Read Online Unexpected by Lori Foster - Free Book Online Page A

way you say and do just as you please. It’s nice not to have to wonder what’s in your head.”
    She blinked at him lazily while storm clouds gathered in her eyes. “You think I have it so easy? You actually think you know my thoughts?”
    Uh-oh. Apparently, he’d stepped in it again. “Ray, you haven’t exactly been circumspect in your speech or”—he glanced at her body, teasingly displayed—“in your attire.”
    Her eyelids narrowed just the tiniest bit. She propped her chin on a fist. “You didn’t by any chance think to get to know me better, did you?”
    Eli wasn’t quite certain what was going on now. Seconds ago she’d been open and friendly. She’d told him about her dog, damn it. Of her own accord, she had opened up. “I’d like to get to know you better.”
    â€œWhy?”
    He couldn’t tell her that he wanted her, that despite the situation with his brother, he couldn’t get her off his mind. He shrugged and settled on saying, “You fascinate me.”
    Her smile was mean. “Kind of like the strange animals at the zoo, huh?”
    â€œNo.” He resented the gibe, especially since it had come on so suddenly. “I think you’re very independent and honest and up-front. I like and admire that about you. You don’t meet too many people with those traits.”
    She continued to scrutinize him. “You don’t know me, Eli. If you did, you wouldn’t say such a stupid thing.”
    From bad to worse. She was so damn defensive, so hurt. “I want to know you.”
    She laughed without humor.
    â€œWhen this is over, we could see how things go.”
    Before he’d finished that statement, she was already shaking her head. “Not possible.”
    â€œWhy?”
    Ray stood and paced to the sink, put her empty dish inside and ran water over it. She was gathering her thoughts, her arguments, but Eli didn’t know how to reassure her.
    He knew for certain she didn’t realize the picture she made, leaning against the sink with the undershirt hugging the soft lines of her hips. She turned, putting her hands behind her on the counter, which only served to push her breasts forward. Again, she seemed oblivious to the sensuousness of her stance.
    â€œI never see the people I work for after the job is done.”
    â€œWhy, Ray?” His gaze held hers, taking in her carefully wrought expression of indifference. “Explain it to me.”
    â€œWhat’s to explain? I just don’t.”
    â€œYou must have a reason.” He pressed her when he knew that could be dangerous. But he sensed an emotional opening and he fully intended to take advantage of it. “I would think you’d get pretty close to a person if you rescue him.”
    She shook her head. “No, that would be stupid.”
    â€œWhy?”
    Exasperated, she said, “You wouldn’t understand.”
    â€œYou sound so sure of that.” Despite his efforts to remain calm and in control, his brows pulled down. “You know, it’s just possible I’m not really as shallow as you think.”
    Her arms came around to cross over her chest. It was a protective gesture, and Eli wondered at it. Why did she feel threatened? How could she feel threatened by a man when she was comfortable traipsing about in her underclothes in front of him? That alone denoted a certain amount of self-confidence and trust.
    He stood, crowding in close to her. Her face turned up to his and he stared into her eyes. He wanted to touch her, to make the physical connection between a man and a woman. The compulsion was almost too great to resist. “Explain it to me, Ray,” he insisted quietly.
    Her chin tilted stubbornly in a sign of defiance. She was always so contained, so laid back, she wouldn’t have cared enough to be defiant. But this topic got to her, threatened her in some way, and damn it, he