Page 11 of Tempt you…not!
Did I actually believe Chadwick Archibald was going to come to my rescue?
“Well, pardon me for intruding,” Chadwick says, his hands up in mock surrender. “Except that, you see, I actually followed Ms. Bastion to congratulate her on her presentation, and that’s not exactly what I heard…”
Is it possible that Chadwick Archibald just got a few degrees hotter?
Major Hutton’s face turns red, his mouth gaping like a bass.
“I think you had better leave,” I say to the human excrement.
Without another word, he turns and rushes away without so much of a glance back over his shoulder.
Leaving Chadwick and me alone.
After a long moment of looking at each other, he says, “That was a great presentation, Erica.”
My lip twitches up into a smile. Chadwick Archibald is most certainly an enemy, of a sort, but today, in this moment, he’s my hero.
“You know, you could have clued me in last night. You didn’t have to go all 007 on me.”
“Listen, what happened—”
“It’s fine. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I had suddenly realized I was diving face-first into enemy territory. Literally.”
I bring my hands to my mouth to stifle my laugh.
“You look different.” I give him a long look up and down. “Not at all like the boy I remember you being.”
“Boy? I was twenty-three when we last met.”
“But you were…scrawny…and—”
“With a face full of pimples.”
“I wasn’t going to mention that.”
“It was because of your insult that my sister gave me a makeover.”
I bite my lower lip. “You remember that?”
“You were pretty brutal slinging that Pizza Face insult around.”
“I’m sorry…”
“You needn’t be. You got me laid more times than any wingman in history.”
I furrow my brow in confusion. “How do you figure?”
“Before you, I actually had to rely on real skills or my family name. Once my sister was finished with my makeover, which took years, women flocked to me.”
“So you became the whole package. Skills, trust fund,” my eyes rove him from head to toe, “sinfully delicious body…”
Oh, yeah—I went there.
He leans in a little closer, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Now that everything’s on the table, want a do-over of last night?”
I’d have to be out of my mind to accept his invitation. Entangling myself with Chadwick Archibald any more than I already have could lead me to ruin.
Which is why I surprise even myself when I ask, “Your room or mine?”
