Free Seduce Me by Jo Leigh

like a question.
    He caught a glimpse of Natalie’s grin as she shook her head.
    “Sort of.”
    Fred looked from him to her and back. “Meaning...?”
    “Right picture, wrong bio.”
    “How’d that happen?”
    Natalie slipped out of her heels. “Printing glitch. But it turned out to be a nice evening anyway. I’m making coffee,” she said pointedly at Max. “Still want some?”
    “It’s after two in the morning,” Fred said, at the exact time Max said, “You know what?”
    Natalie’s expression fell. “It is late.”
    Max stepped closer to her and touched the back of her elbow. He hesitated to go upstairs, mostly because he wanted to. But it didn’t seem like a good idea. Fred’s presence had brought Natalie’s life into focus in a way her family at Lviv hadn’t. Probably because he knew her better now. Tonight was truly a one-off, an outlier for her. She was on a trajectory that suited her, with her safety net of friends and relatives around her. He didn’t fit, and her protective tenant had seen that immediately.
    Behind him, Fred cleared his throat. “I’ll catch up with you tomorrow, Nat.”
    Natalie had her focus squarely on Max. “Yeah, okay.”
    Fred’s door closing made the whole goodbye easier. First, Max slipped the box of cheesecake out of her hand so he could put it on the stairs. Then he moved closer so he could run his hands down both her arms. “I should go,” he said. “It’s been a great night. Thank you.”
    She inhaled and gave him a quick nod. “You, too. I could never have imagined the evening turning out the way it has. If you had any idea what I’m like normally, you’d be more than shocked. But as far as mistakes go, you’ve been top-notch.”
    “Then it was a success for both of us.”
    It was a perfect exit line, and yet, he hesitated just long enough that he couldn’t hold back from leaning in for a last kiss. Even that was meant to be short and sweet. Instead, the second he felt her lips part, he slipped inside. Her soft whimper combined with her hands on the back of his neck set him in motion.
    He pulled her tight against him as he guided her back and back until she was against the wall. They kissed as if they’d been practicing for ages, the ebb and flow, small partings that led to different angles and stolen breaths.
    When his hand moved to her shoulder, on its way to the silk of her breast beneath that red dress, he stopped. Not just his hand, but his kiss, the way he pressed his half-hard cock against her dress.
    She blinked up at him.
    He studied her eyes in the light from the overhead lamp before he stepped back. He couldn’t see much of the house from this small foyer. A staircase with a dark wood banister, green-and-white fleur-de-lis wallpaper that seemed exactly right for the woman still in his arms. A light-year away from anything in his world. “I’m gonna...” He gave a nod at the front door.
    She smiled, and her cheeks pinked up. “Please be careful on the way home. In fact, take a cab. You can get one easily on Houston.”
    “Thanks. I will.” He let her go, and after the door closed behind him, he let the night go. It had been an interesting detour, but now he was on back on his own road.
    * * *
    N ATALIE KNOCKED TWICE . “You can come out now.”
    Fred’s door opened so fast it made her jump. He had to have been standing there with his ear pressed to the wood. “Jesus, woman,” he said. “When you decide you’re not going out with anyone like Oliver Feinstein, you don’t mess around.”
    She sighed. “There’s no way I’m falling asleep yet. Come up and have Italian cheesecake with me.”
    He turned his head to look back at his room, and then marched right by her to the stairs. “You still have that bottle of Crown Royal you got for Christmas last year?”
    “I do, although I shouldn’t give you any. I saw you steal my beer.”
    “I’ll buy you more when I go to the store. So tell me how this all came about.” He reached