Million Dollar Mistake

Desire is a double-edged dance.
Lexie
© 2012 Kimberly Dean
Triple X, Book 1
Lexie Underhill works her tail off in hopes of winning her adoptive father’s
approval. It’s never enough. The stinging proof? He’s brought in a reorganization
expert. As if the prospect of losing her job in the family business isn’t enough,
Cameron Rowe’s sexy, intimidating presence makes her palms sweat.
When Lexie’s face appears on a scandalous freeway billboard, her
protestations of innocence go unheard. With orders to save the family name—or
else—she marches into the bar the billboard was advertising and comes face-to-
face with an identical twin sister. Roxie is wild and free, everything Lexie isn’t.
Before the night is out, she welcomes the chance to explore her own sensuality.
As she dances wantonly on the bar, suddenly Cam is there, kissing her as if he
has the right. The sizzle between them breaks out in four-alarm desire, but Lexie
has recalibrated her life plan. And the equation doesn’t factor in Cam—until
she’s sure where his loyalties lie. With her…or her father’s company.
Warning: Not all business relationships are formal and stodgy. Suits and ties
(actually, all clothing) are optional.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Lexie:
Uncertainty made her face fall, and she glanced back to the bar. “You said our
eyes were different.” The uncertainty turned into a frown. “Is she prettier than
me? Was that it?”
“No, that wasn’t it.” He cupped her chin and brought her attention back to
him.
He sighed when he saw the glaze in her eyes. She wasn’t a sloppy drunk. She
didn’t slur her words, and she didn’t get belligerent. Well, not that belligerent.
Alcohol just seemed to break down the walls she constantly kept erected around
herself. Let loose, her emotions were fighting over which could show itself first.
Hurt, joy and confusion were all there for the world to see.
With her, alcohol brought out honesty.
Cam took a deep breath. He had to get her out of here. Sober her up and help
her get things straight in her head. The misunderstanding with the Underhills
needed to be cleared up as soon as possible—for her sake as well as the
company’s. They’d hurt her this morning and without cause. She deserved an

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apology, and he was going to make sure she got one.
This newfound sister, though. He glanced over his shoulder to the bar. She
was a different issue entirely.
He watched as Roxie flirted with a particularly ugly biker, checking out the
tattoo on his shoulder. He didn’t like coincidences, and he didn’t like surprises.
This woman was both, and he didn’t want Lexie around her until he had the
opportunity to check her out.
And he had the resources to do a really close check.
He brushed his thumb against Lexie’s waist and pulled back. “Let’s go
straighten things out with Julian.”
Her breath caught audibly. Face paling, her gaze flew to the door. “Is he
here?”
Cam sighed. Damn that man. “No. We’ll go find him after you’ve had some
coffee.”
“Is anybody else coming?” She rubbed her bare arms. Without her jacket, she
seemed vulnerable. Ten minutes earlier, she’d been dancing around and having
fun. At the mention of her family, though, she needed her armor.
He stroked her waist, trying to get her to relax. “You got me. Just me.”
“Oh.”
The emotions in her eyes tumbled again, and confusion won the battle this
time. She glanced around the bar almost forlornly. Cameron braced his hand
against the jukebox, wanting to punch it. She was so easy to read this way, but it
was a painful read.
“Do you really dislike me that much, Lexie?”
“I don’t dislike you.”
Could have fooled him. “Then what is it? You’ve been avoiding me ever since
I first started working at Underhill. Are you afraid of me?”
She shifted uneasily. She’d ventured into a biker bar and had made it her own,
yet looking him in the eye seemed to be too much for her. “Kind of.”
Cam nearly winced. That honesty was a double-edged sword. “Why?”
“Why? You want to gut my family’s company.” Her brow furrowed. “I mean,
Underhill Associates.” She shook her head, the confusion too much. “I have
good workers. Smart people. They should know their jobs are secure. My job
should be secure.”
“I’m not talking about work here,” he said bluntly. “And I think you know
that.”
Her lips parted. “But work is all we…” Frustration colored her cheeks. She
lifted her hands and pressed her fingers against her temples. “Argg. You’re doing
it again, confusing me and twisting everything up. I couldn’t sleep last night

