Wild Fling or a Wedding Ring? by Mira Lyn Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

together. It was fun . We’ve agreed sex is a mistake, but we’re both adults. Let’s just relax about it.”
    She shifted in her seat, angling toward him. Her gaze touched on his mouth for a moment, and he knew she was remembering the way they’d kissed, but then she met his eyes and her oh-so-serious expression softened into something closer to what it had been the night before.
    “You’re right. Last night was so easy, and this morning….” She shook her head, as if wishing she could forget it. “So, friends?”
    “Yeah, why not? Friends.” Friends who didn’t have sex , he thought, moving his hand back to the wheel. Even if they did have an arsenal of mind-blowing, explosive kisses behind them. The devil in him flashed her a wink. “Friends with a past.”
    She arched a brow at him. “A past?”
    “Yeah, something to laugh about so it doesn’t become some uncomfortable, unspeakable, taboo subject everyone dances around and gets all embarrassed about.”
    “Oh, that kind of friends with a past,” she answered, her smile spreading. “Sure. Now I get it.”
    “All we need to do is make some kind of joke about it, and we’ll be back on track.”
    She was quiet for a moment, though the silence wasn’t strained or uncomfortable this time. Then she ran her fingers over the black leather interior of the Mercedes. “So, you pick up all your dates in the back halls of bars?”
    Jake barked out a laugh and settled deeper into his seat. “This coming from you? Phone booth?”
    “Oh, please.” She flicked her hand dismissively as her lips stretched into that smile he couldn’t stop working for. “I was dragged there.”
    “Carried. I’m too smooth to drag anyone anywhere. It was romantic.”
    “Not.” Cali snickered. “It was dirty. The good kind. Fun. But definitely dirty.”
    Definitely fun. “Does that mean I get a page in your dirty little secrets book?”
    “More like a footnote as a once-in-a-lifetime exception to the rule.”
    Jake grinned. This was the woman from last night. Fun. Cool.
    Friends worked for him. No strings. No mess. No complications. His head was in the right place about it. Now his body just had to get with the program.
     
    Ten minutes later, the elevator doors opened to the seventeenth floor of the Lincoln Park building Cali would be calling home for the next two months. She followed a step behind as they walked to the door marked “17D”. Jake dug into the pocket of his jeans, retrieved a set of keys on a small ring, and flipped them out into his wide palm. “You’ve got three keys. Your apartment door, your mailbox, and this large one is for the gym down on thirteen. It’s open twenty-four hours, so if you get the urge to work off some tension after a long day of espionage it’s available. Parking is on three, and your apartment has a space assigned in case you have a visitor.” He raised an eyebrow. “You know anyone in town here?”
    It was a simple question, but suddenly Cali felt the possessive undercurrent beneath it and tensed. “No. This move is all about work. Just as well I don’t know anyone.”
    “Aside from me that is.”
    “Sure.” She smiled feebly, knowing that, friends or not, she didn’t really have time for him either. “Aside from you.”
    Jake unlocked the door and then swung it open, standing aside for Cali to enter. “Amanda says this project she’s got you on is a pretty big deal. She’s got a lot of respect for your skills.”
    Cali beamed. “Thanks, I’m really excited.” Then, taking several steps inside, she gasped. “This is incredible.” The apartment was spacious, with high ceilings and a glorious bank of windows overlooking the lakefront below. She craned to see down the long hall to the right, before spinning back to check out the kitchen and the fireplace. “My sublets are usually half this size and facing a brick wall.”
    Jake folded his arms across his chest, his stance wide. “I don’t think all the Chicago