Dangerous Kisses (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Free Page B

don’t want to see it close, but lately, it’s becoming ludicrous to think we can keep it open. I’m busted, man. I don’t have a penny left to sink into it. Profits are barely covering the overhead. There isn’t enough to spare for improvements. If Joan and Walter decide to pull out, we’re screwed.”
    Megan watched as Paul kneeled beside the tank and gripped the edge, her mind reeling. There had to be something they could do. But what?
    “Walter and Joan are not going to pull out as long as there’s still a chance they can make money,” Paul said, sounding far more confident than he looked.
    “No, they won’t,” Brandon agreed. “But they’ve also realized the only way that’s going to happen is if we all agree to sell, and we know you aren’t going to give in.”
    “This place is my life, Brandon.” Paul’s voice actually cracked, and a band twisted around Megan’s heart. “I’ll figure something out. I just need some time.”
    “Time is something we’re running out of.” Brandon threw a frustrated hand in the air. “Did you think your affair with Joan would change her mind?”
    Megan’s jaw dropped. Paul had an affair with Joan Baxter? Holy shit. Paul glanced at her, and she saw the truth and a truckload of guilt in his somber expression.
    He kept his gaze on her but, when he spoke, his words were obviously directed at Brandon. “I would have preferred it if you hadn’t made that public knowledge right now.”
    Brandon shot her a cursory look and sighed. “I’m sorry, but damn it, Paul, what the hell were you thinking?”
    “Believe me, I’ve asked myself that question plenty of times since it happened. What I can tell you is what Joan and I shared had nothing to do with this place. We never talked business.”
    “Well, maybe you should have.” Brandon turned to Megan, his posture one of pure irritation and utter defeat. “Can you talk some sense into him? Because no one else can.”
    Megan didn’t know what to say. She had stopped by the aquarium for a quick visit and some time with an old friend. What she had gotten were clouds of information that were rumbling in her head in a dangerous storm of confusion.
    Water splashed inside the tank next to her, drawing her attention. Drake broke the surface mere feet from where she stood, his sharp blue gaze instantly slamming into hers. His too-kissable lips tilted in a sexy grin that had embers of heat raining through her body.
    Confusion over Paul and the aquarium weren’t the only things she had gotten from this visit. A wicked desire had reawakened inside her that she had barely managed to get under control and, as she stared into the ocean of Drake’s eyes, she got the feeling that restraining that craving again would play hell on her.
     
    * * * *
     
    The vision of Megan standing at the side of the shark tank stayed with Drake long after she left. He hadn’t quite understood his infatuation with her at first. Though pretty, she was far from a Penthouse centerfold. Except, okay, from the neck down with her sexy-as-sin curves he suspected would be equally delicious, she could easily grace the cover of the men’s magazine. The neck up, however, painted a different picture. Her long bleach-blonde hair hung in waves around a narrow face with big hazel eyes, high cheekbones, and a nose a smidgen too large.
    No, not quite cover model material but, after barely a week of knowing her, he had understood. Her personality drew him to her like a magnet. She was smart, vivacious, ambitious, independent, shared his love for marine life, and he wanted her. The trouble came in not knowing exactly how he wanted her.
    Facedown on a dining room table, pinned against a wall, tethered to a bed beneath him…Drake grinned. Yeah, that would work for starters. He wanted her under his control, wanted to shatter that independence with a serious bout of good ole sport fucking. But something told him it wouldn’t end there.
    “Am I going to have to bust your