depleted to the point where she was stuck in this dump until she could save enough to move back home. Her mom’s short but valiant battle with ovarian cancer had wiped out her own and Toni’s savings. And her ex-boyfriend John deciding to dump her while she was still struggling to get her investigation business off the ground hadn’t helped.
Still, she couldn’t hold John entirely responsible for the emotional and financial disasters she’d suffered recently. She was the one who’d been itching for a change, who yearned for a life outside her cubicle. And when he had offered her an escape to a new life in sunny California, Toni had jumped at the chance. Her knight in shining Prius.
She should have learned from her mother’s experience that depending on a man for anything was a recipe for misery. She’d always been so careful not to leave herself vulnerable. In work and in love, she’d always been careful and cautious, always choosing the safest route, ignoring the little voices inside her that clamored for more passion and excitement.
Until the one time she’d taken a chance in her boring, rule-following life, and look where it got her. Nearly broke in a crummy apartment that looked even worse as she saw it through Ethan’s eyes.
But she hardly needed to justify her living situation to him, especially when he was the one who had barged in on her. Speaking of which, “How did you know where I live, anyway? My information is unlisted.”
He turned and smiled, the hard angles of his face thrown into stark relief by the fluorescent lights of her kitchen. “Toni, I’m a private investigator. How do you think I found out?”
Anger settled like a hot weight in her chest. Toni was by nature an intensely private person, not prone to sharing her personal information or—God forbid—feelings with someone she barely knew. She wasn’t hiding any big skeletons, but the thought of anyone, especially Ethan Taggart, snooping into her business pissed her off.
“How much do you know?” she demanded.
“Worried that I came across some deep, dark secret?” he taunted.
“How much?” she repeated, her hand itching to smack the self-satisfied smirk off his face.
“For a woman who makes a living digging into other people’s lives, you sure are defensive.”
“The irony is not lost on me,” she snapped.
“Relax, Toni, I only have the information available on a standard background check. I wanted to see who I was getting into bed with,” he said with a wink.
“I didn’t have you checked out,” she said, though she saw his point.
“Maybe you should have,” he shot back. “So, you want to tell me what you’ve found out so far?”
Ethan could see Toni trying to keep a rein on her temper. He’d caught her off guard, and she didn’t like it. He’d given her a hard time about her casual-bordering-on-sloppy attire, but he found it almost as sexy as if she’d opened the door wearing something from Victoria’s Secret.
Her outfit revealed nothing and everything. Her T-shirt was gray, worn thin from hundreds of washings. It clung to the high, round curves of her breasts in a way that made his palms itch.
He forced his eyes away from the perfectly cuppable curves emblazoned with the slogan “Property of the MIT Computer Science Department” and his eyes slid lower as she walked into the minuscule kitchen off the entryway and reached into a cabinet for two glasses. His mouth went dry as he recognized his mistake. He’d noticed her legs immediately, and they looked even better bare. Sleek with firm, muscled calves and nicely defined thighs. Thighs he could almost feel clamped around his hips as he rode her long and hard. Her skin was smooth, pale, tempting him to run his tongue along every inch.
Even her feet were nice, narrow and slender, toes painted a surprising hot pink with a little white flower design. Who would have pegged Toni as a fancy-pedicure type? Heat flooded his groin as he imagined
Still, she couldn’t hold John entirely responsible for the emotional and financial disasters she’d suffered recently. She was the one who’d been itching for a change, who yearned for a life outside her cubicle. And when he had offered her an escape to a new life in sunny California, Toni had jumped at the chance. Her knight in shining Prius.
She should have learned from her mother’s experience that depending on a man for anything was a recipe for misery. She’d always been so careful not to leave herself vulnerable. In work and in love, she’d always been careful and cautious, always choosing the safest route, ignoring the little voices inside her that clamored for more passion and excitement.
Until the one time she’d taken a chance in her boring, rule-following life, and look where it got her. Nearly broke in a crummy apartment that looked even worse as she saw it through Ethan’s eyes.
But she hardly needed to justify her living situation to him, especially when he was the one who had barged in on her. Speaking of which, “How did you know where I live, anyway? My information is unlisted.”
He turned and smiled, the hard angles of his face thrown into stark relief by the fluorescent lights of her kitchen. “Toni, I’m a private investigator. How do you think I found out?”
Anger settled like a hot weight in her chest. Toni was by nature an intensely private person, not prone to sharing her personal information or—God forbid—feelings with someone she barely knew. She wasn’t hiding any big skeletons, but the thought of anyone, especially Ethan Taggart, snooping into her business pissed her off.
“How much do you know?” she demanded.
“Worried that I came across some deep, dark secret?” he taunted.
“How much?” she repeated, her hand itching to smack the self-satisfied smirk off his face.
“For a woman who makes a living digging into other people’s lives, you sure are defensive.”
“The irony is not lost on me,” she snapped.
“Relax, Toni, I only have the information available on a standard background check. I wanted to see who I was getting into bed with,” he said with a wink.
“I didn’t have you checked out,” she said, though she saw his point.
“Maybe you should have,” he shot back. “So, you want to tell me what you’ve found out so far?”
Ethan could see Toni trying to keep a rein on her temper. He’d caught her off guard, and she didn’t like it. He’d given her a hard time about her casual-bordering-on-sloppy attire, but he found it almost as sexy as if she’d opened the door wearing something from Victoria’s Secret.
Her outfit revealed nothing and everything. Her T-shirt was gray, worn thin from hundreds of washings. It clung to the high, round curves of her breasts in a way that made his palms itch.
He forced his eyes away from the perfectly cuppable curves emblazoned with the slogan “Property of the MIT Computer Science Department” and his eyes slid lower as she walked into the minuscule kitchen off the entryway and reached into a cabinet for two glasses. His mouth went dry as he recognized his mistake. He’d noticed her legs immediately, and they looked even better bare. Sleek with firm, muscled calves and nicely defined thighs. Thighs he could almost feel clamped around his hips as he rode her long and hard. Her skin was smooth, pale, tempting him to run his tongue along every inch.
Even her feet were nice, narrow and slender, toes painted a surprising hot pink with a little white flower design. Who would have pegged Toni as a fancy-pedicure type? Heat flooded his groin as he imagined
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