Sleeping with the Playboy by Julianne MacLean Read Free Book Online Page B

on the sofa again. She sat at the other end.
    â€œEverybody needs time off.”
    â€œI get time off between assignments, although I’m usually doing the advance work for the next one. But you know what they say—a change is as good as a rest.”
    â€œMaybe.” Just then, the doorbell chimed. “It’s the food.” Donovan stood to answer it, but Jocelyn stopped him.
    â€œLet me.” She went to the door and used the peephole, then opened it using the chain. “How much, please?”
    The delivery man told her. “Just a minute.” She closed the door again and locked it.
    Donovan was right behind her with a couple of bills. “He can keep the change.”
    She opened the door and paid the man, then closed it and turned all the locks again.
    â€œYou are certainly thorough,” he said, carrying the large paper bag toward the kitchen.
    â€œIt’s what you pay me for.”
    She followed him into the kitchen. They pulled the white boxes out of the bag and set them on the large, marble-topped center island.
    Jocelyn pulled out the wooden chopsticks.
    â€œI have better ones here somewhere,” Donovan said, pulling open drawers until he found his good set. He fetched plates, then sat next to Jocelyn on one of the stools.
    They popped open a couple of cans of ginger ale, then served themselves and began to eat.
    â€œYou have a beautiful formal dining room, and I suppose you eat here most of the time.”
    â€œYeah, I do. Everything’s handy here, and it’s just usually me anyway.”
    â€œBut I thought you liked to cook.” She poured her fizzing ginger ale into a glass. “I’d imagined you inviting dinner companions over, to impress them with your gourmet meals and fancy cutlery.”
    He drew his eyebrows together to give her a look that told her she was doing it again.
    She covered her mouth with a hand. “God, I’m sorry.”
    He swallowed. “Apology accepted, on one condition.”
    â€œUh-oh. I don’t like the sound of that.” Her playful tone sparked an awareness of her as a woman again. Damn his libido.
    â€œDon’t worry,” he replied. “It’s nothing indecent. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy a little indecency with my very attractive bodyguard, but somehow I doubt it’s in your job description.”
    She grew serious. “Even talking about it is inappropriate, Donovan.”
    Hearing her use his given name for the first time—after urging her unsuccessfully more than once in the past twenty-four hours—sent his pulse on a bumpy road trip.
    â€œI understand that,” he said soberly. “I don’t mean to make your job difficult. I just can’t help it every once in a while. You’re a very attractive woman.”
    He saw her swallow hard. “And you’re an attractive man, but we’re both adults and more than capable of controlling our baser instincts, especiallywhen there’s danger involved. Someone might be trying to kill you, and I can’t afford to lose my focus.”
    He nodded, feeling somewhat disappointed in her unwavering proclamation of “self-control.” Feeling that way was completely ridiculous, he knew. He’d hired her to do a job and do it well, not act negligently and become his lover. He wanted her to be reliable. Didn’t he?
    Jocelyn sipped her ginger ale. “You still haven’t told me the condition involved in your accepting my apology.”
    â€œAh, yes. The condition.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Well, you’ve expressed these somewhat biased perceptions of me more than once, and I would like to know why you have them, or more importantly, why you seem to disapprove of me.”
    She inhaled deeply and moved her spring roll around on her plate with a chopstick. “I don’t disapprove of you. I barely know you.”
    â€œYou do disapprove of me, and you’re also