Three Rivers by Chloe T Barlow Read Free Book Online

him, but she was pretty sure she just looked like she had some kind of a facial tic.
    "That works for me," he said with a twinkle in his eye.
    Althea had really just been humoring the girls. She'd never actually intended to hook up with anyone. The plan was to have a few drinks and laughs with her friends, maybe look at some guys, flirt with one or two. Those had been the baby steps she'd really had in mind. Yet Griffen was so exciting and new, while at the same time something about him seemed so natural, that she couldn't imagine doing anything that night except for enjoy spending time with him.
    Only problem? She was sitting in front of him completely mute, her mind blank of anything to say, and it hit her — she was totally incapable of talking to men, especially this man, romantically. This would likely turn embarrassing fast and it didn't help that she was so damn twitchy. Now it was her leg that kept jumping up and down erratically.
    "Do I make you nervous?" he asked.
    "A little," she muttered in a voice she barely recognized.
    "Just breathe," he whispered. Althea blew out a huge gust of air.
    "Thanks," she said, feeling embarrassed.
    "I can't have you pass out on me."
    "Sorry, I'm a little out of practice at this."
    "At what? Talking to a handsome stranger in a bar? I think you're doing just fine."
    "Well, you think highly of yourself, don't you?" she said with a smirk and she noticed his eyes drop to her mouth again.
    "Don't you?"
    "Think highly of myself ?" Althea asked confused.
    "No," he teased and then let half his mouth turn up in what might have been a smirk or was more likely some precursor to his wolfish plan of eating poor Little Red Riding Althea whole. "Of me ."
    "Puh-leeze," she groaned with an epic roll of her eyes. "You can't be serious."
    "I'm not, but I did make you forget how nervous you are with me for a moment, didn't I?"
    She couldn't lie, it had, but she didn't want to give him too much credit. "You certainly made for a good distraction, I will give you that. Thank you."
    Though he'd only helped to distract her from her nervousness. Other than that she was hyper-focused — on him: his impossibly aqua blue eyes (s eriously, is that even a real eye color? ); his broad shoulders; that delicious mouth; the way his slightly shaggy hair grazed his dark brows. Everything about him was hardwired to excite her on every level. Even the one inch vertical scar next to his left eyebrow, that was the only thing marring the perfection of his masculine beauty, drove her insane. Althea wondered if it would be rude to lick that scar in front of a bar full of strangers...?
    She couldn't believe she was thinking this way about a man after all these years, but it was as though he'd been crafted and chiseled to make her do something crazy and she liked the feeling.
    "Let's go back to the basics. How about that?"
    "The basics?"
    "Yeah, the basics. I know your name's Althea. Next up — where are you from?"
    "Charlotte, North Carolina."
    "Dogs or cats?"
    "Huh?"
    "Do you prefer dogs or cats?" he repeated slowly with a smirk.
    "I'm just a general animal lover..."
    "Bullshit."
    She gasped.
    "Everyone has a preference, spill it."
    "Okay," she laughed. "Dogs."
    "Good answer. Do you cry at those emotionally manipulative Sarah McLachlan commercials about animal cruelty?"
    "Of course! You?"
    "Maybe..."
    "Maybe?"
    "All right, definitely, and I always donate a ton of money every time. I think I've ended up with five subscriptions to their magazine by now. Okay. Back to you. Birthday?"
    "June 15."
    "See how easy this is? Good, now ask me something."
    Althea's mouth suddenly went dry and her palms were sweating. She knew that if she put her hand on the bar, she would leave a steamy handprint behind.
    Gross , she thought. Jesus Althea, come on. Ask him something, anything. Baby steps or not, could you be more boring? IRS agents sound more exciting than you . Maybe you should offer to do his taxes, that'll make his night. At least