Alone With You Read Online Free PDF Page A

for Jasper’s Pub was screwed because he couldn’t keep his hands off the one woman he’d sworn he wouldn’t touch.

CHAPTER THREE
    D ARCY DIDN ’ T WANT to get out of bed, even though she’d been awake long enough so she really needed to pee. But she waited out the sounds of Jake making coffee and taking a shower and the smell of slightly burnt English muffin. There was a horrible grinding sound, as if he’d thrown a bunch of rocks in the blender, and then, finally, the door closing and his heavy footsteps on the outside stairs.
    She should have gotten in her car, driven back to Concord and fed Kevin the scary bear story. Even while she was telling herself the chance to be in on the opening of a new and hopefully successful restaurant was a golden opportunity, she knew deep down in some sappy part of her that she hadn’t wanted to walk away from Jake so quickly.
    Which was stupid and she knew it. He was a player and he’d played her. And now he was probably playing her some more to get done what needed to be done and save face with his business partner.
    But when he was standing out there shivering, covered in goose bumps, but looking at her with those eyes, she’d felt just like she did before he kissed her as if he’d been waiting his entire life to kiss her and she hadn’t wanted to leave.
    So here she was, hiding in her bedroom to avoid the awkward sleepy morning moments like who got the bathroom and dancing around each other in the kitchen. Sure, this was going to go well.
    After she showered, Darcy turned the toaster setting down slightly and made herself an English muffin and a coffee. He’d washed his mug and the knife, along with the blender, so there were no clues as to what he’d been mixing. Maybe some kind of weird protein drink or something, which would explain the abs.
    No thinking about his abs, she reminded herself as she washed her few dishes and set them next to his to dry. Then, dressed in jeans and a Jasper’s Bar & Grille polo shirt with her hair in a ponytail, and feeling a little more like her work self, she went down to face the day.
    Because she was only going outside long enough to get down the stairs and in the back door, the key to which she’d found labeled and sitting on the counter, she skipped putting on her coat. She arrived for her first official day on the job half-frozen and cursing the unexpected windchill.
    What seemed like acres of stainless steel greeted her. She wasn’t a cook and didn’t know a lot about the different equipment, but it seemed as if Kevin and Jake had spared no expense when it came to outfitting the kitchen. What really mattered to her was on the other side of the double swinging doors.
    Of course, the first thing she saw when she pushed through them was Jake. He was standing in the middle of the dining room, scowling down at something on the floor. When he heard the swish of the doors, he looked up and gestured her over.
    “Take my hand,” he said when she reached him.
    “I’m guessing you haven’t read the Jasper’s sexual harassment policy.”
    “What?” Clearly distracted and annoyed, he held out his hand. “No. Just let me hold on to you and I want you to walk in front of me.”
    “Fine.” She grasped his hand and crossed in front of him.
    On the second step, her foot shot out from under her and only Jake’s grip kept her from landing on her ass on the floor, or maybe even smacking the back of her head.
    “I knew it,” he muttered, but he didn’t sound happy to be proven right about whatever he was talking about. “I crushed some ice this morning and put a few piles around the floor to melt. They told me this flooring wouldn’t be slippery when it’s wet.”
    “They lied.”
    “In my boots, it’s fine. And in snowmobile boots, it’ll be fine. But when the snow starts melting off those boots, the servers wearing sneakers like yours will be going down like bowling pins.”
    Darcy knew nothing about flooring and not much more