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Fearless
Tawny Weber
There’s just one thing missing from Gia Renyard’s life: sexual adventure. And the one man she’d like to have it with is her hot co-worker, Luke Monroe.If only company rules didn’t prohibit her from asking him out. So Gia comes up with a plan: make herself over into a fantasy seductress, follow Luke to a convention in Sin City, and have her way with him for one erotic weekend. The man will never even know who did him. Everything is going according to plan—until Gia discovers that Luke is perfect for her outside the bedroom too. And suddenly she’s no longer content to let what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas… – Other Red-Hot Reads from Mills & Boon & Cosmo include: Afterburn by Sylvia Day (August 2013), Cake by Lauren Dane (September 2013), Everything You Need to Know by HelenKay Dimon (October 2013), Naked Sushi by Jina Bacarr (October 2013), Aftershock by Sylvia Day (November 2013)
Promising career: check
Amazing apartment: check
The best of friends: check
Sex life: MIA
There’s just one thing missing from Gia Renyard’s life: sexual adventure. And the one man she’d like to have it with is her hot coworker Luke Monroe. If only company rules didn’t prohibit her from asking him out… So Gia comes up with a plan: make herself over into a fantasy seductress, follow Luke to a convention in Sin City and have her way with him for one erotic weekend. The man will never even know who did him.
Everything is going according to plan—until Gia discovers that Luke is perfect for her outside the bedroom, too. And suddenly she’s no longer content to let what happens in Vegas stay in Vegas….
Contemporary, sexy stories for sassy women
Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Mills & Boon
www.millsandboon.co.uk/cosmo (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/cosmo)
XOXO to Beth, Anna and Kath.
Fabulous friends who appreciate gorgeous shoes and are tons of fun to drink with.
And who always have my back.
Dear Reader,
When a girl is looking for “fun and fearless” advice, where does she turn? Cosmo magazine, of course. Gia Renyard is straight up a Cosmo Girl. From sexy tips to fashion ideas to fabulous designer shoes, she knows where to find what she likes. Gia’s even got the Sex Position of the Day app on her iPhone. Throw in a good job, great girlfriends and The Girlz Guide to Gettin’ It, and she’s got it covered.
The only thing missing is a fabulous sex life worthy of using that app. But thanks to her friends, the Girlz Guide and a fearless attitude, Gia’s ready to take that on, too! She just needs the right man—Luke Monroe, the hottie she’s crushed on for years. Add in a trip to Las Vegas and a fantasy makeover, and Gia’s ready for the wildest weekend of her life.
I hope you enjoy reading Fearless and getting to know these fun characters! Look for future Girlz Guide stories about Gia’s friends, including Caryn and Sara. You can contact me and check out all my titles at www.tawnyweber.com (http://www.tawnyweber.com), or catch me on Facebook.
Cheers,
Tawny Weber
Fearless
Tawny Weber
Book I: The Girlz Guide to Gettin’ It
USA TODAY Bestselling Author
Contemporary, sexy stories for sassy women
Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Mills & Boon
www.millsandboon.co.uk/cosmo (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/cosmo)
Contents
Chapter One (#u160f3b30-ac25-51b9-bc13-ec1f4d5f45ca)
Chapter Two (#u4132fdf6-018c-5896-a52d-c939b7196d49)
Chapter Three (#u053a835f-9dc1-580c-ae81-bc689d721966)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
Books by Tawny Weber (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
A Girlz Guide to a Rockin’ Life
Words of Wisdom…
Put up or shut up.
“I’m bored. Can’t we do something new tonight?”
“You’re always bored. I just want to chill. Maybe we can make nachos? The really gooey kind with jalapeños.”
“I want to try that new caramel vodka before it’s served at my next marketing retreat. Gotta keep my rep as the martini queen.”
“Do you really think being known as the gal who’s tried every martini out there actually helps your career?”
“We all gotta have a rep. Yours helps you get dates, doesn’t it?”
“Helps her get laid, at least.”
Stuck in a funk, Gia Renyard let the words of her three best friends roll right over her. She didn’t look up from her careful application of nail polish, even as a pillow flew past her head. Probably Sara trying to nail Jessa over the “getting laid” comment.
The four of them had met in a marketing class in college, randomly grouped together to do an assignment. Their task had been to create a useful tool that spoke to a specific market segment. It’d taken a few meetings and finally a round of martinis for the four women, all polar opposites, to realize they had one common goal. To rock their lives.
And just like that, the Girlz Guide to a Rockin’ Life had been born.
Gia gave thanks to this day for that assignment. Not only had it netted her three best friends, it’d given her a life manifesto. Gia grinned, slicking on another coat of polish. Not that she had to refer to the guide very often, since she had her Girlz readily available.
Ever since college, the four of them had made a point of getting together every few weeks for a Girlz night. Manis, pedis, fashion magazines and martinis. Dishing dirt, commiserating and planning their lives. And, every once in a while, updating the Girlz Guide. Because flaking on something that fabulous would be like wearing discount shoes and last year’s trends to a hot club opening. Just every kind of wrong.
