Take Me Home: Home is Where the Heat Is, Book 3 by Candi Wall Page A

occasionally to ease the ache, she could have easily built a stalker-mobile of his sinful goodness to hang over her bed.
    “Kinda?” Chloe queried. “That sounds a bit Southern for you.”
    Shawna met her steely gaze. Fuck. Go figure shark-Chloe was still in residence and decided on now to swim to the surface. Going for blasé, Shawna smiled. “Hang around ’em long enough and you’re bound to pick up a phrase or two.”
    Chloe chuckled. “I called my driver Doll the other day.”
    “I asked the girls at the coffeehouse how the ‘dust was shiftin’’ yesterday.” Shawna laughed. It was good to know she wasn’t the only one susceptible to Texas charm. “It’s addictive. I was so embarrassed.”
    “Cowboys are definitely a different breed. Wait until you sleep with one.” Chloe sighed and sipped at her latte. “Then you’ll really know what addiction means.”
    She rolled her eyes heavenward, and it was all Shawna could do to keep silent on her personal knowledge. All she had to do was look at Cash and she was wet. “One hell of a rodeo ride?”
    Chloe scoffed. “That description might scratch the surface.”
    Nick Westing came around the corner then and caught Shawna’s eye. He smiled hugely and pressed a finger to his lips as he snuck up behind Chloe. Grabbing her around the waist, he swung her in circles before setting her down. She turned into him, her body pressed close. “What are you doing, you fool?”
    “Just playin’, doll.” He leaned in close, pressing his forehead to hers. “You know how much I like to play.”
    Shawna eased away. The heat between them was staggering and she felt like an intruder. Lynn-Ella made her normal, dramatic call to the end of the shoot and since Chloe was preoccupied, Shawna dismissed the models. In the next instant, Cash was headed in her direction.
    “Hey, darlin’.” He closed the distance between them and grabbed her hand. Holding her at a distance, he looked her over. “Close, but not quite what I had in mind.”
    “Excuse me?” Shawna pulled her hands away and set them on her hips in what she hoped was a sassy stance. “Is there something you don’t like about the way I’m dressed?”
    His crooked grin made her want to kiss him so badly she almost did.
    “Well,” he drawled. “It’s not exactly celebration sexy.”
    “Are we celebrating?” she asked, confused.
    “I’m taking you to dinner? To celebrate the upcoming cover?”
    “Yes,” she agreed. “But I thought we were doing that Thursday night?”
    Cash laughed, his smile and good humor drawing the gaze of every person still in the room. Shawna was shocked to realize that Chloe and Nick had disappeared. Her boss was losing her edge.
    Cash pulled her close. “It is Thursday, darlin’.”
    Shawna grabbed her phone and checked the date. He was right. Somehow she’d lost an entire day. “Wow. Things have been kind of crazy.”
    “They have.” Cash pulled her to the door. “Go home. I’ll pick you up in an hour and a half. We’re going to Viziare. My treat. I had an outfit sent to your apartment. Wear it, just as it’s laid out.”
    “What if I don’t—”
    He pressed a finger to her lips, stalling any protest. “Wear it for me. I won’t be here for much longer. You’ve set your boundaries. Give me this.”
    With that kind of sexy, smoky, I’m-going-to-do-things-to-you-that-will-rock-your-world incentive, who was she to refuse?
    She nodded. Yeah, lametastic, but what the fuck else was she supposed to do?
    He looked around carefully before brushing a quick kiss to her lips. “See you soon.”

Chapter Ten
    Shawna stared at the clothes on the bed.
    They weren’t for her. They couldn’t be.
    The slinky, sapphire-blue evening gown cut way too low in the front and way too high up the thigh wasn’t her thing. It was a StyleU model ensemble.
    She fingered the soft material, trying to imagine how it would glide over her skin. Thigh-high black stockings and a garter belt of rich