Read Online Bringing Down Sam by Leslie Kelly - Free Book Online

she hit puberty and began garnering a great deal of attention. She knew how to handle it.
    Her cool reserve had earned her the reputation as a bitch, but since it was a neat defense to avoid unwanted attention, she hadn't really cared. Well, she hadn't cared what the men thought. The fact that girls, and later women, labeled her the same thing based purely on her appearance had hurt. It hadn't been easy going through her teenage years without a single female friend. Thank God for Leanne, Ruthie and Diana.
     She had to admit this man had her stymied. At times yesterday, and for the first moment when she'd answered the door this evening, she'd seen the admiration in Sam Kenneman's eyes. Against her better judgment she'd reacted to it. The man was just too attractive to completely avoid indulging in just a bit of fantasizing, and he’d definitely popped into her mind when she was lying in the big, lonely bed last night. It was a shame he wasn't merely someone she'd met by chance, so she could see where these mixed feelings and emotions would lead.
    But he wasn't. He was her target, and her mission was to break his heart. That, or prove him to be a fraud—prove a nice guy lurked under the smug, womanizing shell. She’d found herself hoping for that more than she should, given the fact that he was supposed to mean absolutely nothing to her.
    Either way, she was here under false pretenses and it wasn’t like they could possibly have anything real.
    Eve paused as she retrieved two glasses, realizing he'd never answered her question, and glanced toward him. "Well?" she prompted.
    "Well what?"
    "What do you want to drink?
    "I never said I wanted a drink."
    Eve flushed. Score one for the heartthrob. She took a deep breath to control her brief stab of anger, then pasted a languid expression on her face and tried again. "Are you sure I can't tempt you?"
    He never blinked. "I'm sure, Eve. Not interested."
    Hearing his double-meaning, Eve tightened her fingers around her glass. If it had been of a lesser quality, it may well have snapped apart in her hand. It took every ounce of control she had to avoid letting Sam know his barb had struck home.
    “Well, I’m going to have one,” she insisted, knowing she’d need a little liquid fortification. Probably not wise, considering he already had her on her toes, but sipping a cold drink might keep her from saying something she shouldn’t.
    “Help yourself.”
    She did, splashing two fingers full of scotch in a glass, adding soda and ice, and swirling the glass to mix it.
    “So how’s the condo?” he asked, glancing around the room. She could tell by his widened eyes that he was as impressed as she had been.
    “Beautiful, of course. It’s a shame it’s empty most of the time.”
    “Well, maybe if the shoot goes well, you’ll be invited back.”
    “Maybe since you’re one of the ‘Men of the New Millennium’, you should be staying here too,” she said, adding a suggestive breathiness to the already suggestive comment.
    Her intention obviously went over his head, because he chuckled as she walked over and joined him on the smooth leather couch. “This is a little out of my league.”
    Hmm. Maybe now. But judging by the research she’d done, this exclusive lifestyle certainly had been a part of his past. The curiosity was killing her on that subject, but she knew she couldn’t broach it, not without making him wonder why she was so interested in his background.
    “Besides, I thought this was only a one-bedroom place.”
    His silky tone and quick switch-back to what she’d really been suggesting caught her off guard for a second. She sipped her drink in a stall for time.
    “So where do you live when you’re not being put up in luxury by publishers?”
    Grateful he’d given her the chance to change the subject, she blurted out the truth. “About an hour outside town.”
    “This town?” he asked, surprised. “Philadelphia?”
    Wishing she’d just sipped again and