Sexy/Dangerous by Beverly Jenkins Read Free Book Online

into that gorgeous behind. He shook himself. He’d been celibate by choice for the past two years because of the demands placed upon him by his research. Women were a distraction he couldn’t afford while bringing the Black Satin Project to life. Even now, with the prototype in the final stages, concentration was vital and discipline essential, but as the vision of her bending over to pick up the towel replayed itself yet again, the image set off a stirring in his groin that was achingly familiar.
     
    Upstairs, Max put on her clothes, then used a towel to mop up the water in the bathroom. Luckily, she’d found the valve before the tub overflowed and disaster struck, but the walls and the floors were still soaked. The memory of losing her towel came back to embarrass her, and she wondered what Gary had thought of the accidental striptease. She’d tried to play it off by acting as if it weren’t a big deal, and he seemed to do the same, to a point. Had he been smiling or not? It hadn’t been one ofher best moments and she’d been embarrassed, but she hoped he didn’t think she’d dropped it on purpose. She knew that there were women who did dumb things like that to catch a man’s eye, but she wasn’t one of them. Gary was cute, and had that pirate look about him, but he wasn’t really her type. Making love with him would probably be like being immersed in ice water. She preferred her loving at a much higher temperature.
    When Max and the dogs came downstairs, they found Kaitlin at the front door arguing with six or seven men dressed in work clothes and holding tackle boxes in their hands. Apparently, Ms. Chihuahua was playing guard dog again and trying to make them leave, but the men arguing and shaking work orders in her face weren’t buying it.
    Max stuck two fingers in her mouth and let fly a piercing whistle that quieted everyone in mid-shout. In the silence, she and the dogs walked forward. “Gentlemen, I’m sorry for the confusion. I’m the housekeeper. I didn’t tell Kaitlin that you were coming. My bad.”
    The men were staring at her as if she had just stepped out of a UFO. Max didn’t know if it was her height, her color, her skinny blue halter top, jeans, or matching blue boots, but since she was accustomed to folks staring at her, especially men, she let them look while she said, “Is there a plumber here?”
    A Black guy raised his hand.
    Max smiled. “Okay, I’ll see you first. The rest of you give Kaitlin your names, make yourselves comfortable, and I’ll be back to put you to work.”
    Kaitlin was staring, too, but as if Max had lost her mind.
    Max gave her a wink then walked off with the brother plumber and his two-man crew.
    For the rest of the morning, the plumbers worked on the pipes and bathrooms. Painters stripped wallpaper and brought in dry wall. Brick masons were turned loose on the crumbling archway adjacent to the house, and electricians roamed the place in search of frayed wiring. Even though all the contractors had passed NIA’s security checks, she kept an eye on them nonetheless. By noon the house was a hive of noisy activity and Max was the queen bee.
    To Max’s surprise, Kaitlin was a good second in command. Armed with a clipboard and a no-nonsense attitude, she made sure the workmen stayed on task and turned a withering eye on anybody trying to hit on her. Her dislike of Max was still intact. She spoke to Max as little as possible. But she took care of business, and that’s all Max cared about.
    In the basement, Adam threw up his hands. How in the world was he supposed to concentrate with all the racket going on upstairs? Hammering, drills, men yelling back and forth. This is not going to work. He’d agreed to have a few things done to the house, not erect the Sears Tower.
    Planning on giving somebody a piece of his mind, he left the lab and went to find the woman in charge.
    The upstairs looked like a construction site. He’d never seen such chaos. Noise, men