Carly Phillips - Hot Stuff

She took a final bite of her second slice and left the crust in the box. "Who'd they suggest?"

"Laura." He said the name with no emotion, and having finished his pizza, he shut the box and rose to place the garbage on the dresser.

"You're kidding?"

He nodded with a brief jerk of his head. "She's done some slimy things and she can play head games with the best of them," he acknowledged. "But I don't see her as being capable of physical destruction."

"How about hiring someone to do the job?"

"No. Plus she asked for money. Unless she's having me fund my own destruction, it doesn't make sense. I just don't buy Detective Ross's two-pronged attack theory."

Annabelle bit down on her lower lip. He was so adamant, she wanted to believe his instincts. Still, at least one of them couldn't afford to be in denial. "I think I'll reserve judgment since I don't know the woman at all."

"That's what the police said. They're going to keep digging."

"Good. But it sounds like you've decided to give her the money?"

He shrugged. "On the off chance the cops are right, why make her more desperate, angry or jealous by saying no?'

She mulled that one over. "So what was the story with you two?" she asked, curious despite herself.

He rejoined her on the bed and leaned back against the headboard, hands clasped behind his head. "It's boring and I really wouldn't want to put you back to sleep."

She rolled her head to the side and felt a silly smile tilt her lips. "Your past could never bore me and considering how much of mine I've dumped on you in the past few days, I think it's only fair I listen to yours."

"You mean you think it's only fair I share?"

She grinned. "Yes, Vaughn. I'm asking you to do the one thing men dread. Open up and spill your guts."

He glanced at the ceiling and exhaled, obviously resigned to talking. "Okay look, Laura and I hooked up because I thought she was real. Except looking back, my reasons for thinking she was a decent human being were about the dumbest I can imagine."

"We all want to see the best in people. What were your reasons?"

"I figured because she was a school teacher, she'd have a better understanding of all I'd been through- dealing with the dyslexia, struggling academically, turning to sports because it was the one thing I excelled at."

"You excel at many things," she assured him.

He shot her a heated look, then they both laughed.

"But seriously your thinking seems sound. What went wrong?"

"It didn't take long before my lifestyle became more attractive to her than me."

Annabelle reached out with one foot and entwined her leg with his. "Now that I find hard to believe."

"How else would you explain the fact that while I was lying in the hospital doped up on painkillers, thanks to a shattered knee and a concussion, my loving wife brokered a deal with Yank's competition?"

Annabelle cringed, but still tried to understand what was going on in their lives at the time. "Maybe she thought Spencer Atkins was in your best interest."

Vaughn frowned. "She thought Spencer had better contacts in television, and since she realized my career was over long before I accepted it, she decided to plot my future-hence, ensure her status as the wife of someone important in the industry. God forbid the invitations to the important functions should stop coming in and she'd have to spend a night home with her idiot husband," he muttered, his bitterness so obvious it hurt Annabelle's heart.

She could not comprehend how a woman could claim to love and understand a man, then hurt him with such calculated words, not to mention blindside him at the lowest point in his life. "It's obvious Laura was looking out for number one, but why do you have to be so hard on yourself?" she asked.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

She climbed onto Vaughn until she straddled his hips. She wanted to get in his face and force him to discuss his greatest weakness. "I want to know why you call yourself stupid and belittle yourself over something which you had no control," she stated.

"Because I'm quoting Laura's words, sweetheart," Vaughn informed her. "And there's no sugarcoating her version of me. When we agreed on a divorce settlement, she said she'd turn the restaurants into an even bigger success than I ever could since she could read the fine print."

"Bitch," Annabelle said, defending Vaughn. She leaned down and planted a kiss on his mouth. "Laura's the one who sounds like an idiot," she murmured, nibbling on his lips.

"Mmm. I've come to realize that." He wrapped his hands around her neck and held her head in place while he deepened the kiss.

His tongue lazily traced circles on her lips until she parted and let him inside, the kiss quickly turning hot and heated. She loved the feel of him beneath her, his body hard and aching as he took control of both the kiss and of her. Her body melted, molding to his, but she knew they weren't finished talking yet. Until they'd wiped Laura's painful words from his mind, he'd always block a part of himself from her in order to prevent himself from being hurt again.

"Why do the police think she's a possible suspect?" Annabelle asked, pushing herself upward so she could talk and think rationally, something she couldn't do when Vaughn was kissing her senseless.

He exhaled hard and forced his eyelids open. "It seems her businesses are failing."

Annabelle clapped her hands together with glee. "Oh, that's rich! I love it," she said, laughing.

"Pardon me?"

"Don't you see?"

Vaughn scowled. He didn't see anything except a woman he desired more with each passing breath sitting on his straining groin and making him talk about his ex-wife. The one thing guaranteed to kill any erection. "Don't I see what?"

"The woman who accused you of being stupid and unable to read the fine print ran the business into the ground. Success or failure has nothing to do with reading ability, Vaughn. And you of all people should understand that. But in case you don't, Laura's just given you proof."

He shook his head, amazed at her insight. "Good point," he said, then gave her a suggestive smile.

"Now I think we can let the police follow up, don't you?"

She nodded. "Which leaves us free to do…other things " A hopeful note rang in her voice.

"Sounds like a plan to me. Other things that don't involve talking,"

"I like the sound of that."

Within seconds he had her flipped to her back, their positions switched. He glanced down. The jersey had hiked up her thighs revealing a hint of lace and expanse of skin that had him drooling.

Suddenly a saucy glint sparkled in her eyes and she stretched her arms above her head, deliberately, slowly, arching her back and pulling the hem of the jersey upward, inch by tantalizing inch.

"You're a tease," he said, his voice gruff with desire.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

Unable to resist her blatant dare, he slid downward, placing his hands on her thighs. Never breaking eye contact, he eased her legs apart and watched her tremble.

He took immense satisfaction from knowing he had this effect on her and it made him want more. He wanted to make her climax and watch her as she came. He had a hunch the vision, would be enough to make him follow suit.

He bent over and, hands still holding her thighs open wide, he licked his way up first one inner thigh, then the next. Her muscles shook and her hands clenched the sheets at her side.

It wasn't enough. He eased her panties down her thighs, revealing a blond triangle of hair and dewy moisture. Moisture he'd caused. He inhaled her essence and inched closer.

"Vaughn-" She turned her head from side to side, yet she remained open for him, waiting for whatever he'd do next.