Midsummer Sweetheart Read Online Free

of a, um, a player , you know? So—”
    “Ingrid!” Kat put her hands up, shaking her head as her cheeks colored again. It was like Ingrid could see all the insta-fantasies that had started playing out in Katrin’s head the minute she’d touched Erik’s hand. “I’m hardly looking for—”
    “Oh, I know!” Ingrid rushed to smooth over the awkwardness that suddenly hovered in the air. “I just felt like I should say something, you know, since you don’t know him very well and he has sort of a reputation—”
    “I get it. Duly warned.”
    “Well, that’s good,” said Ingrid.
    Katrin sensed she was trying to keep her voice light, despite the message she wanted Katrin to receive.
    “Wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”
    “No worries,” she told her sister-in-law, looking back at Ingrid to catch her worried eyes, and give her a confident, reassuring smile. “Nothing’s going to happen between me and Erik Lindstrom, so don’t worry.”
    As Ingrid put her arm around Katrin’s waist and they walked through the front door, Katrin tried to convince herself that it was only the sadness of saying good-bye, not disappointment over Erik, that made her heart feel so heavy.

CHAPTER 3
    The drive to Katrin’s apartment was quiet and Erik was grateful. His head was all turned around and he needed to straighten it out.
    Now.
    Right now.
    But, man, he was incredibly distracted by his introduction to Katrin Svenson.
    When Jenny had shared Katrin’s sad story of woe, in his mind he had pictured someone used up and beaten down by life’s hard times. Some pathetic, battered girl that a man could risk losing. Someone from whom a man could easily walk away.
    His first impression of Katrin Svenson was that any man who actually wanted to be tied down would be crazy to let her go.
    She was a little thing: no more than five-foot-four. Petite, like a gymnast or ballerina, her spare build emphasized by a shapeless sweatshirt and clingy yoga pants that hugged her pert little ass like a glove. Her bright blue eyes were magnified, instead of hidden, behind her unfashionable glasses, and her blonde hair severely slicked back into a prim bun at the base of her long, graceful neck only enhanced the illusion of a dancer.
    She might have been grubby, but she was neither used up nor beaten down. She held herself with a quiet dignity that belied everything she had endured at the hands of Wade Doyle, and made Erik’s breath catch with admiration for her courage. If he felt vaguely protective before meeting Katrin, his natural instincts had amplified considerably after being introduced to her. He felt downright defensive now, like it’d be a tremendous pleasure to smash his fist through Wade Doyle’s face.
    He glanced over at her quickly as she gestured to him to turn right. Her eyes were clear and blue, and she seemed bright. Whether that was due to actual smarts, he wouldn’t know until he got to know her better. He did note that her eyes had dark circles underneath, and he could see the exhaustion and wariness behind them.
    He looked back at the road, dissecting their meeting. Her eyes had distracted him initially, but Erik had still been respectfully in control of his actions until he took her hand in his.
    There was that brief zap before the heat of her skin melted into his, followed by the almost-otherworldly feeling that a life force was exchanged between them.
    He had never felt anything so intense upon meeting another person in his entire life. She must have noticed it too: the sudden and fierce connection between them, the way his heart started thumping like he’d never touched a girl before.
    Erik was so surprised by his reaction to her, so utterly stunned by the sudden intensity of it, he had stared back at her mutely until she had politely asked for her squished hand back. He had no context or explanation for what had happened between them. But, his head was completely turned around, and for a man who was accustomed to being