Hard to Hold (True Romance) by Julie Leto Read Free Book Online Page A

you’d be a fool to ignore it.”
    Anne saw a book on elementary knitting patterns and tossed it at Shane. “What if I’m not the one ignoring it?”
    Shane smiled deviously. “Aha! Now, we’re getting to the real issues. You want him to come on to you instead of the other way around.”
    “Is that too much to ask?”
    Shaking her head, Shane threw Anne a pitying look that only someone of her vast romantic experience could successfully pull off. “Not all guys are players, sweetie. The ones worth having are usually the ones most wary of being rejected. If a guy doesn’t fear being blown off, he’s probably too confident for anyone’s own good, much less his own.”
    “I wouldn’t reject him,” Anne said, then clarified, “if he bothered to ask.”
    “Does he know that?” Shane pushed.
    Anne frowned. She and Shane had dissected her interactions with Michael enough times for both of them to know the answer. Anne hadn’t really turned on the charm and broadcasted her interest. She hadn’t wanted to work that hard. But was that fair? A receiver could only pick up signals if someone sent them. Sure, she’d invited him for drinks after the concert, but that had merely been polite. She’d watched his dog the day he moved in, but had summarily turned down his invitation for pizza afterward.
    And last night, she’d literally given him no more than three minutes of her time.
    “Okay, okay,” she said after selecting the last of the supplies her friend would need. “I’ll have to do something to make sure he knows I’m available.”
    Shane shouted in triumph. “Excellent. What are you going to do?”
    Anne shook her head, her mind focused entirely on her anticipation of her first merlot.
    “I have no idea.”
    For the next week, Mike tried to come up with a good way to thank Anne for rescuing him with her felonious skills. He had left a Post-it note that night, the least intrusive mode of thanks he could think of, as it was more than obvious that she wanted to get back to whatever had kept her from answering his knock in the first place. Though she’d taken the time to jot “You’re welcome” on the yellow square and paste it back on his door the next afternoon, he hadn’t heard from her otherwise. For this, he was thankful. Before he proceeded, he needed a plan.
    Mike couldn’t remember the last time a woman had injected herself into his consciousness so completely and in such a short period of time. Even with his ex, he’d had a slowly developing relationship. They’d shared an intense love of music and common friends. They’d hung out and over time, started doing so without a crowd. But without drama to set them at odds, they’d stayed together until the relationship fell apart.
    Mike had wallowed in the loss for a while, but then he’d moved on. Or at least, he thought he had. But he couldn’t deny that since then, he’d avoided serious relationships.
    Now that he’d met Anne, however, the strength of his recovery surged through him. Her magical smile—or even, as he’d learned Monday night—her annoyed smirk, awakened him to possibilities he could neither ignore nor take lightly. He wanted to ask her out, but he couldn’t imagine going the ordinary route to this important destination.
    That simply wasn’t his style.
    Boring, unimaginative, “same-old, same-old” invitations popped into his mind and were summarily dismissed. Dinner. A movie. Dinner and a movie. He knew she liked music, but though he’d scoured the local venue websites for information, no interesting concerts were taking place in the next week. He had absolutely no idea how she felt about sports. He was sitting at his desk, pondering other possibilities when his phone rang.
    “Michael?”
    Anne
.
    He instantly recognized her voice. He’d been replaying their conversations in his mind for a while and yet again, she’d proved her resourcefulness. Anne had not only managed to scare up his work number, but she’d