Read Online Prince of a Guy by Jill Shalvis - Free Book Online Page B

it and probably stain it, and with a resigned sigh, he opened his arms.
    She leaped right into them with such faith he found his arms tightening around her in a hug he hadn’t known he needed to give.
    “Nice day?” he asked her, burying his face in her sun-warmed hair because she smelled like summer, like cookies, like one-hundred-percent kid.
    Nodding, she did her best to smear chocolate all over him. “We made cookies, but we were real careful, Uncle Sean. No fire.”
    Sean glanced over her head and met Carly’s eyes. She wasn’t smiling, just watching him. He watched her back.
    “And then we walked around the block,” Melissa continued happily. “We laughed at Mrs. Trykowski’s cat cuz she chased a squirrel up a tree and got scared. And stuck. Then I was hot. Really hot, Uncle Sean, so that’s why I did it. That’s why I went swimming.”
    Sean’s heart stopped. “Swimming?”
    “Uh-huh. Water’s warm.”
    Hard to talk when there sat a lump in his throat the size of a regulation football. “You aren’t supposed to go in the pool without me, Melissa. Remember?”
    Melissa lifted her head, looking both contrite and thrilled at the same time. “I remember. But I forgot. And I scared Carly and she jumped in.”
    Sean stared at Carly. “But she doesn’t know how to swim.”
    “Oh, yes, she does,” Melissa told him. “She swam right to me, really fast. Then when I told her I could swim, she cried and laughed. Right, Carly?”
    Carly swallowed hard, her gaze never leaving Sean’s. “Right, Melissa.”
    Slowly, because his heart was still thundering in his ears, Sean set Melissa down and continued to stare at Carly. “You told me you couldn’t swim.”
    “I know.”
    She knew. Damn, but he’d done it again, fallen sucker to another woman who lied. “Melissa, why don’t you go pick out some stories for me to read to you?”
    “But you always say you’re too busy to read to me.”
    He winced. What kind of an uncle was he that he hadn’t made any time for his niece? “I’m sorry about that. I was wrong. Go pick a few out. Take your time.”
    Melissa clapped, then skipped to the house.
    Carly rose, probably hoping to escape, as well.
    “Wait,” he said.
    She looked toward the house. “I thought I should help her—”
    “She’s fine.”
    “Then I should—”
    “Stay,” he said, putting a hand on her arm. An electric current seemed to run through them, and annoyed that now, even now, she could still get to him, he dropped his hand.
    She crossed her arms and stepped back.
    A defensive pose. Sean’s heart twisted. “Let’s get this straight, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    “You can’t cook, though you said you could. But you can swim, though you said you couldn’t.”
    “Yes.” Her voice was a mere whisper, and she was studying the tops of her boots, apparently fascinated.
    “Carly…” He let out a disparaging sound, struggling with temper, wanting even now to give her a chance to explain herself.
    She didn’t take it.
    “Is there something wrong?” he prompted, willing her to give him something, anything. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”
    “No!”
    Too fast, he thought with a surge of worry.
    “What, then? What do I need to know that you haven’t told me?”
    “Nothing.”
    Frustrated, he turned away, staring blindly at the pool, thinking he should let it go. But he couldn’t seem to do that. After Tina, he’d started swimming laps to relieve stress.
    Suddenly, he had a whole lot more stressto relieve. “I can’t do this again,” he said grimly.
    “What?”
    “Never mind.” He wasn’t about to admit he’d been this stupid twice in his life. “Look, you don’t want to trust me, fine. But I’m trusting you with Melissa, and I’d like more references. Can you do that?”
    She swallowed hard, her only sign she’d heard him. “Yes.”
    Heart heavy, he headed inside.
    “Sean?” she called, making him stop and look at her. “I’d never hurt Melissa.”
    “I