Read Online Tempting Mr. Wrong (Wrong Man) by Kerri Carpenter - Free Book Online Page B

dinner. At that moment, Carly made a little noise that sounded like the most appealing thing he’d ever heard. He shifted in his chair, uncomfortable as his pants began to feel snugger. Where in the hell had those thoughts come from? Probably that hug upstairs. She’d definitely surprised him with it.
    Even more surprising was how good it had felt. In his arms, she’d been soft and supple, and even though there was probably almost a foot height difference between them, she seemed to fit just right with him. Not to mention her flowery perfume. Or maybe it was lotion or shampoo or something. He had no idea. All Lance knew was that the woman smelled amazing, and it had taken every ounce of self-control not to take a little bite.
    He spotted a framed photo of Chris on the shelf behind the table. Was it just him or was Chris giving him a hard stare from behind the sterling silver frame? Okay, buddy, I know. She’s your sister.
    Shoveling in a forkful of risotto, Lance almost choked. Holy fuck. The rice was hard as a rock. Had she even cooked this at all? Again, he glanced at his hostess. She reached over and wiped something off Mya’s face, the love emanating from her eyes evident. Lance hung his head and begrudgingly took another bite of rice. He felt like an ass. Carly was young and beautiful, and she’d been thrown into a horrible situation. Not that he considered Mya to be horrible. Quite the opposite, actually. It had shocked him how much he’d enjoyed his afternoon with her.
    But Carly had to do this every single day. Plus, she was finding a job. Not to mention she was taking care of this big house—a house that Lance had started touring with his renovation eye. Chris and Gretchen did a great job with cosmetic fixes. There were a lot of fixes that needed to be made to make sure the old place was safe and secure.
    Carly said something to make Mya laugh. The amusement in her eyes, the flush of her face, combined with her already tempting curves and all that fiery hair, had his stomach clenching.
    Didn’t matter, he cursed himself. The fact remained, he wasn’t sticking around here forever. He still planned to tackle his bucket list, and starting something with any woman would be completely unfair. And this particular woman? She was off-limits. Big time. His gaze flicked up to Chris’s picture again and he gulped. He decided the safest course of action was to choke down more of this shitty food and keep his libido in check.
    “This chicken isn’t good.”
    Apparently, Mya didn’t get the memo on pretending to like Aunt Carly’s food.
    “What?” Carly looked up from her red wine, her eyes widening as she turned to Mya.
    Mya plunked her fork down. “Yucky.”
    At that, Lance snickered. He couldn’t help himself. At Carly’s double take in his direction, he started cracking up. Something about how unaware Carly was to her own inept cooking mixed with the innocent way Mya announced her opinion. This kid was a riot. But when he saw Carly’s face fall, his laughter quickly faded, and his mother’s words replayed in his head.
    Then the worst thing that could ever happen, happened. Carly’s eyes filled with tears. He froze. Lance didn’t do well with tears of any variety, but female tears were definitely a foreign and very scary situation. Mya’s eyes grew huge, and she tugged on her hair.
    “Aunt Carly, what’s wrong?”
    He heard the tremble in Mya’s voice. Oh no. Incoming, more tears. Before he could take action, Carly’s chair scraped against the floor, and she fled toward the back door.
    After the door closed, he and Mya sat there for a few moments. Then Mya looked at him, the picture of innocence. “Is Aunt Carly going to cry? Is she mad at me?”
    He saw her lower lip begin to tremble and sprang into action. He scooped up Mya and held her close. “No, of course not. She loves you too much. She’s just upset because…well, because…”
    “’Cause why?” she mumbled against his