Dreams Don't Wait (Contemporary romance) by EC Sheedy Read Free Book Online Page A

do—at work?"
    She sighed again, longer this time. "I'm an admin assistant at a technical writing firm. Moore Write Limited. But you already know that. Caressa told you." She stood ramrod-straight, as if poised for the moment when she could break free of him.
    "Did she? I don't remember. She said you were dynamite. I remember that." His voice was low, gravelly. He remembered Evan's body sliding down his, his hands on the curve of her waist, her legs tangled with his.
    "Good. Then you must know what dynamite does when it gets near a flame."
    "Gets hot?" He smiled, touched her cheek.
    Her gaze leveled him. "It blows up. Now, if you're through playing games, I have to go. We can continue this conversation later, when you're..."
    "Sober?" he finished amiably.
    She said nothing, choosing instead to look past him.
    "Ah... So Miss Upright Uptight Evangeline North doesn't approve of the demon drink—or any other sinful pleasures that I can see."
    "You're calling me a prude?"
    "If the shoe fits..."
    For a split second she looked amused. "It does. It fits perfectly. You should try it sometime." Then eyeing him as if he'd just escaped a detox unit, she said, "Now please let me pass, or you'll make me late. Go inside, Linc. There's coffee in the kitchen, and Maud's probably up by now." Then, with one deft move, she was by him. She walked away a few steps before turning back. The look she gave him was tentative. "And maybe you shouldn't breathe on Jenny for a while. Children hate the smell of alcohol."
    He watched her walk up the driveway and cursed. Irritating woman.
    Irritatingly right woman.
    * * *
    Fifteen minutes later, he stepped out of the shower, drained the cup of coffee he'd brought up from the kitchen, and stretched out on the bed. A pair of disapproving eyes came to mind. But what really pissed him off was that he was faintly embarrassed. Okay. So he'd deserved it, acting the fool, baiting her. But damn it he wasn't drunk—less than sober maybe—but not drunk.
    Who the hell did she think she was anyway, standing there on his doorstep looking so cool and angelically composed, as though everything was so right in her world and so wrong in his.
    He remembered the light scent of roses, the awareness of her smallness when she'd stepped around him, and the gentle sway of her backside when she walked down the driveway. His groin tightened, and the unexpected response angered him further. If he had any brains, he'd stay the hell away from Miss Sunshine and get her moved into the cottage ASAP. That thought held firmly in his booze-soaked gray matter, he slept.
    * * *
    "Caressa Stewart, please. Please tell her it's Evan North." Evan propped the phone between her ear and left shoulder and stared at her computer screen. She was still keying when Caressa's voice came over the line. She straightened abruptly and took full control of the receiver.
    "Hi, Evan. What's up?" Caressa asked.
    "That's what I want to ask you."
    "You'll have to give me more to go on than that."
    "Linc. He thinks you've played matchmaker, that you've set us up." Evan bit her lip. "You didn't, did you?"
    Caressa laughed. "He actually said that?"
    She might think it was funny, but Evan sure didn't. "Did you? Try to set us up, I mean."
    There was a pause before Caressa laughed again. "I guess I forgot to tell you Linc's a bit paranoid ever since I introduced him to a couple of my friends. But that was ages ago, and he was so boorishly insulting to them, I gave up. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have any friends left."
    "Why?"
    "Why what? Why did I give up or why was he such a boor?"
    "Why would you think he needed to be set up? He's a very attractive man, and—"
    "Ah... You noticed, huh?"
    Evan ignored the interruption. "As I was going to say. I'm sure your brother has no problem with women."
    "You're right. He doesn't. What he has a problem with is relationships. He prefers arrangements made with women of, shall we say, flexible virtue. Ever since that witch he married..."