Batteries Not Required

by Anara Bella

  So Eric cooks up his own little continuing education class. Something he likes to call Seduction 101.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Seduction 101:

  Julia stood before her open closet in her robe, a dress in each hand. “What do you mean, sexier stuff? I don’t have any sexier stuff.”

  “The red one is sexier.” Eric pulled a dress from the back of her closet. “You wore this to work once. I’m telling you, this is what catches a man’s eye.”

  “It’s not comfortable, and it gapes at the chest.”

  “Yeah.” Eric’s lips turned in a wicked smile as he handed the dress to her. “You’ve made my point. Seduction isn’t about comfort. It’s about stretching your boundaries. You want comfort, put on some flannel pajamas and veg out in front of the television—alone. You want to seduce a man, it’s red, baby.”

  Julia considered the dress and sighed. She remembered the dress quite well. It had hung in her closet such a long time it was a wonder the moths hadn’t eaten through the fabric. “I was self-conscious all day the one time I wore this thing. I kept thinking people were staring at me.”

  “Uh yeah,” Eric said, nodding. “That’s the idea. You can’t seduce a man if he’s not looking at you. Did Harris notice you today in that black suit?”

  “No.” She tossed the other two dresses onto the back of a chair and stared at the red one. “He didn’t care if I was alive.”

  “So, trust me. Wear the red on Monday with these shoes.” He bent over and picked up a pair of red, high-heeled slingbacks. “Bring them with you. We’ll practice with them.”

  She’d bought the ensemble years ago on a crazy whim. This was what it was going to take to get Harris’s attention? As her grandmother used to say—oy vey.

  Taking the pair of shoes, she stared at the rows of muted colors in her closet—blues and blacks. “Maybe I’m not cut out for this seduction thing. I never would have worn this again.”

  “Exactly the reason I’m here. You’re in training, and you want to learn what men find sexy. I’m telling you…the red dress…is sexy.” He drew the words out and she wanted to hit him over the head with the shoes.

  “Now, for other necessary weekend apparel. Show me your lingerie.”

  “Lingerie?” She hung the dress on the back of the door and dropped the shoes next to it before she gave in to the impulse to brain him with them.

  “Yes. You’re going to play the part all weekend. Fake it until you make it. Trust me.”

  He walked to the dresser and opened first one drawer, then another. This was too weird on too many levels. It took a gay man to tell her how to dress for a hetero relationship? How much did she have to change to get a guy interested?

  She wore what was professional, conservative and comfortable. She couldn’t be bothered with all these details.

  But Eric sure paid attention to them.

  Why did all the good ones have to go the other way? When they’d first become friends she’d asked about his past relationships, but he’d been so overtly evasive, she’d suspected something was amiss. All straight men bragged at least once in a while. Eric’s elusiveness, his extremely caring and considerate demeanor, and the fact that he’d never once come onto her—oh yeah, he was too sweet to be straight.

  He obviously wanted to remain closeted and it was none of her business anyway. She loved him no matter what he did in private. One of these days, maybe he would feel comfortable enough to confide in her about his personal life.

  Still, did he cross-dress, too? “I didn’t think women’s clothes were something you’d be interested in.” She knew she was prying now, trying to coax him to share his “secret”. As she watched him go through her bureau drawers, she tried to imagine him dressed as a woman.

  She couldn’t see it.

  Eric continued searching through the drawers. “Well, I look at what women wear like every other man on the planet. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Men look, but they know next to nothing about styles—what goes with what. How do you happen to?”

  “I’m not that interested in the clothing. I just know what would look good on you.”

  “Something you’d look good in, too, maybe?” As soon as the words passed her lips, she wanted to wrench them back.

  He closed the drawer and turned toward her, his eyebrows drawing together. “What?”

  So, he’s not a cross-dresser. “Nothing.”

  He left the bureau and walked slowly toward her. “That wasn’t nothing. What are you talking about?”

  Julia took a step back. The last thing she’d wanted to do was hurt or embarrass him. Damn her nosiness anyway.

  “I’m sorry. It doesn’t make a bit of difference to me. Your business is your business, and you’re great to be helping me on this. Forget I said anything.”

  “And what did you say, exactly? That I’d look good in women’s clothing?” His eyes bore into hers. “What doesn’t make a difference?”

  Her face grew hot and she chewed her bottom lip. Now she’d done it. She’d put him on the defensive, something she’d avoided all the time they’d been friends. If he didn’t want to tell her, he didn’t want to.

  She shouldn’t have said anything. Now there was no way out.

  Well, they were friends, weren’t they? Maybe this was her chance to let him come out to her, her chance to tell him he could confide his secret. It was the least she could do after all the work he was going to for this “training weekend”.

  Julia took a deep breath and smiled. He’d said “trust me”… He had to realize he could trust her, too. “I thought maybe you were into cross-dressing, as well.”

  He blinked. “What?”

  Julia shook her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried. This is none of my damn business. I wanted you to…well, you can tell me stuff, you know? I don’t judge.”

  “What is none of your business?” He put his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes.

