Night Whispers Read Online Free

to give you a little big-city broadcasting experience, right?”
    Kelsey smiled a little. So he wanted her gone, did he?
    “I’ve been offered a permanent job at the radio station here and I’ve accepted. I’m staying in Baltimore. Looks like we’re going to be long-term neighbors, Mr. Landlord.”
    Oh, no. No, no, no. That wasn’t part of the deal. Mitch had been able to handle Kelsey renting the middle-floor apartment when it was only for a few months and he would be away. But now…how was he supposed to stand havingher right upstairs all the time…every day…every night? If seeing her T-shirt ride up over that smooth skin was enough to send heat rushing through his body, what would happen if he had to lie in bed night after night and imagine her slumbering, drowsy and sensual, just above him?
    And, of course, there were the days to worry about. Kelsey was a whirling tornado, sweeping everything around her into her energetic world. Mitch had struggled long and hard to achieve some tranquility in his life, especially after his turbulent teenage years. His now quiet existence lent itself very well to his writing, which was technical, engrossing and required his full attention. He hated distractions. No way could they be roommates.
    “Forget it.”
    “What do you mean, forget it?”
    “I mean,” he replied slowly, as if to a child, “forget it. Your mother said a few months and it’s already been six.”
    Kelsey flinched, and Mitch saw a flash of hurt in her bright green eyes. She obviously hadn’t expected him to react this way. Mitch mentally cursed his own lack of tact, wondering when Kelsey had gotten so thin-skinned.
    “You’re throwing me out? Why? I mean, I know we were never best friends or anything, but we certainly weren’t enemies.”
    How could he make her understand without appearing to be a complete fool? He could not come right out and tell her he didn’t want to live under the same roof with her because she looked as delicious as solid sin, and she was his best friend’s baby sister and, therefore, off-limits. Nor could he tell her she was a major pain in the butt and he simply didn’t want her causing trouble!
    Then Mitch thought about her parents. If they’d tossedhim out the way he was trying to do to their daughter, his life could have ended up very brief or very ugly.
    At thirteen, when he’d first started spending a great deal of time with the Logan family, Mitch had been full of resentment and anger toward his parents for their neglect. Their need to constantly travel, to nurture their fascination for antiquities, had left him with a childhood full of nannies and paid caregivers. Mitch had convinced himself that no one would give a damn if he spent his teen years in self-destruct mode. If it hadn’t been for Marge Logan, an old college friend of his mother’s, Mitch would probably have continued right into juvenile hall, drug rehab or much worse. She and Ralph had given him what he really needed: a loving, stable home life. And their son, Kelsey’s older brother Nathan, had become his lifelong best friend.
    He owed them all. Big time.
    Besides, he didn’t want Kelsey living in some bad part of town. She was almost like his own little sister, and he needed to look after her just as her family would expect. And that twinge of—what should he call it—desire? Hell, put the right name on it. It was pure lust. That had just been a fluke. He hadn’t recognized her. He’d been out of the country for six long, celibate months, and she’d been the first attractive woman he’d seen when he got back. It didn’t go any deeper than that.
    “I’m sorry,” he admitted. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
    Mitch was trying to figure out how to put the situation right when Kelsey breathed a deep sigh, tossed her head and squared her back so straight that one thin strap of red slithered over her shoulder and disappeared down the front of her oversize T-shirt.
    Desire coursed