Where There's a Will (Whiskey River Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

relaxed as he gave her a sexy smile.
    She almost returned it. But like she’d told him, she was leaving. There wasn’t a job for her here when she graduated. She knew it.
    Austin .
    She had to stay focused on Austin. That was the only thing that could keep her mind off of that sexy-sweet smile of Ryder’s. Or how good it had felt to be in his arms. Even now a part of her wanted to just crawl back into his arms and stay there. Forget about the world outside of this closet.
    But she wasn’t going to do that.
    She cleared her throat, looking around for a distraction and spotted the radio. She picked it up, tuning it until she found local weather. Thank God, they announced that the storm cells had passed and while Gillespie County was still under a severe thunderstorm warning, the threat of tornadoes had passed. She could breathe again. Her fear and nerves ebbed along with the warning. She started to feel almost normal.
    “Sounds like the storm has stopped,” she said. “Where are Johnny and Fiona? Do you think they’ll be along to check that we’re okay?”
    “It’s certainly possible.” He got to his feet straightening his clothing and while she straightened her own she looked at him. No matter what she told herself, the truth was she cared about Ryder. Way more than she had thought she could. He was making her think of things that she knew couldn’t happen. Things like the two of them working together in this building and going home together each night.
    Snap out of it, Addison . She wouldn’t be like her mother, dependent on a man and his approval to find her own self-worth.
    “Hey, Ryder?”
    “Yeah,” he asked in that laconic way of his, drawing the word out.
    “Thanks for distracting me from the storm,” she said flippantly.
    She reached for the door to the closet to open it but Ryder reached over her shoulder and put his hand against it. He was pressed all along her back and though she knew she should be sexually sated a shiver of awareness slithered down her spine.

Chapter Five
    ‡
    W HAT THE HELL ? Surely he hadn’t heard her correctly. Had Addison called the earth-shattering, mind-blowing, hotter-than-hell sex they’d just shared a distraction ?
    “What did you say?” He breathed the words into her ear, noticing her involuntary shiver with satisfaction.
    She looked over her shoulder at him, the expression in her eyes unreadable. Damn, she was going to be a good lawyer, he realized. He’d never seen her quite like that before.
    “I said thank you for helping me deal with the storm.” Pushing his hand aside, she opened the closet door and slipped out.
    Stunned, Ryder stood there a moment before following her. She murmured something, then headed for the bathroom. That was fine, he could use a break himself, but if she thought he wouldn’t respond to her comment, she had another think coming.
    Distraction ? The very word pissed him off. Because she hadn’t said it jokingly. She’d been dead serious. Calling what they’d just shared a distraction was on par with calling a—a tornado, damn it, a little windstorm.
    Fifteen minutes later, it dawned on him that she must have gone back to her desk rather than coming into his office, so he went in search of her. Sure enough, there she sat, clothes straightened, hair brushed, lipstick reapplied, and reading one of her law books. As a reminder that she didn’t plan on sticking around, the sight of that book really torched him.
    He put his hand on the doorframe, as much to ground himself as anything. “Did you really call what just happened between us a distraction ?” he asked, “Or have I slipped into an alternate universe?”
    Startled, she looked up. Her expression conveyed surprise, then consternation. “I—yes, you could take it that way. But I didn’t intend to hurt your feelings.”
    Ryder ground his teeth. “You didn’t hurt my feelings. You pissed me off royally.”
    “Why?” she asked.
    She seemed truly bewildered, which only