Read Online The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen - Free Book Online Page A

down to look in her window. The sun on his skin highlighted how clear and poreless it was, and turned his blue eyes crystalline. She hadn’t heard him approach, but she could see now that his car was parked behind hers in the driveway.
    She smiled and quickly tucked her notebook away. “No, I was just waiting for you.”
    He opened the car door for her and helped her out. “It’s too hot to be sitting in your car. Your hair is wet.” He put his cool hand to the base of her bare neck, which made her want to shiver. It was a base reaction from a place deep within her, a well full of sharp longings and pipe dreams. She couldn’t fill that well, couldn’t stopper it, as hard as she tried. But for the sake of their friendship, she did everything she could not to show it.
    She smiled. “You never sweat. Are you actually human?”
    “I enjoy air-conditioning too much to ever be long without it. Come in.” They walked to his door, where he unlocked it and gestured for her to enter first. He put his keys on the entryway table. She caught a glimpse of herself in the gold starburst mirror and immediately set her tote bag down and used both hands to slick back her hair, tucking all the loose strands into the knot she’d tied that morning.
    “Have you had dinner yet?” he asked.
    She dropped her hands. “No.”
    “Join me, then. I’ll grill salmon. I’m glad I came home first.”
    “First?”
    “Sometimes I go to that diner on the highway.”
    “The Happy Daze Diner?” she asked, disbelieving. The place seemed so unlike him. It had been a family diner at one time, now it was a hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon, still doing business because elderly people who remembered it in its heyday continued to frequent the place.
    He smiled at her reaction. “Believe it or not, I have fond memories of the place. My great-aunt used to take me there when I was a kid.” He loosened his tie. “So, how was your day?”
    “The same. Until I got home this evening.” Paxton hesitated. “I think my brother is interested in Willa Jackson.”
    He raised a single brow. “And you don’t approve?” His tie hissed as he pulled it off. Maybe it was becauseshe was already on edge, but she thought it was a seductive sound. It made her skin prickle.
    “No, it’s not that. I’d love her forever if she made him stay.”
    “Then what’s the problem?” he asked.
    She hesitated, still bothered by it. “He seems to think I should have invited her to participate in the restoration of the Blue Ridge Madam.”
    “Why didn’t you?”
    “It didn’t occur to me,” she said. “Do you think I should have?”
    He shrugged. “It would have been a nice thing to do.”
    “That’s what Colin said. I didn’t mean to slight her.”
    “I know you didn’t. You like being in control. It never occurs to you to ask for help.” He smiled and put a hand to her cheek. “But some things are worth asking for, darling.”
    “Easy for you to say,” she said miserably.
    “No, actually, it’s not,” he responded. “I’m going to change. You haven’t seen the upstairs since I redecorated my bedroom, have you?”
    “No.”
    “Come on, then.”
    She knew where all the rooms were—the guest room, the room with expensive exercise equipment in it, the empty room he said he had vague plans to turn into an office, and his master suite. He’d mentioned having his bedroom painted last month, but she wasn’t prepared for the major overhaul he’d done. The gray walls had a metallic sheen, and the furniture was allblack lacquer now. He’d spent most of his time when he first moved back decorating the downstairs and ridding the house of medieval décor left behind by the previous owner. She’d loved watching the transformation, watching it become more like Sebastian. This, though, wasn’t anything like what she thought it would be. Dark, moody, stark, masculine.
    She started to leave so he could change, but he told her to stay, and disappeared into his