Down by Contact - A Seattle Lumberjacks Romance by Jami Davenport Read Free Book Online Page B

would finally amount to something.
Currently, they amounted to a full belly and a warm—though small
and shabby—place to sleep.
    Just this morning Kelsie cashed her check
and rented a small room from an ancient widow who lived in a
decrepit mansion not far from Lumberjacks headquarters. She’d left
Scranton curled up on the futon that doubled as a bed. The next
thing she’d done was eat an early dinner at a trendy restaurant.
Maybe she’d spent a little too much, but she’d earn more. Soon.
She’d use the Lumberjacks job to get her foot in the door with
other sports teams and businesses in the area. But first things
first, to get through this initial meeting with Zach.
    Kelsie smoothed the wrinkles out of the
skirt of her tailored designer suit, the only one she’d brought
with her from Texas. She rubbed her palms together and cleared her
throat. She could do this. She’d stand on her own two feet, control
her own life, and be successful.
    Sure, Mark had emotionally beaten her down
and destroyed her self-confidence, but she was slowly gaining it
back. She’d be successful, and she’d be nice doing it. Never again
would she be labeled a mean girl, or a selfish bitch, or even a
diva. Nope, from now on, people wouldn’t get so much as a glimpse
of the old Kelsie. They’d see her as gracious and kind.
    Except Zach. Definitely not Zach.
    Then the door opened, and her good
intentions flew over the goalposts.
    * * * * *
    Zach stopped in the doorway. His mouth went
dry and his body tensed. He clenched his jaw, as conflicting
thoughts warred inside his skull. His worst nightmare had come to
pass. This could not be happening.
    “What the fuck?” He took another step into
the room and kicked the door shut behind him.
    Kelsie Carrington sat at the conference
table, all prim, proper, and fucking-kill-a-man-with-one-pouty-look
beautiful. Her sexy red lips pressed into a thin, disapproving
line. Her beautiful face with those high cheekbones and striking
features sent his heart to his groin alerting the boys down south
to prepare for action. Only there wasn’t going to be any action.
Not now. Not ever. That train fell off the trestle miles ago.
    Kelsie sniffed as if she smelled something
foul. “Lesson One. Four-letter words are not necessary to get your
point across.” She stood and smiled at him with her cool, composed
smile and held out her hand.
    Zach stared at her hand. What the hell did
she expect him to do with her hand? Kiss it? Shake it? High-five
her? Feeling like the beast to her beauty, he did none of the
above. Instead, he leaned against the door, crossed one ankle over
the other, and studied her.
    She still had it, that composure, that
in-born ability to make him feel like a backwards oaf without an
ounce of class. She’d broken his heart once and taken away the only
thing he had as a poor boy from the wrong side of town, his pride.
Well, Zach Murphy didn’t forgive or forget. Besides football, the
one thing he excelled at was holding a grudge. Ask Harris.
    His high school dream girl—architect of the
most humiliating memories of his life—wore a form-fitting light
blue suit, which hugged her slender body. She hadn’t gained a pound
in fifteen years. Except her boobs seemed bigger. Maybe she’d
gotten a boob job or wore one of those bras that pushed the things
upward. Whatever the hell it was, his dick liked what it saw.
    She cleared her throat, and Zach looked down
at her angelic face. Only he knew she was no angel. She stared back
at him, unblinking, but her eyes narrowed. She’d caught him staring
at her boobs, like the moron she assumed he still was. Embarrassed,
he focused on her hand still held out to him. A forbidden thought
crept into his brain. Her long delicate fingers and manicured
fingernails would feel good running through his chest hair. One of
her nails was chipped, an imperfect touch on a perfect woman and
strangely out of character for her. Yet, he liked that touch of
imperfection. A