Read Online The Last Man on Earth by Tracy Anne Warren - Free Book Online

if you know what I mean.”
    Madelyn shook her head. “You are completely shameless.”
    “Of course I am. It’s the only way to go.”
    They shared a grin.
    “I suppose there’s no point in my telling you to be careful?” Madelyn asked.
    “Me?”
Feigning astonishment, Peg raised a hand to her fine display of cleavage. “I’m always careful. I just make sure it doesn’t interfere with my fun.”
    There was a quiet movement in the hallway.
    Madelyn swung her head toward the sound. “Todd? What are you still doing here?”
    Todd March, a lanky, dark-haired young man who didn’t look old enough to have a paper route let alone a position as a copywriter, came to the doorway. His eyes moved instantly to Peg and riveted there like he was an adoring puppy.
    The object of his adoration opened her purse, searched through it. Oblivious to her audience, she pulled out a lipstick and applied it to her lips, painting them a ripe cherry red. Smacking them together to set the stain, she checked the result with a compact mirror.
    Madelyn repeated Todd’s name twice before he transferred his attention to her. She asked him again why he was still at work.
    “W-wallet,” he said, finally finding his voice. “I f-forgot my wallet. And now I’ve missed my train.”
    “Oh, how awful. Is there another one soon?” Madelyn asked.
    “Not for a while. Thought I’d come back and hang around here for a couple of hours. I hate taking the bus.”
    “Everyone hates taking the bus.” Peg snapped her purse closed. “Bruno and I were going to splurge on a cab. You’re welcome to share if you’re going that way. Where do you live?”
    Stuttering only twice, Todd spit out the address.
    “That’s perfect,” Peg said. “Come on, I’ve got to get out of here. You too, Colonel Grayson. Time for all the troops to head home, even those in charge.”
    “I’ve just got a couple more—”
    “You’ve always got a couple more.” Peg picked up Madelyn’s briefcase and purse and held them out to her. “Whatever it is, it can wait. Todd, lights out.”
    Dutifully, he did as he was told.
    It wasn’t until Madelyn was in her car driving home that she realized Peg had been right to hustle her out. Stalling—that’s what she’d been doing. Using work as an excuse to take her mind off what she was about to begin tomorrow with Zack Douglas. Or rather what she was about to continue, she amended, remembering New Year’s Eve.
    What did she think she was doing getting involved in a torrid office affair? She, who had been with only two other men in her entire life.
    Her first was in college, a guy named Brice. He’d been a self-centered creep who’d revealed his true colors after a handful of dates and one miserable night crushed under him in a narrow twin bed.
    Her second was James, a caring and considerate lover. Sex with him had always been satisfying and sweet. Not the wild, mind-numbing tempest, the animal hunger, she’d shared with Zack.
    She must be crazy. Crazy in lust, she decided ruefully.
    Despite the path her hormones were practically shoving her down, she knew she should call off her rendezvous with him before she got in too deep.
    As her mother was always pointing out, she wasn’t getting any younger. If she had any hope of finding her one right mate, the man who would complete her, body, mind, and soul, who would share her life and make a family with her to last all their days, shouldn’t she be out searching for him? Instead of wasting her time with Zack?
    On the other hand, maybe it was time to borrow a page or two out of Peg’s book, learn to walk on the wild side. Simply live and enjoy herself for once in her life.
    She’d never been given to impulse, content to do her chores and her studies. Satisfied to accept responsibility, driven to prove herself and succeed, both as a child and as an adult. Her parents hadn’t insisted; it had been all her. A quirk of her nature. Doing things strictly for fun had never been one