But Gia was in a weird mood tonight. Maybe it was exhaustion. A network engineer at a growing company in San Francisco, she’d been working her ass off the past couple of weeks in hopes of finally making a good enough impression to snag a promotion.
It could be the call that afternoon from her mother, so busy praising the latest in a long list of her older sister’s successes and then lamenting her younger sister’s current screwup that she’d never even asked how Gia was doing.
Or maybe it was the fact that they’d kicked off the evening with Caryn telling them all about her latest sexy hookup, in very graphic detail.
Gia couldn’t remember the last time she’d had graphic details worth sharing. Not like Caryn’s, which included a Thai restaurant after hours, coconut martinis and silk scarves. But that was Caryn. She saw something she wanted and she made it happen. Sometimes it happened with curry.
Or there were the impossible-to-compete-with details of Jessa’s Caribbean cruise last year. On the first day, she’d met her dream guy, and she’d spent the next five days being romanced and five nights being sexually worshipped. Then, to top it off, she’d brought the guy home and married him.
And Sara, well, Sara had almost too many details. Dramatic details, sure. But they were still details. This month she couldn’t decide if she was in love with a guy she’d met at a club last month or her ex-girlfriend who kept calling. Sara bounced from sexual adventure to heartache to despair and right back into lust again.
And then there was Gia. It wasn’t as if she were the sad and lonely friend. She’d had boyfriends. She’d enjoyed plenty of good sex and knew her way around an orgasm. But none of her adventures included scarves, cruises or kink.
Not like her friends.
Jessa was the princess. Pretty, pampered and sweet, she’d always inspired guys to fall at her feet.
Caryn, on the other hand, was a ball breaker. She had a plan and worked it. She had guys at her feet, too, but usually on a leash.
Sara flew through life, and sex, like it was an all-night buffet and she was starving. She never stayed still long enough for guys to even find her feet.
And then there was Gia. Good ole average Gia. Dependable, nice, cute.
Not phenomenal. Not horrible.
Just average.
Average sucked.
“Gia? What’re you craving?” Jessa asked from where she lounged on the couch, her head back on the pillow to better enjoy the moisturizing benefits of her facial mask.
Slicking another coat of Midnight Crimson polish over her nails, Gia absently finished her thought aloud. “A wild sexual adventure that includes chocolate, feathers and three dozen orgasms?”
The room went silent. Even the iPod, playing Rihanna in the background, seemed to quiet.
Oh, shit. Had she really said that?
Gia looked up to find three sets of eyes locked on her in varying states of shock and amusement. She winced, then carefully pushed her martini glass away.
“Oh, this is juicy. Tell us more,” Jessa prompted, clapping her hands in excitement.
Part of her wanted to. But she wasn’t the juicy type. She was the practical one, the one who kept it real. Which probably explained their surprise.
“That was just the vodka talking,” she dismissed with a wave of her hand. “So, are you guys hungry? I’ve got nacho fixings. Or better yet, how about cookies?”
“No way,” Caryn protested, waving her own glass in protest. She had her feet propped on the coffee table while Sara painted delicate roses on her toenails. “You can’t offer up something that good, then try to change the subject.”
“Nope. That’s the sort of thing that needs explaining. In great, graphic detail. Drawings might help, too.” From her spot on the floor, Sara wiggled her brows. Her black hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail to avoid any polish mishaps.
Gia debated. She could gloss over it on her way to make those nachos. She could downplay it into a joke. Or she could fess up. The first two were easier. And definitely the type of thing she’d always done when she’d found herself in the spotlight before. Like anyone who craved center stage, then discovered they were sick with stage fright, she’d always ducked back into obscurity.
But she was so tired of being average.
And the only way to get over average was to enlist the help of her friends.
Gia pressed her lips together, nerves churning the vodka in her stomach into a nasty froth. Did she want this, or didn’t she? Was she a wimp or a woman, dammit?
Ignoring the voice in her head screaming wimp, she took a deep breath and confessed.
“All of you have a hot memory,” she said slowly, as if weighing each word would keep her from looking like an idiot. “A wild sexual fling where you pushed your own boundaries, lived out the fantasy, did all those uninhibited things they write about in the magazines.”
“You’ve had plenty of relationships,” Sara pointed out. “And it’s not like you’re an uptight prude or anything.”
“But none of the guys I’ve dated were the kind who inspired fantasies. Not the kind that deserve details over martinis.”
“She’s right,” Jessa offered, sitting upright so the light caught the moisturizing mask on her face, making her shine like a blond light bulb. “It has to be the right guy. Your very own Prince Charming. Otherwise, the fantasy is hollow.”
“I’m not looking for a prince,” Gia protested, a little horrified at everything that would mean. Castles and forever and her as a princess? Yeah, right. As if that would fit. “I just want the fantasy.”
