Loving You (The Bridesmaids Club Book 2) by Leeanna Morgan Read Free Book Online Page B

wide. “That’s an awful lot of house for your first home. You must be planning on having a large family?”
    Heat hit Dylan’s face and other parts of his body that were trying to stay out of the conversation. “I’ve got a few things I need to work through before I have children.”
    “Like finding a wife?”
    “Something like that,” he muttered.
    “There are lots of single women in Bozeman looking for love. Have you met anyone interesting?”
    “Define interesting.”
    Annie put her notebook and pen down. “You know…someone that makes your heart go zing.” She had a dreamy expression on her face, as if she’d already met someone that made her heart go zing.
    Dylan looked at her for a few moments before answering. “No zing moments yet. What about you?”
    Annie’s smile disappeared. “I’m not looking for zing. A slow burn would do me.”
    A slow burn sounded pretty good to Dylan, too. He was getting confused and kind of turned on. But Annie didn’t look as though her alternative relationship was as good as he thought it was. “What’s wrong with a slow burn?”
    “Nothing.” She picked up her notebook and started writing. “Here’s the big question. What price range are you looking at?”
    “Anything up to five hundred thousand.”
    “Half a million dollars?” Annie looked shocked. “That’s a lot of money.”
    Dylan shrugged his shoulders. “I haven’t had a lot of expenses over the years.”
    Annie put his budget in her notebook. “Do you mind if I use your laptop?”
    Dylan pushed it across the table and didn’t wince when their hands touched briefly.
    Annie, however, reacted like a firecracker had gone off in her hand. She jumped back so fast that she nearly slipped off the sofa and onto the floor.
    “Sorry.” Her cheeks flushed bright red. “Some people have healthy personal space thresholds. I don’t. Sometimes I get too close without knowing how it happened. I’ll try and keep further away.”
    “No…it’s okay. I wanted to talk about my…personal space threshold, too.”
    “You did?”
    Dylan felt as though he was about to step off the ledge of the biggest, deepest canyon he’d ever seen. He hoped like crazy that Annie didn’t laugh at him. He could take anything, but if she made a mockery of what he was going though, it would break him. And he didn’t know if he’d have enough courage to try again.
    “I was wondering if you’d help me with my touching issues.” When she scooted along the sofa, he realized how bad his words sounded. “No, I don’t mean what you think I mean. At least, what I think you think I mean.” He dropped his head into his hands and hoped he didn’t sound like the demented idiot he felt like.
    “You don’t want sex?”
    Dylan’s head shot up so fast that it was a wonder it stayed locked on his shoulders. Making love with someone was so far away from ever going to happen, that he’d only considered the possibility in his dreams. And they’d been good dreams. “No, not that you’re not attractive, or anything. I’m a long way from ever being able to be that close to someone.”
    Annie hadn’t run screaming out of the room so he kept going before she decided he was officially nuts. “I want to be able to shake someone’s hand, or hug them, or hold them without freaking out each time.” Dylan felt cold sweat trickle down his spine. This was so much worse than he’d thought it would be. He was embarrassed and so damn vulnerable. It was a wonder he wasn’t the one running from the room.
    Annie didn’t move. “So how could I help?”
    Dylan felt a spark of hope ignite deep in his chest. “We could practice.”
    “Touching?”
    Dylan nodded.
    “Has this got anything to do with being in Afghanistan?”
    His whole body froze. “Why do you think that?”
    “After you tripped over my feet at Connie’s wedding, Tess mentioned something about Afghanistan. I thought you must have seen something that upset you.”
    “Upset