Read Online Summer at Seaside Cove by Jacquie D'Alessandro - Free Book Online Page B

at him and his unethical renting practices. Still, after his initial crankiness, he had apologized and offered her a refund, and if he was telling the truth, the miscommunication and misleading photos on the website were Jack Crawford’s doing. Not that it did her any good. She sure as hell wasn’t about to go back to New York, and even if she did, with her apartment sublet, she had nowhere to stay.
    Thus she found herself in Nick’s pickup, although if she hadn’t been desperate for supplies and without a car, she definitely wouldn’t be here. Nope. She absolutely didn’t want to spend one more minute in his testosterone-laden company than was absolutely necessary.
    After clicking the metal buckle into place, she stole another quick peek at him. She’d spent the fifteen minutes since she’d left his house washing her face, brushing her teeth, taming her electrocuted-looking hair into some semblance of order, and changing into a fresh tank top and shorts. As far as she could tell, the only freshening up he’d done during that time was to throw on a T-shirt. She assumed he’d fastened his jeans, but since he hadn’t bothered to tuck in the T-shirt, she couldn’t tell.
    â€œThey’re buttoned,” he said, sliding the key into the ignition.
    She turned her head and found him staring at her with an expression that looked half amused and half . . . heated? Yes, that was definitely heat simmering in his eyes . . . his intense green eyes that were framed by thick dark lashes every woman on the planet would kill for. They very nicely matched his slash of dark brows and his thick, wavy, sun-streaked brown hair that was several inches too long and looked as if he’d combed it with his fingers . . . those long, tanned, stronglooking fingers that were loosely curled over the steering wheel . . .
    Jamie cleared her throat and hoisted one brow, favoring him with the withering look she reserved for unreliable restaurant vendors who didn’t deliver their products to Newman’s on time. “I beg your pardon?”
    â€œYou were looking at my crotch. I took a gamble that your superpower wasn’t the ability to see through cotton, so I figured I’d tell you what you wanted to know. I’m fully buttoned and zipped.”
    While Jamie had always hated the fact that her chest and neck turned blotchy whenever she was embarrassed, she’d never hated it more than this very instant as she felt prickling heat flush her skin. God. She’d never met a more irritating, arrogant man in her entire life! The fact that he was sinfully good-looking only added to her irritation. The fact that he was so sinfully good-looking without putting forth even a lick of effort made her want to smack him with the ugly stick.
    â€œI most certainly was not looking at your crotch,” she said, inwardly wincing at her prim tone. Just another thing she hated about being embarrassed—she always ended up sounding like an uptight, three-hundred-year-old, virginal spinster. And she wasn’t lying about looking—she’d merely stolen a peek . That was so not the same thing as looking.
    A slow smile that could have melted an icicle during a snow storm curved his lips. “Whatever you say, princess.”
    For several seconds Jamie’s lungs forgot how to work. Holy. Crap. That slightly lopsided smile was potent with a capital Po. She had to swallow twice to locate her voice. “I told you—I’m not a princess. And what’s this nonsense about me having a superpower?”
    â€œEverybody’s got at least one—it’s the thing that sets you apart from everyone else. Like Superman’s ability to fly, and The Flash’s superhuman reflexes.”
    Jamie instantly wondered what his superpower was. Probably the ability to stupefy with a single smile women who were pissed off at him. Or maybe it had something to do with other things that