The Accidental Boyfriend. Maggie Dallen

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СКАЧАТЬ hug her but then he didn’t. Maybe she had pulled back, she wasn’t certain. Either way, now they were standing there, between a group of American bros and a cranky bartender who was manning the small but packed bar beside the pool table.

      She shook her head in a vain attempt to shake off the alcohol haze that was making rational thought impossible. If only she could take a moment to compose herself, to get her senses straight—to sober up a bit, at the very least. But he was here, now, standing right in front of her, mere inches away. And he smelled so good—a deliciously manly scent that had to be cologne or aftershave. No one smelled that good naturally.

      He spoke first, distracting her from her mission to discover the source of his scent. “Are you okay?” he asked.

      She peered up at him in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be okay? And what are you doing here?”

      “I came to find you. Ivy sent me,” he started.

      Ice flooded her veins. Her mind instantly leapt to the worst possible scenario.

      “Oh my God, Ivy. Is she okay? What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”

      Jack eyes widened in panic and he reached out to her before quickly pulling back. “No! No, no, she’s fine. The baby’s fine. Everybody is fine.”

      Holly slapped a hand over her heart, which had catapulted into double time in fear. Adrenaline coursed through her. “Don’t scare me like,” she snapped.

      He took a step back. “Sorry, I didn’t meant to—”

      “If they’re okay, why are you here?” She caught the bartender eyeing them with curiosity and lowered her voice.

      A fresh wave of dizziness swept over her as her mind struggled to make sense of the fact that Jack Everett was in Paris, in her hostel…the man had developed one of the most successful gaming systems on the planet while still in college, she would bet everything she owned that he had never once stayed in a seedy hostel like this one.

      Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “How did you find me?”

      He glanced side to side while giving her a wary look, like she might cause a scene. Oh no. Was that it? Was he here because of that night? Ivy’s wedding night? She’d figured he’d be angry at the way it ended but she hadn’t thought he would track her down in a foreign city just to confront her.

      Their little corner between the bar and pool table was growing more crowded by the minute and she was pushed even closer to him by an elbow in the back.

      “Ivy told me you’d probably be staying at a hostel in this neighborhood and this was my second try.” He gave her his patented lopsided grin. “The guy behind the counter had no problem identifying a certain gorgeous blonde I know.”

      His tone was breezy and joking. For a split second, warmth radiated through her at the flirtatious way he was talking, but then she remembered that flirtatious was the way he talked with all women, all the time. She was nothing special. Crossing her arms over her chest and lifting her chin, she asked for what felt like the millionth time, “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?”

      At her unpleasant tone, he dropped the flirty demeanor and she caught a glimpse of something—embarrassment maybe? He looked…sheepish.

      Oh no. He was here about that night.

      “Ivy sent me,” he said again, this time looking a bit unsure of himself as he shifted from one foot to the other. “She was worried about you, being alone in the city and all.”

      Holly would have burst out laughing if she wasn’t feeling so guilty about that night. As it was, she smothered a grin. Ivy, worried about her being in Paris alone? Aside from Oakdale, Paris was one of the safest places she’d ever lived and she’d been traveling on her own since she was eighteen. Her sister had ceased worrying about her about a decade ago.

      The crowd around them was paying way too much attention to Jack. They both seemed to notice it at once. Jack, after all, was probably the equivalent of a superhero in the eyes of the tech nerds at the pool table—and just a plain old famous celebrity to everyone else. Holly shifted uncomfortably under the weight of their stares.

      “Look, can we get out of here? I’d like to talk to you alone,” Jack said. He leaned in so only she could hear and she held her breath to keep from losing her senses around that damned cologne.

      She let him lead her out of the hostel by the arm as she fumbled in her muddled brain for a good explanation for that night—had anyone ever discovered a polite, believable way to nicely say, “It’s not you, it’s me?” The chilly night air was refreshing and helped to clear her head.

      Holly took a couple of deep breaths as she followed him down the street. She needed to come up with a good reason for why she’d kissed him like that, let him touch her like that, made promises like that and then…run away.

      Chapter 3

      Two doors down from the hostel was a quiet café that suited Jack perfectly. So far Operation Rescue Holly was not going as planned. In fact, it was not going well—at all.

      He hadn’t expected her to be overjoyed to see him, not after the way he’d abandoned her like that after the wedding. He knew he owed her an apology but a month had passed, he was hoping she’d at least have cooled down a bit. But the woman who was glaring up at him at the hostel…that woman was red hot.

      And sexy.

      Nope. He was not going there. He’d made a promise to Ivy and Daniel, and himself, that he would treat this sweet, innocent young woman with the respect she deserved. He was all for fun and games with experienced women who knew how to play the game. But not someone kind and sweet and thoroughly innocent like his Holly.

      Holly, just Holly, not his Holly.

      He signaled to the waitress and when she came over he ordered a bottle of wine. This conversation would require some assistance of the alcohol variety. Holly had been oddly quiet since they left the hostel and now she leaned back in her seat across from nibbling on her lower lip with a decidedly wary look in her eyes.

      She was probably waiting for him to apologize. He cleared his throat a bit and that seemed to bring her to life. She leaned forward so her elbows were on the table and she fixed her gaze directly on him. He tried not to notice the way her V-neck T-shirt inched down, revealing just a hint of cleavage. She raked her hair back and her blond curls spilled over her shoulders in a haphazard way—he had a momentary flash of what she would look like in bed in the morning with tousled hair and a sleepy smile.

      But she was not smiling now and her blue eyes were terrifyingly direct. She seemed to see everything about him. Was it his imagination or was she looking into his soul?

      Okay, now he was officially psyching himself out. Be a man and apologize already. He sat up a little straighter in his chair. “Look, Holly, I just—”

      At the same time, Holly started, “Jack, I think I owe—”

      They stopped and shared an awkward laugh.

      The waitress arrived with their bottle of wine and they waited in silence as she poured two glasses. Jack all but lunged for his when she was done.

      When СКАЧАТЬ