Bared to You: A Crossfire Novel Read Online Free Page A

well-endowed—or not—he might be…
    When the car reached the lobby, I almost moaned in relief. I waited impatiently as the elevator emptied and the first chance I got, I took a step forward. His hand settled firmly at the small of my back and he walked out beside me, steering me. The sensation of his touch on such a vulnerable place rippled through me.
    We reached the turnstiles and his hand fell away, leaving me feeling oddly bereft. I glanced at him, trying to read him, but although he was looking at me, his face gave nothing away.
    “Eva!”
    The sight of Cary lounging casually against a marble column in the lobby shifted everything. He was wearing jeans that showcased his mile-long legs and an oversized sweater in soft green that emphasized his eyes. He easily drew the attention of everyone in the lobby. I slowed as I approached him and the sex god passed us, moving through the revolving door and sliding fluidly into the back of the chauffeured black Bentley SUV I’d seen at the curb the evening before.
    Cary whistled as the car pulled away. “Well, well. From the way you were looking at him, that was the guy you told me about, right?”
    “Oh, yeah. That was definitely him.”
    “You work together?” Linking arms with me, Cary tugged me out to the street through the stationary door.
    “No.” I stopped on the sidewalk to change into my walking flats, leaning into him as pedestrians flowed around us. “I don’t know who he is, but he asked me if I’d had a good first day, so I better figure it out.”
    “Well…” He grinned and supported my elbow as I hopped awkwardly from one foot to the other. “No idea how anyone could get any work done around him. My brain sort of fried for a minute.”
    “I’m sure that’s a universal effect.” I straightened. “Let’s go. I need a drink.”

    The next morning arrived with a slight throbbing at the back of my skull that mocked me for having one too many glasses of wine. Still, as I rode the elevator up to the twentieth floor, I didn’t regret the hangover as much as I should have. My choices were either too much alcohol or a whirl with my vibrator, and I was damned if I’d have a battery-provided orgasm starring Dark and Dangerous. Not that he’d know or even care that he made me so horny I couldn’t see straight, but
I’d
know and I didn’t want to give the fantasy of him the satisfaction.
    I dropped my stuff in the bottom drawer of my desk and when I saw that Mark wasn’t in yet, I grabbed a cup of coffee and returned to my cubicle to catch up on my new favorite ad-biz blogs.
    “Eva!”
    I jumped when he appeared beside me, his grin a flash of white against his smooth dark skin. “Good morning, Mark.”
    “Is it ever. You’re my lucky charm, I think. Come into my office. Bring your tablet. Can you work late tonight?”
    I followed him over, catching on to his excitement. “Sure.”
    “I’d hoped you’d say that.” He sank into his chair.
    I took the one I’d sat in the day before and quickly opened a notepad program.
    “So,” he began, “we’ve received an RFP for Kingsman Vodka and they mentioned me by name. First time that’s ever happened.”
    “Congratulations!”
    “I appreciate that, but let’s save them for when we’ve actually landed the account. We’ll still have to bid, if we get past the request for proposal stage, and they want to meet with me tomorrow evening.”
    “Wow. Is that timeline usual?”
    “No. Usually they’d wait until we had the RFP finished before meeting with us, but Cross Industries recently acquired Kingsman and C.I. has dozens of subsidiaries. That’s good business if we can get it. They know it and they’re making us jump through hoops, the first of which is meeting with me.”
    “Usually there would be a team, right?”
    “Yes, we’d present as a group. But they’re familiar with the drill—they know they’ll get the pitch from a senior executive, then end up working with a junior like