Nightfall Read Online Free

been set to go down made her story not just
possible, but probable.
    He stepped closer. She
looked pissed, and now he had to un-ruffle her feathers if he was
going to have a shot in hell of getting her to trust him. “You talk
to your sister?”
    She nodded. “She managed to
smooth things over with our client. They’re expecting my delivery
by ten tomorrow. The wedding’s at noon, so it should work
out.”
    Colin stared down at her.
All those flowers would be dead by tomorrow.
    “ Listen, Colin.”
    He braced himself. He hadn’t
had a girlfriend in a while, but he remembered a thing or two about
women and this one definitely wanted something.
    “ I need a favor,” she said,
and the warm tone of her voice made his pulse pick up.
    I’m feeling a little
traumatized by my near-death experience. How about wrapping those
arms around me and making me forget about it?
    Yeah, right. He already knew
she wasn’t the type to sleep with some random guy she’d just
met.
    “ You can stay here
tonight.”
    “ Oh.” She looked startled.
Then she flicked an uneasy glance at the sofa. “Thanks,
but--”
    “ There’s a guesthouse just
up the hill.” He nodded at the door. “The utilities are on, and I
can get the heat going for you, no problem.”
    “ Thanks. I appreciate that.”
She eased closer. “But there’s something else. I know it’s late,
but… I really need those bouquets.”
    “ Bouquets.”
    “ The flowers. They’ll die in
the van overnight, and if that happens I’m completely screwed.”
    He shook off the mental
image that accompanied this announcement.
    “ You want me to bring your
flowers here?”
    “ Do you mind? I’ll help
you.” She gazed up at him with those baby blues.
    Did he mind? Shit, yes, he
minded. He was in the middle of an op. He owed his boss a phone
call and had to send out a half dozen emails tonight to get
everything they were working on back on track. And now someone
wanted him to spend the next hour—at least—hauling wedding
flowers.
    “ Please?”
    Colin gazed down at her and
did what he always did when he got a request from a pretty
woman.
    ***
    Holly opened her eyes and
found herself staring up at a giant set of antlers mounted above a
fireplace. The morning sunlight peeked through a gap in the
curtains. She sat up, and pain lanced through her skull.
    “ Oh my God,” she murmured,
rubbing her forehead. Maybe Colin was right. Maybe she should have
gone to the ER last night. But she hadn’t had time, and she didn’t
have the time now, either. She checked her watch. It was after
seven, which meant well past time to get up and make a plan to
transport eighteen bouquets of roses to a bed-and-breakfast in
White Falls.
    Holly surveyed her flowers,
which surrounded the queen-size bed like a moat. They were in
decent shape, considering, but she’d still need some time on the
other end to spruce up the arrangements and make repairs. She’d
brought a few dozen extra stems specifically for that purposes, and
as she scrutinized the pink, yellow, and orange blossoms—sunset
colors, per the bride’s request—she knew she was going to need
every last one of them.
    Holly took a deep breath and
tipped her head back. This is the day you
will save your business, she told herself.
She hoped it was true. She’d chanted the same mantra yesterday and
barely escaped with her life.
    Holly got out of bed. The
shirt and jeans she’d slept in looked… slept in, unfortunately. She
wrestled into the bra she’d left on the nightstand and stuffed her
feet back into Ugg boots. She grabbed her ski vest. Colin had been
kind enough to lend her his jacket again, and she pulled it on over
the layers. The jacket was cold, but it smelled like him, and she
took a brief moment to close her eyes and savor the tantalizing
man-scent that she so rarely smelled these days. Since moving out
to Montana to live with her sister, Holly’s world had consisted of
weddings and funerals and sweet-sixteen dances—all