04 - Born to be Wilde.txt Read Online Free PDF

This is the best café mocha I've had in a long time."
     
    He watched her lick a dollop of whipped cream off her upper lip, and felt his entire body tighten with the urge to taste her for himself. Clearing his throat, he shifted in his seat and focused on business, with the pretense of getting to know her—which would hopefully lead to yet another date between them. Time was of the essence since he had no idea when Mendoza's men planned to show up and follow through on their threats against Lora, and getting as close to her as possible, and quickly, was his top priority.
     
    "So tell me something. You mentioned having to work in the morning. I know the bar isn't open during the day, so I'm guessing you have a second job?"
     
    "My day job, which is my main source of employment, is at the St. Claire Hotel." She wrapped both her hands around her cup, as if to absorb the warmth of the drink. "I'm a masseuse at the spa."
     
    He stretched back in his seat and let a lazy smile tip up the corners of his mouth. "Which means you must be very good with your hands," he teased, then took a drink of his cappuccino, which was strong and rich, just how he liked it.
     
    She rolled her eyes at the double entendre encompassing his comment. "Oh, please."
     
    He chuckled. "Okay, I'll admit, that was cheesy."
     
    "Definitely cheesy," she agreed wholeheartedly, though she was smiling in amusement. "It's a pickup line I hear much too often from the businessmen that stay at the hotel and are interested in after-hour, off-the-clock company, if you know what I mean."
     
    He dropped his gaze to the slender fingers holding her cup of coffee. "Well, your hands do look incredibly soft and smooth." Reaching across the table, he gently grasped one of her hands and caressed his thumb along her silky palm. "They feel that way, too. Not at all like a cocktail waitress who has her hands in water all the time and spends her evenings cleaning up after customers."
     
    Heat and awareness kindled in her gaze as he continued to stroke his fingers along her hand and fingers, but she didn't pull away. "It's the lotions and oils I use all day long. I suppose that outweighs the manual labor of working at The Electric Blue at night."
     
    "Your work schedule is awfully busy." Reluctantly, he let her hand go, but he couldn't help but wonder if her skin felt as velvety soft everywhere else. Like her breasts. Her stomach. The inside of her thighs. "What do you do in your free time?"
     
    "Sleep." She laughed, the sound light and carefree. "Seriously, I really don't mind all the work. It keeps me out of trouble and helps out my girlfriend Sydney when she's shorthanded at the bar."
     
    Joel knew she spoke the truth. Not only had Zach told him about her heavy workload, Joel had done some investigating on his own and it appeared that Lora hadn't had much of a social life since she'd broken things off with her fiancé two years earlier. Basically, all work and no play had become her motto.
     
    "Enough about me." She tucked her hair behind her ear and studied him curiously. "What do you do for a living?"
     
    "I'm a partner in a security firm here in Chicago, along with Jon, whom you met back at the bar, and a few other friends. The company is Elite Security Specialists." He gave up the information easily, since he wasn't keeping his background or his personal life a secret. No, the only secret he was protecting was Zach's.
     
    He went on. "We deal with intelligence issues, investigations, setting up surveillance, search and recovery, and we even travel internationally if requested." He deliberately left out the very basic "undercover protection" scenario, which reflected his current assignment with her.
     
    She swirled the last of the liquid in her cup, her features full of fascinated interest. "Do you travel often for business?"
     
    "As often as I can. I prefer the international assignments, actually. I like to travel and I'm known for taking on the edgier, more