“So is it the act you want? Great, kinky sex that pushes your boundaries?” Caryn used both hands to indicate explosions going off. “Or is there a specific guy you’re hot for that you want to make this memory of yours with?”
Wetting her lips, Gia hesitated. An image flashed through her mind. The guy was gorgeous, with black hair, blue eyes, a man dimple and some sexy stubble to keep him on this side of pretty. His body, shown in great detail in the photos posted on his Facebook page by a beach babe he’d spent a week in Hawaii with, was a work of art.
Throw in brains, a sense of humor, legendary stamina and a vivid imagination, and Gia melted a little just thinking about him.
“Do you have a guy in mind?” Caryn asked again, studying Gia through narrowed eyes as though she were trying to see into her brain.
Gia bit her lip.
Her friends, sensing good dirt, pounced.
“You do. You don’t want just anybody. You’ve got the hots for a specific body. That’s what this is all about.” Sara leaned forward, her long black ponytail sliding over one shoulder as she gave an excited bounce.
“You want fantasy sex with a specific guy. Like it’s gettin’ it time?” Jessa’s voice rose with excitement.
“Woot, gettin’ it,” Caryn and Sara echoed, referring to the ritual they’d all created using the Girlz Guide to brainstorm solutions. They could be solutions to guy problems, to diet frustrations or even to finding the perfect pair of shoes. When one Girl had a problem, they all chimed in to help her figure it out.
“Wait, before we start, I’ve got to rinse my face,” Jessa exclaimed as she launched herself out of her chair and hurried to the bathroom.
“I’ll mix another batch of martinis,” Caryn declared, hobbling into the kitchen on her heels, her still-wet toes in the air.
Sara was already digging through her duffel bag–styled purse for one of her ever-present notepads and a pen.
Holy crap, what’d she done?
It was one thing to entertain the fantasy. To wish in her head for great sex with a guy she was crushing on. It was another to invoke a gettin’ it session. If they just talked about it, she could dismiss it all as chitchat. She could say it was just talk, not something she really wanted. In other words, she could wimp out. But if they brainstormed a plan, they were going to make her go through with whatever they came up with.
Gia chewed on her thumbnail, a little worried about what she’d started.
Because she had no doubt she’d be dealing with the results. Usually fueled by vodka and chocolate, the women had come to believe by using their Girlz Guide they could do anything they set their minds to.
Like the time Sara, brokenhearted over his cheating, had wanted revenge on her boyfriend. The women had made a video from all of the Skype sessions he’d had with Sara, pasting his words together into a confession of his sins, and posted it on YouTube. It’d gone viral in two days.
Or when Jessa had wished for the perfect wedding but hadn’t want her wealthy husband-to-be paying for it. The four of them might not have had a lot of money or major connections, but when she walked down that aisle, they’d made sure she had the fairy-tale princess wedding she’d always wanted.
Gia wondered if it was too late to run.
“Ready?” Jessa asked, her face glowing clean and her auburn-streaked blond hair loose again. She stopped in the kitchen to help Caryn with the tray of martinis; then both settled around the coffee table. The three women lifted their glasses, toasted the gettin’ it game, then gave Gia a “let’s go” look.
Gia bit her lip.
She wanted this.
Didn’t she?
A wild sexual fantasy might not change the world. But it’d sure as hell change her love life from average to awesome. And maybe make her feel as if she was a fully qualified member of the Girlz, instead of the tagalong buddy.
“Okay, questions. I’ll start,” Caryn said, to nobody’s surprise. “First off, what’s the fantasy? Remember, the more details, the better.”
“Again, feel free to draw pictures,” Sara suggested with a grin, holding out her pen and paper.
Gia pulled a face. Then, pretending the idea of sharing her sexual fantasy wasn’t weird—even with her best friends—she leaned her head back on the chair, closed her eyes and let her imagination soar.
When inhibitions she didn’t even realize she had tried to drag her back down to earth, she mentally kicked them aside and blurted out the words before nerves won.
“I want a weekend of totally uninhibited, totally fabulous sex. The kind you have with a guy you don’t ever plan to see again. The selfish kind, where you’re doing all the things you like and not worrying about swallowing just to keep him happy.”
She didn’t have to open her eyes to know the snort of laughter came from Caryn, whose biggest pet peeve was guys with lousy aim and a penchant for women on their knees.
“Question two,” Sara said over the sound of her pen scratching across the paper as she transcribed Gia’s fantasy in her handy-dandy notebook. “Who’s the guy?”
Gia hesitated. It wasn’t as if there were anything to be embarrassed about. But she and Caryn both worked at the same company, although Gia was in tech and Caryn worked in publicity. Where, as it happened, Luke was currently spending most of his time as the systems liaison.
Which meant Caryn would probably have a lot more insider info on him than Gia had gathered in her Facebook and watercooler stalking.
A shiver danced down her back.
This could really happen. And that was scary.
