From the Moment We Met by Marina Adair Read Free Book Online Page B

lurked beneath the DeLuca Darling facade. “So what do you need from me?” he asked.
    “What I need is for you to hold this.” She smacked the measuring tape to his chest. “No recommendations, no favors, just help me measure the length of the room and tell me exactly what the Hamptons expect in a proposal, so I can resubmit my plans and prove to Babs that I am the best person for this job.”
    Tanner crossed his arms. “All right, two extra practices a week, plus the promise that I get to play the Imperial March at the next recital, and I will make sure you get that job.”
    “Won’t that cut into your dating life?” she said.
    “Darling, my dating life is nonexistent since the girl I keep asking out keeps shooting me down.”
    She rolled her eyes. “One extra lesson a week, and not starting until after I meet with Babs.” She went up on her toes, trying to look like she meant business, which was ridiculous. She was so petite he could pick her up and stick her in his pocket. “I had to cancel all my lessons this week to focus on landing that job.”
    “Deal.” He took the tab of the measuring tape and started walking the length of the room.
    “Oh, and Jack,” she said in an unsure voice that was like a punch straight to the chest. “If the offer still stands, an extra set of eyes on the final designs would be great.”
    “Abby, anything you need, you know I’m just a call away.”
    She nodded. “It’s just I want to make sure I meet her expectations when it comes to proper submission.”
    “Deal. As long as you tell me one thing.”
    “What?”
    “Is that whole clean slate thing a general all-encompassing deal, say, covering all of the crap between us? Because I want to know when you’re going to stop being stubborn and just admit you want to go out with me.”
    “What makes you think I want to go out with you?”
    “All I’m saying is that, in my experience, when a lady wears a guy’s color, she’s making a declaration,” Tanner said.
    “And what color would that be?” Abby held her arms out to display her outfit in a challenge.
    “Those Niners-red panties you’re wearing.”

    “Declaration my ass,” Abby mumbled after Tanner helped her into the cab of his truck, then slammed the door. She buckled herself in and watched Tanner make his way around the front of the truck. He slid in behind the steering wheel, started the engine, and flashed her one of those crooked grins of his that always made her stomach flip.
    “Are you claiming that every woman who walks around town in a red top is issuing you your own personal invitation?”
    “Just the ones wearing matching underthingies,” he said, maneuvering through the parking lot.
    “You mean underwear?”
    “Oh, I already know those are rooting for the home team. I just wasn’t sure if you had on a matching set.” He stopped at the exit, the truck idling while his eyes took a slow trip down her neck to the deep V of her top, and damn if her cheeks didn’t heat up to the perfect Niners red.
    Knowing better than to go there with him, especially after he’d spent the past hour crawling around a dusty bottling plant with her, she said, “Thanks for helping me out tonight. And for offering to drive me to my car, even though, like I said, I could have walked. I’m only parked a few blocks up, near the Sweet and Savory.”
    “In those shoes? I’d give you three storefronts until you started hobbling. Five before you went barefoot.” He shook his head and reached for the gearshift, then paused. His face scrunched a bit, then he released a weighted sigh. “I can take you to your car or I can take you home. Trust me, I think you should take door number two.”
    “And miss my surprise D-day party?” Trying hard not to let the truth show—that she’d rather pose naked with Richard and let Nora take pictures than go to that party—she forced a causal shrug. “Lexi would be crushed.”
    “You knew?”
    He pulled out onto a sleepy Main