A Little Bit Naughty Read Online Free Page B

compartment.
    “Take the money, Jada. You’re driving me to my place.”
    “I can afford to drive you ten miles to your house, Kiera. I don’t need any more reminders that I’m a broke loser.”
    “I didn’t say that!”
    “You didn’t have to. I had a reminder earlier today.” She looked over at Kiera and let her head fall to the steering wheel. “I ran into Eric at the bank.”
    “The bastard,” Kiera said. It was their universal name for her ex-husband. “What was he doing, taking a couple of hundred thousand out of that account he keeps in his sister’s name so that you couldn’t touch it in the divorce?”
    “I didn’t ask,” Jada said. “I just got the hell out of there as soon as possible. It’s a bit demoralizing to have to find spare change under my car seat just to pay my bills every month while he’s sitting on a mountain of cash.”
    “I still would have gone after some of it in the divorce,” Kiera griped. “This is a community property state.”
    “Which is why Eric Pearce is worth only about twenty grand on the books, despite the millions he has access to. He knew exactly what he was doing well before he filed for divorce.”
    “Bastard,” Kiera reiterated.
    Jada had to agree. It was amazing how quickly one could go from loving a person to wishing they would come in contact with a deadly, flesh-eating bacteria.
    They made their way to Kiera’s condo and was out of there in less than a half-hour. According to Kiera, the building’s management company was footing the bill for movers to pack up and store all of the affected apartments’ belongings while the walls were being replaced.
    As they started back for Mason’s, Jada considered just dropping Kiera off and leaving. After learning that Mason still thought of her as a ditzy, shallow cheerleader, she wasn’t sure she would be able to stop herself from inflicting bodily harm when she next saw him.
    However, an assault charge wouldn’t help to dispel the crazy lady image she’d earned after the clothes-burning incident with Eric, so she’d resist the urge to knee Mason in the groin. Hopefully.
     
    ***
     
    Mason rested his head against the firm leather headrest of the lounge chair in his office. Eyes closed, he allowed the soothing cadence of the jazz music flowing softly from the speakers mounted throughout the office to lull him into a state of relaxation he could only seem to find in this room. He brought the cut crystal tumbler to his lips, taking a sip of aged Dalmore Scotch. The expensive liquor felt like velvet against his tongue.
    He rubbed the spot between his eyes, trying to blot out the bulk of his day.
    The client whom he thought would be the ticket to an eventual partnership in the downtown New Orleans firm where he’d practiced tax law for the past eight years had turned out to be the biggest pain in his ass. But even without Oscar Davis’s constant phone calls and emails, Mason figured he would still be nursing this headache. They were in the thick of tax season so, of course, every client had an emergency, and every single one of them thought their emergency should be his top priority.
    And let’s not forget his biggest headache of the day, coming home to find Jada Dangerfield and her bevy of erotic toys.
    Mason pitched the remaining alcohol down his throat, trying to wash away the memory of her seductive invitation to offer him a demonstration. He’d been semi-erect since the moment the words left her mouth, and had a feeling the only way he would get things under control down there was through some manual self-gratification.
    Actually, he did have one tried and true method for quelling any amorous feelings.
    Mason reached for his cell phone, and pulled his mother’s number up on the speed dial.
    “Hey there, Mason,” she answered, and just like that, any lingering desire was instantly squelched by the sound of his mother’s voice.
    “Hey, Mom,” he said. “I stopped by on the way home to check out