A Crazy Kind of Love Read Online Free Page B

hurry to explore. His gaze locked on her, he noticed how her thick blond braid swung down off her shoulders. He watched as she tucked a large brown paper bag beneath her arm, then reached in to pull out his mail before snapping the mailbox closed again. He shook his head as she started across the yard, thumbing through the letters and circulars as she walked.
    For years, Lucas had lived a secluded life. So wrapped up in his research, his work, that he hadn’t had to worry about letting his emotions run amok. A couple of months with Mike Marconi was changing all that. All of a sudden, he was experiencing a
flood
of emotions. Everything from anger to a soul-stirring lust. And he wasn’t happy about it.
    All around him, construction noise sounded. Men shouted to each other, hammers crashed, and beneath it all lay the steady, rhythmic hush of the ocean whispering from a distance. But all he could see, all he could focus on, was the woman who’d wormed her way into his world and now showed no signs of leaving.
    One shoulder pressed to a porch post, he crossed his feet at the ankle, folded his arms over his chest and watched her. Hell. He couldn’t take his eyes
off
her.
    Her worn, faded jeans clung to her legs and her red T-shirt with the peeling MARCONI CONSTRUCTION logolooked as if it had been washed a thousand times. She wore heavy work boots and the dark red baseball cap she was never without. And yet somehow she managed to look more completely
female
than any woman he’d ever known.
    Damn it.
    “Anything interesting?” he called out when she was close enough.
    She stopped, looked up at him and grinned. “Actually, yeah,” she said, picking out one long business-sized envelope and waving it over her head. “What’s ‘Pacific Scientific Laboratories’?”
    Lucas pushed away from the porch, took the steps in a couple of long strides, then stalked across the grass to meet her. Snatching the mail from her, he said, “It’s where I work. Anything else?”
    She shook her head and blew out a whistled breath. “A whole building full of science geeks? Sounds boring.”
    “Completely. So why are you collecting my mail?” He looked through everything quickly, then stuffed the letters into his back jeans pocket. “The mailman doing something wrong, too? Or maybe you want to tear the mailbox down and rebuild it to your specifications?”
    “Well, you’re not a happy camper today, are you?” She grinned and a flash of one dimple in her right cheek caught his attention. Her pale blue eyes danced with humor and he really wished he could stop noticing these things.
    “I
was
,” he pointed out. “Until about ten seconds ago.”
    “Gee,” Mike said, still smiling. “Just when I got here. What a coincidence.”
    “Amazing. So. You going to tell me what you were looking for in my mailbox?”
    “Just checking for any stray cash,” she said, tipping her head back to stare up at him.
    “Cash?” He glanced out at the mailbox, then back to her. Dappled shade from the surrounding trees waved across her in lazy sweeps. “Why would I keep money in a mailbox?”
    “Didn’t you hear?” she asked, stepping past him and heading for the house. “There’s a mailbox fairy at work in Chandler.”
    He watched her go and couldn’t help the fact that his gaze landed on her nicely rounded backside. But he shook himself out of it and followed her. He’d learned a couple of months ago not to give Mike Marconi any time alone in his house.
    She was already halfway through the living room when he caught up to her. Her boots clicked musically against the tiles and a slight fall of dust marked her every footstep.
    “What are you talking about?”
    She turned left into the kitchen, then set down the paper bag onto the black granite counter. Looking at him, she said, “A few months ago, somebody was leaving money in library books in town.”
    He frowned. “Why would they do that?”
    “Who knows?” She shrugged, then opened the bag