His Seduction Game Plan Read Online Free Page B

imagined the devil must sound when he was leading some poor sinner to her doom. But this didn’t feel like doom. The excitement in her stomach felt more like anticipation. As if she was alive for the first time in a really long time. As though she was living instead of just existing.
    And it was too tempting to pass up.
    â€œI want a chance to get to know the man. But if you are just here because of Dad, then tell me now. I think there is a spark between us. I want to explore it but I don’t want to bribe you into dating me by holding Dad’s files out as a carrot.” Instant attraction, falling in love at first sight; she was too practical to believe in those things, but in this moment with the half-moon hanging above them, it felt as though there was magic in the air.
    He cupped her face in his hands. They were large and surprisingly smooth against her skin. He tipped her head back slightly so that their eyes met and he looked into hers with an intensity that made her shiver. What was he looking for?
    â€œNo bribe needed,” he said, lowering his head and kissing her.
    * * *
    She smelled of some sweet flowery perfume and the sea. Dinner had been interesting. It had changed something that he didn’t think could ever be changed and now she was being so sweet. Telling him everything he needed to do to get what he wanted.
    Just be smooth , he thought. But then he heard his assistant Asia’s voice in his head. Don’t be a douche.
    He rubbed his thumb over Ferrin’s bottom lip. Her breath came out in a rush. Tiny trembles coursed through her body, and if he weren’t touching her, standing this close to her, he wouldn’t have known it.
    There she was again, the shy woman he’d met at the coach’s house. Not the feisty woman who had boldly gone to dinner with an infamous football player. It was the contradictions that drew him. He knew that.
    He hated things that were easy to pigeonhole.
    â€œAre you kissing me or not?” she said.
    He laughed.
    â€œI am... I just don’t want to make the wrong move. My conscience—”
    â€œI thought you were a player. I bet you blow through women like they are disposable tissues.”
    â€œYou’re not disposable, are you?” he asked. He knew she wasn’t. “You just changed the dynamic between us. You don’t want to bribe me into a relationship and I need to make damned sure I don’t take the easy path. That’s what got me into trouble the last time.”
    She took a few steps away from him and began walking back toward the restaurant and her car. He knew he’d screwed up. He had a gift for it.
    He took two steps toward her and caught her in his arms, softly, gently, the way he would a pass that was just out of reach. He cradled her softly and spun her, lifting her off her feet.
    â€œWhat are you doing?”
    â€œFixing a mistake,” he said.
    He had to stop thinking.
    Hadn’t Coach been the one to say that the only way to improve his game was to listen to his instincts?
    He brought his mouth down on hers, not hard, because he had some self-control left. But softly. He rubbed her lips with his and tasted the coffee she’d drunk after dinner as she opened her mouth.
    She twined her arms around his neck and tilted her head to the side, and suddenly he wasn’t worrying about the mistakes he’d made or the reasons why he was kissing her.
    He couldn’t not kiss Ferrin. She was everything that he wanted and nothing that he felt he could allow himself to have. For the first time since Stacia...he felt something for a woman. Maybe it was the fact that Kingsley had settled down with Gabi de la Cruz or maybe—God, please—it was that he was close to finding out what had really happened to Stacia.
    Maybe it was his usual need to conquer or maybe it was something more. Only time would tell.
    Right now he didn’t need to know anything other than how soft and cold