Just One Kiss by Carla Cassidy Read Free Book Online

of the computer chair. What had she been thinking? That he’d ask her if he could kiss her?
    Why on earth would she want Jack Coffey to kiss her? He was nothing more to her than an unlucky victim of an accident, nothing more than a disagreeable man whom fate had momentarily thrown in her path.
    â€œUh…you’ll have to help me keep an eye on Nathaniel,” she said. “I can’t concentrate on typing and watch him at the same time.”
    â€œCan’t we just shackle him?” Jack asked dryly.He held up a hand before she could retort. “Okay, I can tell by the look on your face that’s out of the question. I’ll keep an eye on him, but if he comes at me wielding anything that remotely resembles a weapon, I’m calling for backup.”
    Marissa laughed. Under his gruffness, beneath his crusty exterior lurked a delightful sense of humor she could only appreciate. She sobered as she sat on the chair in front of the computer.
    She had a feeling it would be in her best interest to type the reports quickly and put as much distance as possible between her and Jack.
    Okay, she could admit to herself that physically he was quite appealing. And she’d go further and admit that she apparently was vulnerable to the flutter of sexual tension he created in her. But he certainly wasn’t the kind of man she’d want in her life for anything long-term.
    Her relationship with Bill had been stupid. Falling into anything remotely resembling a relationship with Jack would be sheer insanity.
    She smiled inwardly, amused that a single moment of locked gazes between them could invoke such serious contemplation.
    She’d type his reports, share a pizza, then be done with him and get back to her vacation. With this thought in mind, she placed her hands on the keyboard and began to type.
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    Jack leaned back on the sofa and stretched his leg out on the coffee table, a mean feat as he maneuvered around the accumulated trash that littered the surface.
    He hadn’t meant to ask Marissa to stay and help him out, but after an hour of struggling to type, he’d been desperate.
    He frowned as Nathaniel stood and approached him, a miniature plastic truck in his chubby little hand. If it had been a metal truck, Jack would have been worried.
    â€œTwuck.” Nathaniel held the vehicle out to Jack.
    â€œYeah,” Jack replied absently, his gaze going to the woman at the computer.
    There had been a brief moment when they’d been so close together that all he’d been able to think about was kissing her. It had been a momentary lapse into derangement, and thankfully he hadn’t followed through on the impulse.
    Still, what that impulse had prompted him to think about was the monklike way he’d been living for the past several years.
    What he needed was to find a woman who believed in the same things he did: no commitments, no emotional entanglements, just good old-fashioned lust.
    He knew with certainty that Marissa Criswell would not understand those particular rules. She would not only expect, she would demand emotional involvement. Besides, she was here only for the next couple of weeks, then she’d return to her life in Kansas City and her hopes of finding Mr. Right.
    If Jack was lucky, he might be able to manipulate her guilt over his accident to get a couple more home-cooked meals out of her before she left the area.
    Thinking of meals, he grabbed the phone and punched in the number for his favorite pizza place. It took him only a minute to order a supreme thick-crust pie. He hung up, then jumped in surprise as Nathaniel climbed up on the sofa next to him.
    â€œTwuck,” Nathaniel repeated, and held out the truck to Jack. His appealing blue eyes held Jack’s gaze without flinching, in complete concentration as only a small child could do.
    With a feeling of resignation, fighting against distant memories that brought with them both pleasure and pain, Jack took