Tempting Mr. Wrong (Wrong Man) Read Online Free PDF Page B

agreed and after he grabbed one of his bags from his Jeep, Carly showed him to a powder room.
    Fifteen minutes later, they were seated at the island in the kitchen drinking hot tea while Mya colored on the floor.
    Lance couldn’t help but take in Carly. Her wet, clingy clothes were gone, only to be replaced by a bright blue tank top that showcased her curves and form-fitting jeans. All of that curly red hair spilled over her shoulders. He could just imagine running his hands through it…
    “Lance.”
    His head snapped up and he could feel heat flush over his cheeks. “Sorry?”
    “I said, are you going to tell me about that letter or what?”
    “Yeah, or what?” Mya echoed from the floor, even as she deliberated between a green crayon and a purple crayon.
    “Of course. Well, it appears your crazy brother wrote me a letter with instructions on the off-chance he should…” His voice faded but Carly’s eyes lit with awareness.
    “Ah, I see. I can’t imagine what he asked you to do.”
    “Check in on you guys. But mainly, he wanted to make sure everything was good with this house.”
    Carly put her mug on the counter and gestured around the room. “As you can see, the house is great.”
    He snorted. “Carly, come on.”
    “What?” she asked, pure innocence in her eyes. “Chris did a ton of work before he…well, before.”
    “It looks like he did a lot of cosmetic fixes, which are great. This room and what I’ve seen of the others looks amazing. But—”
    “But what?”
    “This is an old house, Carly.”
    “So what?” she asked.
    “Yeah, so what?” Mya once again added.
    “So the windows look ancient. They need to be replaced. You need an alarm system. Some of the doors need to be reinforced. And then there’s that monstrosity out back.”
    Confusion washed over her face. Carly glanced over her shoulder. “What? The fence?”
    “It’s falling down. Do you have any kind of security here?”
    “Well…I mean, um…I never really thought about it.”
    “I think Chris put his time and attention into the inside. Like I said, it looks great.”
    Carly stood. “Look, Lance, this is sweet of you to come all this way. Especially right after you got out of the army. But Mya and I are just fine.”
    Lance rose as well and shook his head. “Your brother, my best friend, asked me to make sure this house was in good working order and I’m not going to fail him. There’s work that needs to be done here.”
    Carly’s hands went to her hips. “Don’t you have anything better to do than play HGTV on my house?”
    “Um, yeah,” he said, not even attempting to keep the exasperation out of his voice. “I have a whole bucket list of things I want to do. But Chris wrote this to me.” He tapped on the letter which he’d placed on the counter. Hard.
    “Lance, you don’t have to—”
    “Yes, I do. I’d do anything for him. And anything for Mya.”
    After a long moment, Carly relented. “Fine. Do what you have to do. But how long do you think it will take?”
    “I don’t know. I’ll need to take a better look around. A couple weeks maybe. I made a hotel reservation for two weeks but told them it might need to be longer.”
    “At the Inn on Main Street?” she asked.
    “I tried but they’re actually booked for a couple different weddings and events. I’m at the hotel out on the highway.”
    Her mouth fell open. “Lance, that’s thirty miles from here.”
    “It was the closest I could find.”
    She nodded. “Well, I’ll keep checking with the Inn. See if something opens up.”
    “You should stay here with us.”
    They both looked down to find Mya’s sweet face looking from one of them to the other.
    “Mya, Uncle Lance doesn’t want to stay here with us.”
    “Sure he does. Don’t you, Uncle Lance? Please? Pleeeaaase,” she begged as her lower lip puckered.
    “Well, I don’t want to intrude. I’m sure you have a very busy tent-making schedule to adhere to.”
    “Don’t you want to