Simply Sinful (Simply 1)

“A friend of mine sent me here. He attended one of your dance classes last year. Your name is too unique for me to be mistaken.”

She narrowed her gaze. “What’s your friend’s name?” Kayla asked.

“John Fredericks. Says he nearly flunked out of Ballroom Dancing.”

She remembered the lessons her aunt had insisted they offer and the man Kane had mentioned. “That’s because he had two left feet and was preoccupied with landing a date for New Year’s Eve.” She couldn’t see that good-natured but shy man as a friend of Kane McDermott’s, but apparently appearances were deceiving. If John and Kane were friends, Kane had just handed her a reference she could trust. “How is John?” she asked.

“His company sent him overseas. He said to ask your aunt

for tips on dating French women,” Kane said with a grin. “For the next time he calls.”

Kayla felt a pang of regret. “She’d have been glad to give him advice. She liked John, too.”

“What happened?” Kane asked, his tone now soft. He’d obviously picked up on her past tense mention of her aunt.

“She and my uncle were killed a couple of months ago.”

“Together?” he asked, clearly surprised.

“Yes.” Tears stung behind her eyes, as they did each time she had to speak of the accident and the aunt with whom she’d had so much in common. They shared an above-average IQ as well as a special relationship, due in large part to the fact that her aunt understood the oddity of being too smart.

Kayla shook off the memories and focused on her visitor. “The police said they skidded in the rain and hit a tree.”

“I’m sorry, that must have been rough.”

She nodded. “I didn’t know my uncle well. They’d only been married a little over a year, but at least he made her happy before she—” Kayla stopped, realizing she was confiding in a total stranger.

“I’m really sorry.” He paused. “John will be sorry, too.”

“Thank you.” She lowered her gaze before meeting his stare once more. “But my aunt being gone doesn’t change the facts.”

He propped a hip against the nearby desk. “Which are?”

“You came in here pretending to be something you’re not.”

He flinched. “And that was wrong. But John…he thought we’d hit it off.” He glanced down at his hands.

“Why didn’t you just say that when you came in?” This man was full of contradictions.

“Because you can’t trust someone else’s opinion. Hell, that’s like accepting a blind date. So I…came in here to check you out,” he admitted, not meeting her gaze.

She thought about his reference to ballroom dancing classes and narrowed her gaze. “John must have told you about me a long time ago.” Why was he just walking in here now?

“Why’s that?” he asked.

“Because Charmed! rarely gives classes for the dating impaired anymore and they aren’t listed on the website. We concentrate more on the international business arena now.”

He had the grace and manners to look embarrassed. “I knew the minute I saw you I couldn’t pretend to be someone I’m not.”

“And why is that?” she asked, hoping that her cup size hadn’t been what put him off his game. She’d rather their chemistry impact him instead. Because despite his oddities, she was definitely attracted to him.

A smile lifted is full lips. “You’re even more beautiful than I’d hoped,” he said, his sexy gaze sliding over her body.

He was too smooth and too focused on the superficial things about her. So much for her futile hope he’d be different than the average guy.

“But beyond that, if you actually teach all these classes, you possess a wealth of knowledge and, I’m not ashamed to admit, smart women turn me on,” he said.

And that sounded more like a reason she could live with.