  “Your being gay.”

  Eric’s eyebrows shot up and disappeared under his shock of blond hair.

  “You think I’m gay?”

  He pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth with his before she could sort out what was happening. His tongue moved over her lips and she opened her mouth against the insistent, mind-blowing action. Heat raced through her limbs, no longer from the embarrassment at her faux pas, but from the fervor of stark, shocking desire.

  Eric tangled his fingers in her hair and held her to him, his warm breath mingling with hers, obliterating all thoughts of the closet, the clothes and any question about his sexual preference. She slid her hands slowly up his arms, only to steady herself—for no other reason.

  Yeah, right.

  The kiss went on for another staggering bombshell of a moment before he released her with a jolt and stared down at her, his eyes blazing, his mouth a hard, thin line.

  “I am not gay.”

  A stodgy lawyer butts heads with a free spirit. Let the mattress dancing begin!

  Ready or Not

  © 2007 Anara Bella

  At first, Brianna Michaels' agreement to fill in as a bachelor party stripper sounds like a win-win situation. She's returning a favor to a friend, and earning some much-needed cash. But when she sees the man she's lusted after for years in the audience, baring all suddenly doesn't seem like such a hot idea.

  Quinn MacRae stops the show—literally—when he reacts instinctively to protect Brianna and her reputation. Plus, it’s nearly unbearable to see exactly what he's been missing. As an attorney with a prestigious law firm, he's sure of one thing. Brianna would hate living in his world. She's the last woman he should be lusting after.

  But lust he does—with a vengeance.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Ready or Not:

  Out of the corner of her eye she drank in a shirtless Quinn’s tall, lean physique, blocking the way out of the room. She couldn’t help it, her fingers itched to explore the bulging muscles in his arms and ches
t, and continue on down to check out his six-pack abs and follow the trail of hair there like breadcrumbs leading to nirvana.

  He must work out because he sure looked amazing for a desk jockey. She sighed. Unfortunately, that was one journey she’d never be taking. No matter how much she wanted to.

  Then again…

  Maybe she could at least have a little fun at Quinn’s expense. She knew he wasn’t completely indifferent to her. Sure, he disapproved of her, but for that very reason it might be fun to see just how much of a reaction she could get out of him. Hell, he’d already seen almost everything she owned anyway.

  Hiding a grin, she started looking around for her clothes. “You see my jeans around here anywhere?”

  “No.”

  “Never mind. Found ’em.” Making a big production out of it, she slowly leaned over at the waist to pick up her jeans, making sure Quinn’s shirt rode up as high as possible to give him an unobstructed view of her thong-clad backside. When she heard his indrawn breath, she knew she had his undivided attention, and bit the inside of her cheek to hold back the smile that threatened to break out.

  Without straightening, she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Something wrong?”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed and he looked about to choke. “No.”

  Not quite sure where this urge to taunt and tempt him was coming from, she decided not to worry about that and just go with it. After all, he had it coming with his rampant disapproval of her. May as well have some fun with this. Get a little bit of revenge, maybe even cop a feel in the bargain.

  She stifled the giggle threatening to erupt. Really, it was just a little friendly revenge. It had nothing to do with the fact that she’d fantasized about touching him for ages and this would be the perfect time to actually do it.

  Nothing to do with that at all.

  Uh huh. Yeah, right.

  First making sure the shirt was still mostly unbuttoned, she straightened and turned towards Quinn again. “Are you sure? You seem kind of uncomfortable.”

  “I’m fine.” His voice croaked and elation raced through her. She was definitely getting to him.

  Moving towards him, she felt like a hunter stalking its prey. Which she supposed she was. Quinn, the king of the circumspect, was battling between his need to get away from her and his need to keep her from going back out there and stripping. This kind of power was heady stuff.

  Brianna stopped directly in front of him, leaving no maneuvering space at all. Even if he tried squirming away it would only make things worse. “I’m not so sure. You look a little flushed to me.”

  His pupils dilated, almost drowning out the storm gray of his irises. She gently laid her hand on his arm, still crossed in front of him as if he were warding her off, and felt the muscle twitch beneath her fingers. She soothed it with her thumb.

  Quinn didn’t say anything, just watched her closely. She wished she knew what he was thinking, but his face was impassive. Impossible to read. Maybe she needed to up the stakes a bit to get the reaction she wanted, because she definitely wanted to get a rise out of him. Although, judging from the size of the bulge in the front of his pants, she was already getting one kind of rise out of him. What she really had her heart set on, though, was for Quinn to acknowledge the attraction between them. He’d never act on it, of course, but they both knew it was there and it irritated her no end that he behaved as if it didn’t exist.

  No, this was the perfect time for a teeny bit of payback for all the sleepless nights he’d caused her.

  Licking her lips, she took in his face. Standing this close, you’d have thought she’d find all kinds of imperfections, but his rugged features were still movie-star perfect. She couldn’t see one thing she’d change. Even his five o’clock shadow only managed to make him even more handsome.

  Damned irritating if you asked her.

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