Never Too Hot by Bella Andre Read Free Book Online

was she buzzing head to toe at the thought of Connor sleeping under her roof?
    He wanted her.
    The moment he walked into the diner and saw Ginger standing behind the counter, desire had hit Connor square in the groin. And all the while they were talking, while he’d been hammering on her about getting into Poplar Cove, sex had been running a constant current between them.
    She’d changed out of the skimpy tank and shorts combo she’d had on earlier, but the fitted white shirt and black pants weren’t too bad either, managing to nicely highlight her ample breasts. The half-mirrored walls gave him a good opportunity to appreciate the curve of her hips, the slight bounce of her breasts as she sparred with him.
    Not only was Ginger his perfect type, lush and soft and sure to be wild in bed, but she was clearly smart too. Tough. He couldn’t stop himself from appreciating—despite his irritation at having to work for it—how quick she was to cut his attempt at charm off at the pass, when any other woman would have folded at his initial apology.
    And then there was the way she’d responded to his scars, the fact that she experienced some of the hell he’d lived through personally.
    No one knew how much his hands still bothered him. No one had the guts to ask him outright if they hurt. He’d been surprised enough by her question to answer.
    And afterward, he’d actually been disappointed when their conversation had ended and she’d gone back into the kitchen.
    Since puberty he’d had plenty of experience with lust, but rarely had any of his attractions gone beyond the superficial, beyond the bedroom.
    Fuck. He couldn’t afford any distractions from his ultimate goals for the summer: continuing his intense training regimen so that he would be in peak physical condition for his upcoming Forest Service reinstatement, first, and fixing up Poplar Cove for the wedding, second.
    There was no room for third.
    He took a twenty out of his wallet and threw it down on the counter, then got the hell out of the diner.

 

     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    ALL NIGHT, Isabel had thought there was something not quite right with Ginger. She hadn’t been able to put her finger on it exactly. Just that she looked different. Brighter, somehow. But also, unsettled.
    Eight months ago, when Isabel first met Ginger, she’d had the same impression—that Ginger was a woman in dire need of calm. Living on Blue Mountain Lake had clearly done wonders for Ginger’s nerves, just as it did for most people who settled in long enough to slow down to the pace of local life. So, then, what on earth could have happened to Ginger to send her back to that unsettled place?
    Telling Scott, her fry cook, to man the stove for a minute, Isabel headed out after Ginger.
    “What’s wrong?”
    Ginger shoved the curly hair that had escaped her ponytail back from her face. “I had an unexpected visitor this afternoon.”
    Unexpected visitors were rather common in a place as beautiful as Blue Mountain Lake. Friends from the city who’d decided to drop by for a couple of days and relatives looking for a private beach to park their kids while they raided the liquor cabinet were par for the course. But Ginger wouldn’t be looking so worried if a gaggle of girlfriends had descended on her.
    “Who? Don’t tell me your ex came all the way out here?”
    Ginger had told her all about her marriage to Jeremy, that her relationship had fizzled out pretty much right after her new husband slid the wedding ring onto her left hand. And even though Ginger said they were both to blame for it not working out, Isabel had painted a fairly vivid picture in her head of the ex-husband as a self-obsessed bully who had once masqueraded—very briefly—as Mr. Right. She didn’t have a much better image of Ginger’s parents.
    Ginger made a face. “No. Jeremy wouldn’t come all the way out here to see me. From what I’ve heard he’s already moved on to a tiny little brunette with a