Falling for Alexander (Corkscrew Bay #2) by Claire Robyns Read Free Book Online Page A

ash-silver hair peered up from where she was bent over a half unpacked crate. “Anything I can help you with, love?”
    Yes, please. Where do you keep your imaginary gifts for fake aunts? Kate smiled tersely, shaking her head. “Just looking, thanks.”
    Ambling d eeper into the shop, she paused at an open shelf of crushed-shell jewellery boxes. Reasonably appropriate, she decided, picking up one for further examination.
    “ An interesting choice,” murmured Alexander over her shoulder, his breath tickling her ear.
    Hot ice trickled down her spine and spread beneath her skin. Kate stilled, then slowly exhaled. She turned the box over in her hands, refusing to reveal the effect he had on her by skittering away. “It’s very pretty.”
    “ A perfect gift,” he said, that gravel voice washing over her with an illicit thrill.
    There were so many things wrong with this scene, she could take her pick.
    She couldn’t have him.
    She shouldn ’t want him.
    This delicious distraction was a carefully targeted, calculated move on his part. She knew that with as much certainty as she knew the heat stinging the back of her neck had nothing to do with the unusually warm late March weather.
    That didn ’t stop her knees from turning to marshmallow while the rest of her registered his closeness, so very close, closer than that almost kiss outside. Alexander was the ice-cream advertisement on a melting summer afternoon. The one designed by suit-people around a boardroom table with only their company bottom line in mind. Didn’t stop anyone from lusting after that scoop of creamy double-thick dark chocolate, did it?
    She caught herself licking her lips and bit down hard. This was bordering on pathetic. “ Yes, my aunt will love this.”
    “ Except,” he said, still breathing near her ear, “she doesn’t wear jewellery.”
    Who doesn’t wear jewellery? Kate conjured up a vision of the woman, put a pair of bob-earrings on her; took them off. Any rings? A Bracelet? She drew an absolute blank. Suddenly she couldn’t even remember if Mrs. Pinnings favoured pink or red shades of lipstick. If she even wore lipstick.
    Kate swung around, and instantly swallowed the barbed retort that came with her frown. He ’d pushed his shades up, his eyes all dark and stormy. His nostrils flared. She’d caught him off-guard, in that second before a mask of bemusement blanked the signals of arousal.
    “ Mrs. Pinnings suffers from eczema,” he said into her dumbfounded silence. “Her skin is hypersensitive and she’s allergic to most metal alloys. She stopped wearing any form of jewellery decades ago.”
    Kate ’s mouth went slack. “How the hell would you know that?”
    He leant in, and then a little more. A half grin pressed a dimple in one cheek, softening the harsh angles. His eyes were on her lips.
    He really was going to kiss her this time and she’d have to slap that grin from his scheming face. Yeah, she thought through the haze steaming up inside her, she’d probably definitely have to do that. Maybe.
    His eyes snapped up to hers. “ How the hell do you not know that?”
    On the outside, Kate gave an almost imperceptible wince . Inside, she kicked herself hard enough to leave a mental bruise. She didn’t mind the laying of the trap…that was par for the course. What she did mind was the disparity of him marking points with ruthless clarity while she bumbled around in a stew of simmering hormones.
    “ Of course I know that.” She backed away into her own space. “How couldn’t I?”
    He cocked a brow at the jewellery box she was still clutching.
    “There are—this has other uses,” she informed him curtly.
    That brow cocked higher.
    “Like… Like holding keys,” she said. “My aunt is forever losing her keys.”
    “ In that case,” he said, edging around the table, “you should take a look at these.”
    Kate shoved the box back on the shelf and followed him to a wall hung with painted driftwood key-racks. Becaus e,