Free The Seduction Request by Michelle Celmer Page A

get,” he said. “Then I would know that I’d made it, I’d succeeded. Then I could slow down and enjoy what I had. Maybe settle down and have a family. But lately, it seems like the harder I work, the further away the feeling gets.”
    â€œWhat does building a restaurant here have to do with it? Isn’t it even more of a risk? Chapel isn’t exactly a hoppin’ place.”
    â€œI’ve proven myself in the business community, and had a decent, although short-lived career playing ball. I’ve resolved things with my parents to the point where I can forgive them and move on. The only thing I haven’t done is prove I’ve made it to the people in Chapel.”
    â€œYou know what I think?”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œYou spend way too much time worrying about what other people think.”
    She was probably right. In fact, he was sure she was right, but he’d run out of other options.
    â€œYou mentioned your parents. Do you see them very often?”
    â€œAs little as I have to.”
    â€œI heard you set them up in a pretty nice place in Florida.”
    Yeah, nice and far away, where he didn’t have to watch them slowly committing suicide. “I used to think money would be the answer to their problems. I tried for a couple years to get them into detox programs, the best money could offer, but they never lasted for more than a week or two. There came a point where I had to back away. You can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.”
    â€œAt least you tried.”
    â€œI just make sure they’re taken care of. If they’re going to drink themselves to death, they’ll do it in a nice condo on the beach. My mom has money to play bingo five nights a week and my father has his satellite dish and plasma TV to pass out in front of.”
    She reached over and rested her hand on his forearm. “They don’t deserve you, Matt.”
    Something in the way she said his name and her gesture of comfort made the next words hard to say without emotion messing with his voice. “They weren’t great parents, but they did the best they could.”
    The sympathy in her eyes nearly did him in. This was why he didn’t like to talk to people about personal stuff. It did weird things to him, like turn him into a big wuss.
    â€œSo,” he said, desperately needing a change of subject, “you haven’t said much about your boyfriend. I take it it’s not very serious.”
    â€œWhat makes you assume that? For all you know, we could be engaged.”
    â€œNo ring.”
    She glanced down at the hand resting on his arm and something in her eyes darkened. He thought for sure she’d pull away, but she let it rest there. “I’ve never been real big into jewelry.”
    He reached up, rubbing her earlobe between his fingers. The look in her eyes went from dark to simmering. Don’t fight it, he thought. You know you can’t resist me. “No piercings.”
    â€œThat’s not exactly true,” she said. “I do have one.”
    He examined her face, at all the obvious places, but didn’t see any holes. “Let me guess, you had your navel done?”
    She shook her head.
    â€œTongue?”
    She made a face. “Yuck. No way.”
    â€œWhere else is there?”
    Her gaze wandered down to the front of her shirt. When he realized what she meant, all the air backed up in his lungs. “Your nipple?”
    â€œIt was purely an act of rebellion. In college, a friend of mine got hers pierced. My mom said if I ever did, she would disown me.”
    â€œSo you did it anyway?”
    A defiant grin spread across her face. “The next day.”
    â€œI guess she didn’t disown you.”
    â€œI never told her. I ended up really liking it. Even though I was the only one who knew it was there, it made me feel…sexy. I’m pretty small up top, so it gives me that extra