Bad Boy Secrets Read Free

but definitely provocatively.  Of course, with a body like hers, a burlap sack could have been provocative.  And those heels, he thought.  God above, he didn’t know how she walked in them but he damned sure liked to watch her when she did. 
                  The bell over the door tinkled again, and he turned to see Crystal walking in.  Her  face was streaked with tears, her normally perfect makeup smeared all over her face.  She looked crazed.  “I want my job back,” she said.  “I’ll be good.  I’ll be better than good.  No more cell phone in the office, no more short skirts!”
                  It hadn’t been the short skirt.  It had been the fact that she’d bent over in front of his desk to deliberately show him she wasn’t wearing underwear.  She was only nineteen for the love of god.  He might be a pervert, he’d thought at the time, but he damned well wasn’t a pedophile.  Looking at her now, with her tear streaked face and her petulant, trembling lips, it only underscored for him how much of a child she was.  He’d wanted to give her a chance when he hired her, and it had been a mistake.  “I’m sorry, Crystal.  I’ve hired someone else.”
                  Her face fell even further, and then the tantrum began.  She grabbed the coffee thermos from his desk and hurled it at him.  The hot liquid splashed over his chest, scorching his skin through the cotton.  “You’ll regret this, Reed Harrison!   I would have done anything for you!”
                  Reed watched her rush out, sobbing.  Cass was there, coming in through the open door as Crystal ran out.  She carried a white paper sack emblazoned with the logo of the diner that was just next door.  “Well, I’m glad I missed that,” she said with a rueful smile.  “Lover’s quarrel?”
                  “That isn’t funny, Cass.  That girl is--” he stopped, unsure of what to say. 
                  “It’s called cray-cray.  She’s crazier than a shithouse rat, Reed, and apparently she really likes you,” Cass intoned sarcastically.  Since Reed really wasn’t amused, she took pity on him, “Get that shirt off before you burn.  Boy scout that you are, I know you have a spare around here.”
                  “I don’t, actually.  Crystal didn’t pick up the dry cleaning.”
                  Cass chuckled, as she pulled his neatly folded and pressed shirt from her bag.  “I promise not to go all Fatal Attraction on you.  Strip.  I needed to return this anyway.”
                  “You could get sued for that, you know.”
                  “I’ll take my chances.... I grabbed you a couple of burgers.  I figured you were going to have a late night,” she said breezily, as she watched him loosen and then remove his neck tie.  When his fingers moved to the buttons of his blue, oxford shirt, she felt the familiar tingle of lust that she always did.  Reed Harrison, with his dark hair and chiseled features, not to mention his ridiculously keen mind, had been fueling her fantasies for months and his true, Southern gentleman routine of the other night had only piqued her curiosity.  Each button that popped open revealed a widening V of bronzed skin, lightly dusted with crisp, dark hair.  He was no slouch in the workout department either if the abs he was revealing were any indication. 
                  When he finally shrugged the shirt off, revealing his broad shoulders and the bulging muscles of his arms, she found it difficult to breath.  Nonetheless, she moved forward and took the shirt from him to pretreat it with the stain remover she’d found amongst the cleaning supplies.  She needed the space. 
                  “Thank you, Cass.  If you hadn’t come by today, I don’t know what I would have done.”
                  “You’d manage,