Radiant Desire (A Handmaids Seduction, #1) Read online

  “It’s for work,” she said. “Nothing exciting. Ted was kind enough to share a table with me. We were just getting to know each other.”

  Men stopped and stared from across the dance floor at the renewed rush of faerie magic. Garrett only shook his head, turning back to Ted. “So where is Rachel? I thought she was meeting us here.”

  “She’s at home,” Ted replied. “Before we left I asked her about the wedding and she went a little berserk. She said she needed some time by herself.”

  Garrett frowned. “As in, she’s moving out?”

  Ted’s mouth dropped open. “I hadn’t even thought of that. I assumed it was more of her usual wedding panic. You don’t think she would really move out, do you?”

  Garrett sighed with exasperation. “Ted, this is Rachel we’re talking about. Once she gets something in her head, she’s impossible to reason with. You know that.”

  “It just never occurred to me… I never thought… ”

  “Well, think about it,” Garrett said. “I’ve been listening to you moaning about losing her for weeks. You can’t very well ignore something like this.”

  “But what about—” Ted glanced in Kaia’s direction. “I sort of promised I’d keep Kaia company.”

  Garrett followed his gaze and raised his eyebrows. “Seriously? You’d risk Rachel for that?” He rolled his eyes. “Go find your fiancée.”

  Kaia gasped at the direct insult. She had never, ever been on the receiving end of such derision.

  Ted winced. He turned and gave Kaia an apologetic smile. “He can be a little bossy sometimes.”

  Kaia narrowed her gaze. “Bossy? Is that what you call it here in Miami?”

  “Go,” Garrett said again. His disapproval surged at her, but he directed his words at Ted. “You shouldn’t be here anyway.”

  “Ahem.” Kaia cleared her throat. She turned to Ted and dropped her voice. She needed to preserve a relationship with Ted, just in case she needed to use him again later. “I understand if you need to leave. I would hate to get between you and Rachel.”

  Ted glanced back at Garrett. “Garrett, she’s all alone,” he pleaded. “Any chance you can keep an eye out for her?”

  Kaia masked a rush of satisfaction. Ted might think himself in love with Rachel, but he was hardly immune to her faerie charm. If she had wanted him to stay by her side all night long, he probably would have.

  Silly men.

  “Sure,” Garrett said, flashing her a mocking smile. “I have the feeling Kaia doesn’t like to be lonely.”

  A quiver passed down her spine as his gaze bore into her, full of warning and a deep-seated, distinctly unfriendly suspicion. She focused on keeping her back straight and the faerie magic flowing.

  Zafira herself had sent Kaia after this man.

  She could not fail.

  Chapter Three

  Garrett let his gaze drag once more over the obscenely beautiful woman before him. She was truly extraordinary—a model, surely, with long tawny hair tipped with gold and soft skin radiating in the dim light of the club. Full, round breasts threatened to spill from the confines of her dress. She had to be at least six feet tall, her legs long and slender, her tiny waist curving into lush hips. Her features were oddly compelling, and once he started looking at her, he found it hard to turn away. She had wide-set, slanting green eyes that looked vaguely foreign, surrounded by a thick fringe of lashes. Her lips were full and red, a perfect bow under her long slender nose.

  He assumed there was plastic surgery involved, though her breasts didn’t have the unnatural firmness of the silicone that abounded in Miami. He supposed she might simply be blessed in her DNA, but even that did not seem to explain the otherworldliness of her beauty.

  Which begged the obvious question: why in the world would she be trying to seduce Ted? Garrett’s oldest friend was the perfect catch for someone like Rachel—he was financially stable, reasonably attractive, and gentle enough that a strong-willed woman could order him around for the rest of her days. Not to mention loyal. Ted was like one of those dogs who would have to be fed and watered at their master’s grave. He was hardly the type to attract a woman who looked like she’d just crawled out of the dream of a teenage boy.

