Rescued (A McKenzie Ridge Novel Book 1) Read Free Page B

“I just want to have dinner with a friend and figure out what makes her… her.”
    “Not interested, Tayler. Not going to happen. It’s dinner, it’s a date. I don’t need figuring out, I’m out.” Walking away again, moving to her next task, she quickly closed her eyes and took a deep breath while her back was to him, and collected herself. He was having an effect on her that she couldn’t explain. It was pissing her off, or was it?
    Giving her his best pitch yet, he delivered a pretty convincing plea as to why this wasn’t a date, but he was starting to wonder if maybe it was. “It’s not a date. If it were a date, I would bring flowers, candy, and all that fluffy shit you girls like. I’m just buying a friend dinner. We both have to eat, so why not together?”
    “Drinks? Will there be dessert,” she questioned.
    “Now you’re talkin'. I can do dessert, whatever you want, wherever you want…”
    “I meant like cheesecake, or bread pudding, you ass.”
    “I know, I know, I’m just kidding.” Excited he was wearing her down and she was coming around, he knew she would see it his way and meet him for this non-date , date. “I figure if I start with the bar that high, you’ll give in when I say, cheesecake sounds amazing.”
    “Cheesecake is a date.” She wasn’t giving in, he was tempting, but that was the problem.
    “Fine, no cheesecake. Just dinner, maybe a drink, friends, very public, not a date.”
    “Drinks…date.”
    “Fine, no drinks.” Christ, she had rules, but he liked it, he was enjoying the challenge. He clearly had her in final negotiations, tomorrow night was looking good.
    Sam paused as she assessed the situation, assessed him. Her darkened, hooded eyes and open mouth leaving her ponderings less than a mystery. She had a strict no dating rule and was pretty confident that rule applied to smexy, sex on a stick, co-workers especially. Nothing good would come from a Tayler and Taylor rendezvous, nothing at all good. Oh who the hell was she kidding?
    No matter how loud her instincts protested the idea of fraternization, her libidinous drive sat on her right shoulder, like the devil himself, whispering indecent lust filled notions that were much more convincing than her good intentioned constitutions. She turned a deaf ear to logic and reason, and fell victim to all the pheromones, or hormones, or whatever it was pushing her down the perilous path that was Dawson Tayler. She might regret this at some point, but she was certain it would be worth the thorny ride, or maybe it was horny ride, that would inevitably present itself.
    She turned to him and looked him straight in the eye, and delivered her matter of fact terms. “No dinner. Breakfast. Baker’s, after shift. Coffee and a fritter, very public, friends, I’ll meet you there, not a date.”
    “Sold. See you at Baker’s, honey ,” he said before kissing the back of her hand and turning his back to walk away. And watch him walk away she did. It was a glorious site to be seen, that ass, those pants, and God help her, he was flexing his enormous biceps, giving her an intentional show, smug son of a bitch.
    ***
    With a wicked grin and a sexy wink that said anything but just breakfast , he was gone. What the heck just happened here? How the hell did he do that? And why was she already wondering if it was appropriate to have first date nookie? Or after breakfast nookie, in this case. Maybe it was because she wanted to know if he was really built the way she imagined him, often.
    Her better judgment scolded her as she questioned her sanity or lack thereof. Geez, get it together Sam . She was humming at the thought of him, and those thoughts were naked and dirty. Why did he have this effect on her, he isn’t the first hotter than hell guy to cross her path the past few years. The House was full of them from Police, Fire, and Rescue.
    What was it with Dawson Tayler that made her think all men were bad, but him? She couldn’t answer