To Love a Man Read Free

– she hated to be called ‘little’ and her behind was much too big to be ‘gorgeous’ by today’s wraithlike standards – Ellie did not deign to so much as look at him, much less answer his musing question, forcing herself to be content staring determinedly out the window.
    “All right, I’ll stop asking stupid questions.” As much as he wanted details, he realized that it was definitely the wrong time for that particular tactic. He wanted her smiling, not looking as if she’d just lost her best friend.
    Or, perhaps more accurately, hadn’t quite gotten over a lost love?
    “That’ll be a refreshing change.” The snarky comment slipped out of her mouth before she had a chance to catch it, and then – despite his chuckle – guilt washed over her. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to be nasty when you’ve been nothing but kind to me. You’ve gone way out of your way and probably put your future with Cal Jennings in grave jeopardy, and I do appreciate it.”
    “That’s all right and you’re welcome.”
    She guided him to her house and Cruz flatly refused to just let her make her own way in. Since he had retained his possession of her keys, she didn’t have much choice but to let him have his way. She couldn’t get into her house without them.
    He came around to the passenger’s door and tsked at her for trying to get out herself, lifting her as if she weighed nothing and carrying her to her door, where she took the keys from him and opened it. And he didn’t just deposit her on her stoop as she’d imagined – far from it. He walked right in to lay her gently on her small loveseat, propping her injured foot on a convenient throw pillow. Then he went so far as to rummage in her freezer, returning to the small living room – which his large presence only seemed to make even tinier – with a bag of frozen peas that she’d been saving for a beef stew that was, instead, carefully placed over her already puffy ankle.
    “The ride over here with it hanging down couldn’t have helped much. Are you hurting?” he asked squatting down beside her.
    Ellie sighed and covered her face with her hand. “Yeah. I have some ibuprofen in my—”
    He was already out the door to retrieve her purse.
    When he returned, not only with her purse, but also a glass of water and three of the anti-inflammatories in the palm of his hand, she took them with surprising obedience, saying, “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done.”
    Cruz smiled down at her. “You’re welcome. Is there anything else I can get you or do for you?”
    “No, thank you.” 
    “I wish you’d go to the ER for that, though.”
    “I know, and if it gets worse, I promise, I will.”
    He continued to stare intently down at her, making her almost more nervous, all of a sudden, than she had been before Cal had discovered her presence. She wasn’t at all used to having a strange man in her apartment, and despite his chivalric acts towards her, he was a stranger.
    “I guess I should be getting back.”
    “I hope you have a job to get back to , considering how blatantly disloyal you’ve been – gallant and gentlemanly, no doubt – but you know Cal isn’t going to see it that way,” Ellie mused ruefully.
    He startled her by chuckling at her concerns. “Don’t you worry about Cal and me. It would take a lot more than this for him to get rid of me.” He walked over to her door. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me.”
    Ellie looked puzzled. “I don’t have—”
    “Yes, you do. When I got your purse, I used your phone to call me. Now we have each other’s numbers.”
    Normally she would have been incensed at his invasion of her privacy, but somehow she couldn’t quite summon the level of indignation she should have felt, considering what he’d done for her. A thought struck her, and she had to admit to a certain amount of curiosity. “But how are you going to get home now?”
    He grinned down at her. “At the same