Beautiful Stranger Read Online Free PDF

about something this . . . delicate.
    “I’ve been a bit preoccupied with a woman I met the other night. I let her go before getting her number, and have been kicking myself ever since. As luck would have it, I spotted her having lunch with you and your lovely Chloe yesterday afternoon.”
    He considered me for a moment. “You’re talking about Sara?”
    “Sara,” I said, perhaps a bit too triumphantly.
    “Oh no,” he said, immediately shaking his head. “Not a chance, Max.”
    “What?” But with Bennett I couldn’t maintain an innocent expression for long. The man knew me only from my university days. Maybe not my best representation of good behavior.
    “Chloe will have my balls if she finds out I let you anywhere near Sara. No way.”
    I pressed a hand to my chest. “I’m wounded, mate. What if my intentions are honorable?”
    Bennett laughed and stood to walk over to the window. “Sara’s . . .” He hesitated. “She’s just come out of a bad breakup. And you’re . . .” He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “You’re not her type.”
    “Come on, Ben. I’m not a nineteen-year-old wanker anymore.”
    He threw me an amused smirk. “Okay, but you’re talking to the man who saw you successfully hook up with three women in a single evening, without any of them knowing about the others.”
    I grinned. “You’ve got it all wrong. They were all very well acquainted by the end of the night.”
    “Are you shitting me?”
    “Just give me her number. We’ll consider it a thank-you for the loan of my gorgeous villa.”
    “You are such an asshole.”
    “I believe I’ve heard that before,” I said, standing. “Sara and I, we had . . . an interesting conversation.”
    “A conversation. Sara had a conversation with you. I’m skeptical.”
    “A rather enjoyable one, yes. She’s intriguing, that little one. Unfortunately, we were interrupted before I could get her name.”
    “I see.”
    “What luck I had, running into you lot and all.” I raised my eyebrows expectantly.
    “Lucky, yes . . .” Smiling, Bennett took his seat again, looking up at me. “But I’m afraid you’ll have to find your luck somewhere else. I’m quite fond of my testicles; I’d like to keep them. I’m not going to smooth the way for you here.”
    “You always were a prick.”
    “So I’ve heard. Lunch Thursday?”
    “You bet.”

    I left Bennett’s office intent on having a look around the company’s new quarters. They’d taken over three floors of the building and I’d heard they’d already had quite a bit of work done. The spacious atrium was breathtaking, but the office areas were just as lush, with wide hallways, travertine floors, and plenty of natural light coming through windows, glass block walls, and skylights. Each office seemed to have a small sitting area—nothing to match Bennett’s, but perfect for sit-downs that didn’t call for the formality of a conference room.
    That said, the conference room was breathtaking: a wall of windows looking out on midtown Manhattan, a wide polished walnut table that seated at least thirty, and state-of-the-art technology for presentations.
    “Not bad, Ben,” I murmured, walking back into the hallway and staring up at a large Timothy Hogan photography installment. “Good taste in art for a total wanker.”
    “What are you doing here?”
    I looked up to find a very surprised Sara frozen halfway down the hall. I couldn’t help breaking into a grin; this really was my lucky day.
    Or . . . not, if her expression was any indication.
    “Sara!” I sang. “What a lovely surprise. I was just at a meeting. I’m Max, by the way. Pleasure to finally put a name to the”—I dropped my eyes and studied her chest, and then the rest of her, through her snug black dress—“face.”
    Christ, she was hot.
    When I looked back up, her eyes had grown to roughly the size of dinner plates. Honestly, the woman had the most enormous brown eyes. If they were any