Bringing Down Sam by Leslie Kelly Read Free Book Online Page A

centerfold thing. That hadn’t been a compliment…just the truth.
    Besides, she hadn’t been flattered, she had been mad as hell, he could see it in her eyes. But he let her think her batting eyelashes and moist smile had distracted him. He wanted to get away from her, where his brain could re-take control when it came to Ms. Barret, instead of letting his raging libido lead the way. Because whenever she was around, he seemed to be riding a spinny carousel of emotions, from lust to amusement to protectiveness. He needed to shed all of those, to think, long and hard, about who she really was and what she was really up to.
    No good . He knew that much. But that was all he knew.
    "Goodbye, Miss Barret. I will certainly look forward to seeing you tomorrow night."
    Nodding, she pulled the door shut, buckled her seat belt and started her car.
    Some wicked demon inside him just couldn’t let her go without trying to get under her skin one more time. Unable to resist, Sam tapped on the driver's side window and watched as she reluctantly rolled it down.
    "Yes?"
    "I still have my issue of Playboy . Can I bring it along tomorrow night and get an autograph, too?"
    He thought she would spit right in his eye, but she simply pursed her mouth into a prissy smile, rolled up the window and backed away. Sam quickly stepped back to avoid getting his toes flattened. Standing in the empty parking space, he shook his head as he watched her speed away down the parking ramp.
    "Until tomorrow night, Eve Barret," he said aloud in the silence of the garage. "And we'll just see who you are then." 
     
     

Chapter 3
     
    "Stay away from women who play hard to get. They're also hard to lose." -- from 101 Ways To Avoid Commitment
     
     
    "He's a pig."
    Eve threw herself down on the plush sofa in the company condo and curled the telephone into the crook of her neck to free her hands. She kicked-off the uncomfortable heels, then slid her feet onto the heavy coffee table as Leanne replied.
    "Sweetie, you knew that going into this. Isn't that why you're doing it?"
    "I'm doing it because you three begged me to. I wish I'd never agreed to it," Eve retorted.
    She'd seethed throughout the twenty minute drive from the parking garage to the exclusive condominium building where she was staying. Not even the opulent apartment could brighten her mood. In fact, it worsened it. Because she was here under false pretenses. Sure, Diana had the authority to let her use the condo, which was, apparently, vacant much of the year anyway. But Eve's stay was definitely not legit. She sure as heck wasn't the latest discovery of His World and never wanted to be.
    "I feel like such a fraud," she sighed. "This is nuts. It's juvenile. It's something my con artist father would have done to try to get money out of someone!"
    She nearly bit her tongue, wishing she hadn't brought up the subject of her father. Though Leanne had been her roommate for four years during college, and her best friend for nearly ten, they had never talked too much about Eve's past. One night after a few sangrias, Eve had broken down and spilled her guts about the darkest parts of her childhood to Leanne and Diana. Ruthie had been out on a date that night. Even tipsy, Eve would never have gotten into such a painful topic if Ruthie had been around. Her bubbly friend tended to like things light and happy and would never have understood. Diana and Leanne, however, had their own stories to tell. The three of them had cried and laughed and cried some more well into the morning hours.
    "Oh, my God, Eve, I am so incredibly sorry!” Leanne exclaimed. “I never even considered that. Of course, if you're uncomfortable and you want to back out, we'll understand. We never meant to hurt you, or bring up any unpleasant memories."
    Eve heard the genuine remorse in her friend’s voice. Leanne meant what she said. She would let her off the hook if Eve said she didn't want to go on with this charade.
    "It's not your fault,"