Far Too Tempting Read Online Free PDF

me to say thanks, I took your number off caller ID and saved it.”
    “Resourceful,” I remark, leaning back into the chair, feeling the wooden slats through my shirt.
    “I believe I can speak for most journalists here when I say we’re quite good at harvesting numbers. Between you and me,” he says, as if he is about to share a tawdry secret, and I simply love the playfulness in him, “I have a database of more than six thousand names because I’m completely obsessive with phone numbers. Anytime I get one, either on my mobile, the office, or home, I record the number in my database. You never know when you might need it.”
    “Well, my e-mail is janesecretmail at gmail, in case you want that too,” I say quickly, and perhaps it’s because there’s a part of me that hopes he uses it. “So you’re a big Cash man?”
    “You have to love the man in black, don’t you?”
    “I thought you didn’t play and tell?” I say, teasing him.
    “Well, this is Johnny Cash we’re talking about. They’d have to take my credentials away if I didn’t listen to him on a daily basis.”
    “That I can understand.”
    “It’s in the international code, section five, paragraph two of the secret order of rock critics. You can check it out,” he tosses back. His voice washes over me, like a Valium, a muscle relaxer, masking the pain of the voice mail. “So, listen,” I say, getting down to business. “I wanted to return your call. But I should let you know talking to the press isn’t at the top of my list of things to do right now.”
    “Jonas has you a bit down, eh?”
    “You might say.”
    “And now you’re press shy.”
    “Well, it was pretty shitty what he did, don’t you think?”
    “It was completely shitty. If I were you, I wouldn’t have even returned my call. I’d have deleted it right off the voice mail and then thrown a rotten egg at my window. Simply because all journalists are horrid.”
    I can’t help but laugh. Then I add darkly, “It was like reliving the humiliation all over again.”
    He sighs, a sort of sympathetic sigh. “I’m truly sorry for what happened, Jane. But you shouldn’t retreat from the spotlight right now.”
    I raise an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t happen to have an ulterior motive for saying that, would you?”
    “Of course I have an ulterior motive. I have many ulterior motives,” he says in a low, sexy voice that sends a warm flush through me. Is he flirting? Is this some sort of innuendo? I have no idea, but I let my mind wander to my own ulterior motives too. Ones that have nothing to do with work and everything to do with wondering how he’s dressed right now.
    I assemble an image of him looking all cool and laid-back in jeans and a tee, stretched out on his couch. Then him undressing, the shirt coming off so I can check out my absolute favorite part of a hot guy’s body—his abs. Well, one of my favorite parts. “But seriously,” he continues, returning to his crisp reporter’s tone, and I refocus. “This is your moment. You have worked so hard for this. And you deserve it. All of it. I’d hate to see someone in your position back down because of someone like Jonas. You should bask in the limelight right now.”
    “Basking sounds heavenly.”
    “So listen. You did call me back,” he points out. “And I have a hunch, I’m only guessing here, but I bet that Jonas left you a message, too.”
    “He did, as a matter of fact.”
    “And correct me if I’m wrong, but I suspect you’ve already deleted his message. You probably even pressed the delete button extra hard to make sure it went to voice mail oblivion.”
    I’m smiling now. “Fine, I admit it. I did that.”
    “And since you didn’t do that to my message, that tells me that you’ll at least hear me out.”
    Hear him out. How could I not when talking to him is the sweetest drug that feeds my hungry imagination? “Fine, make your pitch, Matthew. I am all ears.”
    He laughs. “So here it goes.