Her Irresistible Troublemaker (A Town Named Eden Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

screen. Lexie sat back and took in the smiling eyes and the slight curve of his lips.
    He’d smiled…
    “I need to know exactly what went on between you two,” Ava demanded.
    Lexie wanted to deny anything had happened but instead, she delivered a cathartic deluge of stilted bullet points summarizing her encounter with Jack Riley.
    “Are you skipping over the juicy bits? You know, the part where you told him to go jump?”
    “Brace yourself. I folded. I was putty in his hands. There’s something about him... Ugh!” She thumped her fisted hands on the desk. “Something both infuriating and appealing. I can’t put my finger on it.”
    “Is your finger pointing toward attraction?”
    No way on this earth could she be—
    Okay. Physically, the man was the best eye candy she’d come across in a long time. But the rest...
    The arrogance.
    The assumption that he could have things his way, or no way…
    “This dry spell is really doing my head in, but if you hear me complain again, feel free to give me a swift kick. I’m off to work on that new adventure for Lulu.” Work had plucked her out from the post-accident doldrums, so it could bail her out again and help her skate through the rest of the evening.
                 
    * * *
     
    Jack would bet anything she’d been naked under her robe.
    “You’re not doing yourself any favors,” he muttered. He’d been doing a lot of that during the last ten hours of non-stop work, growling and shoving aside thoughts about Lexie Gardner as he added another coat of paint.
    She had a hot date tonight.
    With someone new?
    Maybe it wouldn’t work out.
    “Yeah, that sort of thinking is not really going to help,” he insisted. The sooner he evicted the sewing circle that kept using his head as a regular meeting place, the better, he thought doing a final check of the building to make sure everything had been switched off.
    She had a date…
    He hadn’t been on a date since he’d come to his senses and realized every woman he met reminded him of Juliette. Same type, same merry-go-round experience. It had been well over a year since he’d ditched his suit and tie and it still amazed him how quickly everything had changed. The mere mention of a switch in careers had sent Juliette running in the opposite direction. To be fair to her, she’d stuck it out for a few months. It should have demolished his ego, but instead, he’d embraced the new perspective the experience had given him. Women had been attracted to the full package deal and without it…
    Jack shuffled his way out of that thought and calling it quits for the day, he caved in to the need to eat something.
    Instant gratification in a burger, that’s what he wanted. And, after a day spent working alone, he wouldn’t mind rejoining the herd, albeit from the sidelines.
    With his thoughts fixed on satisfying his neglected hunger pangs, he made short work of packing up and leaving.
    He didn’t go further than the local Monkey Bar Café. Although small, the place seemed to be quite busy, so he had ample time to look at the menu board and decide what he wanted to have. When he placed his order, Jack turned and leaned against the counter.
    Maybe he’d been thinking too much about Lexie. At first he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the longer he looked, the less convincing he needed. Wearing a light pink blouse, a lime green cardigan, Capri pants and ballet slippers, she didn’t look anything like the vixen he’d seen that morning.
    She sat at a table by the door, her head lowered, her rich brown hair falling over her face, which was half hidden by a magazine. He was about to turn away when he decided he should say hello. After all, they’d already met. Sort of.
    With any luck, his order would be ready before they even had a chance to fall into an awkward silence, or worse, engage in the verbal altercation he’d denied her when he’d hung up on her last night. Then again, she’d had the