Tori Carrington - Skin Deep

Michael blinked at where Kyra stood on the other side of his drafting table, sexy as all get-out. “I didn’t know you were still here,” he said.

She smiled, her gaze taking in the empty firm. “I could say the same of you.”

Before he could ask why she was working late, Kyra pulled her shirt up over her head, hersmile decidedly devilish. Michael heard the rasp of a zipper, then saw her shimmying out of her leather skirt, leaving her standing there wearing only her bra, panties and those naughty high heels he’d taken such a liking to lately.

She cleared her throat. “I’ve often fantasized about what it would be like to be stretched across your drafting table, having you work your magic on me instead of those blueprints.”

Without a second thought, Michael swept his papers off the table and onto the floor. Then, with the adrenaline flooding his system, he boosted her onto the table.

Kyra gasped, her sexy laughter filling the room. “Are you sure it will hold me?”

“Sure. And if not,” Michael murmured, bending to press his lips to her stomach, “we’ll find out if these carpets are worth what we paid for them….”

Dear Reader,

Best friends to lovers. The best of both worlds, right? Only, sometimes the transition isn’t as simple as it seems. And then sometimes it’s better than anybody could have imagined….

Trendy architect Michael Romero already had it bad for his best friend, Kyra White. But when she transforms herself into a walking, talking fantasy, he can’t keep his feelings under wraps any longer. Even if those feelings are not what Kyra expects. So, taking up his usual “best friend” role and catching her when she falls, Michael sets out to make her fall for him. The problem is, he ends up falling even harder….

We hope you enjoy Michael and Kyra’s sexy, sassy journey into each other’s beds and hearts. We’d love to hear what you think. Write to us at P.O. Box 12271, Toledo, OH 43612, or visit us on the Web at www.toricarrington.com, as well as www.temptationauthors.com for contest news. And be sure to keep your eyes peeled for our next Harlequin Blaze novel, Every Move You Make, available in September.

Wishing you love, romance and hot, steamy reading,

Lori & Tony Karayianni, aka Tori Carrington

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

876—PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS

HARLEQUIN BLAZE

15—YOU SEXY THING!

37—A STRANGER’S TOUCH

The Magnificent McCoy Men miniseries

740—LICENSE TO THRILL

776—THE P.I. WHO LOVED HER

789—FOR HER EYES ONLY

823—YOU ONLY LOVE ONCE

837—NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN

Skin Deep

Tori Carrington

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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This one’s for all of you who have ever wondered “what if….”

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Epilogue

Section I:

Change is good…Real good

AW, HELL, what was it about her?

Michael Romero absently rubbed the back of his neck with his palm and eyed where Kyra White sat two tables away at the Tampa, Florida bar and grill frequented by employees of neighborhood businesses, including the architectural firm where he and Kyra both worked. Aside from being co-workers—he was one of four partners while she did the bookkeeping—they were best friends. A relationship that had been cemented when she’d first hired on at Fisher, Palmieri, Romero and Tanner four years ago. The first week on the job, she’d made a number of nervous mistakes and his partners had wanted to let her go. Instead, Michael had realized where the problem lay—her fear that she wouldn’t live up to the job—and had befriended her. No big sacrifice. She’d turned out to be one hell of a bookkeeper. And the status of their relationship quickly escalated to them becoming best friends and led him to where he was right now. Essentially lusting after a woman who was off-limits to him.

Well, maybe “lusting” wasn’t the word. But there was something about Kyra that jumped up and nipped him on the butt whenever he wasn’t looking. Scratch that. Whenever he was looking at her, while she didn’t have a clue about the direction of his thoughts. A strange kind of gravitational pull that made it virtually impossible to think about anything or anyone else.

Of course it didn’t help that Kyra was sitting with the latest in a long line of short-term boyfriends, guys who would rate high on anyone’s moron scale. His gaze skimmed over Kyra’s long, shiny chestnut-brown hair, her oval green eyes, her clean, girl-next-store features, and her slender form beneath a long, loose-fitting khaki skirt and boxy white blouse. Funny, he never much thought about her in sexual terms whenever they were face-to-face, trying out a new restaurant, playing on the firm’s softball team, or watching the latest video. Then she was his best friend, full of enthusiasm and challenging ideas, ready to laugh at his lamest jokes, constantly carping about his poor diet and his need for a woman deserving of him.

At times such as these, however, Michael wondered if the guy she was with knew how lucky he was that he could press his mouth against her soft pink one. Fan open her blouse to expose her elegant throat. And then, Michael pondered whether any of Kyra’s boyfriends had a clue how to handle a woman like her. Touch her in just the right way. Stroke her slick heat until her breath came in quick gasps and her body tensed in climax.

Aw, hell.

Michael stared at jerk number—Hell, he’d lost count over the past four years, stopping at somewhere around number ten, though he suspected there had been a few more since then. Thirteen. He’d label this one Thirteen just because it felt right. Aside from being a very smug, up-and-coming attorney, Craig Holsom was attractive and he knew it. Kyra had been dating him for three weeks. A record even by her standards. Holsom’s gaze wandered to a passing waitress, making no secret of his interest in the girl’s generous physical assets. Michael stared down to his lap, where he was scratching his palm, and realized he was filled with the sudden urge to knock the grin straight from Holsom’s face.

He grimaced, then took a long chug of his beer. He should have gone home instead of dropping by Lolita’s for a brew with Kyra. Especially since he knew Kyra was meeting Craig. He was incapable of saying more than a semicordial hello to any of her dates before begging off with one excuse or another to settle at another table. Tonight’s excuse had been a nonexistent date that was supposed to meet him there. It had become nonexistent as of two hours ago, when Jennifer Polasky had called him at work and told him she had to work late and was turning down his dinner invitation. She’d wanted a rain check, but Michael wasn’t that interested and told her he’d call to reschedule sometime next week. He didn’t bother to write a note to himself because he knew he wouldn’t be contacting her.