Read Online No More Mr. Nice Guy by Jennifer Greene - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jennifer Greene
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she didn’t know what they’d talked about. They’d just talked and kept on talking.
Somewhere between 1:30 and 1:35 a.m., Carroll had come up with the amazing discovery that there was a tremendous difference between loving someone and being in love. She’d always loved Alan. Alan was easy to love. But last night she’d watched herself doing things that no sane person would do. Laughing at stories that couldn’t possibly be funny to anyone else. Not caring that the hours were ticking by when she knew she had to work in the morning. Enjoying an awareness that her body was perpetually turned on just from being in the same universe with him…
She didn’t have masses of sexual experience, but she’d used the word love before and meant it. Still. Something had always been missing—not loving, not the ability to love, but that crazy, yearning, restless feeling of being in love.
A scrub brush probably couldn’t wipe the silly smile off her face. Helplessly, she yawned again and tried to get serious. When a shadow darkened the doorway, she looked up, prepared to see Cathy, and instead saw the reason for her silly smile.
Alan looked wretched. There were pouches beneath his eyes; the lines around them showed white as they always did when he was overtired; and under his jacket, he was wearing a shirt she’d never seen before—a red shirt. Not his color. It didn’t matter. Six whole hours they’d been separated, far too long in her current state of lunacy. She smiled. He smiled back. “Hi,” she said softly.
“Hi back.”
Rather abruptly, she remembered that she was a mature, rational woman and leaped to her feet. “Alan, what on earth are you doing here?”
“Came to see you.” He stifled an exhausted yawn, and reached for the buttons of his jacket. “It occurred to me last night how often you’d seen my office—when I’d never seen where you work. I’ve wanted to for weeks, Caro. And I was pretty sure you’d told me you were always here on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and that the school encouraged visitors…”
“We do. We don’t want the kids to feel isolated or different, and having lots of people around can help them feel less sensitive about their problems.” She stopped abruptly; the subject couldn’t be less relevant. “Alan, you must have had patients this morning.”
“I did. One came very early, two canceled and one was rescheduled for this afternoon.” He tugged off his jacket, looked for a place to hang it. The only option appeared to be a child-size coat tree. His sleeves trailed on the floor. “You don’t mind if I come in and watch you, do you?”
“No, of course not, but…” She saw her hands fluttering up, and stopped them. There was no reason to be flustered. She was delighted he was here, just surprised. “I’m afraid I haven’t got a very exciting schedule this morning. If I’d known you wanted to come, I’d have asked you on a day when I had something more interesting. We’ve got some fantastic new testing equipment—”
“But then, I didn’t come to see equipment. I came to see you.” Since he certainly hadn’t a prayer of sleeping the night before, he’d spent the wee hours of the morning alternately reading a book called Love Foods for Successful Lovers and making a list of ways to woo Carroll. One of the things on that list was coming here.
Watching her work hadn’t exactly fit his list of heroic, exciting things a man should do for his woman, but it did have to do with love. Not just loving her, but proving it to her. He really was interested in her work and always had been, but the night before, it had occurred to him that he’d failed to show her his interest. “I promise not to get in your way.”
“I wasn’t worried about that.”
He glanced around. “Where do you want me to sit?”
“Umm.” She gave him an apologetic glance. “On the floor, I’m afraid. Or I could bring in a chair for you…”
“I’ll be just fine
Somewhere between 1:30 and 1:35 a.m., Carroll had come up with the amazing discovery that there was a tremendous difference between loving someone and being in love. She’d always loved Alan. Alan was easy to love. But last night she’d watched herself doing things that no sane person would do. Laughing at stories that couldn’t possibly be funny to anyone else. Not caring that the hours were ticking by when she knew she had to work in the morning. Enjoying an awareness that her body was perpetually turned on just from being in the same universe with him…
She didn’t have masses of sexual experience, but she’d used the word love before and meant it. Still. Something had always been missing—not loving, not the ability to love, but that crazy, yearning, restless feeling of being in love.
A scrub brush probably couldn’t wipe the silly smile off her face. Helplessly, she yawned again and tried to get serious. When a shadow darkened the doorway, she looked up, prepared to see Cathy, and instead saw the reason for her silly smile.
Alan looked wretched. There were pouches beneath his eyes; the lines around them showed white as they always did when he was overtired; and under his jacket, he was wearing a shirt she’d never seen before—a red shirt. Not his color. It didn’t matter. Six whole hours they’d been separated, far too long in her current state of lunacy. She smiled. He smiled back. “Hi,” she said softly.
“Hi back.”
Rather abruptly, she remembered that she was a mature, rational woman and leaped to her feet. “Alan, what on earth are you doing here?”
“Came to see you.” He stifled an exhausted yawn, and reached for the buttons of his jacket. “It occurred to me last night how often you’d seen my office—when I’d never seen where you work. I’ve wanted to for weeks, Caro. And I was pretty sure you’d told me you were always here on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and that the school encouraged visitors…”
“We do. We don’t want the kids to feel isolated or different, and having lots of people around can help them feel less sensitive about their problems.” She stopped abruptly; the subject couldn’t be less relevant. “Alan, you must have had patients this morning.”
“I did. One came very early, two canceled and one was rescheduled for this afternoon.” He tugged off his jacket, looked for a place to hang it. The only option appeared to be a child-size coat tree. His sleeves trailed on the floor. “You don’t mind if I come in and watch you, do you?”
“No, of course not, but…” She saw her hands fluttering up, and stopped them. There was no reason to be flustered. She was delighted he was here, just surprised. “I’m afraid I haven’t got a very exciting schedule this morning. If I’d known you wanted to come, I’d have asked you on a day when I had something more interesting. We’ve got some fantastic new testing equipment—”
“But then, I didn’t come to see equipment. I came to see you.” Since he certainly hadn’t a prayer of sleeping the night before, he’d spent the wee hours of the morning alternately reading a book called Love Foods for Successful Lovers and making a list of ways to woo Carroll. One of the things on that list was coming here.
Watching her work hadn’t exactly fit his list of heroic, exciting things a man should do for his woman, but it did have to do with love. Not just loving her, but proving it to her. He really was interested in her work and always had been, but the night before, it had occurred to him that he’d failed to show her his interest. “I promise not to get in your way.”
“I wasn’t worried about that.”
He glanced around. “Where do you want me to sit?”
“Umm.” She gave him an apologetic glance. “On the floor, I’m afraid. Or I could bring in a chair for you…”
“I’ll be just fine
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