Glazed by Ranae Rose Read Free Book Online

freedom-fest so many people seemed to think it was.
     
    Kelly seemed to have a pretty realistic grasp on the commitments involved though, if her business plan was any indication. Had she invited him in with the sole intent of showing him her little blue binder, or had she hoped, as he had, that things would take off from there? After mulling the matter over for a few more minutes, standing beside the kneeling electrician, he still wasn’t sure what to think. She’d definitely been resisting his advances at first, but it’d been obvious that there’d been more to it than that – an undercurrent of returned attraction he’d sensed even beneath her stalwart efforts to deter his romantic intentions.
     
    God, he wished he could see her again tonight. If only she didn’t have to work late… He’d just have to hit the gym instead. A hard workout was better than sitting at home, thinking about when he’d get to see her next.
     
    “I’ll have to order that part specially,” the electrician said, clearly in the middle of a lengthy monologue and completely unaware that Derek hadn’t been soaking up his every word. “It should arrive in a couple weeks.”
     
    “A couple weeks?” The prospect of his best fryer being out of commission for so long snapped Derek rudely out of his musings.
     
    “Yup.”
     
    Derek sighed again. Two weeks seemed a long time away. Tomorrow seemed even further.
     
    ****
     
    Kelly tossed a handful of lavender bath salts into the tub and sighed deeply, plunging her feet into the almost too-hot water. She’d worked a late shift at the restaurant the night before and the morning ‘till lunch shift today – a brutal combination, as far as her feet were concerned. She needed the fragrant salts to calm her whirling mind as much as to ease the ache in her heels. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what she’d done with Derek since it’d happened the afternoon before. Despite nearly twenty-four hours of contemplation, she still began to shift into a panic at the memory. What had she done?
     
    Well, she knew what they’d very nearly done, and the thought scared her right down to her aching toes. If it hadn’t been for that phone call she’d have been wriggling out of her jeans in minutes. And loving it. That was the problem – when she was around Derek, she lost her senses. Even now, the thought of being pressed against his hot body sent a sensual shiver down her spine. What was it about him?
     
    It was everything. She liked everything about him, from his perfect body to his gorgeous eyes, to the way he’d sat on her couch for almost an hour and poured over her business plan with real interest, to the way he’d kissed her. Among other things.
     
    And that was what made him so dangerous – she couldn’t resist him. She knew that now, just like she knew what she had to do. When he came to pick her up tonight, she’d tell him she wouldn’t be seeing him again.
     
    ****
     
    Derek arrived perfectly on time. Kelly watched his truck pull into the small apartment complex’s parking lot from her living room window. The vehicle’s silver-blue reflection passed across her field of vision like a shadow, causing her stomach to clench. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d dreaded something so badly.
     
    When he stepped out of his truck she dropped the curtain and drifted out of view. He knocked twice and she hesitated a moment before opening the door, savoring the last few seconds of silence. She knew what she was about say to him would leave the quiet of her solitary apartment ringing in her ears like a gunshot after he left without her.
     
    “Kelly.” He used her name as a greeting, and the smile that broke across his face when he said it made her stomach seize up again.
     
    “Derek. I have something I’ve got to say to you.” There was no sense in dragging it out.
     
    A shadow seemed to cross his face, and his smile faded a little as his eyes searched hers.