Passionate Persuasion (Entangled Indulgence) Read Free

renovations here.”
    “So it’s just self-interest,” Kiara said, “not good citizenship.”
    She hadn’t meant to banter with him, hadn’t meant to spark that devilish light in his eyes. But it was there all the same. “You seem to have forgotten that I was on the executive board of my fraternity.”
    Kiara gave an unladylike snort. She hadn’t snorted in a long time. “You were the Chairman of the Booze.”
    He drew himself up with all the hauteur of an offended society matron. “I was Vice President of Social Events.” Then the glint in his eyes betrayed him. “Keg procurement was merely part of my duties.”
    “I guess the recruitment spiel is right,” she said. “Greek life does prepare you for career success.”
    “Is that what they tell you in sorority rush?” Alex asked. “They just told us it was a great way to meet chicks.”
    “Chicks?” Kiara echoed, as disapproving as she could manage.
    “Babes,” Alex said, and when the corner of her mouth twitched he tried, “Honeys? Hotties?”
    She held up her hands in surrender, laughing in spite of herself. “Stop. Just stop. That’s disgraceful.”
    “What?” he asked. “That college boys want to meet girls?”
    “That you would ever call a woman a ‘honey.’”
    “Well, I wouldn’t now .”
    “So you didn’t open a bar just to meet chicks ?” she asked, arching a brow. She didn’t know him now , really, but she knew him then .
    And now, as it had then, a flash of hand-in-the-cookie-jar guilt gave him away, and he cleared his throat. “Ahem. Well, I wasn’t that long out of school when I decided to open this place.”
    “Uh huh,” she said.
    He gave a sulky scowl of exaggerated proportions. “And it’s a pub, not a bar.”
    “Uh huh,” she said again, as their eyes caught and held, just like they had the night they met, his dancing with laughter, daring her to share the joke.
    Someone called him from down the bar. A flattering degree of annoyance flashed on his face. “I’m not really working,” he said. “But I’m always working. Don’t go anywhere.” He stood up, putting his hands on her knees as he did, half pressing his point, half flirting with the hem of her skirt. It was almost brief enough to be an accident.
    “Okay,” she said. Like her knees would hold her up after that.
    He put on an all business face, and that was sort of knee-weakening, too. Alex Drake, Guy in Charge was every bit as sexy… no, sexier…than Alex Drake, Guy Your Mother Warned You About.
    This is really happening. She watched the crowd part for him as he went to deal with the distraction. I am on a date with Alex Drake.
    It can’t possibly be that simple. Outside of his influence, the inconsistencies nagged at her, but wouldn’t quite link up. Before she’d been distracted, she’d been about to go back to the beginning, to the emails they’d exchanged, and she grabbed her phone to do that now.
    His email address was [email protected], and he didn’t sign his name. So she wasn’t crazy, and he hadn’t lied. Not outright. She had addressed him as Elliott, and he hadn’t corrected her. She might overlook that, except…
    Except her email was [email protected].
    Their first date—no, their first meeting, at that beer-soaked, frat house party—she’d told him that she was attending Port Calypso University on a music scholarship, and he’d asked her what she played. So he knew.
    He knew .
    That. Rat. Bastard.

Chapter Two
    Alex was in trouble for a bunch of reasons.
    First, he was in trouble because Kiara Fredericks was sexier than he remembered.
    No, she was prettier than he remembered. She was just sexier now, full stop. College freshman Kiara had a wholesome prettiness and a total lack of awareness of how hot she was in a PCU tank top. Kiara version 2.0 was a rough-cut emerald polished up to a facetted jewel. Her dark brown hair was swept off her delicate neck. She wore a burgundy silk blouse that skimmed curves