The Alpha's Choice Read Online Free PDF Page B

to keep her shame-on-you face
from breaking into a smile.
    "Ah," Charles said, rising and raising his
finger. "But then he'd also be old enough to calculate the
risk/reward ratio." He took a step toward her and she took a step
back. He placed the dropped knife on the table. "In this case, the
risk would be minimal. I knew you wouldn't hit me."
    "You didn't get a reward either," Kat
laughed. She knew she shouldn't. The man didn't need any
encouragement and while she was having fun, she didn't want him to
think there was anything more to it than that.
    "Not yet, but I'm patient," he stated
confidently.
    "Good," she said, "Then you won't mind
waiting while I run upstairs and put some clo… something else
on."
    "Your breakfast will go cold," he called
after her as she ducked through the door.
    "That's why they invented microwaves!" she
called back.
    Kat tossed the jean shorts she was going to
wear back in the closet and reached for a newer pair, the ones that
showed off her rear end to best advantage. She had both feet in and
was wriggling them up over her hips when she stopped, frowned, and
wriggled them back down. She retrieved the old baggy pair with the
torn pocket and put those on instead.
    She'd had her moment of fun. It was time to
get back to the real world.
    Charles nodded his approval of her Race For
the Cure® t-shirt or that was what she told herself since his eyes
dwelt on her chest for an extended moment before the microwave
dinged. He removed her small plate and slid his much larger and
full to overflowing one in. As he passed Kat the plate, he gave her
a look of resignation.
    "I was hoping you'd come back in one of those
little black and white jobs," he told her, "You know, with little
bits of white lace up here." He ran his finger along his chest
outlining the twin arches of a bra. "And all around the edges of
the poufy little black skirt. You'd be wearing fishnet stockings
and six inch heels. Oh yeah, and the apron." He rolled his eyes
heavenward. "I love the tiny apron."
    Kat shook her head in disbelief. "Here I was,
beginning to think you were original and all you can come up with
is a Halloween costume. A French maid's costume? Really?" She took
her plate from him and headed back to the patio. "In your dreams,
buddy," she said, laughing. She tried to muster some outrage at his
blatant harassing behavior, but she couldn't.
    "Exactly!" he called after her, undaunted.
The microwave dinged again and he followed her to the table. "A
dream come true! A fantasy! But it doesn't have to be Halloween,"
he laughed as he took a seat, "I mean, who says you can't play a
little dress-up outside the holidays. You pick the day and I'm
there."
    It was one of those times when she wished her
hair was long enough to hide behind, but even with her head bent
and her eyes on her plate, she knew he could see her trying to
control her smile. "Does this routine usually get you where you're
trying to go?"
    Charles frowned in disappointment and sat
back in his chair.
    "It's the outfit, isn't it? You don't like
the idea of playing a lowly maid."
    "I've worked as a maid, actually," Kat said,
hoping to steer the conversation in another direction. "A hotel
maid and I don't consider it lowly, just very hard work."
    She forked another bit of egg into her mouth
and watched Charles steadily plow through his breakfast. He didn't
shovel his food, but he never laid his fork to rest, either. He
started at one side and worked his way across the plate barely
leaving a crumb in his wake. Where did he put it?
    Swallowing the latest bite of bacon, he
asked, "What hotel was that?"
    "A very respectable one." Kat watched him
over the rim of her mug as she took a last sip of coffee.
    Charles left off eating long enough to wave
his fork back and forth. "Ah, ah, ah," he admonished, "I smell a
teensy little pile of bullshit in there." He sounded very serious,
but his eyes danced.
    "Okay," Kat confessed with a regrettable
laugh, "It was a seedy motel that did