ROMANCING MO RYAN Read Online Free

together, reaffirming in her mind why he deserved his hero status.   His sudden lapse into a petty flirt surprised her.   Especially since she knew he was a married man.  
    She decided to ignore his lapse.   “If I can ask you a few more questions,” she requested, flipping through her notebook in search of the right question.
    “I know my style is a little in-your-face,” he went on, ignoring her request.   “But I don’t believe in beating around any bushes.   I like you.   I think you’re fine.   I love your dark skin and your alluring lips and your brains too, I won’t overlook your smarts.”   He said this with a grin.   “I figure we can go out, spend some time together.   Spend the night together.   Get to know each other.”   Then he had the nerve to smile.   “Interested?” he asked.
    She looked at him.   She looked hard at him through the prism of her clear-coated glasses.   “I’d rather eat nails,” she said without batting an eye.
    He, of course, laughed.   “You are such a card, Nikki Tarver!   That’s why I like you.   But seriously, girl, let’s do this.   You won’t be disappointed.   Goodness knows I won’t,” he added, looking her up and down.   “You’ve got it going on, you hear her?   You’re the finest looking sister I’ve ever seen.”
    Nikki had a look of searing disappointment on her face.   This was only her third assignment since arriving in town.   And it was another big, fat zero.   She began stuffing her notebook back into her hobo bag.   As far as she was concerned, the interview was over.   Which was a shame.   She thought he had it together, when all he wanted to do was play games.   But she couldn’t play the game even if it was the only game in town.
    Her decision to pack up and leave, however, surprised him.   “What?” he asked her, genuinely shocked.   “What’s wrong?   All I did was give you a compliment.   You can’t take a compliment?   You’re fine, that’s a fact.   You’re the finest looking female I’ve ever seen.   Another fact.”
      “And you expect me to believe those facts?” she asked as she lifted the strap of her bag onto her narrow shoulder.
    He hesitated.   His sexual propositions were normally met with a resounding yes, name the place and time, rather than this serious, almost hauntingly sincere look Nikki Tarver had in her big-ass eyes.   And it annoyed him.   “Yes, I expect you to believe them.   I’m speaking the truth!”
    “And you’re truthfully telling me that you’ve never laid eyes on a woman finer than me?”
    He smiled.   “That’s what I’m telling you.”
    “I’m the finest one?”
    “The undisputed finest.   In my humble opinion.”
    “Either you’re lying or you don’t get out much,” she said, heading for the door.   “Goodbye, Mr. Crump.”
    Nathan Crump was angry.   Nobody talked to him like that.   Nikki glanced back and saw that anger.   But tough.   She wasn’t wasting her time on his or anybody else’s bullshit.   The way Nikki saw it, these guys knew what they were doing.   Lay a few lines on her.   Loosen her up.   Get her in bed.   That was their game and she wasn’t playing it.   Pure and simple.  
    She used to watch her mother in action.   After her father died when she was twelve years old, her mother played the game.   Thought she was good at it too.   Thought she wasn’t being played because she wanted it just as badly as the guy.   Until the guy left.   Then she’d cry all night long on Nikki’s little shoulders.   She’d cry and curse life and get angry with Nikki because little Nikki didn’t have the answers either.   Then that same mother would spend all day nursing her broken heart, vowing to never again let love make a fool out of her.   Until the next love of her life showed up.   Then the game was on again.  
    Nikki saw the game played on her sisters too, year after year after agonizing year.   Those