Read Online The Sex Solution by Kimberly Raye - Free Book Online

he turned to find himself staring into Maddie’s greener-than-green eyes.
    “Why, it’s little Maddie Hale,” Miss Marshalyn exclaimed. “How nice!”
    “Madeline,” she corrected. “And it’s nice to see you, too, Miss Marshalyn.” She smiled at Austin. “I think they’re playing our song.”
    The same slow, sweet waltz that had poured from the speakers at Cherry Blossom Junction filled the small hall, and a surge of heat went through him.
    “Go on.” Miss Marshalyn nudged him. “You shouldn’t keep a lady waiting. Particularly the lady who helped you ace your algebra final. Besides, I see your younger brother is in sore need of some guidance right now.”
    Before Austin could protest, she made a beeline for Houston, who stood in the far corner talking to a very tall brunette wearing a very skimpy dress.
    “Why, that Missy Donovan gets around more than Bud the mailman,” Miss Marshalyn’s voice carried over her shoulder. “She’s the last sort of woman that boy should be wasting his time with….”
    “She gives good advice,” Maddie said, once Miss Marshalyn was out of earshot. “If I were you, I’d take it. Come on and dance.”
    He eyed her up and down. “You’re not a lady anymore.”
    “Really?” Damned if she didn’t look excited at the prospect.
    His gaze narrowed. “A lady doesn’t ask a man to kiss her after just one dance.”
    “It wasn’t one dance. It was half a dance, and I didn’t ask you to kiss me. I told you to kiss me.”
    “What is it with you?”
    “What do you mean?”
    He shook his head, plopped his cake plate on the table and ushered her off to a far corner of the room. He hauled her behind a large potted palm draped in white tulle and turned on her. “You’re a completely different person.”
    Her face brightened. “You really think so?”
    “You used to be so…nice.”
    “Nice girls finish last.”
    “At least they finish.” His jaw clenched. “Do you know how dangerous it is to go around kissing strange men?”
    “You’re not strange.” Her eyes danced. “Then again, maybe you are. There aren’t too many normal, red-blooded men who would turn down a kiss with a willing woman.”
    “Is that so?”
    “Which tells me that maybe you’ve shifted your focus from totally hot women to totally hot—”
    “I like women,” he cut in. “I like them just fine.”
    “Then what’s the problem?”
    “The problem is, I’ve got priorities, and kissing isn’t one of them. I intend to settle down.”
    “With who?”
    “I haven’t decided yet.”
    She stared at him as if he’d grown an extra eye in the middle of his forehead. “It must be something in the water.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Uncle Spur’s set on settling down, too, and intent on finding himself a wife in the next two days.”
    “For a man to think he can find a wife in two days is crazy.”
    “Finally the voice of reason.”
    “He needs at least two weeks, which is how long I’ve got until Miss Marshalyn’s going-away party.”
    She gave him a look of bewilderment and disbelief and then shook her head resignedly. “So how about a dance in the meantime?”
    “I don’t think that would be such a good idea.”
    She arched an eyebrow at him. “Afraid you won’t be able to control yourself?”
    “If memory serves me, you wanted to kiss me during that dance. Hell, the dancing was probably just a front to move in for the kill.”
    “Actually, the dancing was for real. It was part of Who’s the Baddest Babe?—this game we played last night at the bachelorette party. I had to pick a hot man, dance with him and kiss him in order to get fifty points. I lost because of you.”
    And the game’s over now, Madeline told herself. She’d lost to Sarah and paid the price by picking up Uncle Spur. She had nothing more to gain by pursuing Austin Jericho.
    Except the kiss that should have been hers over twelve years ago when they’d stood near the concession stand. Before she’d