To Love a Man Read Free Page A

time I called my phone from yours, I used mine to call a buddy who is also on staff at the ranch.”
    The Jennings estate didn’t really have a name. Everyone just called it ‘the ranch’.
    “Ah, well, that’s good. Thank you again, Cruz.”
    He smiled and managed to make her feel as if everything was right with the world, somehow, even though everything really was in the crapper. “You’re very welcome, Ellie. Stay off that foot.”
    Wearing a patently false smile, she rolled her eyes and singsonged, “Yes, sir.”
    “That’s more like it.”
    He closed the door on her snort, leaving Ellie to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening stewing, considering the possible ramifications of what she’d done.
    ***
    Her ankle hadn’t swollen too badly and was only a little dark looking. She kept her blood levels of ibuprofen steady, and that almost eliminated the pain. And, although it was sore and stiff, she managed to hop around on it on an as needed basis. She tried to be as efficient as she could when she felt she couldn’t avoid using it, getting up to hit the bathroom, grab a nutritious dinner of chips and dip, and turning on a marathon of Lost on Hulu to be instantly reminded of just how much she’d loved it the first time around, even though she was somewhat bummed to already know the ending.
    She fell asleep relatively early, but was awakened around twelve-thirty by the sound of knocking, and looked to the TV first, but it had already responded to its sleeper timer and shut off. But it couldn’t possibly have been anyone knocking at her door. No one who knew her would ever think of coming over without having called or texted her first; as affectionate and gregarious as she was with her friends, she was a very private person.
    But then there it was again, much louder, much more insistent and demanding this time. Someone was definitely not knocking on her door, they were banging on her door.
    The question was: did she feel inclined to answer it, considering that it was the middle of the night and she was injured, and whoever it was didn’t sound in the least friendly?
    Then she realized she was not going to be given a choice.
    “Open up, Elise. Your car is in the driveway and I know Cruz brought you home.”
    What the fuck was he doing here? Who did he think he was? Did he think he was going to throw her out of her own home after having thrown her out of his?
    As if he’d read her mind, the next thing he said was, “I’m not leaving until I talk to you, Elise.”
    She recognized that tone and was horrified to realize that it still had the power to affect her – her panties were growing wetter by the second.
    “And don’t think I won’t call your landlord – who is Jim Evans, I believe – and make—”
    Fed up and frustrated beyond belief, Ellie swung the door open abruptly. “Make him open the door for you? Make trouble for me? Make him evict me?” she filled in, trying to mirror his feet-wide-apart power stance, but wobbling so badly on her injured foot that she finally just brought it up next to her good one and balanced it on her curled toes. “Do your worst. But, then, oh, gee, you’ve already done that, haven’t you?”
    When she would have slammed the door in his face, she found that he’d already taken a step in and she couldn’t have closed the door around him without a twenty mule team.
    And she had thought that Cruz had dwarfed her tiny living room. Cal Jennings practically wore it.
    He closed the door and she heard him lock it behind him, but even as he took a threatening step towards her that nearly plastered their bodies together, she continued to stand there, precariously balanced though she was, glaring up at him, her jaw set, arms folded defiantly across her chest.
    She was not going to let him bully her in her own home.
    But she was entirely unprepared for what he did next, bending down to pick her up in his arms – What was this thing men had all of a sudden for carrying