Read Online Restorations (Book One Oregon In Love) by Bonnie Blythe - Free Book Online Page A

night but you never showed up. Are you
okay?”
    Sara slapped a hand to her head and groaned.
She’d completely forgot she ever made the plans with him. After the
loss of her grandfather, she’d flown straight to Oregon. She needed
to call him right away.
    “Who’s Daryl?” Brian asked, striding in the
door with a set of keys jingling in his hand.
    Sara stabbed a button on the machine,
cutting Daryl off in mid-sentence from another call asking where
she was.
    Brian plopped down onto the couch next to
her and held up the keys. “You’ll never guess.”
    “You’re right. I won’t.”
    “I went down and talked to your manager and
she had a little studio empty right next door to you, close enough
to hear if you need help. So I rented it for a few nights.”
    “I hope you didn’t use me as a character
reference,” Sara said dryly. No doubt, Brian flashed his lazy smile
at Mrs. Hogarth to get what he wanted.
    Brian pocketed the keys and looked at her
with a wide grin. “Isn’t it great? Now I can be proper protection
to you while we’re here.”
    Sara stared at him. Brian proper?
Protection? She recalled spending every free moment in his arms.
Her gaze drifted to his lips. She still remembered the way they
felt against her own—tender, teasing...possessive. When she raised
her eyes, she found him watching her as if he read her thoughts.
Her face flamed.
    “Who’s Daryl?”
    Sara blinked, jolted by the question. The
heat in her face deepened. She tilted up her chin. “None of your
business.”
    Brian regarded her for a moment before
standing up. “Why don’t I order us some take-out Chinese and after
we eat dinner, we can start organizing the move.”
    Sara found the suggestion eminently
reasonable, but was reluctant to readily agree with anything the
man said. She rose from the couch and shrugged. “I’m going to get
started now.” Without waiting for a response, she went into her
bedroom and shut the door with more force than necessary.
    Sara quickly changed into old faded jeans
and a faded T-shirt. In the bathroom, she once more checked her
appearance. Seeing the high color in her cheeks, she sniffed and
reminded herself not to lower her defenses to the man in the next
room.
    She remembered her thoughts during the drive
from the airport. Okay, so Brian kept popping up and putting his
nose into her business, but she found nothing truly lover-like in
his actions. From experience, she knew if he intended to woo her,
he wouldn’t be so oblique about it. When they first met, he'd
pursued her with zeal. Now he acted like nothing more than a
friendly shadow.
    Sara scowled, catching her reflection in the
mirror. All her old feelings of unworthiness rushed back. Someone
like her had no hope of attracting the handsome, charming Brian
Farris. Last time must’ve been a fluke. She lowered her eyes,
feeling suddenly weary. All this time she thought she'd been
holding him at arm’s length. But if Brian wanted her, he wouldn’t
let a bit of coolness stop him. How foolish to assume he might
still be interested. Besides, she didn’t want him to be interested.
He was a womanizing philanderer.
    Wasn’t he?
    Pursing her lips, Sara remembered her desire
to avoid another disastrous relationship. With a bleak little sigh,
she turned and went back into the living room.

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Sara found Brian once again standing next to
the window, gazing down to the street. He looked up when she
entered the room.
    “I put in the order. You still like
Szechuan, I hope.”
    Sara stopped in her tracks. A memory blew
into her mind. On their third date he’d taken her to a Chinese
restaurant specializing in Szechuan. He kissed her for the first
time that night, and they’d laughed about their spicy breath
afterwards.
    She sent him a searching look. Surely he
didn’t refer to that date. Brian returned her gaze, his face a
polite mask. She shook away the memory. “That’s fine.”
    While they waited for the food to