Night Driving Read Online Free Page A

didn’t grope me.”
    “He was inappropriate.”
    “He was, but it’s not your place to defend me, Boone. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
    He snorted, folding those steely arms over his chest, blocking her out.
    “What’s that noise supposed to mean?”
    “I’m not going there.” He limped over to the kitchen counter where boxes were stacked, half-filled with the dishes Rodney had been packing up.
    Tara wasn’t going to let him get away with that. She scurried after him. “Where aren’t you going?”
    He turned to face her. His dark eyes flashed a warning. “You can take care of yourself, huh?”
    She squared her shoulders, drew herself up to her full five foot four. “Absolutely.”
    “Your faucet leaks.”
    “So what?”
    “At the end of the month you’re chronically low on cash from helping out your free-loading friends and you’re forced to subsist on ramen noodles and food sample giveaways at the grocery store.”
    Tara cringed. It was true. “Times are tough. I can’t turn my back on people in need.”
    “Not even when you’re one of those people? I know that worthless boyfriend of yours cleaned out your savings before he left town.”
    A sick feeling settled in her stomach. “How do you know that?”
    A rueful expression softened his angular mouth. “Mrs. Levison likes to gossip.”
    “It’s not really any of your business.”
    “And yet you’re always trying to meddle in mine. Face it, Duvall, you’re too generous for your own good.”
    She notched her chin up. “I consider generosity a positive trait to have.”
    “Not at the expense of your own welfare. Do you know how hard it is to sit across the street watching you making the same mistakes over and over?”
    “No. How hard is it?” she asked impishly, hoping to get him off her case by embarrassing him. Humor was her weapon of choice.
    It worked. Boone’s face flushed. “Time’s wasting,” he mumbled.
    “And you just made things worse by running off the movers.”
    “Hell, if you hadn’t been so flirty, I wouldn’t have had to run them off.”
    Oh no, he didn’t just say that! Outrage shoved a cold barb down her spine. Chuffing out her breath, she sank her hands on her hips. It took a lot to piss her off, but seriously? He was making this her fault? “Excuse me?”
    “You know what your problem is, Duvall?” he asked.
    “You mean, besides being too generous?” Her tone was as cold and brittle as a Montana winter.
    “You have no boundaries.”
    His criticism stung, but it wasn’t the first time she’d heard something similar. Well, fudge crackers. She was who she was and if he didn’t like her, he could kiss her derriere.
    Her mind flashed to an image of Boone’s lips planted on her bare backside and she instantly grew hot all over. See? No boundaries. The man made a good point. Damn him.
    “You dress too provocatively. No wonder the mover was eyeing you like chocolate candy. Your shorts are too darn short.”
    Her head shot up and she caught Boone checking out her legs.
    Holy ham sandwich! He was jealous!
    Hmm. Tara suppressed a grin, touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip. “Sorry. I’m not going to wear a snowsuit just to suit you and I don’t appreciate you making me feel badly about myself.”
    To his credit, Boone looked chagrined, but then he went and ruined it by saying, “I’m not responsible for how you feel. I’m just calling it like I see it.”
    “Hey, you’re not my big brother.”
    “Thank God.”
    “Why do you say that? I’m a good sister. A great sister, in fact. I can play shortstop and I don’t scream when my brothers put bugs down the back of my shirt, and I have cute girlfriends for my brothers to date and I—”
    “Because if you were my sister, I’d be arrested for the thoughts I’ve been having about you.”
    “Oh.” She blinked. Grinned. “What kind of thoughts?”
    “Illicit thoughts.”
    Imagine that. She sidled closer. “ Real-