Read Online Just Perfect by Julie Ortolon - Free Book Online

can’t say no, even if she’d rather go with anyone but you.”“
    Alec lowered his voice as the band slid into a softer number. “I don’t want her to go out with me because I have tickets to some sold-out concert. I want her to go out with me because she’s, you know, dazzled by my personality.”
    “Just get her to go out with you, then dazzle her.”
    Normally that wouldn’t worry Alec. As Trent said, women liked him. True, most of them started out thinking of him as “the fun, cute guy,” but he’d learned to work that to his advantage. Besides, he liked relationships to be as much about friendship and fun as truly great sex.
    “I just don’t get it,” he repeated. “Why is she so bent on rejecting me?”
    “Maybe you should ask her.” Trent nodded toward the door.
    “What?” Alec turned and his heart lurched when he saw Christine standing just inside the door. Shaking off snow, she pulled back the hood of her parka.
    Could she possibly have come looking for him? She knew this was his favorite hangout.
    The thought sent something shooting through his system like an electrical current. He’d never felt such excitement just from seeing a woman. Attraction, yes. Lust, definitely. But not this… this… whatever it was she stirred up inside him.
    Then she shrugged out of her coat, revealing a soft gray sweater that cupped a pair of nice-sized breasts on a long, narrow torso, and the funny feeling in his chest migrated due south. Okay, so maybe some of what she stirred up was lust. Understandable, though, since imagining what she looked like beneath her ski jacket didn’t compare to actually finding out.
    After hanging her coat on a row of hooks, she glanced about the dimly lit pub, taking in the antique ski gear hanging from the rafters, the crowded area around the fire pit, and the Victorian-era bar that lined the wall opposite her. The look that came over her face reminded him of a kid entering an amusement park.
    Then her gaze landed on him, and she froze.
    Disappointment cut deep since that was not the reaction he was hoping for. Making thing worse, she hesitated when the hostess spoke to her. Surely she wasn’t going to leave just because he was here. Had he bungled things that badly? But how? What had he done?
    Finally she turned to the hostess, shook her head no to a menu, and gestured to the bar. He tracked her progress as she maneuvered through the tables, his mind racing for what to do next, how to approach her.
    She found an empty stool, a rarity at St. Bernard’s on a Friday night, and placed an order with the bartender.
    “Wow, who’s
that
?” Eric asked.
    Alec turned to find the kid half out of his chair as every male in the bachelor party strained to see who had snagged his attention. Even Buddy, who’d been dozing under the table, lifted his head with a questioning whine.
    Oh great, Alec thought with an inward groan, this was all he needed. Knowing his friends, he knew what was coming.
    Steve, who was late thirties, divorced, and reasonably good-looking, raised a brow. “My guess would be the woman Alec is stalking. Damn, Trent, you weren’t kidding.”
    Across from him, Lt. Kreiger, the retired Navy pilot who flew the rescue helicopter, raised his mug in salute. “Now that, my friends, is what I call a long cool drink of water.”
    Bruce sent Alec a look of accusation. “You’re dating the ski student I asked you to teach?”
    “Actually, he’s not dating her,” Trent was helpful enough to inform the whole table. “That’s why he’s stalking her.”
    “I’m not stalking her,” Alec tried to get in, but Brian ran right over him.
    “No way! Man, I can’t believe it. Bruce asked me first, and I turned him down.”
    “Well, see”—Bruce turned his attention to the red-headed kid—“that’s what you get for turning your back on a friend in need.”
    “You could have told me she was hot,” Brian complained.
    “I didn’t know it when I asked you,” Bruce argued