Anything but Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

say you live here?”
    She asked it so innocently that Cole was a little confused. “Yes, I did.” The light finally went on in his thick skull. “You’re the friend.”
    “What?”
    He wanted to laugh at Max’s now-blatant attempts to push him toward Kendall. Max hadn’t bothered to tell either of them. “Max told me he had a friend who lived here. He just didn’t mention your name.”
    The expression on her face was priceless. It made her look softer, more vulnerable, and much more approachable. Until she opened her mouth.
    “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to give him a vasectomy the hard way.” As she skated away from him, mumbling to herself, her little dog jogged behind her.
    By all rights, Cole should warn Max of the trouble he was in, but he wasn’t going to. Max had played both him and Kendall and they’d fallen innocently into his trap.
    Cole walked toward his home and sighed. He was behind on his novel and that was where his attention should be, not on the woman who’d just skated away in a huff. The only thing Cole couldn’t decide was why. Was it that she hadn’t enjoyed the kiss as much as he did or that she was pissed at Max for not telling her where Cole lived?
    As he unlocked his front door he decided that only time would tell. And Kendall’s time was coming due in just a few days. She just didn’t know it yet.
    * * *
    Kendall walked into the hospital the next morning with one objective in mind and damn the consequences. She was definitely going to rip Max a new one for his latest stunt.
    It was a little past nine when she spotted Max in his usual position, perched on the edge of the desk of Jami Allen, her medical receptionist, annoying her while she attempted to work. Jami was a chocolate-skinned sister with shoulder-length hair, which she always wore pulled back in a ponytail. She was giggling at something Max was saying.
    “Max Cork, I’m going to kill you!” Kendall announced as she approached Jami’s desk, which adjoined the nurses’ station.
    Max slid off the desk and faced her. A wide smile split his tanned face. “And why are you mad at me?”
    Kendall looked from Max to Jami. They both wore the silly high school grins of people in deep like, but they were both married to other people. Surely she was misreading the situation. Cole’s kiss from the night before still had her on edge, and it was showing.
    “Kee, why are you mad at me?”
    He knew she disapproved of him calling her by his pet name in front of the hospital personnel lest it undermine her authority with the staff. He was doing it to bait her, but she wasn’t losing her cool today. “My office.”
    Max saluted her in military fashion. “Yes, sir.” He winked at Jami and headed down the hall.
    Jami giggled at Max’s retreating figure. “He’s so funny.”
    Kendall cleared her throat, her usual signal for her staff to get back to work. “Do you have my agenda for today, Jami?”
    The laughter abruptly stopped. “Yes ma’am. Max pushed the Donovan sonogram back to two o’clock.”
    “Why is Max moving my appointments around without consulting me?”
    Jami looked flustered. “Max said he’d take care of it.”
    Kendall knew Max probably had a valid reason for changing the appointment times around, but he was on her bad list at the moment and should be taught a lesson. “Please remember that all changes should be authorized by me.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    At least someone treated her with respect, she thought. “Where’s Keerya?”
    Jami looked like a guilty child. She pretended great interest in the file on her desk. “I believe she’s running a little late this morning,” Jami offered in a low voice.
    And no doubt from partying all night, Kendall fumed silently. At twenty-eight, Keerya Sanchez was on her way to being a great OB nurse, but her night-time activities were playing havoc with her daytime job. Twice Kendall had had to reprimand Keerya for being late, and there wasn’t going to be a