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

knees and a towel wrapped around her head.
    Great.
    She almost backed away—maybe distance would blur her horrendous getup—but she couldn’t move. Her legs refused to take her away from this perfect vision. Smart legs.
    “I wondered if I could borrow some milk?”
    “Milk?”
    “I’ve just moved in next door. I woke early and I needed coffee, but no milk. I was heading out to find a shop, but I noticed your front door was open.”
    “It was?” Obviously, in her mad dash to reach the toilet, she hadn’t taken the time to close the door behind her. But she wasn’t going to think of that again and instead latched onto his warm gaze.
    Her new neighbor was inspecting her, his eyes lighting up even more as he took in her small figure. Most men found her attractive, but she’d always been especially appealing to the tall ones. One ex-boyfriend had told her she made him feel protective. Not long after, he’d gone on to say that he’d never met anyone less in need of protection in his life. He’d taken himself elsewhere in search of a girl who might actually appreciate being treated like an idiot. And that was before Julia’s recent change in circumstances…
    But she wasn’t above playing on the attraction. Mind you, it wasn’t easy looking cute with your head wrapped in a towel. She fluttered her eyelashes a little.
    “Yes—wide open.” He smiled again. “So could you take pity on a new neighbor and lend me some milk?”
    There was that little shiver again.
    She couldn’t remember anyone having this impact on her. Not even Lissa’s brother Jason, who she’d very nearly started going out with until the incident had put a stop to anything like that between them.
    She’d actually taken a vow of celibacy until her little problem was sorted. Which was hard because she’d never felt so aware of her body as she had since the… incident . She must think of another name for it. Catastrophe? Mega-disaster? No way could she get into a relationship right now.
    She glanced up from her contemplation of her bare toes to the guy in the doorway. Christ, the poor man had only come to borrow some milk and she already had him in a relationship.
    Anyway, a man like him was probably going out with some tall, skinny supermodel, or was married with adorable little children. At the thought of children, a pain stabbed her in the middle.
    Get a grip.
    Milk.
    “Yes,” she said.
    “Yes?”
    “I have milk. Just wait there.”
    Julia whirled around and hurried back to the kitchen. There was a mirror on the wall, and she gave herself a quick glance. Not good. Would he wait while she blow-dried her hair? Unlikely. She pulled a face at her image, then shrugged. No sex and no relationships—remember?
    After getting a carton of milk from the fridge, she took it to him. He was exactly where she’d left him, leaning against the doorframe. The hallway was cold; she couldn’t believe the front door had been wide open all the time she’d been in the shower.
    He straightened as he saw her, and a slow smile curled his lips. He had a nice smile, nice enough to melt the insides of the most committed relationship-phobe.
    She stopped a foot away and held the milk out at arm’s length. She couldn’t trust herself to move any closer. Of course, he had no such inhibitions. He just stepped right on into her space, and she honest to God nearly swooned as the heat from his body brushed against her hypersensitive skin.
    Quite unable to stop her traitorous eyes from checking out his naked ring finger as he reached for the milk, Julia knew she was screwed.
    …
    “Thank you.”
    As Sebastian grasped the carton, their fingers touched. She flinched and drew back quickly as though he’d burned her. A jolt ran up his arm. He’d planned on asking her out, or asking himself in, moving this forward, but the sensation shocked him. It was imperative he stay focused. But the whole meeting had tipped him off balance.
    Julia Melville was exactly what Dante