Thunder Canyon Homecoming Read Online Free PDF Page B

he’d made a mistake. Because now he wanted more.
    Cursing himself for his weakness, he picked up his phone and dialed the number he’d obtained from directory assistance. She answered on the third ring.
    â€œHey, Erin, it’s Corey.”
    â€œCorey?” She sounded distracted, as if he’d caught her in the middle of something. Or maybe as if she didn’t recognize the name.
    He was frowning over that possibility when she spoke again.
    â€œOh, Dillon’s brother. Hi.”
    Dillon’s brother?
    That was how she thought of him? How about the man who’d taken her home the night before? The man who’d kissed her breathless and continued to kiss her until they’d both wanted a lot more?
    But of course he didn’t ask any of those questions. He didn’t want her to confirm that he’d thought about her a lot more than she’d thought about him.
    â€œI’m sorry I didn’t make the connection right away,” she said. “I just—you caught me when my mind was wandering.”
    â€œIs this a bad time?”
    â€œNo. I don’t think so.”
    â€œYou don’t think so?” he prompted.
    â€œWell, I guess that depends on why you’re calling,” she said.
    â€œPartly just to find out how you’re doing.”
    â€œI’m fine.”
    â€œYou said you had too much champagne last night, so I wanted to make sure you weren’t suffering any lingering effects today.”
    â€œChampagne. Right. Well, that certainly explains the…uh…”
    She faltered, and he suspected that she was thinking about that kiss again. Or maybe he just wanted to believe she was thinking about it because he was.
    â€œâ€¦the headache I had this morning,” she continued. “But I took a couple of aspirin with breakfast and I’m fine now.”
    â€œGood,” he said, even while silently wishing he could rid himself of the residual effects of the night so easily. But he suspected that the only thing that could cure his craving for Erin was Erin herself.
    â€œAnd since you’ve already had breakfast—which was the other reason I was calling—why don’t you let me take you to lunch?”
    â€œLunch?”
    â€œYou know—the meal usually served in the middle of the day,” he teased.
    â€œYes, I do know what lunch is,” she assured him. “I’m just not sure I understand why you’re inviting me to have lunch with you.”
    â€œBecause I don’t like to eat alone. And because I really enjoyed spending time with you last night and I’d like to get to know you better.”
    Erin was tempted—too tempted—to jump at his invitation. And not just because she knew he would be able to distract her from the questions that had been pounding inside of her head since she’d seen that picture of Grant Clifton’s sister the night before. Unfortunately, all of the reasons that Corey would be such a great distraction were the same reasons that she had to refuse. Because she wasfar too attracted to the man, because she couldn’t think of anything else when he was near and because she could very well end up with her heart broken when he went back to Texas.
    So instead of accepting, she said, “I’m afraid I may have given you the wrong impression last night.”
    There was a pause, as if he was surprised by her response. And he probably was because she’d no doubt given him the impression of a wild, willing woman who wanted to gobble him up in big, greedy bites.
    And the impression wasn’t really wrong, but it was misleading because nothing like that was going to happen between them. She couldn’t let things move in that direction with him while her life was veering off course in so many other ways.
    â€œThe only impression I got,” he finally said, “was that of a smart, beautiful woman who was the last thought on my mind before I fell