Anyone but You Read Online Free PDF Page B

lift his leg."
    "Smart woman," Alex said, smiling into her eyes.
    Oh, boy. "Would you like a Coke?" Nina asked and then kicked herself for asking. The last thing she needed was an incredibly sexy underage male drinking Coke in her kitchen.
    "Love one," Alex said.

    * * *
    For an ugly dog, Fred had a very cute mother.
    Once Fred had scrambled back through the window, Alex followed Nina into the kitchen, trying not to admire the swing of her round hips in her wrinkled brown skirt. He was pretty sure she'd just woken up: her short dark curls were rumpled and her big dark eyes were still a little sleepy and her pale pointed face was creased from a pillow somewhere. Pillows made him think of beds, which only led to one thing, and he told himself to knock it off or he'd end up like Max.
    Of course, Max was a pretty happy guy.
    Alex sat down at the table, trying not to stare at the soft curves in front of him. Very attractive woman, Fred's mother. He owed Fred.
    She took two blue-checked mugs from the cupboard and opened the freezer door, automatically putting her free hand up to push the large glass-covered pot on the top of the fridge farther back. Then she scooped ice into the mugs and nudged the door closed, and Alex admired her efficiency and her arms at the same time.
    When she took two cans of soda out of the fridge and put the mugs and cans in front of him on the round oak table, he saw her face clearly for the first time, the tiny lines around her dark brown eyes, the softness in her face. She was Max's age, maybe a little older. Her face looked settled, not serene exactly, but not the searching, anxious look that Debbie's face had. She looked wonderful and comfortable and centered in herself, and he wanted to tell her so, but he stopped in time. She might think it was a pass.
    Which it would be, come to think of it, and that would be a bad idea since she lived right above him, and if she took offense, there'd be tension whenever they met. And if she didn't take offense at the pass, she would later when he explained he didn't want to get married. He had enough problems; no point in screwing up the only place he could come to escape.
    "Thank you," he said, and she said, "Thank you for bringing Fred home." Then she smiled at him, and he felt a little dizzy for a minute.
    "I'm sorry Fred came through your window," she said.
    "I'm not," Alex said. "This way we get to talk. It's a nice building, and now it's nicer because you're here." She flushed, and he thought, not used to getting compliments, huh? and wondered if there was a man in her life and if so, why wasn't she used to getting compliments?
    "I haven't met the other people yet." She poured herself a Coke before she sat opposite him. "Well, I've met the landlord on the first floor, of course. And I hear somebody go by on the way up to the fourth-floor apartment sometimes, but I hate to open the door and introduce myself. It seems pushy."
    Alex laughed. "The fourth floor is Norma Lynn. She loves pushy. In fact, I think she invented it. She's seventy-five-"
    Nina blinked. "And she's on the fourth floor? That's awful!"
    "No, it isn't." Alex sat back and watched her outrage. Nice woman. "Norma had her pick of apartments when this place was first chopped up."
    Nina seemed confused. She looked good confused, too. "She wanted the fourth floor?"
    "Norma is in better shape than you and me put together," Alex said and then thought, Well, not in better shape than you, and squelched the thought of the two of them put together. He had to stop hanging around with Max; he was turning into a rat. "She climbs those stairs at least twice a day on her way to yoga and to her self-defense class, which is why, as she will tell you, she has the quadriceps of a sixteen-year-old. She also has an exercise bike that she keeps on the fire escape, which is illegal, but she doesn't care. If you put your head out the window at daybreak every day, you can see Norma peddling away. Norma is going to