Temporary Fix Read Free Page A

he swore again. Two choices as he saw it. First, he could try to play it off and ease away her suspicion. That would allow him to retreat and form a different plan to gain her attention in a positive way. The second choice—his stomach knotted—meant being open and honest with the possible mother of his future children.
    Honesty sucks , he thought. “Okay, here it is, Kelli. The absolute honest truth for you to make of it what you will.”
    That cute, pointed chin he wanted to nip with his teeth jerked up and down, but otherwise she remained motionless.
    Here goes everything , he thought with a miserable sigh.
    “My family has this thing, this legend, or…not really a legend, since we know it’s true.” Shit, this wasn’t coming out nearly as smoothly and calmly as he’d planned. Restless, he paced the huge office, which was bigger than his first apartment. What woman, person, needed this much space to work all day on a computer?
    “So there’s a legend, but it’s not a legend to your family?” she prodded.
    “Yeah, okay. So, as far back as anyone remembers, my ancestors have married for love. Love—not money, political gain or power, which is strange considering it used to be pretty much a given to marry for those reasons alone.”
    He saw the moment he’d piqued her interest as her head tilted to watch him, her shoulders relaxed their stiff posture. “Your family documented this?”
    “Yeah, but there’s also letters, diaries and stories handed down from generation to generation.”
    “It sounds sweet, but what’s that got to do with me?”
    In his mind, Remi saw the emotional cliff crumbling beneath his feet as he took a leap of faith and jumped. “Because you’re the one for me. You were the one for me three months ago, but I was too stupid and stubborn to understand or accept it. It’s been that long since I’ve been with anyone else or even wanted to think of someone else. Something about you got into my blood and you’re all I can think about. No matter what else is going on in my life, what I’m doing or involved in, you’re there.” He pressed his fist to his chest right over his heart. Then he took several hesitant steps in her direction and flinched when Kelli moved away from him.
    “I’m not going to turn into stalker guy or anything like that,” he tried to explain without sounding like a bigger fool. “I’m asking for you to give me another chance to do things right. To treat you as you deserve to be treated and to show you there’s more to me than the inconsiderate jerk you’ve met.” Taking a deep breath for courage, Remi slowly crossed the room. Gently, he tilted her face to look at him. “Can you do that? Give me—give us—another chance?”
    Kelli said nothing, shock immobilising her. She just stood there with his finger under her chin and blinked those big, innocent green eyes at him. Thinking he’d pushed too much, Remi dropped his arm and backed away. “Look, I’m sorry if I got out of line. It’s just being in the same room with you is hell on my restraint…and my cock. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were a witch who’d put a spell on me.”
    He blew out a frustrated breath, slammed the lid on his temper. Frustration gnawed at his gut at the thought of what he must do. Walking away wouldn’t kill him, but it sure as hell wouldn’t feel good. “Kelli, I can’t get you out of my mind. I haven’t been able to stop thinking of you, but I don’t want to freak you out, so I’ll take off. Call me, please, if you ever change your mind about us.”
    He had turned to leave, his cock only half-hard in his disappointment, when a soft hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked down and his body flushed while his heart did a weird flip Remi did his damndest to ignore. God, this woman could lead him around by his cock if she only knew.
    “This is kind of a shock,” she said softly, her hesitant gaze rising to meet his. “I’m not sure what to say or