Read Online Men Times Three by Bonnie Edwards - Free Book Online Page A

now.”
    Her phone rang and she fumbled through her bag to get the call. She talked while he drove with half an ear on her conversation. From Marnie’s half of the conversation, it was her cousin Holly saying she was on her way in the morning.
    â€œGreat, see you then,” she said and hung up.
    â€œYou didn’t tell her how much work the inn will need before you can put it on the market.”
    She wrinkled her nose and looked endlessly kissable. “I’ve already done that. She’s the one with all the decorating talent. She can make the place look great.”
    â€œYou said she has more time to spend here than you do?”
    â€œShe has her reasons for wanting to hide up here, while all I want is to get back to the city.”
    â€œYou think living here is hiding?”
    â€œDon’t you? With your talent, you could be anywhere, but instead—sorry—I shouldn’t have said anything.”
    â€œYou think I’m hiding here? That I’m not ambitious enough?”
    â€œI didn’t say that.” But she’d thought it. The guilty gleam in her eyes said so.
    â€œOr do you think I’m afraid of the competition in the city?”
    Her silence said more than a phoney denial would. It stung, that silence, but he’d be damned if he corrected her assumption.
    He pulled in to his compound and parked the truck beside the bumblebee she called a car and climbed down. By the time he got to her side, she’d landed on her feet. He shut the door. “I would have helped you out.”
    â€œIf you’d held me while I jumped out, I would have collapsed in your arms. You’d be carrying me inside.” A shaky smile accompanied the words. “I shouldn’t have said anything about your choice to stay here.”
    â€œI chose to come back. It isn’t that I never left.”
    â€œWhere’d you go?”
    He smiled but made no comment. Let her stew about it. It would do her good to wonder. So far, he’d been an open book.
    She sauntered up onto his porch and through his front door without pressing for an answer.
    The mundane details of towels and fresh sheets on the guest room bed and a fresh bar of soap behind them, TJ set the faucets to run into his tub while she got ready for her bath.
    When he turned around, he had to pick his jaw up off the floor. She was in a silky, short colorful robe that barely covered the tops of her thighs. Her auburn hair swayed free at the tips of her breasts, and with her sash drawn tight, the lapels showed a sweet line of cleavage.
    Steam rose into the room and he stood there like an imbecile, no doubt drooling. She cocked her head and waited, clasping the towels he’d given her.
    He cleared his throat. “Oh, yeah, I guess I’ll leave you to it, then.”
    â€œYes, I guess you will.”
    â€œIf it gets too steamy in here, I can crack open the window.”
    â€œThanks, that would be great.” She shifted on her pretty bare feet while he took care of the window for her. “An inch should do it.”
    â€œI’m sure that’s fine.”
    He sidled out the door, edging his way around her and damned himself for leaving. He should have grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him, but Marnie Dawson had him by the ’nads and she wasn’t letting go long enough to let him think let alone act on his desire.
    The next hour flew by as he grabbed ingredients for an omelette and groaned four hundred and ninety-five times at the thought of Marnie covered in bubbles and steam, her breasts bobbing on the surface of his tub.
    Her comment still rankled him. He’d never considered that his return to the Peninsula could be construed as a failure, even by someone who didn’t know him. He thought back to this afternoon when they’d first seen each other. All he’d said was that the Peninsula was home. Which was true. He hadn’t seen the need to explain anything else. He