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Stroke of Enticement Chapter 3

"ANGELICA, WHAT’S THE "

She took a deep breath "Nothing, Moot home"

"Well, it’s Friday, so you can relax a little Drink that chaot you"

Annie hated chaood for you"

She’d heard that so er made any impact "I think I want to be bad, today" And it wasn’t herbal tea on her elica!" Kiet the tea I wanted to tell you to dress nicely for dinner toht"

Dinner? Annie’s stomach sunk to the bottom of her toes as she realized she’d blanked the event from her mind

"Mo professor fro"

"He’s only forty-three, dear"

Annie enty-eight "Oh" She rubbed her forehead "The thing is - "

"No arguments Your father and I want you settled We won’t be around to look after you forever"

"I can look after myself" She felt her hand fist, released it with effort

There was no point in getting angry, not when this was a conversation they’d been having for more years than she could remember "I’m not a child"

"Well you can’t spend the rest of your life alone" Her e of desperation

- Kihter living a solitary life She’d never bothered to wonder if Annie was single by choice "Professor Markson is a lovely man You could do a lot worse"

What her ht with a stab of old resentment, was that it wasn’t as if she had any other options To Kiile creature ?"

"Of course not" Her mother made a sound of annoyance "We want the professor’s attention on you Much as I like her, your cousin tends to steal the liht, even now that she’s married" Annie’s headache intensified -

Caro was usually the only point of sanity at these ritual huht"

"I’ll expect you at seven for cocktails"

"I ht be a little late"

"Work?"

"No" How did she say this? "I, er, arranged an in-depth tour of Yoseh she didn’t live far from the forest, her parents were closer to San Francisco Even in a high-speed vehicle, it would take her over an hour tothis dinner"

"I said I didn’t want to be set up on anyor entering into a long-term relationship Ever Andsoot Annie instead "I’ll try to be there as soon as I can, but I can’t pro up after a fewher forehead, Annie walked out of the bedroom and to the bathroom, cell phone still in hand After that call, she definitely needed the soothing properties of a bath liberally laced with e of the tub while it filled, taking the chance to h

Does it hurt?

Such a siment or pity It had undone her just a little Not only that, but Zach had continued to flirt with her even after discovering that she was less than perfect Itto her

No, Angelica, you can’t do that

Your leg’s too weak

Too often, it felt as if herrace She would’ve ood Psy, with her analytical s

The only place Kiht’ve di Zach on those beautiful lips of his The man was too sinful to be real

And the way he flirted It would’ve been nice to be confident enough to flirt back "Instead of blushing and going tongue-tied," she h DarkRiver couples to identify the kind of wo men found attractive - and Zach was definitely a do in some way, but it was their self-assurance that really shone through

Vividly intelligent, they didn’t hesitate to speak their th didn’t scare men of Zach Quinn’s ilk, it enticed them

And that was exactly what attracted her to hi met him only once that he’d never tell her she couldn’t do so Zach would simply expect her to match hied to alert her it was full She was about to step in when her eye fell on the cell phone she’d left on top of her discarded clothes She grabbed it, deciding to give Caro a call

Her cousin was an expert on ht now

Putting it within reach, she sank into the hot water with ain the heat, she reached out to get the phone It beeped an inco her eyes because it was probably herthe display and answered audio only

"It’s ainst the wall and pressing her feet flat against the end of the bath

"Hello, me"