In Bed With The Devil by Susan Mallery Read Free Book Online

Then I’m glad you didn’t know.” Her blue eyes brightened with amusement. “Does the fact that I belong to someone else make me more tempting? The allure of the forbidden?”
    He had to consciously keep from smiling. She’d always been overly dramatic.
    “No,” he told her. “Sorry.”
    “You’re not sorry. And, for what it’s worth, the engagement isn’t official. I wouldn’t be trying to sleep with you if I’d said yes.”
    A cool rush of relief swept through him. “You said no?”
    “I didn’t say anything. Andrew hasn’t actually proposed. I found a ring.” She shifted on her high heels. “I didn’t know what to think. I’d never thought about getting married. I realized we had unfinished business, so here I am. Seducing you.”
    He ignored that. “You’re sleeping with him.” The point was obvious, so he didn’t make it a question.
    She leaned forward and sighed. “It bothers you, doesn’t it? Thinking about me in bed with another man. Writhing, panting, being taken.” She straightened and fanned herself. “Wow, it’s really warm here at the top of the house.”
    He didn’t react, at least not on the outside. But her words had done what she’d wanted them to do. He reacted on the inside, with heat building in his groin.
    She got to him. He would give her points for that. But she wouldn’t win.
    “So no on dinner?” she asked.
    “I have work.”
    “Okay. Want a goodbye kiss before I go?”
    He hated that he did. He wanted to feel her mouth on his, her body leaning in close. He wanted skin on skin, touching her until he made her cry out with a passion she couldn’t control. “No, thanks,” he said coolly.
    She eyed him for a second, then grinned. “We both know that’s not true, don’t we, Jack?”
    And then she was gone.

Four
    M eri arrived home from dinner with her team feeling just full enough, with a slight buzz. They’d taken the shuttle van into town, and that had meant no one had to be a designated driver. Wine had flowed freely. Well, as freely as it could given no one drank more than a glass, preferring the thrill of intellectual discussion to the mental blurriness of too much alcohol.
    But just this once Meri had passed up the wine and gone with a margarita. That was fine, but she’d ordered a second one and was absolutely feeling it as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom.
    As she reached the landing, she saw two doors and was reminded that it was also the same floor with Jack’s bedroom.
    What an interesting fact, she thought as she paused and stared at the firmly closed door. He was in there. By himself, she would guess. So what exactly was he getting up to?
    She was pretty confident he was stretched out on the bed, watching TV or reading. But this was her buzz, and she could imagine him waiting for her in the massive tub in front of the fireplace if she wanted to. Because in her fantasy, he wanted her with a desperation that took his breath away. In her fantasy, he was deeply sorry for hurting her and he’d spent the past eleven years barely surviving because his love for her had been so great it had immobilized him.
    “Okay, that last one is total crap,” she whispered to herself. “But the other two have possibilities.”
    She walked to his door, knocked once, then let herself in before he could tell her to go away.
    A quick glance around the room told her that he wasn’t about to fulfill her bathtub fantasy. Probably for the best. She was really feeling the margarita, and drowning was a distinct possibility.
    Instead of being naked and in water, Jack sat in a corner chair, his feet up on the leather ottoman, reading. At least he’d been reading until she’d walked in. Now he set the book on his lap and looked at her expectantly.
    She swayed as she moved toward the bed and sank down on the edge. She pushed off her sandals and smiled at him.
    “Dinner was great. You should have come.”
    “I’ll survive the deep loss.”
    She smiled. “You’re so