Love Me: The Complete Series by Shelley K. Wall Read Free Book Online Page B

onto her pants. The vase teetered, threatening to fall.
    “Uh-oh.” Carter apprehended the vase just before it tumbled from the edge. Unfortunately, the entire contents had already dumped onto his shoes—and pants.
    “Holy crap, you startled me.” Abby scrambled to collect the flowers and tossed them on the counter before heading to her stock room to get a towel.
    “Sorry about that.”
    “Did you—” She stopped herself from finishing with
have fun at the game?
    She hadn’t wanted to see him and have to set the record straight, but here he was. In the flesh. “Um, you want to buy more flowers for your girlfriend?”
    He snickered. “Nope. Over. Done. Stick a fork in her. I was just out and about and thought I’d get some plants for my place.”
    “No flowers? We have some great arrangements over there and they smell wonderful.”
    He briefly glanced where she pointed but shook his head.
    “Flowers die too fast. I want something that will last—that I can’t kill.”
    “Okaaay. Well, almost anything can be killed with the wrong care. Plants are kind of a personal thing. If you get ones that fit your habits they flourish. So, are you high maintenance or low and easy?” She meant to say low maintenance and easy-going, but it came out different.
    “Hmmm.” Carter rubbed a finger and thumb across the leaf of a braided money tree. “Easy? I guess but not
that
easy. High maintenance, definitely not. Not sure what you mean by low but I’m willing to give it a try.”
    Then he had the nerve to
grin
. Seriously?
    “Low
maintenance
and easy-
going
, goofball. As in, don’t give me something I have to water every day because I’ll probably forget. High maintenance would be someone that has a set routine and never varies from it. I once knew a guy whose entire life revolved around his watch. His alarm went off at 6 a.m., he showered until six fifteen. He dressed in fifteen minutes and promptly brushed his teeth at six thirty, following with a comb through the hair at six thirty-five. He left work on time and ate dinner at seven every night regardless of where or with whom. He couldn’t handle variations. He could do high maintenance.”
    Carter grinned. “Sounds boring.”
    “You have no idea.” Yikes, did she really say that? She thrust a hand over her mouth and tasted blood from her finger. Should she add she once considered marrying the bore?
    He lifted the money tree and inspected the pot. “I guess he penciled in sex around nine p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays so he could be promptly asleep by nine thirty? Did he also kiss good-bye at six forty in order to be out the door by six forty-one?”
    He did not just say that.
Blood dripped to the floor, reminding her she still needed to dress the wound.
    “I wouldn’t know.” Technically, she did know and he was spot on, but for some reason that was TMI at the moment. There was no reason to discuss something that had been over for two years. She pulled a paper towel from the roll on the counter and wrapped it twice over the thorn prick then cupped it in her fist. “A guy that can handle the high maintenance type—”
    “Of plant.”
    “Yes, of course, the high maintenance type of plant—can probably go with something that needs to be watered more often and on a set schedule. Those kinds of plants wither quickly if their schedule isn’t kept up and they have to wait for attention. They’re more finicky and needy.”
    “Needy for attention,” he repeated with his back to her as he bent over a fern that perched on the floor.
    “Yes, as far as care goes.” He baited her with an innuendo. In a way, it was entertaining. Also dangerous. With his back turned, she had ample time to soak in the way the jeans slung low on his hips and cupped gently against areas that—her eyes jolted upward as he whirled to her with a wide grin.
    “What about you?”
    Her mouth went instantly dry. “Me?” she squeaked.
    “Yeah, what would you suggest? High maintenance