Read Online Do Not Disturb by Christie Ridgway - Free Book Online

pinching and the warming air made her wish for shorts and a tank top instead of her long pants and T-shirt.
    Pausing beneath a group of trees at the base of the next hill, she plucked her shirt away from her sticky torso and moved it back and forth to fan her skin. Though she’d yet to catch a glimpse of Cooper, or any other human life for that matter, she couldn’t suppress the hope that any minute now she’d stumble across civilization—specifically, civilization in the guise of a Peet’s Coffee Shop. As if jeering at her fancy, a blue jay on a nearby branch screeched down at her.
    â€œFine,” Angel retorted, scowling at the headache starting to throb at the base of her skull. “Give me a Starbucks, then, I’m not picky. Even that ulcer-inducing stuff they serve at 7-Eleven will do.”
    From behind her, someone spoke. “Sorry, kid, but we don’t do trademarks around here.”
    Cooper! Her first jolt of surprise dissolved as she recognized his voice. Okay, she reminded herself, willing the headache away, here’s your chance . Put him at ease .
    â€œWell, hello, there.” Her back still to him, Angel mentally checked off exchange pleasantries, then moved straight on to casual conversation . “What’s that about trademarks?” she asked, turning to face him.
    â€œFor the hundred miles of Big Sur coast, you won’t find a single national chain—not fast food, bank, or supermarket.”
    Under other circumstances, his words might have made her groan in disappointment. But now theybarely sank in, distracted as she was by Cooper himself. His hair was damply slicked back, and instead of yesterday’s almost sloppy-sized designer suit, today his body was wrapped in exercise gear that clung to, well…well…everything.
    Wow. She swallowed. Wow .
    Those loose-fitting clothes had hidden a hard, sculpted body that was cut and rippled in the most intriguing places.
    Suddenly aware she was staring, she felt her face go hot and dropped her gaze to her feet. “So, um…”
    Oh God. Though she remembered she’d been bent on winning Cooper over, now the thread of their conversation was completely burned from her brain. Floundering, she returned to the top of Interview 101’s formula.
Conduct a short exchange of pleasantries
    â€œHello, there,” she said brightly. The greeting rolled off her tongue with a stomach-sinking familiarity. Hoping she wasn’t making too big a fool of herself, she continued her inspection of the dusty toes of her boots. “So, uh, whatcha been up to this morning?”
    â€œIt isn’t obvious?”
    His amused tone made her glance up again and she allowed her eyes another moment of free rein. There was a big metal contraption leaning against his right thigh.
    His long thigh. His hard thigh. His long, hard thigh. The quadricep muscle seemed carved out of rock, and she followed it with her eyes as it curved from his lean hip to wrap inward at his knee.
    South of Angel’s belly button, things clenched. It was her muscles, she realized as they tightened again, the ones that Cosmopolitan magazine recommended women routinely exercise in order to drive men wild.
    Her face went hotter, but she couldn’t stop looking. His inner thigh was well defined too, she discovered, all firm as it led up to—
    Eeek . She jerked her gaze up to his face, passing over the big plastic hat he held in one of his gloved hands as she tried remembering his last remark.
    â€œSure, sure, it’s obvious.” Assuring herself she sounded casual, possibly even intelligent, she made a vague gesture at the metal contraption against his leg. “You’ve been, uh, exercising with that, that thing there.”
    His brows lifted. “It’s a mountain bike. But I’m betting you’ve seen a bicycle before.”
    A bicycle? Angel blinked, then glanced downward again. Oh heck, it was a bike! And then,