Seducing Phoebe (Crimson Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

to her love life, she’d realized that life wasn’t a party. How many times in her life had it been proven to her that love hurt? That you couldn’t rely on love to keep people by your side. She’d be better off remaining single.
    Phoebe went to close her door when she realized that Marco had gone and she was staring into space.
    “Don’t close it yet.”
    She let out a little scream, clutching her keys against her chest. A figure walked out of the shadows and stepped onto her path.
    “Stop, don’t come any closer.” She held out her hand as if trying to ward off a bad spirit from entering her house. But it wasn’t a bad spirit — it was John Allen, the man who was causing all her turmoil, standing on her path. She could see the devil-may-care attitude about him — the same attitude that had lured her in the first time.
    “Aww come on, Phoebs, let me in,” he said with a grin that at one time had her hanging onto his every word. Her heart gave a little stutter in response, before picking up its regular beat. Suddenly he didn’t seem to be as special as she remembered.
    “What do you want, John?”
    “I just want to talk.” He took a couple of steps closer. “Please, you owe me that much. Didn’t you get my flowers and card with my invitation? We were supposed to meet up tonight.”
    “I’m sorry, I don’t owe you anything,” she said, unexpected anger starting to build up inside of her. If she should be angry with anyone, it should be herself for what she’d done that evening. “Yes I got the flowers and invite, but I had dinner plans already. And I also happened to think the idea sucked. You should leave now.”
    “You broke off your engagement, didn’t you?” His self-assured question came out of the blue. “Was it because of me?”
    “I don’t think that’s any of your business,” she said after a moment. “Besides, what makes you think I’ve broken my engagement?”
    “Let’s see.” Smugness colored his voice as he tapped his finger against his temple. “You’re not wearing your engagement ring, and your fiancé left here in a mighty big hurry and his last words to you were ‘It’s not over
.
’”
    Phoebe tried to keep the shock off her face. It was creepy that he knew so much. He had to have been watching her and Marco together. Her earlier thoughts of him stalking her returned. “It doesn’t matter what you think you know. Your opinion doesn’t concern me.”
    “I think you’re protesting too much.” He went to touch her cheek but she took a step back, effectively putting her out of his reach. “So are you going to invite me in now that you’re a single woman again? We can pick up where we left off.”
    Phoebe looked at the man standing in front of her. How on earth had she ever been attracted to him? It was like he was a completely different person than the person he’d been when they had been dating. And the person that had sat down at her table two weeks ago. Maybe this was the real John — and if it was, she didn’t want to have anything to do with him.
    It seemed like he’d fooled her once again. He hadn’t sounded that way when they’d first spoken. He’d sounded heartbroken, as if his life was over and only she could make it better.
    “So you’re just looking for a fling, are you?” she demanded. “What happened to your declarations of making a mistake by breaking up with me? You now sound like the high school jock who thinks he is better than the rest and all the girls will fall at his feet with just a wave of his hand.”
    She straightened her spine as John came closer to her. This time he moved quicker and reached out a hand to stroke her hair. It was an action he’d done many times before, a gesture she had taken as him caring for her. She’d always melted against him when he’d done it. Now she felt nothing. No warming of her skin. No rapid beating of her heart. His touch now left her cold.
    “Oh, Phoebe, what’s happened to the girl who