Wilde Thing Read Online Free Page A

guidance and more advice, and he wanted to be the guy to dole out both.
    He spread his hands out in front of him, striving for a casualness he didn’t completely feel. “Let’s just say I have some extra time on my hands these days.”
    A bald-faced lie that she obviously didn’t believe, either, judging by the skepticism that etched her classical features. But she didn’t argue with him—that was how strong her desperation was to find her cousin.
    “All right, if you’re sure about that, consider it a deal.” She exhaled a relieved breath and headed over to her purse and withdrew her checkbook. “And I’ll sign my paychecks from The Ultimate Fantasy over to you, as well. That should help compensate some of your expenses.”
    “Don’t worry about my expenses.” He’d eat the rest himself, every last cent over a grand. “A thousand flat fee is fine.”
    Her lips thinned into a determined line. “I don’t want to take advantage of you or your services, and I don’t like being indebted to anyone. Signing my paychecks over to you is part of our deal.”
    He handed her the application to take, fill out, and return to him, impressed with her tenacity. “If it makes you feel better, then fine.”
    “It does, and I insist.” She took the paper, then continued writing out the check. When she was done, she handed him the payment voucher.
    He took their agreed-upon fee, folded it in half, and put it into his top drawer, to hand over to Beverly to deposit later. He glanced back at Liz and watched as her tongue darted out and dampened her bottom lip in a gesture that made him think of that sweet mouth and soft tongue of hers stroking elsewhere … lapping at his taut, heated skin, sliding along male erogenous zones, and swirling along the length of his rigid cock.
    Oh, yeah, especially that.
    The sexual tension between them was strong and undeniable, triggering a hunger in him that settled in his lap in the form of a killer hard-on.
    If they were going to be working side by side, she deserved to know exactly how he felt about her, and just how much she tempted him. “I have to warn you, I don’t know how the hell I’m going to keep my hands off you,” he said.
    Liz’s chest tightened at Steve’s unabashed statement, and an internal kind of heat rippled through her. Her pulse kicked into high gear, and she managed, just barely, to remain outwardly composed.
    But she couldn’t deny that his blatant interest aroused her. As did the casual way he sat in his chair and held her gaze, so confident and one hundred percent male. A dark-haired, blue-eyed rogue who had no qualms about hesitating to go after what he wanted.
    At the moment, she was the object of his desires.
    And he’d been hers for weeks.
    She knew a challenge when she heard one, and she displayed an ample amount of daring to match his. “Who says I want you to keep your hands off me?”
    A dark brow rose over one of those disarming, see-everything eyes of his. He looked both taken off guard at her brazen response and pleased at her temerity. “Nice to know the sentiment is reciprocated, especially since I’ve wanted you since the first time I walked into The Daily Grind for a drink and you asked me what my pleasure was,” he said, stunning her with his confession. “It’s that ring on your finger that’s kept me from pursuing you sooner, but now that I know you’re single and our interest in one another is mutual, maybe it’s time we found out what my pleasures really are.”
    She pressed a hand to the fluttering in her stomach. She couldn’t believe where this conversation was heading. Couldn’t believe what he was suggesting. Letting this irresistible fantasy man of hers become reality in the purest sense awakened her baser feminine needs and beckoned to the wanton woman within her, who was drawn to that intoxicating blend of bad-boy eroticism and adventure he exuded.
    When she remained quiet, he went on. “As much as I want you, I suppose