Hide and Seek Read Free Page B

her.
    Smiling, Josephine turned her back and let him help her into it. As he gently pulled it over her shoulders, he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “And that’s one night with the option of convincing you of a second. I can be very persuasive, baby.”
    Josephine shuddered at the warmth emanating from him, at the husky, sexy tone of his voice. She turned to look at him. He stood proud and tall, like a knight out of some erotic fairy tale. He was sex personified and she couldn’t wait to begin their one night.
    “You might be persuasive, but I’m not some meek little girl. I can handle you.”
    He grinned a huge, feral, toothy grin.
    “I can’t wait to see you try. Let’s go back to my place, it’s not too far from here and I can give you a lift back to your motel room afterward if it’ll make you feel better.”
    Josephine nodded. She couldn’t tell how she knew, but she was safe with this man. Her instincts had proved her true and right to date, no sense in ignoring herself just now. She might doubt herself sometimes, but never really her intuition. She just had to remind herself she could only linger and indulge in the one night.
    “One night,” she reminded herself and him. His grin widened.
    “We’ll see.” He laughed. Waving to his brother, he escorted her out.
    Josephine felt excitement tingle her every nerve and the rapid beat of her heart. She deserved this night and this man, and then she would move on.
    * * * * *
    William didn’t know what it was about this woman, but she seemed such a contrary mixture of things. She was obviously classy, but dressed in old, rather worn clothes. She hung out in a total dive he would never have expected any woman to be drinking in, and she seemed so wary of him he couldn’t help but feel protective of her. His instincts told him she had a very long, involved story behind her, yet he felt far more interested in stripping her naked and indulging himself in her body and scent than anything else. Plenty of time for questions later, his libido assured him.
    He in no way questioned his confidence in convincing her to stay for a couple of weeks. Lately that’s all he’d been able to keep interest in any one woman. He enjoyed women, would rather cut his leg off than hurt one, yet he couldn’t help but grow a bit weary of constantly being unfulfilled with them.
    He knew this woman would be no different, knew she would be simply another person to pass the time with. Yet something about her felt…different. He couldn’t really put his finger on it.
    He smiled down at her as he led her into his apartment, determined to share most of his secrets and find out all of her own, and then they could move on and see where they led.
    * * * * *
    Two weeks later.
    He’s a COP! Her brain screeched at her. Gently, carefully, Josephine extracted herself from the large, warm, comforting embrace. William had come to be the one bright spot in her increasingly frustrating life.
    Contrary to her original plans, William had somehow seduced her into more than the one night she had promised herself. One night had become two. Two had become three, and before she had known it they were sharing brunch a week and a half later planning a real, honest-to-goodness date, not just a multiple screaming-when-they-came sexual marathon.
    They had gone out to dinner, chatted ordinary small talk for a few hours, and then raced each other to bed. They simply set the sheets on fire, daring each other to go further, to do more. She simply couldn’t get enough of his body. He was her physical refuge.
    Then late last night, still bloated on his success at gaining a real-live date with her, he had asked her about her work. When she had smiled and replied that there wasn’t anything very interesting about being a waitress in an almost-seedy cafe, he had looked almost bashful. She asked him what he did, and when he replied that he was a cop, she had frozen, totally blindsided.
    William had chattered happily