Caught in the Current (Pacific Shores Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

“No. Why would they—Oh! My car!” She felt the burn of humiliation. He must think she was such a ditz. “Normally I drive Alyssa and me. But I’m sure they won’t mind picking us up tomorrow. I’ll just give them a call.” What was she going to do about the betrayal of her Corolla? She pushed the thought aside. Her Judas of a car was a problem for another day.
    He cleared his throat and turned on his blinker as Coral approached. “I can pick you up, if you like.”
    Hadn’t she just been telling herself she needed to eschew the man’s kindness? Yet, it would be easier just to have him get them. And she couldn’t just skip tomorrow, because she was on for Sweet Inspirations. Maybe she should call Dan and have him get them? But he lived on the other side of the church from them.
    She bit her lip in indecision for a moment before finally saying, “I guess if you don’t mind, it would be a big help. Thank you.”
    “Happy to help.”
    Her pulse launched into a flat-out sprint, and she clenched her teeth in chagrin. He was only offering as a friend. And besides, if it was an offer of more, her answer would be a firm no. This was the man who had shredded her heart with the efficiency of a meat grinder. And on top of that…even if she was willing to risk her heart to him again, there was no doubt that a guy like Reece deserved a woman who didn’t come with so much baggage. Accepting his help would only complicate matters. So what was she thinking?
    She wasn’t. That’s what. It was her exhaustion doing the thinking for her. She would just have to be doubly on her guard, that was all.
    Reece eased to a stop in the space in front of her building, an old two-story house which had been converted into four apartments, two up and two down.
    So he had remembered where she lived.
    He hopped out and jogged around to her side to get Alyssa. “I’ll get her for you.”
    Since she didn’t know how she would have managed to haul Alyssa and the big car seat all the way up the narrow staircase with her numb finger that resembled a mini banana, she only stepped back and thanked him. “I’ll get the car seat.”
    When they stepped into her living room from the upper hallway, Reece paused and looked around.
    As Marie set the car seat into the small coat closet, where it would be out of the way for the moment, she followed his gaze around her apartment.
    She’d never had a lot of money, and her tastes tended toward shabby chic. She’d repurposed an old, straight wooden ladder, painted white and distressed, into a bookshelf along one wall. Several of Alyssa’s books lay in a catawampus heap toward one end. An old window-paneled door, which she’d converted into a mirror with coat hooks along the bottom, hung just below the shelf. Even though she liked the scuffed-paint look she’d given the piece, Reece probably only saw scratched-up junk as he hooked his Stetson on one of the hooks.
    The two white wicker chairs were cushioned with pillows she’d made from old jeans—she’d found both the chairs and the jeans at a garage sale and been hit with the inspiration for the project. And the loveseat which sat against the living room’s one blue wall had come from Goodwill. One of the cushions had been torn, but she’d duct taped it closed and then sewn a couch cover from white flat sheets. Two more of the jean pillows lay on the floor near the TV. Alyssa must have forgotten to return them to their place this morning before they left for the store.
    Marie hurried to pick them up. “Uh…Alyssa’s room is just through here.” She tossed the pillows onto the couch and hustled down the hall, pushing open the door to Alyssa’s room and kicking aside stuffed animals in a path to the bed. She pulled down the blankets.
    Reece gently deposited Alyssa against her pillow and stepped back.
    Since it was such a warm day, Marie just pulled the sheet up over Alyssa and then turned for the hallway. But Reece hadn’t backed away more