One in a Million by Abby Gaines Read Free Book Online Page A

doing, sneaking up on me?”
    He snickered. “If you hadn’t been chatting with the chickens, you might have heard me coming.”
    â€œI wasn’t chatting…” She gave up the argument in the face of overwhelming evidence. “Weren’t you flying back to Charlotte last night?”
    â€œI told the guys to go without me. I’ll take a commercial flight this morning.” He held the gate open for her with a flourish, as if he was ushering her into an opera house. Or some other place she’d likely never go.
    Jen was horribly conscious of her unbrushed hair, and skin that hadn’t seen moisturizer yet. Not to mention her ratty sweatshirt and frayed cutoffs….
    â€œHow did you get here?” she asked, hoping to distract Eli from the visual inspection he was now making.
    â€œRental car.” His gaze reached her pink rubber boots; one eyebrow quirked. “I parked out front. Didn’t see any sign of life, so thought I’d take a walk before I started waking people up.”
    â€œGranddad’s awake, but his arthritis means he takes a while to get going,” she said. “I do the early chores, starting with turning the chickens out into the yard.”
    Eli followed her toward the barn. “What happens now, chickadee?” He stopped, struck by a thought. “To think, I had no idea how appropriate that nickname is.”
    She glowered at him. “What happens now is I escort you to your car and point you toward the airport.” She wasn’t about to tell him it was time to muck out the shed. That would really set the seal on her glamorous existence.
    Ignoring her hint, he set himself on course toward the house. As she finger-combed her hair, she tried to viewthe place through his eyes—a small, single-story dwelling sitting squat in the middle of a flat lawn, with a sag in the back porch to match the fences.
    â€œStop!” she ordered.
    To her surprise, he obeyed. “What’s up?”
    She could hardly admit that if he took his gorgeous self one step closer to her everyday life, the contrast might make her explode from dissatisfaction.
    She knotted her fingers. “Why are you here?”
    He hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans, managing to look relaxed and powerful in the same moment. “I want you back.”
    Jen’s brain scrambled, much like the eggs she planned to eat for breakfast. “You want…what?”
    â€œYou dumped me,” he said, “and now I want you back. I have to admit, chickadee—” one corner of his mouth kicked up “—this is unfamiliar territory for me.”
    Jen reined in her unruly thoughts, already charging down the road of he-really-likes-me. “But our arrangement was just for the race at Bristol. Why would you want…what you said?” It sounded too absurd to repeat.
    He ran a hand over his chin; he hadn’t shaved this morning and he looked…rugged. Real. Nothing like an unreliable, sex-symbol, out-of-her-reach race car driver.
    She hoisted herself up onto the wooden fence, needing to take the weight off her suddenly weakened legs.
    â€œI don’t want to show up at my next race and have to confess to Gil that we broke up,” he said. “You did such a great job yesterday, he’ll be on my case for letting you go.”
    She tugged her cutoffs down where they’d ridden high up her thighs.
    Eli’s glance flicked over her. “You have great legs.”
    To her irritation, he sounded surprised.
    â€œYou think admiring my legs will make me fall into your arms?” she demanded.
    He rubbed his chin again, and she imagined the sensuous roughness of stubble. “Chickadee, you seem somewhat preoccupied with my ability to make women fall at my feet, into my arms, wherever. The simple fact is, I didn’t get to see your legs yesterday, and now I’m noticing they are very nice.” He spread his hands as if to