The Opposite of Wild Read Online Free PDF

a normal, calm voice. He was close enough for her to see the stubble along his strong jaw.
    “Meditating?” He smiled, and it nearly took her breath away. It lit up his face, usually so serious. He looked so much like he had that summer, tousled caramel brown hair, sharp hazel eyes that didn’t miss a thing, long lashes, and cheekbones women would kill for. As a teenager, he’d been good looking, as a man, sin on a stick. A very well-muscled stick.
    “No, I was just…trying to remember where I put my car keys.” She made a show of digging around in her purse.
    “Did you try the ignition?”
    They both looked at the ignition, where the keys dangled. Her cheeks burned.
    “Found them!” She let out an embarrassingly high-pitched laugh and then coughed to cover it up.
    One corner of his mouth hitched up in a ghost of a smile. “Aren’t you hot with that shirt buttoned all the way up?”
    She resisted the urge to dab at the sweat forming on her upper lip. “I’m quite cool and comfortable. Well, I’d better be on my way.”
    She waited for him to step back from the car. He didn’t. Annoyed, she turned from him and discreetly patted her face with a tissue.
    “You were great with Gran, playing the friend angle,” he said. “I’ll still pay you, of course.”
    She cooled considerably. He was her employer, for a job she very much needed. Now she was really annoyed. If he’d been courteous enough to tell his grandmother ahead of time about this job, she could have avoided seeing him entirely.
    She spoke to his eyebrows. It was easier than meeting his eyes. “You know, you could’ve at least prepared her, then we wouldn’t have had to have this”—she fluttered her hands—“this awkward scene.”
    His eyebrows went up. “I knew she wouldn’t blow up in front of you. I had to do it that way. You still want the job?”
    She heaved a sigh and looked out the front window. “Yes. In a couple of months I’ll be raising a baby, and I really need the money.” She looked up at his silence, realizing suddenly that she had given Daisy’s secret away. He was looking at her flat stomach. “It’s more like a co-parenting situation,” she added.
    He nodded. “I heard Daisy’s pregnant. So you’re the co-parent?”
    She should have known news had gotten out in town. Daisy had never been a homebody. She’d gone out several times over the weekend to meet up with old friends from town. Her friends weren’t the quiet, stay-at-home type either.
    Liz nodded. “She’s living with me, and we’re raising the baby together.”
    He took a step back. “Okay.” He pulled a card out of his wallet. “Here’s my card. It has my work number. Let me give you my cell.”
    She searched her purse for a pen. “How did you know my birthday?”
    “Background check.”
    “Oh.” It wasn’t any special interest in me . She found a pen. His card said simply Ryan O’Hare, Private Investigator. As she wrote his number on the back, she couldn’t help but wonder what kind of investigating he did. Maybe he helped the police with murder investigations. She knew he’d once worked in the high-crime area of Norhaven. Maybe he stopped blackmailers in their tracks, or broke up drug rings or crime rings, whatever it was called. It seemed a dangerous line of work.
    “Call me if anything crazy goes on with Gran,” he said, all business now. What a relief . “I’ll pay you every Friday.”
    “Perfect, just drop it in the mail. I figure you have the address from the background check.” She pasted on a smile, trying to appear normal in light of the fact that he had possibly incriminating knowledge on her from the background check. She hoped her application for a marriage license with Craig wasn’t in the report. Or her long shopping record for organization systems from The Container Store. Or her many Internet searches for breeds of nonshedding dogs (she was waiting for the house with a yard before getting one). Or her long-time