Wrecked by Shiloh Walker Read Free Book Online

supposed to handle this without losing his damn mind?
    “By doing your damn job.” She came here because she wanted some ink. So that was what he was going to do.
    As he pushed back from the desk, he kicked the chair she’d dragged over and her purse fell. The journal slid out as he scooped up the purse. He went to dump them both back on the chair, but found himself flipping through the journal. She hadn’t done much of anything.
    But then he stopped.
    One page held her neat writing.
    She’d titled it. That was typical Abby, although it made him a little nervous.
Wreck this life
. What the hell . . .
    But the first few goals had him smiling. Tell off Roger. Cool. Flip off the photographers? He’d been telling her to do that for years. Stop worrying so much. Wonderful.
    The tattoo . . . yes. She was serious.
    But the last one had the blood draining out of his head.
    Fffffuuuuccckkkkk
 . . .
    Snapping it closed, he dumped the book on top of her purse and shot upright. Have a fucking affair?
What the hell?
    Thunder crashed inside his head. At least it felt that way, although more than likely, he was having a stroke or something. His feet seemed to get in the way as he turned around and started for the door. They needed to talk.
    Abby had just broken things off with that prick she’d been engaged to. She was upset and feeling a little lost, needed to do something crazy. He could understand that, he thought. And while he was completely on board with her learning to live a little, the idea of her having a fucking affair with some guy who wouldn’t give a damn about her made him want to chew glass and break things. Lots of things.
    Still, that journal was her personal property and he hadn’t had any right to go rooting through it. He hadn’t expected to find anything like
that
and how could he explain that he’d read it? He couldn’t lie to her. But did he tell her that she needed to think this through?
    Damn it
.
    Following the sound of her voice, he stopped in the doorway and made himself close his eyes while she finished placing the order.
    Breathe, man. Gotta breathe. Gotta think. Gotta be calm
.
    First he had to explain just how he’d managed to see it in the journal. He hadn’t exactly been prying . . . well, he had, but he was her best friend and he was nosy, and she knew that, and . . .
    Feeling the weight of her gaze, he lifted his lashes, not looking directly at her. Not yet.
    But Abby wasn’t looking at his face.
    She was eyeing his arms. Catching her lower lip between her teeth, she tugged on the soft curve and he almost went to his knees at the sight. A second later, she glanced away, but then she looked back.
    The thunder that had been crashing inside his head grew louder and louder.
    Have a torrid affair.
    Damn it, if she was dead set on
that
idea, she could have an affair with
him
, he decided.
    Even as the idea slammed into him, he tried to brush it aside. He’d kept what he felt wrapped up and buried deep for years. Spilling it now?
    Just wondering if you’re ever going to do anything about it.
    It’s complicated . . .
    Hell. He was lecturing Abby about living life and letting go, and here he was, afraid to grab
on
.
    The woman he wanted like he wanted his next breath was standing
right there
and he was afraid to even make a move.
    She turned away as he stood there, still wrestling with the very thought of it, need burning in him and twisting him into tight, hungry knots. Damn it.
Damn it
. He needed to do this—
    “It will take about an hour or so,” Abby said.
    I’m thinking longer—
    “They’re pretty busy.”
    “What?” Distracted, he dragged his eyes away from the curve of her ass and focused on what she was saying.
    “The pizza place. They said it would be about an hour or so—asked if they should come around to the back and I told them yes.”
    “That’s fine.” He dragged a hand down his face. “Ah . . . I need to get back to work.”
    “I was thinking