Naughty by Nature Read Online Free Page B

she
decided to drop it.  The meal looked so delicious, and Indie and Stone were
such good friends of hers, it didn’t make sense for her to sulk and spoil the
evening.  Not on account of Wolf Spencer, anyway.  And besides, she had plans
for him.  Later.
    “Thanks, Indie.” 
With a bright smile Tessa accepted the basket and began to select her favorite
portions of chicken.  “You outdid yourself this evening.”
    Indie smiled.  “I
do try,” she said, gracefully accepting the compliment.
    But Tessa did not
miss Stone’s ‘yeah, right’ look.  Indie – cook?  In her dreams.  More than
likely the hardest part of her job had been to decide which caterer to use. 
Oh, to live the life of a billionaire's wife.
    Tessa smiled to
herself, pleased for her friend.  Stone had married Indie in a lightning-fast
romance – one that lasted all of one month before the wedding – and Indie
totally deserved it.  Tessa couldn’t have been more happy for her.
    And now here was
Stone’s friend, the great Wolf Spencer.  Probably a billionaire himself.  And
maybe that was why he’d acted like she was beneath him, glowering at her like
that.  What?  Did he think that because he was a billionaire she was throwing
herself at him?  God forbid.  Or was it that, because he was a rich and
eligible bachelor, he expected to be pursued?  Well, he should know by now that
this was one woman who was not into pursuing anyone.  If he wasn’t interested,
she wasn’t either.
    “You haven’t heard
a word I said, have you?”
    Tessa blinked then
looked across at Indie.  “Pardon me?” 
    Her friend shook
her head.  “There goes Tessa.  Head forever in the clouds.  What naughty plans
are you cooking up now?"
    “Who, me?”  Tessa
put on her best innocent face.
    “Yes, you.  Don’t
think I don’t know you,” Indie said with a laugh.  “But I won’t worry about
that now.  I asked you, how’s school?  Any amazing adventures to share with us
today?”  She glanced over at Wolf.  “Tessa teaches high school and the amount
of mischief those kids get into, you’d think it was a circus.”
    To Tessa’s shock,
that got a rise out of Wolf.  At Indie’s words the clouds dissolved and his
face actually broke into a smile.  Not a huge one, but a smile nonetheless.
    “I remember the
trouble my friends and I used to give our teacher back in high school.”  The
smile softened his lips and his face took on a faraway look as if remembering
happy times.
    Tessa’s jaw
dropped and then she gave him a fake scowl.  “Oh, so you were one of those,
were you?  One of the troublemakers?  I can bet your teachers were relieved
when you graduated.”
    He looked at her,
eyebrows raised as if in surprise at her teasing tone.  “Actually, no.  One of
them even shed tears at my graduation.  Mrs. Sirju – my favorite teacher.” 
This time his face broke into a wide smile.  “And she was the one I used to
give the most trouble.  But one day she fixed me good.  Never created mischief
in her class again.”  He ended this with a chuckle, as if remembering those happy
days of troublemaking.
    Her curiosity
piqued, Tessa laid down her fork.  “What happened?  Did she suspend you?”
    “Worse than that. 
She-”
    “No, wait,” Indie
broke in.  “Start at the beginning.  What did you do to get in trouble?  You’re
such a serious kind of guy, somehow I can’t see you as the troublemaker type.”
    “Oh, I did my fair
share, I can tell you that.”  Wolf grimaced then he shook his head.  “But on
that particular day my buddies and I-”
    “Don’t say it,
Wolf.”  Stone stopped him.  “Never tell women about your lowest moments. 
They’ll use it against you.”
    “We will not,”
Tessa and Indie said in unison, then they turned to each other and laughed.
    “You can trust us,
Wolf.”  Indie reached over and rested a reassuring hand on his arm.  “You’ll
never hear about this again.