Beauty and The Best (Once-Upon-A-Time Romance) Read Online Free Page A

into drive, and tore off down the street just as Lizette reached the end of his driveway and flung her arms to her sides.
    “ Can I peek now?” Jolie spit some hair from her mouth as she turned his way from her doubled-over position.
    “ Sure.” He tapped the brakes once the video threat was gone. “Sorry about that.”
    “ What exactly was that?”
    “ A pain in my a—an invasion of privacy.” He glanced over. “I’m sorry about all the phone calls, the doorbell, the high-speed chase. I guess the job description didn’t say anything about a media circus.”
    Jolie sat back and set the torso portion of her seatbelt in place, brushing long hair off her face. “You guess right.”
    He turned back to the road, slowing his speed to a non-ticketable offense. “I always appreciated the press coverage back, well, before, but now—” He shook his head and stopped at the stop sign. “It’s gotten worse as today approached.”
    “ Today?”
    “ Nothing. Never mind.” Not what he wanted to talk about. He leaned an arm on the steering wheel and checked the oncoming traffic.
    “ Oh, well, um… not a problem,” Jolie said with a happy-go-lucky tone he’d give anything to have back in his life. “Kind of exciting, I guess. And you know, the job description didn’t mention nudity either, but I seem to have overcome that.”
    He glanced right and her face filled his line of vision. She had grayish eyes. No, not gray. Something beyond gray. Not blue, not hazel…
    “ Hello in there?” She waved her hand in front of his face. “Are you okay?”
    He found himself responding to her smile. It wasn’t her fault he was having a shitty day. “Sorry. Again.”
    “ No biggie. But I have to tell you, if you’re in the habit of greeting your employees in the buff—not that I’m complaining, mind you—I think one’s the limit for this line of work.”
    He ran a hand through his hair and massaged the back of his neck. Yeah, that.
    He sighed. “I had a, well, rough night.”
    “ I gathered that. Oh, and you missed a spot.” She pointed to his chin.
    “ What?"
    “ Nothing. Never mind.” She waved her hand and sat back. “Go on.”
    “ Like I was saying, it was a tough night and I just kicked back on the sofa.” He should have gone up to bed; would have if he’d known the “new girl” would be a witness to his habit of sleeping naked. Not that he’d been thinking of much of anything. Or maybe he’d been thinking too much, hence the hangover. “I was pretty groggy when I heard you moving around. Hangovers and nudity are not normal occurrences, I promise.”
    “ I imagine the Grays would have apoplexy if they were. Where are they anyway?”
    A car behind him honked and Todd turned left onto Orchard. The Grays were another thing he hadn’t wanted to deal with today— none of them had wanted to deal with today. Thank God they’d finally taken his advice—he couldn’t really order them around—and taken a vacation. “They usually show up around lunch. There’s not a lot for them to do, it’s all pretty much under control. And it’s not like I’m high maintenance. Right now they’re visiting their grandson.”
    “ Oh.”
    He liked this chef. So far. She’d backed off the issue of today and wasn’t plying him with questions. She might work out.
    He almost laughed. Who cared if she didn’t? Not him. It’d just be some other woman in his house where his wife should be.
    “ So—” Her animated hands never stopped moving. “Do you go to your brother’s office a lot during the day? Or hang out at home? The links? I mean, I don’t want to be invading your space. I can work around whatever schedule you’ve got going. I just like to know up front so I can plan. That way I won’t bother you, yet I can still get your meals ready when you want them.”
    Hmm, maybe she wouldn’t work out. This was the chattiest one yet. Ah well, a few days in his presence would either cure her of it or have her