Read Online She Who Dares, Wins by Candace Havens - Free Book Online Page A

it.
    Jumping up again, she paced the room. If she hadn’t been worried about leaving the professor alone, she would have gone to the gym to work out her frustrations on a punching bag.
    â€œKatie?”
    The professor’s voice startled her, and she turned to face him. She thought he’d been asleep for at least an hour. He’d wrapped the towel around his hips, whereit hung low. She followed the small patch of hair just below his navel.
    â€œYes?” Her voice sounded husky with need.
    â€œCome to bed.”

8
    â€œI ’M NOT HAVING this conversation with you again.” Katie planted her feet firmly on the carpet. He liked her this way—her defenses on high alert, ready for a challenge. She didn’t seem to notice it, but she’d pulled her shoulders back and her cheeks had turned a light shade of pink.
    It was charming and hot all wrapped up in one beautiful package.
    Mac stayed in the doorway, but held up a hand to stop the tirade he knew was coming.
    â€œYou’re fired,” he said softly.
    The shock on her face was priceless.
    â€œYou—what?” Her words stumbled as she fought to understand what he’d said.
    â€œI no longer want you to protect me. Now may I come to bed?”
    Katie waved both hands. “Now, wait a minute. First of all—” she ticked a finger “—I was hired by the dean, so you can’t fire me. And second, what do you think you’re doing? We slept together once—a one-night stand. I realize that is a difficult concept for you, but there isn’tgoing to be any more, Professor. You tricked me once, but it won’t happen again.”
    Mac bit the inside of his lip to keep from smiling.
    Clearing his throat, he ticked off a finger in the same manner she had. “First of all—” he repeated her words “—I’m more than happy to call the dean right now and tell him that I’m not happy with his choice of a bodyguard. That I would feel more comfortable with a male.”
    He knew that would get her.
    â€œWhat a sexist!” Her voice rose several octaves, and the color on her cheeks deepened. “I can’t believe you would say something so chauvinistic. I’m the best there is, buddy. I’ve been here twenty-four hours and without the opportunity to speak to even one person I’ve narrowed down the suspects to ten, out of the hundred or so the dean had listed. You saw what I can do in those videos, and you know you are perfectly safe with me.”
    Mac leaned to the right and crossed his arms against his chest. “I have no doubt my life is absolutely safe in your hands, Katie. I never said you can’t do your job or that you aren’t excellent at it. I said I want to sleep with you again. And I know you want me, too. You have rules about that, and I respect those rules and you. So I’m offering this compromise. You’re fired.”
    â€œArgh. You are such an arrogant—”
    â€œJerk.” He completed the sentence for her. “You value the truth above all else, right?”
    â€œYes,” she said suspiciously.
    â€œSo stand there and tell me that you don’t want me. That you don’t want to experience what we had last night again, because it was special. You know it as well as I do.”
    She gave him a look of derision. “You have a very high opinion of yourself.”
    â€œNo,” Mac said seriously. “I have a very high opinion of you. Of the pleasure we can give one another. Answer my question, Katie. It’s simple. Do you want me?”
    â€œProfessor, go to bed. I have work to do.” She turned away from him, moving toward the French doors leading to the terrace. She pulled the handles, checking the locks. He’d already watched her do it once a few minutes ago. Though she hadn’t noticed him.
    â€œIt’s twenty-eight degrees outside, with the worst blizzard in recorded history. No one is