Walk on the Wild Side Read Free

time.’
    â€˜I’m so sorry.’ She sighed and made herself look just slightly to the left of him—so she could try to keep her thoughts on track. He was right. She did need to recover, but not over the accident. It was his gorgeousness and his proximity that were screwing up her thought processes now. ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’
    He lifted one hand from the wheel, holding it up in the ‘stop’ sign. ‘Don’t start that again. Please.’
    â€˜Right.’ She nodded. Yeah. She’d hardly been cool, calm and collected. Not at all the kind of person you’d want to be in an emergency. She’d been a jibbering mess.
    â€˜I know a café that does fantastic coffee,’ he said. ‘Let’s get some, OK?’
    Coffee . That was her problem. She hadn’t had her hit this morning. That was why she was feeling both so wired and wobbly now—not the accident, not him.
    He pulled into a car park and killed the engine.
    â€˜You can’t park here, it’s reserved.’ Customer only spaces for the snow’n’skate-wear store—the signs were everywhere.
    He didn’t even glance at them. ‘They won’t mind.’
    He was Mr Laid-back wasn’t he? Did he take everything in his stride—literally in his stride—like being hit by however many tonnes of metal car? He grinned and pocketed her keys as he limped onto the footpath beside her. Shetried not to stare but the guilt seized her. Then his hand seized her upper arm even more firmly and he swung her round, walking her into the doorway of the cool café.
    â€˜Sit.’ He stopped at the closest table. ‘I’m getting you a coffee.’
    Kelsi plopped into the chair and put her elbow on the table, closing her eyes as she rested her head in her hand. ‘A black coffee would be fantastic.’ Coffee would kick her back together—because this brainless behaviour could no longer be her.
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    Jack paused and looked at the paler-than-pale petite woman in front of him. You’d think she’d been the one hit by the car, not him. Truth be told he’d hardly been touched, had thumped his fist on the bonnet and dodged to avoid it. But doing that had wrenched his weak knee—hence the worsening of the limp. The surgery had been a couple of weeks ago, but right now it felt as if it had been yesterday.
    He walked to the counter, trying to stretch out the soreness the sudden movement had caused, hoping it wasn’t going to set his progress back. He was desperate to get training again.
    He ordered from Viv, the barista, but she had his half made already and it took nothing for her to make another. So in seconds he was heading back to the dangerous driver, two steaming cups in hand. Beneath his breath he chuckled as he looked at her slim back and the wild mess that was her hair—she had no idea, did she?
    He put the drinks on the table, ripped open three sachets of sugar and tipped them into the first cup. He stirred the liquid round a bit with a spoon and then pushed the cup towards her.
    â€˜I don’t take sugar.’ A weak smile as she slumped against the back of the seat.
    â€˜You do today.’ Strong, hot and sweet. It was exactly what she needed.
    He watched while she took a sip—one, then a much bigger gulp. Then she exhaled.
    â€˜Better?’ He couldn’t help laughing.
    â€˜Much.’
    Yeah, her crazy-coloured eyes were focused now, and she sat up straight. That was also good because when she’d been flopped back like that, the thin strap of her dress had slipped. He’d seen the lacy edging of a pretty black bra and he shouldn’t be thinking about sex this second. But he was—and had been the last six hundred seconds, or so. Ever since he’d first laid eyes on her.
    Not appropriate. That wasn’t why he’d insisted on getting her a coffee. No, he’d done that because he wanted to let her