Alicia's Folly Read Online Free PDF Page B

that would make them look desperate. It was now all a moot point because Jared had just sent him a text saying another buyer had scooped them. He pocketed his phone as he and Alicia started walking.  
    “Damn,” he swore softly, making her look over at him worriedly.  
    “What’s wrong?” she asked. Her voice was pitched just right, not too high and not too low. It made him want to get her talking more, just so he could listen to her. Unfortunately, lust was getting in the way of his ability to strike up a meaningful conversation. Being around her and not touching her was going to be damned difficult.  
    “I forgot to mention I like holding hands,” he said, out of the blue. To his complete horror, his tone of voice was all sappy and wistful. He was about to apologize for already breaking his promise when she burst out laughing. Like a love-struck fool, he grinned. Maybe he wasn’t a hopeless cause after all.  
    Yesss! he thought when, moments later, she placed her hand in his. Out loud, he asked, “So what about you? Do you like green, or do you prefer a more feminine color?”  
    “Can you believe I don’t have a favorite color? I gravitate toward the sombre, darker ones, but that’s because they’re more businesslike. Can you imagine walking into a courtroom and seeing your lawyer dressed in fuchsia?” Alicia answered. “Or worse yet, canary yellow?” He mulled that over for a few seconds. Was she a lawyer then? She seemed too – soft. The handful of lawyers he knew looked and behaved as though they chewed nails for breakfast every day.  
    “If you were the lawyer, I might like very much seeing you in fuchsia,” he said with a straight face. She shuddered before taking note of the humor in his eyes. When she saw he was teasing her, she gave him a playful shove. The extra contact between them, though not very much, was electrifying. Her heated blush told him she felt the jolt too. True to his word, he behaved and didn’t mention it.  
    “I’m a paralegal,” she answered, putting distance between them again. Nate made sure to keep his fingers laced in hers so she couldn’t break completely free.  
    “Even better. Lawyers can be such mouthpieces. I have several of those working for me. They charge two arms and a leg when everyone knows damn well it’s their paralegals and clerks who do all their legwork for them.”  
    He would have said more, but Alicia stopped dead in her tracks. He turned to see what was wrong. To his surprise, her face was pale and her lips were compressed in a thin white line. Nate wracked his brain, trying to figure out what the heck he’d said wrong.  
    “My employers burned just as much midnight oil as I or any of the other clerks did,” she growled. Damn, but she was hot as hell when her hackles were raised! Nate just barely suppressed the urge to pull her toward him and soothe her ruffled feathers with a passionate kiss.    
    Damn! he thought as images of making her growl and moan for altogether different reasons played in his mind. Alicia must have realized what he was thinking then because she blushed. The look in her eyes was – hungry – and made his blood heat up. Unfortunately, she pulled her hand from his and shook her head.  
    “I-I can’t do this. See you around, Nate,” she said. His jaw flapped uselessly as she turned her back on him and walked away.  
    “What the hell did I do?” he muttered. If she heard him, she didn’t answer. Ticked off, he followed silently behind her. With the creepy detective still lurking, there was no way he was leaving her to be an open target. Besides, if he was lucky, his presence would get her talking and he’d be able to find out what he’d done to change her mind all of a sudden.  
    “So you’re stalking me now?” she threw over her shoulder.  
    “Nope. Just making sure you get back to your hotel without being accosted or abducted,” he called out.  
    “And what if I’m not going back to my