LEAD ME ON by Julie Ortolon (find a book to read TXT) 📕

Setting her jaw, Alli glanced up from the black cocktail dress she’d laid out on the bed to find her sister standing in the doorway looking like an outraged Viking warrioress. She’d already had one fight with her big brother; she didn’t need another one with her baby sister.

Rory came forward, her hands accenting her words. “I find you kissing one of our guests in the gift shop this morning, and once I recovered from my shock, I thought, ‘Good for you! About time you got involved with a man.’ And woo-wee, what a man! I mean, Scott Lawrence. Wow! He’s rich, he’s famous, you love his books, and he’s gorgeous, if you like the brooding type. So the whole time Chance and I are running errands in town, I’m so happy for you, I’m about to bust into song.

“Then we get back, and Adrian’s in an uproar, banging pots about the kitchen. I ask him what’s wrong, and he tells me—Well, never mind what he told me. He clearly misunderstood something you said, right?”

“He didn’t misunderstand.”

“But... he said you asked for tomorrow morning off, because you’re going out with Scott and don’t plan to be back in time for breakfast, which again, good for you. It’s fast but sometimes it happens that way. Except Adrian has some notion that Scott’s just using you for sex, and you’re going to let him. He’s wrong though, isn’t he?” Anxiety lined Rory’s face. “I mean, he’s just being over-protective like he always is, right?”

“Scott isn’t using me.”

“See, I knew it.” Rory sat on the bed.

“I’m using him.”

“What?” Rory shot back up.

“Well, actually it’s a mutual use, I guess.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.” She sighed. “Look, Scott and I are attracted to each other, but neither one of us is interested in a relationship.”

“So you’re going to check into a hotel and have sex?” Rory’s voice rose an octave.

“Something like that.”

“Are you insane?” Rory stared at her. “You can’t just check into a hotel with a man to have sex.”

“Why not?” Dressed in her pink floral bathrobe, Alli took a seat at her vanity and glanced over her scant supply of makeup. “Other women do.”

“You’re not ‘other women.’ You’re—”

“Too prudish and nunlike?” She applied blusher to her cheeks in angry strokes. “Well, I’m sick of living that way, of having men treat me like an old maid. I’ve finally found a man who finds me enticing. If I want to have an adult relationship with him, that’s my business.”

“Allison, listen to me.” Rory came up behind her, pleading with her reflection in the mirror. “Don’t do this. You’re going to get hurt.”

“No I won’t, and that’s the point. I’m going into this with my eyes open. Not romanticizing it, like I did... before.”

“With Peter, you mean?” Rory said, speaking the forbidden name. “Is that what this is all about? Alli, that was years ago.”

Allison went cold inside. “Exactly, and it’s time I got over it.”

“What, by sleeping with a man you don’t care anything about?”

“Yes.” She closed the makeup case with a snap. “Peter hurt me, because he lied to get me to sleep with him. Scott’s honest enough to be up front about what he wants, and we both agreed this is just physical.”

“You actually discussed it?” Rory nearly squeaked.

“Yes, we did,” she responded with calm resolve.

“Alli, you have to listen to me.”

Allison met her sister’s gaze in the mirror. “You mean the way you listened to me when I told you not to get involved with Chance because he’d break your heart?”

“That was totally different,” Rory insisted. “I was in love with Chance. And in the end, we proved you wrong. He didn’t break my heart.”

Not yet, anyway, Allison thought, suppressing the fear that tried to clutch at her heart. How did any of them know Chance wouldn’t die of a heart attack or develop cancer? Or die in a car crash like their parents had. “Maybe this time you’re wrong,” Alli said. “Even if you’re not, it’s none of your business. And it’s none of Adrian’s business.” Rising, she went back to the bed and started packing the casual clothes she’d picked out for tomorrow. “I’m doing this, Rory, and I would appreciate you and Adrian butting out.”

The shock that registered on Rory’s face stirred her instincts to soothe and coddle, but she ruthlessly resisted.

Adrian appeared in the doorway with a dark scowl. “Your ‘date’ is here.”

Her breath snagged in her throat. Could she really do this, or was she as crazy as Rory said? “Tell him I’ll be right up.” Her hands shook as she picked up the cocktail dress she’d laid on the bed. When Adrian was gone, she turned back to her sister. “I realize you don’t understand this, but I’m sick of feeling damaged inside. I know I’ll never heal completely from what happened with Peter, I’ll never be able to fall in love like most people, nor do I want to. But at least I can have this. Please try not to hate me for it.”

“Oh, Alli, I could never hate you.” Rory hugged her awkwardly over the mound of her stomach. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Alli closed her eyes as fear whispered through her mind the way it did more often with each passing day. Rory was so happy with her marriage and the baby on the way it scared her. What if something happened to destroy that happiness? Or worse, far worse, what if Fate stole Rory from them? What would they do without Aurora, the Sunshine Girl, who brought light and laughter into the lives of everyone she touched?

Damn life for being so cruel. And damn love for allowing it to hurt.

Squeezing the fear away, Alli pulled back and offered a reassuring smile. “I won’t get hurt, because I could never fall in love with someone as arrogant as Scott Lawrence. Admire his talent, yes. Love him romantically? No.”

Ten minutes later, though, she wasn’t so sure. She entered