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

the central hall and saw him leaning his forearm against the mantel of the hearth as he scowled at the cold grate. At the sound of her approach, he looked up and the scowl vanished. A smile slowly took its place as he straightened, and the sight of him standing there, so virile, took her breath away. He’d dressed in a charcoal-gray Italian suit with a dark shirt and tie. The look was saved from being stuffy by a pair of eelskin cowboy boots. His whiskey-colored eyes took in her simple black dress and high-heeled sandals, and he lifted a brow in approval.

“You look... incredible,” he said, coming toward her.

“Thank you.” Dropping her gaze to the floor, she tucked a curl behind her ear. She tried to think of something pithy to say, but the butterflies in her stomach made thinking impossible.

“I’ll take that.” He reached for the overnight bag. “You ready?”

She squared her shoulders and met his gaze directly. “Yes.”

“So ...” Alli cleared her throat but couldn’t bring herself to look at anything but the menu before her. “How do we ... I mean ... I need to know ... how does this work?”

Scott leaned toward her as if planning a conspiracy. “You tell the waiter what you want, and he brings it to you.”

She looked up, into his smiling eyes, and a strained laugh escaped her. “No. Not ordering dinner. Having an affair. I’ve, um ... never had one.”

“Allison.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “I sort of guessed that already.”

Was he laughing at her, or trying to get her to laugh with him? She turned back to the menu, struggling to make sense of the whole evening. Scott had played the part of the perfect gentleman since the moment he’d picked her up, opening doors, carrying her bag.

Her stomach fluttered as she remembered the few brief minutes in the posh room upstairs. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected—maybe for him to grab her the minute they were alone—but nothing could have prepared her for what she’d found. He’d bought flowers. Two dozen fragrant white freesias. They were there on the coffee table in the sitting area of their room. The sight of them had shocked her far more than the box of condoms she’d seen sitting on the nightstand, or the fact that either he or the maid had already turned down the bed.

When he’d seen her staring at the flowers, he’d pulled one stalk from the vase and handed it to her before he presented his arm to escort her downstairs.

She looked at the flower now, lying on the linen tablecloth next to her plate. He’d said he wanted sex and nothing else, but then he’d bought a vase of flowers. And asked the maitre d‘ for a table in a quiet corner. She’d assumed he’d picked the hotel restaurant for convenience, but now she wasn’t so sure. She dared a quick peek over the menu at the candles on the tables. Real silver and crystal stemware gleamed in the low lighting. Romance drifted on the air to the soft cadence of chamber music and the friendly murmur of other diners.

Why would he give her flowers and take her to a romantic restaurant if this evening was only about sex?

Her heart began to pound as she returned her gaze to the menu. “I need to know how this works. Are there rules? You said no emotions would get involved, but...” She looked up at him, searching for a way to put all her fears into words. “You’ve been treating this like a date. Like a real date.”

“It is a real date.” The look he gave her made her feel stupid. “Just because we’re not going to fool ourselves into thinking love is involved doesn’t mean we won’t enjoy each other’s company.” He took her hand and squeezed her cold fingers before he kissed her knuckles. The heat of his lips rippled through her. “I definitely plan to enjoy you. On several levels.”

“Oh.” She gazed at his mouth as images danced through her mind, of him kissing her neck, her shoulders, her breasts. With a jolt, she pulled her hand free and went back to staring at the menu.

He sighed, as if disappointed or impatient with her naiveté. “You know, there’s no rule that says lovers can’t also be friends.”

“But... how does it work?” she asked a bit desperately. “How do we enjoy each other’s company, get to know each other, become friends, but stop the emotions from going any further?”

“One way is to keep the association brief.”

“How brief?”

He folded his menu and set it aside. “A weekend here and there. Which is one of the reasons long-distance affairs work well if you don’t want anything serious. You get together for a night or two when you’re both in the same town, then go back to your separate lives. What you each do between weekends is none of the other person’s business. Sort of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.”

“I thought that applied to gays in the military.”

“It applies to a lot of things in life. Especially casual affairs. You only reveal so much of yourself and never press your lover to bare their soul. Keep things on the surface, and no one gets close enough to hurt you.”

“And you keep it brief.”

“Exactly.”

She thought about that. “Perhaps we should specify a time limit up front. If you’re staying for the full month, will we continue to ...” The words stuck in her throat.

“Sleep together that whole time?” He raised a brow, and she nodded. “That could get a bit awkward with your brother around. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when I picked you up earlier, I got the distinct impression he wanted to chop me off at the knees.”

Allison cringed inwardly at her memory of her fight with Adrian. “He and Rory are worried I’ll get hurt. I told them not to, that I’m in absolutely no danger of falling in love with