Read Hot Property (Kingston Bros.) for Free Online Page B

and giving. So surprisingly sensitive for a man who looked like he ate iron filings for breakfast. She wondered if she had just imagined all the noble characteristics she idolized in him. Maybe he was just another jerk after all. A jerk who'd taken a drunk girl parking and then rejected her because she didn’t act like an accomplished seductress. Not exactly the hero of her dreams.
    He'd tried to explain on the drive home, but her pride would not allow her to acknowledge his lame excuses. He had finally rejected her too many times, and she was done trying to prove herself to him. He wasn't worth it. She'd paused in front of his truck on her way into the house that night, but he hadn't even tried to stop her. He'd just sat there. And watched her with a blank expression on his gorgeous face. He'd left the next day for Dallas . She hadn't seen or heard from him in nine years. And that was when Jack had re-hired him to work for Kingston Bros., without even consulting her. 
    She shook he head and brought her thoughts back to the present. Mark was standing next to Jack at the kitchen island with his arms crossed, but he wasn't looking at the site plans. He was glaring daggers at her. She fought the impulse to stick her tongue out at him, or possibly flip him the bird. Instead she scowled back at him and reached out to pat Karl familiarly on the forearm as his story concluded. She laughed dutifully up at him and asked him what he thought of the crown moldings in the den. Turning her back on Mark, she walked Karl past the front staircase and into the lovely room at the front of the townhouse with the bay window and French doors.
    Just as Karl was giving her his expert opinion on crown moldings, Serena noticed Lacey Ferguson entering through the front door. God, Serena thought to herself, was everyone she knew going to show up at this Open House today? No wonder she couldn't sell anything with all these distractions going on. Clearly she needed to set some ground rules with these people. They were treating her work environment like a coffee shop rath er than her place of business.
    Lacey waved at Serena as she passed but didn't stop to greet her or meet Karl. She was making a beeline for Jack. Serena couldn’t help to notice how stunning Lacey looked. Her recent tropical vacation had darkened her olive skin to a warm latte shade and her yellow scrubs just accentuated her exotic coloring.
    Serena watched from the entryway as Lacey affectionately squeezed Mark's shoulder in a friendly greeting and then launched herself into Jack's waiting arms. They began kissing passionately and Serena thought about spraying them with the stainless steel pot-filler faucet to get them to quit pawing each other like randy teenagers. Not that it would deter them. They'd probably use it as an excuse to get naked.
    The only saving grace to this unprofessional behavior was Mark's discomfort. He looked like he would gladly burn his eyes out with acid rather than witness anymore of their exuberant display of affection, which seemed to involve an embarrassing amount of both baby talk and tongue action. Yuck.
    Serena was so busy watching them that she didn't even notice when Karl stopped talking. She tore her gaze away from Mark's delightfully tortured expression and prepared to make her apologies to Karl. He wasn't looking at her. He was staring past her into the kitchen at Jack and Lacey. He clearly wasn't amused by their antics. The look on his face couldn't even be called mild disap proval. It was genuine disgust.
    "Karl," she said in her most jovial tone, squeezing his arm to distract him. "Please ignore my cousin and his girlfriend. They're recently engaged and have a tendency to overdo the PDA. Why don't we go check out the Master Bath now?" She started walking towards the stairs, but Karl wasn't moving. He was too busy staring. Glowering was actually the most accurate term she could think of to describe the e xpression on his handsome face.
    "That's