The Tempted (#2 of 3)

By Ava Redman

“I won’t offer you my heart, if I don’t have one to give,” Roman said.

Eve is playing a dangerous game. The blackmailers want her to get close to Roman. She wants to get close to Roman. But she knows it’s wrong, so very wrong.

Roman hasn’t opened himself up to anyone in so long and when Eve comes along, he’s prepared to keep her at arm’s length. Still he can’t stay away from her.

Trigger knows the dangerous path Eve is set on and what the blackmailers want from her, but at what cost? How far is he willing to let her go to protect her secrets?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ava Redman
• Release date: Jun 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463953518

Ava Redman

Author of the Temp series...stay tuned for this little romance/thriller series.

Book preview

THE TEMPTED

SHE'LL LOSE MORE THAN HER JOB

IF SHE ISN'T TOO CAREFUL

AVA REDMAN

Smashwords Edition

Copyright© 2019, Ava Redman

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 1

Panic hit first.

Eve sat up against the stark light.

Her stomach flipped like a pancake. She fell back and rolled over as the headache invaded. Oh god, where was she? She couldn’t think against the brightness, the pounding inside her skull.

Think.

She couldn’t remember the last time or any time she’d been like this. Her fingers pressed to her temple to dull the pain. Eve groaned against the pillow, her breathing laboured, her stomach fighting a wayward battle.

What had happened last night? What did she remember?

The drapes dappled in harsh light. She reeled back, shielding her view. Everything was too bright and too light, compounding on her body. If this was heaven, she hadn’t deserved to end up here.

Recognition didn’t hit at first.

With gradual ease, colours filtered in behind the greys and whites. The walls were a dainty lilac, the spur of the moment on-sale colour at the hardware store. The chest of drawers was a rare find from a charity shop. The threadbare blankets were a hand-me-down and reminder of her mother, one of the only reminders left.

This was her place.

Eve squinted back bringing her room in and out of focus, wishing the answer would present itself soon enough. How did she get here? She tried to recall what had happened last night…it was a blank, a high pitched white blank of neon lights and a blaring base.

She rolled over. She was in her panties and bra. Panic flared as Eve touched herself. How did she get this naked? Draped over the armchair were her clothes, her grey pencil skirt and her cream blouse. Her heart escalated into her mouth.

What indeed had happened?

The fragments of last night refused to come together no matter how hard she willed them. So…like all sensible women, Eve was thinking the absolute worst.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

She rolled over to her other side and came face to face with him.

Oh my god.

Her hand flew to her mouth, her stomach fluttered.

He was naked. Completely, except for a pair of slate coloured boxers hugging his hipbones. His skin was olive and smooth rippling into stomach muscles and biceps. There was a lot of him to take in. Him. How?

She swallowed back, for the first time she could stare unabashedly without the fear of getting caught.

Oh, how his face was softly angled and strong, his lashes long and dark.

Eve reached out and stopped. This was Roman, the world’s most eligible and hard to come by bachelor and here he was naked and asleep in her bed.

Had they had sex last night?

Alarm bells should have been ringing, seeing him there so without, so vulnerable. She couldn’t bring herself to think the worst even if she should. She turned onto her side, her body at an angle to his, her elbow up.

He was peaceful, dead to the world. His lips were pink and parted. His chest and stomach gradually rising and dipping in the soft contours of sleep. He was an angel with clipped wings. Clipped wings. Her stomach fluttered again. Those full lips, how wonderful they might be, to kiss them without a second’s thought. It would be like sleeping beauty. She would kiss his lashes, his lips and wake him from his hundred-year sleep. And he would love her at first sight and they would live happy ever after-

Her fingers reached out to him.

His eyes opened before they made contact, sparkling dark pools fixing on her.

Good morning, he purred.

Eve snatched her hand back. Is it? she rolled onto her back as if almost touching him had never happened. I have the world’s biggest headache.

I have the world’s most beautiful woman in bed.

Eve rotated her body to her bedside table, ruined it.

She wasn’t the world’s most beautiful woman or even in those leagues and yet her stomach jerked. He caught her wrist pulling her back towards him, his chest pressing into hers.

Did you ever think you ruin it by waking up from this fantasy? his gaze held hers and she wanted to speak, to say something, anything. Her lips parted.

Roman’s eyes sparked amber in the beaming light. The heavens suited him. He would never get kicked out no matter what he did. Or who he did it with.

Aren’t you holding yourself to a high standard? I mean, what makes you think this is my fantasy or any woman’s fantasy? she was lying through her teeth. He was her fantasy, every part of him. Admitting it meant admitting she liked these games they played, maybe she didn’t…maybe she did.

You called me last night, he still held her wrist and warmth flowed through that contact. Her skin pinked. Oh my god, her eyes widened. She had, hadn’t she? Slowly those fragments of last night came back to haunt her.

I called many people.

His eyebrows shot up, you called Trigger, his jaw set.

Eve swallowed her cotton mouth, I did?

He showed up at the club, it was a tug of war over who would take you home. I won. He watched her reaction. Am I to believe he’s the mystery guy? the way he said it had her wondering how long he’d believed there was someone else.

There wasn’t anyone else, least of all Trigger.

Trigger? her cheeks tinted as she turned away. Eve rolled over this time and placed her hands on the edge of the bed. There’s nothing between me and Trigger, she shut her eyes hating the lie as it hissed out of her teeth. Nothing. Something. There was an indefinable thing between them, a truth, a common goal, a blackmail. She could confide in him at times and at others hate him as if he were the blackmailer himself, as if he were responsible for everything bad happening in her life.

It wasn’t that alone. As much as she wanted to deny it, there was an attraction towards him for whatever unfathomable reason that Eve prayed was something akin to Stockholm syndrome. They were in the same boat. He was the only one she could come to about her real problems.

It was the only reminder in the middle of the night that she wasn’t alone. She had Trigger no matter how twisted that might be.

I was drunk. I called whoever had annoyed me, Eve placed her fingers to her temples and rubbed, spurring the blood to flow.

And Trigger-Roman’s breath was in her ear tickling her bare flesh.

Is my old boss, how can he not annoy me?

And me?

She let out a dry laugh, how can you not annoy me?

Annoy you, he mused. Is that what we’re calling it?

He rested behind her, his body millimetres from touching her skin, his warmth calling her to fall back and close that gap. Eve blinked back the migraine, an icicle forming in the back of her head.

He rose up behind her. Why were you drinking last night Eve?

Don’t, she snapped fighting her roiling stomach, say my name like that. She pressed a hand to her temple again.

Like what? he whispered in her ear, his breath caressing her neck.

She wanted badly to arch against his body, close that distance. His closeness was a trick; he was willing her to do exactly that. Stop.

We’re not at the office. You don’t work for me anymore, Eve. There are fewer obstacles.

I work in your company. It’s bad enough.

I remember, I am the boss.

I work for Trigger and for your company. I’m only one floor under you.

I like you under me, Eve’s back melted a margin. Oh, how easy this could all be, how easy if she gave in to him. Maybe she should. Maybe-

You don’t have to work for my company.

That’s a great way to start the day, me getting fired because my position is cockblocking you, Eve shuffled forward, only inches, the magnetic pull still too strong for her to get away entirely.

Say it again.

What?

That word.

Eve scrunched her eyes. The