Read Online Girl Gear 4: Striptease by Alison Kent - Free Book Online Page A

back in his chair, squaring an ankle over the opposite knee. He continued his concentrated study of her face. “You know your brother’s habits well, do you?”
    “I should, considering all the years I spent exploiting his weaknesses so I could get my way.” Renata offered a hint of a grin in response to the intensity of his stare. The silence between them thickened as she waited for him to respond to her admission.
    Finally, he did, wiping condensation from his bottle with his thumb before his gaze snagged hers and held. “Is this where I say I like a woman who goes after what she wants?” he asked.
    She touched her tongue to the bow of her upper lip,wondering if he’d just invited her to act on her recent fantasies. Wondering, too, if her eyes had given her away. “Jacob will be the first to tell you that I don’t always get it.”
    “You two sound pretty close,” Aiden said with a curious interest.
    She gave a slight shrug while rotating her bottle on the table. “We fought like crazy, but, yeah, we’re close. Growing up, we were all the other had a lot of the time.”
    Aiden frowned. “Where were your parents?”
    “Working. Traveling. In their case, one and the same.” Funny how he had her admitting things she’d worked half her life to put out of her mind. “It got old, trying to be a kid at the same time I was having to be an adult.”
    “And now you help other kids deal with the same pressures.”
    “Except that the kids I work with are a hell of a lot more grown-up than either Jacob or I had to be at that age.”
    “You’re lucky to have him.”
    “Yeah,” she admitted. “I am.”
    “Listen, Renata.” Aiden leaned forward, his elbows braced on his knees. He gestured with one hand while his longneck dangled between his legs from the fingers of the other. “I don’t want to break up Chloe’s party, but I want to see you. Away from here. Where we can talk without sweating our asses off. Let me take you to dinner.”
    “Tonight?” Her voice didn’t even squeak. Amazing. “Have you seen the amount of food we’re expected to eat this afternoon?”
    “Coffee, then.” He smiled that full-dimple, seductively unnerving smile. “I’ve yet to meet a woman able to turn down Starbucks.”
    She laughed without spilling but a drop or two of giddiness. “We can do that. Or we can wait until tomorrow. I might actually have room for coffee by then.”
    This time he grimaced. “I won’t be here tomorrow. I have a buyer coming to look at a quarter horse at noon. I’m heading home first thing.”
    Heading home. Heading home. Renata wondered if the color she felt draining from her face was visible. “You don’t live in town?”
    He shook his head. “I’m between San Antonio and Austin. Not a lot of room in Houston to raise horses.”
    So the cowboy look wasn’t affected. No wonder he pulled it off so well. “I had no idea.”
    “Good. That means my sister hasn’t given away all of my secrets.”
    “No. She hasn’t.” But it sure would’ve been nice if Chloe had at least pointed out how far away Aiden lived. “Actually, she didn’t even mention that you’d be here today.”
    “I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get away.” He reached again for Renata’s hand, cupping her fingers into his palm and stroking their length with his thumb. “But I’m damn glad I made the effort.”
    “So am I.” And she was, even if his revelation had shifted the dynamics of where they’d been headed. Moments ago she’d been intrigued by the possibilities. Now she knew they’d never share more than this physical attraction.
    And that was fine. Better to know where she stood than to fall head over heels for a man who wouldn’t be lying next to her in bed at the end of a long hardday. After so many years alone with only Jacob on her side, she’d vowed never to suffer a long-distance relationship.
    But she wouldn’t say no to having a little cowboy fun from time to time. “And, yes. Thank you.