Never Enough (View Park Series #2)

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NEVER ENOUGH

DAFINA BOOKS

Chapter One

The lesser man inside of him envied her for being so strong, and the better man hated himself for the secrets he kept from her. Despite it all, he felt like he was high every second he was with her. He loved her to death and that wasn't what he had planned.

It had been almost a year since the day he'd walked into her beauty salon with the intention of buying her out for his father's company. He'd been careless about it at first, but his father, a man he had struggled with lifelong, had asked for his help. Well, Steven Chase didn't ask anybody for anything. He'd challenged Carter as he had done all his life to prove he was committed to Chase Beauty, the billion-dollar corporation Steven had built from scratch.

Carter didn't work at Chase Beauty, a major bone of contention between him and his father, but the company was his biggestand most important legal client. The opportunity to get both of Avery's very popular salons was a way for him to do more than shove the contracts across the desk for Steven to sign. Carter hadn't given a damn about Avery or her shops.

That was before he met her. He hated her at first and it seemed ironic to him now that he loved her so much. She was stubborn and obstinate, and for a man like Carter, who was used to getting anything he wanted, especially from women, it was infuriating. Not only had she not given in, but she'd made things worse by taking the struggle to the media-and for the Chase family, that was a big deal.

Everything about the Chase family was a big deal, and if there was one thing Steven didn't tolerate, it was bad publicity for Chase Beauty. Carter chose to take out the grief his father gave him on Avery and destroy everything she had. He wanted to teach her a lesson and he knew exactly how to do it.

Carter knew he was a cream-of-the-crop bachelor in Los Angeles black society. Thirty, good-looking, in great shape, a successful lawyer, deeply connected, Ivy League-educated, and worth millions. He'd sensed a flicker of electricity with Avery from the beginning and intended to use it against her by seducing her and stealing her shops from right underneath her before dropping her like a sack of dirt. There hadn't been a woman yet who could say no to him and certainly this goody-two-shoes neighborhood girl wasn't going to. It hadn't mattered to him that she was already engaged to another man.

Looking back, Carter could see clearly where he had gone wrong. He'd underestimated her strength, her loyalty and her intelligence. He'd also underestimated her partner, Craig Moon, and that mistake had led to disaster, almost getting Avery killed.

By the time Carter realized he had real feelings for her, it was too late. Every attempt to reach out to Avery met with a brick wall, but his determination became a destructive obsession as he ignored his better judgment and pushed his principles aside. When Alex, her fiancé, became the only thing in his way, Carter set him up and made sure Avery wouldn't want anything more to do with him.

The guilt he felt over what he'd done disappeared when Avery, grieving over her now-cheating ex-fiancé, came to his bed. He had won and nothing else mattered. Or so he thought.

Carter was at the height of his player days. He hadn't been a dog, but he hadn't had any intention of commitment anytime soon either. He'd been faithful through most of his relationships, but that didn't count the women he'd dumped in order to pursue someone else. Like most men, he saw most women as territory to explore and then move on. Keep them around too long and they would expect to move in or get a ring. Love would be reserved for later on down the line. This is what he thought with Avery. The fun had been in the getting and once he got her, he would move on.

It didn't work out that way, and as he made his way onto the balcony, Carter accepted that his player days were over. Avery had gotten under his skin, was running through his blood and had staked claim on his sorry ass. It was a bittersweet revelation, but he was man enough not to need to fight it, which had been his first inclination.

He'd spent enough time trying to convince himself it wouldn't work because she didn't come from the world of the upper class like him-didn't have the background that would allow her to slip into that world, which fought very hard to keep others out. He wanted to believe that her simplicity was beneath him and her penchant for being a pushover made her unfit to handle the cutthroat universe of the upper crust. It was all bullshit because every morning when he rolled over and saw her beautiful face, he was floored. She was his home.

"What you reading, baby?" He sat on the down-feathered cushion of the rattan chair next to her, sliding it closer so they were touching. He looked into her large, promising eyes before taking in her full lips and leaning in for a kiss.

Avery Jackson, the girl next door, felt her toes twinkle when he kissed her. She missed him every second he was away. He looked incredible, his milk chocolate-brown skin gleaming from the sun, his light brown eyes always intense. "How was golf?"

He shrugged, leaning back. He was starting to feel a little nervous but wiped it away. "It was golf. What you reading?"

