Read Online Waiting for You by Abigail Strom - Free Book Online

website for my new business.”
    She stared at him. “You…you’re Mark Hayner?” Her cheeks flushed again, this time with anger. “I can’t believe you set me up like this. You made up a fake name to—”
    He shook his head. “Not guilty. Mark is a real guy, and he’s my partner. He owns the machine shop and the garage where I’ll be doing the work. We’ll each put up half the capital—if we actually go ahead with the idea.”
    He leaned forward. “And if we do, we’ll need a website. I showed Mark some of the sites you designed and he agreed with me that you’re the one for the job.”
    She looked at him for a minute, and then closed her laptop. “No. No way. I’m not working with you, Jake.”
    “Why not?”
    She stared at him. “You really need me to spell it out for you? Fine. I don’t want to work with you because I don’t want to be reminded of the last time we met.”
    She started to gather up the glossy web pages, and he put a hand over hers to stop her. She froze, and he let her go immediately.
    “Okay, look. You wouldn’t return my calls. I knew if I used my own name you wouldn’t meet me, so I used Mark’s. We really do want you to design a website for us, but I also wanted a chance to talk to you. To tell you how sorry I am about what happened that night.” He hesitated. “I had no business making a move on you. I’m not up for anything romantic right now, and I shouldn’t have crossed that line. All I can say in my defense is that you’re pretty damn hard to resist.”
    If she liked hearing that, she didn’t show it. She wasn’t showing much of anything at the moment. She was sitting back with her arms folded, a slight frown on her face as she listened to him.
    He took a deep breath. “I’m not looking for a relationship, but I could use a friend. There aren’t that many people I feel like spending time with these days, and you’re one of them.”
    He stopped talking then, and waited to hear what she would say.
    She didn’t say anything for a minute. She looked down at the table, biting her lip, and he told himself not to look at her mouth. Looking at her mouth was what had gotten him into trouble in the first place.
    Finally she met his eyes again. “Let’s start with the website.”
    It wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but it was a start. “Fair enough. Why don’t you stop by the garage sometime? If you come Friday around five o’clock, Mark and I can show you around and then take you to dinner. A business dinner,” he added with a smile.
    “I can’t Friday. I have a date.”
    It was like a punch in the gut, completely unexpected.
    “A date,” he said, trying to sound unconcerned. “Good for you.”
    It shouldn’t bother him. Hadn’t he just finished telling her he wasn’t looking for a relationship?
    He cleared his throat. “So, who’s the guy?”
    Erin studied him for a moment. Her gray eyes were serious, and he was reminded of how seriously she’d always taken life as a kid. She never blew anything off, never left a job unfinished…never let anyone down who was depending on her.
    Any man would be lucky to have her in his life. Hell, a guy who had a chance with Erin Shaw was the luckiest man on the planet.
    She didn’t answer his question. “Like I said before, let’s stick with the website. I don’t want to talk about my love life with you. Okay?”
    Because he’d been looking at her so closely for the last few minutes, he saw when the hint of vulnerability came into her expression.
    She was protecting herself. From him.
    Which was a smart move on her part. Wasn’t that the reason he’d turned her down that night? To protect her?
    Getting her to meet him today had been selfish. He wanted her friendship for his sake, not for hers. It might be better for Erin if he stayed out of her life.
    But the thought of not seeing her again made his heart tighten in his chest—a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time.
    The truth was, he hadn’t felt