Read Online Her Charming Heartbreaker by Sonia Parin - Free Book Online Page A

didn’t kiss and tell. She’d laughed
but, in reality, she’d wanted to cry. The thought of him kissing
Claire...
    She clutched her
stomach but the stabbing sensation didn’t stop.
    Even as she tried to
switch off her curiosity, she couldn’t. Had they met on one of
Claire’s trips to Melbourne? Maybe they’d hooked up online.
    “Should I try online
dating?” she asked. “And is talking to myself a sign I should try
and do something to change my circumstances before it’s too late
and I find myself sitting on my front porch waiting for meals on
wheels to deliver my dinner?”
    She looked up ahead and
saw Theo had pulled up by the side of the road. He had driven out
of Claire’s driveway with more than a hint of urgency. Had they had
a falling out? What if he needed comforting? “Yeah, right.” Men
didn’t cry over break-ups. They simply shrugged and shuffled off to
the next woman waiting in line.
    Eddie pushed her
attention back onto the road and told herself to keep driving, but
curiosity played havoc with her willpower until it got the better
of her. Slowing down, she pulled up behind Theo’s car, taking her
time to get out of her car, giving him a chance to either pull
himself together or drive off. Before she reached him, the driver’s
door opened and Theo emerged.
    He didn’t have anything
she hadn’t seen before, day in, day out. Broad shoulders. Sinewy
muscles on his forearms. And because he made a point of running
bare-chested, she knew he had a washboard stomach giving him the
sort of body...
    Eddie forced herself to
stop. He really didn’t have anything she hadn’t seen on any one of
the guys who came into The Gloriana on a Friday night for a game of
pool. So why did her heart feel like a pebble skipping across a
pond?
    “Feeling better?” he
asked.
    “I have some residual
champagne bubbles floating around in my head, and it still hurts to
blink. Otherwise, I’m fine.”
    He leaned against his
car, and threw his head back as if looking for answers from the sky
above.
    “How about you, are you
okay?”
    He shook his head.
“I’ve driven up and down this road several times now and I’ve yet
to see a kangaroo.”
    “They usually come out
at night, and like the deer you have in your neck of the woods,
they’re mesmerized by car headlights.”
    “I’ve never seen a deer
either but I’ve seen plenty of road signs alerting me to their
presence. I feel cheated.”
    “I know the feeling.”
She hitched her fingers in her pockets and stubbed the toe of her
boot against the ground throwing up a small puff of dust. “Um—”
    He lifted a halting
hand. “As much as I enjoy being tormented by you, can we not do
this now?”
    “It was only a harmless
um.”
    “The type that usually
precedes a barrage of questions and assumptions.”
    “I guess that means you
want to be alone.”
    “No, if I wanted
solitude, I would have kept driving.”
    “Okay. I’ll steer clear
of sticky subjects. Although, I’m not sure which ones qualify as
taboo.” She rocked on her heels. “The reason for your trip to Eden
is one. That’s all I can come up with, and to be fair to me, I
haven’t been that inquisitive.”
    “It’s actually been fun
sidestepping your prompts for more information.” He smiled. “And
you’ve been a perfect hostess.”
    “Not that perfect. I’m
sure the experience of setting foot inside The Gloriana will be
forever imprinted in your memory.”
    “Whatever that man did
to you, he deserves a whipping.”
    “Ouch. You’ve prodded
my taboo subject.” It had been several days since she’d thought
about Adam. Somehow, the experience had settled into the furthest
corner of her mind. Putting it all into perspective, she knew the
next time they saw each other they’d probably have a laugh and move
on as if nothing had happened.
    “I’m sorry, I didn’t
mean to remind you,” he said.
    “Think nothing of it,
I’m used to it.”
    “I still think he
deserves some sort of