Wilde Edge Read Online Free

Jolena ducked her head again, hiding her face. Shit, had he
just fucked up? “Flirting with me won’t get the rent lowered, you know that,
right?” Her voice was a husky whisper, and he heard the doubt in her tone. Not
much, just a hint. It was enough. He’d spent years learning to read a person
from tone and body language, and right now hers was screaming at him. Someone
had done a number on her, tearing down her confidence so badly that she didn’t
believe he’d go out with her without having an ulterior motive.
    “I don’t care if you tell me you’re
not renting the place to me at all. I’d still like to take you to dinner.”
    “Really?” She peeked up at him, her eyes full of uncertainty.
    “Absolutely. I mean, if you’re good with going out with a slightly gimped ex-cop.” He
intended to offer it up as a joke, to make her smile, but once the words were
out he felt a pang of doubt. The truth was he hadn’t gone out with anyone on a
real date since he’d been shot. Lots of flirting and putting on a show, but
that’s all it was, a show. He hadn’t wanted anyone to see his scars and feel
sorry for him, or worse, be repelled by them.
    “You don’t look gimped to me,” she
said and lifted her head to gift him with a small smile.
    “Is that a yes?”
    Her smile widened. “Yes. I’ll go to
dinner with you. Just promise it won’t be anywhere fancy.”
    “As luck would have it, I am not a
fancy kind of guy. How does Italian sound?”
    “That sounds great.” Jolena stood up, the piece of paper with her address on it
in her hand as she came around to meet him. Tag stood, too, managing to time it
so that she was caught between him and the front of her desk.   He moved close enough she had to tip her head
back to look up at him, and when he took the paper from her hand he let his
fingers brush over hers for a brief second. A flash of heat sizzled up his arm
and he saw her eyes go wide.
    So
she felt it too? Good.
    Moving back, he gave her a wink and
scanned her note before tucking it into his pocket. She’d included her phone
number––even better. “I’ll see you tonight, Jolena .”
     
    ****
    Holy hell, she was going on a date.
How’d that even happen?
    Since Greg, Jo had been very
careful with her heart, though she had learned to be a better judge of
character in the years since she’d fallen madly in love with that lying son of
a bitch. Tag seemed sincere, and she knew his brother well enough to know she’d
be safe, but Jo was well aware that men who looked like Tag didn’t usually go
out with women like her unless they lost a bet.
    Curiosity got the better of her
common sense, and she found herself at the office’s one small window, watching
Tag walk back to his car. He moved like a predator, all grace and power,
covering the distance to his car with long, easy strides.
    Once there, he unlocked the
driver’s side door and then lifted his head to stare back at the garage. She
felt like he was staring right at her. The office window was tinted, so she
knew he couldn’t actually see her, but it didn’t matter. She was suddenly short
of breath and a band of steel tightened around her chest as she stared back at
him. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something important had just happened.
    The feeling lingered even after Tag
climbed into his car and drove away. She tried to do the paperwork but kept
finding herself distracted by thoughts of his charming smile, or the way his broad
shoulders had filled out his leather jacket and the dark t-shirt beneath it. He
was definitely daydream material, and the idea that he might be living right
below her was equal parts mouthwatering and terrifying.
    Jo was about to call Nick and ask
him about his brother when she heard her name being called. “Hey,
Jo. There’s someone here to see you,” Tom, her head mechanic, shouted
from the garage floor, down the hallway.
    Strange, normally he just pointed
people toward her office instead of calling for her