Free Tempt Me by Shiloh Walker Page B

wouldn’t have been right...because he had
every intention of asking me out. We were married within six months.”
    â€œ One of those
love-at-first-sight stories.”
    â€œ Pretty close.”
She lowered her gaze, staring at her hand. The muscles under it were
still tense. She really should move. But she couldn’t. Just
couldn’t.
    â€œ What happened with
the ex?”
    â€œ I chickened out.
Couldn’t press charges. A few more cards came. Two more calls.
Then they stopped.” She closed her eyes. “I won’t
ever know, but I suspect Brant paid him a visit...scared the shit out
of him. Dwayne never was good at standing up to anybody who proved
they could dish it back.”
    â€œ Possible ethical
issue there.” His hand rested low on her spine.
    She shivered as his
fingers grazed the scant bit of flesh left bare on her back by the
corset.
    â€œ Abuse of
power...hell, I might have bought him a drink.” Cole rubbed his
cheek against her hair. “You should have pressed charges,
though. Bastards like that never stop until you make them.”
    â€œ I know. Now, I
could. Then, it was a different story.” She sighed. “It
may or may not be him now. I just don’t know. The cards started
a few weeks ago. I’ve gotten four—they aren’t the
same. It’s just pictures of me, no notes or anything. The
flowers today...that was a first.”
    â€œ If it is him...?”
    â€œ If it is, if it
isn’t, no matter...once they have a name, anything I can go to
court with, I’ll press charges.” She stared down, not
seeing anything. “I won’t be that victim again. Not
again.”
    He nuzzled her temple.
“I’m sorry. Nobody’s got the right to do this to
another person.”
    â€œ No. And I won’t
let it happen to me again.” She blew out a breath. Closed her
eyes. Then she smiled. “It feels good to get that out, you
know. Not too many people know.”
    He remained silent, his
hand stroking her back. Rocki stared at her hand on his thigh and
tried to tell herself she needed to just finish up her meal. Have him
take her home. They could set up their real date and then see
what happened.
    Except she couldn’t
think about anything but the feel of his hand on her back, of his
thigh under her hand. His warmth. The way his mouth pressed against
her brow.
    â€œ Cole?” She
tipped her head back, studying him. “You know, I should
probably just get this out. It’s been a while since I’ve
dated and all. But I don’t sleep with men on the first date.”
    â€œ Ah...” A
muscle jerked in his jaw. “Well, I don’t think we’d
really even gotten to that point, right? This isn’t a real date.”
    â€œ Right. So when you
take me home—to either your place or mine—and we sleep
together tonight? Just to be clear...we haven’t had a date.”

    He hadn’t heard her
clearly.
    Cole closed his eyes,
replaying her words in his head, but they still sounded the same.
Lust did bad, bad things to a man’s ability to think clearly,
that was all he could figure out.
    â€œ Okay, at the risk
of sounding like an idiot...what did you just say?”
    That smile of hers—oh,
hell, it did bad, bad things to his ability to think at all .
She tightened her fingers on his thigh, her nails biting lightly into
his skin, even through the sturdy denim of his jeans. “Oh, come
on now, Counselor...that’s what they call lawyers, right? I
think you heard me.”
    â€œ I heard you.”
He dropped his gaze to her mouth—that wide, sexy mouth—and
thought he just might die if he didn’t get to kiss her,
seriously kiss her, and soon. “The problem is I think I heard
something completely different from what you just said.”
    â€œ And what do you
think I just said?”
    â€œ It had something
to do with the two of us going back to your