His Girl Next Door: The Army Ranger's Return / New York's Finest Rebel / The Girl from Honeysuckle Farm. Trish Wylie

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ something happening.

      But the other part? That was telling her to have fun. To let her hair down for once. To enjoy the company of a man who didn’t know any of her baggage, her past. Who didn’t want to treat her as if broken glass was shattered over her skin, like he could hurt her.

      That part knew that maybe, just maybe, this was an opportunity to be herself. A woman who wasn’t afraid of moving forward and having fun. For the short term anyway.

      Jess straightened her shoulders and ran her hands down her jeans. She wasn’t going to wait for him to knock this time. Her poor heart couldn’t handle it.

      It had been a long time since Ryan had felt like he couldn’t settle his nerves. His career depended on it. When he was deployed, he always kept calm, had a confidence and calmness that saw him through any scenario.

      So when Jessica walked out onto the porch and gave him a half wave, before turning to lock the door, he was taken by surprise. It felt like someone had placed a steady hand around his throat and squeezed, just for a moment, to make him gasp for the next gulp of air. Made his mind scramble, as if he were incapable of utilizing the rational, functioning part of his brain.

      Jessica had to fiddle with the lock and it gave him time to watch her. This girl who’d meant so much to him for so long.

      He’d known he would feel close to her, but he hadn’t expected this. He’d thought she would be a normal American girl, just another person in the world. The kind of girl you’d pass in the street and not necessarily notice.

      How wrong he’d been.

      Her hair was messy, as if she’d spent hours at the beach to put the wind through it and then played with each strand through her fingers. It was tousled and slightly curly, falling below her shoulders. Her skin was golden, as if the sun had just been allowed to skim it, and … He gulped.

      Looking any further wasn’t going to help him. The curve of her backside in her denim jeans, the silhouette of her upper half in her summery top.

      He swallowed again, hard, when she turned to face him. Jessica was smiling, her full lips pulled back to show off white teeth, eyes slightly downcast as if she was a touch embarrassed.

      Any thought of her being “just a friend” fled his mind.

      It wasn’t because he’d been away serving. It wasn’t because he hadn’t been around women in a long while.

      It was simply Jessica.

      She did something to him, scrambled his brain and made his body jump, like he’d never experienced before.

      Ryan leaped from the car. He couldn’t have moved faster if it had been on fire. It was like his brain and his body were finally capable of acting as one.

      “Hey.”

      Jessica’s cheeks were touched with the lightest of pink blushes.

      “Hey,” she said back.

      He walked forward, wanted to kiss her on the cheek, but felt awkward. They stood, watched one another for a moment, before he stepped back.

      Idiot.

      “Let me get the door.” Suddenly he was all nerves, more thumbs than fingers as he walked around to the passenger side.

      She walked past him and ducked to get into the car. “Thanks.”

      He grinned at her, he could feel the goofy smile on his face and was incapable of doing anything to remove it.

      Jessica looked up at him, her own face open, expectant.

      “Let’s go grab some dinner,” he said.

      She nodded at him, before he closed the door.

      Ryan walked slowly back around to the driver’s side and tried to pull himself together. He had possibly the most beautiful woman he’d ever met sitting in his car, waiting for him to be charming, expecting the person she’d met on paper, and he could hardly string a sentence together.

      Jessica had looked good earlier today, but he hadn’t had the chance to just watch her and drink her in.

      He got in the car and pulled on his seat belt.

      Ryan could feel her, smell her, sense her beside him. He made himself look over at her and smile. Ignored the insistent thump of his pulse, or his heart near beating from his chest and tried to act relaxed.

      “We doing that ‘start over’ thing again?”

      He smiled at Jessica’s joking tone.

      “We don’t need to start over.” He turned the ignition. “It was just, well, kind of weird meeting after knowing each other on paper for so long. Don’t you think? We both sort of overreacted.”

      Jessica sighed. “Thank goodness we’re on the same page.”

      He laughed at the same time she did. Their eyes met and they laughed some more. It was as if all the worry had vanished, the knot of uneasiness in his stomach had been untied. Just from hearing her laugh, knowing she felt the same way.

      “Excuse the pun,” Jessica managed to say, when they’d stopped laughing.

      Ryan resisted the urge to reach for her hand, to make a connection with her. It was so unnatural for him to even think like that, but with Jessica it felt natural.

      “We’re going to have a good time tonight.”

      She leaned back in her seat, body angled to face him. “I think so, too.”

      Ryan chanced a quick glance at his passenger. She was looking out the window now.

      He dragged his eyes back to the road.

      Maybe coming home was the best thing he’d ever done.

      Jessica smiled. She couldn’t have wiped the grin from her face if she wanted to.

      This morning, she’d been a bundle of nerves. She hadn’t been much better this afternoon. But seeing Ryan again, being with him, something about it felt so right. They shared an understanding, had a bond that was hard to describe.

      And Bella had been right.

      She was attracted to him.

      It didn’t mean she wanted something to happen between them. But maybe she did have to listen to her friend. She’d been celibate for well over a year now, had pledged not to put her heart in harm’s reach or let someone else suffer because of what she might have to go through in the future.

      But if Ryan was only here for a short time, who was she to say no to a romantic fling?

      Jessica glanced over at Ryan, watched his strong hands grip the wheel, his jaw strong and angled and freshly shaved.

      There was nothing not to like about him.

      So if she couldn’t get hurt or hurt him in return, what was the harm in admitting it?

СКАЧАТЬ