In Bed With The Devil Read Free

stone floor. The place was welcoming and masculine. It might not be the house he would have built, but it wasn’t going to drive him crazy with lots of frills and smelly bowls of dried flowers.
    “You’ll get your exercise climbing the stairs. Your room is on the next floor.”
    He glanced around. “You’re down here?”
    She smiled. “No, Jack. I’m on the second floor, next to the master. We’re only a wall apart.”
    Meri deliberately widened her eyes and leaned toward him as she spoke. She wanted the invitation to be clear. After what Jack had put her through eleven years ago, he deserved to squirm.
    She started down the hall before he had a chance to respond. “There’s an office loft area,” she continued. “You can use that. It’s set up with Internet access, a fax. I’ll be in the dining room. I like to spread out when I work. I tend to get really…involved.”
    She emphasized the last word, then had to consciously keep herself from laughing. Okay, this was way more fun than she’d thought it would be. She should have punished Jack a long time ago.
    She made sure she swayed her hips as she climbed and bent forward slightly so he would be sure to notice her very short shorts. She’d worn them deliberately, along with the halter top that left very little to the imagination. It had taken her nearly two days to come up with the perfect outfit, but it had been worth the time.
    The shorts clung to her and were cut high enough to show the bottom of her butt. Tacky but effective. Her sandals had a spiked heel that was practically a weapon, but they made her legs look long—a serious trick for someone as short as her.
    The halter was so low-cut that she’d had to hold it in place with double-sided tape. She had fresh highlights, sultry makeup and long, dangling earrings that almost touched her nearly bare shoulders.
    If the guys back at her science lab could see her now, they would probably implode from shock. Around them she only wore tailored suits and lab jackets. But for the next month she was dressing as a sex kitten and she planned to enjoy every minute of it.
    She deliberately sped up at the end of the hall, then stopped suddenly. Jack ran into her. He reached out to steady himself or maybe her. She’d planned that he would, so she turned and held in a grin as the palm of his hand landed exactly on her left breast.
    He stiffened and pulled back so fast he almost fell. Meri tried to decide if she minded seeing him in a crumpled heap on the polished hardwood floor.
    “Sorry,” he muttered.
    “Jack,” she purred. “Are you coming on to me? I have to say, that’s not very subtle. I would have expected better.”
    “I’m not coming on to you.”
    “Really?” She put her hands on her hips as she faced him. “Why not? Aren’t I your type?”
    He frowned. “What the hell is this all about?”
    “So many things. I’m not sure where to start.”
    “Try at the beginning. It usually works for me.”
    The beginning? Where was that? At conception, where some quirk of the Palmer gene pool had decided to produce a child with an exceptional IQ? Or later, when Meri had first realized she was never going to fit in anywhere? Or perhaps that long-ago-but-never-forgotten-afternoon when the man she loved had so cruelly rejected her?
    “We’re spending the month together,” she told him. “I thought we could have more fun if we played. I know you like to play, Jack.”
    He swore under his breath. “This isn’t like you, Meri.”
    “How can you be sure? It’s been a long time. I’ve grown up.” She turned slowly. “Don’t you like the changes?”
    “You look great. You know that. So what’s the point?”
    The point was she wanted him desperate. She wanted him panting, begging, pleading. Then she would give in and walk away. It was her plan—it had always been her plan.
    “I’m not going to sleep with you,” he said flatly. “You’re Hunter’s sister. I gave him my word I’d look after