Free Hot Secrets by Lisa Renee Jones

about
this case,” she said, barely containing the urge to reach for her
drink again and throw it in his face.
    “Brad, I think that’s enough,”
the senator chided.
    “Yes, enough Brad,” Sharon
added, but there was a hint of satisfaction in her voice.
    Lauren almost snorted. Of course
it was enough. Her father had spoken. No way would Sharon have said
a word until he did.
    “What is it with your dislike
for law enforcement, Brad?” And she couldn’t help taking a jab.
“You have some skeleton in your closet you don’t want
discovered?”
    Brad flung his napkin on the
table. “Now just one damn minute”
    “Enough,” Sharon said more
firmly this time.
    Lauren and Brad stared at each
other, and she made sure he saw the contempt she felt in her eyes.
After several seconds, she pushed to her feet, “I’m not so hungry
after all.” Lauren headed to the kitchen, filled a cup with coffee
and headed to the den, her favorite room in the house, where she
fully intended to try and calm down while waiting for the cab she
was about to call.
    She entered the room of warm
browns and heavy oak, lined with law books she’d spent hours of her
life studying. It was an escape for her, a place of peace after her
mother’s death.
    Setting her coffee down on the
nearby desk, she turned to the books, eager to make a selection
relevant to her upcoming trial, and temporarily forgetting her cab.
She stood there, lost in the text, as she had so many times before.
That was, until a faint thickness in the air made the hair on the
back of her neck stand up. She turned, finding Brad far too close
for comfort, a mere foot away, at most. It was unnerving. She
hadn’t heard him approach. She stiffened, knowing how aggressive he
could get. He took a step closer, and she had nowhere to go but
into the bookshelf.
    His eyes traveled a slow path up
and down her body, and then settled on her face. “You know, I’ve
always thought you were quite beautiful when you’re angry.
Sometimes I get you fired up just to watch the way your eyes
sparkle when your temper flares.” He stepped closer and reached to
touch her cheek.
    Lauren turned her head to avoid
his touch. “Don’t,” she bit out.
    He pulled his hand away, but his
eyes felt like a melting ember on her skin. “We’d be good together,
you and I.”
    “Brad, stop,” Lauren said,
looking at him, wanting him to see the distaste in her eyes.
    “You’re afraid of how it would
look,” he said, his hand going to the bookcase beside her, trapping
her in a corner. “But you shouldn’t be. We aren’t blood relatives.
You lost your mother. You found me. The press will eat it up. We’ll
be everyone’s love story.”
    She shut the book. “You’re
talking craziness, Brad.”
    His hand slid to her cheek and
she slapped it away. Panic rushed over her. He never touched her
and that he did now set off warning bells. She tried to step around
him. He moved with her, blocking her.
    “What’s gotten into you?” she
demanded, hands pressed hard against his chest.
    A wicked grin filled his face as
his head dipped toward her. “You have, and I’d like to get into
you.”
    She’d always thought he was a
little off somehow, always thought him a little too like some of
the unsavory types she put behind bars, but he’d taken it to a
whole new level today. She inhaled slowly, more than a little
experienced with dealing with people like Brad. “I’m going to give
you three seconds to move out of my way before I bring my knee to
your crotch and make sure you know it’s there. One. Two. Three.” He
moved, laughing evilly.
    She yanked her phone from her
purse, even as she walked towards the dining room to tell her
father she was feeling sick. Of course, Sharon made a snide remark
about ‘too much champagne will do that to you’ but Lauren let it
ride. She just wanted out of the house, out of this house . And sadly, she wasn’t sure that wasn’t
exactly what Brad, and Sharon, wanted. Lauren