Free Talking Dirty With the Boss: A Talking Dirty Novel (Entangled Indulgence) by Jackie Ashenden Page A

who’d fallen for a married man, not seeing what he was until it was too late.
    And though she obviously wasn’t falling in love with Luke—hell no—she’d lost it in the supply room. Revealed herself too much. Given him a little piece of herself. A piece he didn’t bloody deserve.
    Jesus, what a mess, and it was her own stupid fault. Again.
    She sighed and chucked the tissue in the bin, then stared at herself in the mirror. The blue-eyed china doll she saw each day stared back. Sometimes she hated that face. It had gotten her beauty pageant titles and modeling contracts, but it had also gotten her Alistair and the debt situation she was now in.
    He’d been an up-and-coming photographer, charming with a hint of bad boy, and had burst into her sheltered life like a whirlwind, sweeping her off her feet. He’d taken her to London and New York, gotten her high-profile modeling jobs, introduced her to famous people, called her his muse. She’d worshipped the ground he walked on, not noticing that he treated her like a child. Gratefully paying for all his expenses and waving away his “I’ll pay you back” promises. Believing him when he said all his money was tied up investments and he didn’t have cash “right now.” Like she’d believed him when he told her he loved her.
    Until it had all blown up in her face.
    They’d been in LA when his cell phone had rung and she’d found herself speaking to his wife. A wife she didn’t know he had. A wife he’d been trying to hide their affair from by making Marisa pay for everything to keep the expenses secret.
    Heartbroken, she’d told Alistair it was over and left him, only to arrive back in New Zealand to find he’d bad-mouthed her to everyone in the business so that she couldn’t get another modeling job. Word was, he was bitter she’d been the one to end it.
    It had all been years ago, but she’d never forgotten. Hadn’t quite managed to put the humiliation of knowing how badly she’d been conned behind her. How she’d given herself totally to someone, only to have that flung back in her face.
    She wouldn’t be so stupid again.
    Gently, Marisa touched the blue bead around her neck, rolling it between her thumb and forefinger.
    “Carpe diem, Marisa. Do you know that that means? It means ‘seize the day.’ Get out there and grab those dreams. Don’t let them escape.”
    She let out a breath, released the bead, her father’s voice echoing in her head.
    She’d been putting those art dreams of hers on hold for too long. Letting the past with Alistair hold her back. Letting herself get distracted by men and parties and shopping.
    The time for that was over. No more self-sabotage. No more mistakes. And definitely no more hot lusty-pants with men who didn’t appreciate her.
    She had stuff to do. Dreams to put in motion.
    Time to carpe that effing diem.

Chapter Five
    “What do you know about Marisa?” Luke had been sitting on the question all evening and he couldn’t stop from asking it a second longer.
    The sounds from the busy pub, full of the evening crowd, seemed suddenly loud.
    Caleb Steele, ex-All Black and one of Luke’s oldest and best friends—and apart from Joseph, his only friend—raised his eyebrows in surprise. Understandable really, since they were here to talk about Caleb’s skills auction, not about women.
    “Marisa?” his friend said. “Uh, apart from the fact that she’s hot?”
    “So nothing then.”
    “Hey, I didn’t say that.” Caleb leaned his muscular frame back in his seat, brown eyes assessing. “Why d’you want to know? Got an interest there, mate?”
    Luke didn’t. At all. Two weeks after their supply room interlude and he’d—thank God—managed to get back to his normal routine without her screwing around with his concentration. Kind of. Mostly.
    Except when odd things would remind him of the touch of her skin. Or her hair. Or the tight clasp of her body when he was inside—
    “No,” he said firmly. “I