Her Contract (Romance) Read Free Page A

water views. You’ll be staying in the first one on the left.”
    I give a sheepish smile back and excuse myself so her Dad can have some alone time.
    Honestly, the way they’re ogling each other you’d think they were a pair of lustful youths.
    I lug my suitcase up the white-carpeted double staircase and then pause on the landing. An enormous arched window displays the beach and ocean barely a stone’s throw away. This mansion must be worth, at least, twenty-five mil with this view.
    No wonder Lucas is such a prick. Look what he grew up with.
    My bedroom is a warm mix of browns, creams and baby blue tones. The queen-sized bed is creaseless with an assortment of throw pillows that probably retail as much as this ruby and pink gold ring I’m wearing – a graduation present from my parents.
    Well, if this is where I’ll be staying for the week I can’t complain. It tops my room back in Brooklyn about hundred times over.
    It’s a shame that Lucas will also be here. The last thing I want when I’m sprawled out on the deck working on my suntan is him walking around, shirtless. And reminding me of that foolish mistake I made in the back of Abigail’s Beamer.
    Ridiculous, girly, teenage lust – that’s all it was. As if I could still have a thing for him. He’s going to be my stepbrother for heaven’s sake.
    After I unpack, I decide that there’s no time like the present to get into vacation-mode. Dressed in only my favorite Dr. No white styled bikini and a towel over my shoulder, I make my way outside to the private walkway leading to the beach.
    Once I hit the sand, I sit down and slather myself in tanning oil. With any luck, this time next week I’ll be browner than a coconut.
    Lying back, I close my eyes against the sun; its warm rays make me instantly feel relaxed. It’s been too damn long since I’ve done this. What ever happened to the free-spirited girl who spent most of her summers on the sand and surf?
    I don’t know how much time has passed, but a sudden shadow smothers the sun. No, not a shadow. Something far worse.
    “Hey hot stuff,” he says, accentuating the word ‘hot.’
    I quickly sit up and try to hide my cleavage that he was no doubt admiring. “Do you mind? I’m trying to relax here.”
    Lucas chuckles and sits down on the sand next to me. “Aw, don’t be like that. I was only teasing. You’re too easy to wind up.”
    “And you make it too easy to dislike you. Immensely.”
    “Come on, you don’t mean that,” he says with flirtatious eyes. “After all, you did really like me once.”
    Is he hitting on me? In full view of both our parents back at the beach house? Seriously?
    “Once. A long time ago. Which was a mistake. Try some other gal, Don Juan. I ain’t interested,” I reply with bite.
    He laughs again and leans in closer, his shoulder touching mine. I can feel the heat radiating off him as his lips get closer.
    I don’t speak or move. It’s like I’m frozen in place or under some kind of spell.
    His eyes go down to my breasts and then wander back up to my lower lip. Oh, no. Don’t you dare let him do it, Anna!
    When his mouth crashes down on mine, his hands find my waist and grip it tight. I want to pull away, slap him in the face again and tell him what an arrogant prick he is for kissing me, but I can’t. I’m too lost in the way his tongue is folding over mine.
    His sweet spearmint breath fills my mouth, and I let out a small moan. He presses against me in response, pulling me into his chest with urgency.
    Everything inside of me screams for him to fuck me. For him to rip off this bikini and take me like he did in the back of that damn Beamer.
    Then, as suddenly as it started, it’s over.
    He breaks the kiss and stares at me with apparent confusion, but which then morphs into another of his classic smug grins.
    “I knew you still had a thing for me,” he says, winking. “It’s good to know you’re still not completely untouchable.”
    Bastard.
    He only