Read 04 - Born to be Wilde.txt for Free Online Page B

jeans and an equally form-fitting blue sweater top. Her naturally wavy auburn hair, which reached the middle of her back, was still damp from her morning shower.
     
    After letting out a loud, obnoxious yawn, she narrowed her gaze at Lora and asked, "Why are you in such a good mood this morning?"
     
    Sydney was so not a morning person and couldn't understand how Lora could wake up so early bright-eyed, rested, and ready to face the day. Sydney would sleep in until noon, given the chance, but she had a daughter in high school, and that kept her from enjoying that particular luxury.
     
    Carrying her cup of coffee to the table, Lora sat down and selected an apple fritter from the pink pastry box. "Well, maybe I'm in a good mood because you let me off early last night."
     
    "Yeah, to go out and get yourself laid." Sydney turned from the counter, a mug of steaming coffee in hand and a sly grin curving her lips. "Dare I hope?"
     
    Lora picked off a crispy edge of her fritter and popped it into her mouth. "Sorry to disappoint you, my dear friend, but my virtue is still intact." However, Lora had to wonder if the vividly erotic dream she'd had last night qualified as getting laid. It was as close to getting laid as she'd gotten in the past two years.
     
    She'd been deep asleep, but the image of Joel's hands and mouth pleasuring her in such steamy, breathtaking detail had seemed so real. Intensely so. She'd felt the heat and strength of his big body stroking in and out of hers, and each hard, fierce thrust had sent her spiraling into the sweetest kind of ecstasy.
     
    She'd woken up panting and moaning as her body clenched deep inside and the last ripples of an orgasm coursed through her. She'd been shocked, and realized that she'd had the female equivalent of a wet dream, proof that her body truly was sexually deprived.
     
    Her face warmed at the memory, and she ducked her head to hide the flush on her cheeks before Sydney noticed and called her on it.
     
    Sydney plopped herself down across the table from Lora and picked out a maple glazed doughnut, which was her favorite kind. "So, tell me all about your platonic date with the hunk."
     
    "It really wasn't a date." Lora shrugged, and took a sip of her coffee.
     
    "What do you mean it wasn't a date?" her friend replied in that affectionately sarcastic way of hers. "You went out with him, didn't you?"
     
    "I had a cup of coffee with him. It wasn't any big deal." Or so Lora tried to convince herself, as well as Sydney.
     
    Sydney made a grunting sound to the contrary. "Did he kiss you?" she asked hopefully.
     
    She recalled all the playful banter and innuendo about Joel's motorcycle at the end of the evening, could still feel the way he'd strummed his fingers down to the base of her throat and how his touch had ignited such a powerful sexual awareness between them. At that moment, she'd wanted to kiss him—the kind of slow, deep kiss that was infused with a heady rush of sensation. She could have sworn by the heat and desire in his eyes that he was thinking the same thing.
     
    She was certain a kiss would have been so good between them… until he'd stepped away, dispelling any notion she might have had about making out with Joel Wilde. Which was probably for the best, she thought with a sigh.
     
    In addition to the fact that he had "bad boy" written all over him, she really wasn't in the market for any kind of relationship right now. She just didn't have the time. Between her day job at the hotel, her evenings at The Electric Blue, and saving every spare dollar she earned so she could open up her own spa within the next year, Joel and his sexy smile and built-like-a-god body were a distraction she couldn't afford.
     
    "Helloooo," Sydney singsonged as she waved a hand in front of Lora's face to get her attention again. "Considering how long you're taking to answer my question, I'm guessing you're wishing he had kissed you."
     
    "Score one for you," Lora admitted, and