One Man Rush Read Online Free PDF Page A

pitch?” Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he tried to get a handle on Marissa Collins. “Here? Now?”
    “I’m not selling anything. And I apologize if the timing is less than ideal, but I assure you that I’m excellent at what I do. I work with men and women who are looking for that special someone—”
    “I’m not looking for anyone special.” He spread his arms wide and declared the point loud and clear to the world at large. “But I will tell you what I am looking for.”
    Lowering his arms, he reevaluated his approach to the cagey matchmaker who insisted on talking business when he had better things in mind. He calculated the best angle of pursuit and stalked toward her slowly. Carefully.
    Because damn it, he hadn’t been reading the signals that she’d been giving him wrong.
    There was more at stake between them than a sales pitch.
    “Mr. Murphy—”
    “Kyle.” He got closer without startling her.
    “Kyle.” She licked her lips, and he wondered if she liked the taste of his name there. “I represent some of the city’s most beautiful, eligible women.”
    “I have no time for dating at this point in my career. And to be honest, I’m not interested in any matchmaking service right now whether or not I pay for it.”
    His summer would be spent setting up his youth hockey camp, in fact. He’d already talked to some potential sponsors for Full Strength Hockey Camp, a place where kids could learn the sport and gain confidence on the ice. Hockey was expensive and not everyone had the kind of support he’d had growing up. Seeing the kind of background his Finnish foster brother, Axel, had come from made Kyle want to give back. The world would have missed a great hockey player if Ax had been left to languish in Helsinki with a mom who’d already written him off.
    So his short-term goals didn’t include anything serious in the dating department. That didn’t mean he couldn’t cash in on a taste of Marissa Collins.
    “You wouldn’t,” she assured him quickly, cutting him off. Her grip on her silk shawl loosened.
    “Okay.” He noticed she’d stuck the fake wedding band on the thumb of her right hand. Her short fingernails were neat and free of polish, as perfectly groomed as the rest of her. “This is really important to you, isn’t it?”
    “Finding the right person should be important to you, too.” She dug in her purse and came up with a navy-blue linen business card with a local address.
    “But you’ve sought me out for a reason.” He didn’t take the card. He had the feeling she’d bolt from the terrace the second she closed this deal. “And since I’m not paying you to locate potential candidates to hook up with, someone else must have a bounty out on me.”
    She straightened, her indignation wiping away the expression of polite, professional distance.
    “I do not facilitate hookups, Kyle. My track record for arranging long-lasting, significant relationships speaks for itself.”
    “Then you can arrange an enduring relationship for another guy, okay? Not me.” He’d followed her back to the center of the terrace near the low couch and chairs they’d first sat in.
    While it was tempting to back her up to the coffee table and take that kiss his mouth was watering for, a better plan came to mind involving more finesse and less coercion. More of a give-and-go play as opposed to a hard-core slap shot.
    Crumpling her business card in her hand, she studied him as if he was a particularly vexing opponent. The fact that she hadn’t walked away yet spoke volumes about how much she wanted his cooperation. He’d all but insulted her business and he’d tried to corner her into a kiss. It wasn’t one of his finer moments, but she’d caught him off guard at every turn.
    “Unless…”
    He let the word dangle between them, the carrot he needed to entice her.
    “What?” She halted the idle mangling of her business card.
    “Maybe we could work a trade.”
    “I don’t follow you.”