Luke was the perfect guy to help turn her fantasies into reality. She just wasn’t sure she was the perfect girl. Still… There was something naughty, something freeing about the idea of anonymous, wild, once-in-a-lifetime sex.
And if she wanted it to happen, she had to put it out there. She had to put herself out there.
“C’mon, Gia,” Caryn prompted impatiently. “Who is it that flips your switch? What’s his name?”
Gia took a deep breath, then confessed, “Luke Monroe.”
“Oh, baby,” Caryn moaned, her eyes wide with admiration.
“Is he hot?” Sara asked.
“He’s hot enough to melt chocolate,” Gia said, imagining just that, then wishing she could lick it off his naked body afterward. “He’s gorgeous, has a body to die for, and he’s got that sophisticated sexy vibe going. Like he takes his sex cues from books and indie films instead of watching porn with the guys from the gym.”
“If the rumor mill is to be believed, and I hope it is, he’s got stamina that’d put a horse to shame,” Caryn said, licking the edge of her martini glass and wriggling her brows. “I’ve heard he’s got a few other things in common with a stallion, too.”
“Well,” Jessa said, fanning her fingers in front of her face. “I was going to ask what made him the perfect guy for your fantasy. But I think you just answered that.”
“Okay, then here’s another question.” Sara set her pen down long enough to take a drink, then picked it back up to aim it at Gia. “He’s hot, you’re horny. What the hell’s keeping you from hitting on him?”
Gia’s mind easily reeled off a dozen reasons. She couldn’t voice any of them, though. Not even to her best friends.
She didn’t have any more self-confidence issues than the next woman. Sure, she’d rather her stomach were flatter, and she’d yet to find a pair of jeans that flattered her ass. But she was smart and cute, had a fun personality and had a lot going for her.
She was pretty damned great.
But pretty damned great wasn’t pretty damned wild.
Every one of the other women in this room had a wild side. They had each had at least one sexual encounter like the ones in those erotica books.
According to gossip, Luke Monroe’s sex life was wilder than all three of her friends’. Combined. He wouldn’t go for boring.
“Gia?” Jessa prompted from her perch on the huge lime-green pillow chair. “Why haven’t you gone for it?”
“Tri-Solutions’ familiarity policy, probably,” Caryn guessed. “They have rules against intercompany dating. They figure it causes too much drama in the workplace.”
Gia nodded, adding, “Sure, almost everyone ignores it. But even if management doesn’t crack down, gossip does major damage. You know how that goes.”
Nobody could deny it. They all knew women who’d been fired or been made so miserable over work affairs that they’d quit.
“What about the rumor that Luke’s being courted by that financial company as a permanent system consultant? The new position starts in two weeks. If he takes that job, he’s moving to the East Coast.”
Gia grimaced. That reason, more than anything else, was probably the core of why she’d finally confessed her fantasy. Her crush was about to slip right out of her reach.
“Great, you answered my question before I could ask, again,” Jessa said with a frown, as though they were cheating her. Then her face brightened. “But, really, it’s not the company policy that’s the issue—it’s timing. Once he leaves town, he takes the chances of your fantasy coming true with him. So you need to make this happen in the next two weeks.”
“Which brings us to the final question,” Sara said, setting aside her glass and leaning forward in preparation for getting to the down and dirty. “What’s it going to take to make this happen for you? What do you need to go for it?”
A miracle?
Hiring a street gangster to kidnap Luke and leave him tied to her bed?
A hell of a lot more vodka.
“Las Vegas,” Caryn yelled out, clapping her hands together as if she’d just won a prize.
Gia exchanged baffled looks with the other women before arching a questioning brow. “What about Vegas?”
“Luke’s attending the CES convention in Vegas next weekend to work the Tri-Solutions booth and schmooze with potential clients.”
“You want me to go to Vegas and seduce him?” Gia asked faintly. She’d rather crawl under her couch and hide. Talk about double intimidation. Vegas was the land of strippers, showgirls and pay-by-the-hour kink. Oh, yeah, she’d really stand out there.
“It’s perfect,” Caryn insisted. “You can have your fantasy, with your fantasy guy, and not jeopardize your job. Or your ego if anything goes wrong.”
“Are you throwing in fat-free chocolate and calorie-less whipped cream?”
“I don’t have to. All you need is a makeover.”
Two sets of jaws dropped right along with her own. Gia was glad to see the other women were just as baffled as she was.
“Since when did makeover and orgasms go hand in hand?”
“How will a facial and haircut get her fantasy sex?”
“I don’t look good enough to get a guy like Luke Monroe?”
“Don’t be silly. You’re gorgeous. But those silly rules mean you can’t haul the guy into the company supply closet and ride him like a wild stallion. So you need a cover. A fake persona. You can make yourself into the woman you are in your fantasies, and he won’t have a clue the woman blowing his, um, mind is someone he works with.”
“Oh, I like this,” Sara said, all but rubbing her hands together. “It’s easier to get into the role if you’re in costume. The makeover not only protects your identity, it lets you shed your inhibitions. You can do anything you want, because you’ll be someone else.”
