Page 47 of Five Minute Man
Holly ran back into the kitchen and grabbed the small fire extinguisher she kept there. With Max at her heels, she then hurried across the front of the house.
She had barely placed her hand on the shed’s doorknob when there was a loudboomfrom within. An instant later, the windows and doors exploded outward, lifting Holly off her feet and throwing her backward.
A tremendous rush of intense pain burst along the back of her body, and then she wasn’t moving anymore.
* * *
WHEN ADAM’S PHONE BUZZED, he breathed a sigh of relief.Finally!
“Hey, beautiful.” He grinned into the phone. “What took you so long?”
“Now that’s more like it.”
The voice on the other end wiped the smile away instantly. It wasn’t Holly, but Eve. Again. If his business wasn’t tied to his mobile, he would have had the number changed months ago. He had even had Brandon show him how to block her number, but Eve must have caught on and called from another.
“What do you want, Eve?” he asked, all traces of warmth having fled with his smile.
“I want to talk to you.”
“So talk.”
She laughed softly. “Not over the phone, Adam. In person.”
“Not interested.”
“Oooh,” she purred, “you know I love it when you get all growly, Adam. It makes me wet.”
Her words disgusted him. How had he ever found her attractive? Now, if Holly had called and said that to him ...
“I know about your little author friend, Adam,” Eve said, confirming his worst fears and freezing him on the spot. “Honestly, I don’t know what you see in her. You are way out of her league.”
“Stay away from her, Eve,” Adam warned.
“Or what? It’s a free country, Adam.”
“I’m not kidding, Eve.”
“Neither am I,” she said, her voice noticeably less sex-kittenish. “Meet me, Adam. One drink, that’s all I ask.”
“No.”
“One drink,” she persisted. “And if, after you hear what I have to say, you still feel the same way, I will bow out gracefully.”
Adam exhaled. There was absolutely nothing Eve could possibly say that would make him want to get involved with her again. Now that he had found Holly, there was no going back. Holly was everything he wanted in a woman and then some.
“I am not going to change my mind, Eve.”
“Then you have nothing to lose, do you? Come on, Adam. One drink. That’s not so much to ask, is it?”
Every gut instinct he had told him that this was a really bad idea. It sounded far too easy, and nothing involving Eve was ever that simple. Either she was lying outright, or she had some hidden agenda. Either was a likely possibility.
Yet, there was a part of him that wanted to believe that, deep down, Eve did possess some shred of decency. That after months of unsuccessful attempts to get him back into her life and her bed, she was finally coming to accept the fact that it just wasn’t going to happen.
“I have one drink with you, and you promise to finally let this go?” he repeated doubtfully.
“Cross my broken heart.”
There was a slight chance she was being sincere; that after one last, final attempt, she would be willing to walk away peacefully. That possibility, however remote, was more appealing than his latest plan of filing a restraining order against her and having Holly do the same. If he could finally put this to rest with one drink and a few minutes of his time, wouldn’t it be worth it? And if, as he feared, it didn’t work, well, he would talk to Holly that night and get on those restraining orders first thing in the morning.
“All right. One drink. Public place. Where do you want to meet?”
“How about the Lakeside Pub?”
The Lakeside Pub was only about a five-minute drive from where he was. If he left right from the job site, he could meet Eve for one quick drink and still be at Holly’s within an hour.
“How long will it take you to get there?”
“I’m already here.”
