Melt Into You Read Online Free PDF Page B

over the phone, of course.” Playfully, she smiled. “But where’s the fun in that?”
    Belatedly realizing the truth, Damon regarded her. “You lured me to Italy under false pretenses.”
    Giada shrugged. “You didn’t mind.”
    She was right. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” With a grin, Damon nodded. “I prefer doing business in person.”
    “Proximity definitely has its benefits.” Without an ounce of coyness, Giada grabbed his necktie. She eyed him up and down, then gave him another yank—this time, in the direction of the buildings ringing the racetrack. “We’ll catch up with you later,” she told the others with a toss of her hair. “Right now, Damon and I have a union to broker.”
    Wes gave a knowing chuckle. “Take your time!”
    “Take lots of time,” Amy advised loudly. “Remember—”
    “Remember our flight leaves at ten,” Jason interrupted, perennially attentive and numbers-minded. “Don’t be late.”
    Giada laughed. “You might have to hold the plane.”
    Damon hoped so. Because all at once, as he let himself be tugged along by his necktie, headed for a sexual tryst he knew would be mind-bending, with a woman whose voluptuous hips, winsome smile, and ingenious mind had already entranced him, he began wondering ... could Giada be the one for him?
    He could love her, Damon decided as he felt her hip bump enticingly against his. She could love him, he imagined as Giada tossed him a sizzling look. They could make this work.
    The longer he thought about it, the more real it felt.
    Taking charge—of this , of today, of his destiny for all the days to come—Damon pulled Giada into the shadows along the exterior wall of the mechanics’ shop. With the whirr of power tools and the smell of hot metal filling the air, he kissed her.
    It felt good, so he did it again. Against the hard brick wall of the shop, he lost himself in another kiss. When it was over—eventually—Giada grinned up at him. “That’s more like it. For a minute there, I thought you were going to turn me down.”
    “Not a chance,” Damon told her. He kissed her harder.
    Sure, Damon decided as Giada moaned in his arms. This felt like love. It did. If it wasn’t love quite yet, it would be by the time the night was through. He’d make sure of it.
    Because nobody took away what Damon Torrance wanted. Right now, what Damon wanted was love . Sweet, commanding, necessary love. Love like Jason and Amy had. Love that meant adoring looks and holding hands and teasing banter and warm, soft hugs and—
    Oh yeah. And being dragged into a nearby office for a more private make-out session at Giada’s insistence.
    Because, Damon told himself further, a man’s definition of true love had to be flexible. Right now, his definition included whispered terms of endearment in a language he didn’t entirely understand, a stand-up quickie in a sunlit, out-of-the-way vacant office ... and a woman who screamed when she came.
    Hey, everyone said love was a many splendored thing. Who the hell was Damon to argue? If this was love, he was in.

Chapter 4
     
    June 2007
San Diego
     
    Natasha’s first clue that her day might not go well was when she felt her battered Civic swerve sharply sideways. A weird clunking sound came next. Then, as she cautiously pulled into the breakdown lane on I-5, she felt her car dip ominously.
    A minute later, staring at the blown-out treads on her left front tire, Natasha frowned. This was why everyone urged her to spend some money on a new car. Given her escalating salary at Torrance Chocolates, she could—technically—afford to buy herself something a little flashier, or at least a lot more reliable.
    But as Natasha popped open the trunk and wrestled out her trusty jack from beneath her three-year-old son’s beach towels, playground ball, spare bottles of water, and sandcastle-building toys, she knew she wouldn’t do it. Not only was she reluctant to spend money unnecessarily—especially now—but