Read Online A Man for the Summer by Ruby Laska - Free Book Online Page B

said I don’t want anything from you. Think of it as just a few minutes of your time, doing a good deed, like helping an old lady across the street.”
    When she saw the thunderclouds gathering in his eyes, she knew she’d only made things worse.
    “Don’t make this into nothing,” Griff said quietly. “Maybe you didn’t mean to. Maybe this was just a big misunderstanding between us. But you can’t change the fact that you—you took something from me, and I’m having a real problem getting used to the idea.
    “Junior,” he added, his voice quiet but full of steel, “I do not ever want to be a father.”
    The force of his words caught her off guard. There was a bitterness about him that she hadn’t sensed until now, and she didn’t like it. Wanted, in fact, to smooth it away with a gesture, a caress.
    But she had no right to that comfort. Funny, she thought bitterly, how many men she’d slept with who hadn’t given the results a second thought. And now here she was, stuck with the very first one who ever had.
    And she was shoving him as hard as she could out of her life. The thought made her unexpectedly sad.
    “Look,” she said. “I’m tired. You’re tired. I don’t want to argue about this. You want the truth, I’ll give you the truth. If I could undo last night, I would, but I can’t. So why don’t you leave me your number, your email, whatever. And we’ll see.”
    “How long?”
    He didn’t look like a man who intended to drop it. Griff had his jaw set, his eyebrows drawn down. She knew that look, knew it well. Had seen it on every single man in the Atkinson family.
    “How long? You mean until…well.” Junior did a quick calculation. “About three weeks. Don’t worry, I’m regular. I’ll know right away.”
    “Okay.” Griff sighed heavily. “Three weeks. Well, I guess I can work down at the Sunrise Motel. Think they have wireless?”
    “What?”
    “You know, in the rooms, over at the motel. It doesn’t have to be fast or anything, because I have all my research with me. I just need to be online with my editor.”
    “You’re serious. You want to stay here ? In Poplar Bluff? That’s ridiculous.”
    Mistake. She knew it as soon as the words were out of her mouth. You don’t tell a stubborn man no. They just dig their heels in further and won’t budge.
    “It’s not ridiculous. I never work at home, anyway. I do all my best work in hotels.”
    “Don’t be sarcastic.”
    “No, I’m serious. Whenever I’m working on a book, I go away to do the writing. No interruptions, no distractions. The only person I give my phone number to is my editor. Course, I usually pick somewhere a little less, uh, rustic than this.”
    His words stung. She hadn’t asked him to stay. It was pointless. And she sure didn’t want to have him around as a daily reminder that she’d screwed up again in the man department. A world-class screw-up this time.
    “Look, don’t do me any favors,” Junior said. “Go on up to the Ritz or something. Get busy on your book and don’t worry about me. I’ll even email you the news so I don’t disturb you.”
    “Look, somehow I keep saying things all wrong and hurting your feelings. That’s not my intention. I’m not angry, exactly, at you. This is just a problem we’ve got to face, and I’m not leaving until it’s resolved.”
    “You’re not hurting my feelings! You’re the one who’s gone all weird about this. It’s a simple enough transaction, okay, and you’re making it into something more than it is.”
    “Simple, huh? I’d say a child is a pretty big thing.”
    He’d caught her off guard again. Child . It was a big word, too big to think about, and she’d been trying hard not to. That was for later, when she found out if it was going to happen or not. A child brought a thousand new details, things she’d only barely considered and others she probably didn’t even know about. She loved her nieces and nephews, but they came over with their