Anything?
Excitement flamed in Gia’s belly. Suddenly it seemed as if blurting out her secret had been a good thing.
Nerves warred with the excitement, and doubts screamed warnings in her head. But the vision of being tied to a bed and having whipped cream licked off her body by a very naked, very aroused, very worshipful Luke Monroe made those easy to ignore.
Well, that vision and the second chocolatini.
“I could do it. I really could,” she said, pressing her fingers to her lips to try and hold back her excitement. “And, really, where better than Sin City to go wild.”
Other than right here, in her mind, where she couldn’t be rejected or make an idiot of herself. Or worse, find out she wasn’t fantasy-sex material.
“There’s no way we can pull all of this off before next weekend, though. Can we?” She didn’t know if she wanted them to say no way or that it was a slam dunk.
But when the women started tossing around makeover ideas, everything from temporary hair color to extensions to wardrobe options, Gia couldn’t stop grinning.
This was like her birthday, Christmas and a naughty-toy party all rolled into one. But she was going to be blowing something a lot bigger than a candle.
Chapter Two
Girlz Guide Words of Wisdom…
Anyone worth doing is worth doing in sexy shoes.
Thinking and plotting while surrounded by supportive friends was a hell of a lot more fun than standing alone, ready to launch the plan.
And while passing out at a guy’s feet could get a girl some welcome attention, Gia was pretty sure throwing up was nowhere to be found in the Girlz Guide to Seducing a Hottie. She pressed one hand against her churning stomach, wondering how long she had before she was the first of her friends to inspire a new don’t list.
Curling her toes into her sexy red leather Giuseppe Zanotti peeptoes, she forced her feet to stay still instead of hightailing it out of the nightclub.
Maybe this was a crazy idea. She wasn’t seductive like Jessa or wild like Sara and didn’t even have a fraction of Caryn’s confidence. Yet here she was, trying to pretend she was all that and a cherry on top.
A couple deep breaths got her past the hostess desk and to the entrance of The Bank Nightclub.
The rockin’ vibe of the place actually took the edge off her nerves. The idea of getting out there, moving to the beat, just losing herself in the lights and crowd, held tremendous appeal. Music pounded a hard, fast invitation. Lights flashed to the beat. Even filled with people, the nightclub was so well laid out it didn’t seem crowded. Instead it was inviting, fun and the perfect setting for her fantasy seduction.
She wanted to dance. She really did. But she couldn’t make her feet move.
“Hello, gorgeous,” drawled a friendly voice at her shoulder.
Well, that made her move. Gia damn near jumped out of her shoes. With a deep breath, she turned to brush the guy off, then pressed her lips together to keep from groaning aloud.
Holy crap. Mark Lane from Marketing.
Seriously?
She’d been here less than five minutes, and she was already busted.
Then she caught sight of her reflection in the mirrored wall behind Mark and blinked. That really was her?
Thanks to extensions and Feria, her hair was a flowing mass of titian waves instead of her usual chestnut swing. Brown contacts, a painful squeeze of her credit card at the MAC counter and the removal of her lip ring ensured she didn’t look anything like her usual techie self.
Her body, poured into a little black dress, the glittery fabric hugging curves made all the curvier by her Bombshell bra, had never looked this way at the Monday-morning meetings.
But was it a good enough disguise?
Did Mark recognize her? Other than a few casual comments at the lunch counter, they weren’t pals. But still…
If she could fool him, she promised herself, she’d be able to nail this fantasy. And then, she hoped, she’d get to nail Luke Monroe, too.
“Hi,” she greeted with a smile that was more a twitch of her lips than her usual full-on grin. She watched him carefully, as if he were a time bomb that could explode all over her life at any second.
Her fingers itched for the phone that wasn’t in her purse, wishing she could warn Caryn to be ready to spin some damage control. If Mark outed her, within minutes everyone at Tri-Solutions would be tweeting, texting and posting on Facebook. Soon the sad, humiliating tale of that time Gia Renyard pretended she had what it took to be a bombshell in Vegas would go viral. She’d be mocked and laughed at for years.
Panic slid down her throat with greasy fingers and fear crawled through her belly. Tiny white dots spun in front of her eyes until Gia realized she was holding her breath. She let it out in a huff, then forced her lips into a stiff, slightly painful smile. It wasn’t as though he’d caught her using Luke as a stripper’s pole.
“I’m Mark.” He offered his hand.
Her body almost hit the floor as tension poured away.
He didn’t know who she was.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
“Are you local?” he asked. “Or are you just visiting?”
Like every other guy she’d ever known, instead of waiting for a response, he launched into a soliloquy about himself. Where he was from, why he was here, how cool the CES show had been.
Gia was too excited to care.
He really didn’t know who she was.
He didn’t recognize her.
She would have jumped up and down in delight, but there was a serious danger that her boobs would fly right out of their Bombshell bra. Which would probably make it harder to get rid of the guy.
