Free Temptation, The Complete Serial Series 1-4 (The Temptation Serial Series) by Casey L. Bond Page A

naked!”
    Willy snickered and his eyes glazed over. He was picturing her. Hell, now I was picturing her. His raspy voice broke the silence. “I didn’t say naked , boss. I said I couldn’t wait to see her in a bathing suit.”
    Grumbling, I retorted, “It’s almost the same thing.”
    Willy walked to the truck bed and rested his forearms on the edge. “I wouldn’t mind seeing her naked.” He clutched his chest. “Not sure this old ticker could take that, though. Hoo-wee!” I threw an old greasy rag at him and he laughed. “It’s true!”
    I just smiled. Then I remembered what she said about Lynn cutting her hair and Willy helping her out. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened, but Lynn and me…we weren’t a thing. I told her from the beginning that we were just friends with benefits. I wasn’t looking for a commitment and I definitely didn’t want to get serious. She could see other people. She always swore she was fine with that arrangement, but somewhere along the way, feelings had apparently developed—on her part—and things got messy.
    “I need to talk to Lynn.” Willy was easy to confide in. He listened well and wasn’t afraid to tell you when you were doing something wrong or stupid. He didn’t beat around the bush. Hell, the man barely had a filter at all.
    “You do. She’s scary.”
    “Scary?” I smiled.
    “Damn near scalped Brooklyn. Yeah, I’d say she’s scary. Like the weirdo in that movie.” He snapped his fingers as if the sound would jog his memory. It must have worked, because he continued, “Edward Scissorhands! Yeah, she’s like Edwina Scissorhands.”
    I raised my eyebrows and then wiped the sweat from beneath the bill of my ball cap. “Edwina Scissorhands.”
    “Um-hm.”
    I looked back up at Willy, who just stared at Brooklyn’s condo like he was trying to solve a puzzle. “What’s up?”
    “Don’t know exactly, but somethin’ ain’t right with her.”
    “With Brooklyn? Why do you say that?”
    He pinned me with a dumbass-please look and I stared at Brooklyn’s condo with him, as if the answers to the riddle that was Brooklyn Harris would suddenly appear, written on the white siding. Willy started talking out loud, mostly to himself, but this time I listened. “What kind of girl up and leaves her home and a good paying job to come here? What kind of girl is tough enough to ignore the gossips and a near-beheading and keep her head up? Whatchu hidin’, Miss Brooklyn?”
    As if on cue, the upstairs bedroom light flickered on. I couldn’t see her, but I could see her shadow. She was undressing and I knew I was being a complete pervert, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. When I did, I saw Willy with a smile stretched across his face, watching unabashedly. “Willy,” I warned.
    He shrugged. “Can’t help it, boss. It’s the manther in me.”
    “Manther?” Now, Willy had said a lot of weird stuff over the years, but this was a term I wasn’t familiar with.
    “Yeah. Manther. You know how old ladies, when they go prowlin’ for fresh meat, they’re called Cougars?”
    I coughed, trying to cover a laugh and failing miserably. “Yeah.”
    “Well, when an old man is prowlin’, he’s a manther—like a man-panther. Part man, part beast. He can’t help it. It’s just who he is. Time ain’t on his side anymore, so he prowls. Always on the hunt.”
    I swear the man growled after that speech, sending me into a fit of laughter. Willy huffed, standing up straight. “What? You think I can’t get a woman? I can get a woman and I could even teach you a thing or two, boy.”
    “What happened to ‘Boss Man’?”
    He muttered something about showing me who was boss and then showing Brooklyn who was boss as he stalked home.
    “We done for the night, Willy?”
    “Yeah. We done.”
    Willy was done but I had a long night ahead of me, by the looks of it. But first, I needed to take care of one little problem: Lynn.
    She picked up on the first