Page 51 of Simon Says

“Harley Handleman?” Simon barely paid any attention. “So?”

The crowd shifted and he could see Dakota again. A rush of heat left him breathing faster. Damn, she looked better than he’d even imagined.

“Yes, Harley. Simon, he planned all this.”

“What?”

“Sleeping with me to get to you.”

Now she was really reaching. “They just announced the fight cards tonight, Bonnie. Harley couldn’t plan shit.”

Dakota’s casual clothes had hidden a sleek, sexy, athletic body. She wasn’t a small woman by any stretch, but she wasn’t overweight, either. An off-the-shoulders black dress hugged her all the way down to her knees, tight enough to show off straight, proud shoulders, a narrow waist and concave belly, generous hips, and toned thighs.

In three-inch heels, her legs looked impossibly long and strong. And without a baggy shirt to conceal her curves, he could see that her breasts were round and firm. His gaze tracked her body back up to her face.

Dakota met his gaze.

For one second, her blue eyes shone with awareness. Then she took in Bonnie plastered to his side, and her smile turned mean.

Damn, she looked incredible. Long blond hair curled over her back and shoulders. She’d done something with her eyes, making them smoky and sensual. Her lips were shiny, her skin flushed.

Again, Simon pried Bonnie away. “Later.” He started toward Dakota.

Bonnie latched on to his arm. “Did you hear me? You’ll be fighting my lover, Simon.”

“And you think I care?” He wanted to get to Dakota, but he didn’t want to maim the singer.

And that’s what he felt like doing, because Dakota kept hugging herself up to him, and he kept hugging her back.

They were both smiling like saps.

Barber his ass. The man did not work in a salon, but he wasn’t a typical musician, either. Sure, he had the overgrown hair and pierced ears. But he probably spent as much time in a gym as he did on a stage. Earlier, when he’d sung a slower love song to a heady beat, Simon heard a few women calling him sexy.

His teeth locked. Did Dakota find him sexy, too? Given how she smiled up at him, probably.

“Simon, I’m sorry,” Bonnie said. “I didn’t know that Harley was using me to find out about you until just recently. As soon as I realized it, I knew I had to come to you, to tell you.”

“Thanks.” He watched as Dakota took the singer’s hand and started him in Simon’s direction. Everything about her fascinated Simon, how her hair moved, the slight bounce of her breasts, her comfortable stride in the high heels.

Obviously, despite her preference for mannish boots, Dakota wasn’t unfamiliar with heels. She had the same confident gait, only now, instead of just self-assured, she looked killer ambling toward him.

And she held another man’s hand.

An edgy sort of anger burned in Simon’s gut, urged on by sharpening lust.

“Simon,” Bonnie said a little louder, “Iloveyou. I’ll always love you.”

Dakota reached them just in time to hear Bonnie’s announcement. She stopped abruptly, then straightened herself and sent a sardonic glance at first Bonnie and then Simon. Her eyes burned with fire. “Wow. Pretty sucky timing on my part, huh?”

CHAPTER 7

SIMONcouldn’t get over Dakota’s new appearance. Not because this sexier façade made him want her any more than he already did; that’d be impossible.

But because now he knew every other man would want her, too. He didn’t like that idea at all. “Your timing is just fine.”

Like an angry wet cat, Bonnie turned on Dakota. “No, it’s not. Surely you can tell that you’re interrupting a very private conversation.”

“My bad.” Dakota started to go.

---