The Perfect Kiss Read Online Free

exactly the same. He was turned on, incredibly aroused, and as he tore his gaze from hers, he looked around the room.
    Every man in the place wore the same enraptured, slightly dazed look he knew mirrored his own. For some strange reason, Zach experienced an almost overwhelming feeling of possessiveness. He suddenly hated the notion that all those men were thinking the same thoughts about Anya Valorian that he’d been thinking.
    Which was ridiculous, of course. When he signed her toan exclusive contract, this was exactly the kind of reaction he’d want her to generate because it was exactly the kind of reaction that would launch Renee Alexander to the top again—and Zach right along with it.
    Men would buy Seduction in their vain attempt to possess Anya Valorian, and women would buy it in their desire to emulate her. The visceral elements were all there, ready to be tapped, and Zach couldn’t afford to let his own hormones get in the way—no matter how they raged. His need for success was even more powerful, more relentless than his desire. Anya Valorian couldn’t know it, but she was no match for someone as bloodthirsty as Zach Christopher.
    Their gazes touched, looked away, met again and lingered. Shock waves rippled through Zach, for it wasn’t seduction he read in her eyes now. It wasn’t passion or need that radiated from those silvery depths.
    What he saw in Anya Valorian’s eyes was fear.

CHAPTER TWO
    A nya was scared. Terrified. More frightened than she had ever been in her life.
    She leaned forward urgently and spoke to Karl Aldermann, “Is he still following us?”
    “He’s back there all right,” her driver said grimly. “I’ll try to lose him at the next light.”
    Beside her in the back seat, Freida Aldermann, Anya’s housekeeper, makeup artist and friend, wrung her hands nervously. “I knew he was trouble. Oh,
liebchen,
the moment I saw the way he looked at you back there, I knew he would be dangerous.” Her blue eyes glowed in the flashing lights from the street. “He could destroy everything,” she whispered frantically.
    Anya turned and glanced out the tinted back window. She could see his headlights in the distance, keeping a steady, measured pace. Like Freida, she knew who was in that car. She had no doubt whatsoever.
    Zach Christopher was following her.
    Zach Christopher, an arrogant, headstrong, thoroughly determined man who never took no for an answer.
    Anya’s heart pounded against her chest. She felt weak, hot and cold all over. With her growing frustration toward his stubbornness came another, deeper, far more dangerous sensation.
    Excitement.
    She could feel the heady emotion mounting inside her. He was getting nearer, drawing so close she could sense the strength of his will, the ruthlessness of his pursuit.
    Hurry,
she thought. The word beat a relentless litany in her head.
Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.
    But whom was she coaxing? she wondered desperately. Herself…or Zach?
    It was a question she was afraid to answer.
    Oh, what should she do? Stop and confront him? Order him to quit following her? Demand he leave her alone?
    Or should she run from him, as far and as fast as she could? Because Freida was right. Zach Christopher was a dangerous, dangerous man. Of that Anya was certain. There was something inside him, a darkness of his own, that drove him relentlessly, that made his single-minded determination a deadly threat to her.
    Because Anya couldn’t allow him, or anyone else, to get too close to her.
    She couldn’t allow anyone to learn her secret.
    She couldn’t allow herself to forget, even for a minute, who and what she was. No matter how much she might want to.
    Why else had she turned down such a lucrative contract when she so desperately needed the money? Because a long-term commitment was something Anya couldn’t even consider. Too many appearances would be required for which she would be unavailable. Too many questions would arise. Too many suspicions would be aroused.