Romancing the Holiday Read Online Free PDF

that word, what with all the lying you seem to do.”
    “I didn’t lie.”
    “I am two seconds away from backing my car over you. The least you can do is admit you were a gigantic lying ass.”
    “Okay, fine.” He surrendered the battle stance and blew on his hands, which did nothing to keep them from turning red. “I’ll concede I wasn’t honest on the name thing.”
    For some reason she doubted she’d won anything. This guy didn’t strike her as someone who took losing all that well. “Since it’s true?”
    He shrugged. “But you have to admit Delilah sounds...”
    “What?”
    This time he tucked his hands in his jeans pockets. Even took a step back. “Like a woman who might enjoy three days in a hotel room with a stranger.”
    The fury simmering inside her exploded in every direction. Good news was it warmed her chilled blood. Bad news was it delivered a headache right behind it that pounded hard enough to muffle the rustling of the leaves and some of this annoying conversation.
    She was tired of being judged and certainly couldn’t tolerate it from someone who was an equal partner in her supposed hotel shame. “Well, Austin...oh, wait. That’s not your name, Mr. Judgy McJudgy.”
    “I didn’t...” Spence winced. “Yeah, admittedly that comment about your name may have come out wrong.”
    “You think?” She had a feeling the admission, lame as it was, wasn’t easy for him. The tic in his cheek gave that away. It also saved him from getting a kick in the shin...for now. “What were you going for?”
    “I have no idea, but the words sounded better in my head, though at the moment I’m not sure how.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “Let’s agree we both enjoyed a bit of anonymity that weekend.”
    As if she’d let him off that easily. “Only if you agree you were way out of line in using your brother’s name.”
    “Austin pointed that out to me back at the nursery.”
    It was as if Spence thought that comment was enough to absolve him. Honestly, the man was clueless.
    She put a hand to her ear. “I’m still not hearing an apology.”
    “Do you expect me to get on my knees and beg?”
    Wow, did that bring back memories. Not the begging, that part was all her pleading for him to go faster, but him on his knees and her...yeah, she remembered and she was pretty sure from the satisfied look on his face that he remembered. “I am going to start the car in two seconds, so you might want to run because I don’t plan to brake.”
    Amusement danced in his eyes as he lifted one hand in what looked like some demented version of a Boy Scout pledge. “I shouldn’t have lied, or at least should have come clean by day two, and I’m sorry. Honestly, we didn’t spend a lot of time talking and by the time I got your clothes off I didn’t care what your name was, or mine, so long as we stayed in bed.”
    Despite the killer smile and sparkle that had moved into his eyes, she kept her defenses up. “And?”
    “What?”
    “I’m waiting for you to say something to annoy me.”
    “I’ve been assured that’s inevitable with my personality.” He held up just one finger now. “Just give me a second.”
    The rage left her in a whoosh. The name thing had been stupid but, act or not, the men-are-idiots self-deprecating thing he was doing worked on her. Of course, if history were any indication, most anything this guy did worked on her. She hadn’t been a screamer before him. She also hadn’t left a bar with a stranger since college. Even then she’d known the guy through friends and never let her drink out of her sight. And it was stupid but all those years later with Spence most of her defenses had fallen again.
    Out of nowhere, the strangeness of the situation hit her. “What are the chances of us being at the same hotel at the same time then ending up here?”
    “Probably pretty good. There aren’t exactly a lot of nice hotels around here.” He rocked back on his heels. “Why were you there