"It's a romance, so just shut up." Avery held the book away as he reached for it. She didn't want the lecture.

There was always a lecture with Carter. It was one of the many things she had gotten used to. It was one of the easier things to get used to. Summer homes, charity balls, exotic vacations on every continent and perks people like Avery were never expected to even know existed. This was all foreign to her until she found herself immersed in Carter's world.

In this world, everything was better, glossier, brighter, sleeker, prettier and easier. Private jets, designer clothes, breathtaking jewelry and beautiful places were just the basics. Avery was awed to see how things just seemed to work out for people this rich and was a little disturbed by the ease with which Carter accepted it all.

The privilege, entitlement, pleasure and power had given him many strengths, but it had also given him a level of snobbery that Avery couldn't abide most times. But God help her, she loved him so much.

"Why are you reading that crap?" he asked.

"Why is it crap?" Avery asked. "Just because it didn't win a Pulitzer? Everything you read doesn't have to be culturally enlightening and politically significant."

"There's a lot of room between culturally enlightening and crap."

He reached over and ran his finger up her arm. Her skin was as soft as silk and she turned him on in that tiny pink bikini. Avery had an incredible body, but she didn't flaunt it and Carter loved that. He was turned off by sisters who let it all hang out as if they were putting their body on display for purchase. Avery had class and knew how to look sexy without being sexual. It reassured him that the best was reserved only for him. Just another reason she was perfect to him.

"We're on vacation." Avery giggled in response to his teasing touch. "Trashy novels are required."

Carter looked past the edge of their large balcony at the Pacific Ocean. The scenery couldn't have been more perfect. They were staying in the 2,500-square-foot condo his family had purchased at the newest luxury resort on Maui. Decorated with wood-paneled walls, museum-quality artwork, a grand piano, lavish furnishings, three bedrooms and marble bathrooms, it was perfect and that was what he wanted for their first real vacation. The Ritz, the Fairmont and W were fine for their weekends away, but this was real and Carter wanted seclusion and perfection. Just last night they'd seen a whale through the condo's high-powered telescope from just inside the sliding glass doors.

They were about to start the second of their two weeks away and it was a first for him. He was a workaholic and couldn't fight that little itch making him want to get back to Chase Law, the corporate law firm he'd started only five years ago. He now employed thirteen lawyers and a support staff of more than twenty.

"You enjoy your massage?" he asked, wondering if he should just do it now or wait until after dinner.

"Oh," Avery moaned as she put her book down and turned to him. The smile on her smooth café au lait face, a little red from the sun, was ear to ear. "It was incredible, baby. I had to hold onto the walls just to get back up here."

Carter smiled, pleased whenever Avery acted more at ease with the lifestyle offered her. Sometimes she seemed reluctant to indulge herself just because she could, and Carter couldn't help but feel insulted.

Avery didn't even want to imagine what the two-hour ritual cost. She'd given up wondering about those kinds of things. Carter was used to the best and most expensive of everything, and after a while of feeling self-conscious, she had come to love it. He gave her everything even though she never asked and he never bragged about it. It was nothing for him and she had to admit it was part of why she loved him.

Only part-she loved him for so much more. Once she had been too intimidated by his last name to think she could love him. The attraction had been there from the beginning, but she'd fought it until she couldn't fight anymore. Carter had been there for her when she'd lost her shops and even though he was partly to blame, he'd saved her life. He also had been there when Alex broke her heart and hadn't left her side since.

He was everything any woman could want. He had a presence that sucked up the room and he knew how to make her lose her mind whenever he put his hands on her. It was all too perfect for Avery, so she'd held off. She'd kept her heart away for as long as she could, but there was no fighting this man.

"I was surprised," she continued. "I expected to see some old German woman with hands like a man and a mustache."

Carter laughed. "She wasn't?"

Avery reached over and touched the bottom of his strong chin. Not a hair out of place; this neat freak was clean cut to a sin. She loved him still.

"She was young and beautiful. Very feminine Japanese ..."

"Japanese?" Carter's eyes widened. "Damn, if I had known that I would've joined you. We could've all worked something out."

She slapped him on his muscular arm, wishing this vacation would never end. Always a private person, Avery wasn't eager to get back to the public life that came with dating Carter. It was all part of the package-she understood that-but it wasn't easy.

