Intimate Exposure by Portia Da Costa Read Free Book Online Page B

its texture. Maybe comparing it to other textures he enjoyed? “Are we going to dance around what happened and pretend we’re just acquaintances? Or are we going to face it head-on and carry on where we left off?”
    His soft voice seemed to thump her solar plexus. She’d been hoping for a more leisurely lead-in. Yes, maybe a bit of a dance around first, rather than a headlong dive into the fray.
    But that wasn’t Red’s way, obviously. Why had she ever suspected otherwise? He was forceful, macho, red-blooded. A highly civilized bull who charged straight at the gate of whatever he wanted. No fear, no hesitation, no respect for delicate feelings and temerity in others.
    She wanted to resent that but almost felt like applauding it.
    Don’t be a wuss, Vick. Admit it. All that bullshit about being happy never to see him again…that’s what it is. Just bullshit. You’ve been dying to get into it with him again.
    “I don’t dance round anything, Red,” she shot back. “What happened, happened, and before you say anything, I freely admit that I enjoyed it.” Oh Lord, that wicked mouth of his, the way it curved… “But that doesn’t necessarily mean I want to repeat it. And even if I did, I might not want to repeat it with you. ”
    Liar.
    “You’re such a fibber, Vicki.” In a calculated yet vaguely indolent gesture, Red pulled off his spectacles and began to polish them with a crisply laundered handkerchief he flicked out from his breast pocket.
    Vicki opened her mouth to contradict him but snapped it shut again. She couldn’t deny what she wanted, and what she wanted was…everything. Everything again, and more. With Red Webster.
    But she wasn’t going to lay that out for him. Why bother? He already knew.
    “So if not me, then who else?” He filled the pause by setting his glasses back in place, scrupulously folding his handkerchief and slipping it back into his pocket. “Surely not Martin Earnshaw from the Overseas Division? You don’t think he’s up to the job, do you?”
    Martin Earnshaw was a man she’d seen briefly a month or two ago. Nice, but too fixated on work, and sexually null and void. There’d been no chemistry at all when the crunch had come, and the only time he’d attempted a fumble had been acutely embarrassing and the catalyst of the end.
    But how did Red Webster know about him? It had all been over long before he’d pitched up with his camera, his infuriating smirk and his all-seeing eyes.
    “Have you been checking up on me? How the hell do you know I dated Martin, and what business is it of yours?”
    “Oh, I know all sorts of things. It’s completely my business.” His smile widened, and for a moment, his tongue flicked along his lower lip. Vicki half expected it to be forked. “I meet a gorgeously beautiful woman. One who’s fiery and spirited and who I can just tell sharesmy…shall we say… special interests. ” He glanced down at his hands and studied the palm of his left one. “Of course I’m going to find out as much about her as I can. Especially when she won’t tell me anything herself…” He hesitated again. “Except, of course, by accidentally letting me discover her favorite reading material.”
    There was no point arguing the part with him. Apart from the bit about her e-reader, which had been a genuine accident, what had he said that was so wrong?
    She did share his interests, and if you were interested in someone, you wanted to know more about them. When you fancied someone, it often did make you behave a bit like a stalker. Hadn’t she spent enough time on the internet, trying to trace him to no avail?
    So why the hell can’t I find anything out about you, Mr. Webster? What’s your secret?
    But had she really searched hard enough? There were ways and means, and she could have gone further. Yet she hadn’t. Maybe she was scared?
    Yes, maybe I was too scared to find out about you, because it would mean finding out more about myself?
    “Dropping my