Back in Black by Lori Foster Read Free Book Online

“Drew Black, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
    “Sorry, I don’t.” Would she say it? He hoped so. Gillian Noode could use some loosening up. He was just the man to help her with that. “Be more precise.”
    “Fine.” Proving she had plenty of backbone, she said, “I’ll compile a list for you and present it to you at our next meeting.”
    Drew couldn’t help but laugh. “Gillian, you little prude. You can’t even say it, can you?” He eased closer, coaxing her. “Come on, lady. Let me hear you say it. Whisper it in my ear if that helps.”
    Seconds passed, and then a devilish light shone in her bright blue eyes. “All right.”
    “Really?” His pulse thrummed in excitement. Damn, he was getting easy when something like this turned him on. “Well, come on then.”
    Wearing the slightest of smiles, Gillian sashayed up to him, put her small hands on his shoulders, and went on tiptoe. Her breasts pressed into his chest.
    With her lips all but touching his ear, she breathed, “Fuck.”
    She eased back to her heels and looked at him.
    Ridiculous as it seemed, he felt the stirrings of a boner. “I like how you say that.”
    “Thank you.” She looked very pleased with herself, as if she’d somehow put him in his place.
    That wouldn’t do.
    To keep her close, Drew put his hands on her waist. “What I’d really like is to hear you screaming it. In bed. You know, as in, ‘Fuck me, Drew.’”
    Her smug expression faded beneath embarrassment. She moved away from him—and he felt like a jerk.
    “Gillian . . .”
    She didn’t let him speak. “ Hell and damn aren’t too horrible, if used in moderation and in certain situations within a defined audience.” She kept her back to him as she put a lot of distance between them. “But you’d do well to avoid son of a bitch and bastard , too. Oh, and calling women broads .” Turning back to him now that half a room separated them, she shook her head in a pitying way. “That term is so Neanderthal, Drew, it has hair on it.”
    Tension spiking, Drew rubbed the back of his neck. Somehow, his plans had gone awry in a big way. He needed to get things back on track. “Fine. So now that I know what I can and can’t say, what’s first on the agenda?”
    She seated herself at the table again and shuffled through her papers until she found a brochure. She handed it to him.
    “What’s this?”
    “I’ve been in contact with the director of this local group. They work with troubled teenage boys. Many of them have horrid home lives. They need something to aspire to.”
    Huh. Not a heinous task at all. Drew could see the merit in giving at-risk kids some guidance. Some of the fighters had joined the sport to harness their anger over an abusive background. Some had gotten into it to escape the trappings of poverty. The SBC was a family that supported, encouraged, and rewarded.
    “Good idea.”
    She looked nonplussed for only a moment. “The director has agreed to let you do a presentation. It’s imperative that you get across the more positive aspects of your sporting organization.”
    “Want me to hunt around for something good to say, is that it?”
    “I didn’t mean it like that.” Shifting in her seat, she presented him with an earnest expression. “Do you think maybe you’re a little sensitive about the subject, given the effort you’ve put into making the sport a success?”
    More like he was sensitive around her, given her attitude toward him, namely that he needed to change to meet standards. But that wasn’t her fault, really. She was just doing a job. He’d have to remember that.
    Drew leaned on the wall. “What do you consider the most positive features of the SBC?”
    Dead serious, as if she’d been championing the SBC from its inception, she recited a list to him. “For starters, I’d talk about the dedication and hard work that it takes to learn the various disciplines. This isn’t just one sport, it’s a combination of many