In Serena's Web Read Online Free Page B

he had been able to regard her, for the most part, in that light.
    But since her incredible decision last night, Brian had found it impossible to think of her without remembering, however reluctantly, that she was very much a woman. And with that wall breached, he was painfully aware of just how attracted to her he was.
    Attracted? he thought, with something akin to a mental groan. More than attracted. Fascinated. And she had only to smile at him to make him forget his name.
    He didn’t have to look at her to see the delicate face and mesmerizing eyes, or the slender bodythat her own words had stripped naked for him. Serena naked … God, he could see her that way so vividly that his entire body tensed and the blood began rushing hotly through his veins. His heart was pounding, his breathing roughening, and he fought the abrupt and primitive urge to snatch her up into his arms and …
    Realization washed over him like an icy wave. Serena wanted Joshua Long. She had asked Brian to teach her how to seduce a man because she wanted Long. Asked him to teach her how to please a man because Long wouldn’t want a virgin in his bed.
    Virgin?
    Brian felt his throat tighten, and a knot formed somewhere inside him. He pushed his plate away with controlled violence, staring at her downbent head with a gaze he knew to be savage.
    Hell, didn’t she know what she had asked of him?
    He said nothing until the meal was finished, the check signed, and they rose simultaneously in unspoken agreement to leave the restaurant. Brian didn’t dare take her arm or touch her in any way,but she remained silently beside him as they crossed the lobby and entered the elevator. And when they reached their floor, she unlocked the door to her room and preceded him inside.
    Brian barely waited for the door to close behind him, but did manage to infuse his voice with dry mockery.
    “So you’ve decided on a strategy, Rena? You plan to learn how to tempt Long into your … web, didn’t you call it?”
    Serena sat down on the foot of her bed and stared up at him. Dressed in slacks and a silky blouse, she looked like a cross between temptress and teenager, and Brian was having a hard time keeping his urges leashed.
    “I plan to learn,” she answered matter-of-factly. “If you—someone—will teach me.”
    Brian paced over to the wide expanse of windows and stared out, unable to continue meeting her steady gaze. “And just how many lessons d’you plan to take, Rena?” he snapped. “How many nights? How many times would you sleep with me before going to him?”
    “I suppose that would depend on how quicklyI learned, wouldn’t it?” she replied musingly, clearly undisturbed by the harsh questions.
    He swung around to stare at her, his hands jammed in the pockets of his slacks. “Tell me something.” He forced the words out and kept his feet rooted to the floor. “Has it occurred to you that it requires a certain amount of desire between
two
people? I assume you want Long, but you haven’t said a damned word about wanting me.”
    Serena blinked, then said reasonably, “Well, I can hardly be sure of that, can I, Brian? You haven’t even kissed me, for heaven’s sake. But I’m sure an experienced man like you knows very well how to … turn a woman on. Don’t you?” she added anxiously.
    Brian knew that he should just leave her room. Immediately. He should have been able to treat this entire situation like the slightly amusing joke she probably intended it to be. He wanted to be able to do that. To laugh and speak lightly.
    But he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave, and he couldn’t treat this like a joke because it wasn’t one to him. And because what she was offering himwas something he wanted with every screaming nerve in his body.
    There had never been a lack of women in Brian’s life. He was attractive to women, he knew, and his personality was generally pleasant. Since he avoided long-term ties, his previous relationships could be summed up