Read Online Worth the Fall by Caitie Quinn - Free Book Online Page A

willing to be all Independent Woman except when parking. I really hated parking.  
    Jenna and I each grabbed a box and headed toward the stairs.
    “Really, Kasey.” Jenna waited to let me pass into the foyer. She already had her game face on. Who knew where this was going. “Max is a good guy. He has a big sense of humor. He probably feels horrible about making you feel bad.”
    Not as bad as I felt. I was one step away from a tree murderer. I was a tree maimer.
    “Hey.” Max stood at the top of the stairs, his arms wrapped around a box.
    “Hey.” I watched tiny Jenna slide by him then went to do the same. And of course, not-quite-as-tiny me practically knocked the box out of his hands while juggling to hold onto my own. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
    “Don’t worry about it.” He juggled the box until he could brace it on top of the banister. I tried to read his expression behind his mirrored Ray-Bans. “Listen, I get it. You’re having a crappy week. Ben called me and gave me an earful in the four minutes I’ve been upstairs. You seem to be managing a lot right now.”
    “Well, I’ll admit, watching you handle Jason was fun.”
    “Handling Jason was fun.” He grinned and a dimple kicked in. Just on the one side. The right, where his mouth hitched up the slightest bit—not quite crooked.
    “So, yeah.” I dragged my gaze away from that dimple. He probably used it to hypnotize female perps into submission. Do cops actually say perps ? Anyway…“Let’s just call it good and get the moving done.”
    I pushed past him, trying to ignore the dimple. I was not looking for a guy and if I was, Officer Max Darby was as far from the polished, soft-spoken guy I was going to look for next. After Jason, I knew I wanted someone who treated me as an equal and respected my worth. Someone who didn’t scream Command and Control while standing still.
    When my life was up and running, I’d look for a guy who fit in it with me. But, until then, no men. Not even just a flirt. I was looking to start my new business and steer clear of domineering men.
    I glanced at Max’s shoulders as he carried the box down the stairs and tried to justify that looking from afar couldn’t do any harm.
    Far, far afar.

ELEVEN

    I avoided Max as much as possible for the rest of the day. That didn’t mean I wasn’t aware of him. It was nearly impossible not to be. As the day got warmer, he and Ben stripped off their jackets and toted heavy things around like they were feathers. There was much eye-candy to be had.
    Eye-candy was acceptable. I mean, they say that a large number of serial killers are gorgeous, but I’d avoid them too.
    Too bad it wasn’t July. Although, in this the neighborhood. I doubted even that heat level would have gotten them out of the t-shirts they were dusting up.
    I wasn’t sure what it was about Max that had my attention. He was shorter than Ben, probably five-ten, maybe five-eleven. And, while he was darkly handsome, standing next to Ben’s golden good-looks, he had abrupt edges that seemed at odds with his charm.
    But, there was something that had my gaze returning to him again and again.
    Maybe it was that he’d been my unintentional hero over the last twenty-four hours, calling off ex-boyfriends and snotty landlords.
    “He’s single.”
    “What?” I tried to pretend I was looking out the window behind where the guys were dissembling Ben’s bed.
    “Max. He’s single.”
    This was the last thing I needed right now. Jenna seemed like one of those I’m happy as a couple so everyone else must be happy as well people.
    “Yeah.” How to say this nicely? “I’m not really in a looking-to-date place right now.”
    “Sure.” Jenna was so cute trying to look innocent that it was hard to be annoyed with her.
    “Seriously. You’ve heard about my past couple days. The last thing I need is a guy. Actually, the last thing I want is a guy. I really don’t need some guy mucking up my life