Bound by Love's Gravity by Mia Ashlinn Read Free Book Online Page A

Mr. Cool, and he had nowhere to go. He had nowhere to hide. They were alone. At last.

Chapter 4
     
    Deke guided Sarah into her cluttered kitchen. As soon as he saw the disaster awaiting them, he groaned. This was going to take forever to clean up. There were at minimum a dozen boxes scattered around the room. Some were resting on the tile flooring. Others were lying on the Formica countertop. A couple were balancing precariously on each side of the sink, and the tiny bistro table by the door had a box that covered the entire glass top.
    Scrutinizing the mess, Deke wished he was anywhere but here. He was genuinely anxious about being alone with Sarah, especially considering that unpacking all of this would take time and patience he didn’t have. Right now, he was too edgy to be around polite company. And Sarah definitely fell into that category. He would be better off working alone. But that wasn’t happening. She obviously wanted him to help her, and he sucked at telling her no.
    The more Deke thought about Sarah’s effect on him, the more pissed he got at himself. He wasn’t normally the timid type. He didn’t run away from things. He faced them head-on, and he didn’t care what people thought about him afterward.
    Other than with Adam, Deke was a selfish bastard. He preferred to stay that way because giving a shit about someone else sucked, especially someone as sweet and delicate as Sarah. She was his antithesis, and he wouldn’t change that about her. But it was yet another reason why he had to stay the hell away from her. She couldn’t handle who and what he was.
    Deke heaved a frustrated breath. He was being a coward, just like Adam had once accused him of being. He would help Sarah, and then he would walk away. It was as simple as that. Only it wasn’t.
    Weaving through the boxes, Deke tugged Sarah over to the corner where the smallest cardboard containers sat and pointed to the top one. “Start with these,” he instructed. “I’m going to work on the bigger boxes. Okay?”
    She nodded before reaching for the box he’d indicated. As she attempted to lift up, she grunted. Immediately, he realized that whatever she’d packed must be heavy despite the size of the cardboard container. Unwilling to let her hurt herself, he offered, “Here, let me.” He didn’t allow her to answer him before heaving the heavy box into his arms. “What’s in this? Lead?”
    She chuckled, her smoky eyes filled with merriment. “Dishes.”
    “Really?” he asked, chuckling with her. “I figured this would have something like a toaster in it.”
    “Sometimes big things come in small packages.”
    He wasn’t touching that one. “Where do you want it?”
    Indicating the counter with a jerk of her head, she said, “Over there.”
    He nodded then carried the box to the counter and lowered it onto the sand-colored top. “Here you go,” he murmured.
    “Thanks.”
    “No problem,” he replied as he turned away from her then went to work.
    Snatching up the first box, he started to unpack. Silence fell over them, but it was companionable, so he didn’t interrupt. Thankfully, she didn’t either. He wanted to get the job done then get out, preferably with as little talking as possible.
    “So,” Sarah started, finally cutting through the silence, much to his dismay. “That Ansley is a nut. Isn’t she?”
    He grunted his affirmative.
    “I can’t believe she gave Wyatt a prostate exam.”
    Deke could believe it. Ansley was Ansley, and she did whatever crazy thing popped into her mind. “Mmhmm,” he said noncommittally before opening the flaps to yet another box of appliances.
    “I bet he”—she came to a halt, and he heard her gulp before she went on—“spanked her for that.”
    Deke knew that if he turned around, Sarah would be blushing, her cheeks rosy with evidence of her embarrassment. He also knew that he wanted to see her adorable face flushed like that, and he was unwilling to deny himself that small