A Ruthless Lust

So, my life is about to get super complicated…and the interesting thing is that I’m probably going to enjoy every second of it!

My mother and sister have hatched some cockamamie scheme in which—ta da!—I’m pretty much the lynchpin…and they’ve sent me to seduce billionaire philanthropist Damian Coldwell.

I couldn’t seduce a geriatric with a blue pill hard-on if he’d had a twenty year dry spell and I was the only woman in a thirty mile radius.

Now, I’m kind of new to the whole stealthy, espionage sort of vibe. I’m no femme fatale and this ain’t no comic book! I’m an art student for crying out loud. This really isn’t my scene…

…however, my family has different ideas.

They don’t seem to care.

Anyway, they dress me up like Cinderella going to the ball and I’m looking all over for this guy…more than an hour goes by and I can’t find him anywhere.

So I think…heck, might as well entertain myself…and that’s when I start knocking back the champagne. (Two at a time)

Stepping onto the balcony, she was hit with a puff of frigid air. “Son of a bitch, it’s cold.”

A low chuckle carried on the wind from the darkest corner. “Then go back inside.”

Abby whirled in the direction of the voice, causing champagne to slosh over the rim of the two glasses. She swore again, jumping back just in time to avoid getting her dress wet.

Another deep chuckle which seemed to wrap around her resonated. It had to be the sexiest laugh she’d ever heard. The mystery man spoke again. “Such colorful language coming from such a pretty lady.”

Abby peered into the darkness. “I’ve never claimed to be a lady, but thanks for the compliment.”

There’s this guy standing in the shadows…I’m a little tipsy…and I swear he has the most panty-melting voice I’ve ever heard in my life. The way he laughs makes my spine tingle. I just want do all kinds of things to him…but I can’t even see who he is yet.

We start shooting the breeze and before long I’m telling him what a “pompous ass” Damian Coldwell is and that the guy couldn’t even be bothered to show up to his own charity event. I laugh, he laughs, it’s all good fun…

“So, beneath Damian Coldwell’s philanthropy, he’s still a selfish monster?”

Abby shrugged and brought her glass to her lips. “You said it, not me. It’s just an example.”

A roar of laughter made her breath hitch. No way was she turned on by a stranger’s laugh. Yes, she was. Good god ...

“You’re an interesting woman, bonita pelirroja. And terrible for any man’s ego it appears.”

Abby’s heart flipped. Pretty redhead. He called her a pretty redhead. She understood that much from her limited, Spanish vocabulary. He was Latino? But she detected no trace of an accent. Still, the stranger’s ranking went up several notches on the hotness meter. There was nothing hotter than a man who could whisper sweet nothings in a woman’s ear in a romantic language. Before she could swoon or throw out a witty comeback, a thunder of applause sounded from inside.

Over the microphone, the announcer sang, “It’s time to hear from the man himself, Damian Coldwell.”

See, things were going great…till they called Damian Coldwell to the podium and THIS GUY steps out of shadows!

So, naturally you’d think I was sunk, right? Mission failed. Abort plan…all of that. It’s just not very “seducy” at this point.

But it’s not over!

The next day, Damian Coldwell shows up at my house demanding to see me.

Things get VERY, VERY interesting (well...a huge understatement) from here on out!