Under Wraps Read Online Free Page B

heat inside her that she had no business feeling for a man who had spied on her.
    Damn him.
    â€œPlease believe it was never my intent to see more than the business transactions.” He had that cool, authority-figure voice down pat and she wondered how she ever could have believed he was a carpenter, let alone a good guy.
    Jake Brennan had dangerous tattooed all over his big, imposing bod, a wedge of powerful muscle that looked fit to take care of business in a back alley. The brooding, hot expression in his eyes communicated something altogether inappropriate, as if he knew exactly what shelooked like naked and had devoted a fair amount of thought to seeing her that way again.
    Was she reading into that enigmatic look of his? Maybe. But his presence made her twitch in her seat.
    â€œBut you did see more than business transactions,” she snapped, frazzled by sexual thoughts. She lifted her head and quickly realized she’d sat far too near to him for this little tête-à-tête.
    His knee was so close she could feel the warmth of him through the thin silk of her robe. He sat forward in his seat, his sculpted shoulders leaning toward her as if he debated offering comfort. A worn gray Henley shirt stretched over the taut muscles of his arms, the sleeves shoved up to his elbows past a heavy silver watch that rested on one wrist. Wavy dark hair brushed his collar; his jaw was bristly with a five-o’clock shadow.
    She wondered what it would feel like against her skin. And damn it, why did she care? It had to be because she’d spent the past weeks thinking about Jake the Carpenter in a romantic way, building him up to be someone he wasn’t based purely on attractiveness. A stupid habit, that. Hadn’t she been burned oh so recently by a guy who was all flash and no substance?
    Although comparing Alec to Jake was sort of like weighing a cheap copy of a famous painting against the original. One was nice to look at. The other took your breath away it was so freaking magnificent.
    â€œWhen I installed the camera, I had no idea you would make yourself so comfortable in your office space. How many people work in their pajamas? Um, legally, anyway.”
    He said it without a trace of a smile, but she could swear she saw a glint of amusement in his flinty gaze.
    Defensiveness steeled her spine.
    â€œI thought I was alone so I refuse to be embarrassed.” Could she help it if she’d gotten in the habit of peeling off a layer as soon as she flipped the Closed sign on the business?
    It had been a damn difficult year between losing her job, losing her savings due to her ex’s crappy financial management and finding out the ex himself was the kind of superficial jerk who only cared about her worth as his personal sugar moma.
    Oh, and that was all before she found out she’d also been under suspicion for embezzlement.
    â€œYou definitely don’t have any reason to be embarrassed.” He cracked a smile that time—the barest hint of a grin that revealed an unexpected dimple. “I thought your dance moves were great.”
    In different circumstances, she would have been totally charmed.
    But flirting with the P.I. who’d surely seen her mostly naked and who, by the way, hadn’t fully crossed her off his suspect list, didn’t strike her as a particularly wise move.
    â€œThanks. But on that note, maybe I should let you take the camera and get back to your investigation.” She stood, feeling awkward and too aware of him.
    â€œI appreciate that.” He stood, too, topping her by several inches and filling her vision with more than his fair share of studliness. “I’d hate to lose expensive equipment to a sledgehammer.”
    He didn’t move, however. At least not right away.
    Her heartbeat quickened.
    â€œJake.” Saying his name aloud felt foreign and familiar at the same time. She’d thought about him often enough since their first