Dating a Metro Man by Donna McDonald Read Free Book Online Page B

been a month after that failure before she had been able to bring herself to wear any kind of damn dress again. And when she did manage it finally, all she’d thought about was him.
    Lifting her chin, Jenna firmly chastised herself for going there. That was water under the bridge, she told herself. A different time. Certainly a different story and outcome.
    She’d come to talk with Seth and figure out where they stood now that they knew what was between them and what could be again. Whatever came of the conversation Jenna fully intended to have with him this evening, she hoped that it at least would dispel the dreams that were costing her sleep.
    You are not an emotional coward, Jenna Ranger ,she reminded herself.
    To prove it, she pushed the doorbell several times to make sure Seth heard it no matter where he was in the house.
     
    The doorbell woke Seth from his second or third depressed nap on the couch that day. He wasn’t expecting anyone, and random sales people were banned from his housing complex.
    Thinking Casey must have left his key at home, he got up and stumbled to the door, bleary-eyed and resigned to talking to his worried cousin. Lack of sleep was starting to take its toll, but he knew Casey would never leave him alone if he didn’t convince him he was at least marginally surviving.
    “What the hell, Casey? Did you forget your key again?” Seth demanded, yanking open the door.
    The last person he expected to see was standing in front in him.
    “Can I come in?” Jenna asked quietly. She tore her gaze away from his to look over his shoulder, which wasn’t easy to do with the differences in their heights.
    “I thought you were Casey,” Seth said, fading off. He couldn’t stop staring at Jenna.
    Blood was pumping hard to get his brain to register her presence even though he remained frozen and unable to move. In the last week, Seth had concluded that Jenna was never going to speak to him again in this life. Not after what he had done to her. She hadn’t even been able to look at him when he slunk away that day.
    “Sorry,” Seth said, shaking his head and reining in his emotions so he could act mostly civilized with her. “Sure. Come on in. Excuse the house, I’ve—my housekeeper left me to run off and marry your mother. I have to find a new one.”
    His attempt at humor had Jenna smiling slightly, but it didn’t diffuse the tension between them. It also didn’t stop his heart from trying to beat its way out of his chest.
    Jenna walked by Seth, careful not to touch him, but hyper aware anyway. She noticed Seth was unshaven and dressed in ratty clothes that looked two sizes too big on his lean frame. Something soft for him nudged her to care, but she pushed away the concern.
    Her reaction was probably because she’d never seen Seth this unkempt in the whole time they’d dated. Seth had been all manicured, business perfection each time they’d been together. Most of the time the man had looked better maintained than she in his dress clothes and business suits. Jenna had felt obligated to get her mother’s help to improve her own appearance when she was with him.
    “I think we need to talk,” Jenna began.
    Then Jenna looked hard at him before stopping to sigh as she closed her eyes in self-defense. It was really hard to look at Seth without wanting to climb him like a tree and demand that he have sex with her again, even in his present condition. She was completely ashamed of the urge, but truth was, Jenna would tolerate just about anything to have the man for real one more time.
    She looked at the floor instead of at him, and thought of her own floor. Jenna closed her eyes once more, this time cursing her imagination. This was so not going the way she wanted.
    “Okay—here’s the thing, Seth. I can’t stop thinking about the day we were together. I even dream about it,” Jenna said baldly.
    Seth walked away from Jenna to the patio door, crossing his arms and looking out. She has a right