Barefoot and Pregnant?. Colleen Faulkner

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СКАЧАТЬ shoes, Zane caught her arm to help her through the soft sand. “I’m starving. Those quarter-size hors d’oeuvres just didn’t do anything for me.” He looked to her. “You want to grab a burger before I take you home, Ellie?”

      Ellie. He called her Ellie again. She liked it. She liked the way she felt when he called her that. “A burger would be good. Of course it will have be that dive now.” She pointed to their abandoned shoes. “There’s no way I can wrestle into those hose again.”

      He laughed as he grabbed her shoes and passed them to her. “My car’s just up the hill.” They took a set of steps to the parking lot as he explained to her the finer points of grilling a good hamburger. He led her toward a vintage green BMW and opened the passenger door for her.

      A gentleman and driving a BMW? The man was in the triple bonus round….

      Elise tossed her sandy panty hose into the hamper. “She shoots, she scores!” she announced jubilantly.

      She laughed. Shooting baskets with dirty hose? Talking out loud to herself? She didn’t know what had gotten into her.

      Yes, she did. Zane Keaton.

      Dressed in sleek, satin pajamas, Elise padded barefoot down the hall to the spare bedroom she used as an office. She flipped a wall switch and soft light flooded the room painted in beige neutrals. From the desk, she grabbed a light blue piece of paper and a pen. She leaned over and wrote “Zane Keaton” in loopy handwriting on the top line of the Husband Finder checklist. She tucked a lock of her blond hair behind one ear and began to fill in Zane’s physical details: 6’1”, blond hair, blue eyes. She knew the worksheet was really for “official” dates, but “official” or not, her evening with Zane was the best date she had ever had. Well, maybe with the exception of the hot Texas evening she’d spent with Johnny Carlisle when a traveling carnival had passed through town, and she’d slipped out of the house. Of course she’d only been fifteen at the time, and Johnny had been her first kiss, so that probably didn’t count.

      Elise grabbed the paper and pen and took them down the hall. She glanced at the Career heading and halted in the middle of the living room.

      She couldn’t believe she hadn’t asked Zane what he did for a living. She’d spent an entire evening with the man. He was such a good listener for a man. The hours had slipped by like the seconds it took to enjoy a bite-size candy bar. And she hadn’t asked him about his work. Her father would be horrified.

      Elise held the pen poised over the Career section: Professional, Business Owner, Other. She decided on “other” just so she didn’t have to leave the line blank. She hated blank lines and the way they stared accusingly at you. After all, what did it matter what he did for a living? Zane was obviously going to score high enough to warrant another date.

      The phone rang and she glanced at the Irish porcelain clock on an end table. It was almost midnight. Eleven in Texas, too late for her father to call; he was an early riser. She darted for the phone. Liz had said she would call, to see how her evening went with Zane. Elise was dying to tell her friend what a wonderful evening she’d had. To tell her about the barefoot walk and the fact that Zane had convinced her to eat not just a burger, but fries, too. She had probably consumed an entire day’s worth of calories in one sitting and she didn’t care.

      “Liz,” she said excitedly into the phone.

      “Ellie?”

      The male voice startled her….

      He’d called her Ellie.

      “Zane?”

      He chuckled, his voice low and sexy. “I didn’t think you’d be in bed yet.”

      She glanced at the clock again. She’d barely been home half an hour. He had to have walked into his house and immediately picked up the phone to call her.

      She didn’t know what to say. The men she dated were never in a hurry to talk to her. They didn’t call half an hour after they dropped her off—sometimes they never called again.

      “No, no, it’s fine,” she said, settling on the pale green damask couch. She smoothed the protective arm cover. The piece of furniture was so expensive, a gift from her father, that she barely sat on it. She preferred the old leather recliner that she’d brought from home and kept in her office in the back. She’d had the recliner in her dorm room at college, then her very first apartment. She liked the smell of the old leather.

      “I was just—” She looked down at the sheet of paper on the end table and felt a stab of guilt. “Just picking up a little before I went to bed,” she lied cheerfully.

      “Well, I wanted to tell you that I enjoyed my evening with you.”

      “Well, I did, too.”

      “So, I was wondering.”

      She held her breath. She didn’t care what the book said about not relying on chemistry. Right now, it felt too darned good.

      “Think we could get together later this week?”

      “Sure,” she said trying not to sound overly eager.

      “I thought I could tell you what I was looking for in the way of property, and you could look into what’s available.”

      If her stomach could have literally dropped, it would have been on the floor. He wanted to talk about property? “Um, sure, that would be great.”

      “I’ve got a lot going this week, but how about Friday?”

      “Friday is good.”

      “I’ll call you later in the week.”

      “Sounds good,” she said, trying to sound equally cheery.

      “’Night, Ellie,” Zane said in that same sexy voice that made her feel warm all over.

      “’Night, Zane.”

      Elise barely hung up the cordless phone when it rang again. This time it had to be Liz.

      “That you, Liz?”

      “Expecting Leonardo or Brad so late?” Liz’s voice was laced with her usual blend of amusement and sarcasm.

      Elise curled up on the couch, tucking her bare feet beneath her. “You’re never going to believe what an evening I’ve had,” she said not knowing if she wanted to laugh or cry.

      “That good?”

      “Well, I think so. Zane just called and said he wanted to get together later in the week.”

      “That’s wonderful!” Liz exclaimed.

      “To talk about real estate.”

      “Oh.” Liz’s voice fell.

      “But I really like him,” Elise said softly. “And he’s already met several of the criteria.”

      “So meet him. Talk to him about some property. Let him get to know you. Business luncheons will turn into romantic interludes before you know it. It happens all the time.”

      Elise СКАЧАТЬ