Read Online Bikini Season by Sheila Roberts - Free Book Online

doctor’s report.
    He smiled at her and held up his hand. “All better.”
    â€œTake care, man,” said his honorary doctor.
    Dan nodded, then turned his attention to Erin.
    â€œI am so sorry,” she repeated. “I shouldn’t have even started my car with the mood I was in.”
    â€œMaybe you need some anger management training,” he joked.
    â€œMaybe I do.” She’d never thought of herself as an angry person before. Was she?
    â€œI suggest a session right now over coffee.”
    That’s suspiciously like a date, cautioned her inner mother, and you are engaged.
    I almost killed him, she argued, and it’s the least I can do. She should probably offer Dan free morning coffee delivery for life. Or at least the next year. She nodded. “Okay. Are you sure? You don’t want to go home and ice your hand, take a pain pill?”
    â€œNah. Like I said, I’m tough.” He smiled. He’d always had a cute smile. It wasn’t as gorgeous as Adam’s, though. Nobody’s was.
    It went without saying that they’d go to the Coffee Stop, which was right around the corner on Lake Way. She got in her car, backed up—carefully—and followed Dan to the ivy-covered brick cottage that housed one of the community’s favorite gathering spots. It had started to rain, and they dashed across the parking lot and into the coffee shop. Warm air and the aroma of freshly ground coffee greeted them.
    As always, the place was doing a brisk business, with friends chatting at the many small tables and a couple of stray older men hiding grizzled beards behind newspapers. Dan pointed to a table in the far corner by the gas fireplace. “Why don’t you stake us out a place and I’ll get the coffee.”
    â€œThis is a shrink session. I’ll buy the coffee,” she said. He opened
his mouth to argue and she added, “It’s the least I can do after trying to run you over. Please.”
    He smiled. “Okay. A tall Americano.”
    She watched as he threaded his way among the tables. A couple of women smiled at him as he passed, then kept right on checking him out. Obviously not everyone in Heart Lake thought Dan Rockwell was a dork.
    She got his Americano and a white chocolate latte for herself, then hurried after him, anxious to sit down and give her nerves time to settle. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked as she set the drink in front of him.
    He smiled up at her. “I’m fine. And thanks.”
    â€œPretty cheap shrink session, if you ask me,” she said, “especially since I almost killed you in the parking lot.”
    He leaned back in his chair, long legs sprawled in front of him, and took a sip of his coffee. “Well, I like to take a charity case now and then. So, tell me. Why were you so angry?”
    She took a sip of her latte. Geez, the adrenaline was still bouncing around in her. She could tell by how jumpy she felt. So let’s add some caffeine and sugar to that. She set down her cup. “I was having a bad morning, that’s all. It happens.”
    â€œYeah, sometimes it does.” He raised his cup in salute. “Well, here’s to your day getting better. Mine already has.”
    She couldn’t help but smile. “That was a sweet thing to say.”
    â€œIt’s true.” He grinned at her. “I’m drinking coffee with a hot woman. It’s a hell of an improvement over sweating on a treadmill.”
    Now he’s complimenting you, observed her inner mother. Remind him you’re engaged .
    He already knows, Erin replied. She decided she needed that caffeine and sugar after all and reached for her cup.
    â€œI haven’t had much chance to talk to you since you moved back,” Dan said. “Why did you? I thought you were happy living it up in the big city.”

    â€œMy aunt offered to let me live in her rental house for free. It gives me a