Fire & Desire (Hero Series) by Yvette Hines, Monique Lamont Read Free Book Online Page B

wasn’t a memory of an alcohol induced
night.
    Tiffany hated to admit it, but she was hiding out. Earlier that
day while she and Josephine had been setting up for the party, she had asked
her friend to act as hostess for the entertainment part. She fabricated a lie
about having too many other things on her mind to attend to the needs of
another stripper. Josephine believed she was uncomfortable with the subject of
stripping in general.
    She let the conversation drop, deciding not to enlighten
Josephine. It would have taken too much explaining to tell her friend how far
it had really gone out of her comfort zone.
    Besides, she was hoping that soon it would all be over, just a
distant memory.
    She’d barely come to grips with her behavior, let alone having to
explain her actions to someone else, even if that someone was her best friend.
    “Who am I fooling?” She stared into the empty grate.
    She could pretend with her friends, but she couldn’t make her own
conscience believe the lie. The truth of the matter was, around Trevor, she
couldn’t even rely on all the training she’d been given in charm school.
    Tiffany heard someone enter the room. Assuming it was Josephine,
or one of her friends coming to check up on her, she didn’t turn around. Not
really wanting to be bothered, she hoped they would think she was mulling over
fundraising plans and leave the room as quietly as they came in.
    After a few moments passed, she realized she would have no such
luck.
    “So, how’s the stripper?” she asked, still facing the fireplace,
wondering if he had started his final act.
    “I don’t know. You tell me?” The voice came out smooth, thick and
rich like a Bavarian creamed éclair.
    Tiffany’s eyes closed automatically with the sound of the silky
deep tone. She didn’t have to turn to know who it was. All of her senses came
alive in remembrance of their last meeting.
    Staring into the fire, she asked, “How did you get in here?”
    “The back door was open and your friends were too occupied talking
about the stripper to notice me. I saw you head this way when I came in.”
    “I’ll have to remember that,” she commented as she walked back
toward the couch.
    She took a slow breath with every step, hoping to calm her nerves
before she raised her eyes to look at the man who called himself her husband.
Regaining her composure, she sat down on the couch and met his eyes.
    Rich, sparkling, light nut-brown irises met hers. It was the smile
that could seduce Aphrodite that made Tiffany quickly look away.
    “I hope I’m not disturbing you,” he said without moving further
into the room.
    “My prodigal husband returns. Why should that be disturbing to
me?” She leaned toward the papers on the table as if his unexpected presence in
the room, and, in her life, was not disconcerting for her.
    She wondered if one of her friends had spotted him or recognized
him. If someone did, she knew she would be in for a lot of questions later.
“Unless you have come here to talk about our divorce, I have nothing to say to
you. I have work to do. However, you can leave your contact information for me
so my lawyer can get a hold of you.”
    “Would it bother you if I decide to stick around for a few
minutes?”
    She noticed he had ignored her statement about a divorce. “I
usually become so focused on my work it would take an earthquake to distract
me. So why don’t you just tell me what you’ve come to say and be gone?”
    She didn’t realize he had moved toward her until he sat down next
to her.
    “Well, since it’s unlikely we’ll have a noticeable one on the East
Coast, I guess it wouldn’t vex you greatly to have me here with you?”
    “Not at all,” she said nonchalantly.
    Damn . Her heart was already beginning to race at the sight of him.
There he sat, in a pair of snug fitting black jeans and a button down navy blue
shirt, with the top three buttons open and the cuffs folded back, showing off
his sinewy forearms,