All Worked Up: Pleasure Inn, Book 2 Read Free Page A

that your reason, Candace?”
    “Yeah, that was my reason.” One of many, but he didn’t need to know that just yet. Then something else occurred to her and she tightened, memories of the threatening letters filling her thoughts. Suddenly feeling very foolish and very vulnerable, she questioned, “How do you know my name?”
    Without missing a beat he said, “I heard your friends call out to you. Earlier, at the inn.”
    “Oh, right.” She’d forgotten he was within earshot when Lindsay and Anna had greeted her as she stretched on the front lawn.
    “I’m Marc. Marc Collins.” He held his hand out, and as she shook it, she studied him a moment. Good guys were rare, but something in her gut told her Marc Collins just might be one of them, not that she’d always been such a great judge of character. But he had a strength of character about him, unlike the men she usually found herself attracted to. It also occurred to her that he gave off a protective vibe, making her feel absurdly safe with him. Truthfully, there was something about this man. Something trustworthy and fiercely protective that put her at ease.
    Intuition told her she had nothing to fear from him. That he was a gentleman, a man of integrity. She considered things a minute longer. Marc was a paint stripper hired by Pamina, not some aspiring actor using her to get close to her father—heck he didn’t even respond to her advances, which proved he was different from any other man she’d ever met. And the painstaking care he took with his work proved he was a skilled laborer.
    Candace was pretty damn certain he didn’t know who she was. Was there a chance there could be something more between them, that he could like her for who she really was, not for her daddy’s power and influence? Damned if she didn’t want to find out. But sadly, he hadn’t tried to hit on her. Even when presented with the opportunity.
    That was definitely something she’d have to rectify.
     
    Marc mentally gave himself a good hard scolding and lectured himself on keeping his hands off her, despite the sexual sparks arcing between them. What the hell had he been thinking? He’d nearly kissed her. Thank God common sense had dictated, and sound reason found its way back into his brain before he did something he’d regret later. Yeah, later. Because he certainly wouldn’t regret it while he was doing it with her. Oh no. Not at all. If he had her in his arms, he’d enjoy every damn minute of it. Exploring that curvaceous body of hers, kissing that lush mouth, running his thumbs and his tongue over her gorgeous pink nipples. Yeah, he’d glimpsed those pert buds through her track jacket. All hard and swollen and begging for his mouth.
    His cock swelled almost painfully, and he shifted to hide his arousal. Marc clenched his jaw to stifle a moan and moved to the embankment. He turned to her. “Need a hand?”
    Her eyes snapped up, as if she too had been lost in thought. “No, I’m good, thanks.”
    She climbed from the water and he followed behind her. She grabbed her iPod, murmured something under her breath about it being ruined, and walked to the running track. When she reached the trail, she turned to him, soaking wet. A cool fall breeze blew over them and she gave a slight shiver. As he took in the bedraggled sight of her, his protective instincts kicked into high gear. Sure he was a security specialist, a bodyguard for a living, but whatever had suddenly come over him went deeper than that. Candace was strong and capable, but there was a guarded vulnerability in her eyes that really got to him. Had she been hurt in the past?
    She jerked her thumb toward the inn. “I need to head back.”
    “I’m with you on that.”
    Candace scanned the length of him, then her eyes widened, almost apologetically. “I never thought. You probably don’t have a change of clothes with you.”
    “I do. In my van. I come equipped.” He neglected to tell her that his van also came