The Trouble With J.J. Read Online Free PDF Page B

big stain. “I am not upset!”
    Amy smiled serenely and drummed her fingers on the counter. “Not at all. Are those chocolate chip cookies over there?”
    Glaring at the clear glass cookie jar, Genna said nothing. One jar of cookies was hardly proof. Thank heaven Amy didn’t know about the three frozen cakes. She turned and calmly attacked a stalk of celery.
    “Wasn’t it nice of J.J. to invite everyone over? He’s so sweet—”
    “He’s a lunatic.” Chop. Chop. Chop.
    “I’ll bet he signed a hundred autographs this afternoon.”
    “He’s a spectacle.” Stab. Stab. Stab.
    “He’s got style.”
    Genna faced her friend with an exasperated look. “The man mows his lawn in stripes and puts pink flamingos around the doghouse.”
    “I said he had style,” Amy qualified. “I never said anything about taste.”
    They were silent for a moment while Genna dumped her mutilated vegetables into a big stock-pot and set it on the stove to simmer. Amy sipped her soda, waiting for Genna to turn toward her so she could watch her friend’s expression when she dropped her bomb.
    “I think he’s interested in you, Gen. As in ‘romance.’”
    Something akin to panic flashed across Genna’sface, then changed into annoyance. “I think he’s interested in most of the unmarried female population of Connecticut.”
    “Are you attracted to him?”
    “Certainly not,” she said huffily. She turned back to her cupboards and started rummaging through them. How could she be attracted to a macho lunkhead like him? Absurd.
    “Come on!” Amy scoffed. “The guy’s got a bod to die for!”
    “He’s moderately good looking … in a brutish sort of way,” Genna said grudgingly, her blood heating up at the thought of his muscular arm draped across her shoulders, his lean hip bumping hers. Those gorgeous, translucent blue eyes took her breath away, and he had a smile that could melt stone. Tom Selleck should be so good looking.
    Amy snorted. “It seems to me you’re trying pretty darn hard not to like him.”
    It was Genna’s turn to snort as she ripped open packages of yeast and dumped them into a bowl of hot water. “I don’t have to try not to like him. It comes naturally.”
    “Bull.” Amy plucked a cookie from the jar and munched on it. “I think you know he’s a hunk and a half.”
    “Ha!”
    “I think you know it, and it turns you on, and that’s why you’re upset.”
    “I am not upset!” Genna shouted, flinging flour into the bowl, a cloud of white dust rising to coat her hair and face.
    “What are you doing there?”
    “Making bread.”
    “Oh, good day for it,” Amy said dryly, reaching for a second cookie. “You can put it out on the driveway to bake.”
    Genna snarled as she took a wooden spoon to the batter.
    “Careful, you’ll dislocate your shoulder.”
    Sometimes Genna wished Amy weren’t such a good friend. Amy never hesitated to say what was on her mind, and no amount of nasty looks or sarcastic remarks could drive her away if she didn’t want to be driven.
    Neither woman spoke for several minutes. The sounds of the party came in through the screen door. Someone was getting thrown into the kiddie pool.
    “Genna, are you afraid to try another relationship because of what happened with Allan?” Amy asked gently. She winced as she saw her friendflinch at the name. Damn Allan Corrigan to hell and gone, Amy thought.
    The pain was automatic, a conditioned response, but Genna had a firm hold on her emotions when she answered. “No. But that doesn’t mean I’m desperate either. I don’t have to throw myself at the first guy to come along.”
    “J.J.’s hardly the first guy to express an interest.”
    “He’s an irresponsible playboy who wants only to get me in his Jacuzzi!” Her hands squeezed the bread dough. She pretended she was strangling Jared Hennessy. It had to be his fault she wanted him and wanted him gone all at the same time.
    “I don’t think that’s true,” Amy said,