How to Trap a Tycoon by Elizabeth Bevarly (thriller books to read txt) 📕

she was about two years old. "Ye-ess," he said, drawing the word out curiously. "I got a parking space that close. Is that a problem?"

She shook her head. She wanted to ask him if he'd found true love and profound happiness, too. She'd already seen for herself that he had a dream job and a chic apartment and fabulous clothes. He no doubt also had an adoring family and maybe even true love, as well. Then again, she didn't really want to know about it if he did have all those things. It would only reinforce her conviction that the universe was in no way balanced. Why should Lucas Conaway get all the breaks? she wondered. Especially since he obviously didn't appreciate them.

"No," she told him. "It's not a problem. Just interesting, that's all."

"In what way?"

In response, Edie only shook her head and told him to go on.

"Anyway, I was getting ready to pull away from the curb," he continued, "when I saw you leave the building. I watched you go, and—"

"Why?" she interjected, her curiosity getting the better of her.

He said nothing for a moment, then leaned forward again and fixed his gaze even more studiously on her face. And then, very softly, he told her, "Because I like the way you move."

When she noted the way he was looking at her—all hungry and agitated and intense—a strange heat circled up from her belly to coil around her heart. All she could manage in response to his revelation was "Oh," in a very small voice.

Thankfully, their server returned with his coffee then, giving Edie some small reprieve to collect her thoughts. Unfortunately, she discovered that she'd lost most of them. And she doubted she would be finding them anytime soon.

Lucas said nothing as their server set his coffee before him, only continued to study Edie's face as if it was something he honestly found worth studying. Hah. What a laugh. She knew she was in no way study-worthy, with her makeup long gone and the stain of embarrassment darkening her cheeks. She had to fight back the urge to lift a hand to her hair and brush back the straggling bits of blond that had escaped her topknot, faint tresses she could feel dancing around her face and neck. She'd tugged on a massively stretched-out, faded green Severn College sweatshirt before leaving Adam's, and she was certain the shapeless garment only enhanced her utter lack of appeal now.

Nevertheless, in spite of her certainty to the contrary, Lucas must have found her intriguing, because his gaze roved hungrily from her eyes to her hair to her cheeks to her mouth, where it lingered for some moments more. The heat that had flooded Edie's face moved lower then, to her heart, her belly, her womb, then exploded somewhere lower still, somewhere deeper, somewhere she hadn't felt heat ever before. And on the heels of that heat came a wanting, a needing, a desiring that was completely alien to her.

Never in her life had Edie desired a man. Never had she wanted one. She had certainly never needed one. And she was stunned to discover that, after all this time, after all her certainty to the contrary, her body would feel something like this and betray her so thoroughly. Especially now. Especially here. Especially with someone like Lucas Conaway.

"Anyway," he finally continued, scattering her thoughts again—for now. "I watched you go, and then, as I was getting ready to pull out, I saw some guy leave the building behind you and take off in the same direction."

"What made you think he was following me?" she asked.

Lucas smiled again, but, as usual, there was no happiness in the gesture. Such a bundle of contradictions he was, she thought, not for the first time.

"What can I say?" he muttered. "I always expect the worst from people."

"Yeah, well, I can't say that's exactly a surprise," she muttered back.

"I didn't like the thought of you being out there alone if this guy tried something," he went on, as if she hadn't spoken, "so I left my car where it was and took off after him. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, all right?" he added apologetically. But the apology seemed to come less because he had scared her and more because he was ashamed of himself for caring.

"I don't know who it was," he said further when she opened her mouth to ask him exactly that. "And when you ducked in here, he just kept on going. Probably because by then he knew he was being followed, too, by me. But he was following you, Edie. Not me. Him. I wouldn't do something like that to you. I wouldn't try to scare you."

You might not try , she thought, but you do a damned fine job of it anyway.

"I can't imagine why anybody would be following me," she said.

He chuckled low, without an ounce of humor. "You can't imagine," he repeated.

She shook her head slowly but said nothing.

"A beautiful woman alone on a deserted street in the middle of the night?" he cajoled. "And you can't imagine what it is about that scenario that would inspire a man to commit mayhem? Or worse?"

Well, of course she could imagine when he put it like that. In fact, she could do much more than imagine. She had, after all, lived the reality. She just didn't want to think about it if she didn't have to. And damn Lucas for making her recall it now.

But when she responded to his comment, all that came out was a very surprised, "You think I'm beautiful?"

The moment she said it, Edie wanted to crawl under the table and hide. Instead, she squeezed her eyes shut tight and just hoped like crazy that Lucas hadn't heard what she said.

"For chrissakes, Edie," he countered, squelching her hope. "How have you made it through life this long without someone taking complete advantage of you?"

Her eyes snapped open again at the vehemence that