Not that he was a creep. And he was good-looking. A little more metro than masculine, he gave a smile that was pure flirtation, and the interest in his eyes was genuine. But he wasn’t Luke.
And it was Luke she was here to do.
“Looking for a dance partner?” Mark said, tilting his head toward the dance floor, then after a second tilting it the other way toward the exit and giving his brows a wiggle.
Oh, cool. Because girls just loved tacky euphemisms. His smile was suggestive as he gave her another once-over. He ended the inspection with a wink, as if his approval were something she’d been standing there waiting to get.
Gia barely resisted rolling her eyes.
“Thanks, but I’m waiting for someone,” she finally said, keeping her words husky and low.
“A hot babe like you shouldn’t be waiting. You come dance with me, teach that guy not to take you for granted.”
“Sorry.” She softened the refusal with a smile but still shook her head.
With a look that assured her she didn’t know what she was missing and an easygoing shrug, Mark slipped around her and headed toward easier game.
She waited until he’d wrapped his arm around a leggy brunette before giving a quick happy dance. He’d totally fallen for her disguise. It was as if he’d flipped the switch. Suddenly, she wasn’t Gia with all the hang-ups and self-doubts. She was Giavanna, or Vanna, as the Girlz had dubbed her. Sexy, confident and ready for the wildest sexual adventure of her life.
Unfrozen now, her feet guided her to the bar.
Now to find her fantasy partner.
Her room was upstairs, in easy luring distance.
She’d bought every sex toy or teasing temptation she could think of.
She’d been waxed, polished and buffed to her body’s all-time best.
And now she’d passed the incognito test.
So this was it.
She was ready to make her weekend fantasy into a deliciously wicked reality.
All she needed was Luke.
Vegas was man-land on steroids.
Booze, babes and buffets. It didn’t get much better than this.
Beer in hand, Luke Monroe looked around The Bank, the hottest nightspot in the Bellagio. It was like a modern playground for the wild and horny. He was used to good-looking women, but here they had a sexy edge that screamed kinky good times with none of that “morning-after respect” drama.
“Dude, it’s like my dreams in Technicolor,” Matt Jones said as he sidled up to the bar, giving Luke a punch to the shoulder. “I don’t know what I want to do more. Hit the dance floor, find a babe and snag one of those VIP booths or head back to the craps table so I can win enough to pay for something immoral and illegal in a few states.”
“You know what I like about you? You don’t let that ugly face of yours get in the way of your sex life.” Luke grinned.
“Hey, I work hard to look this good. I owe it to the ladies to share what I’ve got going on, ya know.” Matt rubbed one finger over his carefully trimmed goatee, his teeth flashing against his dark skin. “Unlike you, who does jack but still has women throwing themselves in your path.”
Luke shrugged. Women had been throwing themselves at him since they were little girls wearing pigtails and he was more interested in collecting Pokémon cards than females. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate his luck with the ladies, but he wouldn’t mind having to prove himself and work for the attention once in a while. The male ego was a funny thing. Too much success and it started whispering sneaky things about luck, riding on a rep and unworthiness.
“You ready for the show tomorrow? Nervous about schmoozing with a hundred thousand or so people?”
“Nah. Tri-Solutions has a good product. It’s easy to talk up.” So easy he was getting bored. Which was why he was considering the offer from Kettlemens. Luke could handle a lot of things, but boredom wasn’t one of them.
“You take that job with Kettlemens and you’ll be traveling for a living.” Matt tossed back the last of his Jack and Coke, then shook his head in admiration. “Traveling across the country setting up digital systems in all their branches, training their trainers. That’d be the life.”
Hotel beds, jet lag and no time to spend his big fat raise.
Damn. Luke winced. What was wrong with him?
He had a sweet life.
He knew guys like Matt looked at him and figured he had it all. He was flying up the ladder to success three or four rungs at a time. He drove a BMW, owned a condo in the Presidio and, yeah, there was the luck with the ladies.
It was all easy.
Maybe too easy.
He was bored. Bored with his job, bored with himself. Hell, he was even bored with his sex life.
He didn’t want to leave Tri-Solutions or San Francisco. But the Kettlemens offer was looking better and better, if only for something different to do.
“Oh, baby.”
Ditching the downer thinking at Matt’s growl, Luke looked over his shoulder to see what the guy was staring at.
And damn near dropped his beer.
Oh, baby, indeed.
Now, there was something different.
She was gorgeous.
Long hair in a shade of red too vivid to be real slicked over her shoulders to bracket a glittering mini dress that barely concealed her ample curves. Legs so long they could wrap around his shoulders were sleek and slender, all the way down to a pair of red do-me heels that made him finally understand the whole deal with foot fetishes. Despite her sexy look, she didn’t have a hooker vibe. There was something sweet about her, like an angel dressed in devil’s duds. Luke ripped his gaze from her shoes, taking his time sliding back up over those gorgeous curves. He finally reached her face. It was just as enticing as the rest of the package.
