With Extreme Pleasure by Alison Kent Read Free Book Online Page B

their way out the door.
    Once they were back in the Hummer, he made yet another command decision that would put off his man versus nature vacation road trip. “I figure I’ve got another hour in me, so we’ll put this place a few miles behind us before stopping.”
    “Thank you,” she said, and then he swore she fell asleep.

Eight
    S he was going to spend the night with Kingdom Trahan. The same Kingdom Trahan whose hair she’d tousled then smoothed then rumpled with her hands at the photo shoot director’s request, whose face she’d dusted with matte powder to dull the camera’s flash and the glare of the lights on the set.
    He’d said no to anything else. No kohl or color on his eyes, no lowlights or highlights in his hair. The ad people could take him as he was, or not take him at all. He was a Cajun, not a queen. Yeah, that Kingdom Trahan. The politically incorrect jerk who’d stirred something female in her that hadn’t been stirred in forever.
    And because she had yet to process what it would mean for them to share a room without a full production crew flitting around, Cady feigned sleep so he wouldn’t catch her trying to come to grips with a situation that she feared would test her in ways she was too tired to pass.
    She had no plans to become intimate with him, and doubted he had any where she was concerned, though she couldn’t deny she found him distractingly attractive, and in a more sane time and place, she might think about giving it a go.
    Right now, however, insanity was her reality—even more, she was certain, than at any time since Kevin had died. It was a scary place to be, and thinking about spending the night with Kingdom Trahan didn’t help.
    He’d rescued her in the garage at Ferrer Fragrances. He’d rescued her from her psycho roommate. He’d rescued her on the front porch of her parents’ home, and rescued her when hunger had stolen her strength.
    She didn’t like being a damsel in distress, but she liked even less the idea of being in close quarters with a knight in glossy black armor. She didn’t know if he would turn out to be like so many of his gender, expecting her to show her gratitude by taking off her pants. And she really didn’t like knowing if she had it in her not to.
    What made things so bad was that he’d witnessed the Kowalski family dynamic in action. That left her feeling vulnerable. She didn’t like feeling vulnerable. She’d worked so hard to fit comfortably into the protective façade she’d donned to attend Kevin’s funeral. Not once in the past eight years had she taken it off.
    And even though she hadn’t said much, she still couldn’t believe she’d told King what she had about Kevin. She didn’t talk about Kevin with anyone. Ever. She hadn’t since the trial. Not even after being kicked out of the Kowalski family and the bombardment of questions that followed.
    Instead of being stalked, hijacked, and ambushed into answering, she’d moved from her campus apartment into the city and vanished, juggling part-time jobs while taking an extra year and finishing her business degree online.
    She’d moved as often as she’d changed jobs. She’d kept her number unlisted until she could no longer afford a phone. She’d done anything she could think of to keep from being found by reporters who refused to let go of Kevin’s story, by old friends who really weren’t, by new enemies who really were.
    Anything except changing her name. That had stayed.
    Yes, her parents had made it clear that she was no Kowalski to them, but changing her identity would’ve been the ultimate admission of defeat, and because she was a Kowalski, she would never let things go that far.
    How far she was going to let things go with King in exchange for his help, however…
    She shifted in her seat, letting her head loll sleepily on her left shoulder. The interior of the Hummer was dark, the tinted windows making it seem even darker, so she opened her eyes just a slit and