Love's Gamble by Theodora Taylor Read Free Book Online Page A

memories from the previous night came bursting back through all the cotton wool inside her head.
    Her entering the nightclub to the loud, raucous cheers of what had to be at least a thousand of Max’s “closest friends.”
    The flash of paparazzi taking pictures as she made her way over to Max, who was standing on top of the stage normally reserved for DJs and wearing a skinny white tuxedo. Him pulling her up to join him with a devilish grin.
    Max handing her a shot glass with some kind of blue liquid inside as he whispered in her ear, “This is how Max Benton would get married, so play along, Prudence.”
    Her taking the shot, actually grateful for it, because she knew she would need to be severely altered to go through with this.
    The images flashed by quicker after that. Her and Max signing the official prenup in front of the cheering crowd. Her and Max taking a shot for every vow exchanged.
    There had been dancing after that. A lot of it, with Max in the middle of the throbbing throng. She remembered laughing with him, and feeling free. Freer than she had in a very long time.
    But what had happened after that? She sat up and frantically looked around, trying to figure out how she’d gone from dancing with Max Benton to waking up in one of the bridal suites.
    “I see you’re finally awake.”
    She turned to see Max walking into the room, looking fresh as a daisy, his freshly washed black hair in a stubby knot on top of his head. Wearing nothing but a towel...and a titanium wedding ring on his left hand.
    Despite the circumstances, Pru couldn’t help but stare. Max Benton, as it turned out, didn’t spend all his time in the club. He must have also been clocking some serious hours at the gym, too, because he was cut from head to toe with lean muscles. The sight of his nearly naked body was so impressive that Pru couldn’t take her eyes off it for a long entranced second before it occurred to her why he was staring back with an equally impressed look on his face.
    Then she remembered she was sitting there still naked as the day she’d been born.
    With a gasp, she grabbed the white duvet, bringing it up to cover her chest before demanding, “What happened last night? Tell me.
Now
.”

Chapter 7
    P rudence had warned Max she’d no longer be there when they woke up.
    “Wanna do me?” she’d asked him when she’d crawled onto the bed in her showgirl costume. “I’m only here for one night.”
    Max, who had a rule about sleeping with a completely wasted woman, had answered, “I don’t think so, sweetheart.”
    Then he’d come over to the bed, undid her feather bustle and started the surprisingly complicated process of getting her showgirl costume unzipped, unhooked and off her body. The idea had been to get her out of the costume and tucked into bed, but Pru didn’t make it easy for him. She was little to no help, forcing him to turn her body every which way in order to get her undressed.
    And then there’d been the big reveal of her fully naked body. As it turned out, Pru had a body built for loving: soft wide hips, a heart-shaped backside and a set of breasts so glorious, they made his mouth water at the thought of tasting their black-cherry centers.
    “You sure you don’t want to keep the party going?” she’d asked, arching her back and extending her long legs in a classic pinup-girl pose.
    Max had gritted his teeth before reaching for the duvet and yanking it, so that she came tumbling out of her sexy pose.
    By the time she recovered, he was holding up the duvet, letting her know that he was ready for her to stop tempting him and lie down. He
needed
to cover the sight of her nearly irresistible body with the blanket.
    Pru obediently lay down, but she continued to argue with him. “C’mon, Max, don’t be like that. I had so much fun tonight.” She pouted. “Just do me, okay? One time. That’s all I’m asking.”
    It was a hard argument to resist. Especially with Pru running her hands over her