Seducing Steve Read Online Free PDF Page B

an anchor, but he was determined to do what he set out to do. He bought a hoagie and slipped back into his office about the time everyone else went to lunch.
    Safe behind his desk, he pulled the stack of romance novels from the bag. The covers made him cringe. One had a picture of a guy wearing an Armani suit with a white shirt completely unbuttoned to reveal his steroid-enhanced muscles. Steve’s brow furrowed. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the darkened computer monitor.
    What did she mean, they’re all me?
    The photograph on the second cover actually made him wince. The guy looked like he was supposed to be some kind of modern-day pirate. Steve’s lip curled into a snarl of distaste as his gaze traveled from the pirate to the woman clinging to his arm.
    She has to hang off the guy because she’s having a hard time getting a good foothold on the sea of gold coins scattered around.
    His eyebrows rose when he noted the plunging neckline on the dress the model wore.
    Maybe Captain Moneybags should swap a little of that gold for a couple of decent shirts.
    The next cover was far more contemporary but still as naked. Steve smirked as he fanned the pages on the third book. He stopped on a random page, opened the book, and began to read.
    He’d picked a good spot. The hero guy pulled the girl from her chair and was dragging her down a hallway. Steve shifted in his seat, half-hoping—at least for the guy’s sake—there was a bedroom at the end of the corridor.
    Just as he discovered there was a bedroom behind door number two, Steve heard one of his partners outside his door. The sharp rap of knuckles on wood jolted him from the scene. He yanked open a desk drawer and swept the books and other clutter scattered across his blotter into it.
    “Hey,” Jason Marz called, clinging to the doorframe and swinging into Steve’s office. “Lunch?”
    Steve glanced down at his desk, his forehead wrinkling when he realized his sandwich was missing. “Lunch?”
    “Noonday meal. Typically consumed halfway between your morning Wheaties and your evening Cap’n Crunch,” Jason said snidely. “Mike and I were thinking of heading over to Dixon ’s.”
    His other partner appeared and jerked his head toward the door. “Come on, or we’ll never get a table.” Steve hesitated, and Mike went in for the kill. “It’s fried chicken day, Opie. You never miss fried chicken day.”
    ****
    That evening, Steve shed his suit coat the moment he stepped inside his condo. Rolling his shoulders to shrug off the worries of the day, he dropped the books onto his coffee table, plucked his uneaten hoagie from the bag, and shot it into the trash can on his way into the kitchen.
    “Two points,” he murmured, tugging on the knot in his tie.
    He snagged a beer from the fridge before checking the messages on his home phone. A puzzled frown tugged the corners of his mouth when a woman’s voice purred in his ear. She was an attractive brunette he’d met at a client’s office nearly a week before. Another possibility he forgot completely the moment Sara confessed that she wanted him.
    He unbuttoned his collar and took a long drink from the bottle, letting the message play out as he sauntered back into the living room. The most recent of Sara’s releases spilled from the bag. He snatched it up and sprawled on the couch.
    Steve eyed the partially clothed couple on the cover, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Sara’s stuffy, straight-laced ex, Adam, ever pictured himself there.
    Lord knows, the guy looked the part.
    Steve shook his head to dislodge the thought and set his beer aside, opening the book to the first chapter. He only intended to skim enough of the book to be able to convince Sara he’d read it. No more than twenty pages into the book he began to shift in his seat. By page twenty-two, his lips parted and a rush of hot air escaped. His gaze flew to page twenty-three, and he whispered, “Holy shit.”
    Those two words became his