Road to Seduction (Kimani Romance) Read Online Free PDF

What about getting married one day? Are you putting that on hold forever?”
    She shrugged. “My life is leading me down a different path.”
    “A different path?”
    A hissing sound distracted him and he discovered that the pasta was boiling over. Wonderful . He snatched the pot off the stove and burned his hand in the process. Cursing, he nudged Izzy out of her spot in front of the sink and poured off the water. The resulting cloud of steam only made him hotter.
    He glared at her, this woman who was systematically ruiningwhat was supposed to be several relaxing days of fun. “What’re you—a nun now?”
    “I don’t think I’m ever getting married,” she told him.
    Eric froze. That he understood. This statement sounded so unlike Isabella that a chill came over him. Looking at her over his shoulder, he swallowed hard and wondered why the hell Izzy’s position on marriage mattered so much to him.
    It wasn’t like he was in the market for a wife. Why would he ever get married? So he could turn into a whipped, stoop-shouldered man like his father and his wife could turn into a Stepford Wife like his mother? No thank you . Not any time in the foreseeable future, if ever.
    And yet…Izzy’s determination to remain single still bothered him, and that was the weirdest thing. He couldn’t just drop the subject, no matter how much he wanted to.
    “Never say never, Iz.”
    She didn’t answer.
    In a day full of disturbing events, this small silence was the most troubling. He studied her.
    Maybe it was the rigidity in her shoulders, or the flatness in those eyes that normally sparkled like the Hope Diamond. Maybe it was the utter lack of hope on her face, when she was a person who made Pollyanna look almost like a gloomy pessimist. Whatever it was, he didn’t like it.
    Still…it gave him the answer he needed:
    Nothing . He would do nothing about his sudden attraction to Isabella. He would keep it to himself, and he would get over it. He would never— never —do anything to hurt her or their friendship, nor would he rock her boat right now when she was so vulnerable after Joe’s infidelity.
    Izzy had enough on her plate without her best friend trying to get in her panties, and she didn’t take breakups well anyway. Back in college, when that idiot Al dumped her, she’d taken off for that semester in Africa in a clear knee-jerk reaction.
    Hell, for all Eric knew, history was repeating itself here: Joe broke her heart, so she was leaving the country. Running andhiding in Africa, just like she’d done before. Maybe that was the only coping mechanism she had. Whether that was the case or not, the last thing she needed now was Eric sniffing after her.
    No matter how hard it was, and he suspected it was going to be very hard, he would keep his feelings under wraps. Doing anything else would be unfair and…dishonorable.
    His silent vow made, Eric felt much better because he’d chosen the right path. And much worse because he wanted her in his arms with an aching desperation. He felt empty and wrecked.
    He didn’t think he could shake it off any more than he could pitch for the Yankees. But…he would try his damnedest.
    “Let’s eat,” he said. Case closed.
     
    After dinner and cleanup, Eric talked her into watching The Empire Strikes Back again—it’s the best movie in the entire series, no question, he always said—and then they said their good-nights and Eric disappeared down the hall into the guest bedroom.
    Inside her own bedroom, Isabella lit her fresh-linen-scented aromatherapy candle, took a shower, threw on her matching pink cotton tank and boxers, and collapsed onto the bed with the remote. As usual, the pillow-arranging ritual—a girl could never have too many fluffy pillows—took several minutes, but finally she relaxed onto the down-covered heaven that was her comfy duvet.
    Zeus, his eyelids droopy from a long day full of play, trotted into the room from parts unknown with his enormous blue plaid