Desire Me Now by Tiffany Clare Read Free Book Online Page A

at bay when she opened the doors. Tall blond
     shelves filled the walls from floor to ceiling. Each shelf was filled with row upon
     row of books, and she thought it would probably take a week to sort through all the
     titles.
    The terrace she’d seen from the second floor was off this room. And what a sight it
     made. She wondered what the house said about its owner, other than the fact that he
     loved beautiful things. And he must like to read, to have so many books in his possession.
    Pained as her ankle might be, she couldn’t stop herself from walking past the shelves
     and running her fingers over the spines of the books. They were sorted by author and
     then by genre. She even found a whole collection of Jane Austen, though the spines
     were in pristine shape, so she thought Mr. Riley had not read those. Oh yes, she could
     get lost in this room and planned to do so the moment she was given spare time.
    Everything she’d seen in the house only confirmed her theory that Mr. Riley was a
     very wealthy man. She would know the answer to that soon enough, if she was to handle
     all his affairs.
    With her foot and ankle throbbing like a hive of angry bees, Amelia knew she would
     have to explore the rest of the house another time.
    Turning away from the terrace, the last thing she expected to do was to walk right
     into her employer.
    Quickly stumbling back a step, she stammered out an apology and said in a rush, “I’m
     sorry.”
    He caught her by the elbow. “We really must stop meeting this way.”
    Was that humor she heard in his voice? It unsettled her and had her stuttering for
     excuses at being caught wandering through the house.
    “I promise I’m not usually so clumsy, just a bit unsteady since yesterday. I didn’t
     know when it was appropriate for me to come down, so I started my day as soon as I
     was up.”
    “You should not be walking without support. I don’t want you to injure yourself further.”
    Even today, his voice did strange things to her. It made her feel things no decent
     woman should ever feel. It made her want . . . but want what? She reminded herself
     that his kindness could be a façade she had yet to crack through.
    “I would have taken you around the house,” he said, almost as if it was an apology.
    She didn’t miss the note of intimacy in his comment. And while his admission and the
     underlying innuendo should have her running from the house, she found herself intrigued.
     What in the world was wrong with her? Her imaginings from last night were what was
     wrong with her. She’d sketched a picture of this man in her mind that was too perfect
     and without flaws. Everyone had flaws.
    She decided right then and there that she couldn’t trust herself in his presence.
     Her imagination had run wild with this man’s character, and she couldn’t help but
     paint him as some sort of hero, not only for rescuing her but also for giving her
     the things she desperately needed right now—a safe place, a job . . . a chance.
    With self-preservation finally at the forefront of her thoughts, she managed to take
     an uneven step away from him. The misstep shot a heavy dose of pain up her leg, and
     it felt like her stomach was in her throat with the sudden correction in her balance.
     But Mr. Riley grasped her arm firmly. Instead of toppling back, she was crushed along
     the length of his body.
    With her hands wrapped around his strong forearms, she let him steady her long enough
     that her head stopped spinning. His thumbs brushed back and forth over the inside
     of her wrist, letting her focus on the intimacy of his touch instead of the pain radiating
     from her ankle.
    His nearness did strange things to her, things that made her want to step closer instead
     of away from him, to be touched everywhere as familiarly as he stroked her wrist.
     She shook her head and dropped her arms to her sides. She needed to get a better grasp
     on her emotions, her desires.
    She reminded herself that