One of These Nights Read Online Free PDF

“Yep, see you Sunday.” He was ready to hang up when she said the words that shoved a sliver of ice-cold fear directly through his heart.
    â€œI can’t wait to meet the mystery woman.”
    She was being perfectly sincere. But as it tended to do on the rare occasions he slipped into panic, the verbal tic Jason had worked so hard to rid himself of when he was a child returned to tie his tongue in knots. “I-I-I-I’m sure she’ll be h-happy to meet you, too.”
    Nice. In front of Zoe, even. You’re on a roll today, man.
    Zoe’s expression changed, ever so slightly, and Jason looked away. He had to. The last thing he needed was a dose of pity from a woman who was already way the hell out of his league. His mother clucked her tongue at him across the miles. “Oh, don’t be nervous, honey. I’m sure I’ll love her. It’s about time you found somebody who appreciates you. After all Sara put you through, you deserve it.”
    â€œUh.” It was the only response he could muster, but she didn’t seem to mind.
    â€œLove you, see you Sunday!” she chirped. “I’ll call once Moira picks me up and we’re on our way!”
    His aunt Moira, Jake’s mother. A woman who knew damn well he wasn’t dating anyone. His spur-of-the-moment plan was already in flames, and he hadn’t even hung up the phone. Maybe he ought to be glad he now had an epic fail like this to hold up as the ultimate proof that he really just needed to give up on having a social life.
    â€œBye,” Jason said, his voice barely a growl, and hung up. He tossed the phone to the side, where it landed between a couple of couch pillows, and shoved his face into his hands. He didn’t need to look at Zoe’s face to know what must be written all over it. There was a long moment of silence. And then finally, in a voice that would have been as rich as cream but for the violence vibrating through it, Zoe spoke. Carefully. Deliberately.
    Homicidally.
    â€œWhat. Did. You. Just. Do?”

Chapter Three
    Z oe stared at the big scruffy idiot on the couch and tried to decide whether the man was some sort of cosmic punishment for a whole lot of wrongs committed in a former life. If he was, then his continuing torment of her might make some kind of sense. If he wasn’t, well . . . somebody up there had a very twisted sense of humor.
    Even now, laid up with one leg in a clunky cast and wearing a pair of ragged old cargo shorts and a T-shirt that had seen better days, Jason was too appealing for his own good.
Nasty, miserable, inappropriately attractive dirt farmer.
He lifted his face from his hands to look at her, and it was hard not to feel sorry for him. Well, a little sorry. The rest of her was too busy being furious with him right now.
    â€œI can explain,” he said, the low rumble of his voice rippling through her in ways that were just as inappropriate as the rest of him. His brown eyes were pleading, a new look for him. They were also flecked with gold when the light hit them, a fact Zoe had been determinedly ignoring ever since he’d first clomped into her gallery. Not that it was ever easy. And not that she ever really managed it anyway. His fault, obviously. Right now, she was happy to blame him for everything from his pretty eyes to the phases of the moon.
    â€œExplain what?” she snapped. “Why you just told your mother I was your girlfriend? Good, because this is something I really have to hear.”
    â€œI didn’t say that.” Now he was getting defensive, and that was something she
was
used to. She stared at his guilty face—his annoying, ruggedly handsome, guilty face, with all its interesting angles and stubble and
Damn it, Zoe, focus
—and pressed her lips together, exhaling loudly.
    â€œJason,” she said, “I am standing right here. Don’t you lie to my face.”
    He screwed up his mouth and seemed to