Scandalous Read Online Free Page B

usually glib and well-spoken, he had even been described as silver-tongued. He had never in his life been at a loss for words, until right now.
    This unsettling anomaly was occurring right now due to the fact that he had never before seen Cristal Hart look more beautiful than she did right at this moment. His breath left him in a whoosh, as if sucked out by a vacuum force, a black hole.
    Over the eight years he had known her...over the multiple undercover operations he had done with her...he believed that he had seen every side of her. He would have sworn to it.
    He had been wrong. Wet hair falling around her shoulders, her face clean of any traces of make-up, she looked like a walking fantasy. She was wearing a black tank top and grey cutoff shorts and she looked like she could be a Playboy centerfold.
    As she sat, she pulled her legs up onto the couch into the position that his niece referred to as 'criss-cross-apple-sauce.' When he had been younger, in less ethnically sensitive times, he and his schoolmates had called it 'Indian-style.' Right now, he called it giving him a straight view of her red lace panties.
    Damn, he really needed to get a grip, and fast.
    He felt himself starting to sweat and cleared his throat. He adjusted his position on the couch so that, just in case he got more of a show, his physical response to it would not be glaringly obvious.
    He shook his head as he realized that this was going to be so much harder (no pun intended) than he had originally planned.
    Oh, well. He was up for the challenge, and Cristal was worth the sacrifice of losing all blood pressure as it seemed that every drop of blood in his veins made its way as quickly as possible to the one part of his body that, for the next few weeks, was not going to need it. He shrugged. Nothing he could do about that.
    “So what did you want to talk about?” She asked, voice even, as she stared directly into his eyes, carefully guarding her expression. She didn't give anything away.
    He liked that she was aggressive, always made the first move. She always wanted to position herself in the power role. Strategically placing the ball safely in the other player’s court before revealing her serve. It was smart, smooth and sexy as hell.
    “How did things go tonight?” He wasn’t quite ready to show all of his cards just yet. He needed to buy himself a few minutes to allow at least some of his blood to travel north, where it could actually do him some good by nourishing his brain and helping him figure out the right words to say.
    “Fine. You’re here aren’t you? Presumably you got a text from Raiza that it’s a go. So you already knew that.”
    She wasn’t going to make this easy on him. He wasn’t surprised.
    “Look, I know you’re not happy with this arrangement,” he said gently, “But I want to start it off by saying that if I’ve ever done or said anything that has offended you or upset you, I am truly sorry, Cristal. It was never my intention.”
    She tilted her head and gave him a slanted glare, “You are honestly going to sit here with a straight face and tell me you have never done or said anything to upset me. Seriously?”
    He smiled, “Yes, I am. Because, although I will admit that at times I have sometimes messed with you a little, mainly for the purposes of my own entertainment, it was always meant to be good-natured and playful. It was always supposed to be all in good fun.”
    She looked to be considering the merits of his admission. Finally, she shrugged and said, “OK. Apology accepted. Is that it?”
    Dominic could tell by her tense body language that she was on edge and wanted to bolt. She probably wanted to be just about anywhere else in the world. Anywhere except for sitting on the couch facing him. But, for the life of him, he didn’t know why.
    “No, that’s not all,” he said, trying hard to maintain the easy manner that he was attempting to cultivate, “Actually, I was thinking that - since we're