed like everywhere she looked, she saw hearts, flowers, Cupid and doilies. It was borderline inescapable.
    “Cupid, kiss my ass,” she said, with a bitter laugh.
     
    Lost in melancholy thoughts like these, Tanya wasn’t paying too much attention to her surroundings. J ust as she was digging her keys out of her purse, the lights flashed on the car next to hers. She jumped, a bit startled, and her eyes shot up from her bag.
     
    Standing not five feet away from her was the sexiest man she’d seen in her life. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with his sandy brown hair falling in wet curls around his head. He had that freshly-showered look to him, clean and masculine, with faint drops of water clinging to the outside of his tight white T-shirt. He carried a black gym bag in one arm, and a leather briefcase in the other: an odd combination, Tanya thought. And most surprisingly, he was grinning at her like they’d just shared a joke together, even though she’d never met him before. She wasn’t sure if it was because he’s surprised her or what, but she noticed her heartbeat had quickened suddenly, and she felt a bit flushed.
     
    He stepped closer to her, smiling. “Did I scare you?” he asked.
     
    “Uh, yup,” said Tanya. “You sure did.” She didn’t have time to think of a witty remark, so she decided to keep it simple. She figured honesty was the best policy.
    He laughed, extending his hand. “Sorry about that. I’m Ryan.”
     
    “Tanya,” she said, taking his hand lightly.  After the startling jolt of the previous moment, she now felt totally at ease all of a sudden. Normally she got nervous and anxious around attractive men, but for some reason there was none of that feeling now.
     
    She motioned to his T-shirt, which was so tight she could almost make out the faint lines of his muscles underneath it. “Aren’t you cold?”
     
    He looked down at his shirt in surprise, as if he hadn’t thought about it before. “What, this?” he said. “Not really. Those showers are scalding. Look, I’m still giving off steam.” He held up his arm, and Tanya noted