Change of Heart Read Free

they might be waiting for a while. “So, the new therapist, huh?”
    She rolled her eyes in his direction, appearing disinterested in conversation while they waited, and walked back toward the driver’s seat, bending into the car again.
    “Bet you can’t guess what I’m thinking.”
    She stood slowly and turned to look at him, tossing a denim cloth onto the seat and crossing her arms again. “Are you going to tell me that innuendo was about the car, too?”
    “What?”
    Aw, crap.
    He hadn’t even thought about how sexual that might sound to her, especially since she didn’t seem inclined to trust him in the first place. He took a deep breath and took a step closer, realizing he towered over her by at least a foot. And damn, she smelled so good. Like sunshine and woman and fresh rain. But then she turned those derisive golden brown eyes on him, and he could read the disdain in them. Gage didn’t usually have to work this hard to convince a woman that he had honorable intentions in mind.
    “Look, lady, let me make one thing clear before you get yourself all worked up again. You’re pretty, but you’re just not my type. I like women who won’t bite my head off every time I open my mouth.”
    “Well, it’s a good thing we’re on the same page then, because I like my men to have brains.” She let her mocking gaze slide over his chest and back up to his face. “Not just brawn.”
    Gage arched a brow back at her, daring her to say more, but he refrained from defending himself. They stood, toe to toe, neither willing to take even a slight step backward and admit defeat to the other.
    He had a feeling it was going to be a long, long month living next to this woman. Sacramento was suddenly looking like a better option.

Chapter Two
    L EAH WAS TRYING desperately to ignore the man leaning on the back of her car. He’d already loaded her embarrassingly meager belongings into the back of his rented Challenger, while trying to make conversation about their shared interest in muscle cars. She didn’t want to talk to him. She didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.
    What she needed to do was figure out how she was going to pay to fix her car, and that would require some careful planning, and quiet. Just because she was a therapist didn’t mean she was on duty all the time, ready to listen to every thought that might run through his head. He just talked so much.
    “Look,” she said, finally holding up her hands and standing in front of him. “I’m a child psychologist. That means I work with kids.”
    “And?”
    “And maybe we could just sit here quietly for a few minutes while I try to figure a few things out. Dave should be here soon to tow my car. Until then . . . ”
    “Are you suggesting we play the ‘quiet game?’ ” he asked, shaking his head and crossing his arms over a broad chest. “I just thought that since we’re going to be neighbors, we should probably get to know one another. But, hey, no worries. I have a hundred things that I should be doing instead of sitting here trying to make conversation with you. I’ll just head over here and get some of my work done until Dave arrives.”
    He walked across the highway toward his car and jerked open the door. “Don’t worry. You haven’t already inconvenienced my plans for today at all,” he added, letting the sarcasm drip from his husky voice.
    She watched him as he folded himself into the driver’s seat and pulled out his phone, tapping away at the buttons. Guilt rose up from her stomach, making her feel slightly ill. Or maybe that was the iced espresso on an empty stomach she’d had before spilling it on her phone. Either way, it wasn’t his fault that her life sucked, or that, even when she tried to make it better, it just seemed to go from bad to worse.
    She crossed the street and leaned inside his car window. “Look, I’m sorry I’m being such an ingrate. You’ve been more than patient, waiting here with me, and I’ve been