Enticement by Madelynn Ellis Read Free Book Online

jig, but the fact that he really did want Kit to stay. Maybe that was simply a function of them being old friends and wanting to catch up. Maybe it was something more. Certainly, there’d been times over dinner when the two men’s gazes had locked across the table and additional layers of conversation had passed between them without them exchanging a single word.
    Old friends did that.
    Lovers did that. She and Ross had shared numerous moments like that back in their former shared flat. They were doing it now. Her questioning. Ross sleepily suggesting she back down.
    “What did you say Kit did in Japan?” she said, ignoring his voluble yawn.
    “Come off it, Evie. I need to sleep. I’ve a crack of dawn start tomorrow. One of the mares on Hazel’s farm has an ulcer.” He gave another yawn and dipped farther below the covers so that only a few tufts of brown hair remained poking out.
    Evie poked him beneath the covers, provoking a grunt. “So, it was dodgy, then?”
    “No!”
    “Then why not say he was in I.T., or marketing, instead of being so evasive?”
    “Because he wasn’t.”
    “Don’t split hairs.”
    “He worked in a bar, all right? Can I sleep now?” He tucked the duvet around him so that it formed a valley-like dip between them.
    Evie continued to stare at him in the dark a minute or two longer. Something told her there was more to Kit’s job in Japan than him simply serving drinks. In her experience, barmen—and she’d dated a few—didn’t look nearly so knockout gorgeous. Sure, some of them looked good, but not in the expensive clothes and haircut way that Kit did. If he’d worked in a bar, and not the highflying business sector, it had been an uber high-class cocktail lounge.
    “What was the place called?” she asked.
    “Evie!” Ross groaned. “For godsakes, go to sleep. Ask him yourself in the morning. I can’t remember. Cloud One, or something like that.”
    “Okay, I’m asleep.”
    “Good.”
    “Good night, Ross.”
    “Night…”

Chapter Three
    When Evie came down the following morning, Ross had already left the house to make his Saturday morning calls. Kit slopped into the kitchen a few minutes later, wearing a loosely tied kimono and a pair of tiny red shorts.
    Red for danger, she reminded herself as a high-voltage charge of lust sat her bolt upright. The man was torment incarnate. He had something Ross didn’t, no matter how wonderful a boyfriend he was. Kit had the X factor, more than just sex appeal, more than good looks—and to be honest, he didn’t look especially good at the moment. Shorts aside, he appeared rather dishevelled and a bit green, but he still oozed dangerous, bad boy vibes in the same way one or two of her exes had oozed slime. He managed a feeble smile, and suddenly the shiver-inducing winter morning seemed a whole lot brighter. Evie uncurled her fingers from the side of her porridge bowl as a hot flush tracked across her skin.
    “You’re not subtle, are you?” she remarked, her gaze hopping between the shorts and his expression.
    “Huh?”
    Still, just because he was dangerous and she was attached, didn’t mean she couldn’t look if he insisted of flaunting his hot, semi-naked self. Coaxingly, she waggled the cereal box at him, hoping he’d come closer. Kit stared blankly at her before taking a hesitant step forward. He ignored the cereal box and squinted longingly at the kettle instead.
    “You’re not a naturally early riser, are you?”
    Kit shoved his fingers through his long fringe and scratched, making his hair appear even more mussed up and adorable. “I’m used to working nights. This is the first time I’ve seen this side of midday in months.” He blinked a bit more, as if trying to clear his vision. “Got any green tea?”
    “Just Yorkshire.”
    “Should have guessed that.” He pottered over to the sink, filled the kettle and threw teabags into two mugs. “You want one?”
    Evie abandoned her porridge and rose to pass him the