Free Holiday With Mr. Right by Carlotte Ashwood Page A

the bar that served to partition the kitchen from the dining area. She raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
    “So what made you change your mind?”
    Angie frowned in confusion. “Change my mind about what?”
    “About me.”
    She eyed the bottle of Chivas Regal she’d picked up before looking at him. When his eyes held hers, she felt that strange breathless feeling and inexplicably her pulse began to race again. “Who said I did?”
    “Well, I’ve been trying to get your attention since you moved in but you wouldn’t even look at me.” A rueful smile played around his lips. “You’ve been hell for my ego.”
    She turned and pulled open the fridge. “Ice?” When he shook his head, she shut it and turned back to him. As she poured out the golden liquid into the glass, she searched for what to say. She knew what he was talking about. For the past year she’d been oblivious to any form of male attention. But with her sexy next door neighbor, she’d fought hard to remain oblivious, and that was the problem.
    “I only invited you for ice cream.”
    “And yet here I am.” He raised the glass in a mock salute before emptying its content down his throat. “You’re not planning anything weird are you?”
    “Like what?”
    “Oh I don’t know.” He shrugged then peered at the bowl of ice cream sitting in front of him. “Is it poisoned.”
    That startled a chuckle out of her before she repressed it. She perched on the only other high stool right beside him and crossed her legs, the hem of her dress only coming to mid-thigh and pushed back a few strands of wheat blond hair that had escaped the clasp she’d used to subdue the hair into a ponytail earlier that day. “Why would you think I’d wish to poison you?”
    “Any number of reasons.”
    “You have a lot of women trying to poison you?”
    He smiled wryly. “You’d be surprised at how many.”
    “Hmmm, well relax then. I have no wish to poison you. Neither do I plan to tie you up and turn you to my sex slave.” She had slipped the cover off the ice cream bowl and sighed in appreciation. She picked up the pink spoon and eyed the three different balls of ice cream, wondering whether to start with the eye-catching tiramisu flavor or the chocolate chip, which was her favorite. She decided on the unknown quantity, which was the Slam Dunk. It was vanilla but it had orange pretzels and lived up to her expectations. Eyes closed, she had to practically hold back a moan of pleasure. God, but there was something sinful about Baskin Robbins ice cream, she thought to herself. Suddenly she became aware of a sharply drawn breath and her eyes flew open. She turned to look at Alex and what she saw in his eyes made her freeze.
    Eyes narrowed to half mast, Alex gazed at her mouth with such hunger it took her breath away. “You can tie me up any time you want.” He murmured.
    Angie swallowed even as her mind went wild with pictures of Alex tied to the bed posts and the many delicious things she could do with him at her mercy. Her chest became too tight suddenly, like there wasn’t enough air to breathe.
    ***
    Alex felt desire slam into him as he watched Angie lick the ice cream spoon. He’d felt an instant attraction to her the moment he’d laid eyes on her coming out of her apartment over a week ago, but he hadn’t been prepared for the heat that was now coursing through his body. He shifted on the stool, suddenly uncomfortable and forced his gaze upwards to find that he’d been caught staring. He could tell from the way her pupils were slightly dilated that she liked being watched. He looked into eyes the color of midnight and could tell she was as affected as he was. Looking around he noticed that as lovely as the apartment was, there was an obvious lack of Christmas decorations. “How come you have no Christmas stuff in here?”
    Angie shrugged and pushed another spoon of ice cream into her mouth, stalling for time. She was still trying to catch her breath