Read Online Lethal Exposure by Lori Wilde - Free Book Online Page A

You can’t alter your core. And you, Julie DeMarco, are a good girl.”
    “So what’s the deal? Do you only have sex with wicked women?”
    “I don’t have sex with women who have the potential of falling in love with me. It’s a policy of mine.”
    That made her mad. She pushed back her chair. “You certainly think a lot of your own charm, Mr. Black.”
    “Hey, I’m trying to protect you. Face facts, you’re Cinderella searching for your happily-ever-after ending and I’m no Prince Charming.”
    Julie got to her feet. “You are the most egotistical man I’ve ever met. What on earth makes you think I’d fall in love with someone like you?”
    “You’re a romantic.”
    “You don’t even know me.”
    “You wear pink scrubs with red hearts on them.”
    “And you wear designer suits and Gucci shoes and rent expensive sports cars when you’re out of town. What are you overcompensating for?” She dropped a purposeful glance at his lap, insinuating he was not well-endowed. It was a low blow. She knew it, but she didn’t care.
    “If you’re trying to crush my ego,” he said, getting to his feet, “it won’t work. I’m confident in my masculinity.”
    She snorted and gathered up her purse. This lunch had not turned out the way she’d expected.
    “Julie,” he said.
    She didn’t want to answer him, but politeness forced her to turn back toward him. “Yes?”
    “It’s okay to be yourself. Don’t let other people’s opinions define who you are,” he said.
    “I’m not,” she denied, but that was exactly what she was doing.

    “DO YOU THINK I let other people’s opinions define who I am?” Julie asked Vanessa as they struck a cobra pose on side-by-side yoga mats in the exercise room at Confidential Rejuvenations’ health club. Two days had passed since her humiliating luncheon with Sebastian and she couldn’t stop thinking about him or what he’d said.
    You’re a good girl trying too hard to go bad.
    Well, what was so wrong with trying hard to change things? She was a big believer that if your life wasn’t working, it was up to you to fix it. That’s what she’d been attempting to do when she’d propositioned him.
    “Does this question have anything to do with Sebastian Black?” Vanessa asked, tipping her body in perfect alignment as the instructor told them to push up into downward-facing dog.
    “Why would you ask that?”
    “You’ve been moody ever since your lunch date with him and that’s not like you at all,” Vanessa said on an exhale of air. “What on earth did the man say to get you so agitated?”
    “I’m not agitated,” Julie denied, struggling to keep up as the instructor had them move into warrior pose.
    “Come on, what’d he say?”
    Julie inhaled sharply, out of rhythm with the rest of the class. “He said I let other people define who I am.”
    “This is in response to…”
    “I propositioned him.”
    “You did what!” Cool, smooth Vanessa lost her balance and tumbled over.
    “Is there a problem in the back of the class?” asked the instructor.
    Vanessa waved a hand. “We’re okay.”
    “I asked him if he was interested in a fling with me and he said no.”
    “Ooh, serious ego blow. Did he say why not?”
    “Yeah, he gave me that line about not letting other people define who I am and he said I was a good girl trying too hard to go bad.”
    “He’s got a point.” Vanessa stretched.
    “He said he didn’t want me falling in love with him. As if!”
    Vanessa clicked her tongue. They were both out of step with the rest of the class now. “He’s got you pegged.”
    Julie gave up all pretense at trying to do yoga and sank her hands on her hips. “You don’t think I’m capable of having a no-strings-attached affair?”
    “Come on, you’re the queen of romance. You kept all the homecoming mums from high school, you have a hope chest and a hundred stuffed animals on your bed.”
    “That is a clear exaggeration. I only have four stuffed