The Ideal Man Read Online Free PDF Page A

call you Prod?”
    She shrugged. “He likes to.”
    She started walking down the long hallway with Max at her side.
    “What does it mean?” he asked.
    When she didn’t immediately answer, he glanced down at her and saw her cheeks were flushed. She was embarrassed, and that only piqued his interest all the more. He let the question go for now. “Did I hear you call him a dinosaur? When I asked you who he was . . .”
    She smiled. “You don’t see the resemblance? Actually, I usually call him ‘T. rex.’ I think it’s more personal. When he’s on a roar—which is ninety percent of the time—he does remind me of a gigantic, prehistoric beast.”
    She was moving at a fast clip.
    “Ellie, hold up. Where are you going?”
    “Upstairs to get my keys.”
    “We have to sit down and—”
    “I know.”
    She kept right on going. Max was becoming frustrated. “Do you run everywhere you go?”
    “Pretty much,” she admitted. She slowed to a normal pace . . . normal for her, anyway. She noticed that Max had no trouble keeping up with her. In fact, with his long legs, he barely had to increase his stride beyond a stroll.
    She glanced over at him. He was definitely out of her comfort zone. The man had so much testosterone, he made her nervous. He didn’t scare her, though. When he smiled, the corners of his eyes creased, and there was a glint in them that made her shiver inside.
    Jeez, get a grip , Sullivan . She was acting like a sex-starved teenager. Granted, it had been a long time since she had been with a man—a long, long time—but, still, her reaction to Max went beyond bizarre. It was completely contrary to her usual calm, rational nature. When she had time, she would figure out her weird behavior. There had to be some logical explanation. But then, maybe she didn’t really have to worry about it at all because, as soon as Max questioned her about the shooting, he’d be on his way, and she would be sane again.
    Max noticed that she kept looking at him with a puzzled expression on her face. “What is it?” he asked.
    She shook her head. “Nothing important.”
    “Yeah?”
    “I’m not going to be much help with descriptions I’m afraid,” she said.
    “We have to take your statement anyway.”
    “We?”
    “Another agent, Ben MacBride, and I are working this together, and we have to question you.”
    “Okay,” she agreed. “Where is he?”
    “At the crime scene,” he answered. Where I should be, he silently added.
    “Why don’t you start asking your questions while you walk with me.”
    “Doesn’t work that way. I’m going to record what you say.”
    “Okay, then we need to find someplace quiet, right?”
    “Right.”
    Ellie passed a bank of elevators and continued on to the stairs. “I’ll grab my things, and we can get out of here. I stand a better chance of actually leaving if you’re with me.”
    “How’s that?”
    She smiled. “You’ve got a gun.”
    Max kept pace as she ran up three flights. “You have a thing against elevators? A phobia?”
    “This is the only exercise I get.”
    “You were running the track when the shooting started, weren’t you?”
    “How did you figure that out?” she asked, taking the steps a little slower while she waited for his answer.
    “I’m an FBI agent, trained to be observant,” he said.
    “Oh, please. You thought I was one of the kids on that high school soccer team.”
    He laughed. “Yeah, I did,” he admitted. “One of the other agents told me you were running the track.”
    He could laugh at himself. What an appealing trait, she thought. She liked that quality in a man . . . Seriously! What was happening to her? She really needed to get away from him as soon as possible.
    “You haven’t answered my question. Is it a phobia or just a quirk?” he wondered.
    “I do the stairs and I run the track and I don’t particularly like being crammed inside a little metal box with a bunch of other people.”
    He grinned. “So that’s a