Read Online Stare Me Down (Stare Down) by Riley Murphy - Free Book Online Page A

until the hook was firmly held into place and she was unable to get free of it. “Sure. I’m binding your hands around the hook.”
    “I can see that. Ow. You’re cutting off my circulation.”
    An actress. It was his lucky day. “No, I’m not.” He stopped and looked at her. Without saying another word, he waited for the telltale blush. When it appeared, he shook his head because for some stupid reason, he really liked it when she blushed. Her eyes got all glassy and sparkled like raindrops in the sun.
    He bent and bit the tape, tearing it before he patted down the edges. “There. Now stand up.” He didn’t wait for her to comply. Instead he helped her and when she was right in front of him—
    “Hey, those are my glasses. I need them.”
    He twisted and tossed them beside the basket on the desk. “For what? Scaring children?” She opened her mouth, and he placed a finger over her lips. “And by children, I mean the male, six-foot-four kind. Are all the men you know frightened away so easily?”
    Her glittering eyes narrowed, and he grinned.
    “Fortunately it takes more than Woody Allan frames and a clipboard to run me off. But even if I were ready to bolt, I wouldn’t be going anywhere. Not until I get my turn. You promised.”
    “You can’t be serious.”
    He stepped toward her, and she automatically stepped back. Nearly falling into the chair, but he caught the hook and pulled her into him until her folded arms were the only things between them. Keeping a grip on her elbows, just in case she decided to use the hook as a weapon, he looked down.
    “I’m very serious. Tell me, why isn’t there a man in your life?”
    When her attempt to disengage failed, she readjusted and put as much distance between them as she could. Which really wasn’t much at all. “Not that it’s any of your business, but there is.”
    He smiled. Every single time she attempted to lie to him, she blushed like a virgin in a whorehouse.
    “I happen to know there isn’t and I want to know why.”
    “I prefer women. The dildo, remember?”
    It wasn’t the words that made him laugh, but the way she announced them. Confident, emphatic and steady, and yet her face turned the color of a bright red chili pepper. Scratch the virgin analogy. A nun in a whorehouse would fit better. Her blush-o-meter was coming in handy. It gave him one less facet of her he had to figure out. Though, why he wanted to figure out anything about her remained a mystery.
    That sobered him. “You preferring women? Is as ridiculous a notion as I only used the duct tape to make geckos.”
    She hissed in a breath and this time really struggled to break free of him. “I knew it. It is bondage tape.”
    “Settle down.” He chuckled and gave her gentle shake. “The quicker you do this, the quicker we’ll be over with my show and tell.”
    She stopped. “But there’s virtually no point to it. We’re done.”
    “You think so? I don’t.”
    She stomped on his foot.
    “Hey, hey. Take it easy. By your own admission, I’m the saner one of the two of us.”
    “But you cheated.”
    “So?”
    “This isn’t right.”
    “You promised.” That second reminder got her attention, so he added more quietly, “It’s my turn. Let me show you.”
    He grasped the hook and pulled it up until it was over her head and her arms bracketed her ears. He didn’t look at her as he knew she was glaring at him. Instead, he made short work of clipping the computer clamps on the front of her blouse.
    She gasped. “How-how dare you?”
    “Oh, relax, would you? They’re clipped to the material, not your skin. And you’re welcome, because I’ve tested these suckers on myself and they have a bite to them.”
    “You-you—”
    “I’m being careful with the silk. See?” He plucked on one of them that pinched the fabric right over a spiked nipple to show her. Ignoring her growl as he let go of it and felt around inside the trunk for the clothes pegs. When he found them, he