Exposure by Annie Jocoby Read Free Book Online

to your apartment whether you like it or not. And I’m double-parked, so the longer we dawdle here in the lobby, the more heated it’s going to be out there.”
    I made a face. “Okay, well, it’s a fourth-story walk-up.” Not that I thought that Asher would have any issue with that. He was in amazing shape, as he had demonstrated the night before. He had stamina beyond my wildest dreams.
    The two of us climbed the stairs, and Asher made a show of pretending to be worn out. “Oh, God, another flight? When is it ever going to end? When?” he said with a smile. “Seriously, I don’t envy the people who moved you into this place. I bet they had a hernia bringing in your furniture.”
    “I was thinking the same thing when I moved here. That the moving men were going to have one helluva time moving me in. But they were pros and used to it.” I was amused by Asher right at that moment.
    Finally, we got to my front door. “Well, again, thank you,” I said. “I’d invite you in, but…”
    He smiled. “I understand. It was fun, CJ. I was really glad to meet you.”
    “Me too,” I said. “Well….”
    “Bye,” he said, kissing me again on my forehead. “Take care.”
    “You too.”
    And then he was gone.

7
    I got through my front door, and Scarlett was waiting for me, ready to pounce. “CJ, oh my God,” she said. “I was just about to file a missing person’s report. In fact, I tried to, but they wouldn’t take it. They said that you had to be missing for 72 hours. You had me really worried.”
    I smiled. “I’m okay, really. Thanks for caring, though.”
    She cocked her head. She was tall, slender and had an enormous natural rack that men drooled over. When they weren’t drooling over her silky blonde hair and enormous green eyes. She was such the stereotypical hot girl and, in a town where supermodels abounded, she could have given any one of the women in New York City a run for her money.
    If I weren’t so sexually satisfied by the enigma that was Asher, I probably would have tried to set Scarlett up with him. She’s just the type of woman who would look right with a wealthy hotty.
    But, just the thought of her in Asher’s bed made me want to puke. I was feeling surprisingly territorial over him, even though I was almost 100% sure I would never see him or hear from him again.
    “Sit down, young lady,” she said. “You need to tell me everything. Where have you been for the past twenty-four hours?”
    I patted her hand. I knew that she was protective of me, and had been since the tragedy. I loved her for that. And I was really sad that I had worried her so much. I knew that she was worried because, ever since I had been self-confined to our apartment, I wouldn’t just disappear like that. Yet I did, and I could see how scared she was for me.
    “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I said. “What happened to me in the past twenty-four hours was about as unlikely as aliens abducting me. But I’ll tell you anyhow.”
    So, I did, leaving nothing out.
    She listened, her mouth open the entire time. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You had earth-shattering sex with Asher Sloane? Riiiigggghhhtt.” She shook her head. “You better come up with something better than that, sister, or at least a bit more believable than that.”
    “I told you the whole thing was improbable, to say the very least. At any rate, you don’t have to believe me, but you asked, so I told you.”
    “Wait,” she said. “You’re serious. Oh my God.” She shook her head. “That is one fine-looking rich dude, let me tell you this. One fine-looking dude. What I wouldn’t have given to traded places with you last night.”
    “You know him?”
    “Oh, come on, CJ, doesn’t everyone in this town? Everyone but you, apparently. He’s like a billionaire. No, not like a billionaire, he is a billionaire. Owns some serious real estate in Lower Manhattan, and his company is worth a shit-ton of money. He’s been on the