Read Online On the Move by Pamela Britton - Free Book Online Page A

holding open the front door.
    He saw her brows lift when she caught a glimpse of the inside. This was one of the furnished ones and so it had a couch in the family room off to their right. To the left were the bedrooms, and straight ahead was the kitchen, tall windows allowing light to spill into the interior.
    “I always thought they’d look, you know, cheap,” he said. “But this is great. The boys will love them.”
    She didn’t say anything. When he glanced back at her, he noticed she hadn’t moved away from the door. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
    “Why didn’t you tell me what you wanted to do?”
    He shrugged. “Why would I? It’s my own little pet project. SSI has nothing to do with it.”
    She peered up at him, and Brandon thought to himself, yet again, that she really was pretty in a no-nonsense way. He liked that she didn’t wear a lot of makeup. He felt intrigued by the suit she wore—or more specifically—what might be underneath. And when he’d touched her earlier, he’d recognized something else, too. They had chemistry.
    Man, did they ever have chemistry.
    She was shaking her head.
    “What? Do you think it’s a dumb idea?”
    “No,” she said, meeting his gaze at last. “I think it’s a great idea.”
    He felt his shoulders relax. “You do?”
    She nodded. “I just have to wonder, you know, why?”
    “Why what?”
    “Why a boys’ ranch?”
    He shrugged. “It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do.”
    “Yes, but why? ”
    Leave it to Vicky to ask such a question. He hadn’t known her all that long, but he could already tell she was like a dog with a bone when it came to getting to the bottom of a matter. “Maybe because I know what it’s like to grow up lonely.”
    “Do you?”
    “Of course. Traveling like my family did. Racing every weekend. I didn’t have time for friends. When I did get a weekend off, I was an outcast. I was that kid that didn’t go to school. Didn’t get to take a girl to prom. Didn’t do anything but race.”
    “Yes, but what does that have to do with wanting to open up a boys’ ranch?”
    “I just told you,” he said. “I want a place where lonely kids, like I was, can gather and meet other kids like themselves.”
    “Was your father hard on you, Brandon?”
    “Okay, that’s enough,” he said, turning away. “Let’s check the place out. I bet there’s a bed in that room down there.”
    She didn’t follow and when he stopped at the end of the hallway, she still stood in the family room, a sad expression on her face.
    “Come on,” he urged.
    He saw her pull in a deep breath, saw her throw her shoulders back. She must have realized she’d trod too closely to a subject he didn’t want to discuss because she didn’t push him further and for that he was grateful. The last thing he wanted to discuss—ever—was his father.
    “Wow, look at the size of that bed,” he said after peeking into a room. “Bet we could have some fun on that.” He flung himself onto the mattress in question, bouncing up and down on it for good measure.
    She must have changed her mind about pushing him because he heard her say, “I know about the fistfight you got into with him.”
    “Seriously, Vicky. Enough. The subject of my father is off-limits.”
    “Why? Because he was hard on you?”
    “Enough,” he said again, shooting off the bed. He couldn’t take the compassion in her eyes. And the sorrow and the pity. His childhood wasn’t that bad. He’d learned to race cars. That was all that was important.
    “Let’s go,” he said.
    She grabbed his hand as he passed by. “I’m sorry,” she said.
    “Vicky,” he said, biting back an oath of impatience.
    “You can talk to me about it if you want.”
    He tried to think of what to say, but in the end he did the unthinkable.
    He kissed her.
    He didn’t know why, except he suspected he did it so he could shut her up. What he didn’t expect was the jolt that nearly knocked him to his