Read Online Her Secret Thrill by Donna Kauffman - Free Book Online Page B

she’d better pick up some extra batteries for her vibrator.

6
    N ATALIE STARED at the one outfit she’d brought for Liza’s party and found herself wishing she’d opted for something less…clingy. She’d worn “clingy” the last time she’d gone to one of Liza’s shindigs, and look where that had landed her.
    She snatched the silky, ruby-red dress off the hanger and slid it over her head. It felt like sin sliding over her skin. She told herself it was the extreme fatigue that made her skin feel the way it did, overly sensitized to every little touch or caress. Well, anyone would be edgy after two days of brain-frying debate, she told herself. She allowed herself a private little victory smile as she stepped into her heels. Even Harwood would be impressed with the results she’d gotten today.
    â€œNow it’s time to party!” She ducked into the bathroom and checked her makeup one last time. Not her best, but at least two degrees better than the whipped-puppy look she’d been sporting earlier, so she was happy enough.
    She managed to not think about Jake all the way to the lobby—only a five-minute trip total, but it was astart. Then she passed the concierge desk and paused. Again. As she had every time she’d passed it during her stay. And once again she wondered if she should leave a message at Jake’s hotel. She’d resisted every other time. But now she was less than twenty-four hours from leaving the city. The city he was in. Who knew when their paths might cross again? Although, if by some miracle Liza kept seeing Conrad, it could happen, and when Natalie least expected it.
    Maybe it was best if they met under her terms. With such a short time before her departure, it was unlikely he’d have time for anything more than coffee. And the more she thought about it, that might be the perfect end point for her little escapade with him.
    If she saw him this one last time, she would be able to put this whole thing in its proper perspective and stop fantasizing about the guy every other minute. After all, the last time she had seen him he’d been sprawled in bed wearing nothing more than a sexy grin. Maybe she just needed to see him out in public, clothes on. Sexy grin optional.
    So what if the one and only time she’d seen him they’d ended up having wild passionate sex…wild passionate sex he’d asked her to have again. Certainly she could manage one innocent little cup of closure coffee without succumbing to her baser urges again. Baser urges she hadn’t even known she’d had until—
    â€œOh, for heaven’s sake.” She marched up to the concierge and snatched a piece of paper, scribbling her note before she lost her nerve.
    Dear Jake. I’m in town briefly and wondered if you’d like to meet me for a quick hello and a cupof coffee at my hotel tomorrow afternoon. Best, Natalie
    She folded the note, wrote the name of the hotel and his name on the front, and slid it across the counter. The concierge barely had his fingers on the edges when she slid it back again. “Wait a minute.” She read the note over and wrote a new one, scratching out the word quick. Too close to quickie. She also changed the part about meeting at her hotel. Or any hotel. Best not to tempt fate by having available beds too close at hand. She ignored the fact that that hadn’t stopped them last time, and shoved the new note across the desk. “Can you deliver this tonight?”
    He nodded, and she slid him a tip for his trouble, then left the hotel with very damp palms and…well, damp everything. “It’s only coffee,” she murmured as she got into her cab. He might not even respond to her note.
    Â 
    â€œO H GOD ,” she whispered under her breath when she returned from Liza’s several hours later to find the message light blinking on her phone. Jake. It had to be. She picked up the phone with