Wicked Fantasy Read Free

me.” He glanced at his watch. “Besides, I have to go. Promised Donna we’d walk on the beach tonight.” He slipped off the stool. “I’ll have my cell with me. Give a shout if this guy shows.”
    â€œWalking on the beach?” Conall grinned. “You’re so whipped.”
    Eric offered him a glare before stalking away.
    Conall felt his smile fade. He wouldn’t call Eric. He’d handled his curse for eight hundred years, and he’d keep on keeping on. He got off the stool and headed toward the woman at the table.
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    Gerry Kavanagh had come here to catch a snake, but she’d caught a Sparkle Stardust instead. She preferred the snake. Who had a name like Sparkle Stardust anyway? Gerry rubbed the spot between her eyes where a headache would’ve been forming if she could still get them.
    â€œLook, Sparkle, I love your club, and I appreciate that you sat down to keep me company. And huge thanks for the heads-up on what I need to do to make my outfit more sensual. But I’m here on business, so I’d better get on with it.” She glanced at the nearby tables. Whoever had e-mailed the anonymous tip had promised that Jinx would be here tonight. “Uh, have you seen a guy that sort of looks like a snake?” Did that sound dumb or what? Besides, Jinx in human form looked more like a happy ferret.
    Sparkle raised one perfectly arched brow. “Snake? Why? I mean, if you’re going to hit on a guy, pick one who’s decadently gorgeous and built for sex. Like him.” She pointed toward the bar so Gerry wouldn’t mistake exactly which “him” she meant.
    â€œI’m not here to hit . . .” Gerry glanced at the bar. Whoa! Would you look at that. There were a bunch of men at the bar, but only one worthy of a “whoa!”
    He was a visual hot fudge sundae and a major wow on her personal sizzle meter. Not only was he tall—hard to judge sitting, but he had to be six-four or six-five—he had the broad shoulders and muscular body to make that height seem formidable. Dark, shaggy hair and a hard, uncompromisingly male face pushed every one of her buttons from her neck all the way down to . . . wherever. She was totally unbuttoned.
    She coughed to clear her heart out of her throat. Snake. She was after a snake. That’s all she needed to concentrate on right now. Play wasn’t on her agenda tonight. “Yeah, he’s spectacular, but I don’t mix business with pleasure.” She fixed her gaze on Sparkle. Absolutely no pleasure allowed. Damn.
    Sparkle made a small moue of disappointment. “How shortsighted. And your business would be?”
    Okay, important decision here. She had to find out if Sparkle knew anything about Jinx without—
    â€œHi there, sweetie. We were just talking about you.” Sparkle reached up to grab the arm of the man who’d walked up silently behind Gerry and was now hovering over their table. “Sit for a while.” She urged him into the seat between them.
    Gerry met his intense stare. Gray eyes. Hard, like the rest of him, but softened by a thick fringe of dark lashes. Uh-oh. Business and pleasure were about to collide with enough force to rain down pieces of her good intentions onto her hapless head. How could she concentrate on Jinx when Mr. Whoa was only inches away? She firmed her lips; she’d find a way.
    Sparkle leaned toward him and slid her fingers the length of his arm. Gerry lived the moment vicariously—the feel of the smooth silky shirt over flexed muscles and warm flesh.
    â€œGerry and I were talking men. She was looking for some guy who looked like a snake, and I thought that was pretty pathetic. So I pointed you out as an alternative to the snake.” Sparkle’s smile was a sly lifting of her lips. “She thinks you’re hot.”
    Gerry forced herself to glance around the club again. If she didn’t look at him, maybe . . .