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after you did what you…and firing me…and, and cleavage…”
He could look at her cleavage all he wanted right now, but things were
suddenly getting interesting. “You couldn’t sleep because you were thinking
about me?”
She rocked her foot back onto its heel, and he instinctively positioned himself
closer so she couldn’t kick him. The move put his body a hairsbreadth away
from hers. She was warm from all that dancing. Her skin glistened with
perspiration, leaving it damp and kissable. Lickable.
She flattened her hands against his chest again, but this time he didn’t budge.
It flustered her. She shifted against the jukebox, but he wasn’t letting her get
away now—not when he finally had her talking to him.
Her lips pressed into a straight line. “I wasn’t thinking about you, I was
thinking about my proposition…purpose…my proposal.”
Interesting choice of words.
But the alcohol she’d consumed had her on a roll. “You made me late today. I
kept wondering what you were going to do. What were you going to think? How
were you going to smell?”
“I smell?”
“Not you. It’s just…” Her cheeks went red. “Your aftershave smells nice.”
Her words died away, but all thoughts of taking her home to Daddy left Cam.
Taking her home, though, wasn’t such a bad idea. His body felt hard and hot.
He’d been stressed all day, but the tension gripping him now was another sort
entirely. “What do you think of me, Lexie? Really?”
Her gaze locked with his, and he saw something new in the dark depths.
Something that made his heart rate slow down, and the thick pumps sound
loudly in his ears.
“You make me uncomfortable,” she said, her voice low.
“Uncomfortable, how?”
She bit into her bottom lip, and her gaze skittered away. “Just…
uncomfortable.”
The awareness he’d felt on the elevator came back, heavy and deep. It was the
first indication he’d had that she saw him not as a threat, but as a man.
He wanted another.
But he didn’t know when he’d ever get it.
She was skittish around him. Guarded. The closest he could get to her was in
meetings. Stuffy, mind-numbing meetings. Right now, her defenses were down.
He couldn’t. He shouldn’t, but he wanted to know…
He reached for her.
Ever so gently, he ran his fingertips down her bare arm, all the way from

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shoulder to elbow. As he watched, goose bumps popped up on the warm flesh.
She shivered and her breath caught. When she looked at him, her gaze was a
little wild.
“You make me uncomfortable too,” he said gruffly.
They stared at each other, the music throbbing and the air hazy around them.
“Really uncomfortable,” he muttered.
Closing the distance, he sank into her. He watched her closely as their bodies
pressed from chest to knee. The heat was intimate, the contact electric. For a
moment, she was stunned still. Then all those emotions she’d kept tempered for
so long rushed forward to meet him. Her anger. Her heat. Her sweetness. He felt
it in the way her body melted. He heard it in the catch in the back of her throat.
“Lexie.” He kissed her. Firmly, fully, mouth locked on mouth. He sealed their
lips tight, and the sensation was so good, it damn near made him groan aloud.
Her lips were soft, velvety and they clung. The kiss deepened, their mouths
opening wider for more contact. For a woman who was as strapped in and lashed
down as she was, she knew how to kiss.
And then some.
That hard-on he’d gotten when he’d seen her dancing atop the bar came
roaring back to life. He kissed her harder, letting his tongue slide over hers. A
sound left her throat, and her fingers bit into his shoulders. He did it again,
loving her heat, loving the way she responded. She moved restlessly, her body
grinding against his. Softness against hardness. Heat against heat.
Cam wanted to pick her up and carry her right out to his car. He could feel her
nipples poking him and her hips rolling sexily. Her arousal was like every other
emotion the alcohol had freed. Hot, immediate and right on the surface.
What had started as an exploratory kiss was quickly turning into a blistering-
hot make-out session. They were hidden together in the corner. Music pounded
around them and bodies shifted nearby. They were in public. Anyone could see
them.
And he didn’t care.
He moved closer, rocking his hips into her. She let out a soft whimper as her
hands glided from his shoulders to lock around his neck. Their bodies fit
together like yin and yang. Her breasts pressed tighter against his chest, and he
settled his growing erection right where it wanted to be, in the warm nook at the
top of her legs.
He tangled his fingers in her hair as he nuzzled the feminine curve of her
jawline. God, her hair… He clenched his fist in the dark curls. If the rest of her
was this silky, he’d never last. Hungry for more, he sent his other hand down her
side. His blood thundered hard when he found the not-so-professional slit in her

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oh-so-professional skirt.
“You want the truth?” he whispered into her ear. “The billboard wasn’t pretty
enough.”

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