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

extreme.”
    â€œYou’re telling me,” Angel muttered. She gave herself some additional recovery time by bending over and brushing the dust off her jeans. Get back to the point, she told herself sternly. Focus on those interview warm-up techniques. Concentrate on getting Cooper to relax.
    As he turned and stepped toward his bike, she straightened. “Which reminds me…” She kept her voice light, trying for a smooth segue into some more casual conversation. “You’ll have to tell me your secret.”
    â€œ What? ” His voice sharpened and his spine stiffened.
    â€œYour secret,” she repeated. “You know, where you’ve hidden your stash of those three banned substances: caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco. Around the courthouse you weren’t famous for your abstinence, you know.”
    â€œAh.” Cooper’s shoulders relaxed and he wheeled the bike around to face her. “Now I get you.”
    She figured she was making progress with him, because his eyes had lightened and there was a tolerant half-smile on his face. Smiling in return, Angel sauntered closer, thinking good ol’ Professor Brown had been proven right once again.
    â€œSo, see,” she said, close enough now that she had to tilt up her face to look into his, “I’m guessing you have some triple roast hidden somewhere, right alongside a carton of cigarettes and a bottle of scotch.”
    â€œWhat would you say if I told you I don’t smoke or drink—alcohol or coffee—anymore?”
    â€œI’d say…I’d say…” Angel couldn’t think what she’d say because she was astonished. C. J. Jones had a reputation for playing as hard as he worked.
    His laugh was short. “You’d say what?”
    There was something in his eyes now, some kind of pain, that made her break their gazes. She let hers slide down to his neck—another strong, manly column—then on to his wide shoulders and long, lean body. God, he looked good.
    â€œAngel?” There was a husky note in his voice. “What the hell are you thinking?”
    What the hell was she thinking? She was supposed to be working. Getting Cooper to eat right out of her hand. Looking away, she ran through the preinterview formula again.
    Pleasantries: Check. Casual conversation: More than enough. Her eyes drawn back to him, she realized that only the sincere compliment was left.
    And for some impulsive, mindless reason Angel blurted out the first one that came into her head. “I’m thinking that abstinence gave you one awesome body.”
    In the same time it took for her to absorb her own words and then to cringe with humiliation, she saw the leap of embarrassed color on Cooper’s face, his leap onto his bike, the leap the metal contraption made down the path toward Tranquility.
    If that wasn’t proof enough that her warm-up technique had failed, the hasty manner in which Cooper pedaled off made it very clear she’d done anything but relax his guard.
    â€œI’m an idiot,” she said aloud.
    The blue jay above her jeered in agreement. Cursing the bird, the renewed throbbing at the base of her skull, and most of all herself, she hurried off in the opposite direction of Cooper.
    At the top of the next rise though, her feet stutteredto a halt, the view below freezing her movement. The trail she’d taken had apparently wound north, because the dark-forested Santa Lucia Mountains were at her right. Looking to her left, her gaze flowed down gently rolling hills to miles of staggered bluffs that dropped into the ocean. On the nearest of the headlands, in the midst of all that natural wonder, sat a cluster of buildings that appeared enchanted.
    Angel blinked, certain they were the figment of someone’s imagination—but not hers, because she hadn’t daydreamed fairy tales since she was four years old. Dominating the clearing was a huge three-story house with