Read Online Sweet Nothings by Kim Law - Free Book Online Page B

the face, and silently grateful it wasn’t a Thursday when she’d need to be wearing a go-go outfit. Equally thankful she’d run home after church and changed from her dress into jeans and a sweatshirt.
    Grabbing the tape dispenser and broken-down boxes from the backseat in one hand, she scooped up the deli-prepared, uncooked pizza from her passenger side with the other. Nick might have already eaten lunch, but this way she could at least feel she’d paid him back for dinner.
    Especially since Friday night hadn’t been a date.
    She thought back—for about the millionth time—to the two of them standing on her front porch.
    He wasn’t her type. He would want more than she would ever give.
    Yet the fact remained, she’d wanted to kiss him.
    She had to fix that notion today. There was too much to get done together over the coming weeks. Whatever this attraction was between them, it had to end. Now.
    She headed up the sidewalk, noticing the handful of early daffodils sprouting, and found herself surprised that Nick hadn’t poked his head out the front door. Surely he’d heard her car turn in. She glanced back at the driveway. Yep. Big, giant red truck, sitting right there. Though she wasn’t sure how she hadn’t paid attention to it when she’d pulled up. Too busy thinking about the past, she supposed.
    When she got to the door and Nick still hadn’t shown, she pursed her lips, trying to decide what to do next. It didn’t feel right to just walk in. He was living there now. Plus, she didn’t have a free hand to open the door with anyway. What was he doing that he hadn’t heard her?
    Or maybe he had, and he was playing nonchalant. Just as she intended to do.
    Irritation had her kicking the door several times with the toe of her sneaker. The aluminum of the screen door rattled on its hinges, and finally she heard life from inside the house. Heavy footsteps headed her way.
    It was about time.
    The door swung open, and Joanie’s mouth dropped open.
    The goggles on Nick’s face, along with the bits of dust and dirt covering his hair and the rest of his face, would have been funny, if not for the way his dark eyes stared out at her through the thin layer of dust. And the way his gray T-shirt was plastered to his chest.
    He was drenched with sweat, looking like a crazed person, and she was suddenly ready to toss the idea of keeping it friendly, and help him with a shower instead.
    She held up the hand with the pizza riding on her palm. “I owed you food.”
    He blinked, glanced at the pizza in her hand, then stepped back and let her in.
    “I’m sorry,” she started, passing by him and ignoring the dirt clinging to his extra-wide shoulders. Looked like demolition had started. Sheheaded to the kitchen. “I should have called and let you know I’d be coming by today. I thought I’d empty out the kitchen cabinets so they’d be ready to rip out when you got to them.”
    When she turned after unloading her hands, he’d removed the goggles and had the bottom of his shirt lifted, wiping off his face. His abs looked delicious. Her mouth went dry.
    “No problem,” he finally said. He dropped his shirt, but her memory hadn’t forgotten the show. “But you didn’t owe me food.”
    She reached out for the knob on the oven and turned it on, then forced herself to quit gawking at his torso. “I told you I’d bring food next time.”
    “Or something,” he said.
    “What?” She couldn’t stop herself from peeking back at him, wishing he needed to wipe off his face again.
    “You said you’d bring dinner, or something , next time.” Was his voice deeper than usual? Or maybe it was just scratchy. Kind of like an animal’s low growl. “I was wondering what the something might be.”
    Brown eyes, now free of goggles and dust, swept over her as if implying the something he wanted had nothing to do with the pizza she’d brought. She glanced down the hall, momentarily letting a very naughty thought run through her