Read The Ultimate Seduction for Free Online

it. She was a wet dream and he was awake now. Time to move on. He had an introduction to suffer through—would in fact drag his feet getting there so as to use up most of their time.
    Then he would put out feelers for the meeting he really wanted. Someone here would know what was being said in the UN about his country’s chances for recognition. Whatever he had to do to bestow legitimacy on his people, he would. They were his priority. It was Luiza’s dream. He owed it to all of them to stay focused on that.
    Not on some easy piece he’d picked up for a few hours of distraction.
    * * *
    Until the accident, Tiffany had always been fashionably—some would say chronically or even rudely—late. Once she began working, she’d discovered how irritating it was to be on the other side of that. Nowadays she strove to be early, and to that end she followed the directions on her watch, only to come up against yet another set of sliding doors. Rolling her eyes, she watched the timepiece count down how long she’d have to wait until they opened.
    “Come on, come on,” she muttered, wanting this meeting over with.
    She’d almost forgotten it completely and wished she had. Unfortunately, her watch had been returned to her with her breakfast. “It was left in the reception lounge last night,” Julio had said. “You have a message. That’s what the blue light means.”
    “It was heavy and men kept coming up to me, saying my watch indicated I was open to being approached,” she complained.
    “Excellent feedback on the weight. A woman’s perspective is so valuable for the manufacturers. But please let me show you how to set your Do Not Disturb.”
    He’d also shown her how to follow the directions to her meeting.
    “Can I wear my mask?” she’d asked, peering at him from behind her feathers while trying to keep them out of her orange juice.
    “Of course. Members typically wear their masks the entire time they’re here.”
    With her main argument for blowing off the meeting disintegrated, she’d managed only a quiet, “Thanks.”
    Biting her thumbnail after Julio left, she’d debated whether to risk leaving her room. What if she saw him?
    Heated tingles awakened, hinting at how exciting it could be to bump into him, but she tamped down on the wild feelings. Her behavior last night had been a crazy combination of being away from the stifling proximity of her family and, well, she had been a little drunk on rum, having almost finished her second drink by the time she’d begun dancing.
    With a stranger.
    Her lover.
    A burble of near-hysterical laughter almost escaped her as she walked, thinking of their incredible encounter. Part of her reaction was delight that she had it in her to be that bold and daring. Before the accident she might have fantasized about something like that, but it would never be something she could imagine actually doing. There was no such thing as impulse in her family. The consequences to Daddy’s career always had to be considered.
    The rest of her giddiness had a sharply disappointed edge. This was the sort of secret she might share with a close girlfriend, but she didn’t have any. Her friends, some closer than others, had all continued on with their lives during her recovery, living the life she was supposed to have. Hers had stalled and taken a sharp left turn. She would never have much in common with them now except the good old days. That topic just invited pitying stares.
    Work was what she had now. A career. She had Paulie’s corporation and men in her life who loved her as a daughter and a sister. Last night had been exciting and fun, but she couldn’t repeat it. What was she going to do? Come to these events every quarter and sleep with a different stranger each time? The alternative, to expose her scars and hope a lover could overlook them, made her shudder in appalled dread.
    No, she had to stay serious and focused and do what she’d been sent here to do. Last night was her