Read Online Hardwired For Ecstasy by Ravenna Tate - Free Book Online

trying to build, and he remarked how one part of it looked
like a steak. She’d laughed and agreed with him.
    “I
love a steak cooked the right way.” He’d given her a sideways glance. “How
about you?”
    “As
long as it’s pink inside, I’m good to go.”
    “Me,
too! We should go out to eat and have steak. Steak and lobster.”
    “Lobsters
are pretty rare.”
    “They’re
very rare, but I know a place in town that has them.”
    “Must
be expensive.”
    “Very,
but I’d still love to take you.”
    She
didn’t say anything. Eating in expensive restaurants was the last thing she
wanted to do. It would remind her of the way Leland had showed off his wealth
all the time. She never did learn how a police captain had so much money.
    “Okay,”
he said. “No expensive restaurants. Got it.”
    She
laughed softly, realizing she’d never answered him. “To be honest, I’d prefer a
picnic in the park downtown over a stuffy restaurant.”
    He
raised his brows. “I think that’s the first time any woman has said that to me.
Okay. Then instead I’ll grill us some perfect medium rare steaks, and we can
eat them on the roof of the building where I live. There’s a mini park up
there.”
    She
rolled her eyes. “Of course there is.”
    The
following day, on Friday of her first week, she was going over preliminary
plans for the construction of a prototype with members of Atticus’s engineering
team. He was supposed to be in the meeting, but he was late. When he came in,
he apologized, saying he’d been stuck in a meeting with the other Weathermen.
    Once
the meeting concluded, he asked Emma to wait a moment, and when everyone else
had left the room, he asked her if she was a hockey fan.
    “I
don’t know. I’ve never seen a game.”
    His
eyes widened. “Are you kidding? The season starts again in a few weeks, and I
have a loge at the arena. Would you like to go to a game with me?”
    Since
it was something she’d never done, she imagined it would be fun, but didn’t
want to commit. There were a hundred reasons why dating Atticus would be
amazing, but she was still wary. She knew once they started, she’d be powerless
under his spell. “Can I think about it and let you know?”
    Disappointment
covered his face, but he tried to hide it by giving her a big smile. “Of
course. We have plenty of time.”
    She
searched the tabloids online every single day but found no evidence that
Atticus was dating anyone. That was unusual. Was he going through a dry spell,
or had they simply not caught him out with anyone lately?
    Emma
watched the other women he came in contact with at work. Most of them flirted
openly with him, but she saw nothing that led her to believe he was secretly dating
any of them. He treated everyone the same. Polite, attentive, and just
flirtatious enough that he didn’t cross any lines. Was he asking other women
out, too? She needed to know, but if she started asking them, it would get back
to him, and it was a juvenile thing to do, at any rate.
    Still,
if she finally decided to take him up on one of his offers, she didn’t want to
be gossiped about, or one of dozens of women he was shuffling. Just because she
didn’t read it in the tabloids didn’t mean it wasn’t happening.
    On
Friday of her second week at work, she decided to so some fishing. It was
killing her working side-by-side with him almost every day. Her hormones were
out of control, and the long, searching looks he gave her unnerved her.
    He’d
given her a few suggestions on her project the day before, and she had finished
showing him the modifications she’d made that morning. She took a deep breath.
    “Do
you have plans this weekend? As for me, I’ve decided it’s time to see this
city. I’m going to take long walks tomorrow and Sunday, and see if I can’t find
something interesting.”
    His
face brightened. “I have no plans at all. Want me to show you around?”
    “No
plans? You’re kidding. I thought the three of you