Free Taken by the Con by C.J. Miller Page A

work. Those answers would only lead to disaster. “If it’s all the same to you, please don’t mention this to your mom.”
    Audrey waved her hand dismissively. “No problem. The information channel is one way, anyway. My mom talks my ear off once a week and I listen while I catch up on my mail. I’ll have my cell phone on me. Call if you need anything.”
    They said their goodbyes and Audrey left. Lucia shut the door and re-enabled the alarm. The interruption had given her time to process what had happened with Cash in her bedroom. She had been at the mercy of her hormones.
    Cash crossed the room. “I should be leaving, too,” he said. “It’s almost curfew.”
    “I thought you were planning to sleep here,” she said. She could call Benjamin and let him know Cash was staying at her place. Benjamin was aware of how crappy the Hideaway was and wouldn’t read into Cash staying with her.
    “That might not be a good idea. I have the sense that you’re not comfortable with what’s going on between us and staying here will make it harder.”
    She wasn’t comfortable, but she didn’t want him to leave. “You didn’t eat,” she said.
    “The food was mainly for you,” he said.
    He had an hour until curfew. “Please stay and eat.”
    He blew out his breath. “Lucia, this is hard for me. Being around you and seeing you and not being able to touch you is driving me crazy. I want to kiss you. I want to put my hands all over you. I want to taste you and find out what you like best and how you like it.”
    His words heated her entire body. She could almost feel Cash’s tongue on her. A shudder rippled over her.
    He groaned and closed his eyes. “You’re going to kill me, Lucia. I’m trying to be good and follow your rules and you’re standing in front of me, tempting me, taunting me and I am not supposed to do anything. Are you even wearing a bra?”
    She crossed her arms over her chest. She had been planning to sleep and had nothing on under her shirt. “I am not taunting you,” she said, her voice quiet.
    “Yes, you are. You have no idea how good you look to me.”
    “That’s because you haven’t slept with a woman in four years,” she said, trying to diffuse the tension she felt. His intensity was shockingly honest and scary. Intensity directed at her.
    He cupped her cheek briefly before letting his hand drop. “Tell it like it is. But Lucia, if there is one thing we have, it’s chemistry. That doesn’t happen with every woman I meet, four years of celibacy or not.”
    “I see you with women. They practically crawl into your lap,” Lucia said.
    Cash watched her for a long moment and she waited for him to deny it. “It’s always been easy for me to get along with women. But having a real connection with someone is rarer than you might think. It’s about the intellect and emotions and how easily she makes me laugh.”
    “Physical attraction doesn’t play a part?”
    He chuckled. “It does. A very big part. But a connection that’s more than about what happens between the sheets isn’t something to be dismissed easily. Even if it’s temporary or it doesn’t make sense to anyone else, those moments are exceptional.”
    How did he do that? He made her feel special and feminine and powerful. Her nerves jittered, and excess energy escaped in a laugh. “We seem to end up lip-locked when we’re together, but anything more happening could jeopardize our jobs.”
    “I know that. Even with jail time waving like a flag, my libido doesn’t care.” He stepped close to her, pulling her hips to his, and she felt his arousal pressing at her core.
    His voice was filled with empathy and she wavered. Being in his arms felt good. He’d worked her up and she was finding it impossible to cool down and untwist the desire corded around her. “We have to work together.” The more she said it, it mattered less and less.
    “I know.”
    “We need boundaries.” The current ones were fading into the