Dodging Temptation (The Retreat) by Avery Flynn Read Free Book Online Page B

them together out of his head. It had eaten away at him, wrecking his peace of mind with each sharp bite. “That would explain why you ’ re here. Don ’ t think I ’ ve ever seen you in the library before.”
    Griff chuckled like his brother ’ s dig hadn ’ t even registered. “It ’ s not really my kind of place, but Harper gave me some ideas, and I wanted to give them a whirl.”
    “What kind of ideas?” He knew the kind of ideas his brother usually had and The Retreat ’ s library didn ’ t have a copy of The Kama Sutra .
    “Not the kind you ’ re thinking of, although maybe I should start there with her. With that nice round ass and those heavy tits of hers, she might be just the distraction I need.”
    An angry heat scorched Dodge from the inside out, but he held it together. Control was his best weapon when it came to brotherly love taps like this.
    “You know she works for our grandfather. He probably sent her here to spy on us and sabotage the deal with The Brasch Group.”
    “She’s not a corporate spy.”
    “Oh, she told you that? You’re too trusting.”
    “And you’re sounding more like our my-way-or-the-highway grandfather every day.”
    “Fuck you.”
    “Maybe that’s what you need to get you off your high horse. A good fuck with a hot chick who doesn’t think the sun rises and falls on your hairy ass.” Griff arched his eyebrows. “What, no reaction? Damn, she is just business for you then, but then again isn ’ t everything with you?” His brother shook his head and mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like “stupid asshole.”
    “Not everyone in this world is obsessed with chasing tail,” he said.
    “And that ’ s where you fuck it up, brother.” Griff grabbed a book off the shelf and winged it at Dodge.
    He caught it without the slightest fumble. “Enlighten me.”
    “It ’ s not about getting ass,” Griff said. “It ’ s about having fun with someone else, getting your rocks off, and everyone walking away happy. Not everything is an all-or-nothing, win-or-lose situation, dumbass. If you weren’t so focused on making the next big deal you might realize that.”
    Griff couldn ’ t be more wrong if he were a broken clock. Winning wasn ’ t the best thing, it was the only thing. And the way for him to win was to be the final nail in his grandfather ’ s hotel business by having The Brasch Group choose The Retreat instead of his grandfather ’ s hotels. And to make that happen, Harper had to bend to his will.
    Unbidden, a mental image of a naked Harper over his desk flashed in his mind along with a brilliant solution to all his troubles. Conventional wisdom said to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Well, you couldn’t get much closer than what he pictured doing to Harper. Blackmailing spy or not, she was a woman on the rebound, and he had every intention of screwing her before she got a chance to fuck him over. No one ever said business—or life—was fair.
    “Don ’ t hurt yourself looking up all the big words.” Dodge tossed the book back to his brother, turned on his heel, and stormed out of the library and into the short hallway leading to the kitchen.
    Loosening his tie with one hand, he leaned his shoulder against the swinging door and entered the kitchen. The light over the industrial sink was on, and the walk-in freezer door stood open. An off-key rendition of “All I Want for Christmas is You” filtered out from the freezer. Harper. It had to be. He paused mid-step, the first hint of a smile cracking through his pissed off shell. The woman was horrible, a singing-in-the-shower-couldn ’ t-even-help level of awful. She might be the only person in the world who could give him a run for his money in the shitty singing category.
    He released the breath pushing against his ribcage like an overfilled balloon. Her caterwauling did more to unwind the tension in his shoulders than the punishing workout he ’ d put his body