Together for Christmas by Lisa Plumley Read Free Book Online Page B

lie. “If it’s necessary. Usually, it’s not.”
    “Are you going to shut down production?”
    “Near as I can tell, it’s already pretty much shut down. I’m hoping to put things back on track before Christmas. Way before Christmas. Way, way before Christmas.”
    “I’m sure.” Kristen compressed her lips in a telltale gesture. Evidently, she was familiar with the problems on set. That meant he needed more information from her. But first . . .
    “Are you going to ruin my sister’s career?”
    She kept her chin high, but there was an undeniable note of vulnerability in her voice. Hearing it, Casey regarded her with real empathy. He didn’t have any brothers or sisters, but the concern in Kristen’s face was real. He wanted to reassure her.
    “If that homemade sex tape couldn’t ruin your sister’s career when it came out last year,” he said, “I doubt I have a shot at it.”
    “Really? How sensitive of you, to bring up Heather’s most public scandal to augment your case,” she said drily. “Are you always this subtle, or is today a special occasion?”
    “I don’t see the point in tiptoeing around things.”
    She nodded. Again, Casey had the impression that he and Kristen Miller were on the same wavelength—if not the same side.
    “Have you seen it?” she asked.
    Casey raised his eyebrows. “Your sister’s sex tape?”
    She nodded. “It was all over the Internet. She sued to stop the retail DVD version from being released, but it didn’t work.” Kristen gave him a direct look. “Well?”
    Reluctantly, Casey rose. “Maybe I should leave.”
    “Oh, no.” Narrow-eyed, Kristen pointed at him. “You’re staying right here, where I can keep an eye on you.”
    “I can’t.” With faux helplessness, Casey spread his arms. A Heather Miller holiday song started playing over the diner’s sound system, reminding him of his mission. “I have work to do. Set visits to conduct. Phone calls to make. I can’t do that here.”
    “You can if I rent you a booth.” With a gotcha gleam in her eyes, Kristen jutted her chin toward a corner booth near the cash register. “Two hundred dollars a day.”
    He widened his eyes. “Two hundred? No, thanks.”
    “It’s cheaper than a commercial space. If you could find one. During the holidays, most of the Realtors in town close up shop. Theirs is a summer business, really. Tourist rentals.”
    “Technically, I don’t need a commercial space. I can get everything I need on set, where I can keep an eye on Heather.”
    Kristen crossed her arms. “You can’t get access to me.”
    “I don’t need access to you.”
    “You do if you want to make any headway with my sister.”
    Thinking it over, Casey gazed at her. “I doubt it.”
    “Okay. Fine. Find out the truth the hard way, if you want to.” Wearing the most carefree expression he’d seen on her so far, Kristen handed him a menu. “I’ll be back for your order. I’ve neglected my customers too long already.”
    Then, before Casey could even formulate a new approach, Kristen swept aside his neglected pie-in-a-jar, offered him a cheerful look, and flounced away across her diner . . . leaving him experiencing several contradictory revelations all at once.
    First, he was pretty sure she thought (wrongly) that she’d outmaneuvered him, because she was wearing the same ridiculously cocksure look she’d had on while offering him her famous pie.
    Second, he didn’t think she knew how to negotiate, because she was supposed to have made a counteroffer just now. Duh.
    And third . . . well, third was the most damning of them all. Because third, Casey realized that Kristen Miller possessed a curvy derrière that had the power to make a man lose his mind altogether. Most likely, she’d adorned it in red lace, too.
    Red lace to match her bra. Red lace to make him wonder . . .
    Exactly what other surprises did Kristen Miller have in store for him, if Casey stuck around long enough to uncover them?

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