Read Online Take Me Tonight by Roxanne St. Claire - Free Book Online Page A

What happened?”
    “Actually, things got a little screwed up,” Sage admitted. “The guy who’s supposed to save you—”
    “He’s called the rescuer.”
    “Yeah, well, mine was a little overanxious, so I didn’t get a chance to talk to anyone but him. And he didn’t know her.”
    “Oh.” Ashley drew the word out. “So did you get any, you know, special treatment?”
    Sage cursed the warmth that rushed to her face. “Not really.”
    “Come on,” Ashley said, nudging her with an elbow. “You can tell me.”
    “There’s nothing to tell,” she said. “I think it might have been a stupid way to try to get information. Anyway, I have another idea.”
    “Really?” Ashley’s eyes widened in interest. “What’s that?”
    “I’m going to repitch the idea of a story about the website to the editor at Boston Living . I think a press badge can get me an insider’s view. That’s where I’m going now.”
    “To the company that runs the site?”
    “No, the magazine headquarters. I can’t get to a human being at the company.” Though apparently her aunt had.
    “Good idea. I hope it gets you what you need,” Ashley said doubtfully.
    “You know, except for you, none of the other girls on the dance team will return my calls. Even Vivian, and she was good friends with Keisha. The only thing I know that changed in her life was this fantasy kidnapping, and I’m not even sure she went through with it.”
    The train pulled into Government Center and wrenched to a halt.
    “What makes you think she didn’t go through with it?” Ashley asked.
    There was no way to explain that her aunt was a former spook who could find out anything about anybody. “Just a hunch,” she said, gathering her purse. “I gotta transfer here. Thanks again for helping me ditch that guy.”
    “No problem. I’m an expert on creep evasion.” She grinned and tucked her legs up so Sage could climb out of the seat. As she passed, Ashley squeezed her hand. “Let me know if you decide to give that site a shot again.”
    Sage nodded and then drew in a little breath when an idea took hold. “Do you know if you can request a specific rescuer for a second time?”
    Ashley’s green eyes lit with her teasing smile. “Liked him, did you?”
    Let her think that. “I wouldn’t mind finding him again. You know how?”
    Ashley shrugged. “I guess you could just put in a request for…” She poked a playful finger at Sage’s arm. “Don’t tell me. Slade?”
    Sage shook her head.
    “Dusty?”
    For some unfathomable reason, she couldn’t bring herself to say his name and dump him in that group. Even though he belonged there.
    Ashley playfully tugged the end of Sage’s pink scarf. “Come on. Tell me. Was it Thorpe? Did he do the blindfold thing?”
    Sage just smiled, but the little undercurrent of desperation in Ashley’s tone made her heart hurt. Why were some girls so enchanted by this? The whole thing turned her stomach. “To be honest, my guy just cooked.”
    Ashley thudded back on the vinyl seat, screwing up her pretty features. “Really?”
    “Yep.” Sage gave her an exaggerated shrug. “Just my luck, huh?” She stepped through the door just before it suctioned closed.
    Eric Zellman rushed into the conference room, whipped out a chair, and threw himself into it, his expression drawn with stress, his skin the pallor of most New Englanders’ in early April: somewhere between pasty and gray.
    “Sage, I got four minutes. I’m giving them to you.”
    “Then, I’ve got four words for you. The face of takemetonite.com.” She frowned. “Does that count as four?”
    He leaned forward. “Listen, I need a cover story that will shatter newsstand records, or we are living the last year of Boston Living. I need something better than some girlie website.”
    “The last year of the magazine? Seriously?”
    He fell back on the chair with a drama queen sigh. “We are so going under. The Internet is killing us. Vanity Fair is killing