Have Bouquet, Need Boyfriend Read Online Free PDF Page A

it.

    He grimaced. Good grief, he was an OB-GYN.

    The car swerved sideways, and he yanked up the purse, stuffed the tampon
    inside and closed it for her. Her lips snapped shut.

    Then she hit another bump in the road, and the chest in the back bounced
    up and slammed down with a thump. He angled his head to see it. “What’s
    in that box, anyway?”

    Rebecca’s gaze darted everywhere but at him. “Just some junk for a
    garage sale.”

    He lapsed into silence as he remembered the dozens of garage sales his
    mother had had. She’d sold everything she could stand to part with just
    to provide for them. He’d hated seeing their things being hocked to
    strangers for mere pocket change.

    Surely Rebecca wasn’t that desperate for money.

    If she was, she’d have a hell of a time paying her insurance if the
    company raised it after they covered the damages to his car.

    But her finances were not his problem, he reminded himself, battling a
    twinge of sympathy. He was not playing Mr. Nice Guy again. He would
    befriend Rebecca so she could introduce him to her father, then he’d
    secure the job and move to Atlanta. Nothing more.

    A half hour later Rebecca’s insides still quivered. What had happened to
    her today? Not only had she ruined Thomas’s Porsche, but she’d damn near
    run off the road and killed him. Then she’d lied to him about the silly
    hope chest.

    But she didn’t want him to think she was husband hunting, that she would
    mistake his kindness for an advance. Because Thomas Emerson was the
    nicest man she’d ever met. And the sexiest. And someone was going to be
    the luckiest woman alive one day to have him for a husband.

    Of course, that someone would not be her.

    Memories of at least three painful past relationships traipsed through
    her mind, trampling her mood altogether. Memories of men who had used
    her to get to Suzanne.

    No, Thomas wasn’t like those men. He was trustworthy and sincere and
    helped women through his work. He would never use a woman. Although, she
    had overheard him asking Hannah about Suzanne when she’d gone for punch.

    She veered onto the interstate toward his house, grateful for the soft
    jazz music filling the tense silence. Once she dropped him at his house,
    she wouldn’t have to face him again. She could handle the insurance
    information over the phone and never have to look into those startling
    green eyes again. As long as she didn’t see him, she could put him
    firmly out of her mind.

    Then she wouldn’t have to drool over him and want the man so badly.

    After all, she was a realist. She refused to torture herself and dream
    about things she could never have.

    Like Thomas Emerson.

    Thomas shook his head as Rebecca drove away. She was an enigma. He’d
    finally grown tired of the strained silence in the car and had ventured
    into asking her about a book he’d ordered that hadn’t yet arrived.

    She had transformed into an intelligent, well-spoken woman.

    The past half hour they’d enjoyed a long discussion of various popular
    titles as well as nonfiction topics. Rebecca was well-read and
    insightful, and had even argued with him about the authors of some
    hard-to-find classics. But when he’d suggested they stop by her place so
    he could help her unload that chest full of garage sale items, she’d
    grown flustered again. She’d claimed her neighbor, Jerry Ruthers, would
    assist her instead.

    Was this guy Jerry her boyfriend? Was he the reason she’d rushed to get
    home and had refused Thomas’s offer of coffee?

    An odd feeling pinched his gut. Maybe it was from the chocolate groom’s
    cake he’d eaten at Alison’s wedding. No, probably from the jostling his
    body had been subjected to on the harrowing ride home.

    He walked inside his house, smiling at the expanse of polished hardwood
    and detailed molding. As a child, he’d never imagined owning a house
    like this, one with space and class. He tossed his keys onto the marble
    table in the