Secret Baby Santos by Bárbara McCauley Read Free Book Online Page B

leg was big news, so I covered it.”

    â€œYou wrote an article about me?” His brows shot up. “What’d you write?”
    She could have told him, word for word, every line she’d written. Every adjective, every verb, every noun. “That was almost three years ago, Nick. I’ve written hundreds of articles since then.”
    â€œGosh, thanks, Maggie,” he said dryly. “Remind me to call you whenever my ego gets a little too big.”
    She almost smiled at his childlike pout. “Based on all these trophies, the calls might get expensive.” She glanced down at a notepad-size open phone book on his desk. “It looks like you’re already busy enough making calls. Are these all women’s phone numbers?”
    Nick quickly shut the book. “Just friends.”
    Friends. She thought of his offer yesterday to be “friends,” and could only imagine how his definition of the word differed from hers. Not that it really mattered, she decided. She had no intention of following that line of thought
    He’d scooted forward, and his leg was touching her thigh now. A current of heat arced through her, then scurried through her entire body. She stepped aside casually, glanced over the other photos on his wall with the forced intensity of a student studying fine art. But it was an older picture, a snapshot in a simple black frame, that truly caught her attention.
    Three young men, all devastatingly handsome, all with dark hair and wicked smiles. Dressed in a black racing suit, Nick sat on a motorcycle, holding a shiny gold trophy in his hand while he grinned widely at the camera. Lucas knelt in front, a half smile on his lips that didn’t quite make his narrowed eyes, and Ian Shawnessy stood in back, arms folded over his broad
chest as he stared intently into the camera, his grin serious, but darkly sensual.
    Bad boys, every one of them, Maggie thought, and her heart fluttered just looking at them.
    She felt him move behind her, felt the heat of his body as he reached over her shoulder to straighten the picture she’d been staring at. “That was six months out of high school. My first win.”
    The picture was straight now, but his hand lingered on the edge of the frame. She could barely breathe with his body draped over her like it was. He wasn’t even touching her, yet she felt consumed.
    â€œWhere’s Ian these days?” she asked conversationally, amazed that her voice held steady when her insides were shaking.
    Nick shrugged, moved away and sat back down on the desk. “Ian moves around a lot. He can be difficult to track down.”
    â€œWas he at Lucas and Julianna’s wedding?” Now that she could breathe again, she sucked in a deep lungful of air.
    â€œHe was out of the country. Business or something.”
    Was he being vague? she wondered. But when she turned to look at him, her heart skipped. His gaze held hers, as dark as it was intense, the look of a predator, and she had no doubt who the prey was.
    Needing a quick distraction, and some distance from the sexual tension vibrating between them, she turned quickly aside and moved to the back corner of the office where a door was ajar. “What’s in here?”
    â€œMy bedroom.”
    â€œYour bedroom?” She turned back with a jerk, before she realized he’d moved up behind her. When she
bumped into his chest, his hands went to her shoulders to steady her.
    â€œWanna see?” he murmured.
    â€œI’ll pass.” She pushed away from him, but not as quickly as she intended, and certainly not with the cool conviction she’d resolved to portray. “A bedroom in your business. How convenient.”
    â€œAs a matter of fact, it is. I’ve been too busy to look for a house, so it was easier to just build a temporary living area. There’s even a kitchen. Sure you don’t want to see?”
    He was teasing her, she was certain of it.