Taming the Last St Claire Read Online Free PDF Page B

how successfully
that
had turned out! But she had never been in the sort of long-term and loving relationship she felt necessary, and longed for. Her parents had been happily married for over thirty years, and Joey haddecided at a young age that she wasn’t going to settle for anything less.
    Unfortunately, the downside of the tough, uncaring image she had deliberately adopted was that it tended to completely overwhelm weak men, and the strong ones just felt threatened by her. Which was probably why, at the age of twenty-eight, abrasive, driven Joey McKinley hadn’t yet managed to find a man she could love completely and who loved her in the same way.
    And the same reason she was still a virgin…
    Something she was sure the cynical Gideon St Claire would find very hard to believe.
    ‘Not yet—but I’ll be happy to let you know when I have,’ she came back provocatively.
    Gideon winced as he sat forward to lean his elbows stiffly on the desktop in front of him. ‘Do I take it that there’s some sexual connection between the whipped cream and the buff twenty-year-old?’
    Those green eyes widened, and for an instant Gideon could have sworn he saw a slight blush to those creamy cheeks. As if the outspoken Joey McKinley was actually
embarrassed
by his comment. He was intrigued at the thought…
    ‘Whew—I think I’m having a hot flush, just thinking about it!’ She waved a hand in front of her face.
    Gideon sighed. ‘If you’ve quite finished interrupting my morning, I have a business meeting to go to in a few minutes, followed by a luncheon appointment,’ he told her.
    The provocative smile instantly disappeared, to be replaced by professional interest. ‘Do you need me to come with you to either of them?’
    Did he need to spend any more time today with this irritating, outspoken and highly disturbing woman? ‘No,’he assured her firmly. ‘The business meeting isn’t going to last long, and the luncheon appointment is personal.’
    ‘Okaaay …’ She eyed him speculatively.
    ‘As in none of your business,’ he said grimly.
    ‘Fine.’ She gave an unconcerned shrug. ‘Well, you know where to find me if you need me.’
    ‘Either in the office next door, or at the coffee shop down the road having fantasies about whipped cream and attractive young men, apparently,’ Gideon drawled with cool derision.
    ‘Hey, I think you’re finally starting to enjoy my sense of humour!’ Joey murmured appreciatively.
    ‘Lord, I hope not,’ he muttered with feeling.
    She gave a husky laugh, before turning to go back into her own office and closing the door softly behind her.
    Gideon drew in a sharp breath. Three weeks, four days, six and a half hours—and counting.
    Until Joey McKinley was out of the St Claire Corporation building.
    Out of the office next door.
    Out of Gideon’s life altogether…

CHAPTER THREE
    J OEY was still so unsettled by the manner in which Gideon had neatly turned the tables on her with his remark about whipped cream that she completely forgot to ask for any on her hot chocolate—and didn’t even notice that it was a young girl serving today, rather than the golden-haired god!
    Maybe Gideon really wasn’t as uptight as she had always thought him to be if he could make sexual references like that? After all, Stephanie hadn’t been able to stop laughing when Joey had asked her if Gideon was gay. Just because Joey had never seen him with a woman it didn’t mean Gideon didn’t have one in his life—perhaps there was. Just not someone he wanted to take to a family wedding.
    To her intense discomfort, just imagining lying naked on a bed with white silk sheets and having the heat of Gideon’s tongue lapping whipped cream from her bare breasts was enough to make Joey’s nipples go hard inside her bra.
    This was
so
not a good idea—
    ‘Get you anything else …?’
    Joey looked up blankly at the young girl behind the counter, a blush darkening her cheeks as she realised her hot chocolate