Loving Mr. July Read Online Free

“Besides, how could anyone not like
you?” He patted the deck chair, to let Lucky know it was okay to
jump up.
    All seventy-five pounds of dog happily
complied, lying across his chest in lung-squashing eagerness.
    “It’s not every day I let you up here, is
it?” Kurt used both hands to stroke her head. “And don’t get any
ideas about doing it when I’m not here.”
    Lucky gave him her soft whine.
    “Am I leaving you alone too much?” He asked
her in a quiet voice. “Maybe it’s time we got you a friend?”
    Maybe it was time he thought about finding
someone more permanent to share his life. And where had that
thought popped into his mind? He had never been in any rush to
couple up, despite his mother’s oft-mentioned wish of having her
boys happily married off and producing prodigious quantities of
grandchildren. Why should he when there were so many women happy to
spend time with him? How was a guy to choose?
    Recently though, seeing Blake get married,
culminating a long parade of the people closest to him coupling
off, seemed to amplify the fact that while he was almost always
surrounded by people, there was something missing.
    He watched a couple stop to embrace on the
beach below him, their bodies silhouetted by the moon. A weird,
almost longing emotion filled him. He had what appeared to be
everything—an active social life, a successful business, wealth,
friends, and a close extended family. So why was he feeling so
alone on a Friday night? And why couldn’t he get Cynthia’s
vulnerable face out of his mind?
    “I’ve been working too hard, huh girl?” He
nudged Lucky to the side, so he could rub her belly. “That must be
why I’m losing it.”
    Yeah, he’d go with that, because to think
anything else was just too disconcerting.
    Well, he’d thrown out a challenge. He
wondered if Cynthia would show up in the morning. Then it hit him.
He’d just committed to running at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m.—on a
weekend no less.

Chapter 3
     
     
    Cynthia gave the doorbell another press, and
heard the bell peal in the house for the third time. She glanced at
the doorbell button and back at the keys in her hand. It felt sort
of weird to just barge into Kurt’s house even though he had given
her leave to do so. But he had said six on the dot and her atomic
watch didn’t lie. And if the barking was any indication, at least
the dog knew she was here.
    Hope there isn’t an alarm, she thought, as
she slipped the key in the lock and turned. Of course, who needed
one when the dog was doing such a good job? Either Kurt wasn’t home
or he was comatose.
    “Hey there, sweetie.” She held out her hand
for the dog to sniff, smiling when the dog took less than one
second to smell her before shoving its muzzle in closer for
petting. “Some watch dog you are.”
    She turned the dog’s collar around so she
could read its tag. “Lucky. I’d say an appropriate name given where
you live.”
    “Wow, a complement.” Kurt’s voice preceded
him down the stairs. “I just might faint from the novelty.”
    “You deaf, or what?” Cynthia retorted. “Or is
punctuality just not your strong suit?”
    She looked up to see his bare feet appear
first as he descended the stairs, then long, muscular legs. She saw
loose basketball shorts, and a glimpse of bare chest and stomach
before the shirt he pulled over his head unfortunately covered it.
He had a surprisingly dark shadow of stubble on his chin given how
fair his hair was. And he looked sleepy.
    She thought back to how she had groaned when
her alarm went off at 5 a.m. How she had rushed through her normal
routine, not completely styling her hair, but blowing it dry enough
that Kurt wouldn’t realize she had showered this morning. And how
she’d even put on a light cover of makeup and a quick coat of
mascara to cover her pale blond eyelashes. A truly ridiculous
effort, given that she was about to get sweaty, but there was no
way that Kurt was going to see her without