Where You Least Expect It Read Online Free PDF

see way out here.”
    Aidan shrugged, his forearms leaning against the broad wood railing, his strong, masculine hands clasped tightly together. She couldn’t be sure, but given the grooves on either side of his mouth, he had been thinking heavy thoughts too.
    She squinted at him, remembering the first time she saw him ten months or so ago. He’d been walking down the street outside her shop, much as he did every morning. But back then he had looked more anxious somehow. Terribly alone. And his brown eyes had held a sadness that seemed to reach out and clutch her heart.
    She remembered it so clearly because she was seeing the same expression now.
    “I went out for a walk after dinner and lost track of time,” he said by way of explanation.
    Look at me, Penelope silently found herself saying.
    “Did you say something?”
    He finally looked at her, and the full impact of the soulless shadow in his eyes nearly took her breath away.
    Max barked, startling them both, then laid his head back down on top of his paws.
    “No,” Penelope said quietly. “I didn’t say anything.”
    Although, it was the second time that day that he had appeared to hear her thoughts.
    The first time she had silently willed him to kiss her.
    She felt her face go hot, then she turned back toward the water and tucked her hair behind her ear. “You know, my mother used to say that there are only a few people in the world who are capable of hearing another’s thoughts.” Actually, her mother had told her that there would be one other person capable of hearing her thoughts, and that one person would be the one she was meant to spend her lifewith. But she wasn’t going to say that to Aidan for fear that he would think her strange. Most of the townspeople already thought that. She couldn’t bear it if he believed the same.
    “My… There was another woman who told me that once.” Aidan said it so quietly that the light breeze that had kicked up nearly stole the words before they reached her ears.
    Penelope shivered again, but this time it had nothing to do with a chill, but rather a burst of heat.
    She pushed from the railing and looked down at her watch. It was already after seven. “I didn’t realize it was getting so late.”
    “Do you have a date?”
    Penelope laughed, then stopped when she realized he was serious. “No. I don’t have a date. I, um, was just heading to the market to pick up a few things.” And a man for my grandmother, she reminded herself.
    Maximus lumbered to his feet, nudging his cold, slimy nose into her hand. She absently patted him, then picked up his leash.
    “I’ll walk back with you,” Aidan said.
    “Okay.”
     
    They’d gone a ways, Max keeping pace between them, when suddenly the tree-lined route curved into a two-lane street and the trees morphed into buildings.
    Aidan looked at Penelope walking leisurely beside him. It had been a long time since he’d been with someone who didn’t demand that every second be filled with conversation.
    But Penelope…
    “What?”
    He blinked, realizing she’d grown aware of his attention and was even now playing with her leather bracelet in that way she did when she was nervous.
    He shook his head and smiled. “Nothing. I was just thinking that I never did get a straight answer to the question I asked this morning at the shop.”
    She seemed to think back to that morning, when they’d shared that heated moment of awareness. But the image of the sheriff eyeing him suspiciously wiped it out of Aidan’s mind.
    “What question?”
    “Hmm? Oh. Well, since I could really use some help with putting together the Fourth of July town celebration, would you consider coming to the next meeting? It’s tomorrow night.”
    Her gaze flitted away and she fell silent.
    “At the rate things are going, we’ll end up with something that could have been cut and pasted from the 1950s. I could really use someone to back me up, help me urge everyone into the new millennium.”
    She