Free Playing the Playboy by Noelle Adams Page A

picking the cherry tomatoes, taking much more time than necessary to choose the ripest ones and delicately pull them from the vine.
    “Good morning,” she said, trying to sound casual as she felt him approaching.
    “You’ve got to learn to sleep in,” he said, a smile in his voice. “Being so industrious so early in the morning is just wrong.”
    She wanted to laugh at the dry tone, but she felt too stiff, too uncomfortable.
    Then it was worse. He came over until he was directly behind her and wrapped his arms around her, gently pulling her back against him.
    His body was wonderfully warm, and his arms were strong and masculine. He smelled the way he had last night, and it did dangerous things to her senses.
    But he was still a threat to everything she loved.
    “Good morning,” he said in a thick, intimate tone, leaning his head down to mouth the side of her neck.
    Her breath hitched in involuntary pleasure, but she managed not to lean back against his chest.
    With great willpower, she even tilted her head away from his mouth.
    He grew still for just a moment, and she could almost feel him scrutinizing her response. “Uh oh. That can’t be good.”
    She swallowed and gently pulled out of the circle of his arms, turning around to face him. Why couldn’t he act like a playboy was supposed to act and slip away the next morning with as little fuss as possible? “I just don’t think this is a good idea.”
    “It felt pretty good last night.”
    She couldn’t tell if he was as casual as he sounded, and she didn’t like that she couldn’t read him very well. He’d seemed fairly simple and straightforward before—a spoiled womanizer who was used to getting whatever he wanted.
    He didn’t seem as simple anymore.
    “It was good. Obviously. But, with the way things are, I don’t think we should do it again.”
    “I think we can manage to keep the sex separate from business. I thought that was our understanding.”
    “It was. But I’m not comfortable with it. It wasn’t like this could last very long anyway.”
    “Right,” Andrew said with a half-smile, as if he were vaguely amused by her earnest explanation. “It’s too bad. I think we could have a few really good days.”
    “Yeah.” At least he wasn’t angry or insulting. If he could think and talk about sex as casually as that, then more power to him. And if it bothered her that she obviously had responded more strongly to their time together than he had, then that was silly and shouldn’t be indulged.
    She liked to think she could just take or leave sex in the same way he did, but she couldn’t. She just couldn’t.
    And she wasn’t going to risk her future and everything she loved for another round of sex with Andrew, no matter how good it would be.

Chapter Five
     
    Andrew wasn’t used to women saying no to him, and he didn’t like it at all.
    Laurel asked if he wanted breakfast, in what was an obvious attempt to return their interaction to non-personal ground. He accepted, since he was hungry and didn’t want her to think he was offended about her rejecting his advances.
    He wasn’t offended. He was frustrated and a little annoyed.
    Sex with Laurel was the best sex he’d had in recent memory, and it seemed ridiculous not to enjoy it for as long as they could. He’d never been much on pressuring women, however—he’d never been in the position to need to, but it wasn’t really his nature. So he resigned himself to no more sex and managed to be friendly and natural as he chatted with her over yogurt and freshly baked bread with honey.
    The sight of her reminded him of how it had felt to touch her last night, how it had felt when she’d touched him. He really wanted to do it again.
    After he’d taken a shower and gotten dressed, he put the thought out of his mind. He had to take care of the situation with this inn, and the quicker it was resolved the better. So he called his uncle and explained the idea he’d had yesterday and the plan