All Grown Up by Janice Maynard

only female. How did she say to one of her big, masculine brothers that she was frightened by the specter of never finding her soul mate? How did she ask for advice on becoming a softer, more feminine woman?
    Happily, she had a quartet of new in-laws…or at least Gillian would be one soon. But although each of her newfound sisters was extremely gracious and loving, Annalise didn’t know them well enough to open a vein and let them see her insecurities.
    Sam murmured in his sleep, drawing her attention back to his classic profile and warm-man smell. She would bottle that aroma if she could. His lashes lay dark on his cheeks, and his chest rose and fell with deep, regular breathing.
    Slowly, stealthily, she extracted herself from muscular arms and scrambled to her feet. It was no wonder he was dead to the world. He’d been up for hours, either trying to get warm, or later, turning Annalise’s world upside down with a sexual marathon that had included one last coupling as the fire died. The memory drew a quiet groan of amazement from her throat. At least she had gotten a couple of hours of sleep before creeping through the house to confront a possible intruder.
    There had been an intruder, all right. And one equally as dangerous as a rogue bear. The problem with Sam was that he seemed on the surface to be the perfect guy.
    As long as she overlooked the fact that he was ready to play daddy. The thought of having Sam’s baby both mesmerized and terrified her. That was why she had given him an ultimatum regarding sex. She had too much self-preservation to buy into the fiction that she and Sam could ever work as a couple.
    It took every ounce of willpower she possessed to don her gown and robe instead of waking Sam deliberately and watching his eyes heat with passion. One of her slippers had slid under a chair, but she finally located it. The sensible plan was to take a shower, and then pick a room in which to get started sketching out some ideas.
    The fee Sam’s grandparents were offering her was extremely generous. But Annalise had enough ego to be tempted even more by the prospect of the magazine spread. She’d learned the tenets of ambition and hard work at her daddy’s knee, and one day, if she chose to, she had the option of joining Devlyn in running the family business.
    She doubted she would ever want to…at least not directly, but it was nice to know that no one in the family would think it odd. She had never faced any kind of discrimination in the Wolff “pack” for being a girl. Well, except for the fact that her father showered her with gifts and encouraged her to order a new wardrobe each season.
    She was pretty sure he felt guilty for cloistering her for all those years. An all-access pass to high fashion was his way of making amends. It was a nice perk. But going to school as a child and making friends would have been even nicer.
    Sam never moved as she tiptoed to the door and opened it stealthily. With one last wistful glance at the man in front of the fire, she slipped out across the hall and into the safety of her bedroom.
    * * *
    Sam waited until he heard the door close to sigh deeply and roll onto his back. He had awakened when Annalise was dressing. Rubbing eyes that were gritty from lack of sleep, he forced himself to face the fact that she had run out on him. So much for warm cuddling and perhaps further bonding over morning sex.
    Given her behavior in the last sixty seconds, Annalise was not interested. As rejections went, her dismissal was quiet…polite even. Sam weighed the lump of lead in his gut and found it to be a mix of disappointment and hurt. Confidence had never been a problem for him. But if he were dead honest, he would have to acknowledge the fact that he felt embarrassed and at a loss as to how to approach the coming day.
    He got to his feet, nude, and was not surprised to find he was still hard. It was inevitable. Annalise, despite her mercurial temperament and frequent antipathy,