Perfect Stranger (Novella) by Carly Phillips Read Free Book Online Page B

probably just a second or two but it felt like a full sixty seconds. “Something else I’m now thinking you didn’t get to experience.” He reached into the trunk and pulled out a pair of ice skates.
    Brand-new, shiny white skates with purple laces.
    “Oh my God.” She didn’t know what got to her more, the gesture or the purple laces. “My favorite color.” The lump in her throat grew bigger, her awareness of just how deep this man went dawning on her.
    He just laughed. “Can you skate?” he asked.
    “I used to go with a friend when I was younger. Until mydad found out and made me stop because it was too dangerous.
What happens if a blade cuts your hand? How will you ever operate? Or be a doctor?
” she said in a perfect imitation of her parent.
    “How old were you?” Luke asked, his voice gentle.
    A bigger lump swelled in her throat. She swallowed hard. “Fourteen.”
    “Son of a bitch.” He slammed a hand against the truck. “You should have been out having fun with your friends, not worrying about a future I’m sure you didn’t even think you wanted.”
    Her eyes misted. “Did you know what you wanted at that age?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You did?” she asked.
    A grin took hold and a wicked gleam lit his gaze. “Yep. I wanted to get my hands up Lucy Granders’s shirt.”
    She chuckled, softly at first, then harder. “You are too much!”
    “I’m also deadly serious. I played, but wasn’t thinking about pro football when I was fourteen. And you shouldn’t have had to think about medicine.” He held her hands in his larger ones. “Now, do you want to go ice-skating?”
    “Will you hold on to me until I get the hang of it?”
    His eyes darkened. “Oh yeah, darlin’. I’ll hold on to you.”
    She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re still that fourteen-year-old boy at heart, aren’t you?”
    “God, I hope so.”
    She grasped his shoulders and pulled him close. “Me, too,” she said, and settled her lips on his.
    Sparks ignited immediately. She curled her fingers into his jacket and pressed herself into him. She might have started the kiss but his low groan gave her fair warning he’d be taking over. And he did. His tongue delved deep into her mouth, possessing her, marking her in a way she’d neverforget. She loved his taste, the hint of mint and the dark flavor that was all Luke. Add in the sweet part of him and the impossible was happening.
    She was falling hard for this man. Too bad all they had was a few days of time. Because when all was said and done, nothing in her life had changed, her time for a relationship was zero, and Luke Thompson was a good man who lived in the state of Texas.

CHAPTER SIX
    L uke didn’t have to guess what Alexa wanted or how she was feeling. She wore her heart on her sleeve, her feelings on her face. And when she reached for him, he knew he was a goner. If he let the kiss go on, they’d end up on the ground, not on the ice. As much as he wanted her, he had plans for her first.
    With more willpower than he thought he had, he broke the kiss. “Skating, darlin’.”
    Eyes glazed, she looked up at him and nodded. “Skating.”
    “You gonna be steady out there?” he asked, his hands on her forearms, keeping her upright.
    “No, but you already said you’d hold on to me.” She grinned and stepped back. “Do I get to try on my skates now?”
    He nodded and walked with her to the ice rink, already knowing that they fit. This time he’d had to go to the source, her best friend, Cara Hartley, a Serendipity police officer who Luke found at her home. And it hadn’t been easy to get her address. When he got there, she looked him up anddown, placed her hands on her hips, and divulged Alexa’s shoe size. “I have a gun and I know how to use it,” she then said. “Break her heart and you’ll answer to me.”
    “Message received,” he told her. “I like how you two look out for each other.” He inclined his head. “Well done. And glad to see you’re