Driving Her Wild. Meg Maguire
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Название: Driving Her Wild
Автор: Meg Maguire
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
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Steph’s heart hurt for him. How often had her dad beat himself up with those same feelings of provider inadequacy?
“You said you’re really a carpenter?”
He nodded. “I’m a great carpenter. Craftsman-type stuff, ornate trim and cabinetry. I moved to the North Shore thinking there’d be tons of work, restoring all those amazing old colonials.” His eyes lit up, simply talking about it. “And at first, there was tons of work. Everyone was buying and flipping fixer-uppers during the boom. I was turning jobs down left and right, cherry-picking the coolest ones. That’s how things were when I met my wife.”
“Then the real-estate bubble burst?”
“Yeah. Now I’m lucky if I get even one job a month, fixing somebody’s deck for a quarter of what I might charge doing the custom stuff I’m really good at.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Trust me, I wouldn’t be here now, wrecking your day, if I didn’t need the money. My mortgage was steep to begin with. Take away my ex’s income and it’s a bear, even after the refinancing.”
“Can you not sell it?”
His gaze dropped to the armrest, where he rubbed at the worn leather with his big fingertips. “Maybe I could. At a loss, though. And I’ve put so much work into that place...it’d break my heart. It’s a great old house—not huge, but right on the beach, in Newburyport. I’ve put years of my life into fixing it up, thinking it was where my kids would grow up. And I mean, they still could. Who knows? But not if I can’t keep up with the payments.”
She nodded, sadness deepening. She could appreciate that—pouring your heart and soul and sweat into a purpose for months and months, only for it to come to naught. She’d trained for and lost enough matches in her career to understand that heartbreak perfectly.
“That sucks,” was all she could think to say. She reached over and gave his forearm a commiserating pat, same as she would have if one of her brothers had broken some bad news. But this touch felt nothing like she’d expected. The contact zinged straight up her fingers and arm, dropping through her middle like a gulp of hot chocolate, warmth sinking right into her toes. Oh no.
She snatched her hand away, clasping her fingers. No no no. She was not entertaining this attraction for a second.
This was all wrong.
It was probably pushing 1:00 a.m. She might’ve been kissed by Dr. Dylan Benedetti already, had this evening gone to plan. Yet here she was, locked at work with the embodiment of every guy she’d ever dated and sworn to put behind her...and he’d just zinged her. It had to be some kind of test.
But she could admit Patrick wasn’t quite like all those exes. He was in his thirties for one, with a marriage already under his belt. Lovable cloddishness aside, he was a man, not a guy. He’d suffered more disappointment and shouldered more responsibility than she’d have guessed. And these extra dimensions only made her sexual attraction feel all the more charged and unwieldy. And reckless.
Steph hit Play. They watched the tape through to the end of the match, and she stole sidelong glances, smirking at the way Patrick winced.
She shut it off. “So that’s MMA.”
“That’s barbaric.”
“The rules have gotten stricter since that event. No knees to the face once a guy’s on the ground, that kind of thing.”
“And that’s what you do? Or did?”
She nodded.
“On TV?”
“Not always, but a few times.”
“It must pay well.”
She shrugged. “At the top, yeah.”
“Were you at the top?”
“No. But it’s what I love. I made enough to make it worth it.”
“Until now.”
She stretched, and let her arms flop along the back of the recliner, feeling the hour. “I’ll be thirty in a couple weeks. My body doesn’t bounce back the way it used to, and I’m tired of all the traveling. I’m ready to settle down.”
“With a hot doctor.”
She smiled. “Wouldn’t hurt.”
“Blind date, right? Who hooked you guys up?”
Her cheeks warmed. “The matchmaking agency upstairs.”
“Oh. I hadn’t thought of trying that...I’ve had crappy luck doing the bar scene again, and the online stuff intimidates me. I have no idea what to say to make myself sound interesting. Going through an actual service must be expensive though.”
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