Free Microsoft Word - 49A4C18A-1A2A-28B97F.doc by Bad Thing She Did a Bad

off guard, he could tell by the
    way she softened.
    “I do?”
    He nodded and swallowed hard. “Yeah.”
    “Thank you,” she said, then resumed her stance. “Did you follow me?”
    As an attorney, he’d learned when not to lie. “Yes.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I felt responsible for you going off on some wild weekend where you might
    get…”
    “Laid?” she supplied dryly.
    “Hurt,” he corrected, irritated that she’d so squarely guessed his intentions.
    He gestured vaguely in the air. “There are all kinds of con artists out here just looking for someone like you to take advantage of.”
    “Someone like me?” She frowned. “Maybe I’m looking to be taken advantage of.”
    But the bravado of her words wasn’t reflected in her eyes that, now highlighted with
    shadow and liner, were easier than ever to read. Perry gave her a little smile. “You don’t mean that.”
    “I came out here to have fun,” she insisted, gripping her purse in a way that made him
    wonder if she had rolls of quarters—or condoms—inside.
    “I know,” he conceded, then wet his lips. The most outrageous idea he’d ever had just
    popped into his head. “And I have a proposition for you.”
    She looked suspicious. “What do you mean?”
    Perry broke out in a sweat along his hairline—this was new territory for him. “I was
    thinking…Instead of you hooking up with a complete stranger for the weekend, why not hook up
    with…me?”

    * * *
Jane couldn’t believe her ears. She stared at her decadently handsome neighbor as what he
    was suggesting began to sink in. “Hook up with you?”
    Perry nodded and splayed his hands. “Why not? I’m a fun guy. I’ll teach you how to
    gamble, take you wherever you want to go, do anything you want to…do.”
    Her cheeks warmed at his obvious implication.
    “And,” he continued, “you can feel safe.”
    Safe? She wanted to laugh. “Safe” wasn’t the word for what she felt when she looked into
    Perry Brewer’s bottomless dark eyes. The words “suspicious,”
    “tense,” and “petrified” came to mind.
    Jane squinted up at him. “You’re offering to tutor me in how to have a good time?”
    He leaned on her doorframe and a wicked smile curved his mouth. “I guess I am.”
    A sensual shiver slid over her shoulders, but a sense of uneasiness plucked at her. Could
    Perry be after her new-won fortune? But the man was an attorney—he didn’t need her money.
    The shoes he was wearing had easily cost six hundred dollars. “Wh-what’s in this for you?”
    “It’ll make me feel better for my earlier, uh, ungentlemanly behavior.”
    Her eyebrows went up. “You mean for saying that I’m ugly?”
    He straightened. “I didn’t say that.”
    “No,” she agreed. “I think your exact words were that I was a ‘homely little geek who’s
    probably never had a good lay.’”
    He had the decency to cringe. “Not my finest hour. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
    Then he gestured to her outfit. “Any mirror will tell you how wrong I was about you being
    homely. Lady, you’re gorgeous.”
    Her toes curled in her sandals. “No, I’m not.”
    He exhaled noisily, his eyes devouring her legs. “Yes, you are. And if you go downstairs to
    the casino alone, you’ll have to beat the men off with a stick.”
    The notion was so ludicrous, she laughed.
    Meanwhile, he seemed to sober. “Look, Jane, I was a jerk and I’d like a chance to make it
    up to you, that’s all. Neither one of us is looking for a relationship. I need a vacation and you deserve to celebrate. Why don’t we simply have fun together?”
    Jane wavered, her mind spinning. His offer was so tempting—have fun with a sexy,
    charming man who wasn’t a serial killer…that she knew of.
    Even if Perry did do something…objectionable, she knew where the man lived. She
    frowned. That brought up another potential problem. “If I agreed to this proposition, as you put it, won’t it be awkward when we get back to