Alveus (ABC's Inc. Romance #1) by Lara Earlman Read Free Book Online

York
office.
    Waking
Bruna, he asked her to convey his apologies to Oma for leaving so abruptly, but
something important had come up at the office. He would be in touch. They both
knew that he was avoiding an inevitable interrogation from his grandmother. A
self-deprecating smile appeared across his face at the thought of the
satisfaction Oma would receive if she knew how torturous the drive to Frankfurt
had been for him.
    No
matter what Dane put his thoughts to, they always came back to Aly – and more
accurately, the semi-nude Aly.  Admittedly, he had seen more than his share of
beautiful women without their clothes, but none like her. Her skin – her
breasts, were the color of porcelain without a blemish or freckle. The areolae
at the peaks of her perfect sized mounds were the palest pigment of pink. Dane
shook his head, he must be remembering wrong. Oh, how he longed for another
look.
    Aly
was smart, even before the evening had gotten underway people had begun asking
for her opinion. The first thing he intended to do when he got to the office
was to follow up on her suggestion for using self-healing polymers. Perhaps
Keith could speak with some of the scientists experimenting with it, since he
was already in the neighborhood, so to speak.
    Dane
had enjoyed his evening with her. She’d even held normal conversations with
him, in full sentences! He laughed out loud. And her temper! Her argument had
had him at a loss for words, the way she’d thrown his word back at him with two
different usages. She stood up to him and she was funny. How was he supposed to
react? He could either laugh, or kiss her – either way would have ended with him
kissing her.
    But,
what is it that haunts Aly and turns her into an exasperating ice queen? His
mistrust of women convinces him that she’s playing a con on him and it’s all an
act to leave him begging at her feet. But, the deepest part of Dane, the part
that he hadn’t visited for a very long time, agreed with Oma and insisted that
she’s an innocent – broken. That’s the Aly that pulls at the deep recesses of
his being. The Aly that bleeds into his stone heart.
    No!
    Dane
had vowed to himself that he would never let a woman have such a power over him
– never!
     
    “I’m
taking the next flight out. I don’t know what the hell’s gotten into you, but
I’ve been fielding calls on a daily basis from the Frankfurt staff.”
    “There’s
no need, Keith,” Dane assured his friend. “You’re needed in New York.”
    “No,
we’ve ironed out the problem and come to an agreement,” his lawyer said. “The
attorneys here can finish up the minor logistics and paperwork. At the rate
you’ve been biting off heads over there, I may be the only staff you have left.
Brenda’s been hearing about your temper at the London office, as well. She’s
worried about you, Dane; she’d come herself, but she has a sick kid at home.”
    Brenda
Gale had been Dane’s assistant and right arm for almost a decade, before he
moved to Frankfurt. The London branch of Brighton Industries had been assigned
to him when he’d graduated from University. Being a Brit, Dane’s grandfather
had started his company in London and had brought his German bride to live with
him there. Brighton Industries had since grown into a worldwide corporation,
with offices in the U.S., Hong Kong, and of course Germany (German engineering
is well known for its quality.) Dane had grown up in the UK, went to school
there and spent summers at his grandmother’s home in Oberstein. Henry Brighton
was happy to hand the reins over to his grandson and move to the Frankfurt
office, bringing his homesick wife back to her roots. When his widowed
grandmother became ill, Dane turned the London office over to Brenda and
followed his grandfather’s footsteps to Frankfurt. Brenda knew Dane almost as
well as Oma, and was much like an older sister to him.
    “Do
as you wish,” he told Keith. “I’ll give Bren a call and put her mind