  The obvious conclusion was that Kaia Verde was either a prostitute or an opportunist. Or both. If Garrett didn’t feel such protective concern for his best friend, it might have been laughable. Ted was careful with his money, but he was hardly loaded. If Kaia thought she had found a sugar daddy, she was terribly mistaken.

  Ted turned to Kaia. “You’ll be okay with Garrett.”

  Kaia raised a hand to her lips and kissed the tips of her fingers. She blew the kiss in Ted’s direction. “Thanks, hon. You go work things out with Rachel. I’m sure we’ll meet another time.”

  Watching her lips purse, Garrett felt an unexpected tug in his groin. He waited until Ted’s curly hair disappeared into the crowd before he prepared to deliver a stirring rejection that would send Kaia running for the door. He’d known women like her before—too many of them—and he didn’t trust them. He didn’t trust any of them. Yet when she turned and cocked her head as she studied his face, the dark emerald of her eyes sent a rush of heat tingling through him. Now that he was no longer distracted by the need to protect his friend, he was overwhelmed by the sensation of pure desire.

  Without thinking, he pulled her into his arms.

  Her lithe body meshed perfectly against his, and her arms settled automatically on his shoulders as he gripped her around her waist.

  “Funny,” she said, the barest hint of pleasure sparking in her catlike eyes, “I don’t recall saying I wanted to dance.”

  “I told Ted I would take care of you. So really, it’s my obligation as a friend.”

  Kaia didn’t move, just scrutinized him with a steady look. She did not protest, either, and looking at her caused his throat to close with want, so he spun her around in a slow circle, tightening his hold around her waist as he did. As if thrown off balance, she stumbled over his feet, pressing her body more squarely against his. Her lids flared open as she regained her balance and she let out a little squeak of alarm. The complete lack of grace was completely at odds with her appearance, and Garrett was relieved that the tension between them was momentarily broken.

  “Two left feet?” he asked.

  She swung her hair around her shoulders and regained her balance. “I suppose I’m not much of a dancer.”

  His shoulders relaxed further when she stumbled again a few minutes later, tripping this time over his feet, and landing squarely on his big toe. He had wondered if she might be faking clumsiness for some reason, but her sigh of frustration erased his suspicion.

  He helped her regain her balance. “Ted should have mentioned how dangerous you are.”

  “Me? Dangerous? That’s absurd. I’m as helpless as a newborn kitten.”

  She had an unusual accent, something musical and sensual. Something he’d never heard before. He tried to focus his attention on her voice but it was elusive, the sound slipping through his fingers like sand.

  “You are about the furthest thing from a kitten that I’ve ever seen.” He tried to spin her to the left, but she moved right, and they bumped heads. He laughed. “And you are a horrible dancer. Are you sure it’s legal for you to be out here?”

  For just a moment, her mask of sensuality slipped, and she giggled and shook her head, sending strands of shimmering gold over his shoulder. “What can I say? I love to dance. It’s just my partners that seem to have an aversion to it.”

  The Kaia that laughed was even more attractive than the one that kept trying to seduce him, and Garrett had to clear his throat to breathe. He coughed to cover his confusion, stunned by his reaction to the sort of woman he should have been able to dismiss in a heartbeat. “How about you keep your feet in one place, and just sway?”

  She nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”

  Her body felt as soft and supple as it looked, her fles
h firm and warm under his fingers. He’d never danced with such a tall woman before and found it added a level of eroticism to their movements. His hips brushed against hers as they moved, making it impossible to ignore that they fit together perfectly. They could have been lying down, bodies meshed, inches from making love, for all the distance between them.

  Her face was level with his, her lips a heartbeat away. For a moment, he had the feeling she was watching him through her lashes, studying him as if he were prey. Then the look was gone, and all he saw in her gaze was a guileless, radiant sensuality.

  “You don’t like me,” she said.

  Garrett pulled back, simultaneously surprised and impressed by her honesty. “I don’t trust you. No man in his right mind would.”

  Kaia pulled her mouth in a delicate expression of amusement. “You don’t have to trust me,” she whispered, pressing herself against him to whisper in his ear.

