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“Well,” she breathed “I can hardly ask you to share this bed if you can’t arrange for me to stay in it, can I? Pity” Her false smile punctuated her sarcasm

“I’ll provide you a bed One that’s bigger and…sturdier”

A jolt of surprise zinged all the way to the soles of her feet He wasn’t supposed to take this seriously She wasn’t

She clenched her hand around the edge of the laundry basket as if it were a lifeline that would lift her out of this conversation, but for soaze dropped to his open collar where a few dark hairs lay against his collarbone She iined he was statue perfect under that crisp fabric, with sharply defined pecs and a six-pack of abs His hips—

Good grief, she’d never looked at a aze away, ray trousers She blushed hard and it was , especially when she heard him chuckle

“I don’t even know you,” she choked, wanting it to be a pithy rejection, but it wasShe shouldn’t be the least bit interested in him

“Not to worry, maya zalataya I know you”

That yanked her attention back to him and his supremely confident smirk

“You’re waiting for et there,” he said implacably

“That’s so offensive I can’t even respond”

“It’s realistic If you were looking for love, you wouldn’t be living off an oldto hi a woman in my bed”

“Your charm hasn’t landed you one?”

He shrugged off her scorn “I’m between lovers The takeover has keptto enjoy the spoils”

“Well, I don’t happen to come with this particular acquisition” She kneed the side of the mattress “I didn’t have to share this bed to sleep in it and I had a paycheck besides Don’t throw that look atwhen he curled his lip “Victor was going to underwrite the foundation, and it—”

“By how much?” he broke in