In Love by Design (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod) Read Online Free PDF Page B

brains, and is somewhat of a sexual deviant made his perfect looks interesting to me and no longer off-putting.
    James came to our meeting dressed in business casual clothes. He looked no different than any other successful businessman you see everywhere, minus a few exceptions. The differences started with the shining silk waterfall of black hair falling over his broad shoulders. This is followed closely by the stunning, chiseled bone structure of his face that caused a hitch in a woman’s breath at the first glimpse of his male beauty. To these attributes, add a muscular physique that most men would cut off their right nut to possess, and now thanks to my sister, I vividly imagine compelling twenty women into performing sexual Cirque du Soleil acts. Other than that, James Byrd is your average billionaire.
    Coming straight from the bookstore, I was comfortably dressed for our meeting in jeans, a navy Bel’s T-shirt, and sitting cross-legged in my stocking feet on the sofa.
    After the polite small talk ran its course, James sat back on the loveseat across from mine and measured me from inscrutable midnight eyes. I appraised him back, but my eyes probably weren’t as inscrutable. I have it on good authority from my absentee lover that my eyes are sparkling blue sapphires alive with secret, smart-ass laughter even when my face is dead serious.
    James finally broke our staring contest by shifting forward in his seat and informing me in a quiet voice, “You have too much to lose by continuing to steal untaxed income from your company with the methods you’ve been using.”
    He waited a beat and I didn’t reply because while I heard James, my attention had been snagged by discovering a physical imperfection when he opened his mouth. His left incisor was slightly crooked and very pointed, like a vampire. This tiny flaw didn’t detract from his male beauty, but brought me to my senses. James Byrd isn’t a statue to be stared at, but a living, breathing man comprised of everything that makes us human, good and bad. It’s not his fault he just happens to have been born very, very good on the outside. He probably gets so sick and tired of being lusted after for his looks, not to mention his money.
    I swear I’m serious.
    I decided then and there to treat James Byrd like any other average-looking guy and never acknowledge his gorgeousness or his immense wealth. We’d be pals, too, and he’d never have to worry about me wanting him for anything but friendship. This would be my payback for James being so kind to Jazy. It wasn’t much, but the least I could do for the man that probably has everything money can buy—including most females.
    James realized I wasn’t going to jump in and continued speaking, “Those methods were fine and dandy back in the day, Anabel, but we live in the computer age now. Patterns of any kind are not a good thing, even innocuous patterns. I have printouts to show you how I picked up on everything you’ve been doing.”
    Absently, I nodded in agreement and accepted the printouts he offered, but didn’t read them. “I’m sure you’re right and can show me better ways to steal my own money,” I waved my arm with a reproachful look directed towards the kitchen, “since Mr. Barkley never would.”
    Mr. Barkley choked in the kitchen, but James only smiled briefly. “Good for him. We’ll come up with much better, legal ways,” James stressed the word legal, “to satisfy your larcenous desires to beat the government from getting your money.”
    I cheerfully nodded my agreement again. Part of using a professional’s services is remembering they are the professional and you aren’t. It’s a good idea to think over their advice before you chuck it and follow your own. Besides, if I heard James correctly, he just told me it’s the patterns that gave me away, so I’d have to rethink my methodology . Then we’ll see if he can detect what I’m doing. That could be fun.
    “Charlie has done a