Risking It All...: A High Stakes Seduction / For the Sake of the Secret Child

She blinked, wondering what had just happened. And why? “I really must...” She wasn’t even sure what she really must do. Go to bed? Take a cold shower? Throw herself out the window? Heat darted through her body, and she didn’t know how much longer her knees would hold her up without his strong arms around her.

“Take your aspirin. I’ll see you in the morning.” He hesitated, phone still vibrating in his pocket. An expression of confusion crossed his face and he shoved a hand through his wet hair. “I’ll call a local dealership about replacing your car keys first thing.”

“Thanks.” The word was barely audible, but it was a miracle she managed to force it out at all. He walked backward a couple of steps, gaze still riveted on hers, before he nodded a goodbye and strode to the door.

As it slid quietly shut behind him, she stood there, mouth open, knees still trembling. Had he really just kissed her? It didn’t seem possible. Maybe she’d imagined it. In fact, maybe she’d dreamed up this whole crazy scenario while sleeping fitfully in her lumpy bed at the Cozy Suites Motel. A fire and a kiss in one night? Impossible.

She pinched herself and it hurt. That wasn’t good. Maybe she should throw herself out the window. A desire to gulp in cool night air made her hurry to it, but it was one of those big modern ones that didn’t open.

Probably a good thing. She looked out and could see nothing but dark woods barely illuminated by a cloud-shrouded moon.

She’d grabbed him, fisting her hands into his T-shirt, and clawed at his back. Had she totally lost her mind? Her breath came in heaving gasps and blood pounded in her veins.

It had been a very long time since she’d kissed anybody. Since anyone had kissed her, or even shown the slightest interest in doing so. Her one and only boyfriend, Phil, had broken up with her right before they graduated from college. Four years together, sustained by promises of marriage and family and happily ever after, and he’d simply told her that he wasn’t ready and he was moving to Seattle without her. Her parents would die—or they’d kill her, or both—if they knew she’d given Phil her virginity outside the sanctity of marriage. They’d blame her for throwing herself away and point out that of course he wouldn’t want to marry a woman like that.

The pain and shame of it all was achingly fresh even after six years, so she tried not to think about it.

And now something like this? She could taste John’s lips on hers, his tongue winding with hers, and the memory made her heart pulse harder. She couldn’t even blame him. She couldn’t swear that he’d even started the kiss. It had just happened. And it had happened all over her body, which now hummed and throbbed with all kinds of unfamiliar and disturbing sensations.

She’d lost her clothes, her car keys and now her mind. How would she ever get to sleep now?

Three (#u7764908d-9073-5436-a2cb-fbf7e88d1ef0)

“Thanks for picking everyone up last night, Don.” John leaned back in his chair in the hotel restaurant and brushed croissant crumbs from his fingers. “I know I interrupted your hot date.”

“Anything for you, John. You know that.” His uncle sipped his coffee. “Though why you feel the need to help a bunch of total strangers, I don’t entirely know.”

John shrugged. “Nowhere else for them to go. And Constance Allen was with them.” His lips hummed slightly at the sense memory of their kiss. He hadn’t planned it, and the chemistry between them had taken him by surprise.

Don put his cup down with a bang. “What? I didn’t see her.”

“I brought her in my car.” He schooled his face into a neutral expression.

“So she’s here, right now, in the hotel?” His uncle’s eyes widened. “And you didn’t even tell me?”

John sipped his coffee. “I’m telling you right now.”

Don’s long, narrow mouth hitched into a half smile. “Did you put a move on her?”

“Me?” He raised a brow noncommittally. He didn’t want to give Don the satisfaction of knowing. And he hadn’t kissed her to please anyone but himself.

Don laughed and slapped his hand on the table. “You kill me. I bet she’ll look like a startled rabbit today. Heck, she looked like one yesterday.”

John frowned. “You need to stop making assumptions about people, Don. I’m sure she has a lot of dimensions you know nothing about. At the fire last night, for example, she kept her cool and was very helpful. Nothing like a startled rabbit.”

Don cocked his head. “If I had half the charm you do I’d never be lonely again.”

“You’re not lonely all that much now, from what I can see.”

“The money from this place doesn’t hurt.” His uncle laughed. “I was lonely a lot before. I didn’t have the knack for making bank that you were born with.”

“It’s not a knack. It’s called hard work.” He kept checking the door, waiting for Constance to show up.

“All the hard work in the world doesn’t help if you aren’t lucky.” Don took a bite of his eggs. “Luck is our bread and butter.”

“You make your own luck.” John scanned the dining room. Had he missed her coming down? He wanted to see her. “Statistics are our bread and butter. Anyone dumb enough to rely on luck will lose it all to the house sooner or later.”

“Unless they know how to game the system.”

“Impossible.” John drained his coffee. “I personally make sure it’s impossible. I’m going up to the office. Don’t forget to send out the press release about the new lineup of shows. I want press coverage.”

“I know, I know. Who booked them all?”

“You did. And Mariah Carey was amazing last night.”

Don grinned. “I love my job.”

“Me, too.” John slapped Don on the back as he headed out of the dining room. His uncle could be a pain in the ass, but underneath all the bluster he had a good heart and put a lot into making the entertainment here as much of a draw as the gaming tables.

But where was Constance? She wasn’t in his office. He’d tried calling her hotel room, but no one picked up. He didn’t want to knock on her door again. That hadn’t gone entirely as planned last time.

He strolled across the lobby.

“You seen Constance Allen?” The staff at the front desk shook their heads. He would have to go up to her room again. He took the elevator to the sixth floor, excitement rippling in his veins. Why had she let him kiss her? In retrospect, it surprised him. She’d seemed so uptight and buttoned-down, but she’d opened like a flower and kissed him back with passion.

He couldn’t wait to see what would happen this morning. Of course he probably shouldn’t be entertaining lustful thoughts about the accountant investigating their books for the BIA. On the other hand he knew she wouldn’t find anything wrong, so what did it really matter? No one would ever know but the two of them.

He knocked on the door. “It’s John.”

He heard some rustling, and cracked his knuckles while waiting. The door opened a crack and a pair of bright hazel eyes peered out at him.

“Good morning.” A smile spread across his mouth. Chemistry crackled in the air again. Which was odd, really, because by any objective standards he wouldn’t have thought they’d be a match. Maybe it was that opposites-attract thing.

And she was pretty.

“Um, hello.” The door didn’t open any farther.

“Can I come in?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He saw her purse her pretty pink lips.

“I promise I won’t try anything,” he whispered. “In fact I’m not sure what happened last night, and if an apology is in order then I offer one.” Not that he was sorry.

The door still didn’t budge. Now she was biting that sensual lower lip. Which had an unfortunate effect on his libido.

“I called the dealership about your car. They’re going to program a new key and bring it over here before noon.”

“That’s great. Thanks.”