Crazy Love Read Free Page A

stuck-up types like you for breakfast.”
    “You think I’m stuck-up?”
    “I think you’re a lot of things but let’s not get into that now. I better save some abuse for dinner.”
    “Speaking of which, where do people eat in this hokey place?”
    Don’t invite him back to your place…don’t invite him back to your place …
    Thankfully, this time, her mind and mouth worked in sync.
    “Chips’n’dips at Venus, the local bar, or home cooked stuff at the Love Shack. Take your pick.”
    His smile broadened to a grin and she sucked in a breath, blown away and trying not to show it. “Any other places around here named after dated songs? Guess I should gel my hair and squeeze into an old pair of acid-washed denim.”
    Great, now he was pulling out the big guns. Apart from dimples, she definitely had a thing for a sense of humor.
    “Careful. Sounded like you cracked a joke. Wouldn’t want to go over the top and make me laugh or anything.”
    “Is this your idea of flirting?”
    “You really don’t get out much, do you, Slick?”
    “I get out plenty, I just don’t meet people like you very often.”
    “People like me?”
    He paused, did that weird piercing eye contact thing again, the same way he’d looked her up and down when he’d come in earlier. This time, her nether regions tingled as if rousing from a long sleep and the way he kept staring at her, homed in on him to give her a wake-up call she’d never forget.
    “Forthright. Funny. Interesting.”
    “So city folk are lying, serious, boring types?”
    “Not all. Just the ones I usually meet.”
    “Well then, you’ve come to the right place. Love will get under your skin quicker than you think, leaving you wanting more in the end.”
    A strange expression, part-revulsion, part-fear, flickered across his face though it vanished so quickly she must’ve imagined it.
    “I doubt that. Now, about dinner?”
    Nice change of subject. Marc Fairley was uncomfortable with the L word? She’d have to remember that. Playing on a man’s weakness was a sure-fire way to bring him to his knees, especially if he got her riled like he had earlier.
    “Love Shack it is. The old diner serves a mean burger, the Mexican is authentic and their soda fountain malts are to die for.”
    He stood, dwarfing her office in an instant. This guy was seriously big and if everything was in proportion…
    Stop right there. Don’t think GOLF, not in relation to him. Bet he has a lousy swing, a dented club and balls that are skewed .
    However, the more she tried not to, the more her mind drifted south and she struggled for her eyes not to follow suit.
    “Soda fountain? You’re kidding, right?” Shaking his head, he chuckled. “I’ve stepped into a time warp and ended up in a rerun of Happy Days.”
    Before she could respond his intense gaze swept her body, sending a sizzle of heat from her fingertips to her toes, as she wished for a chunk of Kryptonite to stop from melting.
    “Though you sure as hell don’t look like Joanie. See you there around seven?”
    She nodded and he sauntered out the door, leaving her squirming like one of Uncle Hank’s worms on the end of a hook.
    She tore the Post-it note out of her drawer, screwed it into a tight wad and lobbed it into the trash, muttering “damn golf” and other atrocities as she tried to refocus on work.
     
    After her fourth attempt at analyzing Cupid’s latest data matches, Sierra pushed away from her desk and grabbed her bag. Her concentration was shot and she needed a caffeine injection, pronto.
    The cappuccino she’d sculled thirty minutes ago didn’t have her half as wired as her run-in with City Boy and while another coffee mightn’t be the best idea she could do with the walk to Aphrodite’s.
    She inhaled as she stepped out into the sunshine, calmed by the sweet, heavy scent of freesias in the air. She loved the delicate pink and white flowers tinged with gold, their heady perfume a reminder of the first time