Read Take This Man for Free Online Page A

her remaining french fries, and then said, “Let’s
go play mini golf. It’s time for me to kick your ass.”
    ****
    That
evening Jason went off to have dinner with his precious Coop, and Elyse sat
alone in her hotel room. She wasn’t really hungry, but decided to pop out to
get a salad—something healthy, to make up for lunchtime’s barbeque bust-out.
    Someone
knocked at her door. It could only be Jason. Damn it, Coop must have flaked out
on him, for him to be back already. Elyse hurried to open the door, ready to
console her friend.
    Adam
stood in the threshold.
    “What
are you doing here?” Her heart slammed in her chest.
    “I
wanted to say I’m sorry.” He shifted from one foot to the other. “I shouldn’t
have been such a prick before.”
    “You
didn’t have to come here for that. You already apologized.”
    His
shoulders twitched uneasily, and then straightened. He met her stare dead on. “I
wanted to do it right this time.”
    Elyse
gazed at him. He no longer had on the work boots, jeans, and company-logo-emblazoned
T-shirt he wore this morning. He had gone home, showered and shaved, and
changed into black dress pants and a long-sleeved button-down shirt. Elyse
caught the whiff of something woodsy, some kind of after-shave or cologne. His
hair was still a bit damp.
    “Are
you on your way somewhere?” she asked.
    He
blinked at her. “No.”
    So
he’d done all that, just to come over to apologize. Elyse felt something soften
inside her. Even as part of her was screaming No, don’t do it! she
stepped back, out of the doorway. “Come on in.”
    Adam
stepped inside and briefly glanced around the room, his discomfort as apparent
here as in the hall. “I thought you and Devereaux would be sharing a room.” The
corner of his mouth lifted. “What’s the matter, does he snore? Or do you hog
the bed?”
    “You
tell me,” she snapped. She should have known she and Adam couldn’t occupy the
same space and have a civil conversation. Not anymore. “It wasn’t that long ago we shared a bed. If I remember right, you were the one that took up most
of the space. And snored.” She glared at him.
    “Shit,”
he muttered, his mouth twisting down, his hands curling into fists at his side.
“I did it again. Fuck, I’m sorry. I should have never come. I should go.” He
looked at her, his cheeks dark with embarrassment. “I am sorry. Really.”
    “Wait
a minute.” The same part of her that warned not to invite him in now cried, Let
him go, Elyse. Please, let him go.
    But
of course she ignored it. “Jason and I aren’t sharing a room because we’re not
together. We’re not a couple. We’ve haven’t been since…” since that night .
    Actually,
they were never a couple. But Elyse wasn’t ready to explain that to Adam. Even
if Jason had said he didn’t mind her letting Adam know that he was “a big ol’
queer,” she still didn’t feel it was her secret to tell.
    She’d
already told Adam enough—more, even, than he deserved to know. But why? Did she
want him to have a higher opinion of her? What for, when he already had her
pegged as a gold digger?
    “We’re
friends now,” she told him. “Very close friends.”
    Adam
lifted his eyebrows. “Very close.”
    “Yes.”
Elyse gritted her teeth, ready to shove him out the door if he made one more
smart-assed comment. “As a matter of fact, Jason is my best friend.”
    Adam
curled and relaxed his fingers. He looked at her sideways. “I used to be your
best friend.”
    “I
thought so once, yeah,” Elyse said. “But now I know we were never really
friends.”
    He
actually looked hurt. “I want to be,” he said, his voice soft. “I want to be
your friend now.”
    She
couldn’t have answered even if she’d known what to say. Her throat was as dry
as straw.
    “Have
you eaten already?” he asked.
    She
shook her head.
    “Have
dinner with me tonight.” He shifted nervously, as though afraid she might
refuse.
    She should refuse. They