An Unexpected Love Story (Love Story Book Two) Read Online Free PDF Page B

just played the field long enough.”
    “Emily, let’s not get carried away here, okay?”
    “Say what you want,” she said firmly. “I think you want a boyfriend.”
    “Fine,” I said, unable to keep the grumble out of my voice. “Maybe sometimes I do think that it would be nice to have a guy around. But I’m not gonna like, plan some kind of research project to find him.”
    “Very funny,” she said. During Ashley and Ryan’s romance crusade, they had convinced Emily that she needed to get serious about finding a guy. They had turned it into a whole project. It’s not hard to guess how well that turned out. “All I’m saying,” she persisted, “is that you might want to open yourself up to the idea.”
    “Okay, okay,” I agreed. “Consider me now officially open to the idea. Speaking of boyfriends, how is vitamin man doing?”
    That launched Emily into a ten-minute long recollection of her boyfriend Elliot, who ran a health and wellness shop next to her physical therapy office, and all the wonderful things they had done together since the last time I had talked to her. When she talked this way, I usually rolled my eyes and made silent gagging motions, but lately I had been finding less and less to snark at. Maybe Emily was right about the boyfriend thing after all.
    After we chatted for a few minutes about Chris, another friend from school who had moved downstate and was now dating Ashley, we said our goodbyes and hung up. I returned my attention to my payroll. It was hard to concentrate with my head pounding so much. Why had I thought whiskey shots were a good idea?
    “Excuse me.”
    I looked up at the sound of the voice to see a man standing just beyond the doorway to my office, his face mostly hidden in the shadows of the hallway. Figuring it was the bakery delivery I’d been waiting for, I turned my attention back to my ledger.
    “Someone should be in the kitchen,” I said, my mind already halfway on my numbers. “You can unload in there.”
    “I’m sorry?” the man asked, sounding confused.
    “The kitchen,” I said, looking up again. “Right past the dining room. You can’t miss it.”
    “No, I mean…I think there’s some mistake. I was at the front desk but no one was there.”
    I finally looked up, squinting at the stranger. “You’re not here for the bread delivery?”
    “No,” he said stepping into the room so I could see his face. I let out a little gasp. He was without question, the most drop-dead gorgeous man I had ever seen. “I’m not here for the delivery,” he continued. “I’m looking for a room.”

    Chapter Five
    For a minute I felt like there was a disconnect between my brain and my tongue. I just couldn’t seem to form words. The man now standing in my office was jaw-droppingly good looking. Tall and dark, he was obviously built under his clothes—which looked totally out of place in my little inn. He was wearing a clearly expensive suit and had that groomed look you didn’t often see on guys around here. The effect was very nice.
    I finally snapped out of my little trance when I realized the man was looking at me with a slightly alarmed expression. I wondered what my face looked like, to make his look so concerned. I had probably gone slack-jawed and glazed-eyed on him.
    “Sorry,” I said, standing up so quickly my chair fell over behind me. Real smooth. “We’re pretty slow mid-week, so the desk isn’t always manned.”
    “That’s no problem,” he said, giving me a polite smile that sent my stomach plummeting to the region of my knees. “Do you have a room available?”
    “Of course,” I said, reminding myself to breathe. He was only a guy; there was no reason for my face to be turning so red. Even if he was exceptionally beautiful. “Let me just take you back out to the lobby.”
    Instead of walking in front of me, the gorgeous man paused and allowed me to go first, following behind me at a respectful distance. His seemingly automatic and