Stripped by Abby Niles Read Free Book Online Page B

never having to struggle.
    She was right. He hadn’t. He’d been born into wealth. That wasn’t his fault.
    And it didn’t make him a bad person. He wouldn’t have his character called into question just because she hadn’t heard him say a goddamn thank you and because he liked expensive things.
    Fuck that.
    He stormed to the door, snatched it open, and almost stumbled right over a little boy wearing a Superman cape and swim trunks.
    The blonde-haired child, who couldn’t be older than four, pointed at him with huge, frightened blue-gray eyes and yelled, “Shit!”
    “Noah Walker!” A familiar feminine voice sounded from inside the apartment across the hall. “What have I told you? That’s an adult word!”
    “Momma!” the little boy screamed, before he turned tail and raced back into the apartment, slamming the door shut behind him. The lock bolted into place a second later.
    Jaxon stared at the space the child had been a moment before, stunned. For a few reasons. There was no doubt in his mind that the voice he’d heard coming from inside that apartment had belonged to his secretary. She’d left out the fact that she lived in this complex, much less, that she lived right across the hall. Probably because she didn’t believe he’d actually go through with it.
    But the most surprising thing of all was that Madison Walker was a mother. That he hadn’t seen coming. Not by a mile. What kind of a budget do you really have, Miss Walker? Putting enough aside for your bar tab? Cover charges? Concerts? Girl weekends? Whatever wild oats you’re sowing right now?”
    Had he really said that to her? What had she been sitting there thinking? What a fucking fool he was? He’d accused her of judging him. But, damn, if he wasn’t eating some serious crow right at this moment.
    He’d thought of Madison as nothing more than a party girl. It never, not once, occurred to him, that she had a family she was trying to take care of.
    Was she married? She didn’t wear a ring, but that didn’t mean anything.
    Hell, maybe she wasn’t married, but she could be in a relationship. He didn’t like the thought of her with some other guy. Just like he hadn’t liked those men looking at her at the club the other night. Why did she trigger that part of him? He didn’t feel that way with anyone else.
    When the door popped open again, he shook himself out of his thoughts. The first thing he noticed was the straight blonde hair hanging sideways as she’d pivoted her head through door to peep out. It was always up at the office. He’d seen it down one time though. Been mesmerized by it. It was still mesmerizing now. Even minus the leather ensemble.
    “Oh, Noah, the boogeyman isn’t breaking into Racheal’s apartment,” she said, her blue-gray eyes—the exact same shade as the little boy’s—filled with amusement.
    A little head popped out a few feet underneath hers. “Who is he then?”
    “That’s Mr. Sutherland. He’ll be staying there while Racheal is away on vacation.”
    That seemed to be enough for the child. He hopped out into the hall. “We leaving now?”
    Miss Walker nodded, opened the door wider, and stepped out into the hall.
    Holy mother of God. Jaxon swallowed. Yes, he’d seen this woman in an outfit that would fulfill any man’s sexual fantasy, but he hadn’t known that was her at the time. Right now, he was painfully aware it was her. His eyes pinged from one area to the next, on complete and total overload as they took in Madison.
    Long, toned, tanned legs. Hot pink toenails. A gold ring on the second toe on her left foot. Faded blue jean shorts. Black and white polka-dot tube top. Exposed shoulders, neck and arms. So much skin.
    This was Madison. Not Miss Walker. Not the sex-goddess from the club. But Madison.
    And she was breathtaking.
    “Faith, come on.”
    Faith? He jerked his gaze from his secretary to the door.
    A little girl with darker blonde hair around the age of six or seven walked into the