Read Up by Five for Free Online Page A

no chemistry there.
    With Conner…that was definitely not the case.
    She’d felt the spark the first time she’d met him. And she’d promptly done everything she could to squelch it. Or at least keep it from fanning into something more.
    “I was wearing my uniform the other day when I said the cock-sucking thing.”
    He took a deep breath. “It would be great if you could not say the word cock .”
    She raised an eyebrow. “That’s all it takes? You really are a slave to your libido.”
    “No, it’s usually harder than that.”
    There was a beat of silence, then he groaned as she laughed.
    “I didn’t mean that .”
    She snickered. “What did you mean?”
    “I meant, that it’s usually more difficult for a woman to get me wound up than just saying one word.”
    “So, what’s going on here?”
    “I’m going to chalk this up to the damsel-in-distress thing.” He was staring resolutely at the road in front of them.
    “The damsel-in-distress thing?” she repeated. Then her eyes widened. “Are you referring to me as the damsel?”
    He lifted a shoulder. “Yeah. A woman I know and care about is in trouble and I get all protective.”
    There was a crazy warm feeling that filled her stomach at that. She frowned. That was a bad idea.
    “Protective and turned on aren’t the same thing,” she pointed out. “And I wasn’t in distress the other day when I said—”
    “We both know what you said,” he broke in. He gave a disgusted sigh. “If it’s not that, then it’s simply that I finally realized you have boobs. And that does kind of make me an asshole.”
    She couldn’t help her grin. “You’re an asshole because you just now realized I have boobs—”
    “It would also be great if you didn’t say boobs .”
    Her grin grew. “Or you’re an asshole because you’re all worked up simply because I have…those.”
    He shifted on his seat again. “Yes.”
    She laughed at that. “In all fairness, I’ve been hiding…them…from you. So it’s not totally your fault that you didn’t notice.”
    He glanced over. “What do you mean?”
    Did she want to get into this? It seemed like they were putting it all out there and maybe that was a good idea. They were going to be living together and she did not need Conner to hit on her now. She did not need any further complications in her life. She was trying to simplify. Nothing about being involved with Conner Dixon would be simple.
    “I’ve been downplaying the whole girl thing. I dress down, avoid makeup, wear my hair up.”
    His gaze went to her hair. “I do like your hair down.”
    “Exactly. I’ve kept you from noticing that.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I didn’t want you hitting on me.”
    “And all it takes to keep me from hitting on a woman is her hair up and no lipstick?”
    She smirked at him. “Apparently.”
    He narrowed his eyes at her, then looked back to the road. “And you were so turned off by me that the idea of me flirting was disgusting.”
    Gabby wondered if any female, anywhere, would find Conner disgusting. “No,” she said honestly. “I knew if you flirted, I’d flirt back and it would be distracting. We work in situations that require our full concentration and dedication. And I definitely didn’t want to deal with working with you after we broke up.”
    He looked over again, his eyebrows up. He looked mildly amused. “How do you know it would have gone beyond flirting?”
    “It would have.” She couldn’t say exactly how she knew, but she did. She’d been around men all her life. All of her brothers and cousins had friends. She’d been flirted with plenty. And it was very rare to feel a spark like she felt with Conner.
    His smile grew. “Then how do you know it would have gone beyond just a one-night thing?”
    She gave him a look. “You would have never been able to keep it to one night.”
    He chuckled. “You might be right about that. I like you. I don’t always really like the women I take home.”
    She