You’re a sick man yourself, Ace.
No, he was a desperate one. There had always been something about Rhea that set his entire body on fire. It was why he’d bribed Hunter to change cubes with him in the office. Hunter had pretended that being under the air vent was messing with his allergies. So Ace had “volunteered” to take his desk.
It had been the best and worst $3,000 he’d ever spent.The best because it forced Rhea to acknowledge him when he was in the office. The worst because being so close to her was complete torture.
Ace pulled off his sunglasses and set them in the passenger seat.
It was the moment of truth.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Getting out, he slammed the door shut and sauntered up the driveway when what he really wanted to do was sprint. But the last thing he wanted was for Rhea to know just how badly he wanted her.
No, coolness would win this. Or if not, it would at least save his dignity.
Rhea saw Ace leave his car and saunter with that masculine, predatory lope toward her front door. He looked totally edible as he came closer to her lair.
Yes, he was sexy. Yes, he was hot, but she wasn’t about to play into that overinflated ego of his. She had to be cool and dispassionate about wanting to take a bite out of that man. She should never have spent time with him last night. Somehow, he’d actually become human to her and not a total scumbag. A tiny part of her was even starting not only to like him, but respect him as well.
He knocked on her door.
Rhea clenched and unclenched her fists, then shook them in an effort to calm down. She had to get a grip on herself.Quick.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door to find Ace standing there with one hip cocked and a seductive smile on his face.
“Morning, sunshine,” he said.
“Morning.”Rhea stepped back to let him enter.
He gave her that wicked, charming smile. “Now this is where inHollywood they would cue ‘Bad to the Bone’ to play as I entered your house.”
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Rhea rolled her eyes. “Oh, please! Ace, you’re so bad.”
“To the bone, baby,” he sang.
“Stop that!”
He didn’t, instead, he broke into a perfect rendition of George Thorogood. The man really did have a great voice.
Rhea closed her door. “All right, I get it.”
He didn’t stop; worse, he literally pinned her to the door and held her trapped between the wood and his long, lush body. He lowered his tone so that he could sing in her ear without causing her pain. His voice was low and sultry and it reverberated though her.
The pain came not from his body pressing against hers or her voice ringing in her ears, it came from the deep-seated ache at the core of her body that throbbed with a piercing need forhim .
“I want to be yours, pretty baby, yours and yours alone.”
That sounded too good to be true and she knew that things that seemed to be too good, always were.
“Should I get my saxophone?” she asked, trying to get her thoughts on something other than him being naked in her arms.
That succeeded in breaking his song. “You got one?”
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
“Yeah, I do.”
“Cool. Can you play?”
He still hadn’t moved back and she couldn’t move away without brushing even more of her body up against his.
If she did that, she’d be lost, as badly as she wanted him. There was no way she could feel all that hard, lean muscle and not kiss him again.
Or do something she might later regret.
She cleared her throat before she answered his question. “Not well, but I can hammer out a few notes now and again that don’t make the neighborhood dogs bark.”
He laughed as he lifted up one hand to play with a stray black curl of her hair. She had to force herself not to lean her head forward the few inches it would take to bury her nose in the hollow of his throat and just inhale his spiced, manly scent.
Or better yet, lick that tawny skin that covered the hot tendon in his neck….
“In that case, I need to introduce you to my little brother, Aramis. He used to torture his guitar to the point I sold it for a dollar to our gardener.”
“You did not!”
“Yeah, I did. Still have my father’s handprint on my butt to prove it. Want to see?”
Rhea snorted at him even though the offer was extremely tempting. “Why does everything have to get Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
back to me seeing you naked?”
He smiled at her.“Ulterior motives.”
The worst part was that Rhea really did want to see what he kept hidden under those clothes. She’d spent many hours last night after their kiss wondering how much of his ego was boasting and how much was true.
He dipped his head down to nuzzle her cheek.