Free The Cougar and the Wolf by Mina Carter Page A

designer.
    “Oh come on, Krys. You’ve been in a sulk since I split up your little summer romance. Don’t you think it’s time to let it go so we can start making some money? If you’re still feeling that bad, let’s get you some arm-candy. Bound to be a few handsome actors at the after party. What do you say?”
    She reached for her clutch, her hand skimming the soft, warm leather of the seat, and speared Xander with a look so cold that he actually blinked.
    “Let’s get one thing straight, Xander. Once tonight is over, I never want to see or hear from you again. Understand?”
    She didn’t wait for his answer, instead yanking the door release and stepping out of the limo. After so many years in the business alighting from a car was second nature. Unfolding herself gracefully, she set a foot on the carpet as camera flashes went off like a lightning storm. The slender heel on her sandal shifted a little under the plush pile of the carpet, the straps pulling against her ankle, but she automatically righted her footing and stood.
    Plastering a bright smile on her face, she headed off up the red carpet without waiting for Xander to escort her. She didn’t need an escort, and the only man she wanted wouldn’t be caught dead on the red carpet. A photographer took half a step forward, camera raised so she paused for the photo, her practised smile hiding the emptiness and pain in the centre of her chest.
    She didn’t want an actor to hang off her arm, riding her coat-tails to success. Someone who spent so much time pretending to be other people that they weren’t sure who they were themselves anymore. She wanted a rough and ready mechanic, a wolf who was so sure of his place in the world that he could be her anchor too. Her rock. Given an idea to latch onto, her mind conjured up the image of Kyle in a suit, his hair brushing his shoulders and that easy grin on his face—
    The sudden silence behind her made her pause, a frown forming on her face as the crowd gasped collectively. She and Stone were the headline acts, and she knew Todd liked to be the first to arrive. Her lips pressed into a line. Someone was obviously late. Very late if they were arriving after her as it was well known that she preferred to arrive last.
    The sound from the crowd changed, became an ‘oooh’ of feminine appreciation. The sort reserved for a sex god or something close to it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw an older woman clutch at her chest and swoon dramatically, forcing the guy next to her to catch her before she hit the ground. Kristen blinked. They didn’t even use the dramatic swoon in films anymore, it was seen as so over the top and ludicrous, but this woman seemed to have practised it. Curiosity at the looks of awe on the female faces behind the ropes won out so she turned. And stopped dead.
    At the end of the red carpet another limo was just pulling off. It wasn’t the car that caught her attention but rather the man who stood where it had been. He was looking down, his face obscured and for a moment she wondered who it was. Her gaze wandered over the broad shoulders and something fired within her, a very feminine appreciation for the way he filled out the smart suit uppermost in her mind. Then he moved, looked up and she gasped as she recognised him.
    Kyle.
    Her heart pounded, her hand creeping up to cover her throat as he started forward, his long strides eating up the distance between them. Unable to believe what she was seeing, she blinked and shook her head, trying to clear what was obviously a mirage. Could you get mirages outside of the desert? If not, it was a hallucination. The head shaking did nothing; her vision didn’t suddenly clear to leave the red carpet in front of her empty. Instead, he still walked toward her, large as life and twice as handsome, an expression on his face that she couldn’t read but that sent her heart skipping in her chest anyway.
    Cameras clicked around them in a light show bright