Read Online Just In Time: An Alaskan Nights Novel by Addison Fox - Free Book Online

truly understood that everyone’s hopeful eyebrow raises and happy gossip weren’t meant to be hurtful, but they simply had no idea what it did to her.
    With a casualness she didn’t feel, Avery glanced up from her menu. “He left, Mick. A long time ago. I’ve gotten over it, and there’s no reason to think we need to start things back up.”
    “Believe me when I say I know what a royal pain in the ass all the attention is. But take it away, the innuendo and the gossip, and what are you left with?”
    “Nothing, Mick.” She folded her menu and picked up her cup of coffee. “Absolutely nothing.”
    •   •   •
    Roman’s royally shitty morning went from bad to worse when he walked through the door of the café. All he wanted was a damn omelet and a cup of coffee, not a resounding reminder of what he didn’t have last night.
    Yet there sat Avery and Mick, having breakfast and talking.
    Their position in one of the front booths also ensured he couldn’t just order at the counter and walk out without looking like a world-class jerk.
    “What happened?” Avery’s gaze ran the length of him before she was up and out of the booth. “Are you bleeding?”
    “I’m fine.”
    “You’re a mess.”
    He brushed off the concern and slid into the booth she’d just gotten out of. His knee did throb like a blinking neon sign, but he’d deal with it later. “I’m fine.”
    “What happened?” Mick’s voice was calmer, but Roman didn’t miss the sharpness to the question.
    “I tripped on my run this morning. No big.”
    “You’re covered in grass stains and you really need to put something on that knee.”
    Before he could brush it off as nothing, Avery’s hand was on his thigh and she had a handful of napkins out of the small metal holder on the table, pressed against his throbbing knee.
    And just like that, something else a few inches from her hand began to throb worse.
    Way
worse.
    “I’m fine, Ave.” It wasn’t until the words were out that he realized his teeth were clamped so tightly his jaw ached.
    Sudden awareness flashed in her gorgeous gaze. For a moment, he delighted in the simple sincerity of her actions and the fact that the walls usually standing high and impenetrable between them weren’t in evidence.
    Until that gaze flashed once again—this time to his groin—and her eyes widened in surprise.
    Gruff instructions rang out as she lifted her hand from his thigh. “Here. Hold the napkins against your knee for a few more minutes.”
    “Thanks.”
Even if I’d rather you hold something more interesting than a stack of napkins
.
    Mick’s averted gaze and focus on his coffee was the only thing that kept Roman’s comment from being voiced. Add in the not so subtle fact that Avery had pulled her hand away from his body as if scalded—along with the reason for his tumble—and his humiliation was complete.
    “What are you both having?” Roman asked.
    “Pancakes,” they said in unison.
    Although he’d been set on the omelet, the thought of all those carbs had him reconsidering. Maybe the morning could be salvaged after all. “Hangover fare if I’ve ever heard it.”
    “Which is why I’m going to be a good fiancé and bring a stack home to Grier when I leave.”
    “Grier have a tough night?”
    “Tougher morning,” Mick said with a speculative gaze at his mug. “There’s coffee at home for when she wakes up but I left her sleeping.”
    “What about you?” He turned toward Avery. “You look well rested and hangover free.” Yet another battering to his ego at the evidence that she must have slept like a baby.
    “I had my moments. I’m just lucky I stopped before I could do any real damage.”
    Because they sat side by side Roman couldn’t see a full view of her face, but he didn’t miss her meaning. “Well, the things we miss out on are often the most fun experiences. Even if we pay for them in the morning.”
    Avery did turn toward him at that, her dark eyebrows a hard