Love Gone Wild: A Contemporary Romantic Comedy Read Free

there's no reason to ruin the silk ones."
    He stopped breathing, choked, coughed. She frowned at him and he waved away the concern marring her brow.
    "Crotchless panties?" he repeated in a hoarse voice.
    "I wasn't sure about protocol...book knowledge only gets you so far." She laughed as she tugged on the skirt. "I’ve never worn silk stockings before, and I have to say, getting them clipped into the satin straps was rather difficult."
    Dane's heart skipped a beat, then re-started at a frantic pace. He was having a heart attack. No. A lust attack. He would not think about crotchless panties, long legs, garters, and crazy women. He closed his eyes and thought about the North Pole. Ice. Cold. Snow.
    Too late. His body had already decided the desk fantasy was a damned fine idea.
    Dane tucked his hands into his jean pockets and rocked back on his heels. "Let me give you some advice."
    "You have experience with women's lingerie?"
    How the hell was he supposed to answer that question? He knew a thing or two about lingerie, but what he liked best on a woman was...nothing. Okay. Maybe nothing but red spiked high heels. He liked red. What the— Dane bit back a curse. His libido was raging out of control and it was all her fault. "I don't want to discuss women's underwear." Especially yours.
    "Okay." She focused completely on him. "I value any advice you can give me about my situation."
    Her total attention unnerved him and the lecture about her outrageous behavior getting her into serious trouble jumbled around in his mind. Searching for a nice way to say, "Get therapy," he examined her face for signs of insanity or inebriation. Heart-shaped, delicately pale, her features were a bit sharp with her honey-blonde hair pulled back. The glasses overshadowed the high cheekbones, pert nose, and the color of her eyes.
    "You seem to be a nice man," said Marissa before he could speak again. She checked her watch. "I only have twenty minutes until the wet T-shirt contest begins. Thank you for your time and for your kindness."
    Dane watched as she pulled out the mangled pink paper from the ugly orange purse. He took it from her. Some words were faded and others were scratched out. Different inks had been used and the handwriting had changed; childish, boxy letters with heart-dotted I's transformed to strong, clean lines. Some of the items seemed immature, a girl's wishes.
    Several were double-starred, including....
    "Go to the zoo?" Dane queried with raised brows.
    "I've never been. My sister was supposed to..." she hesitated. "It's important to me that I complete the list. By Saturday."
    "Why the deadline?"
    She shook her head. "Let's just say I need to keep a promise."
    "You want to do all of these things? There's a lot of stuff on here and some of it you can't even read."
    "I know what every line says. I don't need to accomplish everything this week—just the starred items."
    Dane frowned. "Have sex" was starred. So was "toe-curling kiss," "get a pet," and a couple more sentences he couldn't make out. "Marissa, you don't have to do these things to experience life."
    She stood and extracted the list from his grasp. "Yes, I do. I wasn't kidding about my sheltered life. You compared me to a nun. I bet nuns have more fun than I ever did. I won't bore you with the details. Let's just say I'm free for a short amount of time and I desperately want to finish this list."
    Her vulnerability sliced into him. Wasn't this how Lorraine had gotten to him? He'd fallen for the "poor rich girl" trap once.
    "You're not an escapee, are you?"
    Her eyes widened. "Why would you say that?"
    "I knew it. Prison or the psych ward?"
    "Neither." She answered too fast. She'd make a terrible poker player. Little Miss Priss was hiding something...no, not really hiding, just not telling the full story.
    "I'm on a tight schedule, so I must go." That sexy, trembling little smile assailed her lips. "You're the first person I've met all by myself and look how I messed it up."