Little White Lies Read Free

soft and kissable.  Only her eyes seemed familiar, and right now they were staring at him curiously.
     
    “You look…incredible,” he finally managed to squeeze out.
     
    Miranda blushed with pleasure.  “You look quite dashing yourself.”  When he didn’t say anything more, she shifted uncomfortably.  “Holt, about that toast?”
     
    “Yes, of course.” 
     
    He stepped aside so she could go first, absently placing his hand on the small of her back then quickly snatched it away.  A jolt of electricity couldn’t have shocked him more than the feel of her soft, warm skin beneath his fingertips. Holt clenched his jaws against the rush of desire that surged through him.  Good God, what was wrong with him?  This was Miranda Carrington, his meek little assistant, the woman most people would overlook in a crowd. The same woman who stirred his compassion less than a week ago because he’d been thinking she had absolutely no sex appeal. 
     
    Holt stole a quick look at her.  She stirred a whole lot more than compassion right now, that was for sure, but he couldn’t afford to make a move on her no matter how much he wanted to.  For one thing, he would never find anyone who was so in tuned with him in the office; for another, he just couldn’t bear the thought of breaking her heart.  And it
would
break her heart, he knew that with undying certainty.  Miranda was kind and gentle. She would never be able to give her body without getting emotionally involved.  Looking at her now, Holt wasn’t entirely sure he could keep from feeling something for her either, and that scared the hell out of him.
     
    Why did she have to wear that dress?  And why did she have to let her hair down like that so she looked all soft and feminine?  His fingers itched to touch it, to sift through the silkiness and watch it fall back into place.  He wanted to see it splayed across his pillow when he made love to her and…whoa, whoa, what was he doing?  He had to put an end to that line of thinking before he did something he regretted. 
     
    She had no right to do this to him, not when everything was so perfect between them.  What kind of game was she playing?  Irrational anger burned deep inside of him.  It wasn’t fair of her to make him want her so bad when she knew perfectly well he could never act on it.   
     
    Miranda stopped in front of the stage and motioned for the band to wind it down before turning to Holt.  The smile on her face faded.  Holt looked…angry, and for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what had happened in the short walk to the stage.  But when his hostile glare swept over her dress and back up again, she understood.  He was only being polite when he said she looked incredible.  What he really thought was evident by the look of disgust on his face.  Miranda crossed her arms over her chest in an effort to cover herself.  She had no way of knowing the self-conscious gesture only pushed her breasts up and made them even more tempting than before.
     
    Holt gritted his teeth.  Damn, there was only so much a man could take!  “Let’s get this over with,” he snapped.
     
    Miranda blinked back the sting of tears.  “Sure, I’ll…uh, be right back.”  She turned away from him and hurried up the stairs to the stage.  When the band stopped playing, she forced herself to smile as she asked for everyone’s attention.  “Good evening everyone, I’m Miranda Carrington, Personal Assistant to your host, Holt Devlin.” 
     
    She waited for the applause to die then blushed profusely when a few men let out cat calls.  Her mortification doubled when she chanced a quick glance at Holt and saw his broad shoulders visibly stiffen.  She’d made a fool of herself wearing Bri’s dress and even worse, she’d embarrassed Holt.  Thank God, they had a week off for the holidays because there was no way she could walk into the office and pretend everything was perfectly normal.  When it was