Crossed Wires Read Free Page B

lively chuckle as she took
hold of his hand. “Well, neither of us has any doubt about your
orientation now, do we?” She squeezed his hand and drew him
closer.
    As she stretched up to get closer to him, he
knew she was about to kiss him.
    He touched her shoulder and set her back on
flat feet.
    “Why did you push me away?” she asked.
    He frowned at her. “We’re not finished
talking yet. I’ve told you why I lied to you, but you never told me
why you lied to me.”
    “I lied to you?” She was showing her cute
fake innocence again.
    He couldn’t help but grin at her. She was
just so freaking cute…and sexy. “You know darn well you did. You
said you knew I wasn’t your blind date when you saw my van. Why
didn’t you shove me off your porch and tell me to get lost?”
    She tilted her head and sent him a grin as a
lovely shade of crimson colored her cheeks. “You’re not the only
one who can fall for someone the second she sees him.”
    “Oh?” He liked what he heard.
    “The instant I met you I thought good ol’
Cynthia had finally done me a favor--a huge favor. She’d sent me a
man I knew I had a connection with the moment I saw him. That has
never happened to me before either. So,” she said, squeezing his
hand again, “when I realized you weren’t the man Cynthia had sent,
I made a decision. If you wanted to pretend with me, I would
pretend with you, and we’d see where it would lead.”
    “You were teaching me a lesson?” He wasn’t
sure what she meant.
    She shook her head and gave his hand another
squeeze. “No, absolutely not. I did give you ample opportunity to
end the charade, if you wanted to. You do remember, don’t you?
Ultimately, I reminded you that you had said you wanted to tell me
something important. When you said you’d forgotten what you’d
wanted to say, I knew you were committed to carrying out your
charade. At that point, I committed myself to keeping my secret as
well.”
    “So we’re both jerks?”
    She gave him a crooked nod. “That’s about the
size of it.”
    He tugged on her hand and drew her close to
him. “I’ve never seen a more beautiful jerk in my life,” he growled
as he pressed his cheek against hers.
    She placed her arms around him and lifted her
lips to meet his.
    He kissed her soundly, possessively, and he
knew by her response she was open to him in every way.
    When he pulled back, he stared into her
lovely emerald eyes. “Would you like to have dinner with me
tonight?”
    “I thought you’d never ask,” she cooed. She
stretched up and kissed him briefly before settling once again on
flat, bare feet.
    “Great. I’m starving. Diving always makes me
hungry.” He touched her chin and smiled at her. “What do you say we
go straight to The Coffee Shop for their old-fashioned chicken fry
as soon as you change into your street clothes?”
    She took the finger he’d placed on her chin
and kissed it. “Sounds heavenly, but I’m afraid we can’t.”
    His brows crept together. He hadn’t expected
her to turn him down. “We can’t? Why not?”
    “Your secretary said Mr. Mendoza from 741
Laurel was about to sue you for breech of contract. You were
supposed to arrive at his house hours ago to fix the wiring to his
hot tub. Lizzie said if he misses his six o’clock soak, he’s up all
night with his arthritis.”
    Hank shoved his hands into his jeans pockets.
“Oh, brother! The missed call. I forgot all about it.” He placed a
hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. Would you mind if we went
straight back to town and I took care of the Mendoza call before we
had dinner?”
    She rocked back on her heels and folded her
arms. “Hank, I would be real disappointed in you if you weren’t
considerate enough to take care of Mr. Mendoza and his arthritis
before you kept our date.”
    She was perfect. His gut instinct
about her had been completely correct. “Then let’s head back.”
    “I’m all for that--in just a minute.”
    “You have something else