Page 6 of Seducing Cinderella

He watched as she crossed the small room to retrieve his shirt. “Even if the idea of moving in with you for two months didn’t bother me, there’s the little issue of my job.”

“I’ll pay you for your time off, of course. Double if you want—money isn’t a problem.”

She gave him the universalget dressedsignal by slapping his shirt against his chest. “You’re absolutely right; moneyisn’ta problem. I have at least eight weeks of vacation time saved up since I never have a reason to take it. The problem is that the idea is ludicrous!”

Reid had to think quickly or he was going to lose this fight, and something deep down told himdo not lose this fight. He needed her to get him where he wanted to be in two months. He was as sure of it as he was his own name. Suddenly the perfect lure came to him, and though the idea gave him equal parts excitement and anxiety, he cast it anyway.

“If you do this for me, I’ll teach you how to get your doctor.”

Lucie had been on her way out of the exam room, all but dismissing him and his offer of being roomies, but that simple statement had her feet glued several feet before the threshold. She was hooked, now he just had to reel her in carefully, or he’d lose her. And his chance for a rematch. He approached her slowly from behind as he spoke.

“I’ll show you how to act, what to say…everything you need to know to make him notice you. If there’s one thing I know, its women and what they do that turns men on to the point of utter distraction.” Her head turned to the side. Not a big movement, but enough to let him know he had her attention. “You’ll have him eating out of the palm of your hand in no time. I guarantee it.”

And if he hurts you again, he’ll need his own orthopedic surgeon to reset the broken legs I give him.

He wasn’t about to say that out loud but making the promise to himself made him feel better. If this doctor had done something malicious to Lucie, Reid wouldn’t even consider doing this, but he supposed it wasn’t a crime to be a clueless idiot.

Long moments passed in slow motion. His pulse raced in his ears as he waited for her to tell him he was crazy or storm off in a fit of disgust. That Jackson would skin Reid alive for teaching Lucie anything having to do with seduction should’ve made him think twice about his offer, but he couldn’t bring himself to retract it.

She shook her head as though rejecting her own thoughts. “Sorry, but—”

Before she could finish shooting him down, a dark-haired man poked his head around the door frame. “Lucie, I’m so sorry to interrupt, but I seem to have already rubbed off the, uh,” the man glanced at Reid and cleared his throat, “patient number you gave me earlier. Since I was on my way out, I thought I could get it from you real quick. I brought paper this time.”

What. A. Douche.It took everything in him not to pound the guy right then and there. That this guy was the one Lucie had the hots for couldn’t have been more obvious if she’d introduced him as Dr. Clueless Dumbass.

And he was asking her for her friend’s phone number. Again.

Reid watched Lucie as she stared at the doctor for long moments, almost as though she was stuck in some internal monologue and forgot that time was still ticking away out here in the real world. When the man cleared his throat and held out a small piece of paper, she blinked back into action.

“Of course, Dr. Mann.” After quickly scribbling a phone number on the paper she said, “Here you go.”

“Great, thanks. I’ll see you later.”

Reid waited. Three seconds ticked by…seven…twelve. At last Lucie squared her shoulders and spun around to face him. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

Chapter Three

Lucie curledinto the corner of her couch, knees drawn up to her chest. She held a book in her hands, but even as her eyes scanned the lines of black type, her mind didn’t register a single word.

Her stomach was all in knots. She hadn’t eaten dinner she’d been so nervous. Which was flat-out ridiculous because it was only Reid. Her brother’s best friend. A guy who’d practically lived at her house when she was a kid. A guy who she’d mooned after for the better part of her second decade of life. A guy who was quite possibly the sexiest man she’d ever seen and whose half-naked image must have burned itself onto the underside of her eyelids because every time she closed them, it was right there waiting for her and now he was staying in her home—

Whoa! Breathe, girl, breathe.

She inhaled deeply, held it, then let it out slowly, feeling marginally better.

Earlier she’d insisted that instead of her moving into his hotel suite, Reid move into her apartment. It didn’t make sense for them both to be living out of suitcases, and this way there was less chance of him being bombarded by crazy fans. He’d shown up a half hour ago, she’d shown him to the guest room, and then left him to get settled.

Suddenly a tinny rendition of “The Piña Colada Song” burst through her quiet ruminations. She snatched her cell phone off the coffee table. “Hi, Nessie, what’s up?”

“Did you seriously give Dr. What’s-His-Nuts my number? Because he claims he got it from you, but I figured that can’t possibly be right. I mean, I’d like to think that if the man my best friend has been crushing on for years asked her for my phone number, she would’ve told him to go fly a kite.”

“Ness—”

“Or at the veryleast, given him an excuse as to why he couldn’t ask me out.”

Lucie squeezed her eyes shut and placed her head on her knees. With all the craziness of Reid moving in, she’d completely forgotten. “What happened?”

“I told him that I was dating someone but you didn’t know about it yet because it’s so new.”

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