A Perfect Mess Read Online Free PDF Page A

this morning if anyone had asked me if I liked lace, I’d have told them only if it was black, skimpy, and coming off.
    Now I was actively expanding on the possibilities.
    The same went for little buttons. I was ready to prostrate myself at the altar of nice yellow buttons like the ones running all the way down the front of that dress.
    And her delicate features haunted my dreams in ever-changing patterns. I could spend a millennium on her mouth alone.
    I needed to get a grip. Aubree Walker probably hadn’t given me a second thought, and the only reason she’d ever given me the time of day was because she was in trouble. I made her nervous as hell, and I didn’t blame her. The situation we were in made me nervous as hell, too.
    The temperature had already gone from mild to sultry. I smelled the rain on the wind.
    Acting on pure, gut instinct, I pocketed the keys I’d just taken out of my jeans pocket and crossed the street. From the entrance to the diner, I saw Aubree through the window, sliding into a booth and getting a menu. I stood there like a creep watching her. There were many options here. I could just walk away and leave her alone like I thought she wanted. I could go in, sit down, talk to her. I could stop thinking about her.
    Playing the option game helped me feel like I could walk away whenever I wanted to. I’ve always needed that freedom, even when I already knew what my choice would be if I could have what I wanted. Aubree always looked too busy, too stressed, as if fun wasn’t a word she would ever entertain in her vocabulary. That’s what got me all wound up about her. Didn’t she ever have any fun?
    I couldn’t stand there and stare at her. My reputation in town was bad enough. I didn’t need to add perv to it. I shifted and started to dig for the keys in my pocket, turning away. Then she did it. Reached up and brushed at her eye. I couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t tolerate that she was alone and hurting and the memory of her ravaged face only hours ago hit me in the heart…hard. I didn’t like dealing with other people’s problems. I mostly kept to myself and my brothers, Boone and Braxton, the three of us like a small wagon train circled against this town of hostiles. But fuck, the girl got to me.
    She fucking got to me.
    Fuck !
    I pushed through the door of the diner and found it filled with locals. It was a weekday morning, so there were mostly old-timers and mothers with children. Some glanced my way and scowled, but I let their glances bounce off me like Superman. I stopped behind her booth. But she was so engrossed in her menu, she didn’t notice me. And I knew it wasn’t the menu she was seeing.
    “It’s just breakfast, Aubree,” I said close to her ear. “Not rocket science.”
    She gasped and turned. Her startled, thickly-lashed green eyes focused on me and flashed with renewed anger. At least that was a reaction.
    Breathless, she said, “Booker!”
    It shouldn’t have felt so goddamn good, the way she said my name.
    I circled the booth and squatted down, folding my arms along the edge of her table. “Is this seat taken?” I gave her my best bad boy stare.
    She looked over at the empty booth, and then back at me blankly, like someone who’d been stumped in Jeopardy. She frowned.
    I shouldn’t have been surprised when she hesitated. But even though I didn’t want to admit it, she had a way of hitting me where it hurts. She was my kryptonite. She made me weak.
    I rose, thinking this was a bad idea and stepped back, my own anger renewed.
    “What’s the matter, Aubree? You don’t want to get…dirty?”
    Her lips tightened and her eyes flashed green fire. Was it messed up that I wanted to get burned?
    I turned. “I got shit to do anyway.”
    “Booker, wait.”
    She bit her lip and that action sent a direct signal to my dick. I was trying hard not to think with that head today, but she wasn’t making it easy.
    I had a feeling nothing with Aubree Walker would be