Otherwise Engaged by Suzanne Brockmann Read Free Book Online Page A

glanced up again, directly into Molly’s eyes. No. He could read the crystal-blue warning quite clearly. “It’s really not dangerous,” he told her.
    She turned to her son. “Mr. Seaholm couldn’t possibly have the time to teach you.” She turned back to Pres. “Isn’t that right?”
    Pres hesitated. It wasn’t true. He did have time. And he liked Zander—almost as much as he liked Zander’s mother. But she very obviously didn’twant him teaching her son to scuba-dive. “You’re only ten, right?”
    Zander nodded. “Ten and a half.”
    “Well, you have to be twelve before you can take diving lessons and get certified. And if you’re not certified, you can’t dive.”
    Zander’s face fell.
    “But you need to know how to snorkel before you learn to dive, and I
can
teach you that.”
    “I guess so.” Zander wasn’t convinced.
    Neither was Molly. “I don’t know about snorkeling either. We’ll have to talk about it.”
    “Can I have another quarter for the video game?” Zander asked.
    Molly fished in her purse, but Pres beat her to it, pulling a quarter from his pocket and handing it to her son. In a flash the boy was gone. Molly dug a quarter free and put it down on the table in front of Pres.
    “You’re kidding, right?” he asked, pushing it back in front of her.
    “No.” She pushed it back to his side of the table.
    Pres put his hand over hers, trapping both it and the quarter on the table.
    “First of all,” he said, “learning to scuba-dive is
not
dangerous. Beginners’ lessons are taught in a swimming pool. And secondly, if you’re not going to let me teach him to snorkel, you can at least let me treat your kid to a lousy video game.”
    She looked up at him, and he was taken aback by the vulnerability in her eyes. “The thought of him learning to scuba-dive scares me to death, and I know if he learns to snorkel he’ll want to learn to dive.”
    “Then maybe you should learn too. I could give you both lessons. And then you’d see it’s not so—”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “Maybe you should try it. Sometimes all you need is just to try something once, and then it’s not so frightening.” He was talking about more than scuba diving now. He was talking about her reluctance to go out with him, to have dinner, to acknowledge the hot attraction that flared between them.
    “I’m not a strong swimmer either,” Molly told him.
    “So we can take it slow.”
    Molly smiled at him suddenly, a sweet, rueful smile. “Why are we suddenly talking in code?”
    “Because it’s easier that way. For some reason, you’re determined to keep your distance from me. And if I were to just come right out and tell you that I can’t stop thinking about you …”
    Molly covered her sudden rush of confusion with a laugh, pulling her hand out from underneath his. “I thought it was my
house
you couldn’t stop thinking about.”
    “What house?” Preston said.
    “You’re wasting your time,” she told him. “Both on me
and
my house.”
    Pres just smiled, glancing at his watch. “I have to get going.” He stood up. “I’ll call you tomorrow with a recommendation for a roofer, okay?” He started for the door, raising his voice so Zander could hear him. “Catch you later, Zander!”
    Then he was out the door. Molly found herself staring after him, watching his surefooted, confident stride as he walked away. She pulled her gaze away, suddenly uncomfortably aware that she was staring at the man’s perfect rear end.
    Zander looked up from the alien horde longenough to glance back at his mother. “Pres is
so
cool.”
    Cool? Not quite the word Molly had been thinking. Pres Seaholm was hot.
Too
hot. And she wasn’t the type who ever played with fire.
    It was almost a shame.

FIVE
    “M R . S EAHOLM , how much exactly are you worth?”
    “Mr. Seaholm, can you tell us your ex-wife’s reaction to your being chosen Most Eligible Bachelor of the Year?”
    “Mr. Seaholm, why won’t you pose