Key to Love by Judy Ann Davis Read Free Book Online

Even a flying object would help, although at the moment, he questioned his strength to duck.
    But Elise Springer wasn’t a predictable woman.
    She smiled a whimsical smile instead. “I remember when Fritz and you ran track in high school.”
    He squinted at her. God, it even hurt to see. “It was Fritz’s wild idea. He thought it would be a good way to meet girls. You can see where it got us.” He paused a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. “Elise, about last night.”
    “What about it?” She flopped to the floor, untied the laces of her sneakers, and shoved a foot into one. Positioned advantageously above her, he could see she had fashioned her hair into some kind of fancy braid to keep it from falling into her eyes. The shorts she wore were so deprived of cloth, he wondered how she ever found them on the clothes rack. She was all legs, the kind men would kill each other for.
    Easy, Fisher, a little voice inside his head warned. This is Anton Springer’s daughter. His only daughter. Those very same legs got you into the mess you’re in now.
    He cleared his throat. “I don’t know what to say, except I’m sorry. It’ll never happen again.” He rubbed his temples to try to dispel the thumping sensation. “My behavior was inexcusable. I was a complete jerk.”
    “Got that right!” She fired off her response so fast he flinched. Finishing the lace on the first shoe, she double knotted it, and moved to the other. “You’re a pinhead, too.”
    He sighed. “You’re going to make me grovel, aren’t you?”
    “No.” She finished her task, stood and did a little jumping dance to settle into her shoes. “I was thinking more along the lines of torture. You’re going running with me.”
    “Running?” He groaned again. “Lizzie, I can’t. Do you want to kill me? My eyes are going to pop out of my goddamned head.”
    She grinned. “Come on, Lucas. It’s the best medicine I know to clear a fuzzy brain. Anyway, your life insurance is paid up, right?” She reached out and swiped the coffee cup from his hands, dumping the remainder down the drain. “Quit drinking that stuff, will you? I’m not going to stop every five minutes while you sneak behind a tree to water the roots.”
    He swallowed uncomfortably. “This is a joke, right? Please tell me you’re kidding?”
    “Do I look like I’m kidding?” Her voice was alarmingly quiet, and her pool-blue eyes were calm and serious. She folded her arms across her petal pink chest.
    Swearing under his breath, Lucas stared at her. The woman actually thought he was insane enough to agree. Frantically, he searched his mind for a plausible excuse. Any excuse. “I can’t, Liz, I have to be at the garage this morning to meet a contractor about some renovations. I’ll have to take a rain check.”
    “It’ll only take a half hour.”
    He thought about just telling her to go to hell, but then remembered he was already a drowning man, up to his ears in troubled waters. In addition, drowning men knew better than to aggravate the alligators. He decided to change tactics. “I’m not even dressed for running.”
    She shrugged. “I’ll wait.”
    “If I refuse?”
    She gave him an obviously fake smile. “Either you run, or my mouth runs. Remember those two thugs I call brothers? Take your choice, pal. You’ve got ten minutes to get out of those shrink-wrap jeans and find a pair of decent shoes.”
    Annoyed, he was about to inform her blackmail was illegal, but she had turned away to eliminate any further conversation. She picked up the phone from the counter. “It should give me enough time to hook this up and program in a message. I’ll just identify Dad’s number, so both of us can get messages when we’re out.”
    Squatting by the baseboard, Elise unplugged the old phone from the jack.
    Now desperate, Lucas felt sweat begin to drip down his back. He decided to make one last appeal to her compassion. “Seriously, Liz, I don’t know if I can even make it