Read Online Adore Me by Darcy Lundeen - Free Book Online

evening or two for some downtime with Vlad, even though when they were together, her mind often wandered into thoughts of work, finances and, most of all, the unattainable Ogilvy account.
    So close, and yet so far.
    She sighed as the thought invaded her mind again one evening when she stood in her kitchen with Vlad, making dinner.
    “Meredith,” he said.
    Not that it ever left her completely alone, of course.
    “Meredith!”
    Usually it was there from the moment she got up until the moment she—
    “MEREDITH!”
    She turned to Vlad, startled when she realized he’d been talking to her about…something.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you. I was thinking of—”
    He gave a curt nod. “I know what you were thinking of.”
    “Do you?”
    “Damn right I do. This is the fourth time you haven’t heard me since I arrived, and the cause is always the same thing.”
    Meredith saw something spark in his eyes and knew he was pissed. All right, so she’d been a little inattentive, but it wasn’t personal. She was just weighed down with problems. Surely, he should understand that.
    She fisted her hands at her sides, trying not to become too annoyed. “Oh? And what might that thing be?”
    “Those damn hearts.”
    And that ripped it wide open. Obviously he didn’t understand, and despite her vow not to overreact, Meredith felt the heat of anger set up a slow boil in her veins. She narrowed her eyes at him, suddenly ready for a fight, and when she spoke, she didn’t try to hide the frost in her voice. “That’s right. Those damn hearts and how my company could fail without them. I’m sorry if you don’t think the success of my business is worth a little worry.”
    “Look, you’ve got other customers, right? From what you’ve told me, you’re loaded down with Valentine’s Day orders.”
    “That’s true, but the amount she’s agreed to pay will take care of my bills for months.”
    “For God’s sake, Valentine’s Day isn’t the only holiday that people celebrate by buying cakes. Mother’s Day will be here soon, and right after that there’s Father’s Day and—”
    Meredith shook her head. “That’s all in the future and completely speculative. This is real, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
    “It’s still not worth making yourself sick over.”
    “Well, to me, it is. So I’m sorry if you’re not interested in my success.”
    “I’m interested in your success. I’m just more interested in your not turning yourself into a basket case because you’re so obsessed with your success that you forget there’s another part to life.”
    Meredith snapped the oven off before the meatloaf baking there turned into a charred brick. “And just what might that part be?”
    “How about simply living? You know, breathing the fresh air, taking a walk without that worried frown I usually see on your face, kissing me good night as if you were really thinking about what you’re doing instead of about some mega-bucks customer.”
    Meredith pressed her lips together. Her kisses were lukewarm? That’s what the man thought of them? Then from now on he could bloody well kiss himself. “I apologize if I’m not fun enough for you…if I’m too focused and serious to waste your valuable time on.”
    He folded his arms across his chest, legs apart, biceps bulging in the short-sleeved T-shirt he had on. It was the same hyper-masculine pose that always made her hormones teeter somewhere between anger and the urge to simply rip his clothes off.
    “That’s not what I said, and you know it. So stop trying to turn my words around to mean something they don’t,” he countered.
    Despite her anger, Meredith steeled herself against succumbing to the irresistible sexiness she always found in that damn pose of his.
    Do not succumb to it , she warned herself. So, instead, she turned even angrier. “Oh, now I’m some sort of manipulative female, is that it?”
    In answer, he blew out an exasperated breath. “Okay,