Read Online An Offer He Can't Refuse by Christie Ridgway - Free Book Online Page A

room.
    "Right," she said, rising. "I'll be on my way."
    Jesus H. Christ, Melissa Banyon has unfastened my
—
    "But I'm afraid I'm not feeling well, Johnny." Téa found herself plopping back onto her seat. She didn't know where this stubbornness had come from, but there it was. "I think you'll have to drive me home."
    'Take a cab," Missy answered for him, sliding closer on the bench seat and wiggling in such a way that her dress drew south another crucial three inches. Johnny's gaze followed the descent.
    She's seriously wacked, but the woman bought herself a great pair of tits, justfrickin' great.
    Téa told herself to leave Mr. Frickin' Great with the woman who was dazzling him. After all,
his
personal life was none of
her
business either. But then, glancing back, she could see the storm cloud that was Raphael getting ready to thunder.
    She'd do it for him, she decided, with sudden loyalty. For him, Raphael.
    Tonight, she'd refuse to disappear from the bar or into the woodwork in the Invisible Girl moves she'd perfected during her long, awkward adolescence. She'd refuse to leave without Johnny and thus save this stranger's impending marriage.
    The Foreign Legion
had really been her favorite movie last year.
    Reaching across the table, she wrapped her fingers around Missy Banyon's bony wrist—the free one. Téa didn't want to think about where the other had disappeared to. "I'm sorry, but Johnny and I came in together, and we'll be leaving together too."
    The famous actress didn't even blink. "We want our own private party, sweetie, so run along."
    Tightening her grip, Téa pulled Missy Banyon to meet her halfway across the table. At the other woman's ear she whispered, in a tone that was a legacy of a life around the mob. "If I run out of here alone,
sweetie
, I run right to my grandfather, Cosimo Caruso,
hai capito?"
    It worked like the charm that it was. Téa figured the actress had visited Palm Springs often enough to know the significance of the name. Missy jumped away from their table, bumping against some others to finally land in the safety of the seething, sexy Raphael's arms.
    Téa gave Johnny a moment to right whatever the actress had wronged, then slanted a look in his direction. She wasn't going to apologize. If he didn't want to do business with her after blowing his chance to make it with Melissa Banyon, then so be it. A woman had to draw the line somewhere, though granted, it was a strange kind of boundary for someone who had once hand-stenciled life-sized clowns on the walls of a circus-themed kitchen.
    "Shall we call it a night?" she asked.
    "We can call it whatever you want," he replied, standing. "I owe you, Ms. Caruso, big-time."
    She stared up at him. "You mean… you didn't…"
    "I what?" He blinked, then looked annoyed. "You thought… I wouldn't!"
    His response kept her quiet all the way back to her house. His response and a strange little giddiness bubbling through her bloodstream. Because of her part in saving Raphael Fremont's engagement for another night, she decided. There certainly wasn't any other reason to feel giddy that she could think of.
    She braked to let Johnny out by his car. He paused, fingers on the door handle, then turned to Téa. "What did you say to her?"
    "Her?"
    "What did you say to Melissa Banyon to get her to, uh, loosen her hold on me?"
    Téa opened her mouth to give him the truth. She'd intended to tell him of the Caruso connection earlier in the evening, anyway. But that was before she'd shared—thanks to the actress—some other intimate details about her life. Surely those were enough for him to know about her.
    It was then that the odd giddiness prodded some mischief to life inside of her. "I told her you were lousy in bed."
    His mouth opened. Closed.
    "You're welcome," she said before he could speak, even as she wondered, appalled, who this woman was who was talking, and what Johnny would think of her professionalism now.
    "You're so certain I'm thankful?" he asked,