His Virgin Acquisition by Maisey Yates Read Free Book Online Page A

real. She felt tears sting the backs of her eyes, because she knew this moment would never be real. Not for her.
    The people in the restaurant started to clap. Her knees started to buckle. Marco put his arms around her and pulled her up against him, bringing her flush against his hard body, and then he lowered his head and covered her mouth with his.
    She stood completely still for a moment, so shocked she couldn’t respond. Then he changed the angle of his head and teased her lips open with his tongue. She whimpered and wrapped her arms around his neck. His lips were soft and firm and she didn’t care that the moment was being caught on film by a hundred cameras. She didn’t care that they were in the middle of the restaurant. The only thing that mattered was this.
    It had been so long since she’d been kissed. Years. But she couldn’t think clearly enough to figure out how many. And she’d never been kissed like this.
    He ran his fingertips down the length of her spine and she tangled her fingers in his thick black hair. She felt as if she was going to melt into a puddle at his feet. His tongue swept across her bottom lip and she abandoned all her reason to revel in the moment.
    She thrust her tongue into his mouth and felt his body jolt. He anchored his hands on her hips. Her breasts felt heavy and an unfamiliar ache started to throb between her thighs.
    Then he released her, and she wanted to grab his headand pull him back to her regardless of the fact that they had an audience.
    He smiled at her and leaned in to whisper in her ear, “I think that looked pretty convincing, don’t you?”
    The high she’d felt when his lips had touched hers crashed. It was all for show.
    And as the flashes continued to go off, and people continued to clap, she stood with a smile fixed on her face and all she wanted to do was go home, crawl into her bed, and cry.

Chapter Four
    “I CAME over so we could discuss the terms and conditions.” Marco swept past Elaine and entered her tiny apartment without waiting for an invite.
    “I told you I would have my lawyer contact you.” She didn’t want Marco and his disturbing presence in her apartment. It was her sanctuary, her refuge from the frenetic pace of her life. Bringing him into it seemed wrong somehow. She hadn’t seen him since their faux engagement had gone into effect. Hadn’t seen him since that kiss.
    “I assume you’ve had contracts drawn up?” he asked.
    She glanced at her briefcase. “Yes.” She’d had them drafted as soon as she’d found the loophole in her father’s contracts.
    He smiled sardonically. “It’s necessary that we discuss precisely what each of us expects from this union before anyone signs anything.”
    “All right,” she said slowly. She studied the layout of her shoebox apartment. Papers covered most surfaces. It was a very orderly mess; everything was stacked neatly and organized. The kitchen and living area served as her office, and since visitors were rare she usually left everything out rather than sticking it back into neat little folders.“We can work at the coffee table.” She gestured to the low table in the middle of the living room.
    She bent and picked up a stack of documents and moved them to the large metal filing cabinet in the corner. When she turned, Marco was leafing through one of the binders she’d left on the table.
    He looked up at her, his dark eyes keen. “Your business plan?” She nodded and watched, feeling tense for some reason, as he skimmed the pages. “You have some very good ideas,” he said finally, setting the black book back in its spot.
    A flush of pleasure crept through her traitorous body. “Yes. I think I can double the profits inside of two years just by implementing basic technologies. There haven’t been a lot of advances at Chapman’s in the past few years. My father isn’t the most modern of men.”
    Marco gave her a wry smile. “So I gathered.”
    She rushed on as if he hadn’t said