High Heat (Hard Hitters #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

wearing boxers and a Thrashers T-shirt. Apparently she hadn’t dreamed the events of last night, although he certainly looked like something out of one of her reveries. He scratched his bicep lazily. “I think you dropped something.”
    Words, words, words. If she thought about them long enough, she’d probably be able to make sense of what he was saying. Right now, though, all that male skin and sexy stubble had short-circuited her brain and kicked her heart into a trippy beat.
    “Excuse me?” She took a step, and cornflakes crunched under her shoe. Oh, right. She’d dropped her cereal. Luckily she hadn’t added the milk yet. Thank God she’d showered and dressed before coming to the kitchen. She’d expected him to sleep late after his night of partying. Obviously not.
    She swept up the mess under Tom’s gaze, her face afire with the knowledge that he was probably watching her with a smirk. “Did you want breakfast?”
    “Sure.”
    “You drink coffee? I was about to put a pot on.”
    He shook his head. “No caffeine for me. It dehydrates you.”
    She stopped, looking up at him. That didn’t fit the image of the hard-charging Tom Cord who did whatever the hell he wanted, ignored his coaches, and didn’t take care of himself. She opened the fridge. “Orange juice?”
    “Sure.”
    On the small table in the nook off of the kitchen, she assembled a simple breakfast. She’d had an idea in the shower this morning—a brilliant one, if she did say so herself. Tom Cord had been in town less than twenty-four hours and he’d already caused trouble. If her father found out he’d been partying with the Baileys, and tweeting about it, no less, he’d have a fit.
    She’d never been so glad that her father never looked at the Internet. Thankfully, she’d nipped that little impending PR disaster in the bud, but Tom obviously warranted close watching. As the VP of PR, she was the most logical one for the job.
    Tom joined her at the table, his bare calf brushing her leg under the table. It sent a shiver up her thigh, but he didn’t react. No doubt this kind of thing was commonplace to him. He probably shared breakfast with women he barely knew all the time, if he even bothered with that. More likely he hit the road or called them a cab without even giving them a bowl of Cheerios first.
    “You know anyplace I can stay in town?” A spoonful of cereal hovered next to that exceptionally well-shaped mouth. “Surely this burg has a motel. Where do people carry on their seedy affairs?”
    Sarah stared, diverted despite herself. Like she would know about that. Her love life consisted of occasional boring dates with her CPA. “Maybe the good people of Plainview don’t have seedy affairs. Did you ever think of that?”
    He scoffed. “Please. People everywhere screw around. It’s human nature.”
    “It certainly seems to be
your
nature.” The jab escaped before she could stop it.
    “I’m not married. There’s nothing seedy about my affairs.” He shoveled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.
    “Hmmm.” She should have never opined about his love life. It was none of her business. “As a matter of fact, we do have a motel. It’s called the Plainview. I don’t think you’ll like it, though. I have another idea.”
    “What, you think I should be waiting for Ms. Right to come along?”
    She bit back a sigh. He wasn’t going to be dissuaded from the ill-advised topic of his sex life.
    “Saving myself for marriage, maybe?” His lips quirked.
    “No,” she said, stung by his cynicism. “Of course not. I think maybe you ought to be a little more selective.”
    The humor dropped off of his face. “Selective? I am selective! What, you think I bang everything in a skirt?” He leaned back, looking truly affronted.
    She tipped her chin. “Please. Christina Caputo got her start on
Real Hotties of Community College
. I think it’s safe to say that a selective man would not have hooked up with her.”
    “Oh, that.”