Troublemaker - Lisa B. Kamps Page 0,1

was the only reason I could think of for finding her voice sexy.

I took another step back and narrowed my own eyes. "Dylan. Who the hell are you?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I live here."

"No, you don't."

"Yeah, I do. Now who are you and what are you doing here?"

"You don't live here." She freed her legs from the sea of satin and lace and slid off the bed. I swallowed back a low groan and told myself not to turn into a blithering idiot just because I happened to get a glimpse of sheer white stockings and a little peek of flesh when she lifted the skirt of her gown.

Her wedding gown.

Then her words sunk in and I glared at her again. "Yeah, lady, I do. And you've got five seconds to start talking before I call the cops."

Doubt crept into her eyes as she tilted her head and stared at me. "Where's Cassie?"

"Who?"

"Cassie. She lives here."

"No, she doesn't."

"But she does. She gave me a key and said I could come by whenever I wanted."

"Not to this apartment, she didn't."

"But—"

"Lady, nobody else has been living here for the last four months except for me."

"But she said..." Her voice trailed off as a small frown creased her face. She shook her head and muttered something to herself, the words so low I couldn't make out any of them.

"Listen, lady—"

"Morgan."

"What?"

Those sparkling green eyes shot back to me and I didn't miss the flash of annoyance in their depths. "My name is Morgan, not lady."

"I don't care what your name is, you need to leave."

"But..." Her voice trailed off again, ending in a heavy sigh this time. Her chin tilted up an inch and those green eyes narrowed in defiance. I prepared myself for another confrontation when her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fine. I'll leave."

"Good. I'll walk you to the door." And as soon as I closed that door behind her, I was going to call the damn management office and demand they change the locks.

"Fine." The word was short and clipped and I fully expected her to stomp past me, maybe even shove her shoulder into me as she did. What I didn't expect was for her to turn around and point to the back of her dress. "Can you unbutton this first?"

"Excuse me?"

"Unbutton it so I can change."

"Um—"

"I can't go back out dressed like this. I'll stand out too much and I don't want her to find me."

"Who?"

"My fiancé's mother. I mean, my ex-fiancé. We were supposed to get married today."

"What?"

She shifted and watched me over her shoulder, the same frown I noticed earlier back in place. "Are you hard of hearing or something?"

"No, I heard you just fine. I just wasn't expecting to hear you say you were supposed to be getting married today."

"Why else would I be dressed like this?"

"It's almost Halloween. In New Orleans. Nothing I see surprises me anymore."

"Hm. I guess." She turned back around and pointed once more to the buttons trailing the back of the gown. "Are you going to undo them so I can change or not?"

I was more convinced than ever that this was a setup. It had to be. No way in hell did I believe she'd accidentally stumbled into my apartment. And I sure as hell didn't believe her when she said she was supposed to get married today. The guys were behind this, pulling some kind of prank. What that prank was, exactly, I had no idea.

I almost told her to unbutton her gown herself. Almost. But for reasons I didn't quite understand, I moved closer and reached for the first tiny cloth-covered button and undid it. At least, I tried to. It was a hell of a lot harder than I thought it would be. The next three were a little easier then I had trouble with buttons five and six.

Maybe that's what the joke was. Maybe the guys had sent me a stripper and undoing her gown was part of the act. They didn't know me very well if they thought a virginal bride was my thing. I had allergies to anything remotely connected to brides or weddings.

But whatever. I'd play along.

"So you were supposed to get married, huh?"

"Yes."

"What happened? Did he jilt you or something?"

"No." Her voice cracked the tiniest bit, just enough to make me pause on the next button.

"Then what happened?"

Her shoulders lifted when she took a deep breath then deflated when she exhaled. "I—I left him."

"Is that so?"

"Y-yes."

"You just left him at the altar, huh?"

"Uh-huh."

Yeah,