Read Online Private Scandal by Jenna Bayley-Burke - Free Book Online Page A

it seemed options were the only thing she had less of than money.
    She couldn’t leave without her dog, and she couldn’t take him with her. Animals weren’t allowed at her apartment complex and she couldn’t afford any place else. She was as trapped as Wendy from the coffee shop. When she found a way out of this, she’d also find a way for the Carlton Houses to accept pets. Her fundraising abilities had slipped since she’d become persona non grata with the charitable set, but it wouldn’t be like that forever. Now that she knew how desperate and trapped it felt, she’d do whatever it took to make pets an option for the women at the shelters.
    Just like she’d do whatever she had to now to keep Brandon from his new lover, and keep herself with Cash. She hoped that someday the ends would justify the means.
    As the water swirled down the drain with the remains of her stubborn pride, Megan pushed up and stood in the tub, letting the water sluice down her bare body. Even in the dim room, it caught Brandon’s attention immediately.
    She reached for the towel, and then stood up tall, pulling her shoulders back as she started patting her body dry. She could do this because he would make it easy. Just like always, she’d lay out the invitation and he’d be on her before she could say RSVP.
    This was it. The escape hatch from the disaster her life had become. All she had to do was give him an inch and he’d take her all the way back to their old life. But her hands were shaking and her heart was racing and neither was conducive to temptation.
    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, searching for the courage to seduce him. She’d done it countless times before, but then she’d needed nothing from him.
    “Megan?” His tone was low and husky, a sound so familiar and comforting her eyes drifted open. It really was like going back in time as he held out his hand and helped her step out of the tub. The bathmat was soft beneath her feet as she let him take the towel from her hands and slowly, oh so slowly, dry her skin.
    In a few more minutes she might not need the towel. Heat flared within and she figured the water would simply turn to steam. She looked down at Brandon, his broad shoulders and solid chest and desire spiraled within her.
    He’d always oozed sex appeal. It was what had drawn her to him long before she had any chance of being able to handle it. He had a sexual energy that was as tempting as it was intense and overwhelming.
    And it was exactly what she needed.
    As he crouched down to dry her legs, she spread them wider, her skin aware of his every move. His face was shadowed as he looked up at her, a grin curving his full lips. He flung the towel on the floor as he stood.
    As if by magic, he managed to lift her into his arms. On instinct, she wrapped her arms around his neck, the fingers of one hand pushing through the shorn hair at the nape. He carried her into the bedroom and laid her back on the pillows of the bed. He joined her before she could think, nuzzling his face against her throat as his hands caressed her body.
    “Whenever I smell almonds,” he whispered, his hot breath making her squirm, “I think about the time you got that kiddie pool and we slathered each other with bath oil and made love over—” he licked her neck, the scene playing in her head like a movie, “—and over—” he swirled his tongue against her throat as his hands slid up to cover her breasts, “—and over.”
    She moaned and reached for him, the stubble on his face rough against her cheek as she dragged his mouth to hers. She kissed him as if he were water in the middle of the desert.
    She felt exactly as she used to—wild and free and hungry for him.
    She flattened one palm against his chest, feeling the thundering beat of his heart beneath the wall of muscle. He rolled her aching nipples between his fingers and bolts of electricity coursed to her center. Her mouth opened beneath the power of his lips and all