1001 Dark Nights by Lorelei James Read Free Book Online

tin can. “You’ve convinced me to crash here, although I’ll point out it’s a good thing I’m not a Kansas City Chiefs super fan.”
    “Bite your tongue, darlin’. Them’s fightin’ words.”
    She peeked into the bathroom. Same Broncos theme. When she looked at him again, she casually asked, “Where’s your room?”
    “At the other end of the hallway. There are two bedrooms on this side and two on that side.” He smirked. “So yes, your room is as far from mine as it gets.”
    How was she supposed to respond? Good? Or that sucks?
    “Need help unloading your stuff?”
    “No. My stuff is scattered throughout my camper, and I need to dig it out first.”
    “Okay. If you need anything, holler.” Then he left the room.
    London used the facilities and figured out the bare minimum of what she’d need. She practically tiptoed down the hallway, leaving the front door unlatched so she wouldn’t disturb Sutton with the door slamming.
    She had packed a suitcase—full of dirty clothes—and set it outside hoping laundry privileges were included in her guest status. She unearthed a duffel bag and shoved the few clean clothes inside along with her makeup bag. Her laptop bag held all of her electronics and charging cords. Then she figured she’d need her boots and hat, which were in the back of her club cab. Since she’d be dealing with Dial, a notoriously stubborn horse, a crop would come in handy. She rooted around under the seat until she found it.
    Looking at the pile, she wished she’d taken Sutton up on his offer of help. She slipped the strap of the duffel over her left shoulder and the laptop strap over the right. Hat on her head, boots teetering precariously on top of the zipped duffel, she reached for the suitcase handle.
    “You’d rather sprain your damn neck than accept my help?”
    She whirled around. Her hat, boots, and crop went flying. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
    Sutton picked up her riding crop and muttered, “I oughta use this on you.”
    “Okay.”
    He shot her a look.
    She didn’t break eye contact. Neither did he.
    Then he offered her a mysterious smile, grabbed the suitcase and rolled it to the front door.
    Whew. Talk about a hot moment. Scooping her hat onto her head, she trudged behind him. She met Sutton in the hallway. “When you’re done getting settled, I’ll be in the kitchen.”
    I don’t know if I’ll ever be settled around you.
    Not only was he…oh, a fucking dream man with those looks, those eyes, that body, enough amazing attributes to make any man cocky, he rarely acted that way. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear the man was…shy.
    Nah. He couldn’t be.
    Why not? Why do you think you know him? You’ve met the man one time. You’ve heard your parents talk about him, but you’ve had exactly one hour-long conversation with him.
    But he hadn’t shied away from kissing her or from accepting her challenge to act like her boyfriend. And he’d all but told her she was crashing in his house, not her camper.
    Those were the actions of a self-confident person, not the shy, retiring type.
    Since when are those traits mutually exclusive?
    Maybe she should stop staring at the closed door like an idiot, clean herself up, and go talk to him.
    London changed from shorts into jeans. Hopefully the flies weren’t bad and she wouldn’t regret wearing a T-shirt instead of switching to a long-sleeved blouse. She tried to run a comb through her hair since she’d had the windows down on the way here, but the brush got stuck so she finger-combed it into a low ponytail. Not the best look, but she was headed into the pasture for the next couple of hours and bad hair days were why God had invented hats.
    As she wandered down the hallway, she expected to hear the TV or maybe music, but the house remained quiet. She turned the corner into the kitchen and saw bags of groceries strewn across the quartz countertops. Whoa. That was a lot of food.
    Sutton slammed the cupboard