The Damaged One by Mimi Harper Read Free Book Online Page A

pleased to see him, he had been wrong.
    Fear darkened her eyes while tension flooded her shoulders.
    “Morning,” he called, holding up the coffee. “I didn’t know how you like it so I got black and one with cream and sugar.”
    She stepped back as though she expected him to toss the hot fluid into her face. She bit her lip, her hand pulling a cellphone from her front jeans pocket. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
    “I felt bad for leaving so abruptly the other night,” he lied. “So I thought I would try to make it up to you.”
    She continued to stare at him, her knuckles white where her fingers were wrapped around that phone. “Why did you leave?” she asked.
    He shook his head. “It’s kind of embarrassing, actually.” He stepped forward, leaning against the rail that ran along the ramp where she stood. “I just—I realized that I didn’t even know your name. And I liked you too much to treat you that way.”
    Some color came into her cheeks as she considered his words. Then, slowly, the tension began to leave her shoulders. “I thought you said it was rare for you to be a gentleman.”
    “It is,” he said with a grin he knew had amazing powers over women. “That’s why you should appreciate when it happens. It’s not likely to happen again.”
    A smile brightened her face, almost like a flower bud opening to the warmth of the sun. She stepped forward, the phone disappearing into her pocket again as she lay her hands beside his on the railing.
    “Black,” she said.
    Augustus’ eyebrows rose. “Hmm,” he said with a slight frown. “I guess we’re going to have to fight over it then.”
    “Hey, you said I could choose —”
    “Just kidding.” He winked. “I can’t actually admit that I like cream and sugar in my coffee, can I?”
    She laughed. Again it was like the tinkle of bells. It rained down over him, making him want to stand taller, to suck in his gut, and present her his best side. It made him want to touch her and to feel her touch on his skin.
    He had to shake himself and remember that he was here for a reason.
    “I don’t suppose you have time for breakfast?”
    She glanced toward the street, as though the increasing traffic told her the time. “I should really get to the office.”
    Augustus inclined his head slightly. “Yeah, I’ve got a meeting, too. But listen,” he leaned forward a little, looking down at the ground as though he were suddenly overcome with nervousness, “could we get together later. For dinner, maybe?”
    She ran her hand over the back of his as she slipped the coffee cup from his grasp. “I’d like that.”
    “You would?”
    He looked up, pleased with the light dancing in her eyes and the flush that now spread from her cheeks to her throat, her breasts. If there was one thing Augustus knew, it was how to manipulate a woman into agreeing to anything he wanted.
    She smiled again, nodding her head with a little too much enthusiasm.
    She walked down the ramp, her hips swinging just enough to make him wonder what it looked like when she tugged on a tight pair of pants. Or tugged them off.
    “Toby,” she called as she paused in the motion of climbing into her Jeep.
    “What?”
    “My name.”
    “It’s nice to meet you, Toby,” he said, nearly choking over the name as he stepped to her side. “I’m Augustus.”
    “I know,” she said before she climbed inside the Jeep and drove away.

Chapter Twelve
     
     
    Augustus realized as he pulled into Toby’s driveway for the second time that day, that he had not been on a date in three years. Dates were for people looking for commitment. Augustus’ interest had been more along the lines of bed partners, not life partners.
    She was wearing another short skirt, this one a black and white pattern that made Augustus’ head spin . He was unsure if that was because the pattern was a geometric disaster or because it was so short that he could imagine what would happen if she bent over. Her blouse