Can't Help Falling In Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

and the rest of the world could fall in line or else. To be fair, most of the
     time going along was easy enough, and the perks were pretty good.
    But at thirty-two, the tradeoffs bothered her in a way that they never had at twenty-two.
     And when she disagreed with his plans by breaking the second engagement her father had arranged, she ended up at the Rock’n’Rolla Hotel. Even
     worse, undercover at the Rock’n’Rolla. Every good Whitmore knew that business was war and, at its heart,
     warfare was deception. She didn’t lie well, didn’t practice enough, and so was not
     very good at it. But her father insisted that she come, right now, and stay for a
     week to investigate the hotel, and since she’d rather do this than listen to any more
     conversation about her broken engagement, she’d drown her indignation in sweet tea
     and impressive air conditioning and do the damn job so well he had to agree to her
     plan to run this hotel after the renovation.
    She refused to look over her shoulders to see who might be watching. Just the thought
     of her father gave her a case of the heeby-jeebies. Or worse. Her mother would be
     mortally offended at the number of calories on the plate in front of her.
    A sweet potato fry and sweet warm dipping sauce chased the thought of them away.
    The only thing that made this meal less than perfect was the retina-burning brightness
     of the lights surrounding the bar. Viva Las Vegas was well lit in the way that the
     United States Mint had a lot of change. Thinking she’d feel less conspicuously single,
     she’d chosen a seat at the bar. Now she wished she’d brought her sunglasses with her.
    She tried to calculate how much of a decrease in energy it would take to see a return
     in lowered electric bills for about ten seconds. Then she shrugged her shoulders and
     picked up the burger.
    Close your eyes. Maybe that will make the next bite better. Randa smiled and shook her head even as she closed her eyes and took the next bite.
     If it was better than the first, she was going to embarrass herself by moaning loud
     enough to be heard over “Jailhouse Rock.”
    She’d never moaned that loud.
    A hamburger that was better than sex. Clearly the chef would need to stay on, no matter
     what incentive it took.
    And the very first thing she did as manager would be to raise the prices across the
     board.
    “Hey, Tony, what are you in the mood for tonight?”
    Randa’s eyes popped open and she squinted against the lights into the mirror behind
     the bar. Tony had come in at some point. He was seated one stool to her left, and
     he was watching her face very, very closely.
    She had that feeling again, like she was the prey and the predator was licking his
     chops. She shifted on her stool and did her best to ignore the heat building low in
     her abdomen. She thought about sex and Tony appeared. It was a neat trick. But it
     didn’t surprise her as much as it should have.
    “I’ll have what she’s having,” Tony said. Randa thought his lips twitched as he faced
     the bartender. She knew for a fact the bartender was fighting a smile as she nodded
     and went to put his order in.
    Abruptly aware of how she hunched over her plate, her elbows resting on the bar and
     both hands wrapped around the heavenly burger, Randa straightened to her best pageant
     posture, set her burger down, shoved her chest out, and smiled at Tony.
    Maybe he hadn’t fallen to her charms yet, but she wasn’t done fighting. A flash of
     what his surrender might look like, naked, on a nice hotel bed, distracted her and
     she had to force her attention back to her goal. Charm Tony. He’d be less suspicious
     if she could pull that off.
    “It’s an excellent burger, but I’m sure you know that.” She picked up a fry and chomped
     it in half before smiling innocently at him. “You must eat here all the time. It is
     the only restaurant in the hotel, right?”
    He was still wearing the Hawaiian shirt and khakis from