Love Is the Drug by K. E. Saxon Read Free Book Online

the center from the same type of abuse. Julie usually hid the hole with a canning jar filled with wild flowers, but right now the make-shift vase was on the counter and the fledgling partnership’s plans and contracts were covering the damage.
    The abandoned black kitten that Julie had found under her porch that first morning curled around Jason’s left leg and mewed. He leaned down and absently stroked the animal’s head and back with one hand while he shuffled through the pages in front of him with the other.
    “Come here, Pookie ,” Julie said and dropped down to her haunches, holding out a few kitten treats in her palm. Jason had to shove the animal toward her, but it finally caught on to the fact that she was offering it something to eat, and walked the rest of the way by itself. He grinned and looked up when he heard the loud purrs coming from the little tyke. “That cat has no idea just how lucky it is that it wound up at your house,” he said.
    She looked up at him then and grinned back. “Yeah, I know. I was always adopting strays when I was a kid. Actually, it had been a joint effort, most times, between me and Connie.” She shrugged and looked back down at the kitten, which was now having a wrestling match with her hand. “You know what they say about old habits.”
    Jason was trying real hard not to notice the amount of inner thigh revealed now that Julie’s shorts were hiked up high by the position she was in, or the sliver of silky, softly tanned hip and back that the low waist and somewhat lifted tank exposed, but he was losing the battle.
    He jumped to his feet. “Hey, I’ve got an idea.” The table nearly tipped over, so he hurriedly righted it, grabbing hold of the papers at the same time before they slid to the floor. “Let’s go to Jimmy’s and get a beer and a bite to eat.” He looked at his watch as he continued scrambling the documents together with the other hand. “The honky tonk floor should be open just about now, too, so we can dance for awhile.”
    * * *
    Julie rose to her feet and turned around, heading toward the sink. Go dancing with Jason? Not a good idea. At all. He was way too good looking, way too sure of himself, and way too sexy for her own good. As she washed her hands, she said, “Sorry, Jason, but I want to unpack some more of my things that arrived this morning.”
    After wiping her hands on the faded cherry-design dish towel next to the sink, she turned back to face him and leaned against the counter. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she said, “Maybe another time.” Not likely.
    “Aren’t you hungry? Well, I am. Hey, in fact it’ll be my treat. What say?”
    She glanced at her refrigerator and then back at him. “I’ll be happy to cook something for us…in fact, I’d like that.” Her lips pressed together a brief second before she continued, “I really hate to only cook for myself.” Yeah. That’d be much safer. She could stay on her side of the kitchen. He could stay on his. She lifted her brows, giving him a slight smile of invitation.
    One side of his face scrunched up and he gave her a half-shrug as he answered, “That sounds great, Julie. And I appreciate the offer, but I was really wanting a bit more exercise—you know—dancing?”
    He strode up to her and took hold of her hand, giving it a little squeeze. “Come on.” When he added that megawatt grin, she felt the power of it, and his electric touch, along every nucleotide that ran down every double helix that resided inside every cell of her being.
    She jerked her hand away and ran it over the hair behind her ear, tucking it more snugly in place. “I—I don’t know. I’ve just got so much to do.”
    She turned around and picked up the coffee mug out of the sink and began washing it. She’d been so keyed up these past three days—between filtering every word she said to him with regard to Connie, trying to present to him the professional businesswoman persona that she aspired