Read Online Flashpoint by Jill Shalvis - Free Book Online

himself, at her, she had no idea really, but she found herself staring up at him, torn between marveling at the ease with which he showed his emotions and laughing back because the sound of his genuine amusement was contagious. “Happy to amuse you.”
    â€œI’m sorry.” Still smiling, he sighed. “Ah, hell, that felt good. Laughing.”
    â€œLaughing at me felt good.”
    â€œOh, no.” Gently, he tugged on her ponytail. “Definitely laughing with you, I promise. And I should be resisting, too. But I can’t seem to do that.”
    His words caused more of those interesting shivers down her spine, and to other places, as well, secret places that wanted reactivating. Standing there in the hallway, way too close to this sexy man, a smile wanting to split her face, laughter spilling in her gut, she realized something.
    Whether she’d meant to or not, she’d made roots here, temporary ones, but roots she would treasure and remember always. And now she wanted to strip naked and let him do things to her, lots of things, things that would create more lasting memories that she could take with her. “So how often, when you give that look to a woman, when you talk to her in that low, sexy voice, when you touch her, do her clothes just fall off?”
    When he opened his mouth, she shook her head. “No, you know what? I’m sorry. Don’t answer that. Because I was on board for that. The clothes-falling-off thing. But…”
    â€œBut…?”
    â€œBut I’m not mixing business and pleasure, no matter how sexy you are. I can’t, much as I want to. I just can’t, not for anything less than a meaningful, lasting relationship, a real connection.”
    Her own words shocked her but she found she meant them. To the bone. Being in her grandmother’s house had obviously sent that yearning within her rising to the surface, and she couldn’t help it. “I mean it. I’m sorry if I let you think otherwise, but I really do.”
    Looking torn between bafflement and disappointment, he nodded. “Okay.”
    â€œI’m sorry if I led you on. If it helps, I led myself on, too. I hope we’re still friends.” All that was left to do was walk away gracefully, when in her heart of hearts she didn’t want to walk away at all. She started with one step, a baby step, and then another. “I also hope that the rest of your shift goes well,” she managed.
    â€œThank you. That’s…friendly of you.”
    Was he was mocking her? “Well,” she said primly, backing to the door. “Just because we’re not going to…”
    â€œMix business and pleasure,” he supplied helpfully.
    â€œYes.” Because obviously he was not looking for a deep or meaningful relationship, or he’d have said so. “It doesn’t mean that we can’t get along.”
    â€œI think,” he said slowly, in a tone she couldn’t quite place, “that we’re not going to have a problem in that department.”
    No. No, they weren’t.
    She nodded, and managed to turn and leave, but in the hallway, alone, she leaned back against a wall and let out a long breath. There. That hadn’t been hard or awkward.
    Ah, hell. It’d been plenty of both.
    But she’d done the right thing. Now she wouldn’t fall for him and mourn him after she left. Yep, definitely the right thing.
    Damn it. Why couldn’t she have gotten all self-protective after she’d gotten to see him naked? Brooke turned around to look at the closed kitchen door, nearly going back in, but she restrained herself.
    The right thing.

6
    S EVERAL SHIFTS LATER , Brooke was sitting outside the fire station on a rare break, laptop open, flipping through a national job database to see where she might go after the house sold and this job ended in a few weeks.
    The warm sun beat down on her, the waves across the street providing the