Tainted Love Read Online Free Page B

that different from Lydia's, though hers were by Bebe and originally priced at more than a hundred dollars. She'd found them on sale mismarked a size twelve. With them she wore a lacy silver Anat B. camisole that bared two inches of taut, tanned stomach. Digging up designer wear on a budget was her passion, a passion she was ready to give up as soon as she could banish the B word—“budget”—from her vocabulary. For now, it meant she prowled the boutiques on Melrose and chatted up the sales staff. Sometimes they'd help her with an employee discount.
    “It was just so sweet for you to lend me the car,” she told him with a trace of her former Texas drawl, and offered him the key on its chain. “But since I don't have a license yet, I don't really think I can use it anymore.”
    Luis laughed. “That didn't stop you when I offered it to you.”
    True. She needed a different angle.
    “My aunt found out I was driving it and made me bring it back. I have a learner's permit now, but it turns out my driving just sucks,” she lied smoothly. “I don't want to wreck it.”
    He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Wouldn't bother me.”He held the door open. “Want to come in?” He held up a bottle of Guinness beer, half empty. “I've got more of these.”
    “I can't stay. I have to, you know, work.”
    He leaned against the doorframe, his eyes flicking over her body. “I been looking for you at the club. Where you been?”
    “Oh, you know,” she said vaguely.
    He raised his eyebrows. “You avoiding me?”
    Lydia sighed. She didn't want to hurt the guy—it hadn't been his fault that she was regretting her night with him. On the other hand, she wasn't really a beat-around-the-bush kind of girl, especially having lived in one.
    “Luis? Can I level with you?”
    “How about,” he agreed, folding his arms.
    “I'm sure you're a real nice person,” she began. “But I've kind of gotten involved with someone in the last few weeks, and that kind of changes things, you know. I'm sure you've been in the same position.”
    An ambulance racing west on San Vicente blared for a moment, making conversation impossible. Lydia did what she always did when she heard sirens—said a little prayer for whoever was inside. The quality and speed of emergency care in America still amazed her. Back in Amazonia, the Amas had two choices. It was either Lydia's parents and whatever medical supplies had made it up the Rio Negro, or the local shaman.
    He smiled. That was a good sign. “That's it?”
    “That's it,” Lydia assured him. She nodded. “Nothing personal.”
    “Well, it was a hell of a great night. It's too bad you don't remember it.”
    She laughed, thinking this was much less difficult than she'd thought it would be. “I'll take your word for it.”
    “You don't need to be a stranger at the club,” he told her. “I don't bite. And if I ever run into you and him together, you've got nothing to worry about.”
    “Thanks,” she told him sincerely. “You're a gentleman, Luis.” She looked at her watch, since she'd ordered a cab that was supposed to be arriving any minute. “I've got to go.”
    He looked past her to the driveway. “You drove here. How are you getting home? Need a ride?”
    “Cab. Got it covered.”
    “Cool. Well, see you at the club sometime. Good luck with this guy, Lydia. I mean it.”
    Luis closed the door.
    Dang. That had been easy. Lydia felt much better. Part of it was that she realized she had not lost her virginity to an ass-hole. She didn't have to wait five minutes before the yellow cab pulled smoothly up in front of the driveway.
    “Where to?” the Pakistani cabdriver asked over blaring music that sounded mysteriously like rutting tapirs in the rain forest.
    “Beverly Hills.”
    “You give me big tip!”
    The driver grinned, baring two gold front teeth. As he pulled away, she took one last look back toward the house where she'd lost the virginity she so much wanted to lose, and realized that