Read Online Breaking the Silence by Katie Allen - Free Book Online Page A

since you’ve done this dating thing. Not helping—could you shut up about the two years thing? Okay, now the voices in her head were arguing. She had definitely crossed the border into Crazyville.
    Jenny headed for the kitchen with the rose, not even glancing back to see if Will was following. Obviously, the only way to keep her composure was to not look at him. She rummaged for a vase with no luck but she did find a very tall glass. Jenny sighed—she was sadly undomesticated. She filled the glass with water at the sink and slipped the rose stem in. It wasn’t the most elegant of arrangements but it would work for tonight.
    She turned from her makeshift vase to see that Will had indeed followed her to the kitchen. He was hovering in the doorway, looking around, his hands jammed into his pockets. He seemed to fill the room, his bulk shrinking her kitchen down to dollhouse size.
    “Nice,” he finally spoke. “Your house—I like it.”
    “Thanks.” Jenny moved toward him, oddly pleased by his approval.
    “It feels like you.” Will focused on her, his eyes light and hot. She drew closer, as if he had his own gravitational pull that was sucking her in. He didn’t move aside to let her pass but stood still, filling the doorway, not looking away. She stopped, too close. He reached out, almost touching her upper arm, his hand so close that she could feel the heat of it. Her breath came light and fast.
    Will dropped his hand and looked away, breaking the connection that had stretched like a hot wire between them. Jenny was jumpy from the residual adrenaline, hot and agitated and feeling like she had to do something or explode in tiny bits all over her kitchen. She stepped back.
    “We should go.” Her voice was high and tight. Will looked at her, a little startled, as if he had forgotten that they were going anywhere. He nodded and moved to the side so Jenny could lead the way to the door. She gathered her coat from the hall closet and had it halfway on before Will grasped the edge to help her with the second sleeve. She could feel his heat again and wondered, half hysterically, if she would even get through the next five minutes without tearing his clothes off, much less the rest of the evening.

    Jenny liked his car. It was silver and sleek and it hid the outside noises. There was something intimate about being in the small car with him. She watched him drive with casual confidence, one hand on the wheel and the other resting loosely on the gearshift between them.
    After the moment in the kitchen, Jenny was feeling flustered and shy. Except for giving him directions to her office, she had been quiet on the drive. The streetlights slid by, cutting the severe angles of his face into even harsher shapes. Jenny felt intimidated, much too average and normal to be going out with this man. It had been different on their walks, easier, the barrier of their winter clothes keeping them firmly in some sort of friends-only zone. As the silence lengthened, her nerves grew tighter and she knew that she had to break the silence or scream.
    “I think you’ll like the people I work with—most of them, at least.”
    Will nodded slightly. “Not the one who asked you out?”
    Jenny laughed in a surprised huff. “I told you that, did I?”
    He gave another half nod and the corner of his mouth tucked in, like he was suppressing a smile.
    “Don’t worry,” she reassured him. “We can hide from Evan. It won’t be too hard—he’s still sulky about me turning him down.” Jenny suddenly realized something. “Um, by the way…” Okay, this might be a little awkward.
    When she trailed off, Will glanced at her questioningly.
    “Yeah, um, about that—my Evan rejection, I mean.” Jenny tried to think of a way to explain without sounding flaky. Too late, probably. “He’s not very good about, well, being told that the reason I didn’t want to go out with him is because he’s an annoying asshat,” there was a slight choking noise