Caught in the Act by Samantha Hunter Page B

know better, if there was any way he’d ever really be attracted to her, not her sexy make-believe persona. But while Gina did dress up for her restaurant assignments, it was usually in her standard black pants, a light shell and coat. It was her work, she wasn’t supposed to look sexy.
    Gina didn’t even own one truly va-va-voom dress, and she suspected that if Mason passed her on the sidewalk in daily life, he’d never look twice.
    The realization stung a little.
    Still, the last thing she wanted to do was to fall for him when she was only here to deceive him. To steal from him. Gina wasn’t made of that kind of stuff. She couldn’t risk being here too long, because her good intentions might not be enough to keep him from giving in. Her body was already throbbing from the kisses he’d offered, and she knew those were mere appetizers, so to speak.
    She knew where the pictures were, so if she could just delay Mason for a few minutes and run downstairs and get them, she’d be home free. He didn’t know who she was, and he’d never know.
    Hearing him whistling as he made his way back fromthe wine cellar, Gina made a decision. Slipping off the ridiculously high heels so that she didn’t kill herself, she ran upstairs, quickly searching for his room.
    It wasn’t hard to find. The door to the master bedroom was open. Candles were lit and roses punctuated and perfumed the tables on each side of a massive bed wrapped in luxurious black satin.
    “Wow,” she whispered to herself, eyeing the sheets. Mason did know how to set the stage for seduction.
    Now she had to complete the picture.
    Steeling her nerves, the dress she wore slid from her body to the hardwood floor of the hall, providing a sexy signal for him to find her, and making it available for her to grab, with her shoes, on her way back downstairs.
    Guilt pinched at her, but she was doing this was for Tracy, she reminded herself.
    She stripped down to the sheer black bra that showed a little too much and a black thong that covered next to nothing. Her legs were bare and tan, toned. One of her better features, but it made her feel particularly naked. How had she let Tracy talk her into this?
    “You need to drive him to distraction, and this lingerie will do it,” Tracy had insisted firmly.
    Mason’s footsteps echoed below, pausing as he called her name. She heard his foot on the first stair, which creaked. She’d noticed on her way up. He reached the top, paused again behind the door, presumably noting her dress on the floor.
    Gina threw herself on to the bed, sprawling over the numerous pillows in a way she hoped was sexy just as he appeared in the doorway.
    “Hot damn,” he breathed out on a whoosh, his eyes raking over her as he stood transfixed with two glasses of wine shining gold in the low light. The bubbles told her it was champagne, and she licked her lips. Gina loved champagne. She could imagine licking it off of that washboard stomach of his with no trouble at all.
    The way he was eyeing her confirmed that Tracy was right about the lingerie. Gina had never, ever had a man look at her like that before, with such raw hunger carved into his expression. It was…thrilling.
    “Are you going to join me or do you want to stay there and watch?” she said, letting one thigh fall open as she let her fingers drift from her throat down over the space between her breasts to her belly button. She had no idea what she was doing, making it up as she went along, but he seemed to like it.
    “I thought you wanted dinner?” he asked, his voice rough.
    “I changed my mind. I want you. Now,” she purred, simultaneously thrilled and curious where her new, sexy persona was coming from.
    It was the mask, the clothes…it was just make-believe. It was all an act, right?
    “You’ll get no arguments from me,” he said, putting the glasses down on a dresser and crossing the room purposefully.
    Her heart clenched a little when she thought she saw his hands shake ever