Read Online Prescription: Makeover by Jessica Andersen - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jessica Andersen
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don’t include her.” The very thought clutched an acid burn beneath his heart.
“You got that right.” Max nodded, expression darkening. “She’s always been a bit of a bulldog, but when Zed died…it changed her. She’s harder now, more reckless than ever.”
“Great,” William muttered, though Max’s words only confirmed what he’d already figured out on his own. “That’s just what I need. A kamikaze. Well, she’d better know who’s in charge. If she thinks —”
A buzz from the outer room interrupted him, announcing visitors. With no clients scheduled, they’d locked the doors and turned on the intercom.
“That’ll be Ike and Stephen,” Max said, hitting the door release after a quick glance at the clock on William’s computer monitor. “He said they’d be here around lunchtime.”
A fist of nerves buried itself in William’s gut alongside something more, something hotter and more dangerous. He covered his reaction, tucking his hands in his pants pockets and nodding to the door. “Okay, let’s go see what they’ve come up with.”
Part of him hoped the disguise was a failure, giving him an excuse to pull the plug on her undercover aspirations. But the rest of him knew they didn’t have a workable plan B. At the moment, she was their best hope.
He left the office and headed down the hall toward the lobby, where a man’s low-pitched rumble was followed by the soft tinkle of a woman’s laughter. Stephen stood in the office lobby, his bulk making the space seem even smaller than usual. Near him, an unfamiliar woman stood with her back to the hallway, giving William a moment to take in the long honey-colored hair falling to the small of her back, the fitted white shirt and softly flowing flower-printed skirt and the shapely ankles and delicate feet strapped into embroidered sandals. For a moment he thought Raine had done something new with her hair.
Then she turned, and his breath froze in his chest.
Ike’s heart-shaped face was framed by a gentle waterfall of light-colored hair and perfectly accented with a hint of makeup. Her brown eyes were soft and liquid, and her lips were moist and color-kissed, curved in a half smile.
Lust avalanched through him, vaporizing his blood in his veins and tightening his flesh with a primal male response that simply said,
mine.
Shocked by his own reaction, William shook his head to clear it. “Ike?”
He expected her eyes to harden and her lips to form the familiar edgy smirk. Instead she tilted her head so her hair fell free of her ears, where tasteful pearl earrings gleamed, one on each lobe. “I’m sorry, you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Eleanor Roth.”
She held out her hand, and though there was nothing defiant in her expression or body language, the air between them crackled with an unspoken challenge.
William crossed the room on legs that had gone suspiciously shaky. Before he could process the impulse or stop himself, he lifted her hand and kissed it.
O H MY . I KE LOOKED down at William’s bowed head and felt a shimmer of wholly feminine warmth at the touch of his lips and the faint scrape of masculine stubble.
Don’t get too caught up in the role,
she told herself quickly, fighting to bank the heat that threatened to gather in her core.
It’s not real. None of this is real.
She pulled her hand away and reminded herself to keep her eyes soft as she glanced from William to Max. They both looked dazed, as though they’d been hit with the same blunt object.
Irritation flared. Just like the secret admirer back at Boston General who’d sent her flowers along with the suggestion that she should make more of an effort with her appearance, William and Max seemed transfixed by the sight of her in a dress.
Give a man a girlie girl in a skirt and he’s ready to trip over his tongue,
she thought bitterly.
Give him a strong woman who knows how to stand up for herself and he trips over his own feet running
“You got that right.” Max nodded, expression darkening. “She’s always been a bit of a bulldog, but when Zed died…it changed her. She’s harder now, more reckless than ever.”
“Great,” William muttered, though Max’s words only confirmed what he’d already figured out on his own. “That’s just what I need. A kamikaze. Well, she’d better know who’s in charge. If she thinks —”
A buzz from the outer room interrupted him, announcing visitors. With no clients scheduled, they’d locked the doors and turned on the intercom.
“That’ll be Ike and Stephen,” Max said, hitting the door release after a quick glance at the clock on William’s computer monitor. “He said they’d be here around lunchtime.”
A fist of nerves buried itself in William’s gut alongside something more, something hotter and more dangerous. He covered his reaction, tucking his hands in his pants pockets and nodding to the door. “Okay, let’s go see what they’ve come up with.”
Part of him hoped the disguise was a failure, giving him an excuse to pull the plug on her undercover aspirations. But the rest of him knew they didn’t have a workable plan B. At the moment, she was their best hope.
He left the office and headed down the hall toward the lobby, where a man’s low-pitched rumble was followed by the soft tinkle of a woman’s laughter. Stephen stood in the office lobby, his bulk making the space seem even smaller than usual. Near him, an unfamiliar woman stood with her back to the hallway, giving William a moment to take in the long honey-colored hair falling to the small of her back, the fitted white shirt and softly flowing flower-printed skirt and the shapely ankles and delicate feet strapped into embroidered sandals. For a moment he thought Raine had done something new with her hair.
Then she turned, and his breath froze in his chest.
Ike’s heart-shaped face was framed by a gentle waterfall of light-colored hair and perfectly accented with a hint of makeup. Her brown eyes were soft and liquid, and her lips were moist and color-kissed, curved in a half smile.
Lust avalanched through him, vaporizing his blood in his veins and tightening his flesh with a primal male response that simply said,
mine.
Shocked by his own reaction, William shook his head to clear it. “Ike?”
He expected her eyes to harden and her lips to form the familiar edgy smirk. Instead she tilted her head so her hair fell free of her ears, where tasteful pearl earrings gleamed, one on each lobe. “I’m sorry, you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Eleanor Roth.”
She held out her hand, and though there was nothing defiant in her expression or body language, the air between them crackled with an unspoken challenge.
William crossed the room on legs that had gone suspiciously shaky. Before he could process the impulse or stop himself, he lifted her hand and kissed it.
O H MY . I KE LOOKED down at William’s bowed head and felt a shimmer of wholly feminine warmth at the touch of his lips and the faint scrape of masculine stubble.
Don’t get too caught up in the role,
she told herself quickly, fighting to bank the heat that threatened to gather in her core.
It’s not real. None of this is real.
She pulled her hand away and reminded herself to keep her eyes soft as she glanced from William to Max. They both looked dazed, as though they’d been hit with the same blunt object.
Irritation flared. Just like the secret admirer back at Boston General who’d sent her flowers along with the suggestion that she should make more of an effort with her appearance, William and Max seemed transfixed by the sight of her in a dress.
Give a man a girlie girl in a skirt and he’s ready to trip over his tongue,
she thought bitterly.
Give him a strong woman who knows how to stand up for herself and he trips over his own feet running
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