  Her sensuality was so blatant it should have been absurd. Garrett had never been attracted to the hard sell, and it should have been easy to push her away. Yet his body rebelled. He dug his fingers into her hips and pulled her closer, just enough to briefly mold her stomach and thighs against his. The sensation rocked through him. Helpless, he did it again, this time more deliberately.

  “I think there’s a law against this,” he said, unable to believe the way he was touching her.

  “If there is, it was made to be broken.” She arched backward and moved her hips, giving up any pretense of dancing.

  He slid his hands lower and gently caressed the outline of her buttocks. Obligingly, she swayed even closer. He could imagine sliding into her, pulling her legs around his waist, and burying himself in that perfect female form.

  Red lights flashed in his brain.

  On the dance floor, Garrett? In a public place? With a woman like her?

  “I have a feeling it wouldn’t be the first law you’ve broken,” he said.

  He forced himself to stop moving. He reminded himself of the many reasons why he didn’t want anything to do with her. She could be a gold digger, a prostitute, or a woman of one-night stands, and God only knew what kind of diseases she might carry. He drew back a few inches and straightened, regaining some crucial distance between them. For some reason he couldn’t stop sliding his hands along the curve of her waist. The warmth of her flesh burned him through the silky material of her dress. He wished she would say something, anything that might suggest she was as overwhelmed as he, but she only breathed a soft sigh and ran her tongue over the edge of her lips.

  She chuckled, low and throaty. “Ah, but you’ve misjudged me. I’m nothing more than a simple country girl.”

  “Really?” Talking seemed to help distract him from the throbbing tempo of lust rushing through his veins, so he searched for a neutral topic. He kept his hands locked around her waist to ensure she stayed at arm’s length. “Which country?”

  She waved negligently behind his back. “It’s a figure of speech. I’ve moved around a lot.”

  “Are you really here for a convention?” he asked.

  “Oh yes. Plumbers convention.”

  “Seriously.”

  “Seriously,” she taunted. “Why don’t you believe me?”

  He took one of her hands and studied it. Her fingers were long and slender, topped with short, unsullied, pink half-moons. She immediately shook them from his grasp and put them back around his neck.

  “Forgive me,” he said, “but those aren’t the hands of a plumber. Model, perhaps? Actress?”

  Stripper? he had to stop himself from saying. Though on second thought, given her complete lack of grace, he wasn’t sure how she could pull off a routine. Of course, with a body like hers, no one would be concerned about choreography.

  When he continued to study her, waiting for an answer, she said reluctantly, “Landscaping. I work for a nursery.”

  “Now I believe that almost as much as I believe the plumber bit. Don’t you know people who work with plants have to get dirty?” He pulled down her hands again, but when he looked at them this time, they seemed subtly different. He felt calluses on her palms, and noticed several nails were chipped. It took him by surprise, because he was sure they had looked perfect before, untouched by work, but now he could imagine those same hands digging in rich brown dirt.

  Not only did she have him crazy with lust, she had him seeing things, too.

  She took his face between her palms. “You like to talk, don’t you?” she murmured, and pressed her mouth against his. That soft pink tongue darted out, touched his lips, and entered his mouth. Once again he was helpless, her touch a drug that clouded his mind. Without a thought he took control of the kiss, explored her lips and tongue, and reveled in the warmth of her mouth and the way her body fit against his. Hunger, fierce and hot, drove him to kiss her again.

  When the music stopped, he realized he had been mindlessly grinding against her, in full view of an entire club of interested patrons. Humiliation coursed through him. He struggled to regain control, to slow the frantic beating of his heart. He needed to get off the dance floor. As long as they remained in close contact, his body seemed determined to take over.

  In an extreme act of willpower, he stepped away. He could hear his grandmother’s voice in his head, mocking him for his weakness, and reflexively, he glanced around the bar to see if anyone might be watching. “Perhaps we should get a drink.”

