Secrets and Sins: Chayot: A Secrets and Sins novel (Entangled Ignite) Read Online Free PDF Page A

should’ve called me as soon as the police left and clued me in on what was going on.” She murmured an agreement, and her friend sighed. She could visualize him scrubbing a hand over his short dark hair. “Fine. But let me hire some security for you. Discreet,” he hurried to add. “They will stay in the background and not interfere with your routine, but please, love. Set my mind at ease and let me get someone to watch out for you.”
    Security. Like a bodyguard or protection detail. Okay . Relief stutter-stepped through her veins. Okay, that sounded reasonable. She shifted her attention to the computer screen where the article about Chay remained. An idea bloomed in her head.
    “I can agree with that, Liam,” she said. “And I know just the firm to hire.”

Chapter Five
    “Thanks, Sara.”
    Chay clicked off the phone’s speaker, but the firm’s secretary’s announcement continued to reverberate in his skull.
    “Aslyn Jericho is here to see you.”
    What was she doing here…in his office? Unbidden, an image of his sexy neighbor flashed through his head. Her, standing in the doorway of her home. Her, curled up on the porch swing. He closed his eyes and swore under his breath. Shit, he’d have to be a eunuch not to be attracted to a beautiful woman.
    Again, her outburst about him echoed in his head. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He would be a liar if he claimed he hadn’t been a tiny bit flattered. But more than flattered, he’d been…charmed. Her honesty had been refreshing and so damn cute.
    But there’d been nothing cute about the heat he’d spied in her gaze. Maybe she hadn’t even been aware of the desire darkening her eyes from silver to a stormy gray. She didn’t strike him as the coy, flirtatious type—she was entirely too straightforward for those games. The need he’d spotted had been real and unaffected. And it made him hard and scared shitless at the same time.
    Lust was one thing. Need was another.
    Lust could be satisfied with one or two nights of sweaty, hot, no-holds-barred sex. But need… Need led to emotional ties. Need led to wanting her outside the bedroom as well as in. Need led to the longing for something more, for something deeper than the superficial words of I trust you —something he didn’t have inside him to offer her. Something Richard had broken beyond repair twenty years ago.
    He could easily need Aslyn Jericho. That’s why he had to stay away. Keeping his distance from the tempting musician was his best option. So why had she come to him today? Had something else happened? Worry totally disproportionate to the safety of a neighbor he’d met once, for God’s sake, washed through him. He surged to his feet and rounded the desk, his strides eating up the distance between his desk and the door.
    Greer Addison’s—Marcel, Greer Marcel now—excited voice reached him as he opened his office door. “Oh my God. Aslyn Jericho. I can’t believe this! I’m such a huge fan.”
    Rafe’s wife stood next to Aslyn, a grin lighting up her lovely face. Even seven months pregnant, the brunette ex-socialite was a beauty, but Chay’s attention honed in on Aslyn and remained there.
    The form-fitting camouflage T-shirt, wide-legged linen pair of pants, and flip-flops might have appeared sloppy on another woman. But on Aslyn’s tall, curvy body, they looked chic—cool. Sexy because she could pull it off. Sexy because Aslyn was Aslyn.
    While she smiled at Greer and accepted her handshake, he seized the moment to savor the fire-and-gold hair that was braided into a side ponytail. The long, bound strands fell over her shoulder and brushed the high thrust of her firm, full breasts. Gold skin peeked at him from between the hem of her shirt and the low-riding band of her pants. If he pressed his lips to that sliver of skin, would he taste honey and sun? If he traveled lower between the slim columns of her thighs, would the sweet taste be more concentrated,