Cougar's Eve Read Online Free PDF Page A

I felt his eyes on me as I locked the front door so it would stay closed. Nervously, I walked into the kitchen to get his refreshment. “Ice?” I asked.
    “Please,” he responded as he joined me in the small space. He took the glass from me and downed the water as though he hadn’t had any for days.
    “Refill?” I asked, wondering why we were only speaking in one-word sentences.
    “That would be great, thanks,” he said as he handed the glass back to me.
    Think, Eve! Con-ver-sation. You know how to do it. Now, start talking to the man! I swallowed and racked my brain for a topic.
    “So how long have you worked for Max?” Not that I really cared at the moment, but I did want to keep talking to him.
    He took a drink of water then answered, “About three weeks. I work for a contractor out of Alton, Illinois who sent me to fill in for Max’s father while his arm heals.”
    I calculated the number of weeks it took for a broken arm to heal and internally smiled. I would definitely send Max’s dad a card telling him to take all the time he needed to heal; in fact, maybe he should take a couple of extra weeks, if needed. Suddenly, I thought of all of the things I needed to repair around my house. “Do you travel a lot for work?”
    He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Yeah, mostly throughout the Midwest.”
    “Where do you stay?” After the question was out of my mouth, I regretted it. I wasn’t planning to show up at his hotel room, and with the way he looked, he could easily have a woman in every town he visited. Though I was just making conversation, he probably thought I wanted to be added to the list. How embarrassing!
    He laughed. “I’m staying at Max’s place right now.”
    Since I’d already stuffed my foot in my mouth, I figured I might as well make room for the other one. “Does your family miss you?”
    How’s that for asking if he’s single, eh? Good, right? Maybe? Ugh, I’m so bad at this!
    “My parents and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye since I moved out about ten years ago. I enjoy being on the move,” he sighed. “It’s hard work, but I like it.”
    I glanced at his ring finger but didn’t see a band or even a tan line. Then again, most people in construction didn’t wear rings since it could be hazardous to their job. It could get caught on something or easily bent.
    “Your wife must be very understanding,” I pressed.
    His smile was incredible. It lit up his entire face, and he had the most adorable dimples. He always looked directly at me when he spoke, and I felt as though I could drown in his eyes quite happily. I realized I was staring again.
    “No wife and no girlfriend to be understanding.” His grin widened. Just as I was wondering if he was gay, which would be about my damn luck, he added, “No guy, either.”
    Where was the nearest rock? I was definitely going crawl under it and hide for a while. “Sorry, I…um…” Shit, what did I say to that? I blushed even harder and looked at the floor.
    “Maybe, we should start over,” he suggested. He held out his hand to formally introduce himself. “I’m Vale. Nice to meet you, Ms. Dubois.”
    I took his hand in mine, and a spark of his energy zapped up my arm, making me gasp lightly. “I-I’m Eve.” Whoa, what the hell had just happened? I rubbed my hand absent-mindedly, still trying to figure out the cause of the electric shock.
    “Eve…” he said as though considering my name. “Very pretty.”
    I laughed and replied, “You wouldn’t think so if you knew my full name.”
    He raised his eyebrows. “Oh really? Now, I’m intrigued.”
    I shook my head. “Promise not to laugh?” It was quickly becoming easy to talk to him, and the words just tumbled out of my mouth.
    His eyes sparkled with mischief. “You can’t tell someone not to laugh; it makes them laugh anyway.”
    There was that sexy smile again. Part of me wondered if he was being so adorable on purpose then I found myself laughing with him. “How