Panty Dropper (A Sexy Standalone Contemporary Romance) Read Online Free Page A

nerves. I looked down at myself. “What am I going to wear?” I couldn’t wear the same dress as this afternoon. This was my second chance to make a good impression on him. I’d totally blown it in the audition so I had to make sure I dazzled him tonight. I headed to my microscopic bedroom to see if anything would do.
    I found a red stretchy dress still in a box in my floor. I’d bought it to wear on a date with Paul, my ex-boyfriend. We had planned to drive down to Portland for dinner to celebrate my graduating cum laude. Before I could cut the tags off, he called to tell me that our lives were going in different directions, and we should call it quits before someone got hurt. I didn’t even know at the time it was too late for that.
    “Don’t worry,” I told Ava Marie as I took off the yoga pants I’d immediately put on when I got home from the audition. “I know what I'm doing.”
    Which was a total lie, but it seemed pretending to be someone I wasn’t was the only way I’d make it through this assignment, so I might as well start now.

5
    W hen I pulled up to the high-rise condos on Wilshire Boulevard I felt like I was pulling up to a luxurious hotel. A guy actually valet parked my car. As I walked away I had to scramble to see if I even had any money to pay once I left.
    I took the elevator to the twenty-third floor, per Leo’s instructions. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do once I got there—he hadn’t given me an apartment number.
    Turned out I didn’t need one. He lived on the entire twenty-third floor.
    He stood at the end of the long hallway as I exited the elevator, waiting.
    “Hello,” I said, as I nervously walked toward him.
    “There she is,” he said, and a smile filled his face that could have lit all of the Hollywood Hills. I couldn’t help but smile back. It felt good to know that seeing me made him look that way—even if I had to remember what kind of guy he was.
    He made no move to meet me halfway down the hall. I felt self-conscious walking toward him in my tiny dress and heels as if I was on a runway, and Leo Armstrong the only one in the audience. The intense blue of his eyes came into focus before the rest of his features, like a beacon aimed right through me. Even from the distance, I felt like he saw me.
    Finally, when I stood before him, he said, “Welcome. I’m glad you could make it on such short notice.”
    “Yeah, sure,” I said. “Thanks for having me.”
    I followed him through the door and into a world of total opulence and sleek beauty. The living room was two stories high and lined with glass and steel and looked out over the glittering city below. It was decorated in clean whites, blacks and gray, all sharp edges and no fuss. A staircase curved up to the second floor, and a chandelier dripped down from the second story, lit with crystals and LED lights, giving it a magical glow.
    “This is amazing,” I said, not caring that I was wide-eyed and slack jawed.
    “Thanks,” he said. “It’s good for a starter home. Next time I’ll get something more spacious.” I turned to look at him, stunned. He flashed me a smile, his lips curling up in delight. “I’m teasing you. I know it’s big and gorgeous. Sometimes I feel guilty about it.” I followed him to the couch, where he motioned for me to sit down. It was white and soft, like cashmere. “That’s another lie. I don’t feel guilty about it. Not one bit. Now—what can I get you to drink?”
    I had no idea what to order—should I ask for wine, or would a mixed drink be more sophisticated? I wish I knew what his other beauties drank because it suddenly felt like a daunting question.
    I wondered for the thousandth time why he’d even see fit to invite me over. I’d definitely bungled the audition, and in terms of looks—I didn’t even rate on the same scale as the other women who’d been in the room waiting…
    So what was I here for?
    “That wasn’t a trick question,” he said, watching