Heat by Jamie K. Schmidt Read Free Book Online Page A

this time. It’s part of her fantasy. To be watched. How long were you standing there?”
    “We came shortly after Micah starting hitting her.”
    Max stopped short and put his hands on her upper arms so he could turn her to face him. “You know she was onboard with all of that, don’t you? She is a repeat client of Couture. She trusts me. Nothing happened that she didn’t want to. It’s a game to her. It’s not real.”
    “It looked pretty real to me,” Mallory said.
    “Were you frightened?”
    Mallory pushed away from him. “Of course not. I just wasn’t expecting that.”
    “I’m sorry. I figured Clint would have filled you in.”
    “He said you were doing a scene. I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe Hamlet’ssoliloquy?”
    “To do me or not to do me?”
    “And did she?” Her eyes were flashing blue fire at him. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he liked it.
    “No.”
    “Why not?” She crossed her arms in front of her and glared up at him.
    It was a good question. And he had to be careful about how he answered it. “I told you. I watch.”
    Mallory snorted. “I know men. They don’t pass up free blow jobs.”
    Max laughed. “Nothing is free, honey.”
    She looked at him with those eyes again. “So you really don’t screw around?”
    “I told you I didn’t. You didn’t believe me?”
    Mallory started walking down the corridor. “I don’t know,” she said. “This is all so new to me.”
    He let her walk ahead of him. At least she wasn’t running. “Were you disgusted?”
    She paused, her hand on the doorknob. Her shoulders were tight, her body tensed. “No,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t.”
    A flare of hope went right to his head, more potent than a shot of tequila.
    “Think that was something you’d like to try?”
    “No.” She pushed open the door and walked through it.
    Max hurried up so they were walking side by side. “Are we still going to the mall?”
    “Do you still want to? I mean, that was a pretty intense scene back there.”
    “I’d rather be with you.”
    She stopped dead in her tracks. “Come on,” she scoffed.
    “I’m serious.”
    “How much is my sister paying you that you’d rather go shopping for shoes than watch two men screw around with a redhead with big tits?”
    “Shoe shopping?” He grinned. “I was in it for the totally authentic Chinese food.”
    A smile flickered around her face.
    “Besides, what you saw back there is commonplace. I’m not missing out on anything I can’t get again tonight or the next day. That’s not the case with you. I like being with you.”
    “Why?” she asked. “I’m broken.”
    “Nah.” Max took her hand. “You’re just a little cracked. I’ve got some duct tape in my truck.”
    “Kinky.” They walked hand in hand toward the garage.
    “Not really—it takes the skin off. I prefer silk rope.”
    She arched a look at him. “You got some of that in the truck too?”
    “Never leave home without it. Why? You want me to tie you up?” He tried to ask the question lightly.
    Her soft “Maybe” sent his pulse into overdrive.

Chapter Five
    Mallory had read the story about Blackbeard and his wives, and she knew she really shouldn’t snoop around in places she wasn’t welcome. However, after a very pleasant shopping trip, when Max finished carrying her bags up to her room he shouldn’t have said, “Tonight, Happy Buzz is sponsoring a party in the Hot Spot. It’s not Club Inferno—the members-only dungeon—but it’s still going to be pretty hard core. You wouldn’t last a minute.”
    That got her back up. It didn’t matter that he was probably right. She was fascinated to know what a man like Max would call hard core. It couldn’t be too bad; otherwise it would be in the dungeon, on the erotic side. Although from what Max had said, Club Inferno wasn’t a dance club. It was a sex club. Mallory lay back on the bed, kicking her shoes off and staring at the ceiling.
    The Happy Buzz purple