How to Get Over Your Ex by Nikki Logan Read Free Book Online

pushed her nearly empty glass far
away from her.
    ‘I have to keep my fitness up, so I run every morning and I do
long runs or hikes every weekend.’
    ‘Every weekend?’
    ‘Pretty much.’
    Wow. ‘Just running. For hours on end?’
    ‘Or hard hiking. That’s why it’s called endurance.’
    ‘Sounds lonely.’ But also kind of...zen. Kind of what she did
when she wandered deep into the dark heart of forests.
    ‘I don’t mind the solitude,’ he murmured.
    ‘Is that why you do it?’
    His answer was fast. As if he’d defended himself on that point
often. ‘I do it for the challenge. Because I can. And I do my best thinking out
there.’
    Fifty kilometres. That was a lot of thinking time.
    ‘Just...wow. I’m impressed.’
    ‘Don’t get too excited. In competition we can do that in under
four hours.’
    Georgia shook her head. ‘Put marathon running on the list.’
    He looked up sharply. ‘You want to run a marathon?’
    ‘God, no. I have two left feet. But I’ve never seen one. I can
just watch you. Help you train.’
    Intense discomfort flooded his face.
    Once again she’d managed to misread a man. This wasn’t a
friendship. They weren’t bonding. This was a business arrangement with the sole
purpose of tracking her activity. Why on earth would
he want her around during his private time? He probably had a raft of friends
actually of his choosing to hang out with—and many of them women.
    ‘I...uh...’
    She’d stuffed up big enough to actually make a man stammer.
World class.
    ‘You know what?’ she breezed, not feeling the slightest bit
breezy. ‘I’ve changed my mind. Me watching you run would make terrible radio. Scratch that off the list.’ Was she a
convincing liar? They’d find out. His pen was still frozen over the page and so
there was nothing to scratch out, so she said the only other thing that came
into her head.
    ‘Another drink?’
    * * *
    The list grew as long as the evening. They
hit the Internet for ideas of cool things for her to do in London. Pretty soon
they had learn-to-dance classes, movie premieres, and a royal polo match.
    ‘Aquasphering!’ she said, a little bit too loud. ‘Whatever that
is.’
    ‘Really? That’s your kind of thing?’
    ‘None of it is my thing—isn’t that the point? Pushing myself
out of my comfort zone.’ Wa-a-ay out of it.
    ‘Can we afford a seat on a commercial spaceflight?’ she
blurted, tapping the tablet’s glossy screen. ‘That would be exciting.’
    He smiled. ‘No. We can’t. And we don’t really have the time for
it to become more mainstream.’
    ‘Pff. You suck.’
    Zander stared at her. Assessing. ‘I think I need to get some
food into you.’
    ‘I told you I didn’t do this for the soup.’
    ‘I was thinking of something a little more solid than
soup.’
    Judgement stung, low and sharp. She sat up straighter. ‘I’m not
drunk.’
    ‘No, you’re not. But you will be if you keep going like
this.’
    ‘Maybe the new me drinks more often.’
    He gathered up their papers and his tablet and returned them to
his briefcase. ‘Really? This is how you want to start the Year of Georgia? By
getting hammered?’
    She stared at him. Thought about that. ‘Have we started?’
    ‘First day.’
    ‘Then we should leave.’ Because, no, she didn’t want to start
that way.
    ‘Let me feed you. I have somewhere in mind. We can walk. Clear
your head.’
    ‘Why isn’t your head fuzzy? You’ve been matching me drink for
drink.’
    He shrugged. ‘Body mass?’
    She relaxed back into the booth and smiled happily. ‘That’s so
unfair.’ Then she sat bolt upright again, her fingers reaching for her phone
before her mind was even engaged. ‘I should ring Dan. I need to explain.’
    Zander caught her hand before it could do more than curl around
her phone. ‘No. Let’s not do that on an empty stomach. Let’s go get some
food.’
    He was right. She needed to talk to Dan face to face, not over
the phone. She stood. ‘OK. What