Billionaire Bad Boy by C.J. Archer Read Free Book Online Page B

the evening to deteriorate further.
    "Good idea."
    "What do you want to drink now?"
    "Aren't we having another beer?"
    "You've barely touched yours. I figured you
didn't like it."
    "Okay, but you choose."
    "What do you usually drink?"
    "Wine."
    He shook his head. "Nope, too boring."
    She groaned. "You sound like Dug-E."
    "Don't even say that in jest, Annie. Two
bourbons," he said to the barman.
    The bourbons arrived and Annie picked up her glass,
sniffed and screwed up her nose. "That's disgusting."
    "You're not supposed to smell it. Drink it."
    She took a sip but the reaction was the same.
    "Guess bourbon isn't your drink either." Watching
her struggle with the bourbon, Zack began to think nothing would be to her
liking. "Do you drink at all?"
    "Of course I do. Every night at home after work,
and sometimes on Saturdays with friends."
    "A glass of wine doesn't count."
    She scowled.
    He ordered a vodka and lemon. She had to like
that—all women did.
    She sipped. "It tastes like
lemonade. I like it."
    "Good. Now, I think you need to learn some bar
etiquette."
    "There's etiquette?"
    "Of course there's bar etiquette. Starting with
buying rounds for your friends."
    "You're only saying that because you've been
paying for all these."
    He grinned. "Okay, you got me. But you should
learn some other tricks of the trade." He leaned over and undid the top
button of her white blouse. Her face turned a brilliant rose. "Better."
    "Not from where I'm sitting."
    "When you're talking to a man, lean forward
seductively so he can see down your shirt."
    "If we weren't in public I'd slap you right
now."
    "And sit as if you own this place."
    She wrinkled her brow. "How do I do that?"
    "Straighten you back, survey the room with
disdain and look as casual as possible, no matter how drunk you get."
    "Easier said than done." But she tried it
anyway, glancing quickly around the room, then again, slower, with her nose in
the air. A very cute nose, he noticed.
    "Not bad. Do you smoke?"
    "No. It's a disgusting habit."
    "True, but it would help your image. Think about
taking it up in the next few days."
    She cocked an eyebrow at him. Cheeky , he thought.
He liked that.
    "Why are you teaching me all this stuff when
Dug-E's too young to drink in a bar anyway?"
    Good point, but he wasn't going to tell her that part
had slipped his mind. He'd got carried away by his task, forgetting their
objective. "Because drinking will give you respectability at parties, and
Dug-E will pick up on that. Besides, the kid can probably drink you under the
table. I could at his age."
    She stood suddenly. "I need to go to the
bathroom."
    "Already? You've only had one drink and a few
sips of beer and bourbon."
    "Hey," she said over her shoulder as she
walked off, "a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do." She flashed a
cheeky grin. Not watching where she was going, she bumped into a chair.
    Too bad the man in it splashed his beer all over her
or she might have got out of the situation with her dignity. As it was, Zack
roared with laughter as she attempted to apologize and buy him another beer. In
the end, the man settled for pressing a napkin to her breasts.
    Zack halted mid-laugh and stood. Time to intervene.

 
    CHAPTER 6
     
     
    "Lick, sip, suck."
    Zack's words hummed in Annie's brain as she licked the
salt off the fleshy part between her finger and thumb, swallowed the shot of
Tequila and sucked on the lemon wedge he held out for her.
    An image of herself sucking his fingers instead made
her giggle.
    "What's so funny?" Wow, his voice was so
deep and sultry it rumbled in her chest.
    "Me. You. Um, this. This Tequila's yummy. I love
it. Especially the sucking part." She winked at him.
    His eyes narrowed. "I thought you said you'd had
it before."
    "Oh yeah, I did didn't I."
    "Annie," he scolded. "Don't lie to me
about this, it's not going to make you cooler. If you're feeling tipsy, I want
to know before we go any further."
    "Further?" She waved a hand in front of his
face, just