Read Online High Seduction by Vivian Arend - Free Book Online Page A

gets . . . awkward, I want you to leave.”
    He blinked in surprise. “What?”
    â€œI have a good thing here, Tim. With Lifeline. With my friends, and my home. I’m happily established. If things don’t work out, I’m not the one going wheels up this time.”
    â€œYou’re playing hardball.”
    â€œDamn right, I am. I think I deserve that assurance after the crap you pulled years ago.” Erin adjusted herself until her shoulders were submerged again, her chin raised high. Determination in her expression.
    Tim loved it. He didn’t want a woman who would cave in and let him run roughshod over her, no matter what she’d mistakenly thought before. “You have yourself a deal.”
    It didn’t matter that she was back in the heated water, Erin’s shoulders still shook briefly. He liked knowing he affected her that hard.
    â€œI have a request of my own,” Tim added.
    She raised a brow, the exquisite arch making her look positively edible. “And that would be?”
    Tim flipped on the charm to flash his brightest smile. Turned up the accent and gave her a dose of his best Irish-slash-Newfoundland drawl. “Now, kitten, I’d be needing a ride home, if you would.”
    She laughed, then impulsively swooped in and gave him a hug. Tight. Friendly. As nonsexual as the earlier pat on the back he’d received from Tripp. “You are one of a kind, Tim. One of a kind.”

CHAPTER 6

    She took her time getting dressed, partly to mess with him, partly to consider exactly what she’d agreed to.
    This was not a situation to go into without a game plan or she’d end up fucked, and not in the good way.
    It was tempting to phone Alisha and beg for an intervention, but she refused to allow herself to lose control like that. She had been the one to accept his challenge. She could do this.
    If their relationship stayed on the surface, there was no reason she couldn’t slowly work them toward some hot, satisfying sex. The man used to play her like a Stradivarius violin. She could imagine he’d only gotten more talented in the years they’d been apart.
    And frankly, she wanted to know if he was on the level. If he was going to ignore her wishes, whip out his dick and start shaking it like some mighty he-man ruler of them all, she wanted that to show up early in the game.
    Before her heart got involved.
    He was waiting for her outside the pool looking as if he belonged there. Leaning on a railing, his towel under an arm. Legs crossed at the ankle as he stared at the gondola tower on Sulfur Mountain and the mountain valley beyond. He’d tucked most of his dark hair under a knit ski cap, but the ends sticking out had already frozen in the cold temperatures.
    She resisted touching one of the white frosted tufts, pointing instead toward the parking lot. “This way.”
    â€œIt’s a beautiful place, Banff.” Tim took a deep breath as he paced by her side. “I miss the scent of the ocean, but that wind fresh from running over the glaciers is just this side of heaven.”
    â€œI’m in love with the location,” Erin admitted. “The winters are clear and cold, but no matter how brutally frigid it gets, the crystal blue skies are enough of a reward to make me never want to give up living here.”
    Tim settled into the car beside her. “Ever think about traveling the world like we’d talked about when we were young?”
    Erin laughed briefly. “I’d forgotten that. No, I love traveling through Canada. A few places in the U.S. I still want to see, like the Grand Canyon and Joshua Tree, but there’s so much here to explore. I can’t imagine running out of places to play anytime soon.”
    He hummed softly, staring out the window at the cliff face of Mount Rundle as they descended into town.
    Things turned awkward for a moment on her part as she realized she’d used the