Free Heartthrob by Suzanne Brockmann Page B

neatly folded on top of them.
    This trailer would remain empty to keep him from hiding his stash anywhere—nevermind the fact that he was clean and he didn’t have a stash anymore.
    There were no inside doors in this trailer, either. Welcome to privacy hell.
    The screen door opened with a squeak, and Jed turned to see Kate step inside. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet you when you arrived,” she said in her deceptively breathless, helpless-little-girl voice. “Welcome to Grady Falls.”
    She looked incredible. Her blond hair was feathered loosely around her face, and she was wearing a sleeveless white silk blouse and a slim-fitting khaki skirt that ended many inches above her knees. She was wearing highheeled sandals and natural-colored hose that made her legs seem to shine. She looked gracefully elegant and cool—as if she’d stepped out of a Paris fashion showroom, rather than a film production office in some backwoods, stickily humid, South Carolina swamp of a town.
    Her bare arms were slim, the muscles of her shoulders and triceps very slightly defined. Her skin was smooth—and probably as soft to the touch as he’d imagined. Herarms were nearly as sexy as her legs—and her legs were off the chart.
    Unlike the first time they’d met, she wasn’t trying to hide her drop-dead body behind starchy clothes. She was dressed to impress—and it was working.
    He fought it, refusing to acknowledge anything about her but the fact she’d forced him to sign that agreement from hell. She was the devil to whom he’d sold his soul. He was supposed to despise her, not
want
her.
    He shut himself down. He refused to feel anything. “I’d appreciate it if you’d knock next time you want to come in.” His voice was flat and cold.
    She didn’t miss a beat. “I’m sorry. I certainly will. Please forgive me—most of the cast and crew don’t stand on ceremony, and I thought—”
    “You thought wrong, Ms. O’Laughlin.”
    He had to hand it to her, she wasn’t about to let herself be intimidated. And she didn’t try to sidestep the issue. She came at it, head-on. “I know you must still be very angry with me.”
    Jed leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms. “I’ve been watching your death scene in
Dead of Night
over and over again in an attempt to handle my intense feelings of hostility.”
    Her death scene was preceded by that notoriously blazing hot sex scene.
    Kate’s cheeks flushed. Still, she managed to put a smile on her face. “I’m glad someone’s finally been able to put that movie to good use.”
    Jed laughed, wanting to see her squirm. “From what I’ve read,
Dead of Night
—and that scene with you in particular—has been put to extremely good use, particularly since it came out on video. Of course, I suppose it all depends on your definition of
good use.
”
    She knew what was coming. He saw it in her eyes, and in the darkening tinge of pink on her cheeks.
    He continued ruthlessly. “I read in
Details
magazine—”
    She tried to brush it off and avoid having the conversation go any further. “Yeah, I read that, too. It’s old news.”
    He didn’t stop. “… that
Dead of Night
was voted hottest movie of the decade, coming in number one with a record 86 percent of all men polled. And, according to their statistics, something like one third have used that particular scene as fantasy enhancement while … shall we say … flying solo. And that’s not including the huge percentage who are unwilling to admit they’ve ever taken that particular flight.”
    Her cheeks were pink, but she held his gaze. “And what percentage do you fall into?”
    She would not be intimidated. She would not be embarrassed. She could take what he dished out in this game of implications and underlying sexual tension, and serve it right back to him. But she hated it. The pink tinge to her cheeks gave that much away.
    “Actually”—Jed gave her a tight, flat smile that he knew didn’t touch the