The Bachelor's Baby (Bachelor Auction Book 3) by Dani Collins Read Free Book Online Page A

liked women. He liked to think he understood them better than a lot of men did. A guy didn’t grow up with just his mom and not learn to accept that females had specific foibles. They liked to share things that seemed painfully intimate. They had tender hearts. And after his mother’s experience, seeing that she’d never remarried or even been serious with another man after his father, he had recognized that when a woman gave herself up to a man’s strength, it came at a cost to her. A man had to show some appreciation for that, not take for granted he was entitled to it.
    So he was highly cognizant that Meg was parting with some of her principles even just coming home with him.
    He took his time ambling down his long drive, trying to decide which was least caddish: enjoying whatever she chose to give him, or rejecting her and driving her home.
    Quite the no-win situation he’d put himself in.
    The motion sensor turned the porch light on as he parked. He told her to wait for him to come around. “There’s a lot of ice,” he explained. Plus he liked having an excuse to offer his hand and feel the weight of her slight grip in his.
    “Don’t take things wrong when you see how it’s set up in here,” he said as he pulled open the screen door and pushed the interior one for her to enter. “I probably won’t get to renovating the upstairs until next winter.” He flicked on the light.
    “Oh!” She covered her mouth, muffling her laugh, blue eyes dancing with humor as she eyed him over her glove before she looked back at the king size bed in the middle of the living room. “At least it’s made.”
    “Yeah.” He bit a fingertip then pulled off his leather glove. “Full disclosure? The sheets are clean. It was a bachelor auction,” he excused over her trill of laughter, motioning for her to turn so he could take her jacket.
    “You’re quite the Boy Scout. Prepared,” she chuckled.
    “Exactly.”
    “Well, full disclosure, I shaved my legs.”
    He liked the cheeky grin she sent him as she unzipped her boot and let it fall open around her calf before bracing on the wall to work it off her foot.
    He toed out of his shoes and hung his jacket, then moved to the fireplace, not because it was cold, but to provide some atmosphere and help him keep his hands off her.
    He kept one eye on her though, wondering what she thought of the place. It wasn’t a disaster, but it wasn’t as ship-shape as he usually kept his surroundings. Of course, for years he hadn’t had a real home. Just an apartment he went back to between jobs, before shifting cities and ghosting in and out of the next one.
    Here, he woke up in the same place and set down the litter of daily life. The dishes were clean, but still in the drying rack. Half of the kitchen table was a semi-organized pile of tools, supplies and paint chips. The wall between the living room and his office was nothing but exposed studs and wiring. His television topped his dresser in the corner near the fireplace and he kept sweeping the sawdust he made into a pile beside the compost bucket.
    “I should call Blake and tell him where I am.” She glanced around. “Do you have a land line?”
    “I have satellite,” he said, offering his cell phone from his chest pocket.
    “You have too much money,” she contradicted, taking the phone and placing the call. “Hey, it’s me. Have you talked to Liz? Ah. Tetanus shot.” She glanced at Linc as though filling him in. “Good idea.” A pause, then, “She exaggerated. I didn’t win, but yes. Our new neighbor. He drove me home.” Another pause. “ His home. No, I don’t need you to come and get me.” She gave Linc an exasperated eye roll. “I’m helping him tape drywall, what do you think? We’re having a drink,” she allowed with tested patience, then, “I know what time my flight is. Did you seriously just give me a curfew? Go to bed, Blake. Do not wait up.” She ended the call with a maddened,