Tempt Me Read Online Free

killed him. They were convinced I knew more, but the truth is, I had no idea what the hell was going on. Nick stayed true to his character in that at least. Right up until the end.” 
    And she was still hurt by that. She knew that he couldn’t tell her everything, but now, she wasn’t sure if any of the time they spent together had been real. And that made her sad. 
    “And he was with you because…”
    It took her a second to figure out what he was insinuating. “I wasn’t dealing nor have I ever had any use for drugs.” She sighed. “We met because he worked in one of the studios where I had a showing. Savannah is a really small town, and the art society is even smaller.” 
    “And everyone knows everyone else. I get that. The military can be like that to an extent.”
    “Really?”
    He jerked a shoulder as a shrug. She picked up that there was something bothering him. Whenever she mentioned work, he changed the subject. The fact that he brought up the military surprised her.
    “Depends on the service and your job. The further up in rank you go, the number of people on your level gets smaller and smaller.” 
    As if to prove the point, she heard someone yell out his last name. She turned and found another huge man, buzz cut and all, heading their way.
    “Well, crap.”
    “Not a friend,” she said laughing at him.
    “Not really.”
    “Hey, Johnson,” the man said again as he looked at her with interest. Jesse had already risen from his chair to greet the newcomer. Up close, she realized the man was a bit older than Jesse.
    “Sir, how are you doing today?”
    “Oh, doing okay. Have the kids with me today, seeing the sights. My wife is out of town.”
    She followed his line of vision and found two kids at their own table. The little boy and girl seemed to be preoccupied with their meals.
    Then she noticed a man staring at her. She turned to Jesse with a smirk.  
    “Sorry,” Jesse said. “Zoe Jones, this is Colonel McWilliams.  Sir, this is Zoe Jones.”
    She offered her hand and the older man accepted it easily. “It’s nice to meet you, Colonel.”
    “Please, call me Mac, Ms. Jones.”
    She smiled. “Only if you call me Zoe.”
    He released her hand and stood there. Jesse did nothing to smooth over the awkward moment, so she said, “Are the kids having a good time?”
    “Yeah, they love to come here and see all the movie stuff.”
    Another brief pause. Thankfully, one of the kids called for him. He smiled and shook his head. “See you back in the office next week. It was nice to meet you, Zoe.” 
    He walked back to the kids as Jesse sat back into his chair.
    “What was that about?”
    Jesse blinked. “What?”
    “Don’t give me that vague look, Marine. You’re not fooling me. You didn’t want to introduce me to your boss.”
    “That’s not true.”
    “Yes, it is.”
    “No, it was more I didn’t want you to meet him.”
    It was her turn to blink. “That’s what I said.”
    Jesse sighed. “I try and keep a lot of my work and personal life separate.”
    She snorted. “I know for a fact that has to be impossible. Especially after seeing what goes on with Kee and Gee.”
    He gave her one of those long blinks again and she realized he did that when he was trying to come up with another answer, something else to deflect. She cocked her head to the side and studied him while sipping on her drink.
    “What?” he asked. 
    Two could play at his game. “Nothing.” 
    “I can tell by the way you are looking at me it is something.”
    He was kind of cute when he got irritated. It made her want to mess with him a little more, but she figured it wasn’t a good idea.
    “Listen, Jesse, this isn’t a date, we are not looking to learn that much more about each other. If you don’t want to share more of your life with me, I’m cool with that.”
    “Really?”
    His tone told her he wasn’t buying it. She did want to know more about the Marine, but if he didn’t want to share, she