All He Wants Read Online Free PDF

passed away when he was ten, someone had given him a pamphlet on the five stages of grief. He recognized the stages in Maxi. Her grief was not attached to a person, her loss was her independence. She’d already flown through denial, anger, and was now attempting to bargain. All that was left was depression and then finally acceptance.
    He waited for Jessie to lower the boom and shoot down Maxi’s ridiculous proposal. Instead, the ice princess crossed her arms and reclined against her high-backed chair, looking to be in deep thought.
    Shit .
    They might never get to those final two stages because, to his surprise, Jessie actually looked to be considering Maxi’s idiotic pitch.
    For the first time since he’d entered the office, he turned his head, and his eyes met the gaze of the woman who’d stolen his heart so many years ago. A jolt shot through him as their stares locked. Like every time they made eye contact, a spark ignited between them. He knew she felt it, too. She didn’t admit it…but she felt it.
    Whether she liked it or not, or SPC required it or not, this was happening. Now that he knew what had been going on, there was no scenario that she would be spending the weekend “alone.” It would be easier if Maxi would agree to go along with the plan, or if Jessie would insist she did. But, since neither woman seemed to be doing those things, Billy had no qualms about bringing out the big guns.
    “Maybe we should ask your dad what he thinks.” His voice was raw, gravelly and held more emotion than he’d meant to reveal.
    *     *     *
    Maxi flinched at Billy’s statement. “He doesn’t know anything about this.”
    The words he spoke in his too-deep, too-sexy voice washed over her and were as shocking to her system as the ice water from the Ice Bucket Challenge that had been dumped on her head to raise money and awareness for ALS. The reaction wasn’t because she actually thought he would say anything to her dad. Billy Marshall was a lot of things. Frustrating. Annoying. Cocky. Arrogant. Sexy. Funny. Smart. Strong. Just…a lot of things. But a snitch wasn’t one of them. She didn’t believe he would actually go behind her back and tell her dad what had been going on. He might make her tell him, but he wouldn’t.
    No, that wasn’t the reason the words hit her with the sting of freezing H2O. That unpleasant response was because they came out of the mouth of the only man that had ever tempted her to break her rule—the rule that had been born from trauma to keep her safe. Those words came from the man that she fantasized about day and night for so many years she’d lost count. Besides her dad, the only other man in this world she’d ever been able to rely on. To trust. And the one that she’d spent years keeping as far a distance from as possible.
    Hurt and fear filled his voice. She could see that he was visibly upset. She knew that part of the reason for that was because she hadn’t told him what was going on. Over the past six weeks she’d picked up the phone to do just that more times than she could count. There were so many moments when she’d seen him and the entire sordid tale almost spilled from her lips, but she’d kept it to herself instead. Because even more than the hurt, she recognized the fear in his voice. That, and sheer self-preservation had been the two reasons she hadn’t told him. The last thing she would ever want to do is cause him any pain, suffering, or worry. He’d had enough of that in his life. Personally and professionally.
    As she stared into his honey-colored eyes, she tried to disguise the way his stare made her feel. Every time he looked at her, it was like they were the only two people in the world. Everything around them disappeared.
    Most of the time she had to fight from melting into the sensation it caused. But today there was an urgency that kept her from losing herself in his stare. A sharpness, a determination that told her there was no scenario