Free Six Degrees of Desperation (Dirty Tricks) by Myla Jackson

doesn't change anything. You lied."
    "Because I love you." He held both of her
wrists in one hand and smoothed the hair from her face with the
other. "I didn't want you to leave Temptation. I knew I had to make
this town interesting enough to keep you here."
    Tears trickled from the corners of Charli's
eyes. "You must think I'm the most gullible, stupid woman in the
county." She leaned her head against his chest. "How could
you?"
    "Oh, baby, I only wanted to make you happy.
Give you a little excitement to keep you around.” His fingers ran
along her cheek. “How else could I have the time to really get to
know you?"
    "You could have done it the normal way. Ask
me out on a date."
    "You were ready to walk...no run...away from
this town. And I'm tired and selfish enough to want to keep you
here. Please...don't be mad at me.” A hand ran down her back. “I
love you, Charli Sutton. Enough to share you with other men, if
that's what it takes to make you happy."
    Charli held onto her anger, gathering it
like a cloak to protect her from what had the potential to scare
the crap out of her. "You need to leave."
    "Not until you forgive me."
    "That might be a very long time."
    A grin spread his lips. "Good, then I'll be
around for a very long time. I'm not going anywhere until you tell
me you forgive me and tell me that you love me."
    Her head shook. "But I don't love you."
    "That's not what you said a minute ago."
    "Oh!" She shoved against his chest, her
fingers flattening on his dark shirt. "I should be very angry with
you."
    He smiled, that charming quirk of his lips
that Charli had fallen for the first time she'd seen him.
    "But you can't stay mad at me."
    "I can."
    "Not when I do this." He kissed the tip of
her nose. "And this." His free hand tweaked the tip of her
nipple.
    Despite her determination to resist,
Charli's body responded, both nipples drawing into tight little
buds. "You don't play fair."
    "That's what you like most about my dark
side, isn't it?" He caught her bottom lip between his teeth and
tugged, letting it go. "Original Sin. Was that what you named
me?"
    Charli shifted, straddling his hips, glad
she was naked and ready to torture the man who'd tortured her for
weeks. "I had a hard time distinguishing between the four of you. I
couldn't call you Man One and Man Two. And my attention always came
back to you, the original." She slid his belt from the belt loops
on his jeans, easing it out from under him. "Why did you bother
dressing, when you knew you'd end up naked anyway?"
    "I thought you might enjoy undressing me as
much as I like when you do it." He pulled her close, her wrists
trapped between them. "Do you really want me to go? To walk out of
your life and leave you alone?" His gaze narrowed, and he sighed.
"I'll do it, if that's what you really want."
    Charli stared into his gray-blue eyes for a
long moment, trying to summon her anger and failing miserably. "I
want to be mad at you, but I can't. You're too damned adorable as
both yourself and Original Sin."
    "Thank God.” He let out the breath he'd been
holding and released her hands. “I thought you'd send me packing
and I didn't want to go."
    Her brows furrowed and she poked a finger
into his chest. "Don't think you're getting off easy on this?
That's a pretty big lie to carry around. You'll have some major
atonement to perform before you're fully forgiven."
    "Name my punishment," he said the words, a
smile lighting his face.
    Her lips twitched and she pushed him back to
lie on the floor. "I'll think of some really dirty trick to keep
you in line."
    "Promises, promises."
    "For now, you may kiss me." She leaned
toward him, her mouth covering his a tingle of excitement spreading
throughout her body at the thought of spending the rest of her life
with this man.
    Connor's hands slid around her naked waist
and down over the curve of her ass. "As you wish."
    Make-up sex promised to be oh, so
fine...
    THE END
    (Really! I promise!)

About the Author
    Twenty years