Read Online Just the Man She Needs by Gwynne Forster - Free Book Online Page B

the bell rang. Seven o’clock. She’d known he would be punctual.
    His eyes widened when she opened the door, and when she reached up and kissed his cheek, his bottom lip dropped. “Hmm,” she said. “Come in. You look…Gosh, and just think, I don’t even own a gun.”
    As if he were confused, a frown covered his face. “A gun? Why would you need a gun?”
    She sent one of her eyebrows up. “Are you serious? I don’t have the strength to spend the evening fending off women.”
    “Hold on here,” he said. “I can get fresh, too.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips across hers. “You look wonderful. I’ll be careful about suggesting that you wear red. You’re fresh enough without it.” He shook his head as if bewildered. “I hope you’re not planning to give me a hard time, because if you do, I swear I’ll get even. Truce?”
    She wanted to wrap her arms around him and hug him, but she restrained herself. “Truce. Remember, Ashton, that I surprise myself every time I surprise you. I honestly don’t know this woman you’ve created, but I definitely like her.”
    His grin softened his lips, lit his eyes and then covered his face with a smile that weakened her. She gazed at him. “Sometimes, like right now, I could…” She nearly bit her tongue at that lapse in judgment.
    “You could what?” He stepped closer to her.
    “Let’s go, Ashton. That slipped out, and you know it.”
    He dropped his hands to his sides, and she didn’t think she had ever seen an adult with such an innocent facial expression as when he said, “I won’t touch. Do with me as you like. I’m yours for the evening.”
    “Sure you are. And what will you exact in exchange?”
    His smile, so sweet and beguiling, almost made her believe him when he said, “I only want your happiness and well-being, and whenever you’re with me, I’ll try to see that that’s what you get.”
    She walked right into that. He meant it, and because she knew he did, she couldn’t play and tease. He kept his hands at his sides, and she walked to him, put her arms around him, hugged him and heard herself whisper, “You’re so…so sweet. I can’t believe you’re real.”
    “I’m real, all right, Felicia, and I’m not acting. Neither, I see, are you. We’d better go before we light up this place.”
    She hadn’t noticed that he carried a red rose, and when he handed it to her, she had to fight back the tears. He’d given her the first red rose she had ever received. “I’m going to dry this,” she said, hating the tremor of her voice. “And I’ll wrap it in tissue paper and keep it.” She got a vase, filled it with water and put the rose in it.
    “I’m ready,” she said.
    “Where’s your purse?”
    She handed him her door key. “I don’t need one, unless you want to split the bill.”
    His lips curved into a grin and she said to herself, “Turn your head, girl, before he makes mush out of you again.”
    “Sure you trust me?”
    “As sure as I am of my name,” she told him. “Thanks for the beautiful rose. I’m glad I didn’t wear my gray suit.”
    His right hand rubbed the back of his neck, and he shook his head from side to side as if disbelieving something, she didn’t know what. “Woman, you get to me. Let’s go.”
    “You look so great,” he said after dinner, “and the evening’s been so short. I wish we could find a place to dance. It’s too early to take you home.”
    “Let’s just walk,” she said. “Maybe sometime we can go to a supper club. Then we can dance.” She grasped his hand. “It’s such a wonderful evening. Let’s just enjoy it. We don’t really need to dance, do we?”
    His fingers tightened on hers. “No, we don’t. Let’s go over to Lincoln Center, watch the fountains shoot up, and drink an aperitif. Or would you rather we took a taxi over there?”
    “Taxi? It’s only seven blocks. We can walk…unless you don’t feel like it.”
    He dropped her hand and put his arm around