Betting on Julia (A Melville Sisters Novel) (Entangled Covet) Read Free

feels responsible for you.”
    “All I want to know from Daniel is—has he found a cure?”
    “You know he’d tell you if he had. He feels really guilty about this, as though it’s his fault.”
    “It is his fault.”
    “No, it’s not. But he also says that if you would accept it, go with the flow, then you might even enjoy yourself.”
    She gritted her teeth, and her hand tightened on the phone until the plastic cracked. “Really? He says that does he? I’m a goddamned vegetarian, and I just threw up the remains of fluffy-bunny and God knows what else. And I just squeezed my phone to death. And worst of all—I have no fingernails.”
    “You ate a rabbit?”
    “Well, actually not a whole one. There were…bits left.”
    “Ugh!”
    “Exactly. And there was blood—” She slammed a hand over her mouth to hold back another heave at the disgusting memory.
    “I’ll take you for a manicure this afternoon,” Lissa said.
    Dropping her hand, she muttered, “Don’t try and soothe me. I don’t want to be soothed.”
    “Of course you do. A nice pale pink manicure.”
    Hmm. Maybe she did want to be soothed after all. “And a pedicure?”
    “Of course. Daniel can pay.”
    “Well, he is loaded and this is his fault.”
    She tucked the phone against her ear and fixed herself a mug of coffee while her friend chattered on about the healing properties of a good nail job. After the first sip, she let out a huge sigh. She had a month, a whole month to be normal. She was going to make the most of it. “Okay, you can pick me up at one, and we can go and have cocktails afterward—pink, frothy ones with umbrellas and sparklers.”
    “You’re on,” her friend was quick to reply.
    Down the hall, the doorbell sounded unusually loud.
    “What was that?” Lissa asked.
    “Doorbell. I’m ignoring it. I don’t have any clothes on and nobody I know would dream of interrupting me this early in the morning.”
    “Postman?”
    “It’s Sunday.”
    “Hello?” a masculine voice called down the hall. It sounded distinctly like he was in the house. A stranger’s voice…
    Her heart rate immediately kicked into high gear. She glanced around the kitchen for a handy weapon, her gaze settling on a spatula in the drain rack. No knife nearby, of course. Fuck, her luck was the worst. Then she remembered—she didn’t actually need a weapon.
    “Stay on the line,” she said to Lissa. “There’s someone here.”
    “What are you doing?”
    “I’m going to see who it is and, if they’re a problem, I’ll probably rip their throat out.”
    “Sounds like good therapy. Go for it.”
    She glanced around the corner. The hallway was empty, and the front door was open, her keys still in the lock. But that wasn’t what caught her attention.
    The most stunning guy she had ever seen stood on her doorstep.
    “Holy freaking moly.”
    “What is it?” Lissa asked, her voice impatient. She was probably imagining danger and mayhem. And she wouldn’t be far off. This guy had destruction to the female equilibrium stamped all over him.
    “Hottie alert,” she whispered into the phone. “Gotta go, Lissa. See you at one.” She ended the call.
    “Hi,” he said in a smooth, smoky voice that sent a shiver over her skin.
    She pasted a bright smile on her face. “Hi.”
    Although she was about two feet away from the door, she didn’t step closer, because then she would have had to crick her neck to peer up at him. Damn, he was tall.
    At least a foot taller than her five feet two, probably more, he had a long, lean body, dressed in faded jeans that clung to his long legs and narrow hips, and a pale pink shirt that would have looked girlie on any other guy, but somehow managed to enhance his masculinity. His hair was thick and black and short, and his face was all hard angles. And he had the greenest eyes she had ever seen, coupled with a dream of a smile aimed right at her.
    And she was wearing a pink, slinky robe that finished inches above her