Body Heat. Adrianne Byrd

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СКАЧАТЬ tells you that they only have twenty-four hours to live. “Okay. Break a leg, kid.”

      Nikki took off toward Crystal’s dressing room—a janitor’s closet—and quickly changed her clothes. As bad luck would have it, Crystal was a size smaller than Nikki and she was forced to cram her size eight hips into a size six dress.

      It wasn’t pretty.

      She quickly tunneled her fingers through her hair to give it a very tousled and unkempt look, grabbed her antique hot comb prop, and then had to waddle like a penguin on crack back toward the stage. Standing stage left, Nikki took a deep breath and then waved frantically at her sister to let her know to wrap up her rambling speech.

      Barbara brightened with relief. “And now…on with the show!”

      There was a respectable applause as Barbara curtsied her way off the stage.

      Nikki started praying and she kept on praying well after the house lights dimmed and the curtains parted.

      The last thing in the world Hylan Dawson wanted to do was to go to a play—especially one entitled Hot Comb & Hair Grease. This artsy-fartsy stuff was never his thing. Nevertheless, one of his New York playmates, Shonda, was calling herself an actress these days and she kept insisting on dragging him from one bad production to another. It was a high price to pay to get into her Victoria’s Secrets, but a man had to do what a man had to do.

      Shonda squeezed his hand as the house lights dimmed. “I’m so excited. My friend Crystal is the lead actress,” she boasted in a low whisper. “I just know that you’re going to love her.”

      Oh joy. Hylan smiled to camouflage his despair. If this Crystal chick’s acting was as bad as Shonda’s then he was truly in for a very long night. He turned his attention to the stage, drew a deep breath and prepared himself for anything.

      Well, almost anything.

      A woman waddled out on stage in a dress so tight he swore the entire front row could hear the seams screaming. Hylan didn’t mind so much since the actress had an incredible body. She was stacked like a priceless work of art with full breasts, slim waist and rounded hips. If this play involved nudity it was definitely going to get two thumbs up and a couple of toes from him.

      “That’s not Crystal,” Shonda hissed, frowning.

      Good. That meant that Hylan could avoid a sticky situation between girlfriends when he slipped this black angel his number after the show. Sure the slick move would make him what women called a dog, but to him and his fellow Kappa Psi Kappa brothers it was what they considered exercising his options. Which for the record, he did on the regular. And why not? He was single, handsome and rich. Why shouldn’t he shop around and play with all the toys his lifestyle afforded him?

      Hylan smiled, wondering what her back view had to offer—something lush and squeezable he hoped. He took his time committing every curve of her incredible body to memory. When his gaze finally reached the actress’s face, he sucked in a sudden breath at the sight of what could have only come straight out of his dreams. Her glowing oval face, plump full lips, crescent-shaped cheekbones and large doe-shaped eyes were a lethal combination to his heart…and his libido. Immediately, he started imagining how sexy she’d look draped in diamonds and writhing on a bed of black satin sheets.

      Suddenly, his pants felt tight. He shifted in his chair and hoped that Shonda wouldn’t notice.

      “Isn’t she going to say something?” Shonda whispered.

      Hylan’s brows jumped. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized that while he was ogling the actress, she had been on the stage for at least a full two minutes and hadn’t uttered a single word. In fact, she looked paralyzed—frightened.

      Someone coughed in the audience, probably hoping that it would jar her out of her trance. When that didn’t work, he could hear people shifting and grumbling. Still, his frozen angel stood in the center of the stage. A low murmur rippled around him. He watched as the woman’s bottom lip trembled and her eyes watered. Clearly she was just seconds away from a breakdown.

      He jumped to his feet.

      “Where are you going?” Shonda hissed.

      He blinked. Where was he going?

      Finally a pencil-thin woman raced out on the stage and started whispering feverishly into the actress’s ear. Whatever was said flicked on a switch and the actress quickly started babbling out dialogue at a clip that was mind-boggling and robotic as she waved a hot comb in the air.

      Hylan lowered back into his chair. From Hylan’s side, Shonda snickered. “She’s awful.”

      Hylan agreed, but he was still fascinated by the beautiful actress. Who was this woman? How old was she? She looked young. Was she married? Had a man? If she had either of those things, was she happy? Shoot. A brother was just trying to get where he fit in.

      The actress made a dramatic turn as other actors started to drift onto the stage, but when she did there was an audible rip. A gasp rose from the crowd as everyone was treated to a beautiful view of a pair of red-lace thong panties.

      “Hot damn,” Hylan mumbled under his breath as he gazed upon the most beautifully shaped ass he’d ever seen. Unfortunately, his exuberance was rewarded with a sharp elbow to the ribs and a narrowed glare from Shonda.

      He tried to smooth it over with a lopsided smile that said, Hey, I’m a man, but Shonda just folded her arms until he melted back into his chair.

      The initial shock gone, the audience roared with laughter.

      The actress’ face turned as red as her panties and she raced from the stage with tears streaking down her face.

      The other actors stood stock-still for a few minutes and then continued even though the crowd was damn near in stitches and couldn’t possibly hear what was being said on stage.

      Hylan stood—ready to bolt backstage to check on the actress, but Shonda also stood and took his hand.

      “C’mon,” Shonda said. “This blows. Let’s go back to your hotel…and play.”

      Hylan hesitated, an unusual reaction when a woman was offering up sex-on-a-platter. But he really wanted to check on that horrible actress and make sure that she was all right, and, of course, slip her his number—as long as she wasn’t crying. He couldn’t stand it when women cried.

      “Hylan.” Shonda tugged on his arm. “Let’s go, baby.”

      What could he say? He had to leave with the one he came with. He smiled and then followed Shonda out of the row of seats. But as he, and a few others, shuffled up the aisle to the exit, he kept glancing back over his shoulder, wondering if the weeping actress would brave another appearance.

      No such luck.

      Chapter Two

      To no one’s great surprise, Hot Comb & Hair Grease opened and closed on the same night. For Nikki, reading the reviews was about as much fun as having her skin ripped from her body with a steel cat-o’-nine-tails. Nah. That would’ve been more fun.

      Seriously.

      For СКАЧАТЬ