Read Online Huddle With Me Tonight by Farrah Rochon - Free Book Online

as affected by their proximity. He broke eye contact, shaking his head and glancing out the window before turning back to her.
    “I’ve been thinking about it since I called you,” he started. “Instead of deleting any of our exchange, you can post another entry saying that we concocted this whole thing. Make it sound as if this was one big publicity stunt. The review, our arguing back and forth. All of it.”
    “My readers are much too smart to believe this entire thing has been a hoax,” she explained.
    “Maybe you give your readers more credit than they deserve.”
    “If you want to get on my good side, you’ll cut back on the insults,” Paige warned.
    He groaned, ran a hand over his close-cut hair. “I’m not trying to insult you or your readers. I just think that if we really put our heads together, we can turn this whole thing around.”
    He reached out and grabbed her hand. Paige tried to jerk it away, but he held on tight. “You want an apology? Fine, I’m doing it right now. I’m sorry for ninety-nine percent of the stuff I said on your blog. I was pissed and I stepped over the line, but I need you to make this right, Paige.”
    The anguish in his plea caused the breath to catch in her throat. She looked up from where he grasped her hand, and was bowled over by the genuine distress in his hazel eyes.
    “Please,” he implored.
    Shaking her head to spring herself from her dazed state, Paige managed to pull her hand from his.
    “If—” She cleared her throat. “If I were to consider this, I still believe we’d have to come up with something more plausible than what you suggested.”
    He hunched his shoulders. “I’m all ears. What do you suggest?”
    “I don’t know,” Paige admitted. “To be honest, I think this is all going to die down in no time if we stop posting nasty responses to each other on the blog. I’m putting up my next review tomorrow. Once readers start discussing that one, yours will fade into the blackness.”
    He wasn’t convinced. Paige could tell by the way he said, “How can you be so sure?”
    She sent him a slight, wry grin. “Yours is not the first review to stir up a bit of controversy on my blog.”
    His cell phone rang. He took it from his pocket, glanced at the phone, then said, “Excuse me.”
    He turned away from her, back to the window. “What’s up, Dee?” A pause. “He didn’t tell you where he was going?” she heard Torrian say in a troubled tone. It was a bit intrusive to stand here and listen, but she was in her own apartment. He’d brought his conversation here.
    “I’ll be there in a minute,” he finished and ended the call.
    He turned back to her, and Paige refused to look guilty for listening in. His furrowed brow and tightened lips compelled her to ask, “Is everything okay?”
    “Can we finish this later, over dinner, maybe?” he asked as he started walking toward the door.
    “I’m not going out with you,” she said.
    “Come on, Paige. I think we could do a better job of settling this if we did it over a nice meal.”
    “No,” she returned. The intimacy such a setting would create started a mix of anxiety and anticipation churning in the pit of Paige’s stomach. She had to keep things on a professional playing field where Torrian was concerned.
    Still, Paige couldn’t help but feel concern over the unease she sensed flowing over him. She followed him to the door. Without thinking, Paige grabbed his forearm, halting his retreat. “Is there anything I can do?”
    He looked down at her hand clasping his arm, then back up at her. Something flashed in his eyes. It didn’t take Paige but a second to recognize what it was. It was the same thing that was running through her own blood.
    Hunger.
    Instant, intense, burning hunger.
    Electricity surged between them, holding her captive. The charged air made the skin on her arm pebble with goose bumps. She wanted to jerk her eyes away from his, but she couldn’t. His molten gaze held her