Their eyes met.
He felt a zing that shot across the twenty feet separating them, through his body and straight south.
“So hot,” Matt murmured in appreciation.
“Smoking,” he agreed.
“And it looks like she’s got her sights set on you, friend.”
Since her eyes were roaming his body as though she’d like to strip it naked and see what he was made of, Luke didn’t bother denying the obvious.
He’d much rather help her accomplish that particular goal.
“You’re on your own,” he told his friend, starting to shift through the crowd toward the sexy redhead.
“Reel her in,” Matt called with a laugh, no doubt in his tone that Luke would do just that.
“Consider it done.”
It wasn’t ego talking. It was determination.
As if sensing his resolve, people cleared the path between Luke and the redhead without him having to nudge anyone out of his way. In less than ten seconds, he was close enough to see that her eyes were brown, her necklace was an infinity symbol and her lipstick had sparkles in it.
“Hello,” he greeted, surprised to see how delicate and petite she was close up. From across the room, she’d seemed larger-than-life. Like a beacon shining bright in the night sky, drawing him closer, pulling him in.
“Hi,” she returned, her voice a husky purr easily heard even over the loud club noise.
“I’m Luke.”
“Gi—Um, Vanna,” she offered, her words almost a stutter. She wrinkled her nose like a cute bunny, then shrugged and tried again. “I’m Vanna. Nice to meet you.”
“Do you come here often?”
Her big brown eyes rounded in surprise before she gave an uninhibited snort of laughter.
“Do you use lines like that often?” she returned.
“Hey, sometimes the classics are best,” he said with a grin.
“What other classics are you partial to?” she asked, sipping her martini.
“I’d try �Haven’t we met before?’ since there’s something hauntingly familiar about you, but if we’d met, I’m sure I’d remember.”
He wasn’t sure what caused the alarm in her eyes, but whatever it was quickly passed. So quick he thought maybe he’d imagined it.
“I’d hate to think I was forgettable,” she shot back, her smile teasing. “Or that that particular line actually works for you.”
Actually, lines were used on him a lot more often than he tossed them out. But he didn’t think his telling her that and sounding like a cocky ass was going to make the impression he was hoping for.
“Vanna, you’re a lot of things. Beautiful, sexy, intriguing. But forgettable doesn’t make the list,” he said, his tone flirtatious and his smile just this side of wicked.
Her eyes flashed. Luke’s smile dimmed. Was that hurt? Once again the look was gone too fast for him to be sure.
Curiouser and curiouser.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he offered.
She lifted one brow and then her hand to show off her glass. The same one she’d been holding all along.
So much for reeling her in. Luke grimaced, offering an apologetic shrug. “I’m usually smoother than this.”
“Yeah? What’s got you roughing it tonight?”
Her.
There was something intriguing, almost confusing, about her. She was familiar, but he’d swear he’d never seen her before. She dressed like a modern-day version of a ’40s bombshell movie star.
And she looked at him as if she wanted to suck Jell-O shots off his body, but she wasn’t making the typical moves.
Yeah. Totally intriguing.
“Maybe I’m having an off night,” he finally said in answer to her question. “Or maybe I’m not very good with women.”
She laughed hard, then bit her lip as if trying to hold back her amusement in case it offended him. She took a deep breath and, with her smile still wide, shook her head.
“No,” she said simply.
The music changed, slowing.
Perfect.
“Dance?”
She gave him a long, probing look at odds with her sexy persona. Then, as if she’d found whatever she was searching for, she set her drink on an empty table and took his hand.
Luke led her down the steps to the glossy floor, letting the crowd push them together as he took her into his arms, his hands sliding along her slender waist.
Her hands curled into his shoulders, her nails biting for just a second. Then she smoothed them higher to cup the sides of his neck.
Luke let the music and the noise of the crowd wash over them for a minute, focusing on their bodies. Their movements were perfectly in sync. As if she could sense his timing, match his rhythm.
He wanted her.
Desire wasn’t a new feeling. But desire this intense, bordering on craving…that was unfamiliar.
“So what brings you here?” he asked, needing a distraction from the demands his body was trying to make. Demands that’d have them both naked and putting on a floor show pretty damned soon.
“Here, where? To Vegas? To the Bellagio? Or to the club?” she clarified.
“All of the above.”
“Actually, I’m here to live out a little fantasy,” she spoke so quietly that her words were almost lost in the music.
“Yeah? What kind of fantasy?”
Her eyes were endless, with lush lashes so thick they were like a fringe and so much emotion in them that Luke felt as if he were drowning.
Emotion usually made him run. But whatever was going on with Vanna had him hooked.
She wet her lips, a quick swipe of her pink tongue over that glossy red.
Luke’s temperature spiked.
Horny as hell.
“Actually, my fantasy is of a sexual nature,” she told him, a flash of nerves in her big brown eyes before her gaze locked on his mouth.
The nerves, as much as the fact that her stare was like a caress over his lips, were a major turn-on.
