BTW: I Love You (Mills & Boon M&B) (One Hot Fling - Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

favour.
    His lips formed into a tight smile. And offering to help would have the added benefit of making them quits. He hated to be indebted to anyone.
    He thought of her parting comment and frowned.
    If she didn’t want to be saved, that was her hard luck.
    He heard the sharp rap on the door as his fingers closed on the knob.
    She looked cute and wet and cold, like a half-drowned Little Orphan Annie. Her teeth chattered as water dripped off her clothes and splashed into a puddle on the doorstep. He noticed the ancient bike lying in a heap as she wrestled off her waterproof and flung it on the floor.
    Green fire flashed in those sexy, sultry eyes as they met his and her chin jutted out.
    Okay, maybe that should be Little Terminator Annie. Looked as if her earlier strop had gone ballistic. But then his gaze snagged on the outline of her nipples through the wet fabric of her T-shirt and suddenly he wasn’t thinking of Annie any more, orphaned or otherwise.
    ‘If you say I told you so,’ she snarled, ‘I’ll kill you myself.’
    He jerked his eyes off her breasts, felt the pulse of heat in his groin and coughed, an unfamiliar tickle in his throat.
    ‘Come in,’ he said, trying for stern but not quite getting there, thanks to the tickle.
    He pushed the door wide and stepped back silently to let her in.
    She dripped into the hallway, stiff and forlorn, then muttered something that sounded like, ‘I hate you, Miss Fixit.’
    He cleared his throat, the tickle getting worse. Then the heat pulsed harder as he took in the trim curve of her backside in the clinging denims.
    She swept her hair back from her face sprinkling him with droplets, and said something about her bike, but the words were drowned out by the wild buzzing in his ears and the glorious swell of heat blossoming in his abdomen.
    She shot an annoyed look over her shoulder. ‘Don’t hold back on my account. Say it. You know you want to.’
    The scowl made her look even cuter. Like a pixie having a temper tantrum. His eyes snagged on her breasts again. Make that a very sexy pixie having a temper tantrum.
    ‘What, and risk death and dismemberment?’ he said dryly. ‘No, thanks.’
    Her eyes widened and the scowl deepened. ‘So Grumpy has a sense of humour.’ She slapped a hand on one slim but shapely hip and looked even sexier. ‘What a surprise it’s at my expense.’
    The heat surged and the tickle returned with a vengeance. He coughed, struggled to focus, as something light and airy and inexplicable bubbled up inside his chest. ‘Exactly who’s calling who Grumpy?’ The quip came out on a strangled groan as the tickle became a tidal wave of pressure, building under his breastbone and making his ribs ache.
    She drilled a finger into his chest, wet curls flopping over her brow. ‘Don’t you dare laugh at me.’ Her foot stamped and the sopping trainer squelched. ‘Or you’ll really have something to be grumpy about.’
    He wasn’t sure if it was the preposterous threat that did it, delivered with total conviction as only an angry pixie could, or the outraged colour tinting her cheeks and making her emerald eyes sparkle with fury. But the dam cracked and then broke. A sound he barely recognised rattled out—and then wouldn’t stop, reverberating against the cold empty walls. He gulped in air, clutching his sides, his ribs hurting as the unfamiliar sound got richer and deeper and more out of control, filling him with a warmth he hadn’t felt in months.
    Maddy gaped, her outrage replaced by utter astonishment.
    Her grumpy Adonis had tears in his eyes he was laughing so hard. The sound had been rusty at first, almost painful, but he was practically bent double now, his hand braced on the wall to keep him upright. His arctic eyes were alive with mischiefas the barrage of laughs finally subsided to a rumbling chuckle.
    She would have been less amazed if the man had started tap dancing.
    She took her hand off her hip, unable to stop the answering grin