The Millionaire Tempted Fate (A Novella) (Sweet and Savory Romances) Read Online Free PDF Page A

position, then accepted Max’s hand as he hauled her to her feet again. She smoothed her skirt and tried to look cool. "What do you mean?"
    "The manicure. The heels. The dress. The condoms in—" He cut off the sentence. 
    "How do you know I have condoms?"
    His face reddened. "I, uh, I saw them when I got the bandages for your burn." He shifted his stance. "Can we not have this conversation?"
    "You brought it up."
    "It's just hard to imagine you having sex."
    "Am I that asexual?"
    "God, no. You're sexy as hell, Angie. With those legs and that way you smile when you—" He shook his head and cursed.
    "When I what?"
    If he told her, it would tell Angie he had noticed her as a woman. Which he had, a million times since they were in seventh grade and he'd seen the strap of her training bra peeking out from under her tank top. It was that moment when he'd realized that Angie Wilson wasn't just his friend; she was a girl, a living, breathing girl with all the right equipment.
    He'd spent a solid month acting like a bumbling fool around her, a month that had ended with Max placing a sloppy kiss on her lips. His first kiss, and Angie’s too, a terrible fumbling attempt that was far from any Hollywood version. He saw the look of surprise and confusion on her face and made up some excuse about the kiss being a joke.
    He’d forgotten that in high school when he’d asked her on a date, thinking maybe they were older, more mature, and they could go out. Instead, it had been that middle school kiss all over again, only ten times more awkward. He’d realized that if he kept seeing Angie as a girl, he'd stop seeing her as a friend. He'd had to choose, and in that moment and all the ones that followed, he'd chosen friendship. Angie meant more to him than some sexual urge and always would. 
    That didn’t mean he didn’t see her legs in that skirt and think about taking her to the nearest bedroom. It just meant he wouldn’t be dumb enough to act on those thoughts.
    "Don’t you like my shoes?" she asked.
    "A monk would like those shoes," he said. "You know you rock a skirt, Ang."
    She smiled. "Glad you noticed."
    Oh he’d noticed all right. And that was the whole problem. He wasn’t supposed to look at her that way. "Some guy is going to be lucky as all hell to have you."
    She shook her head and let out a gust. "Will you quit saying that?"
    "You gotta settle down and fall in love some day." Though the thought of it pained him.
    She parked her fists on her hips, which emphasized her hourglass shape. He swallowed hard and told himself to stop seeing his best friend as a sex kitten. "How do you know I haven’t already fallen in love?"
    He laughed. "You are the last holdout to single-ness," he said. "Listen, why don’t you let me fix you up? Introduce you to someone who will treat you right."
    And maybe once she was in a committed relationship, his brain would stop thinking of her legs and her lips and her breasts. He was supposed to be getting engaged himself, and he was still fantasizing about Angie. What was wrong with him?
    She bit her lip and shook her head again. "You don’t get it, Max. You just don’t. I’m not interested in you fixing me up. I want…"
    "What?" he prompted when she didn’t finish.
    "Never mind." She spun away and pushed the down button. The elevator doors dinged open, as if they’d been waiting to help her make her escape. "Just never mind."
    Then she was gone, and Max was left feeling like he had missed something important and fundamental.

 
     
2 pound pork tenderloin
Salt and pepper
¼ cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
¼ cup brown sugar
     
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle tenderloin with salt and pepper. Easy, right? Well, as you know, cooking isn’t exactly my forte, but I keep on working at it, sort of like with a certain sexy man who has yet to get a clue.
     
Mix the juice, rind, soy sauce, hoisin sauce and brown sugar in a