"Honey?" She smiled at his rapt attention. "Do you mind if we ... I really don't want to get ready for a big deal. Can we skip dinner tonight?"

"Sure." Carter swallowed. Okay, so much for his after-dinner plan. It seemed to be now or never. "I'll cancel the reservations. You want to order room service?"

She nodded, glad she didn't get an argument. With Carter there was always somewhere to go for dinner to meet these people or be seen here or there. Living large was more work than Avery had ever imagined.

"How about steak?" he asked, swinging his legs around the chair so he was facing her. He kept his left hand at his side.

Avery sensed something was up. The tense expression on his usually calm face gave him away. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," he lied. Her little button nose made him want to kiss her again. He loved how she could be beautiful, but not to the point where she was too pretty to be cute. She wore hardly any makeup and had a freshness about her that he never got tired of. "I just ..."

Avery got nervous when he looked away for a moment. Carter was never at a loss for words unless he was angry. He would shut down and not talk to her, but he wasn't angry now, so what was up?

He looked back at her, noticing the confusion on her face. There was no turning back. "Avery, do I make you happy?"

Avery was taken back by the question. "Of course, baby. Happier than I've ever been."

He bit at his lower lip for a second, forgetting absolutely everything he had planned to say. To hell with it. "I want to be all you need, Avery. You've become that for me and I want to be that for you."

She leaned over, placing her hand gently on his cheek. Now she was really worried. "You are, honey."

"You've touched a part of me I didn't know was there," he continued, "and I don't tell you how much I love you very often, but you know I do."

"You could say it a little more," she added with a tender smile, "but I'll take what I can get."

"I'm saying it now." Carter felt his left palm beginning to sweat. "I'm saying it in the way I hope you'll understand I mean it. More than I think I've ever meant anything."

Avery looked down as Carter raised his left hand in between them. He opened his closed fist and her heart leaped into her throat. She didn't know the ring was a brilliant-style high-cut Lucida diamond center rectangular stone of about five carats with two bezel-set side stones. She just knew it was absolutely beautiful.

She looked into his eyes and this powerful man looked like a little boy, waiting anxiously. She wrapped her arms around him and screamed his name. She yelled "yes" at least ten times that she could count. She let him go with tears streaming down her cheeks. Was it real? Was he actually ...?

"You and me," he said.

"You and me," she repeated, holding out her hand for him to slip on the ring.

He hesitated. "Baby girl, you know what you're getting into, right?"

She didn't need a moment to get his meaning. They'd had this conversation several times. "I'm marrying the man God made me for. Nothing else matters."

He believed her because he needed to. He believed her because he knew she loved him as much as he loved her and although he didn't believe she knew what she was getting into, there was no way he could be without her. So he slipped the ring onto her finger and raised her hand to his mouth. He kissed the inside of her palm and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. He tasted the salt of her tears and ignored the secret he kept from her. He ignored anything that told him he didn't deserve her because he wanted her too much.

When he kissed her, Avery felt her body heat up like a furnace. She had dreamt of marrying Carter for some time but never gave in to it. He could have any woman he wanted and the women in his world had been born into it. They had family names that meant something and had for several generations. And unlike Avery, they had similar backgrounds and experiences as he had.

Why would he settle down with a plain, simple girl who thought the highlight of the weekend was going to church? She wanted to have him as long as he wanted her, but now she would have him forever and that was all those Sundays in church paying off.

As she jumped onto his lap and kissed him back, Avery wasn't listening to the voice inside that told her she hadn't thought this through. The voice was yelling under the strain of her happiness trying desperately to remind her that although she knew what was in this man's heart, she didn't know everything about him.

Carter put her in position before sliding off her bikini bottom. Avery ignored the voice, hearing only her heart beating out of control as his tongue circled her belly button and went down to her center. He knew just what to do, and soon her moans drowned out the voice completely.

Avery hoped the voice knew it wasn't welcome. She was going to be happy because the man she loved with every inch of her was going to be her husband.

* * *

Michael Chase, the favorite, could hear his boys on the other side of his bedroom door and for once he was grateful. He usually wanted a few moments alone with his wife, Kimberly, before the onslaught of the twins began, but not today. He needed the buffer because he knew Kimberly was going to be pissed off.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from NEVER ENOUGH by ANGELA WINTERS Copyright © 2007 by Angela Winters. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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