Can't Take the Heat (16 page)
Read Can't Take the Heat Online
Authors: Jackie Barbosa
Tags: #Anthologies, #Contemporary, #Collections & Anthologies, #working women, #Romance, #Contemporary Romance, #modern women
“I guess I won’t change it to Agatha, then,” she said lightly.
He coughed to avoid choking on his coffee. “God, no. Why, were you thinking of doing that?”
“Well, you have to admit, it would be a lot more memorable.”
“Any man who could forget you needs his eyes examined.”
She held back a gust of harsh laughter. He’d probably used that line—or variations of it—to great effect on any number of women in the past. It wasn’t his fault that it was the worst possible thing he could have said to
her.
And for that reason, she wasn’t going to hold it against him.
“Now you’re just trying to flatter me so I’ll go out with you.”
Or sleep with you.
“You’re right. Is it working?” he asked, his eyes puppy-dog wide and hopeful. The effect was hilarious...and irresistible.
“Maybe.”
“Good. Pick you up at your place at, say, six o’clock?”
Her place?
Crap. That was an idea that had thewords “epic” and “disaster” written all over it in capital letters.
“No, I’d rather meet you,” she said hastily. “Where are you staying?”
He named a luxury resort hotel five miles down the river on the Wisconsin side and gave a room number on the top floor. Probably an extravagant suite with a killer view of the falls. The kind of place she couldn’t afford to stay for even one night if she saved up for a year.
“Six thirty, then?” His smoky-lashed eyes swept over her with possessive heat, lingering on her mouth, her throat, the swell of her breasts. She wondered again what he’d think if he realized who she was.
God, he was so out of her league. In every possible way. They might have grown up in the same small town, but they had nothing in common anymore. Cade had become rich, famous, and worldly. In addition to his Texas ranch, which was probably twice the size of downtown Harper Falls, he owned a mansion in Houston as well as a chateau in the French Alps. Over the years since he’d hit the big time, he had dated supermodels, actresses, and heiresses. Angie, by contrast, taught math to wisecracking teenagers, still lived with her father in the modest three-bedroom house she’d grown up in, and counted herself lucky if she could get a date at all.
She wouldn’t lie to herself. There was no future here. This could only turn out one way—badly.
And she couldn’t bring herself to give a damn.
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About the Author
Jackie can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up, but there were plenty of times when she wasn’t sure she ever would be. As it turns out, it just took her a lot longer to grow up than she expected!
On the road to publication, Jackie took a few detours, including a stint in academia (she holds an MA in Classics from the University of Chicago and was a recipient of a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities) and many years as a technical writer/instructional designer for a data processing company. She still holds her day job in instructional design, but her true passion is writing steamy romances–both historical and contemporary.
Jackie learned to believe in love at first sight when she met the man of her dreams more than two decades ago and to believe in happily ever after when she married him. She lives in Southern California with her very own romance hero, their three children, and an ever-changing menagerie of pets. You can learn more about Jackie and her books at her website,
www.jackiebarbosa.com
, and follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jackiebarbosa.
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