Sweetened With a Kiss Read Online Free Page A

her.
    “Lizzie?” he asked.
    She nodded.
    “What did she say?”
    Something in the tone of his voice raised the hairs on the back of her neck and she turned slowly. Glacial blue eyes were watching her closely, and the hairs on her arms joined the hairs of her neck in a nervous dance. “She wants pancakes. Why?” she asked slowly, wondering what he thought Lizzie had told her.
    He pushed his fingers through his hair, then just shook his head. “No reason.”
    Right.
    “Is everything okay?” she asked carefully.
    He watched her a moment, then reached into his jacket pockets. “It will be,” he said and tossed a small black box at her. “As soon as you put this back on.”
    She jumped, startled as if he’d dropped a spider on her lap. She would’ve actually preferred the spider. She stared at the box, unable to even bring herself to touch it. She turned away and stared out the window. A spider would have been a whole lot better.
    “We need to talk,” she said, the words barely audible as her nerve started to desert her.
    “Your six months are up. Put it back on.”
    The tone of his voice actually startled her worse than dropping the box in her lap. There was an edge to it she’d never heard before, and he was so cold the temperature in the limo was actually dropping.
    She reached for the box, but her fingers were trembling. She couldn’t keep a hold on it. It tumbled back to her lap and bounced onto the floor board. She leaned forward but an arm slid across her waist and pushed her back against the cool leather seats. He leaned forward and scooped the ring box off the floorboard.
    He snapped the box open and the solitaire that had once taken her breath away, now made her insides as cold as the atmosphere in the car. Warm fingers curled around her hand and he slid the ring onto her shaking finger. His touch was gentle, as usual, but it nearly burned her. She turned her face towards the window, unable to face the fire in the perfect stone. It just hurt too much. Nothing that beautiful should be based on a lie.
    Then she realized he was still holding her hand, his thumb stroking gently across her knuckles. The gentle caress hurt deep in her chest. She wasn’t even sure if he realized he was doing it. He normally didn’t touch her, other than a light hug or a quick kiss on the forehead. But caressing her fingers like that?  She needed it to stop and tried to pull her hand away. He didn’t let go.
    “We really need to talk about this,” she said.
    “No, we don’t.” He released her hand and reached over to pull the barrette out of her hair. Her hair came down in a straight brown wave. He pushed it around with his fingers then threaded them through her hair until it fell the way he liked it. “That’s better,” he said. “You’ve lost weight. How can you lose weight at pastry school?”
    Almost paralyzed by the light touch of his fingers around her neck, she had to swallow hard before she could ask again, “Where are we going?”
    He didn’t answer her. She wasn’t surprised. If he didn’t want to answer a question, he usually ignored it. If he didn’t like her answer to one of his questions, he ignored that too. Instead he just watched her. She could feel his eyes skimming all over her.
    “I don’t want to get married,” she finally said out loud, no longer able to contain the words.
    “I agreed to give you six months. Time’s up. Come here.” His hand tightened on the back of her neck as he eased her closer to him.
    Six months ago, she would have plastered herself to him at the first opportunity. She had tried a few times only to have him pull back and keep things light. Now, he was actually pulling her into his lap. An unwelcome but familiar ache came roaring back through her without any warning as she balanced herself against rock hard shoulders and legs.
    “Be still,” he snapped, but she couldn’t. She just couldn’t handle being this close to him. Panic swirled up in her, and she