Sex & The Single Girl. Joanne Rock

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СКАЧАТЬ white, heart-shaped bed. His dark hair reached his collar, a bit overgrown and as tousled as if he’d just crawled out of bed with an overenthusiastic woman. A short Fu Manchu beard-mustache combo gave him the trendy-scruffy look of South Beach.

      He wore a Harley T-shirt with jeans that had seen better days. Reflective sunglasses perched in his hair even though it was well past midnight.

      And for the second time in her life, Brianne thought he was the most unusual-looking FBI agent she’d ever seen.

      After ten years, Aidan Maddock hadn’t changed a bit.

      Her heart jumped a bit out of rhythm as she stared at the object of her eighteen-year-old fantasies. She’d half expected to see him tonight, given his unrelenting pursuit of her ex-stepfather’s criminal activities. Did Aidan really think she’d be hiding her crooked old man under the bed in the Honeymoon Heaven?

      She needed to get him out of the club. And she would go confront him. Soon.

      For now, she couldn’t resist another minute or two to just look her fill. She’d wondered during her years working in the film industry in New York if she’d imagined how intriguing-looking Aidan had been.

      She hadn’t.

      Perhaps it was merely the producer-director in her that so enjoyed watching the way his big body moved, the way he dominated his environment at every turn. But her accelerated breathing led her to think her reaction had very little to do with her work as a director.

      And everything to do with being a woman.

      He looked utterly out of place in the white room overflowing with lace and gold accents. He picked up a miniature music box in the shape of an old-fashioned woman’s boot and poked at it with one large finger.

      The absurdity of the gesture reminded her that she’d always thought they’d be a great match because Aidan would overshadow a more delicate woman. At five-foot-eleven, Brianne had never been a fragile flower.

      Silly, romantic thinking of an eighteen-year-old.

      Dismissing the notion, Brianne flicked off the camera zoom and prepared to confront Aidan in person.

      Until one of Club Paradise’s new employees sidled across Brianne’s monitor screen and insinuated herself in front of Aidan. Brianne recognized the cigarette girl from the Moulin Rouge Lounge. A definite fragile flower, the young woman had wide blue eyes and sort of fluffy blond hair. She looked innocent as a damn baby chick, but she was probably close to the age Brianne had been when she’d fallen hard for Aidan.

      Only Aidan looked at this newcomer with considerable more interest than he’d ever shown Brianne.

      Not that she cared. It was a purely detached observation. Something Brianne had gotten very good at during her years spent in New York. After her overly dramatic childhood with a temperamental mother and a charming, white-collar criminal stepfather, Brianne had become a quick study in detachment.

      Scooping up her handheld computer, she switched the picture from the Honeymoon Heaven camera on to the miniature device so she could keep tabs on the action while she walked through the club to the resort’s tacky white room. Aidan hadn’t needed to pick any locks to get into the suite, but he was definitely treading where he shouldn’t have been by ignoring the signs saying Employees Only.

      For that matter, the cigarette girl was way out of line, too. Brianne would tell her that as soon as the elevator reached the top floor.

      As soon as she shoved open the door and—

      Real life collided with the image on the monitor as Brianne walked in on Aidan and the cigarette girl in a liplock to set a woman’s heart racing. The stacked little blonde pressed every one of her considerable curves against Aidan and practically climbed her way up his tall body.

      Brianne lounged in the door frame, determined not to allow any stray feelings to tangle themselves up in what needed to be accomplished here.

      Instead, she steeled herself against the sultry over-load of hormones in Honeymoon Heaven and took command of the room in her best director voice.

      “Am I interrupting something?”

      AIDAN MADDOCK HAD BEEN waiting to hear that throaty purr all night.

      He hadn’t particularly wanted to hear it while he had Daisy Stephenson clinging to him like a honeysuckle vine.

      Luckily, Brianne Wolcott had the kind of take-no-shit attitude that even a little rebel like Daisy respected. She leaped off him like a scared rabbit and scampered out of the room before he could discreetly thank her for her minimal spying efforts this week. He paid her to be an informant, not a sexual booby trap, but he’d have to wait to explain that until next time they met.

      Now, he needed to focus all his attention on Brianne as they were suddenly very alone.

      “Nice to see you again, Brianne.” Aidan mentally scrambled to cross swords with the stepdaughter of his recurring nemesis. The same man who’d been at the root of his first-ever FBI case had eluded Aidan and half the police force in Dade County. He would need to be on his toes tonight if he was going to gather any useful leads. “You look…” Hot. Sexy. A hell of a lot better than he’d even remembered. “…great.”

      Understatement of the year. The body that had already been slender and seductive at eighteen was worthy of its own pinup calendar ten years later. Her stark black skirt and blouse were slim-fitting and simple, accentuating the sleek, elegant curves of her body. With her long auburn hair and creamy pale skin, she possessed the hot-to-trot attributes of one of those too-cool female cartoon characters in a kick-ass video game geared toward guys.

      Not that he ever wasted his time playing video games or anything.

      She snapped her handheld computer closed. A half smile kicked up one corner of her soft, peach-colored lips. “Thank you. Although I can’t imagine you’re finding it all that nice to see me since I’ve not only busted you in an off-limits zone, but I also caught you with your pants down.” She let her gaze wander southward to his jeans. “Figuratively speaking, at least.”

      The supercharge jolt to his libido was immediate and dead-on accurate. If Daisy Stephenson was a sexual booby trap, Brianne Wolcott was nothing short of dynamite.

      He whistled, low and long, like a kettle hissing off steam. “You left Miami as a sweet young thing with big dreams, and now you come sauntering back like hell on wheels. What exactly did those New Yorkers do to you, Bri?”

      She tilted her head against the door frame, obviously unruffled by his observation. “Nothing I didn’t want them to. Now, are you going to leave quietly, Maddock, or am I going to have to call security?”

      She used to be so damn sweet. So trusting. She’d been naive enough to trust him when he had been gunning for her stepfather in a federal case ten years ago.

      “Come on, Brianne. We both know the extent of your new security team is you. For now, at least. Why don’t we sit down and catch up for a few minutes instead? You can tell me all about your stepdad’s latest scheme.” Bottom line, he was here on a mission.

      He needed information on Rat Pack ringleader Mel Baxter, a slick crook with a knack for pulling off big scams and walking away clean. After Aidan’s investigative efforts had failed to produce СКАЧАТЬ