Read Online Silk Confessions by Joanne Rock - Free Book Online Page B

take him to task for it, instead turning her attention to his hand. “Neat tattoo.”
    He stared down at the green ivy snaking around his wrist. “It was a good save.”
    “A save?” She wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean?”
    “I tattooed an old girlfriend’s name on my wrist and came to regret it when she cheated on me with another guy. But I went back to the shop and the artist managed to transform ‘Belinda’ into a chain of ivy.” He’d actually asked for poison ivy at the time, using a twenty-two-year-old’s logic that tying yourself to a woman was the equivalent of a bad rash. Luckily, the tattoo lady had ignored him and produced something a little tamer.
    Being a horticultural nimrod, Wes didn’t even know he’d gotten English ivy instead of the poison variety until a year later.
    “Can you imagine?” Tempest shook her head, her brown curls hopping around her shoulders. “How couldanyone be so greedy to need two men at once? I never understood the rationale behind cheating. If you want out of a relationship, just tell the other person. Is that so hard?”
    “Careful, lady, or I’ll start thinking you’re harboring a big store of loyalty and faithfulness and all those things you assured me I could only find in a canine.”
    “I mold penises for a living, remember?” Her teasing tone made it clear she didn’t want any part of a serious conversation. “You can’t trust a woman who hunts down naked men to model for her.”
    He knew damn well she was yanking his chain. What could it hurt to yank back?
    “Really?” Rising, he reached for the hem of his T-shirt. “I’ve been looking for an excuse to get naked with you. Why don’t you give me your professional opinion?”
    He waited for her to say no. Stop. Keep your clothes on. Anything. But as his T-shirt hit the floor and his hands reached for the button on his jeans, he wondered if maybe Tempest Boucher hadn’t been bluffing at all.
    She watched him in fascinated silence—hell, he hoped it was fascinated and not horrified—her eyes lingering on every inch of exposed skin. And suddenly, blood whooshed through him so fast he was halfway to having a heart attack and an erection that would be evident from two miles away.
    Damnation. What kind of stupid-ass idiot started peeling off his clothes around a woman he hardly knew? A woman he really wanted?
    Her avid gaze fell to the hard-on that could have been a circus attraction. Eyes going wide, she yanked her attention up to his face, cheeks flushed.
    “I don’t really hire naked models,” she informed him, breathless. Coming to her feet, she tucked strand after strand of brown hair behind her ear.
    “It’s okay, I don’t charge.” He found himself stepping closer, incapable of exerting the effort required to keep his distance any longer. The circus erection had only gotten larger when those honey-brown eyes of hers caressed him.
    Perhaps the size of his member should have alerted him to the fact that blood was no longer flowing to his brain. But then, his thinking was seriously impaired.
    “Speaking strictly from a creative standpoint, I’m impressed.” The single pearl she wore around her neck rose and fell with every rapid breath.
    “What about from a personal standpoint?” He stopped an inch away from her, breathing in her scent, which he’d begun to recognize as almond.
    He wouldn’t step any closer without some sort of invitation. A sign.
    “Personally speaking?” Now that her hair had been firmly tucked behind her ear, she pulled a strand forward and twisted it around her finger. “I might need more information before I can form an opinion.”
    “Ask away.” He didn’t mean to lean forward, but he must have—or she must have—because the soft fabric of her long, cotton dress brushed his chest.
    His eyes crossed at the contact, her lush breasts tempting him beyond reason.
    Still, she held back. She bit her lip as she seemed to struggle with her thoughts, her face a