Read Kissing Under The Mistletoe: The Sullivans (Contemporary Romance) for Free Online Page B

found
somebody perfect, Mary.” She couldn’t help but lift her eyes to
meet his as he said, “You’re perfect.”
    It was what she’d fought so long—the false
perception that she was perfect. “I’m not.”
    She steeled herself for his protests. The
last thing she expected him to do was smile at her and say, “You’re
right. How could anyone be perfect with ice cream and cherry juice
on her face?”
    He brushed the corner of her mouth with the
tip of his index finger and so much warmth flooded her from the
tiny touch that she was amazed all of the ice in the diner didn’t
melt into a puddle right then and there just from the heat being
generated between the two of them. And then, in the most shockingly
sexy way, he brought his finger to his own lips and ran his tongue
over his fingertip to lick off the cherry juice and ice cream.
    “Please, Mary, let me start over and get
things out in the right order this time.”
    They’d been standing by the side of the table
for long enough now that people were starting to stare. A few of
them pointed to her and she heard her name in loud whispers. But
none of that mattered.
    Only this man standing before her did.
    He’d had her at the surprisingly sweet
comment about cherry juice and his gentle touch to her lips, but
she would never forgive herself for folding that easily. “The right
order?”
    He nodded and moved closer, his body lean and
muscled and warm against hers. “My invention isn’t the only reason
I wanted to take you for pie and coffee.”
    “It isn’t?”
    “You’ve got to understand, Angel, a man like
me looks at a woman like you and it’s inevitable that I’m going to
screw things up.”
    He had no right to make up a nickname for her
or to say it in such a warm and inviting voice. And she had no
business enjoying both those things.
    But, for all her vows to protect herself from
men like him who only wanted her for the improvements she could
make to their bottom line, instead of walking away from him, she
found herself saying, “It is?” in a breathless voice that hardly
seemed to belong to her.
    He nodded, his eyes growing darker still as
they dropped to her lips for a split second, then moved back to
meet her gaze again.
    “You’ve got class. Beauty. Intelligence.” He
gestured to himself. “All I’ve got is a degree that took me too
many years to finish and a dream that I’m praying will finally
become real one day.”
    If he had gotten down on one knee to praise
her beauty, if he had rhapsodized about her “charms,” she would
have forced herself to slip her hand from his and walk away.
    But talk of dreams?
    Dreams were the one thing she’d always
understood, how they could take hold of you and make you risk
everything.
    Besides, she thought as she studied him, she
had a feeling that once Jack Sullivan made up his mind about
something, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. And the truth was
that the reason she hadn’t chosen a new direction for her career
yet was because she wasn’t terribly excited about any of the
opportunities that had come her way.
    Representing a new technology like this would
be fresh. Exciting. Yes, it might fail, as models and technology
had rarely been paired successfully. But Mary hadn’t let herself
step into a position to fail in a very long time.
    Maybe, she thought, it was time to take a
risk again.
    The biggest question remaining was whether
the risk would be strictly professional…or personal, too? Because
when he’d called her Angel, the sweet
endearment had warmed her in places she hadn’t realized had grown
so cold.
    “Your ice cream is melting,” she finally
said. “Why don’t we sit back down so that you can eat some of your
pie before it drowns.”
    Relief flared in his eyes, but beneath it she
thought she recognized the same desire she hadn’t been able to push
down within herself. Which was why, as he finally let her hand go
and they both sat, she said, “Before you tell me more about