Blush by Cherry Adair Read Free Book Online Page A

kitchen was brightly lit and still somewhat chaotic. Oso was happily eating cookies off the littered floor. The purple flowers, stems shortened, were now in an orange milk pitcher on the center island.
    She grabbed an envelope off the counter where he’d screwed her the night before, then turned back to face him. The flush on her cheeks was surprising, and made her blue eyes glow like the waters off his favorite Brazilian beach. A fathomless blue with a touch of clear turquoise. Dark lashes, long and spiky, shadowed her eyes as she held out the envelope.
    Cruz kept his fingers tucked in the front pockets of his jeans. “I told you I wasn’t who you thought I was.”
    Her gaze, frank and disconcertingly direct, came up to meet his. “Well, you did the job. You might as well get paid for it.”
    From the way her nipple peaked beneath the cotton of her T-shirt, he wasn’t the only one thinking about what they’d done on the center island countertop. His dick lengthened on seeing that just the memory turned her on. “That was pleasure.” Concentrate, damn it. She’s the mark, nothing else. Her very naiveté was going to aid him in killing her. When the time came.
    “But I’ll accept work.” He needed a few more days. Hell, he could afford the time, and the benefits to delaying killing her were worth the wait. He’d earn his money. But not quite yet.
    “You left before I could—” she said coolly, tapping the edge of the envelope on her palm absently. What was she thinking about?
    “Thank me,” he finished, keeping his smile to himself. “You were too exhausted to wake up for the next round.”He’d intentionally left her right there on the table, legs open, and cookies, pans, bar stools, and papers scattered on the floor where he’d swept them before playing with her.
    Her eyes flashed with heat. “Yes, well, um . . .”
    Cruz watched her search for the right words. He leaned his hip against the counter and spread his arms to rest his palms on the cool Formica countertop on either side of him. “I gather you hired out?”
    “That’s none of your business.”
    “You made it my business last night.”
    She pushed the envelope against his chest. “Well, then, take this, and we’ll be square.”
    Cruz didn’t move to take it. And after a few seconds she dropped her hand and took a step back. Because she retreated, he advanced, stepping close enough for the sharp tips of her nipples to brush his chest, which set off a whole series of alarms through his nervous system. The smell of her skin, lush tuberose and a faint hint of something spicy, rose in a warm invisible cloud to twine around him. He saw the rapid rise of her pulse at the base of her throat and wanted to put his open mouth there to taste her again.
    Standing so close, he could see the changing swirls of variegated blues in her widening eyes. He wanted to fill his hands with her again, feel the tight wet heat of her closing around him. Without volition, he bent his head, his lips hovering over hers, tasting her coffee-scented breath on the moist air between them. Her lashes fluttered as she angled her head to offer her mouth.
    Cruz reached out to take the dish towel she’d slung over her shoulder before coming to open the front door. Her breathing stopped as he slowly slid it from her. Holding her gaze, he ran the dish towel over his wet hair. “I’d rather have steady work.”
    “Um . . .” Her eyes were a little unfocused, but she recovered her equilibrium quickly. “Okay. What kind of work can you do?”
    Bring you to multiple orgasms and have you beg for more . “Pretty much anything this house needs.” He’d worked enough construction jobs over the years; there was nothing she could throw at him that he couldn’t handle. And besides, it didn’t matter if he could or couldn’t do whatever she asked. She’d be dead by morning. “Just finished a major three-month remodel in Los Angeles.”
    “For . . . ?”
    “Aiden Cross.