A Word with the Bachelor Read Online Free PDF

dots.”
    â€œYou said you like the movie because there’s a romance at the heart. It crosses genres and broadens the appeal.”
    â€œAnd?” One eyebrow rose.
    â€œMaybe if Mac has a relationship it could expand my readership to women.”
    Her eyes narrowed and the I’ve-got-your-number look was back. “You don’t fool me, Jack.”
    â€œI wasn’t trying to.” Did a half truth make something an out-and-out lie?
    â€œOh, please. This is you patting me on the head and telling me to run along.”
    â€œNot true.”
    â€œSo in all of your own experience you’ve never sweet-talked a woman? Never made a romantic gesture? Or two?”
    â€œHard to say. I tried.” With his ex-wife. But he didn’t think she left him for lack of romance because she stayed for years while he went through numerous deployments. She left when he didn’t re-up with the army. “But does a guy really know if he hit it out of the park with a woman?”
    â€œYou really don’t know how to read people?”
    â€œHence the research for understanding the female mind,” he pointed out.
    She made a show of folding the paper and sticking it in the pocket of her jeans. “I’ll do the research. But don’t for a second believe that I don’t know what you’re up to. This is all about keeping me at a distance.”
    Jack didn’t get a chance to respond because she turned and walked out of his office. Just as well. He needed to get to work. And she was wrong about his goal. The phony research wasn’t to keep her at a distance, but to keep her in the dark about the fact that he didn’t have a story. With luck he could fix the problem before she figured out what was going on.
    The good news was that it was now quiet enough to work. And the bad news was he had to put some words on that blank page. And, damn it, he could still smell the scent of her skin. That brought to mind images of her smile and the fact that as hard as he’d tried to make her, she wouldn’t back down from him.
    Harley stood in his bed glancing from him to the door where Erin had exited. “Yeah, I know, buddy. I’m as surprised as you are that it’s not so bad having her around for a distraction.”

Chapter Three
    I n her new room Erin lay on her back trying to get to sleep, but the sound of pacing upstairs was distracting. So much for not waking her if he couldn’t catch some z’s and decided to work. Hard to type when you weren’t sitting in front of a computer.
    She was on the futon in the spare bedroom downstairs and it was surprisingly comfortable. That wasn’t to blame for her restlessness; that was Jack’s fault and not just on account of his walking back and forth, hitting that one squeaky board every time. Earlier he had opened the futon to make it flat and she’d been mesmerized by the play of muscles underneath the smooth material of his snug T-shirt.
    Then she thought about one hundred and one ways to be romantic. Bring a woman flowers. Make her breakfast in bed. Surprise her with a B and B weekend. Picturing Jack doing any of those things made her smile. Forget romantic. He was barely civil.
    A different sound caught her attention. The door to the upstairs apartment closed and heavy footsteps sounded on the outside stairway. Erin tensed, waiting to hear him come inside. She could feel him when he was nearby and every cell in her body seemed to say “notice me.” Which, of course, was never going to happen.
    A few minutes passed and she still didn’t hear him come inside. Wide-awake now, she tossed the sheet aside and turned on the light. The room was pretty big but had no personality. Unpacked boxes were stacked on the opposite wall. A lamp sat on what looked like an apple crate turned on end.
    Erin grabbed the lightweight summer robe that matched her white cotton nightgown and slipped her arms into it. She