Her Gentle Giant: No Regrets Read Online Free

how the women threw themselves at him at the club. She told him flat out she was the very jealous type and would only make him unhappy with her territorial nature. Since then, she had told him she liked him as a friend, but that was the extent of their relationship. One thing about Eli she’d learned in the ensuing weeks—he was persistent. Her resistance to him had weakened dramatically last evening, but she still knew it was a bad idea. Good Rachel congratulated her for her wisdom while Bad Rachel thought she was being a chickenshit.
    When she was at The Dancing Pony, Eli never returned any of the attention that was lavished on him by the women who frequented the club.
    Mike had mentioned to her privately that was the case anytime they worked, not just when she was around. She appreciated that fact, but she was aware of Ethan’s policy of no domestic strife in the bar and knew she’d rip the eyes out of any woman who laid a hand on what she had claimed as her territory. It was better this way, she’d told him on several occasions, just to be friends.

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    21
    “Stop teasing, Eli. You know I’m right. It’s better this way. Given your line of work you need someone who is less jealous. You and I would be trouble from the get-go.”
    Rachel wished she was wrong about what she could handle, but she knew she wasn’t. She knew how she felt when women put their hands on his body now . They were so casual about it, sliding a hand along his thickly muscled biceps or fingering his long, thick black hair that made her hands twitch with the desire to run her own fingers through it. Sometimes they would place a hand on his abdomen as they talked to him or hooked a finger in his belt loop.
    One lucky woman had actually caressed Eli’s thick, muscular thigh through his leathers. He’d promptly risen from the barstool he was perched on at the door, stopping her hand before it could slide up farther. The effect on her body was the same every time. Her blood was like ice water in her veins, while at the same time, she felt a strong desire to do bodily damage.
    She was tempted to go to these women and tell them to remove their damned hands before she ripped every hair out of their heads.
    How would it be if they were together and those things happened? Right now, she only felt attraction toward Eli. What if they started dating and she became more intimately attached to him, or worse, fell in love? That thought always sent a thrill through her, but she knew someone would get hurt for sure. The thought of being intimate with him and then having to share him with the female horde at the club was asking too much.
    He was always a perfect gentleman to all the ladies, even when he was removing their hands from his person. He had to be subtle about it so he didn’t offend them and lose his employers their business. It was a narrow line he had to walk, and she understood. Thus, they were at an impasse because he still asked her out on a regular basis.
    Rachel remembered that she had asked Mike to call Eli tonight. There was some deep part of her that needed him, which she was desperately trying not to acknowledge. His presence tonight comforted her so much. His arms around her and his chest to cry against made her feel so safe and secure. It was a losing battle she was fighting. If she looked into the vacant half of the duplex and considered becoming his neighbor, she knew the temptation to be with him would only grow.

    22

    “My car is parked down there now.” She gestured toward the end of the block. “I moved it after I couldn’t go in the building anymore.”
    “We’ll load everything up, and you can follow me out to the house,” Eli said. She walked over to get in her car and pulled it down to where Mike and Eli’s vehicles were parked.
    Rachel came to Mike and Rogelio and hugged them in turn then thanked them for running to her aid. They hugged her hard and promised to be there if she needed anything. More tears would do no