Crazy Love by Nicola Marsh Read Free Book Online

for his mom, the way he looked at her with those intense dark eyes that reduced her insides to mush.
    “Mush, shmush,” she muttered, tearing the top off a box of cookies, wishing it were his head.
    So what if he came wrapped in an attractive package that had her salivating to rip off the outer layers and check out the surprise beneath. So not going there.
    He’d been subtle in his approach to pry information out of her at dinner and though she hadn’t let much slip she wondered how far he’d go to get what he wanted. Always up for a challenge she’d asked him back to her place for coffee, curious to see what tricks City Boy had up his designer sleeves.
    “Nice place,” he said from the living room. “I’ve never seen so many eclectic pieces in one room before.”
    “Thanks. I like to collect stuff.”
    “I can see that.”
    She poked her head around the doorway as he examined the mantel lined with elephants before moving onto the hand-carved jade box in the corner.
    “Milk? Sugar?” She yelled, not ready for him to examine that particular collection yet.
    Thankfully he turned, his attention diverted. “White with two, thanks. What’s in the box?”
    Uh-oh. So much for distracting him.
    “Just some other stuff I collect. I’m a regular hoarder. You should see my bedroom…” She trailed off, heat flooding her cheeks as she bit her tongue.
    “That’s the best offer I’ve had all day, next to your dinner invitation.” He folded his arms and grinned. “I’m beginning to like this home grown hospitality more by the minute.”
    “I didn’t mean it like that.” Flustered, she ducked back into the kitchen and finished making the coffee. “I love dream catchers, so I hang them all over my bedroom—”
    Carrying a tray with coffee and choc-chip cookies into the room, she almost upended the lot as she saw his hands filled with her other collection .
    “Sure you’re not running more than a dating agency?”
    “My friend’s idea of a joke. She knows I collect stuff so thought she’d add condoms to the list.”
    He grinned like a little boy let loose in a toy store as he sifted through the foil packets.
    “Some collection you’ve got here. Rough Riders, Barebacks, Power Plays and what’s this?” He held up a shimmery blue square. “I thought a Vanilla Smoothie was a drink?” He tut-tutted. “And here I was thinking Love wouldn’t broaden my horizons. This visit gets better and better.”
    Fighting a rising blush and losing, she stalked across the room, settled the tray on the coffee table, slapped his wrist until he released the packets and replaced the lid on the box.
    “Didn’t your mom teach you it’s rude to pry into other people’s things?”
    His grin hadn’t waned; potent, mesmerizing, lighting his face with warmth. “She did but I was always a nosy little beggar. And a good thing too.” He jerked his head at the box. “Look what you find when you poke around.”
    “You’re getting more obnoxious by the minute.” She handed him a coffee. “Here, drink this. The sugar might sweeten you up though I doubt it.”
    Her cheeks burned as she handed him the coffee, hoping their fingers wouldn’t brush. If her body was responding to him on some visceral level by trading quips, she didn’t want to experiment with touching.
    “You mentioned seeing your bedroom?”
    Uh-oh. Not only had his fingers brushed hers, she reacted how she’d feared. Her toes tingled.
    No tightening nipples or instant dampness for her. When a man turned her on, the first place she felt it was all the way down to her toes and this time her ten tootsies were buzzing.
    “You wish.”
    She cradled her coffee mug, peering at him over the rim as she took a soothing sip, hoping the caffeine would jolt her system out of the sensual lethargy seeping through her body.
    She couldn’t let her guard down around him. Despite her bravado he had the potential to undo her and she wouldn’t go there. She couldn’t. Been