Seducing the Playboy (A Hot Nights Series Book) (Entangled Brazen) Read Online Free PDF Page B

pumped her for info? He’d been toying with her? The heat of her arousal turned to fury, and she sat up straight on the couch to let him have it, but her bouncing breasts made her cheeks flame. “I would never use sex to get a job, you bastard.” She crossed her arms, hiding her nipples with her palms, and glared at him.
    He shrugged. “You’re right—I am a bastard. But I gave you every opportunity to stop me. Now why don’t you tell me why you are really in California? You don’t need to work for me—your family owns a restaurant.” He tossed her a quilt from the back of the couch, and she mentally impaled him with a dozen dull paring knives while she wrapped it around her body. If he thought she was going to have a heart-to-heart chat with him after what he’d just done, he was dead wrong. She stood to leave, but he caught the end of the blanket and tugged, sending her sprawling back onto the couch. “You’re not going anywhere yet. Start talking, Goldilocks.”
    She huddled under the blanket, trying to figure out her best course of action. Oh, God. What have I done? To her horror, hot tears overflowed her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She ducked her head, but Roman caught her chin, forcing her gaze to his. Her tears fell faster when she saw his expression, and her memory flashed to the one time he and Cole had let her shoot hoops with them. They’d teased her mercilessly, keeping the ball from her until she’d been desperate to show them she could steal it and send it flying toward the hoop for a three-point shot. Instead, she’d tripped and skinned her knee and Roman had looked at her just like this, with regret and apology. How dare he make her feel even more humiliated? She wasn’t a child anymore.
    She jerked her chin out of his grip.
    He raised an eyebrow. “Should I call Cole and ask him what you’re doing in Venice Beach?”
    Anxiety and dread shot through her. Cole thought she was in Burbank. “Please don’t tell Cole.”
    “Why?”
    She sighed, deciding the truth was her only option. “Mom and Dad are on the verge of losing Cooper’s. They don’t want him to know how bad it’s gotten. He’d insist on coming to help, and his wife is pregnant. Cole and Angela can’t spare any money, and they can’t afford to lose his cushy nine-to-five job with health benefits, either.”
    From the look on Roman’s face, she knew she’d really put her foot in it now. “I’m not asking for money,” she quickly assured him. “My family thinks I’m out here because I won a paid internship at Whole Wheat. But you’re so good at turning around struggling restaurants, I thought I could use your advice to save Cooper’s. It’s been running in the red for over a year, and Mom and Dad want to sell. It’s going to kill them to lose the restaurant, and I thought…I hoped…”
    “Money? You think I’m worried you want a loan? I’d do anything to help your family.” His gaze narrowed. “Why didn’t you just ask me?”
    “Because I don’t want a loan. I want to learn how to save Cooper’s. I knew you were busy with the Beach House, and when I saw your dessert menu I thought we could help each other out for a while. I know you still think of me as a kid, but I can hold my own in the kitchen, Ro.” But she’d let her idiotic hormones distract her from her purpose. “I was trying to make you see I’d grown up.”
    The scorn on his face made her flinch. “By taking off your clothes? Your logic defies description.”
    She closed her eyes and pulled the blanket tighter around her body, wishing she could disappear. No doubt Roman would tell Cole, who would tell her parents. No one would be surprised by her impulsive behavior. Typical Jenna move , she could hear Cole saying. She’d wanted to prove she could be part of a solution, but instead she had created yet another problem…as usual. She’d also managed to make herself look cheap to the man who haunted her dreams.
    Roman stood, and then