Kisses After Dark Read Online Free PDF

That he was obviously smitten with his nephew only made him more attractive. What was wrong with her that she could go from reliving the horror of the near attack by the doctor she worked with to thinking Shane was attractive?
    So he was good-looking as well as kind and attentive toward his nephew. That didn’t mean he was always that way. People often had two sides to them, as she knew all too well. Keeping her focus on the baby, she walked with Shane beside her.
    “How long are you here?” he asked.
    “I’m not sure.” Now that there was nothing to go home to in Texas, she’d thought about staying awhile, if Laura and Owen didn’t mind having her around. She’d wanted to get past the wedding before she brought that up with them. “Do you live here, or are you just here for the wedding?”
    “It seems I live here now.”
    “It seems?”
    “I hadn’t planned to move here, but Laura asked me to come help with the hotel renovations. Then our cousin Mac asked me to stay through the summer to work on a project of his. Next thing you know, I’ve been here eight months with no end in sight to the work.”
    “Where do you normally live?”
    “I used to live in Providence.”
    “Do you like it here?”
    “I love it. I came here as a kid to visit my cousins in the summer. Those were the best times. With Laura here and now our dad out here year-round, too, it’s begun to feel like home.”
    “We used to come in the summers to visit our grandparents. I loved it then, and it’s hardly changed at all since the last time I was here.”
    “I wonder if we were ever here at the same time when we were kids.”
    “The last time I was here in the summer was when I was seventeen. So fifteen years ago.”
    “You’re thirty-two?” he asked, sounding surprised.
    “Yeah, so?”
    “You don’t look it. I would’ve guessed twenty-three or -four.”
    “Oh come on! No way.”
    “Yes, way! I’m not kidding. I never would’ve guessed you’re older than me.”
    She glanced at him out of the side of her eye. “By how much?”
    “Only two years. Don’t worry.”
    “That’s a relief,” she said teasingly.
    “Speaking of relief, let me take him.” He reached for Holden. “He gets heavy after a while.”
    While Katie had enjoyed holding the baby, her arms tingled as blood flowed through them after she was relieved of his weight.
    Holden squealed when Shane plopped him back on his shoulders, keeping a firm grip on the baby’s tiny body. He grasped a tight handful of Shane’s hair, making his uncle wince.
    “Easy, buddy. You’ll give me a bald spot.” He extricated his hair from Holden’s grip without losing a beat in their walk. “I think we might’ve been here at the same time. Maybe we met way back then.”
    “Maybe.”
    “So what do you do down there in Texas?”
    “I’m a nurse practitioner.”
    “Oh, really? That’s cool. In a hospital?”
    She shook her head. “For a doctor. Until recently anyway.” The words popped out before she remembered no one knew she’d quit her job. “I’ll be job hunting eventually, but do me a favor and don’t mention that to my family. I haven’t told them I quit my job.”
    “I won’t say anything.”
    “Thanks.”
    “So why’d you leave your job?”
    Katie was astounded to realize she wanted to tell him. He was so nice and easy to talk to. It would be such a relief to unburden herself, but she couldn’t do that. Not when she hadn’t even told Julia. “It’s a long story.” As they were close to the stairs that led up to the hotel, the generic response was an easy out.
    “Some other time, then.”
    “Sure.”
    He stopped walking and turned to her. “I was wondering…”
    “About?”
    “Since you’re going to be here awhile, could I take you to dinner some night? Maybe tonight?”
    After a lifetime of avoiding men, brushing off their unwelcome attention and generally dodging situations like this one, she had no idea how to respond to him. She’d