Midnight Encounters by Elle Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page B

but be impressed as he watched Maggie eat.
    It had been a while since he’d met a woman who dined in anything less than a five-star restaurant, and if he’d even dared to suggest to a date they indulge in some street meat he’d probably get slapped. But Maggie, she looked completely comfortable as she chewed on her hot dog and wiped ketchup from the corner of her delectable mouth.
    She didn’t seem to notice the people hurrying by or the sound of cars whizzing down Broadway, and when a cop car sped past, sirens blazing, she didn’t even blink. She acted like having dinner in the middle of a busy street was no big deal.
    “Is there a reason why you’re staring at me like that?” she asked, jarring him from his thoughts.
    He shrugged. “I like the way you eat.”
    One reddish-brown eyebrow lifted. “Is that some weird pick-up line?” A laugh slipped from his throat. Damn, he liked her. “No, just an honest-to-God compliment. It’s been a while since I’ve met a woman who eats something other than salad.” Maggie made a face as she swallowed back the last bite of her hot dog. “If my meals consisted of salad, I’d die of malnutrition.” She wiped her mouth demurely with a napkin and then tossed it in a nearby trashcan. “Now, listen up, Mr. Movie Star.”
    He couldn’t help but grin. “I’m all ears.”
    “What do you want from me?” Her hands dropped to her hips again, and he noticed her fingernails were short and unpolished. “I already apologized for last night and you passed on my offer for a free drink, so why are you here?”
    Before he could answer, she narrowed those emerald eyes. “You’re not going to sue me, are you?” Taken aback, he said, “What?”
    “Sue me. For sexual harassment or something.”
    “Of course I’m not going to sue you.”
    “You better not.” She scowled at him. “It would never hold up in court, anyway.” He stared at her, bewildered. Who was this woman? One minute she was angry with him, the next she was accusing him of launching a lawsuit. It was exasperating, but in a cute way, and as he stood there looking at her, he finally figured out what it was that drew him to her.
    It wasn’t the fact that she was oblivious to his career, or the way her curvy body had felt pressed against his. It wasn’t the appealing blushing, or the killer legs, or how great her ass looked in that short skirt.
    He liked her because she treated him like a…human being.
    She knew who he was now, and she still didn’t care. She wasn’t trying to impress him, wasn’t holding her tongue because he was a big, bad movie star. Aside from his mother, this redheaded waitress was the first female who wasn’t scared to tell him exactly what she was thinking.
    “Okay, then what do you want?” she repeated, her lips pursed in what looked like annoyance. “And don’t say a date, because I really don’t have time for that.” He laughed again and decided this was the best conversation he’d ever had with a woman.
    “What do I want,” he repeated thoughtfully. He pulled one hand out of his pocket and with it came those pink panties. With a chivalrous bow, he handed her the silky wad. “First, to return these. I don’t want your pretty little butt getting cold.”
    A whisper of a smile crossed her luscious mouth as she tucked the underwear into her purse. “My butt is just fine, Mr. Barrett. I do own more than one pair of panties. And second?”
    “Second?”
    “You said the underwear was first. What’s second?”
    He poked his tongue in his cheek and eyed her, experiencing one of those rare times when words escaped him. What did he want? Well, he knew what he needed , and that was to figure out where to spend the night without ending up on the news again.
    What he wanted , though, was nothing more than to pull this quirky redhead into his arms and kiss the hell out of her. And then maybe go back to her place and fuck the hell out of her.
    Then again…who said that his needs and