Fall to Pieces Read Online Free Page B

like, for me." She clamped her
lips together in a gesture so familiar that it made his chest
ache.
    Did it make him an asshole that he loved that
he could still get this grown up, sophisticated Sadie Thornton as
tongue tied as he had in high school? When she'd shadowed him in
the halls of Sweet Grass County High School in the throes of her
not so secret crush?
    A crush, he admitted to himself with no small
amount of shame, he'd exploited ruthlessly when it came time to
study for finals each and every year?
    A musical trill filled the air and Sadie
fished her phone out of her pocket. "I need to take this. We're all
good right?"
    Dylan nodded and she turned and hurried back
toward the main house, phone to her ear.
    He tried but couldn't tear his eyes from the
sight of her ass, swaying in rhythm with her long legged strides. Just looking. No harm in looking.
    He pulled his gaze just in time to see Andy
do the same. The man shot him a knowing grin that made his skin
crawl. "Nice view, ain't it?"
    Rage boiled in his veins, making his fists
clench and his vision grow red. His stomach churned at the idea of
a piece of trash like Andy so much as looking at her. No one should
be looking at her, or God forbid touching her. No one but—
    No, chief. Don't even go there.
    "Her father or Pete hear you talking like
that, you'll be out on your ass."
    Andy gave a snort. "And I'll go work for the
mining company for twice the wage. Hell, he's so short handed
Thornton would probably tie her to my bed himself to keep me on,"
he chuckled and spat another ugly brown mess in the dirt.
    He took a deep breath, forced himself not to
knock out the guy's ugly yellow teeth.
    Dylan had no business feeling territorial or
possessive of any woman. Especially not a nice girl like Sadie
Thornton.
     
    ###
    Sadie struggled to concentrate on what her
client was saying, inwardly cringing over her bumbled attempt to
play it cool in front of Dylan.
    "Mmm hmm," she said absently as she settled
into her desk chair and flipped open her laptop. What was it about
Dylan Decker that stripped away the last ten years and shot her
right back to high school? The moment she got within five feet of
him, cool, professional, and not hard on the eyes Sadie Thornton
disappeared.
    Leaving her feeling like the awkward, gawky
girl she'd been back then. Leaving her with equally strong urges to
stay as close to him as possible and to run as far and fast as she
could before she made a fool of herself.
    Well you didn't get away soon enough
today, she thought glumly.
    Who could blame her though, really, she
thought, as her gaze strayed from the app design mock ups on her
computer screen to the driveway below.
    From her office window on the first floor she
had could see Dylan, well the lower half of him at least as he bent
to work on the tractor's engine. And what a lower half it was, the
strong muscles of his thighs bunching against he faded fabric of
his jeans. Her gaze drifted higher, to his perfectly sculpted butt
that she knew would be rock hard under her hands.
    Her fingers curled against the polished wood
of her desk, heat blooming low in her belly as she imagined
pressing them against the hard swell of muscle, preferably with
nothing between his skin and hers—
    "Do you think you can do that?" Mary Derwin's
clipped voice snapped her to attention.
    "I, yes, of course," Sadie replied, wincing
as she realized she had no idea what she was agreeing to.
    "Good, then I'll expect the prototype day
after tomorrow."
    Shit. The mobile app Mary had
contracted Sadie to build for her chain of high end boutiques had
grown in scope with every conversation, and the back end data
management was nowhere near ready to support half the functionality
she expected in the prototype.
    She bit her tongue against the protest that
there was no way she could deliver it in just two days’ time. Mary
Derwin was a rising star on the fashion scene. Not only were her
boutiques frequented by celebrities, her blog