Strung Out Read Online Free Page A

the lean muscle and golden skin that no doubt hid beneath the expensive cloth.
    She reined in her wild thoughts. It was ridiculous. She was not the kind of girl to fall in love with a stranger, much less go to bed with him.
    “So back to my question. What pays the bills?”
    Nicolai chose that moment to place a drink before her. It had a pretty pink color and came in a martini glass with strawberries instead of olives.
    “My special martini,” he offered.
    Talia sniffed the glass. It smelled fruity. “It’s called?”
    “Prickly Pear Martini.”
    Both men watched as she took a tentative sip. The tart flavor washed over her tongue, the vodka leaving a dry trail in its wake. It had a delicate flavor Talia could quickly learn to enjoy.
    “It’s good, Nicolai. Thanks.”
    The big man grinned. “I’ll catch up with you two later.”
    “I teach music,” Talia said when Nicolai walked away.
    Erik nodded. “Public or private?”
    “Boston School for the Arts, although I have a dozen or more private students as well. And you—what do you do for a living?”
    “What makes you think I’m not old money?”
    “I’m certain you are old money, but you aren’t the type to sit around and do nothing all day.”
    His face broke into a smile, and he took another long pull of his beer. “That is true.”
    “And yet you’re hanging out in a Back Bay bar in a twelve-hundred-dollar Armani suit. So do tell.”
    “Have you ever heard of Aasen Technologies?”
    “No.”
    “Okay, what about Aasen Investments?”
    “No.”
    “Okay, let’s try the New York Stock Exchange.”
    “Yup, that one I might’ve heard of.”
    “The other two are divisions of Aasen International, which is an openly traded stock on the Exchange.”
    “I’m going to take a wild stab and guess you’re heir to the family business.”
    “That would be a safe bet.”
    He was smiling, sort of. One corner of Erik’s sensuous mouth tilted upward in a crooked grin that was just as drop-dead sexy as the rest of him. But behind his sexy bachelor grin lurked something else Talia couldn’t put her finger on. Why was he telling her this? It would’ve been easier to say he worked in the family business or even that he was a CEO at the family corporation. Why the name-dropping? Was that what he thought would impress her?
    Talia met his uncanny green eyes and smiled. “That sounds really boring, Erik. What is it that you actually do ?”

    Boring? That sounded boring?
    Erik experienced an odd sensation when he processed her comment. He couldn’t be certain if it was shock or the sound of his pride taking a beating. Only one thing was certain. The name Aasen International had never before failed to inspire admiration in anyone, let alone a woman.
    Say something like that to the average woman, and she started calculating your gross monthly income.
    Then again, Talia Davies wasn’t your average woman.
    Erik gazed into her eyes and smiled, thinking about board meetings, acquisitions, accounting issues, mergers, and business plans. But when he opened his mouth to list a few of the things he did every day, something different came out.
    “You’re right,” he murmured. “It is boring.”
    She laughed, the husky sound washing over him like a hot wave of lust mixed with something he’d never experienced with any other woman.
    “You’re used to women falling all over you. Am I right?”
    He watched her sip her drink and savor the taste as it flowed across her tongue and down the pale column of her throat. Gently setting her near-empty glass on the bar, Talia tilted her head to one side and slipped him a heavy-lidded look from beneath her dark lashes.
    “I will, you know.”
    Erik was surprised to find he could still speak. “Will what?”
    “Fall all over you. Any way you like.”
    A shot of adrenaline mixed with hot lust fired his blood, going straight to his groin and fully hardening his cock. Erik shifted, his slacks suddenly unbearable against his raging