Hurricanes and Handcuffs: A Red Hot Cajun Nights Story Read Online Free Page A

the single most earthshattering kiss of her life. But it was a perfect metaphor when it came to her relationship with Jax. While her world was spinning, he was clueless of the devastation he wrecked on her. Sober or drunk, it made no difference. The outcome was always the same.
    Brutally tugging her brush through her hair, she grimaced at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Jeez Louise. She looked like the one nursing a major hangover this morning despite not partaking in so much as a drop of alcohol. Probably it had something to do with tossing and turning all night, her body burning as she replayed every second of their kiss. It might have been short-lived, but it’d punched a serious wallop to her equilibrium.
    Maybe she should be thankful he’d fallen asleep. The last thing she needed was to be knocked off her feet. Her response to him proved that any slippage of her control could result in him gaining the upper hand on her. And that would be a huge, costly mistake.
    For this seduction to work, she had to be in charge of her emotions. Not him. If she let him get under her skin she’d never be able to walk away from him.
    And that’s absolutely what needed to be done. She had no choice.
    She secured her hair into a high ponytail and rummaged in her dresser for a pair of jeans and a sweater. Once she was dressed she trekked downstairs to check the status of the coffee. The pot was already down to the eight cup mark. She frowned at the evidence of Jax not only being up before her, but evidently for a while. Well, apparently he felt like she looked. She didn’t know whether to feel bad for him or mark it down as some well-deserved karma.
    She snatched a mug from the cupboard and filled it with a healthy serving of the steaming brew. The amount of last minute preparations facing her were enough to make her consider racing back upstairs and huddling beneath her quilt. Lot of good that would do. Besides, before she did anything, she had one major task to get out of the way.
    Clutching the mug between her palms, she headed toward Jax’s office, her nerves dancing a chaotic jig. Would it be awkward between them after last night?
    Duh. There was a dumb question for ya. Of course it would be. Then again, maybe he wouldn’t even remember what happened. He was certainly buzzed enough to be suffering some memory loss this morning. Praying that was the case, she peeked around the corner of his door.
    From what she could see the room appeared empty. Frowning, she kneed the door open and stepped inside. Her gaze skipped over the blanket neatly folded over the back of the couch and scanned the rest of the room. Curiosity setting in, she walked to his desk. His computer was off—a rarity that only occurred when he was out of the house.
    On the bright side, there wouldn’t be any awkward exchanges between them. Yet. And she could run her errand without him being any the wiser. Counting her blessings in that respect, she grabbed her purse from her room and hurried out to her car. Teresa, the housekeeper, wouldn’t be here with the rest of her crew for another hour and a half. That should be plenty of time to get back before the mad rush of activity commenced.
    She threw her bag onto the passenger seat and jammed the key into the ignition. A second later she was on her way. Thanks to some investigative Googling yesterday, she’d tracked down a costume shop less than fifteen miles away. With the help of her trusty GPS, she made it to the store without getting lost.
    Hitting the lock button on her remote, she tucked her purse strap in place over her shoulder and ventured inside the single-story brick building. Racks of colorful outfits and every accessory imaginable lined the aisles in front of her. Wigs in various colors and lengths occupied the entire back wall. Although she’d never been much into playing dress up as a kid, she couldn’t contain the thrilling spark that shuttled through her as she surveyed the endless