“You don’t say. Is this a fantasy you’d care to share?”
“Maybe. With the right guy.”
“What’s it take to qualify?” Whatever it was, he’d do it.
“Imagination, boldness and the ability to follow directions top the list,” she said. Then, as if testing the strength of the passion between them, she shifted closer so her full breasts brushed his chest. “What do you think? Are you up for the job?”
His body hitting a flame hotter than he’d ever felt with clothes on, Luke grinned at the woman in his arms.
“Babe, I’m all yours,” he promised.
“You sure? Because I have a pretty specific outline of what I want.” Her words were light and teasing, and her eyes were hot and promising. But he could feel her fingers tremble against the back of his neck.
Luke’s hands swept down, cupping her hips so his fingers could curl along the sweet curve of her ass. He pulled her closer, bringing her body flush against his.
Her breath caught, doing amazing things to the glittery fabric of her bodice. The stare she gave him was part enticement, part hope. Luke wasn’t sure which was the bigger turn-on.
“I’m pretty good at implementing plans, as long as you’re open to a little initiative on my part,” he told her.
“Hmm, what kind of initiative?” A small smile played at the corners of her mouth and her eyes danced in delight.
Figuring he’d rather speak in actions than words, Luke leaned down. His eyes never left hers as he brushed his lips in a whisper-soft caress of her mouth.
“That kind, maybe,” he said when he straightened.
She stared, her eyes glazed with passion and her lower lip trembling just a little.
Then she gave a shaky breath and shook her head as if trying to clear it.
“I’m sorry. I can barely hear you in here,” she apologized, tilting her head toward one of the speakers surrounding the glassed-in dance floor.
“You want to go somewhere else?” he suggested. “We can talk.”
Her eyes were like smoke, hazed with desire and promise. Her lips curved, full and juicy, as if begging him to take a bite.
She gave a soft moan that he felt rather than heard. Then, untwining her fingers from the back of his neck, she slid her hands over his shoulders and down his chest, her nails scraping his nipples.
Going rock hard with just the flick of those fingers, Luke almost growled.
He didn’t have to hear her giggle to know she liked his reaction. The delighted look on her face said it all.
Then, giving him a wink and a tilt of her head toward the exit, she stepped away from his body. For a second, he wanted to pull her back. He wanted her closer. Tight against him.
She took a deep breath that did more amazing things to that dress, then slid her small hand into his and led him from the floor and out of the club.
Well, then.
Boredom definitely wasn’t an issue anymore.
Chapter Three
Girlz Guide Words of Wisdom…
When Girlz go bad, men fall at their feet.
Holy crap. Luke Monroe was staring at her ass. Not just staring, but staring as though he wanted to take a bite out of it.
The Girlz had researched his tastes, meshing Gia’s fantasy with the kind of woman Luke seemed to go for. And hey, check it out. It’d worked.
Gia was torn between giggling, doing a happy dance or trying to bite his ass right back. This was real. Her fingers itched for the cell phone she’d locked away in the hotel safe. Whether to text her girlfriends or to take a picture for posterity, she wasn’t sure.
“There’s a lounge downstairs,” Luke said once they cleared the club entrance with its long line of people waiting for entry. “Why don’t we get a drink there and get to know each other better.”
Her heart racing as if she’d just won a million-dollar jackpot and had to run from a burning building to keep it, Gia took a deep breath. Then, figuring she was as brave as she was ever going to get, she slowed to a halt, stepping aside on the plush carpet so party-hungry hotel guests could get past. Luke stopped, too, a look of friendly inquiry on his face. No impatience, no “Hurry up and get naked so I can get my rocks off with a stranger” eagerness.
She’d told him she was here for fantasy time, and she hadn’t been subtle about the nature of that fantasy. It was all about sex. No-strings-attached, free and easy, naked and wild sex.
She knew it.
He knew it.
But instead of pushing, pressuring or even assuming, he wanted to have a drink with her.
And talk?
Like…he really wanted to get to know her first?
Seriously?
All her doubts came rushing back.
“You want to go get a drink?” she asked, drawing the words out in case he wanted time to change his mind.
“Sure. Maybe something to eat if you’re hungry.” Amusement shone in his deep blue eyes, as if he knew she was confused and found it funny. Was he doing this just to keep her off balance?
Frowning, Gia searched his face.
For a second, she got lost in appreciation for how freaking good-looking the man was. The glittering light from the chandeliers highlighted his sharp cheekbones, his sculpted lips. Swept off his forehead, his black hair gleamed.
She’d always known he was gorgeous.
His sexiness had never been a question.
But she’d never been this close. Never known he might be fun and sweet and cute, too.
For the first time since she and her friends had concocted this plan, Gia was afraid. Not of playing dress-up and trying to seduce her fantasy guy. Not of the plan going all to hell. Not even of stripping naked and laying bare her every sexual fantasy with the hopes that he’d be interested enough to play.
No. For the first time, she was afraid of getting hurt.
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