Read The Tempting Mrs. Reilly for Free Online Page B

swiveled on her chair, crossed her legs and swung her foot lazily.
    Her toes were painted a soft pink and she wore a silver toe ring. Oh, man.
    â€œThat’s all you’ve got to say?” One finely arched dark eyebrow lifted.
    Brian scraped one hand across his jaw. “What do you want from me? I gave it a shot.” Oh, he had to get out of the room. Fast.
    She stood up, set her wine on the table and took a step toward him. Her tank top had those tiny little spaghetti straps and they were the only straps across her smooth shoulders. No bra. His gaze dipped to herpebbled nipples, outlined to perfection beneath the clingy, white fabric. Oh, man.
    â€œWhy are you so anxious to get me out of town, Brian?”
    â€œNot anxious,” he said, then corrected silently, desperate . But he couldn’t say that to her. Couldn’t let her know what she could still do to him with a single look.
    â€œConnor didn’t fool me,” she said, hitching one hip a little higher than the other and tapping her bare toes against the cream-colored linoleum.
    â€œYeah, I know,” Brian said, doing his best to keep his gaze locked with hers. It wasn’t safe, God knew, since her big brown eyes had a way of sucking him in and holding him close. But it was safer than admiring her skin or the way her tank top rode up on her flat belly or the way her shorts molded so nicely to the curve of her behind. Oh, yeah. Safer.
    â€œWhy’d you do it, Brian?” she asked, and her amazing eyes locked on to him again.
    She was like a damn polygraph. Looking into Tina’s eyes forced a man to tell the truth. At least, that’s how her deep brown eyes had always affected him.
    â€œBecause,” he muttered thickly, “I just don’t want you around.”
    Her head snapped back as if he’d slapped her, and he cursed himself silently. Then she took a step closer and Brian caught of a whiff of her cologne. She stillwore the stuff she’d worn five years ago. A magical blend of flowers and citrus, it smelled like summer and warm nights in her arms and, damn it, he told himself, stop breathing .
    A heartbeat later, she’d recovered. “That’s honest, at least. Why?”
    He tore his gaze from her eyes, stepped past her and picked up her wine. Chugging a long drink of the cold, white liquid, he swallowed hard and glanced over his shoulder at her. “What’s the point, Tina?”
    Tina watched him avoid looking directly at her and a ping of something sad and empty resounded inside her. She’d been so furious all afternoon, waiting to face him, and now that the time was here, all she could think was how different they were together now. The attraction was still there, no doubt about that.
    She’d seen his eyes glaze over when he first walked into the room and she’d felt that instant rush of something powerful sweep through her. But then he’d distanced himself without moving a step and she’d felt as though she could reach for him for years and never really touch him.
    But she wouldn’t let herself be hurt. Wouldn’t allow him to chase her off. Not until she’d done what she came here to do. And if that meant that she had to fight past his defenses, then she was just the woman to do it.
    â€œGeez, Brian,” she said, just a little hotly, “doesthere have to be a point? Can’t we just be friends again?”
    He laughed shortly and set her wineglass carefully back down. “We were never friends, Tina.”
    True. She hated to admit that even to herself, but it was true. From the moment they’d first met, they’d been lovers. There’d been no “friendship” period between them. It was all flash fires and fireworks. It was need and hunger and passion.
    If they’d been friends, too, maybe they would have lasted. Maybe Brian wouldn’t have been able to walk away as easily as he had.
    â€œWe could be now,” she