  Kaia’s full lips formed the most adorable pout he’d ever seen. “I wanted to dance.”

  “I’m not sure I could call that dancing.”

  “Maybe we could dance somewhere… more private,” she said. “So I wouldn’t embarrass myself, of course.”

  “Why don’t we have a drink?” he repeated. He might not have the strength to walk away, but he would not let her make a fool of him in public.

  Somewhere in the depths of her eyes he thought he saw a flash of fury, but it was immediately replaced with a playful smile. “You aren’t scared of me, are you, darlin’? Little ol’ me? I won’t hurt you, I promise.” Her words were half tease, half challenge.

  “You are the most terrifying woman I’ve ever met.” That was the truth, and he knew if he had any sense, he’d have run away a long time ago.

  She laughed, and somehow, the laughter only made her more beautiful. A shiver went down his spine. He took her hand and felt the tiny calluses pressing against his palm. Something about her made it impossible to walk away.

  She held his fingers to her lips and gave them a light kiss. “We will just have to find a way to soothe your fears, won’t we?”

  Chapter Four

  Kaia followed Garrett, fighting to maintain her calm. She was throwing everything she had at him and still he was resisting her faerie magic. She’d never experienced anything like it before, just like she’d never experienced the strange heat that seemed to follow the path his hands took from her waist to her buttocks and back.

  The bar was crowded, but two leather-topped stools remained empty at the far end of the room. Garrett guided Kaia toward them and sat down. She remained standing. She crossed her arms over her chest and studied him, nibbling her lip.

  Garrett Jameson apparently had some kind of supernatural willpower. She could tell he wanted her badly, yet he’d managed to push her away. He was suspicious of her in a way that she’d never encountered, enough so that she’d had to use her magic to change her hands. Her failure to have her way was driving her into a frenzy. She needed to succeed, of course, to please Zafira. But now she wanted him for her own purposes, too. Her pride demanded that he submit. She couldn’t give up.

  “Sit down,” Garrett said, patting the seat next to him. “Let’s talk. You can tell me about your work at the nursery, what convention you’re here for, and why you seem so anxious to get me back to your room.”

  Kaia dug her nails into her palm as she eased into the seat. “What can you tell me?” she asked, her smile fixed in place. “What you do for a living, why you order y
our friend Ted around like you’re his father, and how the women of Miami let you get away without a ring on your finger?”

  Garrett chuckled. “No. I tell you that I’ve only got a hundred bucks in my wallet, and if you’re looking for a patsy, you’re wasting your time.” He waved to the bartender, who handed off a drink to a customer and made his way down the bar toward them. “What would you like?”

  “Chardonnay, please.” Kaia pulled a single lock of hair over one of her shoulders, and curled it around her finger. She smiled lazily and dropped the curl into the shadow between her breasts.

  There, she thought. Just try to resist looking at that.

  Remarkably, he did. Garrett spared only a brief glance in her direction before turning his attention to the wine list. He ordered a glass of something that sounded old and impressive while Kaia quietly seethed. If she could get him alone in her room, he’d be unable to resist her, she felt certain of that. In this setting, he appeared remarkably resilient.

  She blew out a breath. No matter. Ever since she’d become a Handmaid, she’d made a study of men. She’d lived among them for weeks at a time and seduced them again and again. She’d read their books, listened to their music, and learned to appreciate their art. Human women, on the other hand, remained a bit of a mystery. Kaia had spent little time with them, and generally found their actions baffling.

  “For the record, I had no intention of sleeping with your friend Ted.” Kaia guessed this was at the heart of his distrust of her. He must have thought she was trying to take advantage of Ted. That would explain his suspicion. “I wanted to know what sights I should see in Miami. I have a day free after the conference, and I’ve never been here before.”

  Garrett removed his coat and slung it over the back of the chair. His shoulders looked even broader under the soft linen shirt. “Back to this mysterious conference. What’s it about again?”

  “Plants,” she said, deliberately keeping her tone vague. “It’s a plant conference.”