Addicted to Nick Read Online Free PDF Page B

it. I guess we were down at the track. Was the call for me?”
    â€œI can’t say. There was no one there.”
    She cradled the mug in both hands as if to steady it, declared, “Probably a wrong number,” then swiveled around to peer down the alleyway. “I wonder what’s keeping Jason?”
    Nick gritted his teeth. Her evasiveness was already roughing the edges of his patience. “If it was a boyfriend calling,” he suggested slowly, “I might have put him off.”
    â€œIf I had a boyfriend, he’d know not to call when it’s short odds I’d be down at the track.”
    When he met her hostile glare, Nick felt a perverse satisfaction, and it had nothing to do with the no-boyfriend revelation. Finally he had her attention. “Seems to methere’s something funny going on with your telephone. No one there this morning, off the hook yesterday.”
    â€œGeez, T.C.” Neither had heard Jason’s approach. He stood there, shaking his head reproachfully. “Did you leave it off the hook again?” He handed Nick his coffee. “She did that the other day, too.”
    The warning glare she directed at Jason told Nick his instincts were spot on. “Perhaps you had better explain.”
    â€œExplain what? I knocked the receiver off the hook and didn’t notice. You got a wrong number. End of story.” With a dismissive shrug, she turned to Jason. “You can show Nick around while I finish the jogging.”
    Nick stopped her intended exit with a hand on her shoulder. “Have you been getting nuisance calls?”
    When she shuffled from foot to foot without answering, Nick increased the pressure on her shoulder. Over the top of her head he met Jason’s worried look and smiled reassuringly. “How about you carry on with the horses while I sort this out?”
    As Jason set off, whistling cheerfully, he felt her tense up beneath his hand. “You’ve been here less than twelve hours and you’re giving directions to my staff?”
    â€œOur staff,” he corrected.
    She let out her breath in a soft whoosh. “We have to talk about that.”
    â€œYes, we do. But first we’re going to settle the phone business.”
    She bit her bottom lip, and Nick waited a count of ten while she considered. “So, okay, there has been the odd anonymous call.”
    â€œHow long has this been going on?”
    She shrugged. “A couple of weeks. On and off.”
    â€œA couple of weeks! Have you reported it?”
    â€œLook, there’s nothing to report. No threats, no heavy breathing. Probably just kids mucking about. It’s no big deal.”
    â€œNo?” Nick swore beneath his breath, then out loud when the penny dropped. “That’s why you attacked me last night. You thought I was the caller. What if you’d been right? What if I had been some stalker hell-bent on hurting you? Did you think of that before you confronted me with that damn fool toy?”
    â€œI can look after myself. I’ve been looking after myself—”
    â€œIs that what you think you were doing when you ran your hands all over me last night?” He grabbed her hand and pulled it to him, forcing her to touch him, then to stroke down his chest from collarbone to waist in one long, slow sensuous caress. “When you touched me like this?”
    She recoiled as if she had contacted a live wire, then stood blinking her huge green eyes at him. She rubbed the hand he had used to demonstrate his point down her thigh as if trying to remove his imprint from her skin.
    That notion was as powerfully erotic as her actual touch.
    With a proud lift of her chin, she drew herself up as tall as her diminished height allowed and met his gaze. “I did not touch you like that,” she said with quiet dignity.
    â€œYou might as well have,” Nick muttered, and grimaced at the uncomfortable tightness of his jeans as she