The Dangerous Seduction by A N Bond Read Free Book Online Page B

hand.”
    She nods. Her eyes are glazed, her cheeks pink, and Ryan realizes that she’s actually pretty drunk. She’s listing into Joseph a little, her other hand resting on his arm, more to steady herself than as any real attempt at groping him. “So, did you, like, come over to talk to me, or him?” she says after a moment, gesturing vaguely at Joseph.
    “He came with me, sweetheart,” Joseph says, leaning into her from behind, his lips almost brushing her ear.
    “Oh, oh, oh, ” she says, jerking away from them both, her legs unsteady in her high heels. Ryan puts out a hand to help steady her, and she leans into it gratefully, looking between them both with a look of dismay on her face. “I didn’t. I mean, I didn’t realize that you were”—she gives Joseph a reproachful look—“ gay .”
    Joseph raises his eyes to Ryan’s; the smirk has dropped away and that hot dark look is back, the one that made Ryan spill his brandy down his chin. He licks his lips, keeps looking at Ryan. “It has been known,” he says.
    Ryan feels the breath catch at the back of his throat. He can’t fool himself over what this is. Joseph is admitting something out loud; Joseph is deliberately letting Ryan know that he’s into guys.
    “Though, I have also been known to prefer my partners more girl-shaped,” Joseph adds, and he’s looking away from Ryan once more, teasing smirk back on his face as he places his hand on the back of the girl’s neck and draws her in. She goes willingly, smiling goofily and letting him cup the back of her head, his fingers in her long, glossy hair, pulling her down into a kiss.
    Ryan looks away again. He can feel his heart thumping in his chest, his stupid fingers tingling. He feels unsteady, dizzy, and drunk. It occurs to him all of a sudden just how strange and unprofessional this entire evening has turned out to be. He’s actually watching his boss—Joseph Van Aardt, no less—making out with some girl he just picked up at a private charity event. And that’s before he tries to process all the revelations about Joseph’s sexual preferences and the blatant innuendos Joseph has been throwing him…. Unless he’s been imagining all that stuff, of course? Maybe what’s actually happening is that his overactive imagination sees something that isn’t there, but something that he secretly wants to be there. He’s not even sure anymore.
    He clears his throat, attempting to get their attention. He doesn’t want to be too obvious, but damn it, he really, really wants to go home.
    “I should go,” he says. “My fiancée will be worrying where I am.”
    Joseph pulls away from her slowly, turning his head and giving him an inscrutable sort of look. “Your fiancée? Of course. I forgot about that. Tell Dave to drive you home, Ryan. He’ll be out front.”
    Ryan hesitates, unsure whether or not Joseph is being serious about lending him his private chauffeur. He really hopes he is; it’ll definitely save a lot on the cab fare.
    “Well, go on, then,” Joseph says. “Don’t want to keep your girl waiting.”
    “Right, yeah. Okay, yeah. Well—thanks, thanks for the evening, and everything,” he says. Joseph is already turning his attention away from him, back to the girl who has her face buried in the crook of his neck. “Bye, then,” he says lamely.
    “Oh, hey, wait!”
    He spins around. Joseph pushes the kitschy award along the bar toward him. “Take that with you. Just give it to Estelle.”
    “Oh, yeah, sure,” he says. He picks up the award. It’s surprisingly heavy for something that looks so plastic. He jams it under his arm and strides out of the room as quickly as he can.
     
     
    “W HAT ’ S THIS ?” Daisy asks the next day.
    She’s up before him, eating cereal at the kitchen table in her pajamas. The award is sitting on the table, not looking less plastic or kitschy in the cold light of day. Ryan pauses on his way to the shower and turns to look at her.
    “You win