Love in a Small Town (Pine Harbour Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

what was going to come next.
    And it wasn’t them, together, in an orgasm-fest for the ages. What happened Friday morning could not be repeated. Not when she’d made up her mind about moving forward with her life in a way that didn’t involve Rafe Minelli and his future conquests.
    If he wore that jacket around town, there would be a lot of conquests in his near future. Hot damn.
    “Then put it on your wine rack or something. I didn’t want to come empty handed.” He handed it over but didn’t let go right away. He pressed the bottle into her hands and stared at her intently as if he was trying to unlock her secrets.
    She was only hiding two things. One she was just trying to work up the courage to share. The other—that he still melted her from the inside out with his chocolate brown eyes and stupid dimple—was locked in the vault.
    This wasn’t the first time he’d come over since moving out, but it had been at least nine months. He’d taken the Christmas lights down and replaced the weather-stripping on the front door, and she’d given him a stiff thanks at the door. So he hadn’t seen—
    “You painted.”
    “Yeah.” Because the warm yellow had reminded her too much of him. 
    “By yourself?” He turned around slowly in her living room, formerly their living room, an inscrutable look on his face. 
    “It was pretty easy,” she muttered. He’d taken half the furniture, which left a lot of room to move stuff around and create bare walls. 
    “I like the beige.” He was totally lying. Taupe, oatmeal, canvas … didn’t matter what she called it, he’d never wanted any neutral colours in their space. 
    “Have you made any other changes?”
    “Uhm, I tiled the backsplash in the kitchen.” She pointed the way, which was stupid. They’d bought the house together. He knew where the kitchen was. Had made her coffee in it almost every morning for three years, even if he was gone before she woke up. Had perched her naked on the counter and knelt in front of her, licking—
    “Looks good.” He glanced back at her, his gaze lingering on her pink cheeks for a moment. “A lot of good memories in here, huh?”
    He couldn’t know what she was thinking, not exactly, but her breath caught in her throat nonetheless when he patted the counter. “Come here.”
    She shook her head in short, choppy movements. Nuh-uh . They needed space between them. Loads of it.
    “I’m  not going to bite, Liv.” His voice was low and rough, like he was actually promising to bite her all over.
    “I’m not so sure about that,” she teased as lightly as she could.
    He gave her a long, hard look before smiling ruefully. “Yeah, I wouldn’t take that bet. So what’s for dinner?”
    And just like that, the mood shifted. “Beef stroganoff and a salad.”
    He kept his distance as she worked on the salad, flipping through a newsmagazine on the table. When she pulled a bottle of salad dressing out of the fridge, he moved to take it from her. She noticed the pile of opened mail at the same time he did and cursed under her breath.
    “What’s this?” He fingered the red flagged letter from the hydro company and she winced.
    “It’s nothing. I just forgot to pay that bill.” She watched as he flipped the letter over and frowned.
    “Three months in a row?” The incredulous look on his face told her he didn’t buy her excuse. “It says here they’re cutting off the power tomorrow.”
    “I paid it last Wednesday,” she mumbled. “It’s fine.”
    “The whole balance?”
    No, just the minimum, but he didn’t need to know that. “It’s fine,” she repeated, swiping the mail from the counter and dumping it in the nearest drawer.
    He shook his head. “Obviously not. I’ll give you some—“
    Tight, angry words shot up her throat and she swallowed them back, holding up her hand instead. “No.”
    “Liv, this is still my house, too. If the costs are too high—“
    “Then it’s time we sell it. That’s the only