Read Online More Than He Expected by Andrea Laurence - Free Book Online Page A

bacon she was attempting to
swallow. Certainly Adrienne couldn’t be suggesting that Gwen stay with Alex? As
far as Adrienne knew, the two of them were casual acquaintances at best. If she
knew the truth, she’d certainly keep her mouth shut on that topic.
    “I know you pay some woman to water plants and collect your
mail while you’re away. Why couldn’t Gwen stay there instead? You have that huge
guest suite that no one ever uses.”
    Gwen’s eyes widened in panic. She would not go stay with Alex
whether he was there or not. It would just be weird. She turned to Alex,
expecting to see him appearing equally horrified. Instead, he was just sipping
his water and looking as though he were actually considering the idea. Surely a
man who couldn’t commit past two weeks wouldn’t dream of letting a woman move in
with him, even temporarily.
    “I think it’s a little presumptuous to invite someone to move
into Alex’s place without talking to him first,” Will said.
    Finally someone was speaking sensibly. “Especially since it’s
completely unnecessary.” Too annoyed to continue eating, Gwen slid off her stool
and planted her hands on her hips. “I am a grown woman. Y’all aren’t going to
railroad me into moving in with anybody. So stop wasting yer breath talkin’
’bout it.”
    She winced at the sound of her Tennessee roots slipping into
her angry words. Before anyone could respond, she ended the conversation by
spinning on her heel and dashing out of the kitchen and into her room.
    * * *
    Alex watched the players move back and forth across the
field, but he wasn’t really paying attention to the game. Normally, he liked
polo. He had played for years in college, and the group they’d assembled for the
charity match was like the dream team of players. But he just couldn’t focus on
the game. Not when thoughts of Gwen kept creeping into his mind.
    He glanced to his left and saw where she was sitting with
Adrienne in the VIP tent. Her bright teal dress and wide-brimmed white hat made
her easy to spot in the crowd. He was glad to see she was staying out of the sun
and resting for a while. The heat had been brutal today, and even though it was
late afternoon, it was too hot for him, much less a
woman in her condition.
    And truth be told, he was going mad watching the beads of sweat
roll into the forbidden depths of her cleavage. The plunging neckline of her
dress had put her full breasts on display. She was wearing a gold-and-turquoise
beaded necklace that accented the pale breadth of her skin, but it had a large
teardrop medallion that rested just at the valley between the creamy orbs. He
had a hard time tearing his eyes away, and eventually, someone was going to
catch him.
    Having her a hundred yards away and shaded from the sun removed
the temptation. It also helped that Gwen had continued to keep her distance
today.
    After last night and the way she’d bolted after their kiss by
the water, he shouldn’t have been surprised. He was hoping a little time alone
thinking about him would soften her resolve, but if it had, he couldn’t tell.
Perhaps he’d moved too fast. She hadn’t minded the first time they were
together, but she seemed as though she was in a different place now, mentally
and emotionally. Maybe the baby had planted seeds in her mind about a family of
her own. Or maybe she really was serious about this man-break thing. He could
see the confusion in her eyes when he got too close. It was cloaked beneath a
layer of desire, but she was obviously conflicted about getting involved with
him again.
    Maybe there was a reason he never returned to the same fishing
hole, so to speak. Since he’d hit puberty, he hadn’t spent more than a few weeks
with any one woman, and not once had he seen the same woman a second time after
they parted ways. Alex had convinced himself that since there were over three
billion women in the world—four million of them in New York City—there was
absolutely no reason for