His Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

implored. “Even if it’s just a drive, or the other part of Long Beach, anything. A walk on the boardwalk, I haven’t brought him there yet. Would that be okay?” She stared into Toni’s face and grasped her arms, hope crossing her features. “I know asking you to take my brother out isn’t your responsibility, but I’ll make it up to ya, I swear. He needs to really unwind. Gavin’s not bad, right?”
    “God, no,” Toni said. “He’s great.” She hoped that sounded casual. Because she didn’t feel very casual about Gavin. After only forty-eight hours with him, she already was fighting ridiculously strong urges. Like, trying not to think about how much she’d been secretly swooning over his gorgeous face and his sexy, lean body that she’d gotten to gaze on the beach. Or his charming accent, his innate sweetness, and his compelling intelligence.
    Once they’d realized they had a mutual love of history, the conversations had flowed easily. His brains turned her on as much as his looks did. And yes, he was slightly reserved, but not at all dull. Most of the guys she’d met recently loved to talk about themselves, or about things she had no interest in, or both. Gavin wasn’t chatty, so when he spoke, she paid attention. Not to mention how damn hot he looked with those silver-rimmed glasses over those bright blue eyes and… yeah, dammit, she liked him. “I’d be happy to take Gavin out tonight. If he wants to go out with me, that is.”
    “I’d love to go out with you tonight,” he said from behind her.
    Toni turned to see him standing only a foot behind her, hair still damp, face freshly shaved, cleanly handsome in a pale blue polo shirt and khaki shorts. His eyes caught hers and held, and he smiled softly. She felt herself blush as the butterflies flew loose and commandeered her stomach. “Great. Then we will.”
    “Fantastic!” Anna cried. She practically ran into the living room and grabbed her bag. “Here…” She dug out her wallet and pulled out some bills. “Dinner’s on me.”
    “Put your money away,” Gavin said sharply. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
    With a harrumph, she shoved the money back into her bag. “I just feel so bad that I have to leave ya almost every night while you’re here,” she said.
    “Don’t,” Gavin commanded. “You’re my host, not my babysitter. I’m here to relax. You don’t have to entertain me, Anna. At all. I’m fine on my own. I’m used to bein’ on my own.”
    “I know that, but—”
    “But nothin’. So stop it. Go to work before you’re late.” He slanted a grin in Toni’s direction. “Besides, you all but hired me a companion for the night, didn’t ya?”
    “That’s me,” Toni joked. “A hired escort. Don’t tell my parents, they’ll flip.”
    Anna snickered as she scooped up her bag, tossing her cell phone into it. She headed for the door. “All right, all right. At least I’m at ease knowing you’re in good hands for the night.” She turned around, eyed them together for a moment, broke into a wicked smile, and said, “I don’t want to see ya down at the Nest. At all. That’s an order. Go out somewhere else, somewhere nicer, somewhere you can dance, anything. All right? Good. I’ll see you two in the mornin’.” She opened the door and singsonged over her shoulder. “Have fuuuun!” And closed it behind her.
    Gavin turned to Toni and said, “I’m sorry about that. Look, you don’t have to take me out for the night. I’m not a puppy, for Chrissake, or a charity case. And it’s a Saturday night—you probably had plans anyway, I’m sure.”
    “Actually, no, I didn’t have any plans tonight,” Toni said. “I was just going to get some dinner somewhere, then go down to the Nest.” If he only knew how glad she was for the chance to spend a few hours alone with him. Somewhere they could talk—where he was fully dressed so she wouldn’t be distracted, unlike when they were on the beach or the deck all