Secrets and Lies (Crimson Romance) by Shay Lacy Read Free Book Online Page A

don’t usually meet my clients here,” she babbled.
    “Where do you meet them?”
    “Mostly at the police station. Sometimes in my father’s office.”
    “Thank God he’s not here,” Charlie said with fervor.
    “It’s too late for him to stop us this time.” Juliana felt like clapping a hand over her mouth. She hadn’t planned to discuss what they’d done last night.
    “Far too late,” Charlie agreed, his voice husky. His blue eyes were like a swimming pool; she wanted to sink into them. Oh, wait, she wanted him to sink into
her
.
    “Any regrets?” he asked.
    “Oh, no. That was long overdue.” Had she said that aloud?
    “I agree. You won’t have any trouble working with me, will you?”
    “No, not at all.” Not if you discounted carnal fantasies, shortness of breath, and a heartbeat gone haywire. Oh, and throbbing, aching breasts, a tightening deep in her abdomen, and the compulsive desire to strip Charlie naked and have her wanton way with him.
    “I really need this,” he said.
    “What?” Had he read her mind? She stopped beside the couch.
    “Finding the sculpture could open all kinds of doors for me in Hollywood.”
    Oh, that need. “Why don’t we get comfortable?” She did
not
mean anything by that statement.
    Charlie’s pupils expanded. “Whatever you want.”
    Juliana’s mouth dried. Her body’s moisture rushed south. What she wanted . . . wasn’t realistic. She’d let Charlie test-drive her. It’s what he’d wanted, what they’d both wanted. He wasn’t here for another spin, despite his husky voice and darkened eyes.
    But if he touched her, she’d be lost. She’d let him do whatever he wanted with her, as many times as he wanted. She knew she’d deny him nothing. She was his for the taking.
    The moment elongated as she waited for Charlie’s move, not daring to breathe.
    But when he made it, it was to sit on the couch and pull out a photo. Juliana released her breath and sat beside him. She was
not
disappointed. Maybe if she told herself that enough times she’d believe it.
    Charlie handed her the photo and immediately she felt a tingling sensation. Her hand had brushed his, so she wasn’t sure if it was him or the photo. She scooted further away from him on the cushion and stared at the sculpture.
    It looked old, like a stone carving, and was flat, which surprised her. When Charlie had said a sculpture she’d envisioned something three dimensional, but this was two. There were two garish seated figures wearing monstrous elaborate masks and headdresses and little else. It was primitive.
    “What is this?” she asked.
    “It’s a sculpture of the Mayan gods Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the Maya Hero Twins.”
    “It looks old.”
    “I don’t know if it is or not. My client’s girlfriend obtained it in South America when she was filming a movie.”
    “Tomb raiding?”
    “I don’t know. She’s an actress. Lots of opportunities get offered to actors on movie sets. Maybe someone sold it to her. Or maybe she bought it in a village. It could be a clever reproduction. She told my client it was a fertility god.” His smile blazed.
    Juliana was distracted by that smile and her curiosity about Charlie’s life in California. “Were you offered opportunities on sets?”
    He sobered. “Yeah. Drugs, sex, other things. I wasn’t a big star, so I didn’t get huge enticements, but they were enough to get anybody into trouble.”
    “Did you get into trouble?”
    His sexy smile was wickedly sinful. “Yeah, but not that kind. My family kept me out of most of it. Billy and my parents mostly. And work.”
    “I thought I’d seen all the movies you were in. I must have missed a lot of them if you were that busy.”
    Charlie shook his head, his blue eyes sad. “Not acting. Jobs that paid the rent like busboy, waiter, studio model, canvasser, things like that.”
    “But you wanted to be an actor your whole life.”
    “So do thousands of other people who flock to California every year.