Instant Temptation Read Online Free Page B

making the room seem even smaller than it was.

    “Want me to tell you what I think?” he asked.

    “Are you going to agree with me about the trip?”

    “No.”

    “Then no.”

    He smiled, laugh lines fanning out from his sharp green eyes. “Still stubborn.”

    “And you’re still…” She couldn’t think of an insult. With an annoyed huff, she moved toward the front door and opened it for him. “Thanks for coming. We’ll have to do it again sometime. Buh-bye now.”

    TJ smiled, reached over her head, and shut the door. “Let’s do it again now.”

    She thunked her head against the wood. She felt him lightly run his fingers down her spine, which caused a sensuous shiver, but when he spoke, the amusement was gone from his voice, replaced by a gut-wrenching gentleness. “Harley, why didn’t you tell me you needed money?

    Oh, God. “I—”

    The phone rang, saving her pride, and she leapt for it, then hesitated, standing there in front of the answering machine.

    At the third ring, TJ raised a brow. “You going to get that?”

    “I’m trying to decide.”

    The machine clicked on and Harley’s voice invited the caller to do their thing at the beep, and then her landlord’s voice filled the small apartment.

    “Harley Stephens, you’re avoiding me.”

    Crap. Harley hit the volume button, but not in time to avoid her landlord’s next line.

    “You are ten days late on rent, missy. I need—”

    Harley smacked the volume again and again, until the voice could no longer be heard.

    Gaping silence.

    Her back was still to TJ, so she closed her eyes and wished for a nice big hole to vanish into. “Don’t say it.” Without meeting his gaze, she tried to move around him, but once again his hands came up to hold her in place. She could snap at him or shove him, but the truth was, she liked his touch.

    Too much.

    Which told her just how bad off she was. She real y needed some one-on-one naked time with a guy. Preferably someone who didn’t make her think too much, didn’t have the potential to obliterate her heart, and who wouldn’t expect anything from her.

    Nolan.

    “Harley,” TJ said softly, interrupting her thoughts, something more in his voice than she wanted to hear.

    “Look, as fun as this has been—”

    “Harley.” He paused, and she heard him take a deep breath before continuing. “If you couldn’t tell me, then why not Annie, or Stone, or Cam? You know how much they care about you.”

    Her throat felt tight, far too tight to talk. “It’s temporary.”

    He pulled out his wallet and emptied all of his cash onto the counter. “Not temporary.”

    “I don’t need—”

    “Consider it an advance. We need an assist on upcoming trips. There’s three this weekend. Take your pick; a biking trip, a kayaking trip, or guiding a group of hikers up Eagle Falls to jig for halibut and cast for salmon. Your choice. Hell, for that matter, get your feet wet on one of those, and then come with me on my next long trek.”

    “Those treks take you at least a month.” A month of thirty long nights. Given her entirely inappropriate and extremely annoying habit of yearning and burning for him, God only knew what would happen.

    Reading her mind, he let out a wicked smile that made her nipples harden. Firmly, she put one finger on the money and pushed it back across the counter at him.

    “You don’t think you can control yourself,” he said, sounding amused again.

    She gritted her teeth. “I have enough jobs.”

    “Yes, but this one pays good.” His gaze touched hers, oddly tender and gentle, and it just about did her in.

    “I’ll think about it.” Then, because she couldn’t seem to forget her manners, she added a soft but genuine “thank you.” She busied herself flipping through the maps. “Hey, where’s the top of the northeast region, just beyond Sioux Hill?”

    “It’s there.”

    “No, it’s not.”

    TJ reached around her to fan out the maps himself.