Calling His Bluff Read Free Page A

“Didn’t you have a crush on me at one point?”
    She stuck out her tongue at him, pleased that she could take his teasing with barely
     a flutter of uneasy excitement, and went to search the kitchen for a corkscrew.
    “Yeah, well, as a girl I was easily impressed. Remind me to beat up my brother for
     not keeping his mouth shut about it. And of course Mom recognized you—you were standing
     next to my brother. The terrible twosome, reunited. You’ll have to come to her birthday
     party next month.” She ducked her head, as if J.D. might be able to see on her face
     the dozen voice mails about party planning she’d ignored from her family. Although,
     he was probably the one person who’d understand wanting to avoid family for a while.
     “Ah ha,” she said after another moment of searching the cluttered drawer. She lifted
     the corkscrew in the air, and then strolled back to the couch, where J.D. had eased
     himself down onto the cushions.
    No longer able to restrain her burning curiosity, she heard herself asking, “You got
     a new celebrity girlfriend we should put on the RSVP list?” Yeah, that was subtle.
     And sheesh, it was hot in here. Seriously. A drop of sweat trickled down her spine.
     No sweating in Armani, she reminded herself. Dropping the corkscrew in his lap, she
     headed off into the dimmer corner of the apartment. “Is there a bathroom back here
     somewhere? And maybe some beachwear for this sauna you’ve got going on?” she said.
     “I’m inappropriately dressed.”
    He groaned and tilted his head back to rest on the high cushions of the couch. The
     light flickered around the edges of his profile, outlining the bump on his nose. It
     had been broken by a wild curveball thrown by her brother a dozen summers ago. “In
     the corner. Look in the closet for a T-shirt and shorts if you want. I keep workout
     clothes down here. Bedroom’s upstairs. And I never should have sent Tyler the picture
     from that magazine,” he called after her. “I go to one Hollywood premiere with the
     supporting actress and your brother tells everyone within a two-hundred-mile radius.”
    She found the bathroom back by what looked like a weight room, barbells and weight
     plates stacked along the walls. She pushed the door halfway shut behind her and started
     to shuck off her clothes while she shouted back to him. “You could have knocked him
     over with a feather when the next picture he saw was your wedding picture. Same blonde,
     different slinky ten-thousand-dollar dress.” Catching a glimpse of herself in the
     mirror, she hoped she could blame the flush in her cheeks on the heat of the fire.
    “Get a grip, girl. You’re just two old friends sitting in front of a fire while drinking
     some wine.” She brushed a strand of long brown hair behind one ear and smiled at herself
     in the mirror. “Yeah, he’s an old friend who just happens to be a phenomenally hot
     man too injured to escape.”
    Oh, for crying out loud. Now she was flirting with herself in the bathroom mirror.
     She shut her eyes, threw every fantasy of seeing Joseph David Damico naked out of
     her brain, opened her eyes and turned to the open-faced linen closet. The uninstalled
     door was propped against the wall next to it. Now that she knew he hadn’t changed
     as much as she’d feared, she saw this place a bit differently, too. It had gone from
     a barely habitable, starving-artist space to a cool, incomplete renovation. Reaching
     inside the open closet, she grabbed the first things she found and pulled them on.
    “Where is the ex-Mrs. Joey, sorry, J.D. Damico, by the way?” she asked, determined
     to nail down details about the dreaded ex-wife. “All the lunchtime construction boys
     at the pub were hoping for her autograph.”
    “Lost her in the Amazon,” was his reply, but she decided to wait until she returned
     to the living area for a translation. This place was like a cavern.
    Leaving her own clothes neatly folded on