Mr. Virile and the Girl Next Door Read Online Free PDF Page B

lungs. “Nice? The man of your dreams is nice ? Try again, this time give me some of that honesty you were talking about the other night.”
    “Oh, all right. But he is nice. It’s not a crime you know. I happen to like nice men.”
    Something pulled in his gut. “I’m a nice man.”
    Holly laughed. “No you’re not. You’re…”
    “A scoundrel?” he offered.
    “I was always more of a Luke Skywalker fan than Han Solo anyway.”
    “Now I know you’re lying. You better get back to this dream man of yours before I try to interest you in my light saber.”
    She rearranged a few petals from her bouquet and brought them to her nose, inhaling a deep, long breath that looked so sensual his pants became really uncomfortable. When did such a simple act become so sexy? “He enjoys his career. I don’t really care what it is as long as he’s happy with it.”
    “Uh-huh.” Somehow he didn’t see her settling with a shoe salesman who loved his job, but he’d let that go.
    “He’ll have to have a sense of humor. Because I like to laugh.”
    Dane nodded. He liked her laugh. Coupled with that husky voice, it was a real turn on. “Okay. What else? What does he look like?”
    “I don’t know. It’s not really important.”
    Dane exited the freeway. “I call bullshit.”
    “Looks are very low on my list.”
    “Not buying it.”
    “Dane, you don’t even know me. I find the inside of a person more attractive than the outside. Case in point, you’re an attractive man on the outside, but I’m not interested in you. You’ve tried to get me into bed at least once every conversation we’ve had, but have I taken you up on it? No.”
    His knuckles turned white on the wheel at the thought that she wasn’t interested. She was lying, of course, but he still didn’t like the thought of it. “I’ll just take this opportunity to remind you that you are currently on your way to my place and have agreed to be my girlfriend for the foreseeable future. I think you’re at least a little interested.”
    For a girl next door, she sure had a mean Bitch, please look. “ Pretend girlfriend.”
    Right. Pretend. They were only pretending, which was good because he didn’t want a relationship with her. But he did want her. Which confused him. “Back to Mr. Right.” And why he wasn’t it.
    “He’d be humble.”
    “There is a difference between being ego-centric and being confident. Women, even you, prefer confident men. That doesn’t mean I can’t be humble when the occasion calls for it.”
    “My dream guy will also want kids.”
    For the life of him, Dane couldn’t think of a smart retort for that. There was a longing there that she couldn’t hide as she stared out at nothing. He didn’t want to be her dream guy, honest he didn’t, but to be taken out of the running suddenly made him feel empty.
    “I’ve never wanted to be a father,” he said to fill the silence, but instead it grew, filling up his car with missed opportunities to somehow make it better.
    He bet she’d be a good mother. As much as her relationship advice annoyed the hell out of him, she had a way of making people feel good about themselves even when she was straight shooting what they didn’t want to hear.
    His parents hadn’t been very good with advice. Sure they encouraged him to follow his own path, but to a kid, the social aspect of childhood is pretty important, and they hadn’t helped him fit in. Not at all.
    Dane pulled into his driveway and tried to shake the melancholy feeling away.
    He led Holly through the house to the backyard. She seemed impressed by his neatness and the hominess of each room, so he didn’t bring up the cleaning service or decorator he employed.
    Holly sat cross-legged on his deck while Dane chucked balls to the dog. “Thanks for letting me stop home first. Boss needs to run every few hours or he eats curtains.”
    She stretched out her legs, warming them in the sun. “I’m having fun. He’s pretty