Free Pure Temptation by Eve Carter Page B

beautiful young woman standing on a street corner alone? Are you kidding, this may be a small town but I would be a jerk to leave you alone.”
     
    He called me 'beautiful' twice now. Charming ... Badass and charming. That’s a poisonous combination for any girl. I had better hold onto my panties…or maybe not.
     
    After a few minutes, a yellow colored cab pulled up to the curb. It hadn’t taken long for it to reach us. It made me realize this town was so much smaller than I was used to.
     
    “I still hope to see you at the bar tonight, he said leaning on my door.
     
    I smiled up at him as he shut the door and started walking to his super chrome trimmed Harley. I rolled down the window and watched him saunter away. His gait was fluid and his muscular shoulders stretched out the fabric of his dark shirt in just the right way. His confidence level was off the charts. It was evidenced in his body language, in the jilt of his chin and in the swagger in his walk. He was raw male energy and my system responded with a zing of adrenaline in my stomach.
     
    “What’s the name of the bar? I yelled.
     
    “I already told you,” he laughed. “The Bar.”
     
    “Really? How original,” I said, rolling my eyes.
     
    He winked, pulled the helmet over his head. I bit my lip and swallowed hard. There was that badass charm again. The bike roared to life with the kick of his black boot on the kick starter. I watched him drive off and realized right then that I had to go see the band tonight after all.
     
    “Where to, Miss?” the driver asked.
     
    “Just any decent hotel that has a vacancy,” I said.
     
    “Good luck finding one. This is the summer season. Everything is booked three months in advance around here.”
     
    Crap. This day just went to hell.
     
    “There’s nothing? Really?”
     
    He turned and looked me up and down like he was sizing me up. Did I look that much like a city slicker? “I tell you what…I know this woman who is converting an old mansion into a bed and breakfast. Not sure if she has any rooms ready yet but I can take you there if you like? Maybe you’ll get lucky?”
     
    I sighed. A renovation project? Not exactly what I had in mind but if that was all I could get, I’d take it. After all, it would only be for one night.
     
    “Sure. Why not. Thanks.”
     
    A small town it was indeed. It only took a few minutes to reach the house. I was in luck. One of the rooms were ready to rent out. To my surprise it was clean and with plenty of space. The ‘over the top’ interior design scheme, however, was not exactly my style. Too many ruffles on the bedspread and a heavy use of floral patterns in the curtains, pillows and every fabric in the room, including the wallpaper which had enormous blue roses plastered from floor to ceiling.
     
    “You have a very nice house,” I said to the woman who apparently owned the mansion.
     
    “Thank you. I’m sort of an amateur interior decorator. My name is Emma by the way.”
     
      “I’m…Hanna,” I said.“How long have you lived here in Summersville?”
     
    “All my life. Born and raised. Never seemed to be able to get away from here. Married my high school sweetheart. You know, all the clichés except he turned out to be not so much of a sweetheart after all, if you know what I mean.”
     
    “Not quite,” I said.
     
    “Sorry, I always do that. Spill my life story to strangers.” She laughed.
     
    “No, it’s fine. I just wasn’t sure what you meant. What did he do?”
     
    “Let’s just say Brian has anger issues.”
     
    Emma pulled the cord on the window blinds and bright sunlight flooded the room. I turned my head and squinted as the light illuminated even more floral designs that were previously hidden in the shadows.
     
    “Oh, I see?”
     
    “We separated two years ago but not long after that, he ended up in jail. Beat a friend of mine senseless just because he had asked me out on a date. That landed him in prison until